Miles Morgan



Miles Morgan (1616 – 28 May 1699) was an English colonist of America, a pioneer settler of what was to become Springfield, Massachusetts. Springfield's hero of King Phillip's War in 1675, a statue of Miles Morgan still stands in the city's Court Square in Metro Center.

Biography
Of Welsh ancestry, he was born in Bristol, England, a younger son, and joined one of the many vessels that conveyed emigrants to America from Bristol. He arrived at Boston in April 1636. Shortly thereafter, he accompanied an expedition, headed by William Pynchon, into the wilderness. He settled at what is now Springfield, Massachusetts, and built a fortified blockhouse on a bank of the Connecticut River. (In the late 19th century, the site of Morgan's blockhouse was occupied by the car shops of the Connecticut River Railroad.)

Soon after settling, Morgan married Prudence Gilbert, a fellow passenger on the voyage from Bristol. By 1658, he is listed as a sergeant in the local militia. On 5 October 1675, Springfield was attacked by the native inhabitants, and Morgan's blockhouse became a fortress of the place, and, after the burning of the settlement, held out until messengers had been despatched to Hadley. Captain Samuel Appleton, with a force of men (the standing army of the Massachusetts Bay Colony), marched to Springfield and raised the siege.

Morgan returned to Britain and died at Llandaff, Wales.

Memorial
A bronze statue of Captain Miles Morgan by the courthouse square in Springfield shows him in huntsman's dress, jack-boots, and cocked hat, with a rifle over his shoulder. This statue, completed in 1882, was the first important work of Jonathan Scott Hartley.