1580-1622
Who Was Squanto?
Squanto, also known as Tisquantum, was a Native American of the Patuxet tribe who played a pivotal role in the early survival of Plymouth Colony Pilgrims. As a young man, he was kidnapped twice by British explorers and sold into slavery in Spain. After escaping, Squanto returned to North America in 1619 only to find his tribe had been wiped out by disease. Fluent in English, he then served as an interpreter and guide for the settlers at Plymouth for nearly two years before dying of a fever circa November 1622.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Tisquantum
BORN: c. 1580
DIED: November 1622
BIRTHPLACE: Patuxet (Now Plymouth, Massachusetts)
Early Life and Capture
Tisquantum, also known as Squanto, was born circa 1580 in the village of Patuxet, which is near present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Patuxet tribe of the Wampanoag people. While little is known about Squanto's early life, he is believed to have been captured as a young man along the Maine coast in 1605 by Captain George Weymouth, who had been commissioned by Plymouth Company owner Sir Ferdinando Gorges to explore the coast of Maine and Massachusetts. Weymouth brought Squanto and the four other Native Americans of the Penobscot Nation to England. There, he lived with Ferdinando Gorges, who taught him English and hired him to be an interpreter and guide.
Interpreter and Guide for the Pilgrims
Now fluent in English, Squanto returned to his homeland in 1614 with English explorer John Smith, possibly acting as a guide, but was captured again by another British explorer, Thomas Hunt, and sold into slavery in Spain. Squanto escaped, lived with monks for a few years, and eventually returned to North America in 1619, only to find his entire Patuxet tribe dead from smallpox. He went to live with the nearby Wampanoags.
In the spring of 1621, he was introduced to the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony by Samoset—the first Native American to make contact with them. Squanto subsequently acted as an interpreter between Pilgrim representatives and Wampanoag Chief Massasoit.
First Thanksgiving
That fall, the Pilgrims celebrated their first harvest after reaping a successful crop, which has come to be known as the first Thanksgiving. While the Wampanoags weren't specifically invited, they killed five deer to contribute to the harvest feast. The following year, Squanto deepened the Pilgrims' trust by helping them find a lost boy, and assisted them with planting and fishing.
Squanto's unique knowledge of the English language gave him power. He sought to increase his status among other native groups by exaggerating his influence with the colonists and even going so far as to tell them that if they didn't do what he wanted, he could have the English release the plague, which he claimed they were holding in storage pits. Due to his fluency, William Bradford, the governor of the Plymouth colony, designated him as his Indian emissary. Squanto also served as an interpreter for pilgrim representative Edward Winslow during diplomatic negotiations with Massasoit.
Death
Embroiled in the politics emerging between the settlers and the local tribes, Squanto died of a fever in Chatham, Massachusetts, circa November 1622, while acting as a guide for Bradford on a trading expedition. Some historians believe he may have been poisoned by his own chief.
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