A TALE OF THE FIRST THANKSGIVING
coyote's corner
A TALE OF THE FIRST THANKSGIVING
2. A TALE OF THE FIRST THANKSGIVING
We've all heard the story of how the Pilgrims, landing in Massachusetts on the Mayflower in 1620, were ill equipped to survive the harsh winters of the New World. We've also heard how they met an Indian of the Pawtuxet tribe named Squanto who befriended them, taught them how to survive in their new wilderness home, showed them how to plant crops, and acted as an interpreter with the Wampanoag tribe and its chief, Massasoit. The fact that he already knew English before the Pilgrims landed is what is truly remarkable. Squanto was present at the first Thanksgiving celebration held by the Pilgrims, but this encounter was not Squanto's first with the white men.
In 1608, long before the Pilgrims landed, Squanto was captured in Massachusetts and taken, along with other Indians, by an English ship captain and sold into slavery in Malaga, Spain. There, Squanto was bought by a Spanish monk, who treated him well, freed him, and taught him Christianity. Squanto eventually made his way to England, where he either learned or improved his English and worked in the stables of a man named John Slaney. Slaney sympathized with Squanto's desire to return home, and he promised to put the Indian on the first vessel bound for America. It wasn't until 1618 -- ten years after Squanto was first kidnapped -- that a ship was found.
Finally, after a decade of exile, Squanto returned home. There he learned that his entire tribe had died from an epidemic, probably of smallpox brought by the earlier English colonists. It was while he was living among the Wampanoag near present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, that his friend, an Indian named Samoset, introduced him to the new Pilgrim settlers. This was in 1621, following the winter when the Puritans lost half their population to starvation and diseases. Squanto became a member of their colony and, because he could speak English well, Governor William Bradford asked him to serve as his ambassador to the Indian tribes. The following year, Squanto died. As Squanto lay mortally ill with fever after scouting east of Plymouth, Bradford knelt at his bedside.
According to Bradford's diary, Squanto asked him to "pray for him, that he might go to the Englishmen's God in heaven." Squanto died in November 1622, having bequeathed his possessions to the Pilgrims as remembrances of his love. To the Pilgrims, the Indians were heathens and, therefore, the natural instruments of the Devil. Squanto, as the only educated and baptized Christian among the Wampanoag, was seen as merely an instrument of God, set in the wilderness to provide for the survival of His chosen people, the Pilgrims. The Indians were comparatively powerful and dangerous, a people to be courted until the next ships arrived with more Pilgrim colonists and the balance of power shifted. The Wampanoag actually were invited to the first Thanksgiving feast to negotiate a treaty that would secure the lands of the Plymouth Plantation for the Pilgrims. The Indians, possibly out of a sense of charity toward their hosts, even brought the majority of the food.
A generation later, after the balance of power had indeed shifted, the Indian and white children of that Thanksgiving were striving to kill each other in the genocidal conflict known as King Philip's War. At the end of that conflict most of the New England Indians had been exterminated or had taken refuge among the French Canadians or had been sold into slavery in the Carolinas by the Puritans. So successful was this early trade in Indian slaves that several Puritan ship owners in Boston began the practice of raiding the Ivory Coast of Africa for black slaves to sell to the colonies of the South, thus helping to found the American-based slave trade.
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3. PUTTING THANKS INTO ACTION FOR OUR LAST WILD BISON:
As we give thanks for our blessings, let's not forget that the slaughter of Yellowstone National Park bison continues. Please let your community know what is happening to our last wild herd by using our new Letter to the Editor tool to send a letter to your local newspaper. You are the only one who can speak for them, so if you don't, who will? http://www.npca.org/take_action/lettertoeditor
"
____________________________________________________
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2. A TALE OF THE FIRST THANKSGIVING
We've all heard the story of how the Pilgrims, landing in Massachusetts on the Mayflower in 1620, were ill equipped to survive the harsh winters of the New World. We've also heard how they met an Indian of the Pawtuxet tribe named Squanto who befriended them, taught them how to survive in their new wilderness home, showed them how to plant crops, and acted as an interpreter with the Wampanoag tribe and its chief, Massasoit. The fact that he already knew English before the Pilgrims landed is what is truly remarkable. Squanto was present at the first Thanksgiving celebration held by the Pilgrims, but this encounter was not Squanto's first with the white men.
In 1608, long before the Pilgrims landed, Squanto was captured in Massachusetts and taken, along with other Indians, by an English ship captain and sold into slavery in Malaga, Spain. There, Squanto was bought by a Spanish monk, who treated him well, freed him, and taught him Christianity. Squanto eventually made his way to England, where he either learned or improved his English and worked in the stables of a man named John Slaney. Slaney sympathized with Squanto's desire to return home, and he promised to put the Indian on the first vessel bound for America. It wasn't until 1618 -- ten years after Squanto was first kidnapped -- that a ship was found.
Finally, after a decade of exile, Squanto returned home. There he learned that his entire tribe had died from an epidemic, probably of smallpox brought by the earlier English colonists. It was while he was living among the Wampanoag near present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, that his friend, an Indian named Samoset, introduced him to the new Pilgrim settlers. This was in 1621, following the winter when the Puritans lost half their population to starvation and diseases. Squanto became a member of their colony and, because he could speak English well, Governor William Bradford asked him to serve as his ambassador to the Indian tribes. The following year, Squanto died. As Squanto lay mortally ill with fever after scouting east of Plymouth, Bradford knelt at his bedside.
According to Bradford's diary, Squanto asked him to "pray for him, that he might go to the Englishmen's God in heaven." Squanto died in November 1622, having bequeathed his possessions to the Pilgrims as remembrances of his love. To the Pilgrims, the Indians were heathens and, therefore, the natural instruments of the Devil. Squanto, as the only educated and baptized Christian among the Wampanoag, was seen as merely an instrument of God, set in the wilderness to provide for the survival of His chosen people, the Pilgrims. The Indians were comparatively powerful and dangerous, a people to be courted until the next ships arrived with more Pilgrim colonists and the balance of power shifted. The Wampanoag actually were invited to the first Thanksgiving feast to negotiate a treaty that would secure the lands of the Plymouth Plantation for the Pilgrims. The Indians, possibly out of a sense of charity toward their hosts, even brought the majority of the food.
A generation later, after the balance of power had indeed shifted, the Indian and white children of that Thanksgiving were striving to kill each other in the genocidal conflict known as King Philip's War. At the end of that conflict most of the New England Indians had been exterminated or had taken refuge among the French Canadians or had been sold into slavery in the Carolinas by the Puritans. So successful was this early trade in Indian slaves that several Puritan ship owners in Boston began the practice of raiding the Ivory Coast of Africa for black slaves to sell to the colonies of the South, thus helping to found the American-based slave trade.
~ ~ ~
3. PUTTING THANKS INTO ACTION FOR OUR LAST WILD BISON:
As we give thanks for our blessings, let's not forget that the slaughter of Yellowstone National Park bison continues. Please let your community know what is happening to our last wild herd by using our new Letter to the Editor tool to send a letter to your local newspaper. You are the only one who can speak for them, so if you don't, who will? http://www.npca.org/take_action/lettertoeditor
"
____________________________________________________
IncrediMail - Email has finally evolved - Click Here
Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]