First Thanksgiving: The History of the Pilgrims

Autumn, 1621, the chief sachem of the Wampanoag tribe, the Massosoit, was interrupted by several of his village’s hunters with news that they had heard gunshots coming from the new colony of foreigners. Massosoit, whose birth name was Ousemequin, immediately assumes that the new colony is being attacked by an enemy tribe. He threw together supplies and ordered ninety of his warriors to accompany him and his wife to make the two day journey to go to their rescue. When they arrived, they learned that the colony of English settlers, who are known to us today as the Pilgrims, were not shooting their rifles in self defense, but were, instead, hunting for deer to supplement a great feast to celebrate their thankfulness for surviving the winter.

The Massosoit ordered his warriors to assist the colonists’ hunt and the colonists invited Massosoit and his group to join them for the celebration. It was, of course, the origin of our national Thanksgiving holiday. We have heard the story many times with many variations. So, what is the real story and what led up to it?

The small group that would come to be known as the Pilgrims originated in the All Saints’ Parish Church in Babworth, England, between 1586 and 1605. Its parson, Richard Clyfton, promoted the beliefs and ideas of the non-conformist “Brownist” movement led by Robert Browne and others against the Church of England. Although very similar to the Puritans, the separatists maintained that their differences with the Church of England were irreconcilable and their church, therefore, had to be organized independently.

The movement had great expectations when King James ascended to the throne and established the Hampton Court Conference of 1604. But the conference denied virtually all of the concessions requested by the Puritans except for an English translation of the Bible. Following the conference, Clyfton was removed from his position at Babworth and resorted to preaching out of the Brewsters home, the Scrooby Manor House. But with a crackdown on the separatists including fines and possible imprisonment, the congregation decided to move to Lieden, Holland. Congregation member, William Bradford wrote,

“For these & other reasons they removed to Leyden, a fair & bewtifull citie, and of a sweete situation, but made more famous by ye universitie wherwith it is adorned, in which of late had been so many learned man. But wanting that traffike by sea which Amerstdam injoyes, it was not so beneficiall for their outward means of living & estats. But being now hear pitchet they fell to such trads & imployments as they best could; valewing peace & their spirituall comforte above any other riches whatsoever. And at length they came to raise a competente & comforteable living, but with hard and continuall labor.”

In 1616, the leader, Richard Clyfton, died leaving the leadership to William Bradford. By then, life in Leyden was taking its toll on the congregation. Many members were getting older and unable to handle hard labor; the youth were being “drawn away by evil examples into extravagance and dangerous courses”; pressure was being exerted on Holland to extradite some of the congregation or to prohibit their publications; the message was not resonating outside the congregation in Holland; they found the Dutch morals too liberal and felt isolated fearing they would become extinct if they remained there. So, they began looking for a more suitable location “… for the propagating and advancing the gospell of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world.”

They finally settled on the mouth of the Hudson River area of the new world where they would be far enough from English settlements to be independent, but close enough to established colonies for military and economic security. It was decided that the younger, stronger members would leave first and get the colony established for the others to come later. With the support of outside investors, the settlers loaded their supplies onto the “Speedwell”, a 60-ton vessel once a part of the English fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada.

The plan was to sail to Southampton, Hampshire, England to meet up with other settlers hired by the investors. Some would travel on the Speedwell while the rest would take another vessel purchased by the investors called the “Mayflower”. Soon after they set sail for the new world, the Speedwell started taking on water and they had to divert to Dartmouth, Devon. Repairs were made, but they only made it to Plymouth, Devon in the second attempt. At this point, the Speedwell was deemed unseaworthy and abandoned. Some believed that the vessel was sabotaged by the investor colonists to enable them to get out of their contract.

The passengers were reduced from 121 to 102, half being from Leydon with 28 members of the congregation. A little past the half-way point they encountered a severe storm. One of the passengers was washed overboard “but caught a top-sail halyard trailing in the water and was pulled back on board.” The winds damaged the main sail mast and there was consideration given to turning back. But they managed to repair the mast with supplies brought for building houses and they journeyed on.

After sixty-five days at sea in miserable conditions, they finally spotted land November, 1620. The winds had blown them far north of their destination, the mouth of the Hudson River, but they were unable to negotiate the shoals and difficult currents around Cape Malabar so they turned back anchoring in Princeton Harbor.

Before they could properly disembark, the shallop (small sailing vessel) had to be repaired and assembled. It had been taken apart in order to fit it on board and the storms had damaged it. The assembly and repair would take two weeks. In the meantime, a few swam or waded to the beach to gather firewood and bathe.

Myles Standish, an English soldier they had met in Leiden, and Christopher Jones set forth to explore their new home. They found an old European-style house with an iron kettle left behind by some ship’s crew. Nearby were cultivated fields with corn stubble still showing. An old mound was found and when they started digging it up they discovered it was a native grave. As they explored further, another was found filled with baskets of maize which they took to use for planting in the spring. There were also provisions in the grave that they took in hopes they might defer starvation.

After the shallop was repaired, William Bradford wrote:

“They also found two of the Indian’s houses covered with mats, and some of their implements in them; but the people had run away and could not be seen. They also found more corn, and beans of various colours. These they brought away, intending to give them full satisfaction (repayment) when they should meet with any of them, – as about six months afterwards they did.

“And it is to be noted as a special providence of God, and a great mercy to this poor people, that they thus got seed to plant corn the next year, or they might have starved; for they had none, nor any likelihood of getting any, till too late for the planting season.”

By December, most of the colonists were sick and suffering from scurvy. Half of them died that first winter.

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