Today, in the United States, we celebrate a story of a group of people who were fleeing religious persecution, and came to the New World for freedom. It's a myth. There is some truth in it; there is other truth . . . missing. We also may discuss a story of a continent full of various cultures, many of which are now completely gone -- we can discuss this day as commemorating a significant event in the whole process of cultural destruction that took place across most of the Americas, both North and South. There is truth in that story, too. And, of course, neither story is the whole story -- no story ever is. I'd like to talk about another, third, story, which is also part of this. It's the story of a man named Tisquantum. Or, at least, CALLED Tisquantum -- it was probably a nickname, since it means something along the lines of "Wrath of God." Could that be because he had a terrible temper? Maybe. Or could it be because his life was cursed? Tisquantum was a Patuxet Indian, and therefore a subject of the Wamponoag Confederacy. In 1605,as a young man, he and some companions were traveling in modern-day Maine, when they were captured and enslaved by English explorers. He was sent back to England, and put in the hands of the man who was in charge of the expedition that had captured them. He was taught English, and expected to work as a translator. He went back to the New World, serving under Captain John Smith, and, after nine years of service in England and the New World, Captain Smith freed him to go back home. On his way back, one of Captain Smith's men re-captured him, took him to Spain, and attempted to sell him into slavery. Again. This was just a little bit beyond the pale for even that time, and local Catholic friars took control of the Indians, and decided to try to convert them instead of enslaving them. Tisquantum convinced them to let him try to get back home, and he moved to London. In London, he moved in with a shipwright who was planning to move to the New World, and worked with him for a few years. When the shipwright moved to Newfoundland, Tisquantum came with him, and tried to sign up with an expedition which would be exploring the East Coast, his home. Unfortunately, that expedition fell through, and Tisquantum moved BACK to London, since that was where more expeditions started from. And the next year, 1619, fourteen years after he was taken, he finally managed to get back home. Where he found a post-apocalyptic nightmare. His entire village had been wiped out by disease. His home was a devestated, deserted wasteland. Everyone he'd grown up with, all his friends, all his family -- were dead. He was picked up by Wampanoag Indians. And then, a shipload of unprepared, inexperienced, unsupplied, and ignorant Englishmen landed at Tisquantum's village. They had no food. No skills. No way of creating shelter. And they moved into Tisquantum's abandoned village. They took over the houses that his family and friends had built. They found, and ate, the food that had been stored. They even dug up graves and found goods buried with the bodies of his tribe. For that whole first winter, Wampanoag Indians watched them, trying to figure out if they were a threat or an opportunity. But, to keep their options open, the Massasoit of the Wampanoags assigned Tisquantum to work with them, to analyze them, to keep them alive if he could. It was a no-brainer for the Massasoit. If things went wrong, it'd be on Tisquantum's head -- and he was basically expendible. He had many useful skills, not least of which that he spoke English probably as well as most of the pathetic Englishment there -- but, if he died, well, he had no family, no position. But if they succeeded? The disease and devistation which wiped out all of Tisquantum's tribe, as well as several others, had left a huge gap in the Wapanoag Confederation. Other tribes were already feeling out for weakness -- and now a new power had just . . . dropped in. An entirely new piece of the equation. These folks were ignorant and, left to their own devices, would just die off -- but if that happened, the whole Patuxet region would be open, and SOMEONE would take it over. If Massasoit could keep these Pilgrims alive, they could be enough of a power to keep other tribes away. Long-term, it'd be adding another factor to the political calculus of the region, but Europeans were already a reality and were clearly goingto be a factor from now on -- Massasoit had an opportunity to introduce Europeans that were, in some sense, under his control, or at least, influence. They would be dependent upon him, through Tisquantum, which would give him both ethical and pragmatic influence -- they'd be grateful to him, and dependent on him. The whole northern border of the Confederation was empty. And there were lots of other people -- Indian and European -- who'd be perfectly happy to take over prime land like the abandoned Patuxet village. There was decent farmland, great fishing, and good hunting right there. SOMEONE was going to move in there. From Massasoit's position, the best possible choice was a village of incompentent Europeans who were dependent on him. He could leverage their connection to the British Empire if he needed it, yet they weren't likely to be as big a threat, at least immediately, as a group of settlers who actually knew what they were doing. So Tisquantum saved them. He helped them break into his village's storehouses, he taught them planting techniques that he'd learned from other Patuxet, like co-planting beans, squash, and maize, and also planting techniques that he'd learned in England, like fertilizing plants with fish guts and otherwise inedible fish. (There's no evidence that any Wampanoag Confederacy tribes did that -- only Tisquantum. And he'd spent a bunch of time in parts of England where they DID do that.) Tisquantum was never completely trusted by Massasoit, especially as he became more connected to the Pilgrims. Nonetheless, Massasoit's expert political manipulation maintained peace in the region for at least fifty years. So, there's another side to the Thanksgiving story -- the story of a cursed man whose world was destroyed, but helped create another on the very site of his lost world; the story of another man, who used the first man's creation to balance political realities, and create a peace that lasted for generations. Maybe not very many generations -- but nonetheless, an accomplishment to be celebrated.
