"Squanto stayed with them and was their interpreter and was a
special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation."
-William Bradford
Governor of Plymouth Colony
The remarkable life story of the Patuxet Indian named Squanto
is reminiscent of the biblical saga of Joseph, who was sold by
his jealous brothers into slavery. As in the Old Testament story,
this victim of unforeseen circumstances rose above the forces of
adversity in his life to become a trusted advisor and loyal friend
to the early English settlers at Plymouth Colony.
Squanto's story begins in the year 1605, when he and four other Indians
were taken captive by Captain George Weymouth, who was exploring the
New England coast at the behest of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. The Indians
were taken to England, where they learned to speak English.
Squanto spent the next nine years in England where he was befriended
by Captain John Smith, recently of Virginia, who promised to one day
take Squanto back to his people. He did not have long to wait.
After Captain Smith received the command to go back
in 1614, Squanto was returned to his people as promised
at the place Smith named New Plymouth.
The commander of the other ship sailing with Smith's mapping
and exploring expedition was Captain Thomas Hunt. One day,
when Smith was about to lead an exploring party, he ordered
Hunt and his crew to stay behind to dry their catch of fish
and trade it for more profitable beaver pelts before
sailing back home again.
But the wily Captain Hunt had another idea in mind. As soon
as Captain Smith departed, he slipped back down the coast to Plymouth
where he lured twenty Patuxet Indians-including Squanto-aboard his ship
under the pretext of bartering with them. The unsuspecting Indians
were seized and clapped in irons. Then, sailing across the bay to
the outer edge of Cape Cod, Hunt captured seven members of
the Nauset Indian tribe and hightailed it out to sea.
Hunt's destination was Malaga, Spain a notorious slave-trading port.
There the wicked captain proceeded to auction off his captives,
receiving twenty pounds for each of them.
Most of Hunt's captives were bought by
Arab slave traders and shipped off to North Africa.
However, monks from a nearby monastery found out
what was happening and rushed over to the auction.
They bought the remaining Indians, including Squanto,
"to instruct them in the Christian faith."
Already God was setting the wheels in motion
for Squanto's eventual return to New England.
Squanto, however, did not stay long at the monastery.
He met an Englishman bound for London and left Spain
for England. There he met and joined the household of
a wealthy merchant name John Slanie. Squanto lived
on Slanie's estate until he embarked for New England
with Captain Dermer in 1619.
When Squanto stepped on the familiar shores of home again,
he was horrified to discover that a mysterious ailment had
taken the lives of every man, woman, and child in his tribe.
Nothing was left but skeletal remains and ruined dwellings.
In deep despair, he wandered aimlessly through the woods
and fields he had played in as a child, and where he had learned
to hunt wild game. He walked for miles towards the southeast
to Massasoit's camp because he had no other place to go.
The wise chieftain of the Wampanoag tribe took pity on the
lonely, grief-stricken warrior who seemed to have lost all
reason for living. That was until Samoset, a chief of the
Eastern Abenaki tribe, arrived with news of a small
colony of peaceful English families who had settled
at Patuxet, on the site of Squanto's old village.
Samoset told of how the settlers were struggling to survive there
and that it would not be long before they would starve to death.
As Squanto listened, he decided to return to Plymouth,
along with Samoset and chief Massasoit, who brought
all sixty of his warriors with him. Although the colorfully
painted warriors alarmed the settlers, chief Massasoit
became a good friend and ally of the Pilgrims and later
signed a peace treaty of mutual aid and assistance with
them which lasted forty years, until his death.
The early settlers of Plymouth Colony were equally
astonished by Samoset and Squanto, both of whom spoke
English! Squanto believed it was his God-given duty to help
these ignorant newcomers survive in the wilderness.
He brought the settlers handfuls of slippery eels, which the
Puritans found to be "fat and sweet" and delicious to eat!
Squanto took several young men from the colony with him
to the place where he had caught the eels and taught them
how to stamp the creatures out of the mud with their
bare feet and then catch them with their hands.
In the springtime, Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to
plant corn the Indian way, by burying fish with the kernels.
The fish was used to fertilize the newly tilled soil.
He also taught them how to make the weirs they would
need to catch fish. Obediently, they followed the
Indian's instructions and four days later the creeks
for miles around were clogged with alewives making
their spring run. The excited Pilgrims now had an
abundance of fish to feed their families and to
bury in their cornfields.
Squanto further taught the early settlers how to stalk deer,
plant pumpkins among the corn, draw sap from maple trees,
and to discern which wild plants were good to eat and were
good medicine, plus how to find all the best wild berries.
The Pilgrims began to see Squanto as a true godsend.
Through his advice and guidance they learned to
trap and trade beaver pelts, which were in great
demand throughout Europe, and which provided
them with a steady income in their new home.
Unfortunately, in November, 1622 while on a corn-trading
expedition to Indians on Cape Cod, Squanto suffered a nosebleed.
He told William Bradford, the Governor of Plymouth Colony,
that among the Indians this was a sign of imminent death.
He asked the governor to pray for him," that he might
go to the English man's God in Heaven". Several days
later, Squanto was dead. The Pilgrims, whom he had
selflessly helped begin productive lives in the New World,
deeply mourned the loss of their true and devoted friend.
Information source:
"The Light and The Glory"
(1977)
By Peter Marshall and David Manuel
Revell Publishing Company
Grand Rapids, Michigan
No comments:
Post a Comment