Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1909-03-27
life STORY OF
| JOSIAH WINSLOW
First Native Born Governor of
Massachusetts, a Man of
Many Parts.

By Allan Payson Terhune In the st. Louis
Post-Dispatch.
Josiah Winslow-soldier poet, states
man-was a Puritan who had the pluck
and the genius to outgrow Puritanism.
He was born at Plymouth, Mass at a,
time when the little pilgrim colony,
was still fighting starvation and IN
dians. His father was for time gov
ernor of Massachusetts and one of the
great men in that stern colony.
In Massachusetts, then, there We're
scant chances for education, and still
fewer for culture. Yet young Win
slow early won the title of most ac-
complished gentleman in New Eng
land" and on his visit to London
charmed and amazed the British court
by his learning and accomplished man
ners. While still youth, he took up
military work and amassed fame as a
daring Indian fighter. In 1853 he was
made commander of the colony's
troops. Next, turning to civic life, he
rose to the rank OF assistant governor,
and in 1873 was chosen governor Of
Massachusetts. Here his real career
began.
The Puritans had no mercy for per-
sons OF other Creeds. Peaceful Quak-
ers had been prosecuted in horrible
fashion. Innocent Catholics had been
insulted and banished. Winslow had
no sympathy with this barbarous intol-
erance. He drew down upon himself
q storm of abuse by refusing utterly to
authorize such prosecutions. HIS ex-
ample paved the way for saner, milder
religious laws, and helped soften harsh
Puritanism into something less unbear-
able than II had heretofore been.
The Puritans had not always treated
the Indians fairly In consequence. ma
tive conspiracies had sprung up against
the settlers. The Indian sachem, Mas
sasoit. had been the colonists' friend
but his eldest son, Alexander plotted
to destroy the white men. 1t was due
to Winslow's courage and promptitude
that these plots failed. Acting with
lightning speed, he had marched upon
the Conspirators and made Alexander
his prisoner. This was in 1852, before
Winslow became governor. His quick
action at that time had saved the Pur-
itans from a massacre and had proved
his fitness to govern them.
After taking office as governor he
would not allow the Indians to be de-
frauded, but guarded their rights as
jealousy as those OF his own people.
He won the friendship of many of the
| tribes, and some New Englanders
sharply criticised his gentleness to-
ward the savages. A time was at hand,
| however, when gentleness would not
! serve
| Massasoits second son, Philip, hated
white men, He foresaw that soon or
late he and his fellow Indians would be
crowded out Of Massachusetts; their
hunting grounds turned into farms,
| their river banks settled by pioneers.
! Philip broOded over these and other
wrongs, and ut last, in 1875. reused his
/ tribesmen to war against the colonists.
With tomahawk and torch the In
! dians launched themselves upon the un-
! protected villages OF western Massa-
! Chusetts. Towns were burned, women
! and children murdered, men put to
| death bv fearful tortures.
Then II was that Winslow showed
"the iron hand beneath the velvet
! glove" He was appointed general-in-
J chief of the United Colonies, and began
| a whirlwind campaign against the red
skins. Destroying their villages, he
drove them from stronghold to strong
| hold.
! Winter came on. The Indians were
not accustomed to fighting during the
bitter New England winters. But
! Winslow gave them no rest. Through
frozen forests he pursued them, he and
his men undergoing torments of cold
and fatigue, yet never once letting up
on the furious attack.
At last on December 19, 1876, he met
the savages in a terrific battle. There,
once and for all, Winslow crushed his
! foes. The colony was henceforth safe
from them. He had shown a courage
and a military skill that won him the
| praise or those VINO mad formerly COM
planned Of his overgentleness.
Barely had peace been declared when
Winslow was again hard at work ar
ranging for the protection of the In
dians' rights at the hands of the set
tiers. He bore his eX-foes no i'll will;
nor did he presume upon his victory to
add to their already heavy load of mis-
| fortunes.
Arriving on quieter times, Winslow
broke another Puritan tradition. He
cast aside the stiff discomfort of the
Pilgrims and embarked on a course of
hospitable luxury In his Marshfield
mansion. There he lived in state, still
holding the title of governor Of Massa-
Chusetts. until his death. After a busy
life whose history and advancement
had been those of his beloved colony as
well, Winslow had but few years left
to enjoy ease and wealth. For he died
In 1850. when only 81. He was the first
native-bOrn governor of Massachusetts,
and the first native American general.