Blog 3: Squanto

Squanto was a member of the Patuxet tribe which is a subdivision of the Wampanoag Confederacy. In 1614, he was kidnapped by a lieutenant of John Smith who tried to sell Squanto into slavery in Spain. Local friars aided Squanto in making his way to England where he picked up the language which would make him a vital link in the New World. Squanto, who had been working for John Slany in England, made it back to his homelands in 1619 only to find much of his tribe had been wiped out by European diseases. Instead of his familiar people, he found the pilgrims who had just been through a rough winter in the New World. Squanto was able to communicate with them, and show them how to cultivate the land. Furthermore, he taught them how to catch wild game and fish. Perhaps his most detrimental skill was to open up peace negotiations with the Wampanoag (Massasoit) tribes which would last many decades past Squanto's lifetime. Sadly enough, Squanto was distrusted near the end of his life by both the Massasoit and Plymouth settlers, and he died from illness at the age of 42. Despite this, Governor William Bradford remarked that his death was a "great loss" and that Squanto wished that Bradford would pray to God to accept him. This being significant because at the time most Europeans regarded the Native Americans as savages and wouldn't pay any homage to one unless they had done something extremely special such as Squanto.