This tribe helped the Pilgrims survive for their first Thanksgiving. They still regret it 400 years

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

later.

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Overlooking the chilly waters of Plymouth Bay, about three dozen tourists swarmed a park ranger as he recounted the history of Plymouth Rock — the famous symbol of the arrival of the Pilgrims here four centuries ago.

Nearby, others waited to tour a replica of the Mayflower, the ship that carried the Pilgrims across the ocean.

On a hilltop above stood a quiet tribute to the American Indians who helped the starving Pilgrims survive. Few people bother to visit the statue of Ousamequin — the chief, or sachem, of the Wampanoag Nation whose people once numbered somewhere between 30,000 to 100,000 and whose land once stretched from Southeastern Massachusetts to parts of Rhode Island.

Long marginalized and misrepresented in the American story, the Wampanoags are braced for what’s coming this month as the country marks the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving between the Pilgrims and Indians.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/11/04/thanksgiving-anniversary-wampanoag-indians-pilgrims/

[LenaBaby61]

1. I'm half Native-American (Creek), and I don't blame them for feeling that way. My late ...

Great grandfather had thousands of acres of land stolen from him. He couldn't read nor write. That happened to a LOT of Creek Indians in Georgia at that time.

[underpants]

2. Virginia thanksgiving was in 1619. The mass death of First Americans is conveniently skipped over

I’m glad the article says “the first Pilgrim Thanksgiving”.

The article says that about 2/3 of the Wampanoag population had died. This is typical of the period immediately preceding English settlements here. The Spanish had been in St. Augustine for almost 100 years (also conveniently skipped over) and brought with them germs that obviously were foreign to the locals. The Spaniards explores well into the Tennessee valley and disease spread rapidly and decimated the population. I’ve seen numbers as high as 80% of deaths. In Virginia, Powhatan was old and didn’t feel like a fight. Add in that the Jamestown settlement was almost sure to fail given where they set up. He also had just gone through a massive amount of deaths particularly to his fighters.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. I've heard so many theories about the origin of Thanksgiving.

One person told me that the Pilgrims were in the midst of their own celebration, shooting off guns, and the Indians invited themselves to dinner.

A few years later, Thanksgiving became a time to give Thanks, and had little to do with Pilgrims or Indians.

Never knew if these two things were connected, but, it is a time for families to get together, and that's a good thing. Everything else is just noise.