John Underhill

John Underhill c.1597-1672, military commander in the American colonies, b. England. In 1630 he accompanied John Winthrop (1588-1649) to Massachusetts Bay, and in 1637 he distinguished himself as a commander with John Mason (c.1600-1672) in the Pequot War, of which he wrote an account in Newes from America (1638). Because of his ardent support of Anne Hutchinson in the antinomian controversy, he fled (1638) to Dover, N.H., where he was briefly governor, opposing Massachusetts's claims to authority over the area. He returned to Massachusetts, was reinstated (1640) in the church, then moved to Stamford, Conn. Later in New Netherland he commanded (1644) for the Dutch against the Algonquin; he opposed Peter Stuyvesant and had to leave (1653) the colony but returned after the British conquest of 1664.

Bibliography: See biography by H. C. Shelley (1932).

Underhill, John (1597?–1672) Colonial official and militia officer. Born in England, John Underhill grew up in the Netherlands, where he received some military training. He came to Massachusetts Bay in 1630 to organize the colonial militia. He was appointed captain of the militia and played a major role in the Pequot War in 1637. Afterwards he got in trouble with the Puritan administration for his religious beliefs and lost his position. He served the Dutch colony of New Netherland as an Indian fighter for a time, but when war broke out between the English and Dutch in 1652 he switched sides to help the British. During the Anglo-Dutch Wars of 1664–1665 he helped extend English rule over the Dutch possessions, and then performed various public duties for the newly-named colony of New York.

Underhill, John (c.1597–1672), Massachusetts military leader in the war against the Pequot Indians, of which he published an account in Newes from America (1638). Because he was an Antinomian he was banished and excommunicated, but later he was allowed to return and helped the English to gain control of New Amsterdam. He is the subject of a poem by Whittier.