Squanto: Friend of The Pilgrims
The Native-American who guided the Pilgrims through their first winter in the New World
A look into the life and legend of the native American who joined the grateful Pilgrims in their first thanksgiving feast celebrated n the New World.
Famous Native Americans
Early Years
Born in the last decade of the sixteenth century, Tisquantum was a native-American member of the Patuxet tribe who made their home on the site of the pilgrim landing at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts. Little is known of his early years, but in 1605, when he was about 14 years of age, a Captain George Weymouth who claimed that he came in peace, led an expedition on behalf of English merchants and kidnapped Tisquantum, taking him back to England. There, he lived with Sir Fernando Gorges, who called him Squanto, taught him some English and eventually hired him as a guide and interpreter for the early explorers of the New England coast.
Return to New England
In 1614, Squanto returned to America under the aegis of Gorges and there he met Captain John Smith who needed his help in the mapping and exploration of the new world and communicating with the Indians of the region. Kidnapped once again by Smith's co-commander Captain Hunt, Squanto was transported to Malaga where Hunt attempted to sell him and some other native-Americans as slaves. Hunt's plans were foiled by some local friars who took Squanto and his friends into their fold where they lived until 1618. Then Squanto boarded a ship for Newfoundland and home.
The First Thanksgiving
Squanto returned to his village sad and broken, his people dead from an unknown malady that took the entire tribe. Where his home had been now lived some new settlers, among them Myles Standish and Governor William Bradford.
Tisquantum taught these pilgrims how to grow crops, hunt, keep warm and fish for food.
Betrayal, Death, and Immortality
Tisquantum was not completely altruistic in his motives. By late 1621, it became evident to other Indian leaders, particularly Massasoit, that Squanto was using his position with the Pilgrims to steal power from his fellow Indians. He was slated for execution, but the pilgrims felt they needed Squanto too much to let him go and so they stalled giving him over to his Indian accusers until an English ship arrived in the harbor. Squanto's time ran out in November of 1622, when he was stricken with a sudden fever and died.
The flesh and blood native American born as Tisquantum will forever remain a man shrouded in colorful legend and folklore. Although his legacy and motives have been the subject of much literary and historical speculation, there is no question that the pilgrims respected him and would not have survived that first cold and barren winter in the New World without his help.
