This study traces the activities of Regicides Edward Whalley and William Goffe in order to explore the larger question of political resistance to the Restoration of the English Monarchy. Scholars have noted the existence of a radical political underground during the Restoration in England and including exiles in Europe. This study extends those findings and demonstrates that puritans in New England were part of a trans-Atlantic network who worked to sustain an underground resistance movement focused on overthrowing Charles II and returning puritans to power in England. Whalley and Goffe fled to New England to escape arrest by Charles II; their experiences reveal that New England colonies helped to sustain nonconformist ideas during the 1660s and 1670s and illustrate the extent of the Restoration underground political movement, its goals, and its operations.
