When Samuel Champlain, a French explorer, stopped at Plymouth in 1605, he discovered The People of the First Light, or Eastern People or People of the Dawn, who are now known as the Wampanoag. These Algonquin-speaking indigenous people had thrived on Cape Cod for over 10,000 years. He drew a map of their settlement and recorded there were between 1,000 and 2,000 Indians living in wigwams. They had fields of corn, beans and squash growing nearby. Champlain observed them using canoes built from dugout pine trees to fish for bluefish, striped bass and lobsters. There were mud flats rich with clams. Their territory included southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and the northeastern corner of Rhode Island.

          Once 102 passengers on the Mayflower finally found a suitable site in November of 1620 all that remained of the original people were scattered human bones and skulls. William Bradford, who became the second governor of Plymouth Colony, wrote, “a very sad spectacle to behold.” It was not clear which disease had ravaged their tribe between 1616 and 1619 but subsequent epidemics in Massachusetts wiped out villages and frightened survivors away.

          One of the survivors was Squanto. He had been kidnapped in 1616 by Thomas Hunt, an English explorer, and taken to Spain. Spanish monks bought Squanto and educated him while also converting him to their religion. Eventually, Squanto traveled to England and found passage to Cape Cod in 1619. 

William Bradford depended heavily on Squanto’s translation skills and ability to reveal trails to thriving Wampanoag encampments. It was he who taught the Mayflower immigrants how to plant vegetables which grow in the cool, wet climate of Plymouth. He also guided a group of Pilgrims along the coast so they could begin trading. Squanto lived with the Pilgrims for twenty months. Unfortunately, Squanto contracted a disease Bradford called “Indian fever” in 1622. Bradford was with him when he died and recorded what a “great loss” he felt.

           But Squanto’s story is just one piece of American history. As more European’s arrived on the northeastern coast of New England, many lives of Native People were destroyed. In 1675, during King Phillips War, over 40% of the Wampanoag population was killed and many men were sold into slavery.

 Between 1904 and 1916 Mashpee Wampanoag children were sent to the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, so they could become more like the immigrants of the twentieth century. The children of many tribes were mingled and not allowed to speak their native languages. Eventually, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe was able to establish their own school and teach their native language and customs.

          Today the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is at risk of losing another portion of their original homeland which has been a legal reservation. The Bureau of Indian Affairs under the US Department of the Interior, is threatening to take away their legal rights to control their land. On March 27, 2020, the Trump administration declared it would remove over 300 acres of Mashpee Wampanoag land as well as take away their reservation status. For current information about the struggle to save their land go to:

https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/

          Are you surprised that Squanto chose to become an advisor to the English settlers? I will explore this topic further in Journeys with Josie and in my personal memoir which will be published in 2021.

 Additional resources include: https://carlisleindianschool.org/

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

Mayflower Quarterly Magazine, Volume 87, No. 2, pp.30-31 Wampanoag Homesite at Plimoth Plantation by Susan E. Roser, ed.