Bradford Describes the First Thanksgiving
May 12th was the date of the first marriage in the place, which, according to the laudable custom in the Low Countries in which they had lived, was considered best…
From: 1621 C.E. To: 1621 C.E.
Location: Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States of America
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, 1890.
May 12th was the date of the first marriage in the place, which, according to the laudable custom in the Low Countries in which they had lived, was considered best to be performed by the magistrate.
Having finished their business at home it was thought advisable to send some of their number to visit their new friend Massasoit, and to show him some gratitude in order to attach him to them. So on the 2d of July they sent Mr. Edward Winslow and Mr. Hopkins, with the aforesaid Squanto for their guide, to give him a suit of clothes, and a horseman's coat, with some other small things, which were kindly accepted; but they found but short commons, and came home both weary and hungry. For the Indians used then to have nothing like so much corn as they have since the English have stocked them with their hoes, and seen to their industry in breaking up new grounds therewith.
They found Massasoit's place to be about forty miles distant, the soil good, and not many people, as there had been great mortality in these parts about three years before the arrival of the English, when thousands of them died—so many, in fact, that the living were not able to bury the dead, and their bones and skulls were found in many places still lying above the ground. This party brought back word that a tribe of Indians called the Narragansetts lived on the other side of the great bay; that they were a strong people, many in number, living compact together, and had not been touched by this wasting plague.
Peace and acquaintance was pretty well established between the English and the natives about them; and another Indian called Hobomack came to live amongst them—a good strong man, and of importance for his valor and talents among the Indians,—who continued very faithful to the English until his death.
On the 18th of September they sent out their shallop to Massachusetts Bay with ten men, and Squanto for their guide and interpreter, to discover and view the bay, and trade with the natives; which they did, and found kind entertainment.
The people were much afraid of the Tarentins, a people to the eastward, who used to come in harvest time and steal away their corn, and many times killed some of their number. They returned in safety and brought home a good quantity of beaver, and made a report of the place, wishing they had located there; but it seems that the Lord, who assigns to all men the bounds of their habitations, had appointed it for another use.
They now began to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against the winter. They were well recovered in health and strength, and had all things in great plenty; for as some were employed in affairs abroad, others were engaged in fishing for cod, bass, and other fish, of which they caught a fair quantity, and of which each family had its share.
All the summer there was no want. And now as winter[, 1621] approached, there began to come in a store of fowl, with which this place did abound. Besides water-fowl, there was a great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, and also stored a supply of venison. They also laid in a peck of meal a week to a person, or, now since harvest, Indian corn in the same proportion. This made many afterwards write their friends in England such glowing accounts of the plenty they enjoyed; and they were not exaggerated, but true reports.
Bradford, William. History of Plymouth Plantation. Effingham Maynard & Co., 1890.
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