First "Thanksgiving" celebrated safe return home after murdering 700 Pequot men, women, & children.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Richard Greener

Novelist and award-winning essayist
Posted: November 25, 2010 10:04 AM

The True Story Of Thanksgiving



The idea of the American Thanksgiving feast is a fairly recent fiction. The idyllic partnership of 17th Century European Pilgrims and New England Indians sharing a celebratory meal appears to be less than 120 years-old. And it was only after the First World War that a version of such a Puritan-Indian partnership took hold in elementary schools across the American landscape. We can thank the invention of textbooks and their mass purchase by public schools for embedding this "Thanksgiving" image in our modern minds. It was, of course, a complete invention, a cleverly created slice of cultural propaganda, just another in a long line of inspired nationalistic myths.

The first Thanksgiving Day did occur in the year 1637, but it was nothing like our Thanksgiving today. On that day the Massachusetts Colony Governor, John Winthrop, proclaimed such a "Thanksgiving" to celebrate the safe return of a band of heavily armed hunters, all colonial volunteers. They had just returned from their journey to what is now Mystic, Connecticut where they massacred 700 Pequot Indians. Seven hundred Indians - men, women and children - all murdered.

This day is still remembered today, 373 years later. No, it's been long forgotten by white people, by European Christians. But it is still fresh in the mind of many Indians. A group calling themselves the United American Indians of New England meet each year at Plymouth Rock on Cole's Hill for what they say is a Day of Mourning. They gather at the feet of a stature of Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag to remember the long gone Pequot. They do not call it Thanksgiving. There is no football game afterward.

How then did our modern, festive Thanksgiving come to be? It began with the greatest of misunderstandings, a true clash of cultural values and fundamental principles. What are we thankful for if not - being here, living on this land, surviving and prospering? But in our thankfulness might we have overlooked something? Look what happened to the original residents who lived in the area of New York we have come to call Brooklyn. A group of them called Canarsees obligingly, perhaps even eagerly, accepted various pieces of pretty colored junk from the Dutchman Peter Minuet in 1626. These trinkets have long since been estimated to be worth no more than 60 Dutch guilders at the time - $24 dollars in modern American money. In exchange, the Canarsees "gave" Peter Minuet the island of Manhattan. What did they care? They were living in Brooklyn.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-greener/the-true-story-of-thanksg_b_788436.html

[cherokeeprogressive]

1. Mmmm I love turkey, Thanksgiving with my family... football... n/t

[bigtree]

4. turkey, family, and football

. . . how can that be so wrong?

Happy Thanksgiving, cherokeeprogressive. Watch out for Pilgrims!

[cherokeeprogressive]

7. Same to you my friend. Enjoy the day. Cold and blustery here!

Temp about 23, snow on the ground, this is the first White Thanksgiving I can remember since I've moved to the mountains. Everyone's here and safe. Hard not to smile and let go of all the daily worries if only for a while.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Sh... Going against the myth

By the way remember to raise your glass to remember the slaves, both black and white, that built the colonial economy, as well as the Indian captives.

[Gregorian]

3. I wonder how many native Americans celebrate Thanksgiving.

[cherokeeprogressive]

5. This one does, heartily and with gusto... with friends, family, football...

and without shame. I loves me some turkey dinner.

My whole Native American family does as well.

Strange to be the only person awake at my house though, we had a late night last night. Oh well, the bird is stuffed and in the oven. That's all that counts at the moment!

[olegramps]

37. I regard it as a day to celebrate family and close friends. No Republicans need apply.

[kgnu_fan]

6. Truth hurts.... History hurts... And we are here now! So now what?

[hfojvt]

20. propaganda doesn't hurt though

because I am rubber and they are glue

Wadda ya mean, no what? First of all, if you are white, then start with flagellation verbally and physically. You must say 100 "our white fathers", every day, especially today -- "Our white fathers, who art in hell. Cursed be their name. Their kingdom be destroyed, their will was done, on earth, wrecking what once was heaven. Take away our daily bread, and forgive not our tresspasses as it is impossible to tresspass against us. Lead us not into self-respect, for ours is the guilt, and the shame, and the culpability, now and forever, amen."

Then you need to stop buying toys, and clothes and food for yourself and your family. Then after you have eaten just bread, and wheat bread too, give all the rest of your money to the nearest reservation or the NAACP. Do that for six generations and we might be even you white SOB.

Wadda ya mean, I am white too? Naturally, I am already doing those things.

[kgnu_fan]

61. I just came back from my walk and gosh, to find this cynicism, yuk...

[Greyhound]

8. Yes, celebrating slaughter with a feast goes back further than recorded history.

This has always been an ambiguous day to me as well.

[panader0]

9. Hmmm................I rec'd this and it's still at zero

Some folks are uncomfortable with the truth.

[hfojvt]

10. of course, that is not the true story of the first

I was just reading this on wiki yesterday

"The event now commemorated by the United States at the end of November each year is more properly termed a "harvest festival". The original festival was probably held in early October 1621 and was celebrated by the 53 surviving Pilgrims, along with Massasoit and 90 of his men. Three contemporary accounts of the event survive: Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford; Mourt's Relation probably written by Edward Winslow; and New England's Memorial penned by Plymouth Colony Secretary – and Bradford's nephew – Capt. Nathaniel Morton.<41> The celebration lasted three days and featured a feast that included numerous types of waterfowl, wild turkeys and fish procured by the colonists, and five deer brought by the Native Americans.<42>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colony#.22First_Thanksgiving.22

The slaughter at Mystic took place on May 26th, 1637 - so it is not anywhere near the date of our Thanksgiving celebration, although people do generally give thanks when their husbands or sons or brothers or uncles return safely from a battle.


Interestingly enough, a detail I am just reading, the last of the Pequots were killed, not by the English, but by the Mohawks - other Indians! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pequot_War#The_Mystic_massacre

But I hate to spoil the celebration of another "white-people-are-so-evil" day. So cheers. Down with whitey! :toast:

I'll be outside on the roof, trying to get a tan. Which is really tough to do this late in November.

But while I am up there, I may try to rig up the stupid lights, which is even more of a pain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yasSkqJBytk

[LARED]

12. +1 nt

[niyad]

14. so just because the date is different, it was okay for the european invaders to massacre women and

children? really?

[hfojvt]

21. Is that what I said?

What I said is that the date clearly shows that that was NOT the first Thanksgiving. That there actually was a harvest festival where Native Americans and Pilgrims sat down and ate together. Unfortunately that peace did not last. I generally prefer peace to war. It's not cool to wipe out a village or a tribe, but some white-haters seem to think it was perfectly fine for Metacomet to wipe out 13 settlements in Connecticut in King Phillip's war. Why, that's just self-defense, they say. Yet the Pilgrims also struck in a combination of self-defense and revenge. It starts with hate and fear, and there is no need to celebrate hate, especially hatred for the Pilgrims on Thanksgiving.

[olegramps]

38. I don't believe that he was saying that.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[niyad]

13. it was at one, I rec'd, and it is still at one--some people just cannot handle truth

[Bold Lib]

17. Truth? This event happened 16 years AFTER the first Thanksgiving.

That is the truth.

[Countdown_3_2_1]

22. Can't argue with TRUTH

Lets not rewrite history.

[niyad]

15. ah, more unrec;s--heaven forfend we should learn how the european invaders "settled" an inhabitied

land.

[boppers]

26. Heaven forbid a post get unrec'ed for blatantly twisting facts.

We shouldn't whitewash history, nor should it be redwashed, yellowwashed, greenwashed, whatever.

[Bold Lib]

16. Unrecommended for passing off an event as reason for Thanksgiving that took place 16 years AFTER

the first Thanksgiving. Boo. . .

[Gregorian]

18. What a downer. Don't bring my white ass down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcHOq8i5Pyk

[NoodleyAppendage]

19. Well...we're not celebrating the day in that manner in anymore. Prototypical jerk post.

This is exactly why we have communication problems with those on the Right and fail to capture more of the populace towards our way of thinking. Give it a rest.

What do you hope to accomplish (other than pissing people off)?

J

[JANdad]

23. Ahhh the usuall shit on the American Holiday thread...

No American holiday would be complete without one...

[Igel]

24. But the real horror was that most of the victims were women, children, and the elderly.

Most of the "warriors" were part of a raiding party out to attack a white settlement, leaving their village less well defended. I wonder if they had much success against the relatively new English settlement?

It's also a bit inconvenient that over 1/3 of the "white" killers were Native American.

This is in addition to the entire event having occurred in some sort of Whovian temporal displacement field. But there's Truth and there's mere factual accuracy, and the latter should never, ever be allowed to get in the way of the former. Otherwise we just might be stuck with accepting things like the theory of evolution and that's just crazy talk.

[Countdown_3_2_1]

28. The greater horror is the LIE that this happened on Thanksgiving

It happened 16 years later and is UNRELATED to the holiday at all.

[DCKit]

25. That damn Texas School Board has been at it longer than I ever thought. n/t

[MellowDem]

27. Your history is off...

since that wasn't the first Thanksgiving. And regardless, Thanksgiving has changed as a holiday quite a bit, and its purpose today is positive.

As for your rants against "white people" and "European Christians", you need to put down the kool-aid. Native Americans were just as bloodthirsty and backstabbing as any other tribes have been throughout history, and didn't mind slaughtering each other when not fighting Europeans. I wouldn't want to have lived back then, whether with Native Americans or Europeans. All in all, humanity has made some great strides in some parts of the Earth since then, and while it's not perfect, we can at least be thankful for that.

[H2O Man]

30. It's actually accurate.

While people around the globe have long had Thanksgiving festivals, in the context of the European experience in the America's, this was indeed the actual first time it was declared a holiday by a government official.

[MellowDem]

31. Depends on your defintion I suppose...

whether a government official saying a holiday is so is the first actual holiday seems a bit odd to me. The celebration today relates back to the 1621 harvest meal, whatever a government offical a couple years later says. Regardless, Thanksgiving isn't about blood lust, just like Halloween is no longer just about dead relatives or spirits, or Christmas is no longer an exclusively pagan holiday, so lamenting Thanksgiving seems rather odd and wasted negative energy.

So, I would say it is not accurate at all, unless you really want to look for something to complain about.

[H2O Man]

41. Respectfully disagree.

It may seem odd to you, or strike you as someone merely looking for something to complain about. That strikes me as rather curious, coming from a self-professed "mellow" person.

Yesterday, I posted a version of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving prayer. I noted that the harvest festival was common among agricultural peoples around the world. The European version of Christianity suppressed this and other traditions in those lands. When Europeans began coming to the Americas, they were re-introduced to Thanksgiving. The Pilgrim version is not the first example: Spanish people participated in such festivals in Florida, as did other Europeans in Canada.

The Wampanoag tradition, which involved the Pilgrams, is a wonderful story for little children. It serves a good purpose. But by the time children reach junior high school, it is good to teach them the full story of the relations between the Euro-Americans and the tribes of the Wampanoag. By this time, these children should have also learned the truth about Santa, the Easter Bunny, and that great American hero, the Tooth Fairy. I'm confident that they can handle the actual history of Thanksgiving, and of Euro-American and Native American relations.

No dam ever built can hold back waters already spilt. We cannot go back and change history. But we can make a conscious choice of if we learn and teach an accurate, full history, or if we edit the truth to meet our need for comfort. As the Haudenosaunee Thanksiving prayer that I posted notes, there are benefits accrued from putting our heads together, recognizing the truth of everyone's experience, and attempting to create a better future by working together today.

This may seem odd to you, or even a bitter attempt to argue over some old complaint. However, I hope that in time you will come to recognize that it is something very important to many people -- and certainly not just a segment of Indians or angry folks. Nor is it a threat to Thanksgiving. Indeed, it is the essence of the festival, especially the Wampanoag & Pilgrim version.

[FourScore]

43. H2O Man, excellent post once again!

I missed your post with the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving prayer. Do you have a link to it? I would love to read it.

I wish a belated Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones!

FourScore

[H2O Man]

49. It's on DU:GD

probably back a page or two now. I experience difficulty in attempts to link DU posts. It's on my journal, too, of course. I think that you would appreciate it.

[hfojvt]

50. the OP does not strike me as a full story, - just another myth

In this new myth the Euro-Americans are the bad guys and the Native Americans are the victims. Nor is this myth the actual history of Thanksgiving just because a Governor declared a day of thanks when their menfolk came back alive from a battle. The fesst of the Wampanoags and the Pilgrims, which our tradition goes back to pre-dates it.

[H2O Man]

52. It's not a myth.

It actually happened. It is well-recorded. And it makes no difference whatsoever if some people really, really want to justify ignoring it.

[hfojvt]

53. I know that it actually happened

but the way it is framed in the OP is myth. I am not urging that it be ignored, but don't read a myth and think "wow I am hearing a deep truth that I never learned in school". It's not a truth when it is presented as a myth. I think we are old enough to handle the truth and not just to replace one myth with another. We used to believe in Santa Claus and now we believe in Satan Claus instead.

[H2O Man]

54. You are wrong.

It's too bad that you didn't learm it in school. But, it is of no significance if you want to admit it, or not. It happened, and it was declared a holiday. The Pilgrim experience happened, but was not declared a holiday.

[hfojvt]

56. Just like a broken clock

I am wrong twice a day, but not this time. You are trying to make something out of two nothings. The fact of no government declaration of the first event and a government declaration of the second event. As if there is some mystical power in government declarations. To say "it was declared a holiday" makes it sound like Decoration Day or Armistice Day or something. Those were declared holidays and they stayed holidays. They were celebrated from that time forward. Except in this case, the first event became a rightfully cherished memory and the second one was quickly forgotten as political posturing.

And none of the holiday declaration touches on the other myth, the myth of the evil white person and the colored victims. That's the myth some are trying to spread and celebrate here.

[mikekohr]

58. Not All White People Are/Where Evil, Not All Natives Good

But there was dispossesion, removal, and murder. Some rejoiced and gave thanks to God for the misfortune of others.

--------------------------clip from http://www.brotherhooddays.com/HEROES.html#The Pilgrims-------------------------
William Bradford described the slaughter in these words, "It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire, and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stink and stench thereof; but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice and they gave praise thereof to God." 1)

John Underhill would later justify the killing of women and children by quoting the Holy Bible, "Sometimes the Scripture declareth women and children must perish with their parents." 31)

One Christian soldier, sickened by the stench of burning flesh and horrified by the screams of the dying,, asked of his commander, "Is burning alive, men, women, and children, consistent with the benevolent principles of the Gospel?" 12

Increase Mather rejoiced in his writing, that when survivors of this massacre "....came to see the ashes of their friends, mingled with the ashes of their fort.... where the English had been doing a good day's work, they Howl'd, they Roar'd, they Stamp'd, they tore their hair,.... and were the pictures of so many Devils in Desperation." 31

WILLIAM BRADFORD, governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony:
The pious Mr. Bradford gave thanks to the creator for the devastating plagues that killed Native Peoples in staggering numbers. Bradford credited the waves of sickness that afflicted the Natives to, "...the good hand of God.." 75).

JOHN WINTHROP, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony:
Celebrated the plagues that wiped away the Native people as, "Miraculous." 1).

KING JAMES of ENGLAND:
Writing of the plague that befell the Native populace of the New World, King James gave thanks to Almighty God for sending, ".... this wonderful plague among the savages.."

Link to Sources:
http://www.brotherhooddays.com/sources2.html


mike kohr
International Brotherhood Days
http://www.brotherhooddays.com

[EFerrari]

59. This counry was founded on a genocide and built by slaves.

WTF "myth" are you talking about?

[H2O Man]

66. On this,

you are not only wrong, but being a very silly form of stubborn. But that is your choice.

History is what it is. We can deny it; pretend someone is attempting to make us feel "guilty" about something that happened centuries ago; bring in some weak business about race; or stick our heads in the sand.

Or we can learn from it. Recognize that human history --including the history of the USA -- has both good and bad in it, including the not uncommon theme of generally good people doing some pretty bad things.

It's pretty difficult to deny that part of the history of the colonization of North America, and the creation of this country, did not include some brutal, inhumane, and yes, evil chapters. Your posts illustrate the difficulty involved in making that effort. But that history is exactly what it is, and nothing less.

Today, we find ourselves in a difficult time in our history. It's always interesting to me that some of the people on DU who are self-professed liberals have such an entrenched dislike of Native American issues. I've mentioned before a time when Onondaga Chief Oren Lyons told an audience of mainly white liberals that what had happened to Indians yesterday, would certainly happen to them tomorrow. How did he know this? By understanding human history, including both the good and the bad.

[hfojvt]

72. it's kinda funny

that you say that I am the one trying to deny history, when what I object to is a history that is written as myth, telling only one side, and framing it as a evil whites/native victims story. Would there be no objections if the story was told the other way?

"Settlers then were murdered whenever the Indians met them in the forests of New Jersey, and De Vries' innocent settlement was ruined."

Chief Metacomet wiped out 13 settlements and killed 600 adult white men before the tide of battle turned

"After this event, many Cheyenne, including the great warrior Roman Nose, and Arapaho men joined the Dog Soldiers and sought revenge on settlers throughout the Platte valley, killing as many as 20,000 civilians."

23 April 1637
Attack on settlers working in field near Wethersfield. Seven to nine settlers are killed and two girls are taken captive.

August 23, 1862 - About 650 Dakota attack New Ulm. Town is burned; 34 die and 60 are wounded, but the barricaded area holds out.

Well what do you know there. The Dakota apparently tried to do to New Ulm what the Puritans did to Mystic. The only reason we don't get to celebrate the death of 2,000 white people there is because they failed. If they had succeeeded and returned home, I am betting that mothers and fathers and brothers and wives would be giving thanks for the safe return of their warriors.

"A little more than a century before, in 1837, the Mandan tribe of the high plains found itself cooped up in two defended camps by their Sioux enemies when epidemic broke out. As a result their numbers were reduced from about 2,000 to a mere 30-40 survivors in a matter of weeks; and those survivors were promptly captured by enemies so that the Mandan tribe ceased to exist." Plagues and Peoples p. 205


It would almost appear that not all of the brutal, inhumane and evil chapters were written by white people. Or one could conclude that our country was founded on a genocide and slavery. Because, of course, all the farms and factories and roads of New York, Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, and Iowa were created by slaves.

Yes, Wendell Barry wrote the same thing "If there is any law that has been consistently operative in American history, it is that the members of any established people or group or community sooner or later become 'redskins' - that is they become the designated victims of an utterly ruthless, officially sanctioned and subsidized exploitation." p. 4 Unsettling of America

[EFerrari]

60. It's too bad the poster didn't learn about it even on "Roseanne".

Yesterday, they reran the episode where the young son of the family is in his first school play on Thanksgiving. He plays an Indian who is among the slaughtered at the first Thanksgiving.

Of course, there are parents in the fictive audience who are as outraged as any teabagger that their children are being taught Communist propaganda.

lol

[mikekohr]

69. That Episode Of Rosanne Was Written By Charlie Hill -Onieda-

Charlie is one of the funniest comedians of the last 30 years.

here is a great clip of a young Charlie Hill from the Richard Pryor show: http://www.livestream.com/indiancountrytv/video?clipId=pla_327245e1-0351-4b46-9096-194ffaecfc1e


mike kohr
International Brotherhood Days
www.brotherhooddays.com

[EFerrari]

70. LOL! Thanks so much for that link.

I can't believe I've never seen him before. Recognize some of his tags, though. So good. :)

I didn't have time to watch teevee when "Roseanne" was on originally. So, last night was a first for me. When I saw what was happening in that play last night, I sat right up. It was really, really good.

lol

[kgnu_fan]

62. It is not "new myth" It has been known for long long time by many people

It may be new to you. I hope you learn.

[mikekohr]

57. Excellant Post H2O Man

Here is an excellant You Tube video on this subject:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/video/video.php?v=134691249919509&oid=145183048844531&comments


Here is a link to our website on the history between Native People, the Pilgrims, Puritains, Christain and Colonists

http://www.brotherhooddays.com/HEROES.html#The Pilgrims

"The Truth Will Make You Free" -John 8:32-


mike kohr
International Brotherhood Days
http://www.brotherhooddays.com

[H2O Man]

67. Thank you for the link.

One of our friends made a comment about "not learning this in school." That's merely evidence of an inferior education. Still, it's no excuse. Any intelligent person has plenty of resources available, from the nearest public l;ibrary, to local book stores, to the internet. Ignorance, of course, remains a choice ... but not a good one.

[Luminous Animal]

45. Thank you.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

29. Actually most people reckon Thanksgiving goes back to 1621, not 1637.

If you want to make a point about the colonist's treatment of the natives, you'd be able to do it far more effectively if you avoided this kind of factual error.

[Luminous Animal]

46. Most people may reckon that but they would be wrong.

What happened in 1621 was not "Thanksgiving Day" but what happened in 1637 was officially proclaimed "Thanksgiving Day"

[Rowdyboy]

32. History can be twisted to make any point as the Republicans have proved....the first

Thanksgiving celebrated in North America was in 1621, not 1637. When you ignore facts, your conclusions become meaningless and irrelevant.

[donheld]

33. American's hate it when facts get in the way of a good time.

[Gaedel]

35. DUers hate it when facts get in the way of a good rant.

Even when I agree with the substance of an OP, I often cringe about the twisting of the facts or the willing acceptance of urban legends or old wives tales just to fuel a rant.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

34. Good lord, the writer doesn't even bother dealing with primary texts.

What does he do with Bradford and Winslow, you know, writers who documented the feasting in 1621? Other documents show that the Massachusetts Bay Colony first celebrated Thanksgiving in 1630, not 1637. Winthrop was a Puritan, not a Pilgrim. Bradford and Winslow (Plymouth Plantation) were Pilgrims and Separatists.

Talk about not letting facts get in the way.

None of what I have pointed out above does anything to change the fact that the Natives were then slaughtered (and fought back in 1622 at Berkley Hundred--aka, Indian Massacre of 1622) and robbed.

[Luminous Animal]

51. There is a difference between holding a traditional feast and

proclaiming an official day of Thanksgiving.

Even the Pilgrim Hall Museum admits this:

"The Pilgrims did not call this harvest festival a "Thanksgiving," although they did give thanks to God. To them, a Day of Thanksgiving was purely religious. The first recorded religious Day of Thanksgiving was held in 1623 in response to a providential rainfall."

http://www.pilgrimhall.org/f_thanks.htm

[blindpig]

36. happy thanksgiving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrH2nUkXf3k

Shame, shame, shame.

[olegramps]

39. This is why I appreciate this site and give Thanksgiving for its existence.

It is truly a storehouse of information. I am continually amazed by its contributors each bringing information and perspective. Hopefully, the original poster accepts this additional information as not corrective but enlightening. I also find Wikipedia a welcome source. Aren't we fortunate to live in this amazing age? Too bad I have so few years left to prosper from it.

[political_Dem]

40. The birth of the country was forged on bloodshed.

It is a debt that the Founding Fathers, let alone the descendants of the first settlers could ever repay. There's always someone who shrieks, "No not again!!!! It's all in the past!!!". But what that person does not understand is that by inhibiting discussion of how the settlers of this country truly treated the Native Americans, Black slaves and other folks of color will only continue the mistreatment and discrimination that still goes on today.

What this story shows is that things don't change. Power, privilege and racism in the name of supremacy still goes on. The only difference now is that the people who benefit from this sad behavior are taught to deny it and spin an alternative tale that sweeps such brutality under the rug. In such utter denial, they continue to bully the descendents of the subjugated into silence and complicity.

The only thing to do is to keep on exposing and shining a light on privilege and who benefits from it. Doing simply that could only help to pave the way toward a more equitable future.

[niyad]

42. wish I could rec this post.

[hfojvt]

48. I am not for inhibiting discussion

but lies and propaganda should not be swallowed as truth. 'How the settlers "truly" treated the Native Americans' always seems to get told from only one side. It is settlers killing the Pequot in a largely undefended village at Mystic. Yet why was that village undefended? Because the Sachem has assembled most of the warriors to go attack Hartford. Boy, how we liberals would celebrate if they had succeeded in destroying Hartford. :woohoo: Let's have a Thanksgiving, the good guys won!!

Why was there conflict in the first place? Here's more detail.

http://www.colonialwarsct.org/1637.htm

In your summary, it is "power, privilege, and racism". Like a bunch of white guys were sitting around their castle and just decided one day 'let's kill a bunch of injuns and show them who is boss."

Yet I read the story as a combination of revenge, self defense and fear.

It starts, if there is a beginning, with the death of a settler

"1634
Captain John Stone killed by western Niantics, a tributary tribe of the Pequots. Circumstances of the attack unclear."

then it seems to escalate, perhaps stirred up by Uncas

"16 June 1636 Jonathan Brewster, trader from Plymouth, conveys message from Uncas, chief of the Mohegans, that the Pequots plan a preemptive strike against the English."

I dunno, should the settlers be worried about this?

"Spring 1637
Pequots attempt to persuade Narragansetts to ally with them against the English. English send Roger Williams topersuade Narragansetts to remain neutral."

or bothered at all by this?

"Late summer 1636
Pequots attack Fort Saybrook. Siege continues intermittently for months."

or this?

"23 April 1637
Attack on settlers working in field near Wethersfield, in retribution for confiscation of land belonging to Sowheag, a sachem. Seven to nine settlers are killed and two girls are taken captive."


You know, if I am a farmer in a nearby town, I am gonna support striking back to discourage other Indians from deciding to attack me when I am working in my field. Just like if I am an Indian I might support attacking them for taking my land. But on either side, I would support a peaceful resolution to the conflicts. Human life is prescious, whether the life of an Indian or a settler and once blood is spilled, that leads to even greater bloodshed. But I don't think anyone owes a debt because they defended themselves either.

This kinda shows me that the frames don't change in that some people want to divide humanity into "good guys" and "bad guys" based on the color of their skin.

[lynne]

44. The article is historically inaccurate from the very beginning as the first Thanksgiving -

- celebrated by those who would successfully colonize the U.S. was held 1619 in Virginia. Can't pay much attention to anything in an article that can't get the basic info correct.

[LostInAnomie]

47. Jeebus! Did this guy even try to look up any facts?

1. That wasn't the year of the first Thanksgiving.

2. The affiliations of the Europeans are wrong.

3. He left out the part about other Native American tribes that took part in the raid.

Never let any of that get in way of a good "Thanksgiving is Evil" story though.

[Odin2005]

55. We all should be forced to remeber the brutal genocide of the Native Americans every Thanksgiving.

Yes, it was GENOCIDE.

[kgnu_fan]

63. Yes it was

[Dystopian]

64. Amerigo Vespucci~

I recommended this yesterday...

Your post jogged my memory...
Back in the 'old days' when I actually posted on occasion, I wrote a similar OP.
Looking back...there was not one reply.
It stands alone.

The link 'Why I Hate Thanksgiving' is another good read.....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2781999

Thank you very much for posting.
We need to be reminded of the truth....

peace~

[Telly Savalas]

65. How the fuck is it something that's been repeatedly demonstrated

as being factually incorrect is still being called the "truth"?

[Nye Bevan]

68. Thanks to the many DUers who debunked this crap in this thread,

Seems like the OP was suitably embarrassed as he has not returned to post a reply (or an apology).

These oh-so-politically correct threads where DUers like to piss on beloved holidays are one of the less enjoyable traditions of DU. "Columbus was a genocidal maniac! Columbus was worse than Hitler! So why do we celebrate Columbus Day?" etc.

[Catherina]

71. "This day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for subduing the Pequots,"

"This day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for subduing the Pequots,"

Proclamation by Massachusetts Bay Governor John Winthrop

In 1621, Pilgrims did have a feast but it was not repeated years thereafter. So, it wasn’t the beginning of a Thanksgiving tradition nor did Pilgrims call it a Thanksgiving feast. Pilgrims perceived Indians in relation to the Devil and the only reason why they were invited to that feast was for the purpose of negotiating a treaty that would secure the lands for the Pilgrims. The reason why we have so many myths about Thanksgiving is that it is an invented tradition. It is based more on fiction than fact.

So, what truth ought to be taught? In 1637, the official Thanksgiving holiday we know today came into existence. (Some people argue it formally came into existence during the Civil War, in 1863, when President Lincoln proclaimed it, which also was the same year he had 38 Sioux hung on Christmas Eve.) William Newell, a Penobscot Indian and former chair of the anthropology department of the University of Connecticut, claims that the first Thanksgiving was not “a festive gathering of Indians and Pilgrims, but rather a celebration of the massacre of 700 Pequot men, women and children.” In 1637, the Pequot tribe of Connecticut gathered for the annual Green Corn Dance ceremony. Mercenaries of the English and Dutch attacked and surrounded the village; burning down everything and shooting whomever try to escape. The next day, Newell notes, the Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony declared: “A day of Thanksgiving, thanking God that they had eliminated over 700 men, women and children.” It was signed into law that, “This day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for subduing the Pequots.” Most Americans believe Thanksgiving was this wonderful dinner and harvest celebration. The truth is the “Thanksgiving dinner” was invented both to instill a false pride in Americans and to cover up the massacre.

...

William Bradford, in his famous History of the Plymouth Plantation, celebrated the Pequot massacre:

“Those that scraped the fire were slaine with the sword; some hewed to peeces, others rune throw with their rapiers, so as they were quickly dispatchte, and very few escapted. It was conceived they thus destroyed about 400 at this time. It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fyer, and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stincke and sente there of, but the victory seemed a sweete sacrifice, and they gave the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to inclose their enemise in their hands, and give them so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enimie.”

...

http://www.republicoflakotah.com/2009/cooking-the-history-books-the-thanksgiving-massacre/

Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian Hating & Empire Building

The original Thanksgiving was marked by prayer and thanks for the untimely deaths of most of the Wampanoag Tribe due to smallpox contracted from earlier European visitors. Thus when the Pilgrims arrived they found the fields already cleared and planted, and they called them their own.

- snip -

He was inspired to issue a proclamation: "This day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for subduing the Pequots." The authentic Thanksgiving Day was born.

http://www.nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/776/the-massacre-for-which-thanksgiving-is-named-pt2

3 See Sylvester, op. cit., ii, p. 457, for expedients adopted by Massachusetts to obtain money to defend the frontiers. Yet the number killed and sold, along with those who escaped, practically destroyed the warring Indians. According to the Massachusetts Records of 1676-1677 a day was set apart for public thanksgiving, because, among other things of moment, "there now scarce remains a name or family of them (the Indians) but are either slain, captivated or fled."

http://www.dinsdoc.com/lauber-1-5.htm

Read the last one at the link and weep.

http://www.ditext.com/zinn/zinn1.html">From A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn


The Puritans also appealed to the Bible, Psalms 2:8: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." And to justify their use of force to take the land, they cited Romans 13:2: "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation."

The Puritans lived in uneasy truce with the Pequot Indians, who occupied what is now souther Connecticut and Rhode Island. But they wanted them out of te way; they wanted their land. And they seemed to want also to establish their rule firmly over Connecticut settlers in that area. The murder of a white trader, Indian-kidnaper, and troublemaker became an excuse to make war on the Pequots in 1636.

A punitive expedition left Boston to attack the Narragansett Indians on Block Island, who were lumped with the Pequots. As Governor Winthrop wrote:

They had commission to put to death the men of Block Island, but to spare the women and children, and to bring them away, and to take possession of the island; and from thence to go to the Pequods to demand the murderers of Captain Stone and other English, and one thousand fathom of wampom for damages, etc. and some of their children as hostages, which if they should refuse, they were to obtain it by force.

The English landed and killed some Indians, but the rest hid in the thick forests of the island and the English went from one deserted village to the next, destroying crops. Then they sailed back to the mainland and raided Pequot villages along the coast, destroying crops again. One of the officers of that expedition, in his account, gives some insight into the Pequots they encountered: "The Indians spying of us came running in multitudes along the water side, crying, What cheer, Englishmen, what cheer, what do you come for? They not thinking we intended war, went on cheerfully . . . ."

So, the war with the Pequots began. Massacres took place on both sides. The English developed a tactic of warfare used earlier by Cortés and later, in the twentieth century, even more systematically: deliberate attacks on noncombatants for the purpose of terrorizing the enemy. That is ethnohistorian Francis Jennings's interpretation of Captain John Mason's attack on a Pequot village on the Mystic River near Long Island Sound: "Mason proposed to avoid attacking Pequot warriors, which would have overtaxed his unseasoned, unreliable troops. Battle, as such, was not his purpose. Battle is only one of the ways to destroy an enemy's will to fight. Massacre can accomplish the same end with less risk, and Mason had determined that massacre would be his objective."

So the English set fire to the wigwams of the village. By their own account: "The Captain also said, We must Burn Them; and immediately stepping into the Wigwam . . . brought out a Fire Brand, and putting it into the Matts with which they were covered, set the Wigwams on Fire." William Bradford, in his History of the Plymouth Plantation written at the time, describes John Mason's raid on the Pequot village:

Those that scraped the fire were slaine with the sword; some hewed to peeces, others rune throw with their rapiers, so as they were quickly dispatchte, and very few escapted. It was conceived they thus destroyed about 400 at this time. It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fyer, and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stincke and sente there of, but the victory seemed a sweete sacrifice, and they gave the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to inclose their enemise in their hands, and give them so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enimie.

As Dr. Cotton Mather, Puritan theologian, put it: "It was supposed that no less than 600 Pequot souls were brought down to hell that day."

http://www.ditext.com/zinn/zinn1.html

[Swamp Rat]

73. Thank you Catherina

I am sure some authoritarian personality will gleefully "debunk" your informative and enlightened reply, for whatever silly or inane reason.

Btw, the terms 'liberal' and 'progressive' have even lost meaning on this website to the point I just reject them when I see them.

[Catherina]

74. You're welcome mon frere n/t