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Keep The Holiday Fires Burning
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History of the Pilgrims
Part 5: Samoset and Squanto One day, while they were in the meeting house, an Indian entered the village and astonished them by saying "Welcome, Englishmen. Eager to learn of the people whith whom they were sharing their land, the Pilgrims interrogated him and learned that his name was Samoset, and that he had learned his English from fishermen on the coast of Maine. Samoset also told them that the people who had formerly inhabited this stretch of land had been wiped out by a plague brought by Europeans. Samoset stayed the night, and left the next day. However, a few days later, he returned with another young man named Squanto. He, too, spoke English. Squanto had been kidnapped some years before by traders and sold into slavery Spain, but was rescued and sent back to his own home by an Englishmen. Apparently grateful to his rescuers, he taught the Pilgrims a great many things about survival on the North American coast. In April 1621, Samoset and Squanto appeared with emissaries from the chief of the local Wampanoag tribe. The chief, Massasoit, along with his brother Quadequina, and about 60 men were waiting nearby and wanted to negotiate a treaty of peace and friendship. The deal, which was quickly worked out, favored the Pilgrims on paper. The Wampanoag, however, also gained from the treaty. In conflict with the powerful Narragansett tribe, Massasoit sought to use the Pilgrims as leverage in his conflict. Soon after this, Canonicus, the chief of the Narragansett sent a snake skin filled with arrows to show his hostility to the new friends of his enemies. The Pilgrims sent back the skin filled with powder and shot. This was enough to convince him that he, too should come to an agreement with the Pilgrims. The treaties lasted for the most part until King Philip’s War in 1675. |