Josiah Winslow ( in Plymouth Colony – 1680 in Marshfield, Plymouth Colony) was the 13th Governor of Plymouth Colony. In records of the time, historians also name him Josias Winslow, and modern writers have carried that name forward. He was born one year after the Charter which founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony, bringing over 20,000 English immigrants to New England in the 1630s. Josiah was the Harvard College-educated son of Mayflower passenger and Pilgrim leader Edward Winslow and was Governor from 1673 to 1680. The most significant event during his term in office was King Philip's War, which created great havoc for both the English and Indian populations and changed New England forever. Josiah was the first governor born in a "New England" colony. Early years Josiah Winslow's parents were Edward Winslow (d. 1655) and his second wife, widow Susanna White. Her first husband had been Pilgrim William White, who died in February 1621, with whom she had sons Resolved and Peregrine White, all of whom were Mayflower passengers. The wedding of Edward Winslow and Susanna White was the first in Plymouth Colony. In 1643 Josiah Winslow was chosen deputy to the general court from Marshfield, and in 1656 he succeeded Myles Standish as the commander of the colony's military forces. In 1657 he was chosen assistant governor, a post he filled until he was elected governor in 1673. Also, in 1658 he was Plymouth's commissioner to the United Colonies (a Puritan military alliance against the Indians) until 1672. On October 2, 1658 he was commissioned as major-commandant of the colony's militia forces which were consolidated on that same date into a regiment under Winslow's command. He held this position until June 3, 1673 when, having been elected Governor of the Colony, he was succeeded by William Bradford Jr. On June 2, 1685, Plymouth Colony was divided into three counties (Plymouth, Barnstable and Bristol), and each county had its own regiment of militia. In 1643, his father, Edward Winslow, was one of six signers of the new Articles of Confederation of the New England colonies, and in 1673 Josiah became the first native-born governor of the colony upon the death of Governor Thomas Prence. Governor One of Josiah's first acts as governor, was to institute a policy of larger sympathy for the Quakers. He set free two men, Cudworth and Robinson, who were in prison for stating their sympathy for