(October 18, 1595–May 8, 1655), was a Pilgrim leader and founder of the Plymouth Colony. Selected as an administrator of the colony, 1621, he served as its English agent from 1629 to 1632. Edward Winslow was Governor of the Plymouth Colony for three separate terms, 1633–34, 1636–37, and 1644–45. He succeeded in developing a friendship with the Indian chief, Massasoit. In October 1646, he returned to England as the agent of Massachusetts Bay, and later served Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War. His work, Glorious Progress of the Gospel Amongst the Indians in New England, 1646, was instrumental in the formation of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England.
Edward Winslow who kept detailed records of the Pilgrims’ experiences, recounted:
Drought and the like considerations moved not only every good man privately to enter into examination with his own estate between God and his conscience, and so to humiliation before Him, but also to humble ourselves together before the Lord by fasting and prayer.220