1622 Mourt's Relation: From Landing at Plymouth to 1st Pilgrim Thanksgiving

Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, (Part I From Landing to Thanksgiving) Edited by Caleb Johnson updated the spelling to modern American-English

Mourt's Relation (written by Edward Winslow & William Bradford & published by George Morton in 1622 London) was written between November 1620 & November 1621, it describes what happened from the landing of the Pilgrims at Cape Cod, though their exploring & settling at Plymouth, to their relations with the surrounding Indians, up to the 1st Puritan Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, the sixth of September, the winds coming east north east, a fine small gale, we loosed from Plymouth, having been kindly entertained & courteously used by divers friends there dwelling, & after many difficulties in boisterous storms, at length, by God's providence, upon the ninth of November following, by break of the day we espied land which was deemed to be Cape Cod, & so afterward it proved. And the appearance of it much comforted us, especially seeing so goodly a land, & wooded to the brink of the sea. It caused us to rejoice together, & praise God that had given us once again to see land. And thus we made our course south south west, purposing to go to a river ten leagues to the south of the Cape, but at night the wind being contrary, we put round again for the bay of Cape Cod; & upon the 11th of November we came to an anchor in the bay, which is a good harbor & pleasant bay, circled round, except in the entrance which is about four miles over from land to land, compassed about to the very sea with oaks, pines, juniper, sassafras, & other sweet wood; it is a harbor wherein a thousand sail of ships may safely ride: there we relieved ourselves with wood & water, & refreshed our people, which our shallop was fitted to coast the bay, to search for a habitation; there was the greatest store of fowl that ever we saw.

And every day we saw whales playing hard by us, of which in that place, if we had instruments & means to take them, we might have made a very rich return, which to our great grief we wanted. Our master & his mate, & others experienced in fishing, professed we might have made three or four thousand pounds worth of oil; they preferred it before Greenland whale-fishing, & purpose the next winter to fish for whale here. For cod we assayed, but found none, there is good store, no doubt, in their season. Neither got we any fish all the time we lay there, but some few little ones on the shore. We found great mussels, & very fat & full of sea-pearl, but we could not eat them, for they made us all sick that did eat, as well sailors as passengers; they caused to cast & scour, but they were soon well again.

The bay is so round & circling, that before we could come to anchor we went round all the points of the compass. We could not come near the shore by three quarters of an English mile, because of shallow water, which was a great prejudice to us, for our people going on shore were forced to wade a bow shot or two in going a-land, which caused many to get colds & coughs, for it was nigh times freezing cold weather.

This day before we came to harbor, observing some not well affected to unity & concord, but gave some appearance of faction, it was thought good there should be an association & agreement that we should combine together in one body, & to submit to such government & governors as we should by common consent agree to make & choose, & set our hands to this that follows word for word.

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, & Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the glory of God, & advancement of the Christian faith, & honor of our king & country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly & mutually in the presence of God & one of another, covenant, & combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering & preservation, & furtherance of the ends aforesaid; & by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, & frame such just & equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet & convenient for the general good of the colony: unto which we promise all due submission & obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names; Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord King James, of England, France & Ireland eighteenth & of Scotland fifty-fourth, Anno Domini 1620.

The same day, so soon as we could we set ashore 15 or 16 men, well armed, with some to fetch wood, for we had none left; as also to see what the land was, & what inhabitants they could meet with. They found it to be a small neck of land; on this side where we lay is the bay, & the further side the sea; the ground or earth, sand hills, much like the downs in Holland, but much better; the crust of the earth a spit's depth excellent black earth; all wooded with oaks, pines, sassafras, juniper, birch, holly, vines, some ash, walnut; the wood for the most part open & without underwood, fit either to go or ride in; at night our people returned, but found not any person, nor habitation, & laded their boat with juniper, which smelled very sweet & strong & of which we burnt the most part of the time we lay there.

Monday, the 13th of November, we unshipped our shallop & drew her on land, to mend & repair her, having been forced to cut her down in bestowing her betwixt the decks, & she was much opened with the people's lying in her, which kept us long there, for it was 16 or 17 days before the carpenter had finished her. Our people went on shore to refresh themselves, & our women to wash, as they had great need. But whilst we lay thus still, hoping our shallop would be ready in five or six days at the furthers, but our carpenter made slow work of it, so that some of our people, impatient of delay, desired for our better furtherance to travel by land into the country, which was not without appearance of danger, not having the shallop with them, nor means to carry provision, but on their backs, to see whether it might be fit for us to seat in or no, & the rather because as we sailed into the harbor there seemed to be a river opening itself into the main land; the willingness of the persons was liked, but the thing itself, in regard of the danger, was rather permitted than approved, & so with cautions, directions, & instructions, sixteen men were set out with every man his musket, sword, & corslet, under the conduct of Captain Miles Standish, unto whom was adjoined, for counsel & advice, William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, & Edward Tilley.

Wednesday, the 15th of November, they were set ashore, & when they had ordered themselves in the order of a single file & marched about the space of a mile, by the sea they espied five or six people with a dog, coming towards them, who were savages, who when they saw them, ran into the wood & whistled the dog after them, etc. First they supposed them to be Master Jones, the master, & some of his men, for they were ashore & knew of their coming, but after they knew them to be Indians they marched after them into the woods, lest other of the Indians should lie in ambush; but when the Indians saw our men following them, they ran away with might & main & our men turned out of the wood after them, for it was the way they intended to go, but they could not come near them. They followed them that night about ten miles by the trace of their footings, & saw how they had come the same way they went, & at a turning perceived how they ran up a hill, to see whether they followed them. At length night came upon them, & they were constrained to take up their lodging, so they set forth three sentinels, & the rest, some kindled a fire, & others fetched wood, & there held our rendezvous that night.

In the morning so soon as we could see the trace, we proceeded on our journey, & had the track until we had compassed the head of a long creek, & there they took into another wood, & we after them, supposing to find some of their dwellings, but we marched through boughs & bushes, & under hills & valleys, which tore our very armor in pieces, & yet could meet with none of them, nor their houses, nor find any fresh water, which we greatly desired, & stood in need of, for we brought neither beer nor water with us, & our victuals was only biscuit & Holland cheese, & a little bottle of aquavitae, so as we were sore athirst. About ten o'clock we came into a deep valley, full of brush, wood-gaile, & long grass, through which we found little paths or tracks, & there we saw a deer, & found springs of fresh water, of which we were heartily glad, & sat us down & drunk our first New England water with as much delight as ever we drunk drink in all our lives.

When we had refreshed ourselves, we directed our course full south, that we might come to the shore, which within a short while after we did, & there made a fire, that they in the ship might see where we were (as we had direction) & so marched on towards this supposed river. And as we went in another valley we found a fine clear pond of fresh water, being about a musket shot broad & twice as long. There grew also many fine vines, & fowl & deer haunted there; there grew much sassafras. From thence we went on, & found much plain ground, about fifty acres, fit for plow, & some signs where the Indians had formerly planted their corn. After this, some thought it best, for nearness of the river, to go down & travel on the sea sands, by which means some of our men were tired, & lagged behind. So we stayed & gathered them up, & struck into the land again, where we found a little path to certain heaps of sand, one whereof was covered with old mats, & had a wooding thing like a mortar whelmed on the top of it, & an earthen pot laid in a little hole at the end thereof. We, musing what it might be, digged & found a bow, &, as we thought, arrows, but they were rotten. We supposed there were many other things, but because we deemed them graves, we put in the bow again & made it up as it was, & left the rest untouched, because we thought it would be odious unto them to ransack their sepulchers.

We went on further & found new stubble, of which they had gotten corn this year, & many walnut trees full of nuts, & great store of strawberries, & some vines. Passing thus a field or two, which were not great, we came to another which had also been new gotten, & there we found where a house had been, & four or five old planks laid together; also we found a great kettle which had been some ship's kettle & brought out of Europe. There was also a heap of sand, made like the former—but it was newly done, we might see how they had paddled it with their hands—which we digged up, & in it we found a little old basket full of fair Indian corn, & digged further & found a fine great new basket full of very fair corn of this year, with some thirty-six goodly ears of corn, some yellow, some red, & others mixed with blue, which was a very goodly sight. The basket was round, & narrow at the top; it held about three or four bushels, which was as much as two of us could lift up from the ground, & was very handsomely & cunningly made. But whilst we were busy about these things, we set our men sentinel in a round ring, all but two or three which digged up the corn. We were in suspense what to do with it & the kettle, & at length, after much consultation, we concluded to take the kettle & as much of the corn as we could carry away with us; & when our shallop came, if we could find any of the people, & come to parley with them, we would give them the kettle again, & satisfy them for their corn. So we took all the ears, & put a good deal of the loose corn in the kettle for two men to bring away on a staff; besides, they that could put any into their pockets filled the same. The rest we buried again, for we were so laden with armor that we could carry no more.

Not far from this place we found the remainder of an old fort, or palisade, which as we conceived had been made by some Christians. This was also hard by that place which we thought had been a river, unto which we went & found it so to be, dividing itself into two arms by a high bank. Standing right by the cut or mouth which came from the sea, that which was next unto us was the less; the other arm was more than twice as big, & not unlike to be a harbor for ships. But whether it be a fresh river, or only an indraught of the sea, we had no time to discover, for we had commandment to be out but two days. Here also we saw two canoes, the one on the one side, the other on the other side; we could not believe it was a canoe, till we came near it. So we returned, leaving the further discovery thereof to our shallop, & came that night back again to the fresh water pond, & there we made our rendezvous that night, making a great fire, & a barricade to windward of us, & kept good watch with three sentinels all night, every one standing when his turn came, while five or six inches of match was burning. It proved a very rainy night.

In the morning we took our kettle & sunk it in the pond, & trimmed our muskets, for few of them would go off because of the wet, & so coasted the wood again to come home, in which we were shrewdly puzzled, & lost our way. As we wandered we came to a tree, where a young sprit was bowed down over a bow, & some acorns strewed underneath. Stephen Hopkins said it had been to catch some deer. So as we were looking at it, William Bradford being in the rear, when he came looked also upon it, & as he went about, it gave a sudden jerk up, & he was immediately caught by the leg. It was a very pretty device, made with a rope of their own making & having a noose as artificially made as any roper in England can make, & as like ours as can be, which we brought away with us. In the end we got out of the wood, & were fallen about a mile too high above the creek, where we saw three bucks, but we had rather have had one of them. We also did spring three couple of partridges, & as we came along by the creek we saw great flocks of wild geese & ducks, but they were very fearful of us. So we marched some while in the woods, some while on the sands, & other while in the water up to the knees, till at length we came near the ship, & then we shot off our pieces, & the long boat came to fetch us. Master Jones & Master Carver being on the shore, with many of our people, came to meet us. And thus we came both weary & welcome home, & delivered in our corn into the store, to be kept for seed, for we knew not how to come by any, & therefore were very glad, purposing, so soon as we could meet with any inhabitants of that place, to make them large satisfaction. This was our first discovery, whilst our shallop was in repairing.

Our people did make things as fitting as they could, & time would, in seeking out wood, & helving of tools, & sawing of timber to build a new shallop. But the discommodiousness of the harbor did much hinder us for we could neither go to nor come from the shore, but at high water, which was much to our hindrance & hurt, for oftentimes they waded to the middle of the thigh, & oft to the knees, to go & come from land. Some did it necessarily, & some for their own pleasure, but it brought to the most, if not to all, coughs & colds, the weather proving suddenly cold & stormy, which afterwards turned to scurvy, whereof many died.

When our shallop was fit—indeed, before she was fully fitted, for there was two days' work after bestowed on her—there was appointed some twenty-four men of our own, & armed, then to go & make a more full discovery of the rivers before mentioned. Master Jones was desirous to go with us, & we took such of his sailors as he thought useful for us, so as we were in all about thirty-four men. We made Master Jones our leader, for we thought it best herein to gratify his kindness & forwardness. When we were set forth, it proved rough weather & cross winds, so as we were constrained, some in the shallop, & others in the long boat, to row to the nearest shore the wind would suffer them to go unto, & then to wade out above the knees. The wind was so strong as the shallop could not keep the water, but was forced to harbor there that night, but we marched six or seven miles further, & appointed the shallop to come to us as soon as they could. It blowed & did snow all that day & night, & froze withal; some of our people that are dead took the original of their death here.

The next day, about eleven o'clock, our shallop came to us & we shipped ourselves, & the wind being good, we sailed to the river we formerly discovered, which we named Cold Harbor, to which when we came we found it not navigable for ships, yet we thought it might be a good harbor for boats, for it flows there twelve foot at high water. We landed our men between the two creeks & marched some four or five miles by the greater of them, & the shallop followed us. At length night grew on, & our men were tired with marching up & down the steep hills & deep valleys which lay half a foot thick with snow. Master Jones, wearied with marching, was desirous we should take up our lodging, though some of us would have marched further, so we made there our rendezvous for that night, under a few pine trees. And as it fell out, we got three fat geese & six ducks to our supper, which we ate with soldiers' stomachs, for we had eaten little all that day. Our resolution was next morning to go up to the head of this river, for we supposed it would prove fresh water, but in the morning our resolution held not, because many liked not the hilliness of the soil, & badness of the harbor. So we turned towards the other creek, that we might go over & look for the rest of the corn that we left behind when we were here before.

When we came to the creek we saw the canoe lie on the dry ground, & a flock of geese in the river, at which one made a shot & killed a couple of them, & we launched the canoe & fetched them & when we had done, she carried us over by seven or eight at once. This done, we marched to the place where we had the corn formerly, which place we called Cornhill, & digged & found the rest, of which we were very glad. We also digged in a place a little further off, & found a bottle of oil. We went to another place which we had seen before,& digged, & found more corn, viz. Two or three baskets full of Indian wheat, & a bag of beans, with a good many of fair wheat ears. Whilst some of us were digging up this, some others found another heap of corn, which they digged up also, so as we had in all about ten bushels, which will serve us sufficiently for seed. And sure it was God's good providence that we found this corn, for else we know not how we should have done, for we knew not how we should find or meet with any Indians, except it be to do us a mischief. Also, we had never in all likelihood seen a grain of it if we had not made our first journey, for the ground was now covered with snow, & so hard frozen that we were fain with our cutlasses & short swords to hew & carve the ground a foot deep, & then wrest it up with levers, for we had forgot to bring other tools. Whilst we were in this employment, foul weather being towards, Master Jones was earnest to go aboard, but sundry of us desired to make further discovery & to find out the Indians' habitations. So we sent home with him our weakest people, & some that were sick, & all the corn, & eighteen of us stayed still, & lodged there that night, & desired that the shallop might return to us next day & bring us some mattocks & spades with them.

The next morning we followed certain beaten paths & tracks of the Indians into the woods, supposing they would have led us into some town, our houses. After we had gone a while, we light upon a very broad beaten path, well nigh two feet broad. Then we lighted all our matches & prepared ourselves, concluding that we were near their dwellings, but in the end we found it to be only a path made to drive deer in, when the Indians hunt, as we supposed.

When we had marched five or six miles into the woods & could find no signs of any people, we returned again another way, & as we came into the plain ground we found a place like a grave, but it was much bigger & longer than any we had yet seen. It was also covered with boards, so as we mused what it should be, & resolved to dig it up, where we found, first a mat, & under that a fair bow, & there another mat, & under that a board about three quarters long, finely carved & painted, with three tines, or broaches, on the top, like a crown. Also between the mats we found bowls, trays, dishes, & such like trinkets. At length we came to a fair new mat, & under that two bundles, the one bigger, the other less. We opened the greater & found in it a great quantity of fine & perfect red powder, & in it the bones & skull of a man. The skull had fine yellow hair still on it, & some of the flesh unconsumed; there was bound up with it a knife, a packneedle, & two or three old iron things. It was bound up in a sailor's canvas cassock, & a pair of cloth breeches. The red powder was a kind of embalment, & yielded a strong, but not offensive smell; it was as fine as any flour. We opened the less bundle likewise, & found of the same powder in it, & the bones & head of a little child. About the legs & other parts of it was bound strings & bracelets of fine white beads; there was also by it a little bow, about three quarters long, & some other odd knacks. We brought sundry of the prettiest things away with us, & covered the corpse up again. After this, we digged in sundry like places, but found no more corn, nor any thing else but graves.

There was variety of opinions amongst us about the embalmed person. Some thought it was an Indian lord & king. Others said the Indians have all black hair, & never any was seen with brown or yellow hair. Some thought it was a Christian of some special note, which had died amongst them, & they thus buried him to honor him. Others thought they had killed him, & did it in triumph over him.

Whilst we were thus ranging & searching, two of the sailors, which were newly come on the shore, by chance espied two houses which had been lately dwelt in, but the people were gone. They, having their pieces & hearing nobody, entered the house & took out some things, & durst not stay but came again & told us. So some seven or eight of us went with them, & found how we had gone within a flight shot of them before. The houses were made with long young sapling trees, bended & both ends stuck into the ground. They were made round, like unto an arbor, & covered down to the ground with thick & well wrought mats, & the door was not over a yard high, made of a mat to open. The chimney was a wide open hole in the top, for which they had a mat to cover it close when they pleased. One might stand & go upright in them. In the midst of them were four little trunches knocked into the ground, & small sticks laid over, on which they hung their pots, & what they had to seethe. Round about the fire they lay on mats, which are their beds. The houses were double matted, for as they were matted without, so were they within, with newer & fairer mats. In the houses we found wooden bowls, trays & dishes, earthen pots, handbaskets made of crabshells wrought together, also an English pail or bucket; it wanted a bail, but it had two iron ears. There was also baskets of sundry sorts, bigger & some lesser, finer & some coarser; some were curiously wrought with black & white in pretty works, & sundry other of their household stuff. We found also two or three deer's heads, one whereof had been newly killed, for it was still fresh. There was also a company of deer's feet stuck up in the houses, harts' horns, & eagles' claws, & sundry such like things there was, also two or three baskets full of parched acorns, pieces of fish, & a piece of a broiled herring. We found also a little silk grass, & a little tobacco seed, with some other seeds which we knew not. Without was sundry bundles of flags, & sedge, bulrushes, & other stuff to make mats. There was thrust into a hollow tree two or three pieces of venison, but we thought it fitter for the dogs than for us. Some of the best things we took away with us, & left the houses standing still as they were.

So it growing towards night, & the tide almost spent, we hasted with our things down to the shallop, & got aboard that night, intending to have brought some beads & other things to have left in the houses, in sign of peace & that we meant to truck with them, but it was not done, by means of our hasty coming away from Cape Cod. But so soon as we can meet conveniently with them, we will give them full satisfaction. Thus much of our second discovery.

Having thus discovered this place, it was controversial amongst us what to do touching our abode & settling there; some thought it best, for many reasons, to abide there. As first, that there was a convenient harbor for boats, though not for ships. Secondly, good corn-ground ready to our hands, as we saw by experience in the goodly corn it yielded, which would agree with the ground, & be natural seed for the same. Thirdly, Cape Cod was like to be a place of good fishing, for we saw daily great whales of the best kind for oil & bone, come close aboard our ship, & in fair weather swim & play about us. There was once one, when the sun shone warm, came & lay above water as if she was been dead, for a good while together, within half a musket shot of the ship, at which two were prepared to shoot to see whether she would stir or no. He that gave fire first, his musket flew to pieces, both stock & barrel, yet, thanks be to God, neither he nor any man else was hurt with it, though many were about. But when the whale saw her time, she gave a snuff, & away. Fourthly, the place was likely to be healthful, secure, & defensible.

But the last & especial reason was, that now the heart of winter & unseasonable weather was come upon us, so that we could not go upon coasting & discovery without danger of losing men & boat, upon which would follow the overthrow of all, especially considering what variable winds & sudden storms do there arise. Also, cold & wet lodging had so tainted our people, for scarce any of us were free from vehement coughs, as if they should continue long in that estate it would endanger the lives of many, & breed diseases & infection amongst us. Again, we had yet some beer, butter, flesh, & other such victuals left, which would quickly be all gone, & then we should have nothing to comfort us in the great labor & toil we were like to undergo at the first. It was also conceived, whilst we had competent victuals, that the ship would stay with us, but when that grew low, they would be gone & let us shift as we could.

Others again, urged greatly the going to Anguum, or Angoum, a place twenty leagues off to the northwards, which they had heard to be an excellent harbor for ships, better ground, & better fishing. Secondly, for anything we knew, there might be hard by us a far better seat, & it should be a great hindrance to seat where we should remove again. Thirdly, the water was but in ponds, & it was thought there would be none in the summer, or very little. Fourthly, the water there must be fetched up a steep hill. But to omit many reasons & replies used hereabouts, it was in the end concluded to make some discovery within the bay, but in no case so far as Anguum. Besides, Robert Coppin, our pilot, made relation of a great navigable river & good harbor in the other headland of this bay, almost right over against Cape Cod, being in a right line not much above eight leagues distant, in which he had been once; & because that one of the wild men with whom they had some trucking stole a harping iron from them, they called it Thievish Harbor. And beyond that place they were enjoined not to go, whereupon a company was chosen to go out upon a third discovery. Whilst some were employed in this discovery, it pleased god that Mistress White was brought a-bed of a son, which was called Peregrine.

The 5th day, we, through God's mercy, escaped a great danger by the foolishness of a boy, one of Francis Billington's sons, who, in his father's absence, had got gunpowder & had shot a piece or two, & made squibs, & there being a fowling-piece charged in his father's cabin, shot her off in the cabin; there being a little barrel of powder half full, scattered in & about the cabin, the fire being within four feed of the bed between the decks, & many flints & iron things about the cabin, & many people about the fire, & yet, by God's mercy, no harm done.

Wednesday, the 6th of December, it was resolved our discoverers should set forth, for the day before was too foul weather, & so they did, though it was well o'er the day ere all things could be ready. So ten of our men were appointed who were of themselves willing to undertake it, to wit, Captain Standish, Master Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, John Tilley, Edward Tilley, John Howland, & three of London, Richard Warren, Stephen Hopkins, & Edward Doty, & two of our seamen, John Allerton & Thomas English. Of the ship's company there went two of the master's mates, Master Clarke & Master Coppin, the master gunner, & three sailors. The narration of which discovery follows, penned by one of the company.

Wednesday, the 6th of December, we set out, being very cold & hard weather. We were a long while after we launched from the ship before we could get clear of a sandy point which lay within less than a furlong of the same. In which time two were very sick, & Edward Tilley had like to have sounded with cold; the gunner also was sick unto death, (but hope of trucking made him to go), & so remained all that day & the next night. At length we got clear of the sandy point & got up our sails, & within an hour or two we got under the weather shore, & then had smoother water & better sailing, but it was very gold, for the water froze on our clothes & made them many times like coats of iron. We sailed six or seven leagues by the shore, but saw neither river nor creek; at length we met with a tongue of land, being flat off from the shore, with a sandy point. We bore up to gain the point, & found there a fair income or road of a bay, being a league over at the narrowest, & some two or three in length, but we made right over the land before us, & left the discovery of this income till the next day. As we drew near to the shore, we espied some ten or twelve Indians very busy about a black thing—what it was we could not tell—till afterwards they saw us, & ran to & fro as if they had been carrying something away. We landed a league or two from them, & had much ado to put ashore anywhere, it lay so full of flat sands. When we came to shore, we made us a barricade, & got firewood, & set out our sentinels, & betook us to our lodging, such as it was. We saw the smoke of the fire which the savages made that night, about four or five miles from us.

In the morning we divided our company, some eight in the shallop, & the rest on the shore went to discover this place, but we found it only to be a bay, without either river or creek coming into it. Yet we deemed it to be as good a harbor as Cape Cod, for they that sounded it found a ship might ride in five fathom water. We on the land found it to be a level soil, though none of the fruitfullest. We saw two becks of fresh water, which were the first running streams that we saw in the country, but one might stride over them. We found also a great fish, called a grampus, dead on the sands; they in the shallop found two of them also in the bottom of the bay, dead in like sort. They were cast up at high water, & could not get off for the frost & ice. They were some five or six paces long, & about two inches thick of fat, & fleshed like a swine; they would have yielded a great deal of oil if there had been time & means to have taken it. So we finding nothing for our turn, both we & our shallop returned.

We then directed our course along the sea sands, to the place where we first saw the Indians. When we were there, we saw it was also a grampus which they were cutting up; they cut it into long rands or pieces, about an ell long, & two handful broad. We found here & there a piece scattered by the way, as it seemed, for haste. This place the most were minded we should call the Grampus Bay, because we found so many of them there. We followed the track of the Indians' bare feet a good way on the sands; at length we saw where they struck into the woods by the side of a pond. As we went to view the place, one said he thought he saw an Indian house among the trees, so went up to see. And here we & the shallop lost sight one of another till night, it being now about nine or ten o'clock.

So we light on a path, but saw no house, & followed a great way into the woods. At length we found where corn had been set, but not that year. Anon we found a great burying place, one part whereof was encompassed with a large palisade, like a churchyard, with young spires for or five yards long, set as close one by another as they could, two or three feet in the ground. Within it was full of graves, some bigger & some less; some were also paled about, & others had like an Indian house made over them, but not matted. Those graves were more sumptuous than those at Cornhill, yet we digged none of them up, but only viewed them, & went our way. Without the palisade were graves also, but not so costly. From this place we went & found more corn-ground, but not of this year. As we ranged we light on four or five Indian houses, which had been lately dwelt in, but they were uncovered, & had no mats about them, else they were like those we found at Cornhill but had not been so lately dwelt in. There was nothing left but two or three pieces of old mats, & a little sedge. Also, a little further we found two baskets full of parched acorns hid in the ground, which we supposed had been corn when we began to dig the same; we cast earth thereon again & went our way. All this while we saw no people.

We went ranging up & down till the sun began to draw low, & then we hasted out of the woods, that we might come to our shallop, which when we were out of the woods, we espied a great way off, & called them to come unto us, which they did as soon as they could, for it was not yet high water. They were exceedingly glad to see us (for they feared because they had not seen us in so long a time), thinking we would have kept by the shore side. So being both weary & faint, for we had eaten nothing all that day, we fell to making our rendezvous & get firewood, which always costs us a great deal of labor. By that time we had done, & our shallop come to us, it was within night, & we fed upon such victuals as we had, & betook us to our rest, after we had set out our watch. About midnight we heard a great & hideous cry, & our sentinels called, "Arm! Arm!" So we bestirred ourselves & shot off a couple of muskets, & the noise ceased; we concluded that it was a company of wolves or foxes, for one told us he had heard such a noise in Newfoundland.

About five o'clock in the morning we began to be stirring, & two or three which doubted whether their pieces would go off or no made trial of them, & shot them off, but thought nothing at all. After prayer we prepared ourselves for breakfast & for a journey, & it being now the twilight in the morning, it was thought meet to carry the things down to the shallop. Some said it was not best to carry the armor down; others said they would be readier; two or three said they would not carry theirs till they went themselves, but mistrusting nothing at all. As it fell out, the water not being high enough, they laid the things down upon the shore & came up to breakfast. Anon, all upon a sudden, we heard a great & strange cry, which we knew to be the same voices, though they varied their notes. One of our company, being abroad, came running in & cried, "They are men! Indians! Indians!" & withal, their arrows came flying amongst us. Our men ran out with all speed to recover their arms, as by the good providence of God they did. In the meantime, Captain Miles Standish, having a snaphance ready, made a shot, & after him another. After they two had shot, other two of us were ready, but he wished us not to shoot till we could take aim, for we knew not what need we should have, & there were four only of us which had their arms there ready, & stood before the open side of our barricade, which was first assaulted. They thought it best to defend it, lest the enemy should take it & our stuff, & so have the more vantage against us. Our care was no less for the shallop, but we hoped all the rest would defend it; we called unto them to know how it was with them, & they answered, "Well! Well!" every one and, "Be of good courage!" We heard three of their pieces go off, & the rest called for a firebrand to light their matches. One took a log out of the fire on his shoulder & went & carried it unto them, which was thought did not a little discourage our enemies. The cry of our enemies was dreadful, especially when our men ran out to recover their arms; their note was after this manner, "Woach woach ha ha hach woach." Our men were no sooner come to their arms, but the enemy was ready to assault them.

There was a lusty man & no whit less valiant, who was thought to be their captain, stood behind a tree within half a musket shot of us, & there let his arrows fly at us. He was seen to shoot three arrows, which were all avoided, for he at whom the first arrow was aimed, saw it, & stooped down & it flew over him; the rest were avoided also. He stood three shots of a musket. At length one took, as he said, full aim at him, & after which he gave extraordinary cry & away they all went. We followed them about a quarter of a mile, but we left six to keep our shallop, for we were careful about our business. Then we shouted all together two several times, & shot off a couple of muskets & so returned; this we did that they might see we were not afraid of them nor discouraged.

Thus it pleased God to vanquish our enemies & give us deliverance. By their noise we could not guess that they were less than thirty or forty, though some thought that they were many more. Yet in the dark of the morning we could not so well discern them among the trees, as they could see us by our fireside. We took up eighteen of their arrows which we have sent to England by Master Jones, some whereof were headed with brass, others with harts' horn, & others with eagles' claws. Many more no doubt were shot, for these we found were almost covered with leaves; yet, by the especial providence of God, none of them either hit or hurt us though many came close by us & on every side of us, & some coats which hung up in our barricade were shot through & through.

So after we had given God thanks for our deliverance, we took our shallop & went on our journey, & called this place, The First Encounter. From thence we intended to have sailed to the aforesaid Thievish Harbor, if we found no convenient harbor by the way. Having the wind good, we sailed all that day along the coast about fifteen leagues, but saw neither river nor creek to put into. After we had sailed an hour or two, it began to snow & rain, & to be bad weather. About the midst of the afternoon, the wind increased & the seas began to be very rough, & the hinges of the rudder broke so that we could steer no longer with it, but two men with much ado were fain to serve with a couple of oars. The seas were grown so great that we were much troubled & in great danger, & night grew on. Anon Master Coppin bade us be of good cheer; he saw the harbor. As we drew near, the gale being stiff & we bearing great sail to get in, split our mast in three pieces, & were like to have cast away our shallop. Yet, by God's mercy, recovering ourselves, we had the flood with us, & struck into the harbor.

Now he that thought that had been the place was deceived, it being a place where not any of us had been before, & coming into the harbor, he that was our pilot did bear up northward, which if we had continued we had been cast away. Yet still the Lord kept us, & we bore up for an island before us, & recovering of that island, being compassed about with many rocks, & dark night growing upon us, it pleased the Divine Providence that we fell upon a place of sandy ground, where our shallop did ride safe & secure all that night, & coming upon a strange island kept our watch all night in the rain upon that island. And in the morning we marched about it & found no inhabitants at all, & here we made our rendezvous all that day, being Saturday, 10th of December. On the Sabbath day we rested, & on Monday we sounded the harbor, & found it a very good harbor for our shipping. We marched also into the land, & found divers cornfields, & little running brooks, a place very good for situation, so we returned to our ship again with good news to the rest of our people, which did much comfort their hearts.

On the 15th day we weighed anchor, to go to the place we had discovered, & coming within two leagues of the land, we could not fetch the harbor, but were fain to put room again towards Cape Cod, our course lying west, & the wind was at northwest. But it pleased God that the next day, being Saturday the 16th day, the wind came fair & we put to sea again, & came safely into a safe harbor; & within half an hour the wind changed, so as if we had been letted but a little, we had gone back to Cape Cod.

This harbor is a bay greater than Cape Cod, compassed with a goodly land, & in the bay, two fine islands uninhabited, wherein are nothing but wood, oaks, pines, walnuts, beech, sassafras, vines, & other trees which we know not. This bay is a most hopeful place, innumerable store of fowl, & excellent good, & cannot but be of fish in their season; skote, cod, turbot, & herring, we have tasted of, abundance of mussels the greatest & best that ever we saw; crabs & lobsters, in their time infinite. It is in fashion like a sickle or fish-hook.

Monday the 18th day, we went a-land, manned with the master of the ship & three or four of the sailors. We marched along the coast in the woods some seven or eight miles, but saw not an Indian nor an Indian house; only we found where formerly had been some inhabitants, & where they had planted their corn. We found not any navigable river, but four or five small running brooks of very sweet fresh water, that all run into the sea. The land for the crust of the earth is, a spit's depth, excellent black mould, & fat in some places, two or three great oaks but not very thick, pines, walnuts, beech, ash, birch, hazel, holly, asp, sassafras in abundance, & vines everywhere, cherry trees, plum trees, & many other which we know not. Many kinds of herbs we found here in winter, as strawberry leaves innumerable, sorrel, yarrow, carvel, brooklime, liverwort, watercresses, great store of leeks & onions, & an excellent strong kind of flax & hemp. Here is sand, gravel, & excellent clay, no better in the world, excellent for pots, & will wash like soap, & great store of stone, though somewhat soft, & the best water that ever we drank, & the brooks now begin to be full of fish. That night, many being weary with marching, we went aboard again.

The next morning, being Tuesday the 19th of December, we went again to discover further; some went on land, & some in the shallop. The land we found as the former day we did, & we found a creek, & went up three English miles. A very pleasant river, at full sea a bark of thirty tons may go up, but at low water scarce our shallop could pass. This place we had a great liking to plant in, but that it was so far from our fishing, our principal profit, & so encompassed with woods that we should be in much danger of the savages, & our number being so little, & so much ground to clear, so as we thought good to quit & clear that place till we were of more strength. Some of us having a good mind for safety to plant in the greater isle, we crossed the bay which is there five or six miles over, & found the isle about a mile & a half or two miles about, all wooded, & no fresh water but two or three pits, that we doubted of fresh water in summer, & so full of wood as we could hardly clear so much as to serve us for corn. Besides, we judged it cold for our corn, & some part very rocky, yet divers thought of it as a place defensible, & of great security.

That night we returned again a-shipboard, with resolution the next morning to settle on some of those places; so in the morning, after we had called on God for direction, we came to this resolution: to go presently ashore again, & to take a better view of two places, which we thought most fitting for us, for we could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beer, & it being now the 19th of December. After our landing & viewing of the places, so well as we could we came to a conclusion, by most voices, to set on the mainland, on the first place, on a high ground, where there is a great deal of land cleared, & hath been planted with corn three or four years ago, & there is a very sweet brook runs under the hillside, & many delicate springs of as good water as can be drunk, & where we may harbor our shallops & boats exceedingly well, & in this brook much good fish in their seasons; on the further side of the river also much corn-ground cleared. In one field is a great hill on which we point to make a platform & plant our ordnance, which will command all round about. From thence we may see into the bay, & far into the sea, & we may see thence Cape Cod. Our greatest labor will be fetching of our wood, which is half a quarter of an English mile, but there is enough so far off. What people inhabit here we yet know not, for as yet we have seen none. So there we made our rendezvous, & a place for some of our people, about twenty, resolving in the morning to come all ashore & to build houses.

But the next morning, being Thursday the 21st of December, it was stormy & wet, that we could not go ashore, & those that remained there all night could do nothing, but were wet, not having daylight enough to make them a sufficient court of guard to keep them dry. All that night it blew & rained extremely; it was so tempestuous that the shallop could not go on land so soon as was meet, for they had no victuals on land. About eleven o'clock the shallop went off with much ado with provision, but could not return; it blew so strong & was such foul weather that we were forced to let fall our anchor & ride with three anchors ahead.

Friday, the 22nd, the storm still continued, that we could not get a-land nor they come to us aboard. This morning good-wife Allerton was delivered of a son, but dead born.

Saturday, the 23rd, so many of us as could, went on shore, felled & carried timber, to provide themselves stuff for building.

Sunday, the 24th, our people on shore heard a cry of some savages (as they thought) which caused an alarm, & to stand on their guard, expecting an assault, but all was quiet.

Monday, the 25th day, we went on shore, some to fell timber, some to saw, some to rive, & some to carry, so no man rested all that day. But towards night some, as they were at work, heard a noise of some Indians, which caused us all to go to our muskets, but we heard no further. So we came aboard again, & left some twenty to keep the court of guard. That night we had a sore storm of wind & rain.

Monday, the 25th day, we went on shore, some to fell drink water aboard, but at night the master caused us to have some beer, & so on board we had divers times now & then some beer, but on shore none at all.

Tuesday, the 26th, it was foul weather, that we could not go ashore.

Wednesday, the 27th, we went to work again.

Thursday, the 28th of December, so many as could went to work on the hill where we purposed to build our platform for our ordnance, & which doth command all the plain & the bay, & from whence we may see far into the sea, & might be easier impaled, having two rows of houses & a fair street. So in the afternoon we went to measure out the grounds, & first we took notice of how many families there were, willing all single men that had no wives to join with some family, as they thought fit, that so we might build fewer houses, which was done, & we reduced them to nineteen families. To greater families we allotted larger plots, to every person half a pole in breadth, & three in length, & so lots were cast where every man should lie, which was done, & staked out. We thought this proportion was large enough at the first for houses & gardens, to impale them round, considering the weakness of our people, many of them growing ill with cold, for our former discoveries in frost & storms, & the wading at Cape Cod had brought much weakness amongst us, which increased so every day more & more, & after was the cause of many of their deaths.

Friday & Saturday, we fitted ourselves for our labor, but our people on shore were much troubled & discouraged with rain & wet, that day being very stormy & cold. We saw great smokes of fire made by the Indians, about six or seven miles from us, as we conjectured.

Monday, the 1st of January, we went betimes to work. We were much hindered in lying so far off from the land, & fain to go as the tide served, that we lost much time, for our shop drew so much water that she lay a mile & almost a half off, though a ship of seventy or eighty tons at high water may come to the shore.

Wednesday, the 3rd of January, some of our people being abroad to get & gather thatch, they saw great fires of the Indians, & were at their corn-fields, yet saw none of the savages, nor had seen any of them since we came to this bay.

Thursday, the 4th of January, Captain Miles Standish with four or five more, went to see if they could meet with any of the savages in that place where the fires were made. They went to some of their houses, but not lately inhabited, yet could they not meet with any. As they came home, they shot at an eagle & killed her, which was excellent meat; it was hardly to be discerned from mutton.

Friday, the 5th of January, one of the sailors found alive upon the shore a herring, which the master had to his supper, which put us in hope of fish, but as yet we had got but one cod; we wanted small hooks.

Saturday, the 6th of January, Master Martin was very sick, & to our judgment no hope of life, so Master Carver was sent for to come aboard to speak with him about his accounts, who came the next morning.

Monday, the 8th day of January, was a very fair day, & we went betimes to work. Master Jones sent the shallop, as he had formerly done, to see where fish could be got. They had a great storm at sea, & were in some danger; at night they returned with three great seals & an excellent good cod, which did assure us that we should have plenty of fish shortly.

This day, Francis Billington, having the week before seen from the top of a tree on a high hill a great sea as he thought, went with one of the master's mates to see it. They went three miles & then came to a great water, divided into two great lakes, the bigger of them five or six miles in circuit, & in it an isle of a cable length square, the other three miles in compass; in their estimation they are fine fresh water, full of fish, & fowl. A brook issues from it; it will be an excellent help for us in time. They found seven or eight Indian houses, but not lately inhabited. When they saw the houses they were in some fear, for they were but two persons & one piece.

Tuesday, the 9th of January, was a remarkable fair day, & we went to labor that day in the building of our town, in two rows of houses for more safety. We divided by lot the plot of ground whereon to build our town. After the proportion formerly allotted, we agreed that every man should build his own house, thinking by that course men would make more haste than working in common. The common house, in which for the first we made our rendezvous, being near finished wanted only covering, it being about twenty feet square. Some should make mortar, & some gather thatch, so that in four days half of it was thatched. Frost & foul weather hindered us much, this time of the year seldom could we work half the week.

Thursday, the 11th, William Bradford being at work (for it was a fair day) was vehemently taken with a grief & pain, & so shot to his huckle-bone. It was doubted that he would have instantly died; he got cold in the former discoveries, especially the last, & felt some pain in his ankles by times, but he grew a little better towards night & in time, though God's mercy in the use of means, recovered.

Friday, the 12th, we went to work, but about noon it began to rain that it forced us to give over work.

This day two of our people put us in great sorrow & care; there was four sent to gather & cut thatch in the morning, & two of them, John Goodman & Peter Brown, having cut thatch all the forenoon, went to a further place, & willed the other two to bind up that which was cut & to follow them. So they did, being about a mile & a half from our plantation. But when the two came after, they could not find them, nor hear any thing of them at all, though they hallooed & shouted as loud as they could, so they returned to the company & told them of it. Whereupon Master Leaver & three or four more went to seek them, but could hear nothing of them, so they returning, sent more, but that night they could hear nothing at all of them. The next day they armed ten or twelve men out, verily thinking the Indians had surprised them. They went seeking seven or eight miles, but could neither see nor hear any thing at all, so they returned, with much discomfort to us all.

These two that were missed, at dinner time took their meat in their hands, & would go walk & refresh themselves. So going a little off they find a lake of water, & having a great mastiff bitch with them & a spaniel, by the water side they found a great deer; the dogs chased him, & they followed so far as they lost themselves & could not find the way back. They wandered all that afternoon being wet, & at night it did freeze & snow. They were slenderly appareled & had no weapons but each one his sickle, nor any victuals. They ranged up & down & could find none of the savages' habitations. When it drew to night they were much perplexed, for they could find neither harbor nor meat, but, in frost & snow were forced to make the earth their bed & the element their covering. And another thing did very much terrify them; they heard, as they thought, two lions roaring exceedingly for a long time together, & a third, that they thought was very near them. So not knowing what to do, they resolved to climb up into a tree as their safest refuge, though that would prove an intolerable cold lodging; so they stood at the tree's root, that when the lions came they might take their opportunity of climbing up. The bitch they were fain to hold by the neck, for she would have been gone to the lion; but it pleased God so to dispose, that the wild beasts came not. So they walked up & down under the tree all night; it was an extreme cold night. So soon as it was light they traveled again, passing by many lakes & brooks & woods, & in one place where the savages had burnt the space of five miles in length, which is a fine champaign country, & even. In the afternoon, it pleased God, from a high hill they discovered the two isles in the bay, & so that night got to the plantation, being ready to faint with travail & want of victuals, & almost famished with cold. John Goodman was fain to have his shoes cut off his feet they were so swelled with cold, & it was a long while after ere he was able to go; those on the shore were much comforted at their return, but they on the shipboard were grieved at deeming them lost.

But the next day, being the 14th of January, in the morning about six of the clock the wind being very great, they on shipboard spied their great new rendezvous on fire, which was to them a new discomfort, fearing because of the supposed loss of men, that the savages had fired them. Neither could they presently go to them, for want of water, but after three quarters of an hour they went, as they had purposed the day before to keep the Sabbath on shore, because now there was the greatest number of people. At their landing they heard good tidings of the return of the two men, & that the house was fired occasionally by a spark that flew into the thatch, which instantly burnt it all up but the roof stood & little hurt. The most loss was Master Carver's & William Bradford's, who then lay sick in bed, & if they had not risen with good speed, had been blown up with powder, but, though God's mercy, they had no harm. The house was as full of beds as they could lie one by another, & their muskets charged, but, blessed be God, there was no harm done.

Monday, the 15th day, it rained much all day, that they on shipboard could not go on shore, nor they on shore do any labor but were all wet.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, were very fair sunshiny days, as if it had been in April, & our people, so many as were in health, wrought cheerfully.

The 19th day we resolved to make a shed to put our common provisions in, of which some were already set on shore, but at noon it rained, that we could not work. This day in the evening, John Goodman went abroad to use his lame feet, that were pitifully ill with the cold he had got, having a little spaniel with him. A little way from the plantation two great wolves ran after the dog; the dog ran to him & betwixt his legs for succor. He had nothing in his hand but took up a stick, & threw at one of them & hit him, & they presently ran both away, but came again; he got a pale-board in his hand, & they sat both on their tails, grinning at him a good while, & went their way & left him.

Saturday, 20th, we made up our shed for our common goods.

Sunday, the 21st, we kept our meeting on land.

Monday, the 22nd, was a fair day. We w so little, & so much ground to clear, so as we thought good to quit & clear that place till we were of more strength. Some of us having a good mind for safety to plant in the greater isle, we crossed the bay which is there five or six miles over, & found the isle about a mile & a half or two miles about, all wooded, & no fresh water but two or three pits, that we doubted of fresh water in summer, & so full of wood as we could hardly clear so much as to serve us for corn. Besides, we judged it cold for our corn, & some part very rocky, yet divers thought of it as a place defensible, & of great security.

That night we returned again a-shipboard, with resolution the next morning to settle on some of those places; so in the morning, after we had called on God for direction, we came to this resolution: to go presently ashore again, & to take a better view of two places, which we thought most fitting for us, for we could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beer, & it being now the 19th of December. After our landing & viewing of the places, so well as we could we came to a conclusion, by most voices, to set on the mainland, on the first place, on a high ground, where there is a great deal of land cleared, & hath been planted with corn three or four years ago, & there is a very sweet brook runs under the hillside, & many delicate springs of as good water as can be drunk, & where we may harbor our shallops & boats exceedingly well, & in this brook much good fish in their seasons; on the further side of the river also much corn-ground cleared. In one field is a great hill on which we point to make a platform & plant our ordnance, which will command all round about. From thence we may see into the bay, & far into the sea, & we may see thence Cape Cod. Our greatest labor will be fetching of our wood, which is half a quarter of an English mile, but there is enough so far off. What people inhabit here we yet know not, for as yet we have seen none. So there we made our rendezvous, & a place for some of our people, about twenty, resolving in the morning to come all ashore & to build houses.

But the next morning, being Thursday the 21st of December, it was stormy & wet, that we could not go ashore, & those that remained there all night could do nothing, but were wet, not having daylight enough to make them a sufficient court of guard to keep them dry. All that night it blew & rained extremely; it was so tempestuous that the shallop could not go on land so soon as was meet, for they had no victuals on land. About eleven o'clock the shallop went off with much ado with provision, but could not return; it blew so strong & was such foul weather that we were forced to let fall our anchor & ride with three anchors ahead.

Friday, the 22nd, the storm still continued, that we could not get a-land nor they come to us aboard. This morning good-wife Allerton was delivered of a son, but dead born.

Saturday, the 23rd, so many of us as could, went on shore, felled & carried timber, to provide themselves stuff for building.

Sunday, the 24th, our people on shore heard a cry of some savages (as they thought) which caused an alarm, & to stand on their guard, expecting an assault, but all was quiet.

Monday, the 25th day, we went on shore, some to fell timber, some to saw, some to rive, & some to carry, so no man rested all that day. But towards night some, as they were at work, heard a noise of some Indians, which caused us all to go to our muskets, but we heard no further. So we came aboard again, & left some twenty to keep the court of guard. That night we had a sore storm of wind & rain.

Monday, the 25th day, we went on shore, some to fell drink water aboard, but at night the master caused us to have some beer, & so on board we had divers times now & then some beer, but on shore none at all.

Tuesday, the 26th, it was foul weather, that we could not go ashore.

Wednesday, the 27th, we went to work again.

Thursday, the 28th of December, so many as could went to work on the hill where we purposed to build our platform for our ordnance, & which doth command all the plain & the bay, & from whence we may see far into the sea, & might be easier impaled, having two rows of houses & a fair street. So in the afternoon we went to measure out the grounds, & first we took notice of how many families there were, willing all single men that had no wives to join with some family, as they thought fit, that so we might build fewer houses, which was done, & we reduced them to nineteen families. To greater families we allotted larger plots, to every person half a pole in breadth, & three in length, & so lots were cast where every man should lie, which was done, & staked out. We thought this proportion was large enough at the first for houses & gardens, to impale them round, considering the weakness of our people, many of them growing ill with cold, for our former discoveries in frost & storms, & the wading at Cape Cod had brought much weakness amongst us, which increased so every day more & more, & after was the cause of many of their deaths.

Friday & Saturday, we fitted ourselves for our labor, but our people on shore were much troubled & discouraged with rain & wet, that day being very stormy & cold. We saw great smokes of fire made by the Indians, about six or seven miles from us, as we conjectured.

Monday, the 1st of January, we went betimes to work. We were much hindered in lying so far off from the land, & fain to go as the tide served, that we lost much time, for our shop drew so much water that she lay a mile & almost a half off, though a ship of seventy or eighty tons at high water may come to the shore.

Wednesday, the 3rd of January, some of our people being abroad to get & gather thatch, they saw great fires of the Indians, & were at their corn-fields, yet saw none of the savages, nor had seen any of them since we came to this bay.

Thursday, the 4th of January, Captain Miles Standish with four or five more, went to see if they could meet with any of the savages in that place where the fires were made. They went to some of their houses, but not lately inhabited, yet could they not meet with any. As they came home, they shot at an eagle & killed her, which was excellent meat; it was hardly to be discerned from mutton.

Friday, the 5th of January, one of the sailors found alive upon the shore a herring, which the master had to his supper, which put us in hope of fish, but as yet we had got but one cod; we wanted small hooks.

Saturday, the 6th of January, Master Martin was very sick, & to our judgment no hope of life, so Master Carver was sent for to come aboard to speak with him about his accounts, who came the next morning.

Monday, the 8th day of January, was a very fair day, & we went betimes to work. Master Jones sent the shallop, as he had formerly done, to see where fish could be got. They had a great storm at sea, & were in some danger; at night they returned with three great seals & an excellent good cod, which did assure us that we should have plenty of fish shortly.

This day, Francis Billington, having the week before seen from the top of a tree on a high hill a great sea as he thought, went with one of the master's mates to see it. They went three miles & then came to a great water, divided into two great lakes, the bigger of them five or six miles in circuit, & in it an isle of a cable length square, the other three miles in compass; in their estimation they are fine fresh water, full of fish, & fowl. A brook issues from it; it will be an excellent help for us in time. They found seven or eight Indian houses, but not lately inhabited. When they saw the houses they were in some fear, for they were but two persons & one piece.

Tuesday, the 9th of January, was a remarkable fair day, & we went to labor that day in the building of our town, in two rows of houses for more safety. We divided by lot the plot of ground whereon to build our town. After the proportion formerly allotted, we agreed that every man should build his own house, thinking by that course men would make more haste than working in common. The common house, in which for the first we made our rendezvous, being near finished wanted only covering, it being about twenty feet square. Some should make mortar, & some gather thatch, so that in four days half of it was thatched. Frost & foul weather hindered us much, this time of the year seldom could we work half the week.

Thursday, the 11th, William Bradford being at work (for it was a fair day) was vehemently taken with a grief & pain, & so shot to his huckle-bone. It was doubted that he would have instantly died; he got cold in the former discoveries, especially the last, & felt some pain in his ankles by times, but he grew a little better towards night & in time, though God's mercy in the use of means, recovered.

Friday, the 12th, we went to work, but about noon it began to rain that it forced us to give over work.

This day two of our people put us in great sorrow & care; there was four sent to gather & cut thatch in the morning, & two of them, John Goodman & Peter Brown, having cut thatch all the forenoon, went to a further place, & willed the other two to bind up that which was cut & to follow them. So they did, being about a mile & a half from our plantation. But when the two came after, they could not find them, nor hear any thing of them at all, though they hallooed & shouted as loud as they could, so they returned to the company & told them of it. Whereupon Master Leaver & three or four more went to seek them, but could hear nothing of them, so they returning, sent more, but that night they could hear nothing at all of them. The next day they armed ten or twelve men out, verily thinking the Indians had surprised them. They went seeking seven or eight miles, but could neither see nor hear any thing at all, so they returned, with much discomfort to us all.

These two that were missed, at dinner time took their meat in their hands, & would go walk & refresh themselves. So going a little off they find a lake of water, & having a great mastiff bitch with them & a spaniel, by the water side they found a great deer; the dogs chased him, & they followed so far as they lost themselves & could not find the way back. They wandered all that afternoon being wet, & at night it did freeze & snow. They were slenderly appareled & had no weapons but each one his sickle, nor any victuals. They ranged up & down & could find none of the savages' habitations. When it drew to night they were much perplexed, for they could find neither harbor nor meat, but, in frost & snow were forced to make the earth their bed & the element their covering. And another thing did very much terrify them; they heard, as they thought, two lions roaring exceedingly for a long time together, & a third, that they thought was very near them. So not knowing what to do, they resolved to climb up into a tree as their safest refuge, though that would prove an intolerable cold lodging; so they stood at the tree's root, that when the lions came they might take their opportunity of climbing up. The bitch they were fain to hold by the neck, for she would have been gone to the lion; but it pleased God so to dispose, that the wild beasts came not. So they walked up & down under the tree all night; it was an extreme cold night. So soon as it was light they traveled again, passing by many lakes & brooks & woods, & in one place where the savages had burnt the space of five miles in length, which is a fine champaign country, & even. In the afternoon, it pleased God, from a high hill they discovered the two isles in the bay, & so that night got to the plantation, being ready to faint with travail & want of victuals, & almost famished with cold. John Goodman was fain to have his shoes cut off his feet they were so swelled with cold, & it was a long while after ere he was able to go; those on the shore were much comforted at their return, but they on the shipboard were grieved at deeming them lost.

But the next day, being the 14th of January, in the morning about six of the clock the wind being very great, they on shipboard spied their great new rendezvous on fire, which was to them a new discomfort, fearing because of the supposed loss of men, that the savages had fired them. Neither could they presently go to them, for want of water, but after three quarters of an hour they went, as they had purposed the day before to keep the Sabbath on shore, because now there was the greatest number of people. At their landing they heard good tidings of the return of the two men, & that the house was fired occasionally by a spark that flew into the thatch, which instantly burnt it all up but the roof stood & little hurt. The most loss was Master Carver's & William Bradford's, who then lay sick in bed, & if they had not risen with good speed, had been blown up with powder, but, though God's mercy, they had no harm. The house was as full of beds as they could lie one by another, & their muskets charged, but, blessed be God, there was no harm done.

Monday, the 15th day, it rained much all day, that they on shipboard could not go on shore, nor they on shore do any labor but were all wet.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, were very fair sunshiny days, as if it had been in April, & our people, so many as were in health, wrought cheerfully.

The 19th day we resolved to make a shed to put our common provisions in, of which some were already set on shore, but at noon it rained, that we could not work. This day in the evening, John Goodman went abroad to use his lame feet, that were pitifully ill with the cold he had got, having a little spaniel with him. A little way from the plantation two great wolves ran after the dog; the dog ran to him & betwixt his legs for succor. He had nothing in his hand but took up a stick, & threw at one of them & hit him, & they presently ran both away, but came again; he got a pale-board in his hand, & they sat both on their tails, grinning at him a good while, & went their way & left him.

Saturday, 20th, we made up our shed for our common goods.

Sunday, the 21st, we kept our meeting on land.

Monday, the 22nd, was a fair day. We wrought on our houses, & in the afternoon carried up our hogshead of meal to our common storehouse. The rest of the week we followed our business likewise.

Monday, the 29th, in the morning cold frost & sleet, but after reasonable fair; both the long-boat & the shallop brought our common goods on shore.

Tuesday & Wednesday, 30th & 31st of January, cold frosty weather & sleet, that we could not work. In the morning the master & others saw two savages that had been on the island near our ship. What they came for we could not tell; they were going so far back again before they were descried, that we could not speak with them.

Sunday, the 4th of February, was very wet & rainy, with the greatest gusts of wind that ever we had since we came forth, that though we rid in a very good harbor, yet we were in danger, because our ship was light, the goods taken out, & she unballasted; & it caused much daubing of our houses to fall down.

Friday, the 9th, still the cold weather continued, that we could do little work. That afternoon our little house for our sick people was set on fire by a spark that kindled in the roof, but no great harm was done. That evening, the master going ashore, killed five geese, which he friendly distributed among the sick people. He found also a good deer killed; the savages had cut off the horns, & a wolf was eating of him; how he came there we could not conceive.

Friday, the 16th, was a fair day, but the northerly wind continued, which continued the frost. This day after noon one of our people being a-fowling, & having taken a stand by a creek-side in the reeds, about a mile & a half from our plantation, there came by him twelve Indians marching towards our plantation, & in the woods he heard the noise of many more. He lay close till they were passed, & then with what speed he could he went home & gave the alarm, so the people abroad in the woods returned & armed themselves, but saw none of them; only toward the evening they made a great fire, about the place where they were first discovered. Captain Miles Standish & Francis Cook, being at work in the woods, coming home, left their tools behind them, but before they returned their tools were taken away by the savages. This coming of the savages gave us occasion to keep more strict watch, & to make our pieces & furniture ready, which by the moisture & rain were out of temper.

Saturday, the 17th day, in the morning we called a meeting for the establishing of military orders among ourselves, & we chose Miles Standish our captain, & gave him authority of command in affairs. And as we were in consultation hereabouts, two savages presented themselves upon the top of a hill, over against our plantation, about a quarter of a mile & less, & made signs unto us to come unto them; we likewise made signs unto them to come to us, whereupon we armed ourselves, & stood ready, & sent two over the brook towards them, to wit, Captain Standish & Stephen Hopkins, who went towards them. Only one of them had a musket, which they laid down on the ground in their sight, in sign of peace, & to parley with them, but the savages would not tarry their coming. A noise of a great many more was heard behind the hill but no more came in sight. This caused us to plant our great ordnance in places most convenient.

Wednesday, the 21st of February, the master came on shore with many of his sailors, & brought with him one of the great pieces, called a minion, & helped us to draw it up the hill, with another piece that lay on shore, & mounted them, & a saller, & two bases. He brought with him a very fat goose to eat with us, & we had a fat crane, & a mallard, & a dried neat's tongue, & so we were kindly & friendly together.

Saturday, the 3rd of March, the wind was south, the morning misty, but towards noon warm & fair; the birds sang in the woods most pleasantly. At one of the clock it thundered, which was the first we heard in that country; it was strong & great clasps, but short, but after an hour it rained very sadly till midnight.

Wednesday, the 7th of March, the wind was full east, cold, but fair. That day Master Carver with five others went to the great pond, which seem to be excellent fishing places; all the way they went they found it exceedingly beaten & haunted with deer, but they saw none. Amongst other fowl, they saw one a milk-white fowl, with a very black head. This day some garden seeds were sown.

Friday, the 16th, a fair warm day towards; this morning we determined to conclude of the military orders, which we had begun to consider of before but were interrupted by the savages, as we mentioned formerly. And whilst we were busied hereabout, we were interrupted again, for there presented himself a savage, which caused an alarm. He very boldly came all alone & along the houses straight to the rendezvous, where we intercepted him, not suffering him to go in, as undoubtedly he would, out of his boldness. He saluted us in England, & bade us welcome, for he had learned some broken English among the Englishmen that came to fish at Monchiggon, & knew by name the most of the captains, commanders, & masters that usually came. He was a man free in speech, so far as he could express his mind, & of a seemly carriage. We questioned him of many things; he was the fist savage we could meet withal. He said he was not of these parts, but of Morattiggon, & one of the sagamores or lords thereof, & had been eight months in these parts, it lying hence a day's sail with a great wind, & five days by land. He discoursed of the whole country, & of every province, & of their sagamores, & their number of men, & strength. The wind being to rise a little, we cast a horseman's coat about him, for he was stark naked, only a leather about his waist, with a fringe about a span long, or little more; he had a bow & two arrows, the one headed, & the other unheaded. He was a tall straight man, the hair of his head black, long behind, only short before, none on his face at all; he asked some beer, but we gave him strong water & biscuit, & butter, & cheese, & pudding, & a piece of mallard, all which he liked well, & had been acquainted with such amongst the English. He told us the place where we now live is called Patuxet, & that about four years ago all the inhabitants died of an extraordinary plague, & there is neither man, woman, nor child remaining, as indeed we have found none, so as there is none to hinder our possession, or to lay claim unto it. All the afternoon we spent in communication with him; we would gladly have been rid of him at night, but he was not willing to go this night. Then we thought to carry him on shipboard, wherewith he was well content, & went into the shallop, but the wind was high & the water scant, that it could not return back. We lodged him that night at Stephen Hopkin's house, & watched him.

The next day he went away back to the Massasoits, from whence he said he came, who are our next bordering neighbors. They are sixty strong, as he saith. The Nausets are as near southeast of them, & are a hundred strong, & those were they of whom our people were encountered, as before related. They are much incensed & provoked against the English, & about eight months ago slew three Englishmen, & two more hardly escaped by flight to Monchiggon; they were Sir Ferdinando Gorges his men, as this savage told us, as he did likewise of the huggery, that is, fight, that our discoverers had with the Nausets, & of our tools that were taken out of the woods, which we willed him should be brought again, otherwise, we would right ourselves. These people are ill affected towards the English, by reason of one Hunt, a master of a ship, who deceived the people, & got them under color of trucking with them, twenty out of this very place where we inhabit, & seven men from Nauset, & carried them away, & sold them for slaves like a wretched man (for twenty pound a man) that cares not what mischief he doth for his profit.

Saturday, in the morning we dismissed the savage, & gave him a knife, a bracelet, & a ring; he promised within a night or two to come again, & to bring with him some of the Massasoits, our neighbors, with such beavers' skins as they had to truck with us.

Saturday & Sunday, reasonable fair days. On this day came again the savage, & brought with him five other tall proper men; they had every man a deer's skin on him, & the principal of them had a wild cat's skin, or such like on the one arm. They had most of them long hosen up to their groins, close made; & above their groins to their waist another leather, they were altogether like the Irish-trousers. They are of a complexion like our English gypsies, no hair or very little on their faces, on the heads long hair to their shoulders, only cut before, some trussed up before with a feather, broad-wise, like a fan, another a fox tail hanging out. These left (according to our charge given him before) their bows & arrows a quarter of a mile from our town. We gave them entertainment as we thought was fitting them; they did eat liberally of our English victuals. They made semblance unto us of friendship & amity; they sang & danced after their manner, like antics. They brought with them in a thing like a bow-case (which the principal of them had about his waist) a little of their corn pounded to powder, which, put to a little water, they eat. He had a little tobacco in a bag, but none of them drank but when he listed. Some of them had their faces painted black, from the forehead to the chin, four or five fingers broad; others after other fashions, as they liked. They brought three or four skins, but we would not truck with them at all that day, but wished them to bring more, & we would truck for all, which they promised within a night or two, & would leave these behind them, though we were not willing they should, & they brought us all our tools again which were taken in the woods, in our men's absence. So because of the day we dismissed them so soon as we could. But Samoset, our first acquaintance, either was sick, or feigned himself so, & would not go with them, & stayed with us till Wednesday morning. Then we sent him to them, to know the reason they came not according to their words, & we gave him a hat, a pair of stockings & shoes, a shirt, & a piece of cloth to tie about his waist.

The Sabbath day, when we sent them from us, we gave every one of them some trifles, especially the principal of them. We carried them along with our arms to the place where they left their bows & arrows, whereat they were amazed, & two of them began to slink away, but that the other called them. When they took their arrows, we bade them farewell, & they were glad, & so with many thanks given us they departed, with promise they would come again.

Monday & Tuesday proved fair days; we digged our grounds, & sowed our garden seeds.

Wednesday a fine warm day, we sent away Samoset.

That day we had again a meeting to conclude of laws & orders for ourselves, & to confirm those military orders that were formerly propounded & twice broken off by the savages' coming, but so we were again the third time, for after we had been an hour together on the top of the hill over against us two or three savages presented themselves, that made semblance of daring us, as we thought. So Captain Standish with another, with their muskets went over to them, with two of the master's mates that follow them without arms, having two muskets with them. They whetted & rubbed their arrows & strings, & made show of defiance, but when our men drew near them, they ran away; thus were we again interrupted by them. This day with much ado we got our carpenter that had been long sick of the scurvy, to fit our shallop, to fetch all from aboard.

Thursday, the 22nd of March, was a very fair warm day. About noon we met again about our public business, but we had scarce been an hour together, but Samoset came again, & Tisquantum, the only native of Patuxet, where we now inhabit, who was one of the twenty captives that by Hunt were carried away, & had been in England, & dwelt in Cornhill with Master John Slanie, a merchant, & could speak a little English, with three others, & they brought with them some few skins to truck, & some red herrings newly taken & dried, but not salted, & signified unto us, that their great sagamore Massasoit was hard by, with Quadequina his brother, & all their men. They could not well express in English what they would, but after an hour the king came to the top of a hill over against us, & had in his train sixty men, that we could well behold them & they us. We were not willing to send our governor to them, & they unwilling to come to us, so Tisquantum went again unto him, who brought word that we should send one to parley with him, which we did, which was Edward Winslow, to know his mind, & to signify the mind & will of our governor, which was to have trading & peace with him. We sent to the king a pair of knives, & a copper chain with a jewel at it. To Quadequina we sent likewise a knife & a jewel to hang in his ear, & withal a pot of strong water, a good quantity of biscuit, & some butter, which were all willingly accepted.

Our messenger made a speech unto him, that King James saluted him with words of love & peace, & did accept of him as his friend & ally, & that our governor desired to see him & to truck with him, & to confirm a peace with him, as his next neighbor. He liked well of the speech & heard it attentively, though the interpreters did not well express it. After he had eaten & drunk himself, & given the rest to his company, he looked upon our messenger's sword & armor which he had on, with intimation of his desire to buy it, but on the other side, our messenger showed his unwillingness to part with it. In the end he left him in the custody of Quadequina his brother, & came over the brook, & some twenty men following him, leaving all their bows & arrows behind them. We kept six or seven as hostages for our messenger; Captain Standish & Master Williamson met the king at the brook, with half a dozen musketeers. They saluted him & he them, so one going over, the one on the one side, & the other on the other, conducted him to a house then in building, where we placed a green rug & three or four cushions. Then instantly came our governor with drum & trumpet after him, & some few musketeers. After salutations, our governor kissing his hand, the king kissed him, & so they sat down. The governor called for some strong water, & drunk to him, & he drunk a great draught that made him sweat all the while after; he called for a little fresh meat, which the king did eat willingly, & did give his followers. Then they treated of peace, which was:

1. That neither he nor any of his should injure or do hurt to any of our people.

2. And if any of his did hurt to any of ours, he should send the offender, that we might punish him.

3. That if any of our tools were taken away when our people are at work, he should cause them to be restored, & if ours did any harm to any of his, we would do the likewise to them.

4. If any did unjustly war against him, we would aid him; if any did war against us, he should aid us.

5. He should send to his neighbor confederates, to certify them of this, that they might not wrong us, but might be likewise comprised in the conditions of peace.

6. That when their men came to us, they should leave their bows & arrows behind them, as we should do our pieces when we came to them.

Lastly, that doing thus, King James would esteem of him as his friend & ally.

All which the king seemed to like well, & it was applauded of his followers; all the while he sat by the governor he trembled for fear. In his person he is a very lusty man, in his best years, an able body, grave of countenance, & spare of speech. In his attire little or nothing differing from the rest of his followers, only in a great chain of white bone beads about his neck, & at it being his neck hangs a little bag of tobacco, which he drank & gave us to drink; his face was painted with a sad red like murry, & oiled both head & face, that he looked greasily. All his followers likewise, were in their faces, in part or in whole painted, some black, some red, some yellow, & some white, some with crosses, & other antic works; some had skins on them, & some naked, all strong, tall, all men in appearance.

So after all was done, the governor conducted him to the brook, & there they embraced each other & he departed; we diligently keeping our hostages, we expected our messenger's coming, but anon, word was brought us that Quadequina was coming, & our messenger was stayed till his return, who presently came & a troop with him, so likewise we entertained him, & conveyed him to the place prepared. He was very fearful of our pieces, & made signs of dislike, that they should be carried away, whereupon commandment was given they should be laid away. He was a very proper tall young man, of a very modest & seemly countenance, & he did kindly like of our entertainment, so we conveyed him likewise as we did the king, but divers of their people stayed still. When he was returned, then they dismissed our messenger. Two of his people would have stayed all night, but we would not suffer it. One thing I forgot, the king had in his bosom, hanging in a string, a great long knife; he marveled much at our trumpet, & some of his men would sound it as well as they could. Samoset & Tisquantum, they stayed all night with us, & the king & all his men lay all night in the woods, not above half an English mile from us, & all their wives & women with them. They said that within eight or nine days they would come & set corn on the other side of the brook, & dwell there all summer, which is hard by us. That night we kept good watch, but there was no appearance of danger.

The next morning divers of their people came over to us, hoping to get some victuals as we imagined; some of them told us the king would have some of us come see him. Captain Standish & Isaac Allerton went venturously, who were welcomed of him after their manner: he gave them three or four ground-nuts, & some tobacco. We cannot yet conceive but that he is willing to have peace with us, for they have seen our people sometimes alone two or three in the woods at work & fowling, when as they offered them no harm as they might easily have done, & especially because he hath a potent adversary the Narragansets, that are at war with him, against whom he thinks we may be some strength to him, for our pieces are terrible unto them. This morning they stayed till ten or eleven of the clock, & our governor bid them send the king's kettle, & filled it full of peas, which pleased them well, & so they went their way.

Friday was a fair day; Samoset & Tisquantum still remained with us. Tisquantum went at noon to fish for eels; at night he came home with as many as he could well lift in one hand, which our people were glad of. They were fat & sweet; he trod them out with his feet, & so caught them with his hands without any other instrument.

This day we proceeded on with our common business, from which we had been so often hindered by the savages' coming, & concluding both of military orders & of some laws & orders as we thought behooveful for our present estate, & condition, & did likewise choose our governor for this year, which was Master John Carver, a man well approved amongst us.

Thanksgiving - 1621-31 Gov John Winthrop's Mixed Emotions

Governor Winthrop had a conflict of emotions about Thanksgiving. Even though the Thanksgiving that is celebrated on the last Thursday of November was proclaimed by Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637, to honor a massacre of Indigenous Peoples. The Governor, wrote that for “the next 100 years, every Thanksgiving Day ordained by a Governor was in honor of the bloody victory, thanking God that the battle had been won."

The 1st Pilgrim “Thanksgiving” meal in 1621 was an event celebrated between the immigrant Pilgrims & the Wampanoag, Pequot & Narragansett people. In fact, in October of 1621, survivors of their first winter in Turtle Island in North America, the Pilgrims who had a miserable crop that year invited a Native named Massaosit to their meal.  Massaosit followed the Indigenous tradition of equal sharing & invited many from his Nation. Much of the food brought to that meal was provided by the Natives, as they had much more of a bountiful harvest that year.

Ten years later, after often being separated from his wife by the Atlantic Ocean for 10 years, Margaret Winthrop (c. 1591-1647), the 3rd wife of John Winthrop, first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, celebrated a Thanksgiving full of love. 

During this long period of enforced separation that letters between them were written. Here both husband & wife put their love to God first, love of husband & wife second.  In Margaret Winthrop’s words “ I have many reasons to make me love thee, whereof I will name two, first because thou lovest God, & secondly because that thou lovest me.” Religious feeling exalted their mutual love & dignified it.

After her visiting husband had left England, Margaret Winthrop remained at Groton for more than a year, until he could make suitable preparation for her coming to North America. She arrived in Boston Nov. 4, 1631, in the ship Lyon, which brought a cargo of much-needed supplies for the winter. Her baby daughter, Anne, had died on the voyage.

“The like joy & manifestations of love had never been seen in New England,” John Winthrop wrote in his Journal. One week later, on Nov. 11, “We kept a day of thanksgiving at Boston.”

See:

Notable American Women edited by Edward T James, Janet Wilson James, Paul S Boyer, The Belknap Press of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1971

Some old Puritan love-letters: John and Margaret Winthrop, 1618-1638. Edited by Joseph Hopkins Twichell. Dodd, Mead and company, 1894.

1621 Plymouth Pilgrim Thanksgiving Menu

1899 The 1st Thanksgiving in 1621 by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris  Jean Leon Gerome Ferris !863-1930)  was an American painter best known for his series of 78 scenes from American history, entitled The Pageant of a Nation, the largest series of American historical paintings by a single artist.

What Was on the Menu at the First Thanksgiving?

By Megan Gambino in the Smithsonian November 21, 2011

Today, the traditional Thanksgiving dinner includes any number of dishes: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. But if one were to create a historically accurate feast, consisting of only those foods that historians are certain were served at the so-called “first Thanksgiving,” there would be slimmer pickings. “Wildfowl was there. Corn, in grain form for bread or for porridge, was there. Venison was there,” says Kathleen Wall. “These are absolutes.”

Two primary sources—the only surviving documents that reference the meal—confirm that these staples were part of the harvest celebration shared by the Pilgrims and Wampanoag at Plymouth Colony in 1621. Edward Winslow, an English leader who attended, wrote home to a friend: “Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others.”

William Bradford, the governor Winslow mentions, also described the autumn of 1621, adding, “And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion.”

But determining what else the colonists and Wampanoag might have eaten at the 17th-century feast takes some digging. To form educated guesses, Wall, a foodways culinarian at Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, studies cookbooks and descriptions of gardens from the period, archaeological remains such as pollen samples that might clue her in to what the colonists were growing.

Our discussion begins with the bird. Turkey was not the centerpiece of the meal, as it is today, explains Wall. Though it is possible the colonists and American Indians cooked wild turkey, she suspects that goose or duck was the wildfowl of choice. In her research, she has found that swan and passenger pigeons would have been available as well. “Passenger pigeons—extinct in the wild for over a century now—were so thick in the 1620s, they said you could hear them a quarter-hour before you saw them,” says Wall. “They say a man could shoot at the birds in flight and bring down 200. Small birds were often spit-roasted, while larger birds were boiled. “I also think some birds—in a lot of recipes you see this—were boiled first, then roasted to finish them off. Or things are roasted first and then boiled,” says Wall. “The early roasting gives them nicer flavor, sort of caramelizes them on the outside and makes the broth darker." It is possible that the birds were stuffed, though probably not with bread. (Bread, made from maize not wheat, was likely a part of the meal, but exactly how it was made is unknown.) The Pilgrims instead stuffed birds with chunks of onion and herbs. “There is a wonderful stuffing for goose in the 17th-century that is just shelled chestnuts,” says Wall. “I am thinking of that right now, and it is sounding very nice.” Since the first Thanksgiving was a three-day celebration, she adds, “I have no doubt whatsoever that birds that are roasted one day, the remains of them are all thrown in a pot and boiled up to make broth the next day. That broth thickened with grain to make a pottage.”

In addition to wildfowl and deer, the colonists and Wampanoag probably ate eels and shellfish, such as lobster, clams and mussels. “They were drying shellfish and smoking other sorts of fish,” says Wall. According to the culinarian, the Wampanoag, like most eastern woodlands people, had a “varied and extremely good diet.” The forest provided chestnuts, walnuts and beechnuts. “They grew flint corn (multicolored Indian corn), and that was their staple. They grew beans, which they used from when they were small and green until when they were mature,” says Wall. “They also had different sorts of pumpkins or squashes.”

As we are taught in school, the Indians showed the colonists how to plant native crops. “The English colonists plant gardens in March of 1620 and 1621,” says Wall. “We don’t know exactly what’s in those gardens. But in later sources, they talk about turnips, carrots, onions, garlic and pumpkins as the sorts of things that they were growing.”

Of course, to some extent, the exercise of reimagining the spread of food at the 1621 celebration becomes a process of elimination. “You look at what an English celebration in England is at this time. What are the things on the table? You see lots of pies in the first course and in the second course, meat and fish pies. To cook a turkey in a pie was not terribly uncommon,” says Wall. “But it is like, no, the pastry isn’t there.” The colonists did not have butter and wheat flour to make crusts for pies and tarts. (That’s right: No pumpkin pie!) “That is a blank in the table, for an English eye. So what are they putting on instead? I think meat, meat and more meat,” says Wall.

Meat without potatoes, that is. White potatoes, originating in South America, and sweet potatoes, from the Caribbean, had yet to infiltrate North America. Also, there would have been no cranberry sauce. It would be another 50 years before an Englishman wrote about boiling cranberries and sugar into a “Sauce to eat with. . . .Meat.” Says Wall: “If there was beer, there were only a couple of gallons for 150 people for three days.” She thinks that to wash it all down the English and Wampanoag drank water.

All this, naturally, begs a follow-up question. So how did the Thanksgiving menu evolve into what it is today? Wall explains that the Thanksgiving holiday, as we know it, took root in the mid-19th century. At this time, Edward Winslow’s letter, printed in a pamphlet called Mourt’s Relation, and Governor Bradford’s manuscript, titled Of Plimoth Plantation, were rediscovered and published. Boston clergyman Alexander Young printed Winslow’s letter in his Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers, and in the footnotes to the resurrected letter, he somewhat arbitrarily declared the feast the first Thanksgiving. (Wall and others at Plimoth Plantation prefer to call it “the harvest celebration in 1621.”) There was nostalgia for colonial times, and by the 1850s, most states and territories were celebrating Thanksgiving.

See:

Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving Recipes and History, from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie, Kathleen A. Curtin, Sandra L. Oliver and Plimoth Plantation [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2005.

American Heritage Cookbook and Illustrated History of American Eating & Drinking, Menus and Recipes, Helen McCully recipe editor [American Heritage Publishing Co.:New York] 1964 (p.416-417)

1621 Gossip 0n 4 Women who Cooked the 1st Puritan Thanksgiving

1899 painting, The 1st Puritan Thanksgiving 1621 by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris   Jean Leon Gerome Ferris !863-1930)  was an American painter best known for his series of 78 scenes from American history, entitled The Pageant of a Nation, the largest series of American historical paintings by a single artist.

Four Women Who Cooked the 1st Puritan Thanksgiving

The New England Historical Society conjectures that 4 women who cooked the 1st Puritan Thanksgiving probably didn’t feel all that thankful, when they learned there would be 90 guests, all Wampanoag men that their husbands may have invited , to eat with them.

They were the only women left after the 1st deadly winter that killed half of Plymouth Colony. They died of exhaustion, starvation, pneumonia, scurvy & cold. By springtime, 14 women had perished. The 4 women left managed to feed 143 people without kitchens, ovens, wheat, spices or butter.

Their dinner guests may have shown up unexpectedly, or...perhaps their menfolk had invited them to seal a peace deal. The meal itself – or rather meals, because they stayed for three days – served as more of a harvest celebration than a Thanksgiving.

The women faced another challenge: getting along with each other. Cooking for so many people required cooperation among the 4, who had different backgrounds & aspirations. They included a Saint, a Goodwife, a Traveler & a Troublemaker.

The colonists referred to themselves as “Saints” & “Strangers” or “Travelers.” The devout Saints wanted to separate from the Church of England & crossed the Atlantic for religious freedom. Strangers came for adventure & opportunity. That both Saints & Strangers signed the Mayflower Compact shows the inclusiveness of the colonists.

That 1st Puritan Thanksgiving was cooked by 2 Saints, Mary Brewster & Susanna Winslow, & 2 Strangers, Elizabeth Hopkins & Eleanor Billington. But they probably all deserved sainthood for cooking all that food. The men just “feasted & entertained,” according to one of their husbands.

Goodwife Susanna White Winslow had married Edward Winslow, had married Susanna in May, about 5 months earlier. He would serve as Plymouth’s governor & diplomat, & together they would prosper. So at 29, Susanna Winslow was a rising figure in the little colony...

Her 1st husband had a common name, & no one seems to really know which Englishman named William White boarded the Mayflower with her. Susanna & William brought their young son, Resolved, about 5 years old. Susanna was pregnant, & gave birth to their 2nd son, Peregrine, below decks on the Mayflower as it lay at anchor in Massachusetts Bay. Odd as “Resolved” & “Peregrine” may seem, their names were typical of the Puritans. They suggest Susanna was a Saint.

William died in February & another  wife Elizabeth Winslow died in March. Forty-eight days after Elizabeth died, Edward married Susanna. He brought to the union a daughter, Margaret, about 3 years old.

Edward & Susanna had practical & emotional reasons for marrying so soon after their spouses died. Martyn Whittock points out in Mayflower Lives, “Shared faith, shared history, mutual respect, &, no doubt, physical as well as emotional attraction drew them together. & there is plenty of evidence for loving physical union enhancing partnership in the godly marriages.”

A portrait of Edward Winslow suggests a happy marriage. In his hand he holds a letter. The last three lines read, “From your loving wife, Susanna.” The portrait was painted in 1651, 30 years after their wedding.

William Brewster's wife was Mary Brewster, who was a Saint. Puritans believed in social hierarchy, so one can easily guess who took charge of the cooking operation. Mary probably wished she had the help of her 2 daughters, Patience, 21, & Fear, 15, to cook for all those people. But the Brewsters left their daughters behind. They believed, like many of the colonists, that the weaker sex might not survive the journey. That Mary joined her husband tells us something about her grit, her courage & her deep religious faith.

The Brewsters did bring their two boys with them, Love & Wrestling, about 11 & 7 at the 1st Thanksgiving. They would have helped prepare the meal, along with little Resolved White & Margaret Winslow. Richard More, their 7-year-old servant, would have helped, too.

Young Richard had come with three siblings, all dead by the time of the 1st Thanksgiving. Known as one of the Mayflower Love Children, Richard’s legal father had sent the children to America, when he discovered he was not their biological father. Patience & Fear arrived in Plymouth a few years later, along with older brother Jonathan. Fear married another saint, Isaac Allerton.

Another female survivor was Elizabeth Hopkins, Traveler. Two years before boarding the Mayflower, Elizabeth Hopkins, married one of the most interesting Plymouth colonists, Stephen Hopkins. She was 33, he was a 36-year-old widower with 3 children. He had already survived a shipwreck in the Caribbean & taken part in the settlement of Jamestown before returning to England. His adventure as a castaway on a Caribbean island probably inspired Shakespeare to create the character Stephano in The Tempest.

Stephen, a rough-&-ready sort, planned to return to Virginia with his family. His family included Constance, 14, & Giles, 12, the t2 surviving children from his 1st marriage. Little Damaris was about three.  She probably hoped to have her baby on land, but crosswinds & storms extended the unpleasant Mayflower voyage. She gave birth to Oceanus in a dark, cramped berth below the decks of the gyrating vessel.

Stephen, though a Traveler, held a position of importance in the colony. Because of his time in Jamestown, he could hunt, & he knew about Native Americans. When the English-speaking Native American Samoset came to Plymouth, Elizabeth & Stephen put him up that night in their tiny house.

The house had at the very most three rooms, cramped quarters 4 adults, 3 children & the Hopkins’ 2 servants, Edward Doty & Edward Leister. The crowding probably didn’t help anyone’s temper. The 2 servants had fought & wounded each other in a sword-&-dagger duel a few months before that Thanksgiving...

 They would have 5 more children, run a tavern & occasionally get into trouble with the authorities. Stephen had to pay fines for allowing drinking & shuffleboard on Sunday, for overserving & for overcharging customers. But theirs seems to have been a successful partnership. When Stephen died in 1644 his will directed he be buried as close as possible to Elizabeth.

Eleanor Billington, on the other hand, was a troublemaker from a troublemaking family. The younger of her 2 sons, Francis, nearly burned down the Mayflower as it lay anchored in Plymouth Harrbor in December of 1620. He’d set off some homemade fireworks with his father’s gunpowder.

Eleanor had a hard time controlling her sons... Both tended to wander off unsupervised. In one case her older son John roamed into a camp of Nausets, who had clashed with the colonists upon their 1st arrival.

Gov. William Bradford described Eleanor’s husband, John Billington, as “a knave.” Billington contemptuously challenged Capt. Myles Standish’s orders during a militia drill in March 1621.Had he not begged forgiveness, the Plymouth authorities would have punished him. In 1630, he did get punished – hanged for murdering a neighbor. Bradford then described the Billingtons as one of the “profanest families among them.” He could not understand how the Pilgrims had allowed them to join them from London.

Eleanor Billington also caused trouble. In 1636, she went to the stocks & received a whipping for slandering another Plymouth citizen, John Doane.

Five teenaged girls survived the winter, & they would have worked alongside the 4 Thanksgiving cooks. Mary Chilton was 14 when she came ashore from the Mayflower, the 1st woman to set foot on Plymouth soil.

The oldest, Priscilla Mullins, at 19 had lost her mother, father & brother during the winter. She would soon marry John Alden after a courtship immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, their descendant. 

Constance Hopkins (13 or 14), Elizabeth Tilley (14 or 15) & Dorothy, an unnamed maidservant, perhaps 18 or 19, would have helped prepare the meal as well. They probably also had to keep an eye on the children, who included Bartholomew, Mary & Remember Allerton, Humility Cooper, Samuel Eaton & Desire Minter. The older ones would have helped.

Perhaps the teenagers minded fires, turned spits, carried water, plucked wildfowl or shucked shellfish. Maybe the lucky ones got the easy job of setting the tables – rough boards covered with cloth. They had just knives & spoons, as the 1st fork wouldn’t arrive in America until 1633. Tableware would have included pewter or wooden trenchers, tankards & lots & lots of napkins. Since they ate roast meat with their hands, napkins were a must.

While the women cooked, the men entertained their guests. They showed off their military drills for the Wampanoags. & theymight have played a version of football on the beach with the Natives, using a deerskin ball stuffed with deer hair.

At least they’d brought food. Bradford ordered 4 (probably including Stephen Hopkins) to shoot wildfowl. They blasted their muskets for the benefit of the Wampanoags, who outnumbered them.

They may have shot some turkey, but they most likely got duck, geese, swans & maybe even carrier pigeon. The women would have plucked, trimmed & trussed them, then spit-roasted the small birds & boiled the larger ones.

They may have stuffed the birds with onions & herbs from their garden, & maybe chestnuts from the woods. The next day, they would have taken the leftover meat & made a broth or a potage in their Dutch ovens.

The Wampanoags killed 5 deer & brought them as gifts. The women would have also cooked them on spits outdoors. Vegetables like corn, turnips, cabbages & carrots went into Dutch ovens on the hearths.

They would have eaten lobster, mussels & clams without butter, because cows didn’t arrive until later. Cod, bass & eels likely appeared on the tables.

They probably also served native fruit—cranberries, wild plums, melons & grapes – as well as walnuts, beechnuts & chestnuts.

Pumpkin, called pompion, undoubtedly would have appeared on the menu. The early colonists ate vast quantities of the stuff. In fact, the 1st American folk song is a lament about how much pumpkin they ate. The 4 women who cooked the 1st Puritan Thanksgiving most certainly did not make pumpkin pie. With no flour, sugar or baking ovens, they probably just stewed it.

1921 at Tomb of The Unknown Soldier - Veterans Day

Tomb of The Unknown Soldier

The White House Historical Association tells us that November 11 is Veterans Day, & on this day in 1921 President Warren G. Harding presided over the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. 

The process of selecting the World War I Unknown had begun earlier that fall in France. Once the casket was randomly chosen, it was then transported to Washington, D.C. aboard the USS Olympia. 

Arriving in the nation’s capital on November 9, the World War I Unknown was brought to the Capitol Rotunda. Some 90,000 people filed past the bier to pay their respects to this fallen soldier. 

On Armistice Day (November 11), an honor guard of service members from the Army, Navy, & Marine Corps escorted the casket from the Capitol to Arlington Cemetery, while a procession followed including President Harding, Vice President Calvin Coolidge, Medal of Honor recipients & other prominent military officers & veterans. 

At the Arlington ceremonies, President Harding said, "Standing today on hallowed ground, conscious that all America has halted to share in the tribute of heart, & mind, & soul to this fellow American … it is fitting to say that his sacrifice, & that of the millions dead, shall not be in vain." 

As the ceremony drew to a close, President Harding pinned the Medal of Honor & the Distinguished Service Cross to the casket of the Unknown.

Red Poppies & Thousands of Years of Remembrance - Veterans Day

In the 21st Century  Poppy Field Remembrance, Adam Borman in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

From the classic myths of Greece & Rome, to poets Ovid & Martial during Classical Antiquity, to the fields of 19th Century Europe, to World War I at Flanders Fields, to the 21st Century - honoring & remembering those who have died.

 Walter Field (British painter) 1837 - 1901

The red poppy has become a symbol of war remembrance throughout much of the world. People in many countries wear the poppy to remember those who died in war or those who still serve in their nation's armed forces. In many countries, the poppy is worn around Veterans Day (or Armistice Day) on November 11th.

Hippolyte Camille Delpy (French painter) 1842 - 1910

In both Greek & Roman myths & classical antiquity, poppies were associated with sleep, death, & remembrance. The symbolic significance of poppies, particularly in the context of honoring the dead, can be traced to various mythological & literary traditions.

Anthonore Christensen (Danish painter) 1849 - 1926

In Greek mythology, the poppy was often linked to Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, & her daughter Persephone, who was abducted by Hades & became the queen of the Underworld. According to the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, poppies grew in the meadows where Demeter mourned the loss of her daughter, symbolizing both the cycle of life & death.

In Greek lore, poppies were also associated with Hypnos, the god of sleep. In various myths, Hypnos is depicted wearing a crown of poppies, signifying the sleep-inducing properties of the plant.

Anthonore Christensen (Danish painter) 1849 - 1926

In Roman mythology, the festival of Floralia, dedicated to the goddess Flora, involved the wearing of wreaths made of flowers, including poppies. This celebration marked the renewal of life & the coming of spring.

The association of poppies with death & remembrance persisted in Roman culture. Poppies were often used in funerary customs & rituals to honor the deceased.

Dora Hitz (German painter) 1856 - 1924

During Classical Antiquity the Roman poet Martial wrote about poppies being scattered on tombs, emphasizing their connection to death & remembrance. Marcus Valerius Martialis (born between 38 & 41 AD – died between 102 & 104 AD) was a Roman poet born in Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his 12 books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 & 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva & Trajan. 

Ovid, another Roman poet, mentioned poppies as symbols of both sleep & death in his works. Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil & Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature.  Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus exiled him to Tomis, the capital of the newly-organised province of Moesia, on the Black Sea, where he remained for the last 9 or 10 years of his life. 

Alexander Mark Rossi (British painter) 1840 - 1916

The symbolism of poppies honoring the dead was later revived & popularized in the early 20th century during World War I. The famous war poem "In Flanders Fields" by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae (1872-1918) refers to poppies growing amidst the graves of soldiers in Flanders, Belgium. The poem inspired the use of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance for those who served or died in war. Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae was a Canadian poet, physician, & soldier during World War I, & a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. He died before the war ended. He is best known for writing the famous war memorial poem "In Flanders Fields."

Anthonore Christensen (Danish painter) 1849 - 1926

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields. 

"In Flanders Fields" was first published in December 1915. Within months, this poem came to symbolize the sacrifices of all who were fighting in the First World War. 

 Robert Vonnoh (American painter) 1858 - 1933

Today poppies are often associated with memorial ceremonies honoring military personnel who have lost their lives in conflicts & to those still serving their country.

Olga Wisinger-Florian (Austrian painter) 1844 - 1926 (2

See Christa Zaat for many more poppy paintings.

See Adam Borman in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

1621 Foods at Plymouth Thanksgiving

“And God be praised we had a good increase… Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”

Edward Winslow, Mourt’s Relation: D.B. Heath, ed. Applewood Books. Cambridge, 1986.

“They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which is place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports."

William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation: S.E. Morison, ed. Knopf. N.Y., 1952.

1619 Thanksgiving at Berkeley Plantation in Virginia

"First Thanksgiving" by Sidney King.  The weary sailors rowed to shore and surveyed the landscape of their new settlement. As instructed by the Berkeley Company, the men, led by their leader, Captain John Woodlief, knelt on the dried grass to offer a prayer of thanks for their safe journey across the ocean. They prayed: “We ordain that the day of our ship’s arrival, at the place assigned for plantation, in the land of Virginia, shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”

The First British American Colonial

Thanksgiving Took Place in Virginia, not Massachusetts

Washingtonian Magazine by Matt Blitz Published November 18, 2015

The weary sailors rowed to shore and surveyed the landscape of their new settlement. As instructed by the Berkeley Company, the men, led by their leader, Captain John Woodlief, knelt on the dried grass to offer a prayer of thanks for their safe journey across the ocean. They prayed: “We ordain that the day of our ship’s arrival, at the place assigned for plantation, in the land of Virginia, shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”

"...A year and 17 days before those Pilgrims ever stepped foot upon New England soil, a group of English settlers led by Captain John Woodlief landed at today’s Berkeley Plantation, 24 miles southwest of Richmond. After they arrived on the shores of the James River, the settlers got on their knees & gave thanks for their safe passage. There was no traditional meal, no lovefest with Native Americans, no turkey. America’s first Thanksgiving was about prayer, not food.

"On September 16th, 1619, the Margaret departed Bristol, England, bound for the New World. Aboard the 35-foot-long ship were 35 settlers, a crew, five “captain’s assistant”, a pilot, & Capt. Woodlief, a...survivor of the 1609/1610 Jamestown’s “Starving Time.” The mission of those aboard Margaret was to settle 8,000 acres of land along the James River that had been granted to them by the London-based Berkeley Company. They were allowed to build farms, storehouses, homes, & a community on company land. In exchange, they were contracted as employees, working the land & handing over crops & profits to the company.

"After a rough two-&-a-half months on the Atlantic, the ship entered the Chesapeake Bay on November 28, 1619. It took another week to navigate the stormy bay, but they arrived at their destination, Berkeley Hundred, later called Berkeley Plantation, on December 4. They disembarked & prayed. Many historians think there was nothing but old ship rations to eat, so the settlers may have concocted a meal of oysters & ham out of necessity rather than celebration. At the behest of written orders given by the Berkeley Company to Captain Woodlief, it was declared that their arrival must “be yearly & perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.” And that’s exactly what they did–for 2 years. On March 22, 1622, the Powhatan, who’d realized the settlers intended to expand their territory & continue their attempts to convert & “civilize” them, attacked Berkeley & other settlements, killing 347. Woodlief survived, but soon after, Berkeley Hundred was abandoned. For 3 centuries, Virginia’s 1st Thanksgiving was lost to history.

"Graham Woodlief is a direct descendant of Captain Woodlief. While he’s known his family’s history since being a teenager; he’s devoted a considerable amount of energy to research, since he retired in 2009. Today, Woodlief is president of the Virginia Thanksgiving Festival, which has been held annually since 1958. Woodlief ...thinks the major reason that Plymouth, & not Berkeley, is...thought to be the site of the 1st Thanksgiving is that “they had better PR than we did.” He also said the emphasis on prayer, instead of Plymouth’s festive harvest meal, also made Virginia’s Thanksgiving a bit less appealing, though more accurate. “In fact, most Thanksgivings in the early days were religious services, not meals,” Woodlief says.

"Nearly 309 years after the 1622 battle with the Powhatans, Berkeley Plantation’s missing history was rediscovered. In 1931, retired William & Mary President (and son of President John Tyler) Dr. Lyon G. Tyler was working on a book about early Virginia history. While doing research, he stumbled upon the Nibley Papers, documents and records taken by John Smyth of Nibley, Gloucestershire, about the 1619 settlement of Berkeley. Originally published by the New York State Library in 1899, the papers’ historical significance had gone undetected. According to many Virginia historians, the papers are concrete proof that the New World’s “day of Thanksgiving” originated in their region. Upon his discovery, Tyler told Malcolm Jamieson, who had inherited Berkeley plantation in the 1920s. The plantation was already considered one of the more historic homes in the state, once a residence to a signer of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the birthplace of a US President. Now, it had another feather in its historic hat. Jamieson, with the help of descendants of Captain Woodlief, instituted the 1st Virginia Thanksgiving Festival in 1958. Its been celebrated ever since...

"In Kennedy’s 1963 Thanksgiving Proclamation (made 17 days before his assassination), the president acknowledged Virginia’s claim, saying “Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving.” In 2007, President George W. Bush also noted the history while visiting Berkeley Plantation, commenting that, “The good folks here say that the founders of Berkeley held their celebration before the Pilgrims had even left port. As you can imagine, this version of events is not very popular up north.”

"The Berkeley Company, in England, had been given a grant of 8,000 acres, by King James I in Virginia, along the James River. England was going through a severe recession, especially in the woolen industry, & Englishmen were flocking to America to escape religious persecution & for a better life. The English town of Berkeley, a center for the woolen industry, was especially hard-hit by the recession.  The 4 adventurers who made up the Berkeley Company were William Throckmorton, John Smythe, George Thorpe, & Richard Berkeley, who owned Berkeley castle. They needed a leader for an expedition to Virginia & chose Capt. John Woodlief. He had been to the New World several times & had survived the starving time at Jamestown.  With a passenger list of 35 able-bodied craftsmen & a ship’s crew of 19, Woodlief headed to the New World. They sailed on the Margaret, a small ship that was only 35 feet long & weighed 47 tons, loaded with cargo. It was a perilous journey across the Atlantic, for 2 & a half months. They were plagued by storms, the men were homesick, conditions were claustrophobic, there was vermin infestation. They prayed constantly.

"The Margaret landed at Berkeley Hundred on Dec. 4, 1619. The men rowed ashore & surveyed the wintery landscape that surrounded them. As they were instructed by the Berkeley Company, the men knelt & gave thanks for their safe voyage across the ocean.  They were given a proclamation, by the Berkeley Company, when they departed England, with 10 specific instructions.  The first instruction was that they pray & give thanks for their safe voyage when they landed. And they were to do so perpetually & annually. It is thought the Englishmen gave thanks the next 2 years, as they were instructed, until the settlement was destroyed in 1622. It was the 1st Thanksgiving by Englishmen in the New World, 1 year & 17 days before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts. It was considered “official,” as they were ordered by England to give thanks — & it was planned, not spontaneous, as many Thanksgivings in the New World were. It was also not a one-time celebration, but repeated annually, as the Englishmen were instructed."ere sailing home when they encountered a relief fleet & a new governor, who ordered them back to Jamestown."

1621 Thanksgiving in New England

A Colonial Revival Painting of The First Thanksgiving by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe (American painter, 1850-1936)

Edward Winslow, (1595-1655) Mourt's Relation:"our harvest being gotten in, our governour sent foure men on fowling, that so we might after a speciall manner rejoyce together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labours ; they foure in one day killed as much fowle, as with a little helpe beside, served the Company almost a weeke, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Armes, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoyt, with some ninetie men, whom for three dayes we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deere, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governour, and upon the Captaine and others. And although it be not always so plentifull, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so farre from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plentie."

The letter of William Hilton, (1591-1656) passenger on the Fortune written in November of 1621

From Alexander Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1841.

Loving Cousin,
At our arrival in New Plymouth , in New England, we found all our friends and planters in good health, though they were left sick and weak, with very small means; the Indians round about us peaceable and friendly; the country very pleasant and temperate, yielding naturally, of itself, great store of fruits, as vines of divers sorts in great abundance. There is likewise walnuts, chestnuts, small nuts and plums, with much variety of flowers, roots and herbs, no less pleasant than wholesome and profitable. No place hath more gooseberries and strawberries, nor better. Timber of all sorts you have in England doth cover the land, that affords beasts of divers sorts, and great flocks of turkey, quails, pigeons and partridges; many great lakes abounding with fish, fowl, beavers, and otters. The sea affords us great plenty of all excellent sorts of sea-fish, as the rivers and isles doth variety of wild fowl of most useful sorts. Mines we find, to our thinking; but neither the goodness nor quality we know. Better grain cannot be than the Indian corn, if we will plant it upon as good ground as a man need desire. We are all freeholders; the rent-day doth not trouble us; and all those good blessings we have, of which and what we list in their seasons for taking. Our company are, for most part, very religious, honest people; the word of God sincerely taught us every Sabbath; so that I know not any thing a contented mind can here want. I desire your friendly care to send my wife and children to me, where I wish all the friends I have in England; and so I rest.
Your loving kinsman, William Hilton

1607 Thanksgiving in Popham Colony in Maine

Maine’s Lost Colony : 

Archeologists uncover an early American settlement that history forgot

Smithsonian Magazine February 2004

By Myron Beckenstein

A highway-marker at Popham Colony, located in modern-day Phippsburg, Maine, marks a 1607 Thanksgiving in Popham Colony. Fourteen years before the Pilgrims & the Wampanoag tribe feasted together, the short-lived settlement of Popham Colony held 2 celebrations considered by some to be thanksgiving observances. "The first occurred in September when the settlers encountered a native tribe (the Abenaki). Nine canoes arrived at the Popham settlement with about 40 people. The settlers gave them food & Skidwarres & one other Abenaki stayed the night," reports a researcher with the Maine Historical Society. "Later in October, 5 tribesmen arrived: Skidwarres, Nahandada & his wife, one other & a tribal leader named Amenquin. They feasted for 2 days with Popham & the others. The second day was Sunday, so they also joined the settlers in morning & evening prayers." Captain George Popham, leader of the colony, died within a year of the 2 ceremonies. 

Not far from Portland along Maine’s winding coast, someone has placed a neatly lettered sign on an otherwise undistinguished boulder. It reads: Popham Rock 1607. A play on Plymouth Rock 1620, some 200 miles south? Not entirely. A colony called Popham actually did precede the renowned Massachusetts settlement. “Popham was the cornerstone in the foundation of English America,” says Jeffrey P. Brain, 64, an archaeologist with the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, who is excavating the site of the forgotten colony. “The lessons learned were important to the later success of the Pilgrims.” Popham’s value lies in its failure. Its remains...have been called one of the most significant archaeological sites in the country. Unlike Jamestown, Popham’s successful sister colony in Virginia, whose footprint changed as it developed, Popham represents a unique, undisturbed time capsule of a very early North American settlement. 

 "Each September since 1997, Brain has enlisted a few colleagues & some 30 volunteers & amateur archaeologists to work for 3 weeks at the mouth of the Kennebec River, about 25 miles northeast of Portland. This year’s team included an epidemiologist, an engineer, a nurse, a sociology professor & a historian from England. Popham was named after its principal financial backer, Sir John Popham, & his nephew George Popham, the colony’s president. It was founded about 20 years after Sir Walter Raleigh’s North Carolina colony disappeared in the 1580s, when, as the economic race with France & Spain heated up, England made another attempt to plant its flag in the New World. In 1606, James I granted a charter to a joint stock company to establish two colonies, one, Jamestown, on the southern Atlantic Coast, & the other, Popham, on the northern. On May 31, 1607, about 100 men & boys set sail for the northerly destination. Discharged soldiers made up most of the colonists’ ranks, but shipwrights, coopers, carpenters & a smattering of “gentlemen of quality” rounded them out. About three months later, the group landed on a wooded peninsula where the Kennebec River meets the Atlantic Ocean, & began building Fort St. George. In December, with winter coming & food scarce, half of the colonists returned to England. The next fall, after erecting several buildings, the remaining 45 sailed home.

 "Popham’s rediscovery came about by two events a century apart. In 1888, a researcher for an American diplomat happened upon a map of Fort St. George in government archives in Madrid. Drawn & signed by Popham colonist John Hunt, it was likely snatched, or copied, by a Spanish spy soon after it arrived in England in 1608. The only known detailed plan of an early English colony, the map contains sketches of trenched ramparts, a storehouse, a chapel & various buildings—in all, more than 15 structures. Though published in 1890, the map provoked little interest for 100 years, until Brain came upon a mention of the lost colony while vacationing in Maine. At first “I thought it was some sort of local mythology,” he says. “But it was historically known, & I decided it was time to look for it archaeologically.” Research led him to Hunt’s map, which took him to Sabino Head, a windy promontory on the Kennebec. Topographical features seemed to match Fort St. George’s modified star-shaped contours. Conducting a test excavation on the area in 1994, Brain & his team found a posthole after several weeks of digging. Baffled by not finding more postholes, he “fiddled with the map,” rotated it 20 degrees & came up with a dead-on match with the landscape. “It was a eureka moment,” he recalls. Soon the crew was “turning up one after another” of the three-foot-wide pine mold-filled holes, eventually 19 in all, outlining the 69-by-20-foot storehouse that Hunt had depicted on his blueprint almost 400 years before. "

Archaeologists are still not sure how many of the map’s structures were actually built, but so far, in addition to the storehouse, they’ve located parts of the trench wall & the “Admirals howse,” & they have leads on the buttery, a storehouse for wine & liquor. During the second week of this year’s dig, Kathy Bugbee, a retiree from Southport, Maine, unearthed an inch-long piece of decorated stoneware. A digger for seven years, she recognized the brown glazed fragment as part of a Bellarmine jug, a German-made container used throughout Europe to store liquor in the 16th & 17th centuries. In his on-site cache of artifacts, Brain found a wedge of Bellarmine that he had assembled from other fragments two years earlier. Bugbee’s find slid easily into a gap in the piece to reveal a medallion motif. The jug’s embossed seal reads: “1599.” In addition to Bellarmine, the site has yielded other ceramics, clay tobacco pipes, glass trading beads, bullets & tools, including a caulking iron, used in shipbuilding. The Popham settlers did succeed in constructing the Virginia, a small but durable vessel that would take them back to England & later make other transatlantic voyages. At the admiral’s house, the archaeological team turned up shards of delftware, more Bellarmine, fancy buttons, bits of etched wine glasses & jet beads—all reflecting the occupants’ upper-class rank... 

 "The main reason for abandoning the colony, Brain theorizes, was a loss of leadership. Only one member of the group, George Popham, is known to have died at Fort St. George. (Jamestown lost more than half of its 120 settlers the first year.) But he was the colony’s president, & on February 5, 1608, Raleigh Gilbert took command. Just 25, Gilbert was, according to one investor, “desirous of supremasy,” “a loose life,” with “litle zeale in Religion.” Six months later, a resupply ship brought Gilbert news that he had inherited a title & an estate back in England. When Gilbert decided to return to England to collect, the others headed back with him. “They were headless, so to speak,” Brain says. “English society was very stratified; people needed leaders.” Bad relations with the Indians, the fear of another severe winter & the area’s lack of easily exploitable resources, such as gold or other precious metals, also affected the decision to abandon Popham. 

 "Most of the returned settlers disappeared into history; a few crossed the Atlantic again to try their hand at Jamestown. The Pilgrims who arrived 12 years later, landing at Plymouth, had obviously learned some lessons from Popham. “They settled farther south in a milder climate that was more familiar to them & more conducive to agriculture,” says Brain. “They tried harder to work with the Indians. They also brought women & children. “Luck had a lot to do with these early ventures,” Brain adds, explaining that Jamestown, too, almost failed. Hit hard by disease & starvation, the 50 or so remaining settlers abandoned the colony in the spring of 1610 & were sailing home when they encountered a relief fleet & a new governor, who ordered them back to Jamestown."

Native American - Green Corn Dance of Thanksgiving

1590 North American Atlantic Coast Natives by John White (c1540 – c1593). The village of Pomeiooc (Pomeiock) was a Native America settlement, designated on de Bry’s map of Virginia, Americae Pars Nunc Virginia Dicta, between today’s Wyesocking Bay & Lake Landing, North Carolina. John White designates the settlement as Pomeyoo.

Extracted from:  Myths of the Cherokee.  Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau  of American Ethnology. Washington Government Printing Office 1902  Recorded by James Mooney (1861-1921) was an American ethnographer who lived for several years among the Cherokee.

Thanksgiving

Among all vegetables the one which holds first place in the household economy and ceremonial observance of the tribe is selu, "corn," invoked in the sacred formulas under the name of Agawe'la, "The Old Woman," in allusion to its mythic origin from the blood of an old woman killed by her disobedient sons ("Kana'ti and Selu"). 

In former times the annual thanksgiving ceremony of the Green-corn dance, preliminary to eating the first new corn, was the most solemn tribal function, a propitiation and expiation for the sins of the past year, an amnesty for public criminals, and a prayer for happiness and prosperity for the year to come. 

Only those who had properly prepared themselves by prayer, fasting, purification were allowed to take part in this ceremony, and no one dared to taste the new corn until then. Seven ears from the last year's crop were always put carefully aside, in order to attract the corn until the new crop was ripened and it was time for the dance, when they were eaten with the rest. In eating the first new corn after the Green Corn dance, care was observed not to blow upon it to cool it, for fear of causing a wind storm to beat down the standing crop in the field.

1598 Spanish Thanksgiving - at the Rio Grande in Texas

Don Juan De Oñate celebrates Thanksgiving in 1598 at modern day San Elizario, Texas

One of  the earliest, colonial Thanksgiving took place in 1598.  The English arrived later than the Hispanics, as the Anglo-Saxon settlers founded Jamestown in 1607 and Plymouth in 1620, and by these years it is claimed that more than four hundred thousand Spaniards were already living in America. When the pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts, the America to which they arrived had been considered for more than a century as part of Spain.

Conquistadors under the leadership of Don Juan De Oñate celebrated Thanksgiving in 1598 at modern day San Elizario, Texas.  Over 20 years before the widely known feast in New England, Spanish Conquistadors held a mass & a feast giving thanks in what is now San Elizario, Texas.  

Al Borrego, artist & spokesman for the San Elizario Genealogical & Historical Society, said "Oñate, colonizer of New Mexico, entered what is now the United States, near San Elizario, Texas, on April 20, 1598, at the banks of the Rio Bravo," Borrego said.  "They built a church with a nave large enough to hold the expedition (over 500), held a mass followed by the 'Toma' (official taking possession of the territory the river drained into), followed by a feast & celebration & even a comedy in the afternoon." 

The San Elizario celebration had all the key trappings of a Thanksgiving, right down to the local indigenous population joining in the meal.  Juan de Oñate was a member of a distinguished family that had loyally worked for the Spanish crown. His father had discovered & developed rich mines in Zacatecas, Mexico. Oñate, himself, had opened the mines of San Luis Potosí & performed many other services for the Spanish king. But he wanted to carve an unquestioned place in history by leading an important expedition into unexplored land.

He was granted land in the northern Rio Grande Valley among the Pueblo Indians by the viceroy of New Spain. The viceroy moved to a new post, however, & his successor was slow to grant Oñate permission to begin his expedition. Finally, in 1597, approval came. To reach his new holdings, Oñate chose to bypass the traditional route that followed the Rio Conchos in present-day Mexico to the Rio Grande & then northward along the Rio Grande into New Mexico.

In the summer of 1597, Oñate sent Vicente de Zaldívar to blaze a wagon trail from Santa Barbara in southern Chihuahua, along which could be found adequate water supplies. Zaldívar underwent many hardships, including capture by Indians, in carrying out his instructions. No mention of the hardships was made, however, when he made his report to Oñate. (The trail blazed by Zaldívar has become the route of today's highway between Chihuahua City & El Paso.)

By early March 1598, Oñate's expedition of 500 people, including soldiers, colonists, wives & children & 7,000 head of livestock, was ready to cross the treacherous Chihuahuan Desert. Almost from the beginning of the 50-day march, nature challenged the Spaniards. First, seven consecutive days of rain made travel miserable. Then the hardship was reversed, & the travelers suffered greatly from the dry weather. On one occasion, a chance rain shower saved the parched colonists. Finally, for the last five days of the march before reaching the Rio Grande, the expedition ran out of both food & water, forcing the men, women & children to seek roots & other scarce desert vegetation to eat. Both animals & humans almost went mad with thirst before the party reached water. Two horses drank until their stomachs burst, & two others drowned in the river in their haste to consume as much water as possible.  The Rio Grande was the salvation of the expedition, however. After recuperating for 10 days, Oñate ordered a day of thanksgiving for the survival of the expedition. Included in the event was a feast, supplied with game by the Spaniards & with fish by the natives of the region. A mass was said by the Franciscan missionaries traveling with the expedition. And finally, Oñate read La Toma -- the taking -- declaring the land drained by the Great River to be the possession of King Philip II of Spain.  A member of the expedition wrote of the original celebration, "We built a great bonfire & roasted the meat & fish, & then all sat down to a repast the like of which we had never enjoyed before. . .We were happy that our trials were over; as happy as were the passengers in the Ark when they saw the dove returning with the olive branch in his beak, bringing tidings that the deluge had subsided."

After the celebration, the Oñate expedition continued up the Rio Grande & eventually settled near Santa Fé. As one historian noted, when Jamestown & Plymouth were established early in the 17th century, they were English attempts to gain a foothold in the New World. Santa Fé was but one of hundreds of towns the Spanish already had established in the New World.

Adapted from an article by Mike Kingston, then editor of the Texas Almanac 1990–1991.

1578 Thanksgiving in The Americas - Newfoundland

Sir Martin Frobisher, English mariner, privateer, explorer (born c 1535-1594)

In 1578, English explorer Martin Frobisher landed in what is now Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada, as part of his quest to locate the fabled Northwest Passage. Before the Europeans arrive, First Nations across Turtle Island had traditions of thanksgiving for surviving winter & for receiving crops & game as a reward for their hard work. These traditions appear to include feasting, prayer, dance, potlatch, & other ceremonies, depending on the native peoples giving thanks.

In response to his safe travels to the Great White North, over 4 decades before the Plymouth Colony celebration, Frobisher & his men held a service of thanks. "Frobisher, an English explorer in the uncharted northern territories, organized the 1st religious Thanksgiving for his crew & early Canadian settlers as a way to take stock of all they had accomplished in a short time." 

During his 1578 voyage to Baffin Island to set up a new English colony, Frobisher's ships were scattered. At Frobisher Bay, the explorer was happily reunited with his fleet, & all who had survived the storms honored their reunion with a day of thanks.

Martin Frobisher, mariner, explorer, 3 three voyages from England to the “New World” in search of a passage to Asia. He failed, but he was the 1st European to discover the bay that is named for him & returned with tons of dirt that he thought contained gold. Each expedition was bigger than the preceding one & on his 3rd, in 1578, he commanded a flotilla of 15 ships & more than 400 men. They set sail on 31 May for Baffin Island, where they intended to establish a gold mining operation & the 1st English colony in North America. On 1 July, they sighted Resolution Island, but they were driven by storms across the entrance to Hudson Strait. The fleet was dispersed & one ship, which carried their prefabricated barracks, was sunk by ice. Another ship deserted the flotilla & sailed back to England. 

The remaining ships assembled at the Countess of Warwick’s Island, which is known today as Kodlunarn Island, a tiny speck of land in Frobisher Bay. They established 2 mines on the island & set up shops to test the ore from other mines. The mine sites & the ruins of a stone house are still clearly visible.  

Vicious storms blew the fleet around Hudson Strait for most of July & when they finally assembled at their anchorage in Frobisher Bay, they celebrated Communion & formally expressed their thanks through the ship’s Chaplain, Robert Wolfall, who “made unto them a godly sermon, exhorting them especially to be thankefull to God for theyr strange & miraculous deliverance in those so dangerous places” (Richard Collinson, The Three Voyages of Martin Frobisher: In Search of a Passage to Cathaia & India by the North-West, Cambridge University Press, 2010).

Frobisher sailed for Elizabeth I, whose reign was marked by public acts of giving thanks. Elizabeth expressed her gratitude for having lived to ascend the throne, for delivery from the Spanish Armada and, in her last speech to Parliament, for her subjects.  

The 1st known use of the word “Thanksgiving” in English text was in a translation of the bible in 1533, which was intended as an act of giving thanks to God. The tradition of gratitude was continued each fall as people gave thanks for the harvest that would see them through the winter.

Forty-eight years later on November 14, 1606, inhabitants of New France under Samuel de Champlain held huge feasts of thanksgiving between local Mi’kmaq & the French. Though not known at the time by the settlers, cranberries, rich in vitamin C, are credited with helping avoid scurvy. The neighbouring Mi’kmaq likely introduced the French to cranberries, or as they called them, petites pommes rouges (little red apples).

Champlain’s feasts were more than an annual affair. To prevent the scurvy epidemic that had decimated the settlement at Île Sainte-Croix in past winters, the Ordre de Bon Temps (Order of Good Cheer) was founded, offering festive meals every few weeks. Medical treatises recommended better nutrition (more food) & entertainment to combat scurvy.

However, despite this history of uniquely Canadian thanksgivings, modern concepts of Thanksgiving were influenced by the American neighbors to the South. Foods that are associated with a “traditional” Thanksgiving, such as North American turkey, squash, & pumpkin, were introduced to citizens of Halifax in the 1750s by the United Empire Loyalists, who continued to spread this “traditional” fare to other parts of the country.

See

Bicheno, Hugh. Elizabeth's Sea Dogs. Conway, 2014.

Brigden, Susan. The Penguin History of Britain. Penguin, 2001.

Courtauld, Augustine. From the Ends of the Earth: An Anthology of Polar Writings. Oxford University Press, 1958

Elton, G.R. England Under the Tudors. Routledge, 2018.

Ferriby, David. The Tudors. Hodder Education, 2015.

Guy, John. Tudor England. Oxford University Press, 1988.

Wagner, John A. Historical Dictionary of the Elizabethan World. Greenwood, 1999.

Williams, Neville. The sea dogs. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1975.

1565 Spanish Thanksgiving in St Augustine

Bry Theodor De Bry (528-1598), The Natives of Florida Worshiping the Column Erected by the Commander on his First Voyage 1564

There are actually several events claiming to be the 1st Thanksgiving in colonial Spanish & English America. One of  the earliest, colonial Thanksgiving took place on September 8, 1565.  The English arrived later than the Hispanics, as the Anglo-Saxon settlers founded Jamestown in 1607 and Plymouth in 1620, and by these years it is claimed that more than 400,000 Spaniards were already living in America. When the pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts, the America to which they arrived had been considered for more than a century as part of the Crown of Castile.

An explorer, Pedro Menéndez de Avilé, along with 800 Spanish settlers celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving to commemorate the successful sea voyage & founding of the town of St. Augustine, which would go on to be the 1st & longest-lasting port within the present-day United States. St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement on  the Atlantic Coast of the United States.  

Occurring as it did so soon after trans-Atlantic landfall, this was a maritime Thanksgiving, with sailor's fare making up the bulk of the feast, probably along with local native food, which would likely have included oysters & fish. 

It is said he invited members of the Timucua tribe to dine along with them. The local St. Augustine Timucua were known by the Spanish as the "Agua Salada," or Salt Water, Timucua, a testament to the maritime culture that existed in St. Augustine prior to European colonization. 

This 1st Spanish Thanksgiving took place 55 years before the Pilgrims landed.  Following the sacrifice of the Holy Mass, Menindez ordered a communal meal to be shared by the Spaniards & the Indians who originally occupied the landing site.

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519-1574) was a Spanish admiral, explorer & conquistador from Avilés, in Asturias, Spain. He is notable for planning the 1st regular trans-oceanic convoys, which became known as the Spanish treasure fleet, & for founding St. Augustine, Florida, c 1565.