Jessica Crabtree

#4: The Wampanoag Side

Prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620, the Wampanoag Indians had suffered greatly as a result of diseases brought to the New World by visiting English explorers, merchants, and slave traders. Their drastically reduced numbers left their society weakened and vulnerable. Through their alliance with the Pilgrims – mostly Separatist immigrants fleeing religious persecution in Europe – the Wampanoag hoped to bolster their standing with more powerful Indian confederacies and create a lasting cultural bond with the struggling English settlers.

What they could not have foreseen is that their intentions for closely interdependent communities were not mutual. The English settlers wanted a completely separate and distinct civilization in the New World, one which was based on the European models of land ownership and management. This, combined with the immigration of many thousands of English to the region within the next few years, would soon jeopardize the very right of Native American communities to exist.

In a bitter irony, the whole story of Thanksgiving shrouds what is possibly history’s worst case of ingratitude.

Below: The most powerful and sobering Thanksgiving image ever.

#5: That’s Not What They Looked Like!

Here’s a typical traditional image of the holiday from the turn-of-the-century painting “The First Thanksgiving” by J.L.G. Ferris. How many mistakes can you find?

For starters:

• The Indians in the painting are dressed like Plains Indians, like the Lakota or Comanche. For various reasons, the stereotypical Plains Indian has become the catch-all image for every Indian culture – but it’s completely incorrect. The Wampanoag Indians at the first Thanksgiving lived on the coasts of New England and had a completely different culture based on the available resources of that region (which also means they didn’t hunt buffalo or live in tepees.)

• The painting indicates that Indian women were present. This too is incorrect, as the reason the Wampanoag had joined the Pilgrims in the first place was to make sure the loud noises and gun volleys coming from the settlement weren’t signs of something being wrong. Their sachem or leader Massasoit arrived unexpectedly with around 90 warriors – and only once they established all-clear did they participate by bringing a contribution of fresh game – a sign of continuing friendship.

• Need I mention the way the Pilgrims are dressed? Obviously this painting is highly glamorized. The Pilgrims had suffered from poverty both in England and during their stay in Holland; how did their condition improve so much after a year of sickness and starvation in America? Notice the gentleman in black: he’s a clergyman, but over time the image of the Pilgrims as a saintly lot of devout people resulted in the notion that they all dressed in black clerical clothes. Of course, the Separatists weren’t the only people who came over on the Mayflower – the Pilgrim group was partly composed of “Strangers” including mercenary soldiers (like Miles Standish), merchants, and adventurers. They weren’t religious and didn’t get along with the Pilgrims at all.

• The composition of this painting is rife with the era’s most prevalent stereotypes and misconceptions about Native Americans – particularly the emphasis on assimilation and the deliberate downplaying of Native culture. Of course the best part is that the Indians are sitting down doing nothing while the Pilgrims condescendingly serve them (even though it was the Wampanoag who provided the meat, and helped the starving settlers to feed themselves). This contrast subtly reinforces the stereotype of the “lazy Indian” – i.e., the colonists are industrious and diligent, while the Natives are idle and adverse to progress, etc.

Note the woman on the left, teaching the “squaw” how to serve a meal like a proper civilized lady, and to know her place. And the fellow directly below them: “Me teachum red man how eat with fork”… how much do you want to bet that the Pilgrims didn’t even have silverware?

Test your own knowledge of the historical Thanksgiving event – see what other inaccuracies you can spot.

Click here for more on the real historical Thanksgiving.

#6: The Indian “Guests”

Approximately 100 Wampanoag warriors were present during the three-days of festivities. Why no women and children? Because the loud noises and gun volleys coming from the Pilgrim settlement sounded more like a war in the making, alarming the Indians into investigating; despite their high hopes for the alliance, the Wampanoag knew that their friendship with the English was a tenuous one. Once they realized the commotion was harmless, they joined their neighbors’ merriment to show their solidarity.

And the Wampanoag were no freeloaders either; once more their legendary generosity landed a place in history. When they realized there would not be enough food to go around, they provided fresh venison and poultry for the feast.

#7: The Real Story

Modern archaeology and historical research have been able to unearth a wealth of detailed information that gives us a more realistic (and less biased) picture of “first Thanksgiving.” The findings of today’s historians are strongly supported by the accounts of Wampanoag traditional sources.

Interestingly, the Native American oral traditions contain more detailed information about the events surrounding the first Thanksgiving – and the Plymouth colony in general – than the Pilgrims’ own written account, and all the annotated embellishments it has accumulated through America’s brief history.

Below: A scene from the reconstructed historical site of Plimoth Plantation. Courtesy of National Geographic.

#8: The Original Thanksgiving Menu

From the records we have of the Pilgrim’s harvest celebration, it seems the main course consisted of the staple foods that had carried them through their first year in America: mainly corn, squash, and beans (the “Three Sisters” of Native American culture) and seafood such as clams, lobster, and eels. (Sorry, no pumpkin pie or cranberry sauce.) As it turns out, the first Thanksgiving had a lot more in common with a good old-fashioned New England clam bake.

We do know that at least one item on the menu is authentic; the English accounts have the men going “fowling” or hunting for seasonal game birds such as duck and probably turkey. And the Wampanoag who joined them later provided plenty of fresh game, including venison and poultry.

Smithsonian Magazine: Turkey’s Trip to the Table

#9: Thanksgiving 1621

The “official” first Thanksgiving was a harvest celebration held by the settlers of the Plymouth colony (aka Pilgrims) in the late summer of 1621. Following a year of sickness and privation, the colonists’ alliance with Wampanoag Indians provided them the benefits of Native agricultural practices and mutual trade agreements. The settlers decided to commemorate their first successful year with a traditional harvest festival. For the record, it was not intended as a joint celebration between the English and their Indian neighbors. In fact, the local Wampanoag were not even invited, and might never have been aware of the event had they not been alarmed by the gun volleys fired by the Pilgrims during the festivities!

In the words of Edward Winslow,

“Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labours. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king, Massasoit, with some 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted. And they went out and killed five deer which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our Governor and upon the Captain and others.”

#10: The “First” First Thanksgiving

The first Thanksgiving: An idyllic scene of Indians and white settlers, side by side, enjoying a feast near the coast, giving thanks for all the good things in life. The date: September 8, 1565.

What? I thought the Pilgrims didn’t land at Plymouth until 1620!

That’s right – because the first recorded “Thanksgiving” didn’t occur in Massachusetts, but in Florida, at the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine (which is, by the way, the oldest permanent European settlement in North America). The Spanish were established in the Americas long before the English; and while we tend to think of the Pilgrims as the “common ancestors” of all Americans, they were preceded in the New World not only by other Europeans but by other English as well. So in a manner of speaking, Plymouth is something of a historical moot point.

Some would argue, and rightly so, that whether the true origin of our modern Thanksgiving was in English or Spanish colonies is irrelevant. In both instances, the celebrations were held to reflect the settlers’ belief that their colonial endeavors had received divine sanction. And in both cases the so-called holiday was never intended to become an official commemoration. It is only the romanticized and idealized legend that became the inspiration for the popular version that has persisted for so long.

The fact is that Thanksgiving celebrations were practiced by Native Americans across the continent for millennia as an integral part of their culture. The idea of giving thanks as it exists in indigenous culture is actually much closer to the values we purport to celebrate each November, and it was arguably these ideals as put into practice by Native Americans that have given life and meaning to the holiday.

August 12, 1676: Death of Metacomet (also known as King Philip) at the end of a desperate conflict against English encroachment

What You Don’t Hear at Thanksgiving

So we all know the story. The Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock, meet Squanto who saves them from starvation, and eventually celebrate a successful harvest with their good friends the Wampanoag in the first Thanksgiving. They live happily ever after.

Think again. Few ever stop to think what happened after Thanksgiving (hint: it wan’t Christmas). Maybe that’s because it was one of the bloodiest and most treacherous episodes in American history. What began as a close alliance between Wampanoag leader Massasoit and the Pilgrim settlers quickly eroded as English families began immigrating into the region by the shipload – often thousands in a year – importing diseases, devouring scarce resources, and naturally, disregarding treaty agreements.

An outstanding documentary on the background of King Philip's War - Watch it online here

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