Chapter I: Part 1

VOICES FROM AMERICA’S PAST

THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICA
1607-1763

Edited by
Richard B. Morris
Gouverneur Morris Professor of History
Columbia University
New York, New York

James Woodress
Chairman, Department of English
San Fernando Valley State College
Northridge, California

WEBSTER PUBLISHING COMPANY
ST. LOUIS ATLANTA DALLAS PASADENA

VOICES FROM AMERICA’S PAST
_The Beginnings of America 1607-1763_
_The Times That Tried Men’s Souls 1770-1783_
_The Age of Washington 1783-1801_
_The Jeffersonians 1801-1829_
_Jacksonian Democracy 1829-1848_
_The Westward Movement 1832-1889_
_A House Divided: The Civil War 1850-1865_
(_Other titles in preparation_)

Copyright ©, 1961, by Webster Publishing Company
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface v
I Settlements North and South

The Founding of Jamestown 1
William Simmonds Describes the Settlers’ Problems 2
John Smith’s Adventures 4

The Founding of Plymouth 9
William Bradford’s History Of _Plymouth Plantation_ 9
John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony 17
Cotton Mather Describes John Winthrop 18
John Winthrop’s Letters to His Wife 19
II Religious Life in America

New England 22
Edward Taylor’s Poems 23
The Salem Witch Trials 25
Samuel Sewall’s Confession of Error 30
The Great Awakening: Jonathan Edwards 30

Other Colonies 33
John Woolman’s Journal 33
III Colonial Problems

Indian Troubles 37
Mrs. Rowlandson’s Captivity 38

Conflict with France 42
George Washington’s Letter on Braddock’s Defeat 42
Benjamin Franklin’s Comments on Braddock 44
IV Colonial Life

Transportation 46
Sarah Kemble Knight Journeys to Connecticut 46

Life in the South 49
William Byrd, a Virginia Gentleman 49
William Byrd Sees North Carolina 50
William Byrd Visits Colonel Spotswood 52

Life in a City 52
From Benjamin Franklin’s _Autobiography_ 53

The excerpt from _Of Plymouth Plantation_, by William Bradford, edited by Samuel Eliot Morison, which begins on page 11, was reprinted by permission of Alfred Knopf, Inc., 1952.

The poems by Edward Taylor, “Housewifery” and “The Joy of Church Fellowship Rightly Attended,” which begin on page 23, were reprinted by permission of the _New England Quarterly_, December, 1937.

The picture on page 1, of Pocahontas saving the life of Captain John Smith, and the picture on page 22, “The Witch,” were reprinted through the courtesy of the Library of Congress. The picture on the cover and the picture on page 37, of a colonial woman captured by Indians, were reprinted through the courtesy of the National Life Insurance Company of Montpelier, Vermont. The picture of Benjamin Franklin shown on page 46 was reprinted through the courtesy of the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company of Boston, Massachusetts.

Preface

The seventeenth century in America was the seedtime of colonization. For 115 years after Columbus discovered America, explorers sailed the western waters, and the nations of Europe staked out vast empires. England launched several successful attempts to plant colonies in what is now the United States. In the years following the landing at Jamestown in 1607, England laid the foundation for her extensive colonial system in North America. From these scattered colonies a nation grew, but a long time passed before the colonies became states and the states became a nation.

The English colonization of North America did not suffer for want of reporters to describe it. The people who took part in the enterprise wrote a great deal about their experiences. Governor Bradford of Plymouth wrote a history to preserve a record of the colony’s early days. Captain John Smith of Virginia wrote pamphlets to satisfy the curiosity of folks back home who might want to come to the New World. Many of these works were printed immediately; others remained in manuscript until our day.

Not only the leaders of the colonies wrote of their deeds. Ordinary people also sent letters home to England and kept diaries for their personal satisfaction. All in all, the United States had her beginnings amid ample publicity. We are grateful to these people for preserving records of the early days, for through their efforts we can get a first-hand idea of colonial times. We don’t have to guess about the events that took place in America three hundred years ago. Of course, we don’t have nearly as many documents as we could wish for, but we do have plenty of records to draw upon.

This is the first of a series of booklets containing the story of America, as told by those who were there, the eyewitnesses and participants. The selections which make up this booklet are a few of the records that historians use in writing their books. These diaries, letters, biographies, and narratives are the raw material of history. These accounts bring us face to face with the Indians of Virginia in 1607, make us feel something of the sufferings of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts during their “starving time,” tell us about the deep religious beliefs of the colonists, and the superstitions, like witchcraft, which were hard to root out. We see life through the eyes of a prosperous planter in Virginia and a struggling printer’s apprentice in Philadelphia. History books can provide over-all pictures of a country’s development, but these eyewitness accounts and first-hand reports put flesh on the bare bones of history.

In editing this booklet, we have let the authors tell their own story in their own words, but we have sometimes modernized the spelling and punctuation and—when it seemed absolutely necessary—words and sentence structure. Our aim has been to turn the language of these old documents into English modern enough that what the writers have to say is not obscured by the way they said it. Occasionally we have made cuts within selections to save space, but, for the most part, the material used is complete.

Richard B. Morris
James Woodress

Settlements North and South

The Founding of Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in America was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in May, 1607. The colonists who went ashore that spring morning more than three and one-half centuries ago discovered no cultivated countryside. Instead of the trim, green farms one sees along the James River today, they found a howling wilderness full of hostile Indians and wild beasts. Neither the colonists nor their merchant-sponsors in England were prepared for the troubles that Jamestown faced. The settlers died of disease, starvation, and Indian attacks, and they quarreled endlessly among themselves. The stockholders in the Virginia Company never made any money on their investment in the colony.

The Jamestown settlers sailed from England in three ships on December 19, 1606. Captain Christopher Newport was in charge of getting the colonists to Virginia. The ships stopped in the Canary Islands and the West Indies before reaching their destination. It was a long, exhausting voyage. Several weeks after landing at Jamestown, Captain Newport returned to England. The settlers then were on their own.

William Simmonds Describes the Settlers’ Problems

The following account of the early days at Jamestown was compiled in London by William Simmonds. It is based on the writings, freely adapted, of several of the colonists who were his friends. As you can see, Simmonds’ friends had no use for Edward Wingfield, the first president of the colony. They were supporters of Captain John Smith, whose own writings begin after this narrative.

Being thus left to our fortunes, within ten days, scarce ten amongst
us could either go or well stand, such extreme weakness and sickness
oppressed us. And thereat none need marvel, if they consider the cause
and reason, which was this: whilst the ships stayed, our allowance of
food was somewhat bettered by a daily portion of biscuit which the
sailors would pilfer [_steal_] to sell, give, or exchange with us, for
money, sassafras, [_or_] furs.... But when they departed, there
remained neither tavern, beer house, nor place of relief but the
common kettle.

Had we been as free from all sins as we were free from gluttony and
drunkenness, we might have been canonized for saints. But our
president would never have been admitted, for he kept for his private
use oatmeal, sack [_wine_], oil, aqua vitae [_brandy_], beef, eggs, or
what not. [_President Wingfield hotly denied this charge_.] The
[_contents of the common_] kettle indeed he allowed equally to be
distributed, and that was half a pint of wheat and as much barley
boiled with water for a man a day. This [_grain_] having fried some 26
weeks in the ship’s hold contained as many worms as grains, so that we
might truly call it rather so much bran than corn.

Our drink was water, our lodging, castles in the air. With this
lodging and diet our extreme toil in bearing and planting palisades
strained and bruised us. Our continual labor in the extremity of the
heat had so weakened us as were cause sufficient to have made us
miserable in our native country, or any other place in the world. From
May to September those that escaped dying lived upon sturgeon and sea
crabs. Fifty in this time we buried. [_The original colony numbered
104._]

Then seeing the President’s projects (who all this time had neither
felt want nor sickness) to escape these miseries by flight in our
pinnace [_small sailing boat_] so moved our dead spirits that we
deposed [_removed_] him and established [_John_] Ratcliffe in his
place.... But now was all our provision spent, the sturgeon gone, all
helps abandoned, each hour expecting the fury of the savages, when
God, the patron of all good endeavors, in that desperate extremity, so
changed the hearts of the savages that they brought such plenty of
their fruits and provision that no man wanted.

And now where some affirmed it was ill done of the Council to send
forth men so badly provided, this incontradictable reason will show
them plainly they are too ill-advised to nourish such ideas. First,
the fault of our going was our own. What could be thought fitting or
necessary we had; but what we should find, what we should want, where
we should be, we were all ignorant. And supposing to make our passage
in two months with victual [_food_] to live and the advantage of
spring to work, we were at sea five months where we spent both our
victual and lost the opportunity of the time and season to plant.

Such actions have ever since the world’s beginning been subject to
such accidents. Everything of worth is found full of difficulties, but
nothing [_is_] so difficult as to establish a commonwealth so far
remote from men and means and where men’s minds are so untoward
[_unlucky_] as neither [_to_] do well themselves nor to suffer others
[_to do well_]. But to proceed.

The new president, being little beloved, of weak judgment in dangers
and less industry in peace, committed the managing of all things
abroad to Captain Smith, who, by his own example, good words, and fair
promises set some to mow, others to bind thatch, some to build houses,
others to thatch them, himself always bearing the greatest task for
his own share. In short time he provided most of them lodgings,
neglecting any for himself.

This done, seeing the savages’ superfluity [_large numbers_] begin to
decrease, [_he_] with some of his workmen shipped himself in the
shallop [_small boat_] to search the country for trade.... He went
down the river to Kecoughtan [_an Indian village_] where at first they
scorned him as a starved man, yet he so dealt with them that the next
day they loaded his boat with corn. And in his return he discovered
and kindly traded with the Warascoyks....

And now the winter approaching, the rivers became so covered with
swans, geese, ducks, and cranes that we daily feasted with good bread,
Virginia peas, pumpkins, and persimmons, fish, fowl, and diverse sorts
of wild beasts, ... so that none of our Tuftaffaty [_silk-dressed_]
humorists desired to go for England.

John Smith 1580-1631

Captain John Smith already had lived an exciting life by the time he joined the Virginia-bound colonists at the age of 26. He had left England at 16 to become a soldier of fortune on the continent of Europe. He fought with the Austrians against the Turks, and once in single combat he cut off the heads of three Turkish champions. A Transylvanian prince rewarded him with a coat of arms for his deeds. Later he was captured and given as a present to the wife of a Turkish pasha, but he escaped and made his way back to England.

Smith’s adventures are so fantastic that many historians have called him a liar and refused to believe him. Yet recent historical research shows that Smith’s stories are reasonably accurate. He may have exaggerated his adventures to make a good story a little better, but it is probably true that Smith saved the Jamestown colony by his resourceful foraging among the Indians and by his bold leadership. Certainly he was an energetic and able man. For a fascinating account of Smith’s career, as verified by an expert in Hungarian history, see Marshall Fishwick, “Was John Smith a Liar?” _American Heritage_, IX, 29-33, 110 (October, 1958).

Smith returned to England in 1609 and never again saw Virginia, but he wrote much about the colony. One of his most interesting works is a pamphlet called _A Map of Virginia_. In it he put together a vivid eyewitness account of the animals, the plants, and the Indians. Smith’s booklet was designed to satisfy the great curiosity in England about the New World and to urge new settlers to go there. He does not mention the hardships.

THE INDIANS

The people differ very much in stature, ... some being very great, ...
others very little, ... but generally tall and straight, of a comely
[_pretty_] proportion and of a color brown, when they are of any age,
but they are borne white. Their hair is generally black, but few have
any beards. The men wear half their heads shaven, the other half long.
For barbers they use their women, who with two shells will grate the
hair, of any fashion they please....

They are very strong, of an able body and full of agility, able to
endure, to lie in the woods under a tree by the fire in the worst of
winter or in the weeds and grass in ambush in the summer. They are
inconstant [_changeable_] in everything but what fear constrains them
to keep.... Some are of disposition fearful, some bold, most
cautelous [_deceitful_], all savage. Generally [_they are_] covetous
of copper, beads, and such like trash. They are soon moved to anger
and so malicious that they seldom forget an injury....

For their apparel they are sometimes covered with skins of wild
beasts, which in winter are dressed with the hair but in summer
without. The better sort use large mantles of deerskin, ... some
embroidered with white beads, some with copper, others painted after
their manner. But the common sort have scarce to cover their nakedness
but with grass, the leaves of trees, or such like. We have seen some
use mantles made of turkey feathers so prettily wrought and woven with
threads that nothing could be discerned [_seen_] but the feathers,
that was exceedingly warm and very handsome. But the women are always
covered about their middles with a skin and very shamefast to be seen
bare....

Their women some have their legs, hands, breasts, and face cunningly
embroidered with diverse works, as beasts, serpents, artificially
wrought into their flesh with black spots. In each ear commonly they
have three great holes, whereat they hang chains, bracelets, or
copper. Some of their men wear in those holes a small green and yellow
colored snake, near half a yard in length, which crawling and lapping
herself about his neck often times familiarly would kiss his lips.
Others wear a dead rat tied by the tail. Some on their heads wear the
wing of a bird or some large feather with a rattle.... Their heads
and shoulders are painted red with the root _pocone_ powdered and
mixed with oil; this they hold in summer to preserve them from the
heat and in winter from the cold. Many other forms of paintings they
use, but he is the most gallant that is the most monstrous to
behold....

Men, women, and children have their several names according to the
several humors of their parents. Their women (they say) are easily
delivered of child, yet do they love children very dearly. To make
them hardy, in the coldest mornings they wash them in the rivers and
by painting and ointments so tan their skins that after a year or two
no weather will hurt them.

The men bestow their time in fishing, hunting, wars, and such man-like
exercises, ... which is the cause that the women be very painful
[_busy_] and the men often idle. The women and children do the rest of
the work. They make mats, baskets, pots, pound their corn, make their
bread, prepare their victuals, plant their corn, gather their corn,
bear all kinds of burdens, and such like.

Their fire they kindle presently by chafing a dry pointed stick in a
hole of a little square piece of wood, that firing itself will so fire
moss, leaves, or any such like dry thing that will quickly burn.

THEIR RELIGION

There is yet in Virginia no place discovered to be so savage in which
the savages have not a religion, deer, and bow and arrows. All things
that were able to do them hurt beyond their prevention they adore with
their kind of divine worship, as the fire, water, lightning, thunder,
our ordnance [_guns_], horses, etc. But their chief god they worship
is the devil. Him they call _Oke_ and serve him more of fear than
love. They say they have conference with him and fashion themselves as
near to his shape as they can imagine. In their temples, they have his
image evil favoredly carved and then painted and adorned with chains,
copper, and beads, and covered with a skin....

By him is commonly the sepulchre [_tomb_] of their kings. Their bodies
are first bowelled [_that is, disembowelled or the internal organs
removed_], then dried upon hurdles [_racks_] till they be very dry,
and so about the most of their joints and neck they hang bracelets or
chains of copper, pearl, and such like, as they used to wear. Their
inwards they stuff with copper beads and cover with a skin, hatchets,
and such trash. Then they lappe [_wrap_] them very carefully in white
skins and so roll them in mats for their winding sheets. And in the
tomb, which is an arch made of mats, they lay them orderly. What
remaineth of this kind of wealth their kings have, they set at their
feet in baskets. These temples and bodies are kept by their priests.

For their ordinary burials they dig a deep hole in the earth with
sharp stakes, and the corpses being lapped in skins and mats with
their jewels, they lay them upon sticks in the ground and so cover
them with earth. The burial ended, the women being painted all their
faces with black coal and oil do sit 24 hours in the houses mourning
and lamenting by turns with such yelling and howling as may express
their great passions.

John Smith’s most famous story is the account of his rescue by Pocahontas, but many historians have doubted the tale. Smith is the only person who says it happened. The facts are these: During the first hard winter, 1607-1608, when Smith was scouting for provisions, he was captured by the Indians and taken to the chief, Powhatan, father of Pocahontas. After three weeks the chief sent him back to Jamestown. When Smith first wrote about his experiences a few months later, he never mentioned Pocahontas.

Years later, in England, Smith wrote a history of Virginia and, for the first time, told the story of Pocahontas. Between the time Smith was captured and the time he wrote his history, Pocahontas had married an Englishman. Her husband had brought her to England, where she had been a sensation. One cannot help feeling that Smith “remembered” more than actually happened in order to exploit public interest in the Indian princess. His account, however, is a good story, even if it happened only in his mind. Pocahontas was a real person who visited Jamestown often and brought food to the starving settlers during their worst times. Many Americans like to think the episode is true, and the tale has become part of our folklore, like the legendary deeds of Davy Crockett. Here is Smith’s story:

At last they brought him [_note that here Smith writes of himself in
the third person_] to Meronocomoco where was Powhatan, their emperor.
Here more than two hundred of those grim courtiers stood wondering at
him, as he had been a monster.... Before a fire upon a seat like a
bedstead he sat covered with a great robe made of raccoon skins and
all the tails hanging by. On either hand did sit a young wench of 16
or 18 years, and along on each side [_of_] the house two rows of men,
and behind them as many women, with all their heads and shoulders
painted red. Many of their heads [_were_] bedecked with the white down
of birds; but everyone with something, and a great chain of white
beads about their necks.

At his entrance before the king, all the people gave a great shout.
The Queen of Appamatuck was appointed to bring him water to wash his
hands, and another brought him a bunch of feathers instead of a towel
to dry them. Having feasted him after their best barbarous manner they
could, a long consultation was held, but the conclusion was [_that_]
two great stones were brought before Powhatan. Then as many as could,
laid hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and
being ready with their clubs to beat out his brains, Pocahontas, the
king’s dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head
in her arms and laid her own upon his to save him from death; whereat
the emperor was contented he should live to make him hatchets, and her
bells, beads, and copper; for they thought him as well [_capable_] of
all occupations as themselves. For the king himself will make his own
robes, shoes, bows, arrows, pots; plant, hunt, or do anything so well
as the rest....

Two days after, Powhatan having disguised himself in the most
fearfullest manner he could, caused Captain Smith to be brought forth
to a great house in the woods, and there upon a mat by the fire to be
left alone. Not long after from behind a mat that divided the house
was made the most dolefullest noise he ever heard. Then Powhatan, more
like a devil than a man, with some two hundred more as black as
himself, came unto him and told him now they were friends and
presently he should go to Jamestown.... So to Jamestown with 12 guides
Powhatan sent him.

In another place in the history, Smith prints a letter he wrote to the Queen of England at the time Pocahontas visited London. In this letter he tells more about the Indian girl and describes her as a sort of guardian angel for the colony:

[_Pocahontas_] so prevailed with her father that I was safely
conducted to Jamestown, where I found about eight and thirty miserable
poor and sick creatures to keep possession of all those large
territories of Virginia; such was the weakness of this poor
commonwealth. Had the savages not fed us, we directly had starved. And
this relief, most gracious Queen, was commonly brought us by this Lady
Pocahontas.

Notwithstanding all these passages, when inconstant fortune turned our
peace to war, this tender virgin would still not spare to dare to
visit us, and by her our jars [_distresses_] have been oft appeased
and our wants still supplied. Were it the policy of her father thus to
employ her or the ordinance of God thus to make her His instrument, or
her extraordinary affection to our nation, I know not, but of this I
am sure; when her father with the utmost of his policy and power
sought to surprise me, having but 18 with me, the dark night could not
affright her from coming through the irksome woods; and with watered
eyes [_she_] gave me intelligence with her best advice to escape his
fury, which had he known he had surely slain her.

Jamestown with her wild train she as freely frequented as her father’s
habitation, and during the time of two or three years she next under
God was still the instrument to preserve this colony from death,
famine, and utter confusion.

The Founding of Plymouth

William Bradford

William Bradford (1590-1657) was the wise and able governor of the Plymouth colony for thirty years. During this time he wrote the best account we have of our colonial beginnings. His narrative, Of Plymouth Plantation, as he called his work, is a great adventure story. The account of the little band of Pilgrims who came to Massachusetts in 1620 is filled with hardships, suffering, courage, and faith. The Pilgrims faced problems hard to solve, for they landed on the bleak coast of New England at the beginning of the winter. They were three thousand miles from home, friends, and civilization, but they worked, prayed, and survived. The leadership of William Bradford is one of the reasons that the Plymouth settlers were able to survive on the rocky shores of Massachusetts.

Governor Bradford began his history of the colony soon after the landing and worked on it, from time to time, for many years. The precious manuscript was not published, but was kept in the family. Early historians used it, and at the time of the Revolution it was kept in the library of the Old South Church in Boston. During the war the manuscript was stolen, probably by a British soldier, and was lost for years. In the middle of the nineteenth century, however, it was found in the library of the Bishop of London. Various Americans tried to persuade the British to return the historic document to America. Finally the American ambassador succeeded in bringing the manuscript home in 1897, and it now is the property of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

If the manuscript were printed just as it was written, it would look very strange. Bradford did not prepare it for publication, and thus used many abbreviations and strange contractions. Also, the English language has changed since the history was written. The following selections have been pruned somewhat and words have been spelled out, but the governor’s old-fashioned language is still not easy to read. Be patient and you will understand it. It is a story of simple faith and courage.

The first part of the history describes the experiences of the Pilgrims before they came to America. Because they disapproved of the Church of England, they separated themselves from it. Hence the Pilgrims also are known as Separatists. They first went to Holland, where they were able to worship as they pleased. But that country was small and overpopulated. They found it difficult to make a living there. Also, they feared their children would grow up more Dutch than English. Therefore they decided, after much discussion, to leave Europe for America. It was a hard decision, and some of the Pilgrims were terrified at the prospect.

Some were afraid of the long sea voyage; others were afraid they would starve to death. They worried about the change of air, diet, and drinking water. They were fearful of the Indians and intimidated by the stories they had heard. The Indians were said to be cruel, barbarous, treacherous—even cannibal. But men like Bradford argued that “all great and honorable actions were accompanied with great difficulties.” It was granted that the difficulties were great and the dangers numerous. But with the aid of God and courage and patience they would overcome the obstacles. The brave ones persuaded most of the rest to go.

Thus they hired the Mayflower, a ship only ninety feet long, and left Europe on September 6, 1620. For more than nine weeks they sailed westward. At first they had fair winds, but then the autumn storms caught them and the ship began to leak. Many of the crew wanted to turn back, but emergency repairs were made, and Governor Bradford says: “They committed themselves to the will of God and resolved to proceed.” Then he continues:

After long beating at sea they fell with that land which is called
Cape Cod; the which being made and certainly known to be it, they were
not a little joyful. After some deliberation had amongst themselves
and with the master of the ship, they tacked about and resolved to
stand for the southward (the wind and weather being fair) to find some
place about Hudson’s River for their habitation. But after they had
sailed that course about half the day, they fell amongst dangerous
shoals and roaring breakers, and they were so far entangled therewith
as they conceived themselves in great danger; and the wind shrinking
upon them withal, they resolved to bear up again for the Cape, and
thought themselves happy to get out of those dangers before night
overtook them, as by God’s good providence they did.

Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they
fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven, who had brought
them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the
perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and
stable earth....

But here I cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half amazed at
this poor people’s present condition; and so I think will the reader,
too, when he well considers the same. Being thus passed the vast
ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation, they had now
no friends to welcome them nor inns to entertain or refresh their
weatherbeaten bodies; no houses or much less towns to repair to, to
seek for succour [_help_]. It is recorded in Scripture as a mercy to
the Apostle and his shipwrecked company that the barbarians showed
them no small kindness in refreshing them, but these savage
barbarians, when they met with them were readier to fill their sides
full of arrows than otherwise. And for the season it was winter, and
they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and
violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel
to known places, much more to search an unknown coast.

Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness,
full of wild beasts and wild men—and what multitudes there might be of
them they knew not. Neither could they, as it were, go up to the top
of Pisgah [_the mountain that Moses climbed to see the Promised Land_]
to view from this wilderness a more goodly country to feed their
hopes; for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to the
heavens) they could have little solace or content in respect of any
outward objects. For summer being done, all things stand upon them
with a weather-beaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and
thickets, represented a wild and savage hue. If they looked behind
them, there was the mighty ocean which they had passed and was now as
a main bar and gulf to separate them from all the civil parts of the
world....

What could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and His grace? May
not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: “Our
fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were
ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and
He heard their voice and looked on their adversity,” etc. “Let them
therefore praise the Lord, because He is good; and His mercies endure
forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, show how
He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they
wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to
dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them.
Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness and His wonderful
works before the sons of men.”

For the next three weeks the Pilgrims explored Cape Cod, looking for a suitable place to land and build their homes. They found Plymouth Bay and sailed the Mayflower into it on December 16. On Christmas Day, 1620, they began to erect the first house. But during their explorations they were attacked by the Indians. This was on December 6:

So they [_the exploring party_] ranged up and down all that day, but
found no people, nor any place they liked. When the sun grew low, they
hasted out of the woods to meet with their shallop [_small boat_], to
whom they made signs to come to them into a creek hard by, which they
did at high water; of which they were very glad, for they had not seen
each other all that day since the morning. So they made them a
barricade as usually they did every night, with logs, stakes and thick
pine boughs, the height of a man, leaving it open to leeward, partly
to shelter them from the cold and wind (making their fire in the
middle and lying round about it) and partly to defend them from any
sudden assaults of the savages, if they should surround them; so being
very weary, they betook them to rest. But about midnight they heard a
hideous and great cry, and their sentinel called, “Arm! arm!” So they
bestirred them and stood to their arms and shot off a couple of
muskets, and then the noise ceased....

So they rested till about five of the clock in the morning; for the
tide, and their purpose to go from thence, made them be stirring
betimes [_early_]. So after prayer they prepared for breakfast, and it
being day dawning, it was thought best to be carrying things down to
the boat. But some said it was not best to carry the arms down; others
said they would be the readier, for they had lapped [_wrapped_] them
up in their coats [_as protection_] from the dew; but some three or
four would not carry theirs till they went themselves. Yet as it fell
out, the water being not high enough, they laid them down on the bank
side and came up to breakfast.

But presently, all on the sudden, they heard a great and strange cry,
which they knew to be the same voices they heard in the night, though
they varied their notes; and one of their company being abroad came
running in and cried, “Men, Indians! Indians!” And withal, their
arrows came flying amongst them. Their men ran with all speed to
recover their arms, as by the good providence of God they did. In the
meantime, of those that were there ready, two muskets were discharged
at them, and two more stood ready in the entrance of their rendezvous
but were commanded not to shoot till they could take full aim at them.
And the other two charged again with all speed, for there were only
four [_who_] had arms there, and defended the barricade, which was
first assaulted.

The cry of the Indians was dreadful, especially when they saw there
men run out of the rendezvous toward the shallop to recover their
arms, the Indians wheeling about upon them. But some running out with
coats of mail on, and cutlasses in their hands, they soon got their
arms and let fly amongst them and quickly stopped their violence. Yet
there was a lusty man, and no less valiant, [_who_] stood behind a
tree within half a musket shot, and let his arrows fly at them; he was
seen [_to_] shoot three arrows, which were all avoided. He stood three
shots of a musket, till one taking full aim at him made the bark or
splinters of the tree fly about his ears, after which he gave an
extraordinary shriek and away they went, all of them....

Thus it pleased God to vanquish their enemies and give them
deliverance; and by His special providence so to dispose that not any
one of them were either hurt or hit, though their arrows came close by
them and on every side [_of_] them; and sundry [_several_] of their
coats, which hung up in the barricade, were shot through and through.
Afterwards they gave God solemn thanks and praise for their
deliverance, and gathered up a bundle of their arrows and sent them
into England afterward by the master of the ship, and called that
place the First Encounter.

THE STARVING TIME

But that which was most sad and lamentable was, that in two or three
months’ time half of their company died, especially in January and
February, being the depth of winter, and wanting houses and other
comforts; being infected with the scurvy and other diseases which this
long voyage and their inaccommodate [_unfit_] condition had brought
upon them. So as there died sometimes two or three of a day in the
foresaid time, that of 100 and odd persons, scarce fifty remained. And
of these, in the time of most distress, there was but six or seven
sound persons who to their great commendations, be it spoken, spared
no pains night nor day, but with abundance of toil and hazard of their
own health fetched them wood, made them fires, dressed them meat, made
their beds, washed their loathsome clothes, clothed and unclothed
them; in a word, did all the homely and necessary offices for them
which dainty and queasy stomachs cannot endure to hear named; and all
this willingly and cheerfully, without any grudging in the least,
showing herein their true love unto their friends and brethren; a rare
example and worthy to be remembered.

Two of these seven were Mr. William Brewster, their reverend Elder
[_Brewster conducted religious services during the early days of the
Plymouth colony, though he was not an ordained minister_], and Myles
Standish, their Captain and military commander, unto whom myself and
many others were much beholden [_indebted_] in our low and sick
condition. And yet the Lord so upheld these persons as in this general
calamity they were not at all infected either with sickness or
lameness. And what I have said of these I may say of many others who
died in this general visitation, and others yet living, that whilst
they had health, yea, or any strength continuing, they were not
wanting to any that had need of them. And I doubt not but their
recompense is with the Lord.

SQUANTO

All this while the Indians came skulking about them, and would
sometimes show themselves aloof off, but when any approached near
them, they would run away; and once they stole away their tools where
they had been at work and were gone to dinner. But about the 16th of
March, a certain Indian came boldly amongst them and spoke to them in
broken English, which they could well understand but marveled at it.
At length they understood by discourse with him that he was not of
these parts, but belonged to the eastern parts where some English
ships came to fish, with whom he was acquainted and could name sundry
of them by their names, amongst whom he had got his language. He
became profitable to them in acquainting them with many things
concerning the state of the country in the east parts where he
lived.... His name was Samaset. He told them also of another Indian
whose name was Squanto, a native of this place, who had been in
England and could speak better English than himself.

Being, after some time of entertainment and gifts dismissed, a while
after he came again, and five more with him, and they brought again
all the tools that were stolen away before, and made way for the
coming of their great Sachem [_chief_], called Massasoit, who, about
four or five days after, came with the chief [_part_] of his friends
and other attendance, with the aforesaid Squanto....

Squanto continued with them and was their interpreter and was a
special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their
expectation. He directed them how to set [_plant_] their corn, where
to take fish, and to procure other commodities, and was also their
pilot to bring them to unknown places for their profit, and never left
them till he died.

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING

They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up
their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in
health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some
were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in
fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good
store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there
was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter
approached, of which this place did abound when they came first....
And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which
they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides they had about a peck of
meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that
proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their
plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned
[_pretended_] but true reports.

Governor Bradford’s history does not describe the first Thanksgiving dinner, but we have a letter written by Edward Winslow to a friend in England, in which Winslow gives details of the feast that followed the harvest. Governor Bradford sent out four hunters who returned with enough wild fowl to last the colony a week. The Pilgrims then held a celebration which was attended by Massasoit and ninety of his braves. The Indians contributed five deer for the feast, which lasted three days.

Soon afterwards, however, another shipload of settlers arrived on the Fortune. The new colonists come without equipment and provisions. In order to feed the newcomers the Plymouth colony had to go on half rations for the following winter. Next, the colony had more Indian trouble, not with Massasoit’s friendly tribe, but with the Narragansett Indians. In the following selection from Bradford’s history the Governor summarizes the end of 1621, the first full year of the colony:

Soon after this ship’s [_the Fortune’s_] departure, the great people
of the Narragansetts, in a braving manner, sent a messenger unto them
with a bundle of arrows tied about with a great snake-skin, which
their interpreters told them was a threatening and a challenge. Upon
which the Governor, with the advice of others, sent them a round
answer that if they had rather have war than peace, they might begin
when they would; they had done them no wrong, neither did they fear
them or should they find them unprovided [_unprepared_]. And by
another messenger [_he_] sent the snake-skin back with bullets in it.
But they would not receive it, but sent it back again....

But this made them [_the settlers_] the more carefully to look to
themselves, so as they agreed to enclose their dwellings with a good
strong pale [_fence_], and make flankers [_fortifications_] in
convenient places with gates to shut, which were every night locked,
and a watch kept; and when need required, there was also warding
[_guarding_] in the daytime. And the company was by the Captain’s and
the Governor’s advice divided into four squadrons, and everyone had
their quarter appointed them, unto which they were to repair upon any
sudden alarm. And if there should be any cry of fire, a company were
appointed for a guard, with muskets, whilst others quenched the same,
to prevent Indian treachery. This was accomplished very cheerfully,
and the town impaled round by the beginning of March [_1622_], in
which every family had a pretty garden plot secured.

John Winthrop 1588-1649

The Puritans who settled Boston in 1630 came to the New World with plenty of supplies and equipment. There were more than a thousand new colonists in the Massachusetts Bay settlements by the end of the year. These people had the strength of numbers and did not suffer the terrible privations of the Plymouth colony, but they still had to beat back the wilderness and squeeze a living from the thin soil of New England.

What William Bradford was to the Plymouth colony, John Winthrop was to Massachusetts Bay. Both colonies were fortunate in having good, resourceful governors. John Winthrop was re-elected governor many times between the time his flagship, the _Arbella_, dropped anchor in Boston harbor and his death in 1649.

Cotton Mather Describes John Winthrop

The two selections which follow pertain to Governor Winthrop. The first is part of Cotton Mather’s biographical sketch of the governor. It comes from Mather’s _Magnalia Christi Americana_ (1702), which means the “American Annals of Christ.” Cotton Mather himself was a famous Puritan minister, the grandson of one of the early settlers and a historian of the colony. The other selection consists of two of John Winthrop’s letters to his wife, who remained in England until after the colony was established. These are touching letters that show the wise governor as a loving husband and a devout Christian.

MATHER’S SKETCH OF WINTHROP

Accordingly when the noble design of carrying a colony of chosen
people into an American wilderness was by some eminent persons
undertaken, this eminent person was, by the consent of all, chosen for
the Moses who must be the leader of so great an undertaking. And
indeed nothing but a Mosaic spirit could have carried him through the
temptations to which either his farewell to his own land or his travel
in a strange land must needs expose a gentleman of his education.
Wherefore having sold a fair estate of six or seven hundred [_pounds_]
a year, he transported himself with the effects of it into New England
in the year 1630, where he spent it upon the service of a famous
plantation founded and formed for the seat of the most reformed
Christianity....

But at the same time his liberality unto the needy was even beyond
measure generous.... ’Twas his custom also to send some of his family
upon errands unto the houses of the poor about their meal time on
purpose to spy whether they wanted; and if it were found that they
wanted, he would make that the opportunity of sending supplies unto
them. And there was one passage of his charity that was perhaps a
little unusual. In an hard and long winter, when wood was very scarce
at Boston, a man gave him a private information that a needy person in
the neighborhood stole wood sometimes from his pile; whereupon the
Governor in a seeming anger did reply, “Does he so? I’ll take a course
with him; go, call that man to me; I’ll warrant you I’ll cure him of
stealing!”

When the man came, the Governor, considering that if he had stolen, it
was more out of necessity than disposition, said unto him: “Friend, it
is a severe winter, and I doubt you are but meanly provided for wood;
wherefore I would have you supply yourself at my woodpile till this
cold season be over.” And he then merrily asked his friends whether he
had not effectually cured this man of stealing his wood?...

There was a time when he received a very sharp letter from a gentleman
who was a member of the court, but he delivered back the letter unto
the messengers that brought it with such a Christian speech as this:
“I am not willing to keep such a matter of provocation by me!”
Afterwards the same gentleman was compelled by the scarcity of
provisions to send unto him that he would sell him some of his cattle;
whereupon the Governor prayed him to accept what he had sent for as a
token of his good will; but the gentleman returned him this answer:
“Sir, your overcoming of yourself hath overcome me.”

THE FIRST LETTER: BEFORE LEAVING ENGLAND

My Faithful and Dear Wife,—It pleaseth God, that thou shouldst once
again hear from me before our departure, and I hope this shall come
safe to thy hands. I know it will be a great refreshing to thee. And
blessed be His mercy, that I can write thee so good news, that we are
all in very good health, and, having tried our ship’s entertainment
now more than a week, we find it agrees very well with us. Our boys
are well and cheerful, and have no mind of home. They lie both with
me, and sleep as soundly in a rug (for we use no sheets here) as ever
they did at Groton; and so I do myself (I praise God).

The wind hath been against us this week and more; but this day it is
come fair to the north, so as we are preparing (by God’s assistance)
to set sail in the morning. We have only four ships ready, and some
two or three Hollanders go along with us. The rest of our fleet (being
seven ships) will not be ready this sennight [_for a week_]. We have
spent now two Sabbaths on shipboard very comfortably (God be praised)
and are daily more and more encouraged to look for the Lord’s presence
to go along with us....

We are, in all our eleven ships, about seven hundred persons,
passengers, and two hundred and forty cows, and about sixty horses.
The ship, which went from Plymouth, carried about one hundred and
forty persons, and the ship, which goes from Bristol, carrieth about
eighty persons. And now (my sweet soul) I must once again take my last
farewell of thee in Old England. It goeth very near my heart to leave
thee; but I know to Whom I have committed thee, even to Him Who loves
thee much better than any husband can, Who hath taken account of the
hairs of thy head, and puts all thy tears in His bottle, Who can, and
(if it be for His glory) will bring us together again with peace and
comfort. Oh, how it refresheth my heart, to think, that I shall yet
again see thy sweet face in the land of the living!—that lovely
countenance that I have so much delighted in and beheld with so great
content!

I have hitherto been so taken up with business, as I could seldom look
back to my former happiness, but now when I shall be at some leisure,
I shall not avoid the remembrance of thee, nor the grief for thy
absence. Thou hast thy share with me, but I hope the course we have
agreed upon will be some ease to us both. Mondays and Fridays, at five
of the clock at night, we shall meet in spirit till we meet in person.
Yet if all these hopes should fail, blessed be our God, that we are
assured we shall meet one day, if not as husband and wife, yet in a
better condition. Let that stay and comfort thy heart. Neither can the
sea drown thy husband, nor enemies destroy, nor any adversity deprive
thee of thy husband or children.

Therefore I will only take thee now and my sweet children in mine
arms, and kiss and embrace you all, and so leave you with my God.
Farewell, farewell. I bless you all in the name of the Lord Jesus. I
salute my daughter Winth., Matt., Nan., and the rest, and all my good
neighbors and friends. Pray all for us. Farewell. Commend my blessing
to my son John. I cannot now write to him, but tell him I have
committed thee and thine to him. Labor to draw him yet nearer to God,
and he will be the surer staff of comfort to thee. I cannot name the
rest of my good friends, but thou canst supply it. I wrote a week
since to thee and Mr. Leigh and divers others.
Thine wheresoever,
Jo. Winthrop

From aboard the ARBELLA, riding at the COWES.
March 28, 1630

THE SECOND LETTER: FROM MASSACHUSETTS BAY

Charlestown in New England
July 16, 1630

My Dear Wife,—Blessed be the Lord, our good God and merciful Father,
that yet hath preserved me in life and health to salute thee, and to
comfort thy long longing heart with the joyful news of my welfare, and
the welfare of thy beloved children.

We had a long and troublesome passage, but the Lord made it safe and
easy to us; and though we have met with many and great troubles (as
this bearer can certify thee) yet He hath pleased to uphold us, and
give us hope of a happy issue.