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. (During Father Rale's War, Winslows older brother Josiah was given the command of Fort St. George (Thomaston, Maine) and was killed by natives of the Wabanaki Confederacy in the Northeast Coast Campaign (1724). The following year, Winslow named his first born after his deceased brother. )

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.

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, Fort Halifax (Maine) and Fort Western.

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