From:
"Strong Heart Woman" <bearwolfhawk.com>
> Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005
15:40:20 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time)
> Subject: [UnitedNativeAmerica]
THE REAL STORY OF THANKSGIVING
>
> THE REAL
STORY OF THANKSGIVING
>
>
by Susan Bates
>
>
> Most of us associate the holiday with happy
Pilgrims
> and Indians sitting down to a big feast. And
that
> did happen - once.
>
> The story began
in 1614 when a band of English
> explorers sailed home to
England with a ship full
> of Patuxet Indians bound for slavery.
They left
> behind smallpox which virtually wiped out those
who
> had escaped. By the time the Pilgrims arrived
in
> Massachusetts Bay they found only one living
Patuxet
> Indian, a man named Squanto who had survived
slavery
> in England and knew their language. He taught
them
> to grow corn and to fish, and negotiated a
peace
> treaty between the Pilgrims and the
Wampanoag
> Nation. At the end of their first year, the
Pilgrims
> held a great feast honoring Squanto and
the
> Wampanoags.
>
> But as word spread in
England about the paradise to
> be found in the new world,
religious zealots called
> Puritans began arriving by the boat
load. Finding no
> fences around the land, they considered it to
be in
> the public domain. Joined by other British
settlers,
> they seized land, capturing strong young Natives
for
> slaves and killing the rest. But the Pequot
Nation
> had not agreed to the peace treaty Squanto
had
> negotiated and they fought back. The Pequot War
was
> one of the bloodiest Indian wars ever fought.
>
> In 1637 near present day Groton, Connecticut,
over
> 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe
had
> gathered for their annual Green Corn Festival
which
> is our Thanksgiving celebration. In the
predawn
> hours the sleeping Indians were surrounded
by
> English and Dutch mercenaries who ordered them
to
> come outside. Those who came out were shot
or
> clubbed to death while the terrified women and
>
children who huddled inside the longhouse were
> burned alive. The
next day the governor of the
> Massachusetts Bay Colony declared
"A Day Of
> Thanksgiving" because 700 unarmed men, women
and
> children had been murdered.
>
> Cheered
by their "victory", the brave colonists and
> their Indian allies
attacked village after village.
> Women and children over 14 were
sold into slavery
> while the rest were murdered. Boats
loaded with a
> many as 500 slaves regularly left the ports of
New
> England. Bounties were paid for Indian scalps
to
> encourage as many deaths as possible.
>
> Following an especially successful raid against
the
> Pequot in what is now Stamford, Connecticut,
the
> churches announced a second day of "thanksgiving"
to
> celebrate victory over the heathen savages.
During
> the feasting, the hacked off heads of Natives
were
> kicked through the streets like soccer balls.
Even
> the friendly Wampanoag did not escape the
madness.
> Their chief was beheaded, and his head impaled on
a
> pole in Plymouth, Massachusetts -- where it
remained
> on display for 24 years.
>
> The killings became more and more frenzied, with
> days
of thanksgiving feasts being held after each
> successful
massacre. George Washington finally
> suggested that only one day
of Thanksgiving per year
> be set aside instead of celebrating
each and every
> massacre. Later Abraham Lincoln decreed
Thanksgiving
> Day to be a legal national holiday during the
Civil
> War -- on the same day he ordered troops to
march
> against the starving Sioux in Minnesota.
>
> This story doesn't have quite the same fuzzy
> feelings
associated with it as the one where the
> Indians and Pilgrims are
all sitting down together
> at the big feast. But we need to
learn our true
> history so it won't ever be repeated. Next
> Thanksgiving, when you gather with your loved ones
> to
Thank God for all your blessings, think about
> those people who
only wanted to live their lives and
> raise their families.
They, also took time out to
> say "thank you" to Creator for all
their blessings.
>
> It is sad to think that this happened,
but it is
> important to understand all of the story and
not
> just the happy part. Today the town of Plymouth
Rock
> has a Thanksgiving ceremony each year in
remembrance
> of the first Thanksgiving. There are still
Wampanoag
> people living in Massachusetts. In 1970, they
asked
> one of them to speak at the ceremony to mark
the
> 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim's arrival. Here
is
> part of what was said:
>
> "Today is a
time of celebrating for you -- a time of
> looking back to the
first days of white people in
> America. But it is not a time of
celebrating for me.
> It is with a heavy heart that I look back
upon what
> happened to my People. When the Pilgrims
arrived,
> we, the Wampanoags, welcomed them with open
arms,
> little knowing that it was the beginning of the
end.
> That before 50 years were to pass, the
Wampanoag
> would no longer be a tribe. That we and
other
> Indians living near the settlers would be killed
by
> their guns or dead from diseases that we caught
from
> them. Let us always remember, the Indian is and
was
> just as human as the white people.
>
>
Although our way of life is almost gone, we, the
> Wampanoags,
still walk the lands of Massachusetts.
> What has happened cannot
be changed. But today we
> work toward a better America, a more
Indian America
> where people and nature once again are
important."
> Our Thanks to Hill & Holler Column by Susan
Bates
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