Squanto wanted to overthrow Massasoit, the leader of a rival tribe.
When he returned to his homeland after his time in Europe, Squanto found that all the coastal settlements of his friends and family had died, leaving the village empty of the living and filled only with bodies. Squanto was the only surviving member of his village of the Patuxet people.During Squanto’s lifetime, 90% of the Native American coastal population of Massachusetts and Rhode Island were decimated by a fast-spreading disease. Squanto’s forced travels to Europe might have saved his life.He brought it back and taught it to others here on this continent. Remember the story of Squanto teaching the Pilgrims to plant dead fish and/or fishheads near their seed mounds? Many archeologists believe that Squanto learned that agricultural practice while he was in England. Squanto’s agricultural prowess didn’t come from his tribe.His travels “across the pond” explain how he could speak English and act as a translator between the colonists and the Indians. He had been kidnapped at least once and probably twice and made three journeys to Europe. Squanto had not lived on the shores of North America all his life.According to William Bradford’s diary, he told the settlers that he knew a man “whose name was Squanto, a native of this place, who had been in England and could speak better English than himself.” Samoset returned to the village a few days later with Squanto. A Wampanoag Indian named Samoset who could speak a little English went into the settlement first. Squanto was NOT the first Native American to meet the Pilgrims.Tisquantum was probably not the name he was given when he was born it was the name he used to identify himself when he met the Pilgrims…essentially saying he was “The Wrath of God.” Squanto” was not his real name, but a shortened form of Tisquantum, or Tsquantum, a name that referred to the rage of the Manitoba, the powerful spiritual element of the Native American world.Here are 10 truths about Squanto that you must know:
He was important to the survival of the settlers, no doubt.īut Squanto’s story is so much more interesting than what we learned in grade school. Squanto acted as translator and negotiated pacts between the Wampanoag tribe and the English colonists.
He taught them how to cultivate crops, which plants they could use and which they should avoid, and how to tap the native maple trees for sap. The story of Thanksgiving wouldn’t be complete without Squanto, the “friendly” Indian who helped the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony survive.
Squanto greeting Pilgrims: Young Folks History of the United States, 1903.