But this made them [_the settlers_] the more carefully to look to themselves, so as they agreed to enclose their dwellings with a good strong pale [_fence_], and make flankers [_fortifications_] in convenient places with gates to shut, which were every night locked, and a watch kept; and when need required, there was also warding [_guarding_] in the daytime. And the company was by the Captain’s and the Governor’s advice divided into four squadrons, and everyone had their quarter appointed them, unto which they were to repair upon any sudden alarm. And if there should be any cry of fire, a company were appointed for a guard, with muskets, whilst others quenched the same, to prevent Indian treachery. This was accomplished very cheerfully, and the town impaled round by the beginning of March [_1622_], in which every family had a pretty garden plot secured. John Winthrop 1588-1649 The Puritans who settled Boston in 1630 came to the New World with plenty of supplies and equipment. There were more than a thousand new colonists in the Massachusetts Bay settlements by the end of the year. These people had the strength of numbers and did not suffer the terrible privations of the Plymouth colony, but they still had to beat back the wilderness and squeeze a living from the thin soil of New England. What William Bradford was to the Plymouth colony, John Winthrop was to Massachusetts Bay. Both colonies were fortunate in having good, resourceful governors. John Winthrop was re-elected governor many times between the time his flagship, the _Arbella_, dropped anchor in Boston harbor and his death in 1649. Cotton Mather Describes John Winthrop The two selections which follow pertain to Governor Winthrop. The first is part of Cotton Mather’s biographical sketch of the governor. It comes from Mather’s _Magnalia Christi Americana_ (1702), which means the “American Annals of Christ.” Cotton Mather himself was a famous Puritan minister, the grandson of one of the early settlers and a historian of the colony. The other selection consists of two of John Winthrop’s letters to his wife, who remained in England until after the colony was established. These are touching letters that show the wise governor as a loving husband and a devout Christian. MATHER’S SKETCH OF WINTHROP