John Underhill (ca. 1597-1672), American military leader and magistrate, played an important role in the early Indian Wars in New England and in New York.

John Underhill's family was from England; his father was a mercenary in Dutch service. John was born possibly in Holland and received little formal education. In Holland he became a member of the Puritan church, although not of great conviction, and there he was married in 1628 while serving as a military student in the house of the Prince of Orange.

In 1630 Underhill went to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in America, where he organized the militia as one of its captains. He became a selectman of the town in 1634. The Puritans had little love of the military, however, and Underhill constantly had to fight for supplies. The Indian Wars came in 1637. Underhill fought in Massachusetts and in the Pequot wars in Connecticut. Returning to...