Editing Myles Standish (section)

==Birthplace and early military service==
Little is known of Standish's origin and early life: his place of birth has been debated by historians.<ref name="Bangs">{{Cite web |date=2010-11-30 |title=Myles Standish, Born Where? The State of the Question |url=http://sail1620.org/history/35-biographies/51-myles-standish.html |access-date=2023-06-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130165320/http://sail1620.org/history/35-biographies/51-myles-standish.html |archive-date=November 30, 2010 }}</ref> Standish's [[will (law)|will]], drafted in Plymouth Colony in 1656, claims rights of inheritance to property in several locations:

<blockquote>I give unto my son & heire apparent Alexander Standish all my lands as heire apparent by lawfull decent in Ormskirke [Ormskirk] Borscouge [Burscough] Wrightington Maudsley [Mawdesley] Newburrow [Newburgh] Crowston [Croston] and in the Isle of man{{sic}} and given to mee as Right heire by lawfull decent but Surruptuously detained from mee My great Grandfather being a 2cond or younger brother from the house of Standish of [[Standish, Greater Manchester|Standish]].<ref name=Bangs/></blockquote>

All but one of the places named in Standish's will are in [[Lancashire]], England, with the exception being the [[Isle of Man]]. Some historians have concluded that he was therefore born in Lancashire – possibly in the vicinity of [[Chorley]], where a family named Standish owned a manor called [[Duxbury Hall]].<ref name=Winsor97/> However, there is no conclusive evidence linking Myles Standish to that family. A competing interpretation is that he belonged to a [[Manx people|Manx]] branch of the Standish family. No definitive documentation of his birth exists in either Lancashire or the Isle of Man.<ref name=Bangs/> However, in recent times, the Isle of Man could be referencing a farm near Croston.<ref>http://www.mylesstandish.info/Mayflower%20KS2%208pg%20Booklet%20v1[3975].pdf</ref>

The next earliest source on Standish's family and early life is a short passage recorded by [[Nathaniel Morton]], secretary of Plymouth Colony, who wrote in his ''New England's Memorial'' (published 1669) that Standish:

<blockquote>was a gentleman, born in Lancashire, and was heir apparent unto a great estate of lands and livings, surreptitiously detained from him; his great grandfather being a second or younger brother from the house of Standish. In his younger time he went over into the low countries, and was a soldier there, and came acquainted with the church at Leyden, and came over into New England, with such of them as at the first set out for the planting of the plantation of New Plymouth, and bare a deep share of their first difficulties, and was always very faithful to their interest.<ref>Stratton, p. 357.</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Sir Horace Vere - Horatius Veer (1565-1635).jpg|right|thumb|alt=Head and shoulders portrait of a man in 17th century military attire.  He wears a breastplate and a thick fur collar.  He has a short brown beard and mustache and a very slight smile.|[[Horace Vere, 1st Baron Vere of Tilbury|Sir Horatio Vere]] was the commander of English troops in the Netherlands during the [[Siege of Sluis (1604)|siege of Sluis]] in 1604, under whom Standish likely served.]]
Standish's early military career in the [[Low Countries]] is unclear. At the time, the [[Dutch Republic]] was embroiled in the [[Eighty Years' War]] with Spain. Queen [[Elizabeth I of England]] supported the Protestant Dutch Republic and sent troops to fight the Spanish in the Netherlands, as part of the [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)]]. Historians are divided on Standish's role in the English military. [[Nathaniel Philbrick]] refers to him as a "mercenary", suggesting that he was a hired [[mercenary|soldier of fortune]] seeking employment in the war,<ref name="Philbrick25">Philbrick, p. 25.</ref> but [[Justin Winsor]] claims that Standish received a [[Commission (document)|commission]] as a [[lieutenant]] in the [[English Army#Tudor and Stuart organisation|English army]] and was later promoted to captain while in [[Holland]].<ref name="Winsor97">Winsor, ''History of the Town of Duxbury'', p. 97.</ref> Historian Jeremy Bangs argued that Standish likely served under [[Horace Vere, 1st Baron Vere of Tilbury|Sir Horatio Vere]], the general who led the English troops in the Netherlands at this time. Vere is known to have recruited soldiers for the expedition in both Lancashire and the Isle of Man, among other places.<ref name=Bangs/> According to historian [[Tudor Jenks]], Standish came to the Netherlands around 1603 and may have seen service during the [[Siege of Sluis (1604)|siege of Sluis]] in 1604, which involved Vere's English troops. The subsequent [[Treaty of London (1604)]] ended English involvement in the war; if Standish was a mercenary he might have continued to serve with the Dutch until the [[Twelve Years' Truce]] brought fighting in the region to a halt in 1609.<ref>Jenks, p. 38.</ref>

Standish's activities and whereabouts are unrecorded until 1620, at which point he was living with his wife Rose in [[Leiden]], Holland and using the title of "Captain". There he was hired by a group of refugee [[Puritan]] dissenters from England who intended to form a colony in North America (the [[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]]). Standish was employed as their military adviser.<ref>Stratton, p. 19.</ref> The Puritans had previously hoped the position would be taken by Captain [[John Smith (explorer)|John Smith]], who had been one of the founders of the English colony at [[Jamestown, Virginia]], and had experience exploring and mapping the American coast. The Pilgrims approached Smith and he expressed interest, but his price was too high and the Pilgrims feared that his fame and bold character might lead him to become a dictator.<ref name="Philbrick59">Philbrick, p. 59.</ref> They appointed Standish instead; he was apparently already known to the Pilgrims.<ref name=Bangs/>