P
to Europe as a slave seven years before (see entry
for 1614). Squanto shows the Pilgrims how to
build shelters, how to fish in area rivers, and even
more important, how to grow corn, squash, and
pumpkins.
Squanto also acts as an interpreter for the
Pilgrims in their early dealings with Indians. On
March 22, he helps Massasoit and the Pilgrim lead-
ers negotiate a treaty that promises friendly relations
between the Wampanoag and the English. Massa-
soit’s overtures are probably motivated by his desire
for the Pilgrims’ assistance in battling his people’s
enemies, the Narragansett.
“[Squanto] was their interpreter,
and was a spetiall instrument
sent of God for their good be-
yond their expectation. He
directed them how to set their
corn, where to take fish, and to
procure other commodities,
and was also their pilot to bring
them to unknown places for
their profit, and never left them
till he dyed.”
—Plymouth leader William
Bradford on Squanto’s aid
to the colonistsAutumn
The Pilgrims and their Wampanoag guests
celebrate the first Thanksgiving.
The English of the Plymouth settlement invite
Wampanoag leader Massasoit (see entry for MARCH
1621) to a feast in appreciation for his people’s help
in teaching the Europeans how to farm in their new
homeland. Massasoit arrives accompanied by 90
warriors. When it becomes clear that the colonists
do not have enough food for all, Massasoit orders
his people to contribute to the feast. The event fol-
lows the Indian tradition of thanking the Creator
for a plentiful harvest. An annual commemoration
of the thanksgiving feast will be declared a national
holiday by U.S. president Abraham Lincoln in
1863.1622March 22Opechancanough’s warriors attack Virginia
colonists.
While professing peace and friendship with the Eng-
lish colonists, Powhatan leader Opechancanough
(see entry for APRIL 1618) makes careful plans to
drive them from their lands forever. His warriors
strike on the morning of Good Friday. Gathering
in the English villages ostensibly to trade, they sud-
denly seize the colonists’ weapons and set upon the
Europeans. In the battle, more than 300 whites—
nearly one-fourth of Virginia’s population—are
killed. The casualties would have been higher had
not several Indians friendly with the colonists
alerted a few settlements to Opechancanough’s plot
at the last minute.
The slaughter prompts the colonists’ to or-
ganize a campaign to exterminate their Indian
neighbors. With plenty of supplies and provisions
from Europe, they devote themselves to bat-
tling area tribes. The colonists are directed by the
Virginia Company (see entry for MAY 1607) to
“pursue and follow [the Indians], surprising them
in the habitation, intercepting them in their hunt-
ing, burning their towns, [and] demolishing their
temples.”1623The Plymouth militia kills eight
Massachuset Indians.
Angered by the insulting behavior of several Mas-
sachuset leaders, Miles Standish leads the Plymouth