Blue Umbrella Official Blue Umbrella Winter 2018 Issue | Page 11

The Hist or y of
Plymout h
By: Suricke B.
The history of the Plymouth colony
started in the United Kingdom, when
Separatists were forced to stop worshiping the
Lord. To escape the English persecution, they
moved to the Netherlands. There, they found
the religious freedom that they longed for, but
they could not avoid the English persecution.
They also realized that if they were to stay, their
children would pick up the Dutch traditions and
lose their English ones. They decided to secure
themselves a land patent from the London
Virginia Company in June 1619.
The Mayflower and Speedwell were chosen
for the journey, and they set out in July 1620.
But the Speedwell started leaking not long after
they left, so they had to turn back. They tried to
put as many passengers as possible on the
Mayflower and set out once again in early
September 1620. They drifted off course and
sighted Cape Cod in November. Realizing that
they weren?t going to reach their destination,
and running out of supplies, the Pilgrims
decided to settle in the north, without
permission.
They landed in Provincetown, and here
the Mayflower Compact was crafted. The
Compact stated that the colonists were loyal to
the King of England, that they were Christians
who served the Lord, that they would make fair
and just laws, and that they would work for the
good of the colony. After crafting the Compact,
Captain Miles Standish led an expedition, and
they discovered a hidden cache of Indian corn
which they robbed from the Native American
graves. After a few more expeditions, they had
a skirmish with the Indians, and the Pilgrims left
and sailed further. They were not prepared for
winter; however, the corn they raided helped
them through.
In December 1620, they stepped ashore
Plymouth ? an abandoned Native American
village whose previous inhabitants died in an
epidemic. The area was cleared for houses, and
there were numerous cornfields. During this
time though, many were ill, and the colonists
cared for them, placing their own health at risk.
In March 1621, Samoset, one of the
Wampanoag Indians approached the colonists,
and spoke to them. Not long after, he
introduced his chief, Massasoit, to them, and
the tribe let Squanto, a former inhabitant of the
land the colonists took over, stay with them. He
taught them how to survive the winters, how to
plant corn, and where to hunt and fish. Much
later, a peace treaty was established between
the colony and the tribe, and it stated that they
would protect each other if the other was
attacked.
After having their first successful harvest
in 1621, the Pilgrims held a feast in November
and invited some of the Wampanoag Indians to
join them. This tradition was continued in the
following years, but it wasn?t until 1623, at the
end of a long drought, that they started calling
it ?Thanksgiving.?
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