Squanto

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Squanto

Tisquantum (better known as Squanto) (died November 1622) was one of two Native American 'Indians' (Samoset being the other) that assisted the Pilgrims during their first winter in the New World. He was a member of the Patuxet tribe, a subtribe of the Wampanoag Confederacy. Tisquantum was likely not his given name, as its meaning was something like "Rage of the Manitou."

It was not unknown for early explorers of what would eventually become the continent of America to take 'Indians' back to Europe with them. Squanto was kidnapped and taken to England by George Weymouth in 1605, according to the memoirs of Ferdinando Gorges.

If Gorges' memoirs can be believed, Squanto worked in England for nine years before supposedly returning to the New World on John Smith's 1613 voyage.

What is known for sure is that in 1614, possibly no sooner had Squanto returned to his tribe, he was unduly kidnapped by another Englishman, Thomas Hunt. Hunt was one of John Smith's lieutenants. Squanto was taken as a slave to Málaga, Spain, where Hunt attempted to sell Squanto and a number of other Native Americans into slavery for £20 apiece.

Some local friars, however, discovered what Hunt was attempting and took the remaining Indians, Squanto included, in order to instruct them in the Christian faith. Eventually he escaped to London, living with a John Slany for a few years, and then went to Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland. Attempting to avoid the walk from Newfoundland to his home village, Squanto tried to take part in an expedition to that part of the North American east coast. He returned to England in 1618, however, when that plan fell through.

He returned once more to his homeland, in 1619, finally arriving by joining with an exploratory expedition along the New England coast. He was soon to discover that his tribe had been decimated the year before by a terrible plague, possibly smallpox.

Squanto finally settled with the Pilgrims and saw them through their first difficult winter by teaching them to increase their food production by fertilizing their crops, and by directing them to the best places to catch fish and eels.

His motives for helping them are hard to ascertain today, and may have been purely out of self-interest By late 1621, he was using his position with the Pilgrims for his own gain, even attempting to spark a conflict between the locals and the Pilgrims for reasons that are not entirely clear.

It does seem that Massasoit, the sachem who originally made Squanto a diplomat to the Pilgrims, did not trust him before this incident (as is evidenced by the assignment of Hobamok, whose name may also have been a psuedonym as it referred to the "root of all evil," to watch over Squanto and act as a second representative), and certainly not after.

It was on his way back from a meeting to repair the damaged relations between the natives and the Pilgrims that Squanto fell to a sudden fever. He died a few days later, but his legacy remained relatively untarnished as peace between the two groups lasted for another fifty years.


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