Posted on 11/27/2015 4:42:05 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
The Thanksgiving tale of the Pilgrims and the Indian has an astonishing, less well-known back story.
The story of how the Pilgrims arrived at our shores on the Mayflowerâand how a friendly Patuxet native named Squanto showed them how to plant corn, using fish as fertilizerâis well-known. But Squantoâs full story is not, as National Geographicâs new Thanksgiving miniseries, âSaints & Strangers,â shows. That might be because some details of Squantoâs life are in dispute. The important ones are not, however. His story is astonishing, even raising profound questions about Godâs role in American history.
Every Thanksgiving we remember that, to escape religious persecution, the Pilgrims sailed to the New World, landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620. But numerous trading ships had visited the area earlier. Around 1608 an English ship dropped anchor off the coast of what is today Plymouth, Mass., ostensibly to trade metal goods for the nativesâ beads and pelts. The friendly Patuxets received the crew but soon discovered their dark intentions. A number of the braves were brutally captured, taken to Spain and sold into slavery.
One of them, a young man named Tisquantum, or Squanto, was bought by a group of Catholic friars, who evidently treated him well and freed him, even allowing him to dream of somehow returning to the New World, an almost unimaginable thought at the time. Around 1612, Squanto made his way to London, where he stayed with a man named John Slany and learned his ways and language. In 1618, a ship was found, and in return for serving as an interpreter, Squanto would be given one-way passage back to the New World.
After spending a winter in Newfoundland, the ship made its way down the coast of Maine and Cape Cod, where Squanto at last reached his own shore.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
We tried to watch Saints and Stranger, we looked forward to it but the sound was so bad we gave up.
MrD is hard of hearing so I am not surprised at him but my hearing is find and I had trouble under standing their mumbling.
The Pilgrims did not bring any large livestock animals on the Mayflower in 1620. In fact, the only animals known with certainty to have come on the Mayflower were two dogs, though it seems likely that they had with them some chickens.
The first three cows arrived at Plymouth on the ship Anne in 1623.
Therefore, it's not that "the English" were not prepared for survival. It's that THESE English were not prepared.
I get it, but even “city folk” weren’t that removed from basic survival skills, especially in 1600.
The ship he was on diverted to Spain. At that time Catholic law was that if native Americans converted to Christianity they could not be sold as slaves, that's why the monks bought him. Once he was converted he was free to go anywhere which he did by going to England and catching a ship back to America with the intention of converting his fellow tribesmen. He didn't find them (it's not really known why) so he joined up with the only other Christians in the area. The gist of it was that Squanto didn't just help the pilgrims, he was one.
I read about this years ago (not politically correct history). There are other historians with slightly different takes on the history about Squanto.
This is a good one - http://mayflowerhistory.com/tisquantum
These ones were. Almost of half of the Mayflower pilgrims (45 out of 102) died that first winter.
But that was almost exactly the same ratio as at Jamestown-—and even after they got 100 reinforcements, have of those died too. They were hard times, it’s not that the people were stupid or had no concept of how to live or what they were getting into.
The spot they chose for settlement (Jamestown Island -- actually a tiny peninsula) was a swampy area with (as the local Indians knew) limited hunting available as most game animals required larger foraging areas. The settlers quickly hunted and killed off all the game animals. Their chosen swamp-peninsula was infested with malaria mosquitoes, and the brackish water of the tidal James River was not a good source of water. Over 135 settlers died from malaria; drinking contaminated and saline water caused more to sicken and die from saltwater poisoning and dysentery.
Most of the settlers who came over on the initial three ships were were upper-class gentlemen, with very few farmers or skilled laborers. It's their incredibly poor pre-planning (location) as well as their lack of the necessary knowledge and skills, as well as their unwillingness/inability to do the incredibly hard labor needed for wilderness subsistence, that caused most of them to die of disease and starvation, quickly and badly.
Yes, some background context would have been helpful, especially for those who are no longer learning it in school.
Overall,I was extremely impressed with the series.
I was puzzled by that look, as well. Reminded me of Boy George.
Excellent account! Thanks.
They weren’t prepared in Jamestowne either. 1/2 of the first contingent were “gentlemen” who weren’t used to hard work. They died quickly. Then, a good portion of the rest were soldiers who brought Euronpean armor which was useless and hot in the VA wilderness.
Just think of it. A Catholic helped the Pilgrims. Who would have ever guessed it?
A Thanksgiving Reflection
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On The Grace of Gratitude – A Thanksgiving Meditation
Father Corapi: This Thanksgiving, Give Thanks For What You Have [blurry screen alert]
This Thanksgiving, Give Thanks For What You Have And For What You Have Lost!
[CATHOLIC/ORTHODOX CAUCUS] Prayer for the Church and for Civil Authorities
Giving Thanks for the Hard Things in Life
100 Reasons to be Thankful, Even in Hard Times
Let Us Give Thanks (even in these difficult times)
Thanksgiving Day
We had trouble, as well,with the sound. Fortunately, we had it on DVR, so we could back it up when necessary.
Apparently, there is some sort of annoying trend in cinematography that has the sound man recording all of the dialogue using one stinking microphone. I suppose the idiots think it’s more realistc.
I'd say so since they were chartered in Virginia.
Good thing they didn’t plan on landing in Hawaii huh.
That would’ve been tough, but warmer at least while they wandered, lol.
Had they made it to Virginia as intended, things may have gone better or they may have not. The House Of Burgesses was established in 1618, so there was a government in place. But, the 2nd Powhatan War was on the way in 1622. An outpost colony in the northern reaches of Virginia might have been wiped out completely. Or, ignored, you never know when speculating about alternate history.
Fish guts maybe? The waste left over after the fish were prepared for eating?
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