The Mayflower was a beacon of light for its 102 passengers when it left Plymouth, England in September of 1620. The ship endured a treacherous trip across the sea until they dropped anchor near Cape Cod, far North of the Hudson River, their intended destination. One month later, the Mayflower crossed Massachusetts Bay where the Pilgrims established a village. Their first winter was very brutal, most colonists taking refuge in the Mayflower, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy (caused by a deficiency of vitamin c or ascorbic acid in the diet), and outbreaks of contagious deadly diseases.
Only half of the original passengers lived to see their first spring. In March, the remaining passengers moved ashore where an Abenaki Indian greeted them in English, later returning with another native american, Squanto. Squanto was part of the Pawtuxet tribe and had been kidnapped by an English captain and sold into slavery before escaping in London and returning home. Squanto taught the weakened Pilgrims how to grow corn, extract sap from trees, catch fish, and avoid poisonous plants. An alliance with the Wampanoag tribe was also established with the help of Squanto. After the Pilgrims first corn harvest in November 1621, Governor William Bradford, organized a feast inviting Native American allies. American’s “first Thanksgiving” had lasted three days and nights, while no record exists of the historic menu, a Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow left a journal with writing saying the governor sent a group of men to hunt and they came back bearing five deer. Historians suggest that many of the dishes they ate included spices Native Americans would have used daily and did not include sweets for their quantity of sugar had dwindled by the time of this hallmark celebration. |