from the Studio @ NewMainStreet... Today many people will celebrate the day when "pilgrims were saved from starvation by kindly native peoples and brotherhood was achieved".
that is not what happened
What actually happened was in 1614, a group of English explorers sailed home for England along with Patuxet Natives, bound for slavery. In their leaving, however, the explorers left smallpox that decimated those that had escaped.
By the time the Pilgrims arrived in Mass. Bay, only one Patuxet, Squanto, who had survived slavery in England where had also learned their language and ways. Squanto and the Wampanog indians helped the Pilgrims survive that first year and at harvest time, the settlers put together a grand feast--as it was--to say thanks to the Natives for their care and guidance in this New World.
then, the Puritans came.
they came claiming "god's choosen in the new paradise" and began again inslaving the Native peoples, until the Pequot tribes declared war on the malicious invaders. this war would come to be known as one of the bloodiest indian wars ever fought.
in 1637, the Pequot--700 men. woman and children strong--gathered for the annual Green Corn Festival, what we call "thanksgiving".
as the Natives slept, in the predawn hours, English and Dutch mercenaries surrounded the camp and ordered the Pequot to come outside.
the men were clubbed and stabbed.
the women and children, still inside their long houses, were all burned alive.
the next day, Mass. governer declared a "day of Thanksgiving" that 700 natives had been murdered.
Enlivened by their "victory" the English and Indian allies raided village after village collecting women and children over the age of 14 for the slave ships.
all others were murdered.
the town of Stamford. Conn. and her churches declared a second day of thanksgiving for the destruction of the heathen savages.
Even the Wampanog were not immune from this. the Chiefs head was taken, placed on a spike, and left there for 24 years.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving. Enjoy your Family. Enjoy your food. But NEVER FORGET where this holiday came from. And those that died along the way.
that is not what happened
What actually happened was in 1614, a group of English explorers sailed home for England along with Patuxet Natives, bound for slavery. In their leaving, however, the explorers left smallpox that decimated those that had escaped.
By the time the Pilgrims arrived in Mass. Bay, only one Patuxet, Squanto, who had survived slavery in England where had also learned their language and ways. Squanto and the Wampanog indians helped the Pilgrims survive that first year and at harvest time, the settlers put together a grand feast--as it was--to say thanks to the Natives for their care and guidance in this New World.
then, the Puritans came.
they came claiming "god's choosen in the new paradise" and began again inslaving the Native peoples, until the Pequot tribes declared war on the malicious invaders. this war would come to be known as one of the bloodiest indian wars ever fought.
in 1637, the Pequot--700 men. woman and children strong--gathered for the annual Green Corn Festival, what we call "thanksgiving".
as the Natives slept, in the predawn hours, English and Dutch mercenaries surrounded the camp and ordered the Pequot to come outside.
the men were clubbed and stabbed.
the women and children, still inside their long houses, were all burned alive.
the next day, Mass. governer declared a "day of Thanksgiving" that 700 natives had been murdered.
Enlivened by their "victory" the English and Indian allies raided village after village collecting women and children over the age of 14 for the slave ships.
all others were murdered.
the town of Stamford. Conn. and her churches declared a second day of thanksgiving for the destruction of the heathen savages.
Even the Wampanog were not immune from this. the Chiefs head was taken, placed on a spike, and left there for 24 years.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving. Enjoy your Family. Enjoy your food. But NEVER FORGET where this holiday came from. And those that died along the way.
