The Courtship of Miles Standish

"Now we are ready, I think, for any assault of the Indians:

Let them come, if they like, and the sooner they try it the better,

Let them come if they like, be it saga more, sachem, or pow-wow,

Aspinet, Samoset, Corbitant, Squanto, or Tokamahamon!"

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Courtship of Miles Standish, 1858



The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858) is a poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about the early days of Plymouth Colony, the colonial settlement established in America by the Mayflower Pilgrims. It is, according to Longfellow, a true tale of a love triangle among Miles Standish, Priscilla Mullins, and John Alden.

Miles Standish was an English military officer who accompanied the Pilgrims on the Mayflower journey and became the first commander of the Plymouth Colony militia, which he remained for the rest of his life.

When the poem was published in book form in 1858, it became an overnight success in the United States, with 25,000 copies sold in the first two months. The story goes that 10,000 copies were sold in London on the first day of publication.