First Thanksgiving Research Paper

703 Words3 Pages
The story of the First Thanksgiving is well known in America. The pilgrims arrive in the new world in the winter and barely manage to survive. Taking pity on the pilgrims, the benevolent Native Americans assist the pilgrims, teaching them how to cultivate the land and build homes. By the end of the season, the Pilgrims managed to harvest enough food to last all winter. The Pilgrims, feeling grateful to the Native Americans, threw a party to give thanks to their honored guests. But is this what really happened? According to the History Channel, The Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Natives shared a Harvest festival. In 1621, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. Although facing a hostile new world, the Pilgrims endured. Believing…show more content…
After a bountiful crop in the Autumn 1621, the Pilgrims decided to celebrate. As children, Americans are taught that the Pilgrims invited their Indian friends to a day of feasting and games. This is not the whole story. During their celebration, the Pilgrims began firing off muskets and cannons. Natutally, this caused alarm with the nearby Indians. As a result, 90 armed Wampanoag marched to Plymouth. Although the Natives were not invited, both sides ended up laying down their weapons, picking up spoons, and feasting together. However, this feast was not the first Thanksgiving and was a one-time only…show more content…
In exchange for their Patuxet prisoners, the English left behind smallpox which basically exterminated everyone who escaped. When the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, they only found one Patuxet Indian, Squanto. Squanto had survived English slavery and knew their language. Squanto taught the pilgrims how to grow corn, fish, and negotiated a peace treaty between the pilgrims and the Wampanoag. At the end of the first year, the Pilgrims held a feast to honor Squanto and the Wampanoag tribe. This was the end of any peaceful relationship between the Natives and Pilgrims. As word spread in England about the New World, Puritans began arriving by boat. Because the Natives had failed to erect fences around the land, the Puritans considered the land to be public domain. Joined by other settlers, they seized land, captured young Natives for slaves, and exterminated the rest. However, the Pequot never agreed to the peace treaty Squanto negotiated and

More about First Thanksgiving Research Paper

Open Document