John Winslow ( British Army officer ) Major - General John Winslow ( 10 May 1703 – 17 April 1774 ) , descendant of Pilgrim Edward Winslow , was an officer during the French and Indian War . John Winslow belonged to one of the most prominent families of New England ; his great - grandfather Edward and grandfather Josiah Winslow had both been governors of the Plymouth Colony . He was born in Marshfield , Massachusetts in 1703 as son of Sarah and Isaac Winslow . In 1725 , he married Mary Little , a descendant of Pilgrim Richard Warren . They had three children : Josiah , Pelham and Isaac Winslow . One of his slaves was Briton Hammon who published the " Narrative of the Uncommon Suffering and Surprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon , a Negro Man " in 1760 . After holding a few minor positions in Plymouth , he was commissioned captain of a provincial company in a failed British expedition to Cuba in 1740 . Following this he transferred to the British Army and served as captain in the 40th Foot at Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia , and St John ’ s in Newfoundland . Seven Years War . In 1754 , he was promoted major - general of militia by Governor William Shirley of Massachusetts and put in command of a force of 800 men which was sent to the Kennebec River in Maine to consolidate British positions and prevent French encroachments . There he built two forts . In 1755 , he was appointed lieutenant - colonel of a provincial regiment raised by Shirley to aid Lieutenant Governor Charles Lawrence of Nova Scotia in his attempts to sweep French Acadian influence from the province , and played an important role at the capture of Fort Beauséjour in June 1755 . During the Bay of Fundy Campaign ( 1755 ) , Winslow was then ordered to proceed to Grand - Pré , Nova Scotia , to remove the Acadian population , as part of the infamous Great Upheaval . Although often believed solely responsible for carrying out the deportation , Winslow was in charge of only one segment of a much larger operation . On 5 September 1755 he informed the assembled Acadian men that they and their families were to be removed from the province . Winslow termed the business “ Very Disagreable to my natural make & Temper , ” in his “ Journal of Colonel John Winslow of the provincial troops , while engaged in removing the Acadian inhabitants from Grand Pre ” . The numerous delays in arranging transports caused the deportation to take far longer than had been anticipated , but by November he had shipped 1 , 510 Acadians to Pennsylvania , Maryland , and other British colonies to the south . Winslow returned to Massachusetts in November 1755 , but only a couple of months later he was appointed by Shirley ( then temporary commander - in - chief ) , to command the provincial troops in an expedition against Fort St . Frédéric , New York . However , in March 1756 the new commander - in - chief , Lord Loudoun , arrived from Britain , and Winslow fought bitterly with him over his proposed integration of the provincial troops with the regulars . The provincial soldiers had enlisted to serve only under their own officers , and feared the hard discipline , with floggings and hangings , that was part of the regular army . And their officers feared that the integration could result in them losing their rank , as they held it only by colonial commission . The issue nearly developed into a mutiny of the provincial troops and a revolt of their officers , but Winslow eventually agreed to the integration under threats from Loudoun . In 1757 Winslow returned to Massachusetts and civilian life . He represented Marshfield in the General Court from 1757 to 1758 and from 1761 to 1765 . In 1762 he served as a member of the St Croix River boundary commission , and about 1766 he moved to Hingham , Massachusetts , where he died at in 1774 . The town of Winslow , Maine is named for General Winslow . References . Texts Endnotes