by T. Scott Randolph

Created on: October 27, 2009   Last Updated: November 18, 2009

Squanto, whose real name was Tisquantum, was a member of the Patuxet tribe. This tribe was a "client state" of the Wampanoag Confederacy. This wasn't a voluntary relationship. The Patuxet were once a powerful force, but disease had weakened their ranks. The disease could have very easily been brought to the New World by fishermen that frequented the waters off of Cape Cod (the fishing in that area is how the cape got it's name in the first place). Since their numbers were reduced, the neighboring tribe of the Wampanoag (who were farther inland and not as affected) took them under their wing so to say (kind of like England took India under it's wing)

Squanto was captured by Europeans and spent 5 years in Spain, England and Newfoundland. In this time he learned the English. This would prove invaluable to both groups of people. It was a double edged sword, like so many things. It made both sides slightly distrust him. Neither side could really tell if he was accurately translating what was being said. That isn't to say he was a bad person, but as we will see, his life experiences could have made a saint have a bad attitude.

When he finally made it back to where his village had been, the future site of the Plymouth colony, he found that his entire village was gone. For all he knew they had all died. As it turned out he found that some of his family had survived in a settlement called Nemasket. It was approximately 15 miles inland from his original village.

With all the horrible experiences that had happened to him, his captivity with strange and terrifying men that had weapons that could kill with thunder and lightning and shiny skin that arrows were useless against as well as his entire village vanished. It can be assumed that he wanted revenge and rightly so. With the patience that most of us do not possess, he waited. He did the bidding of both the white man and the Wampanoag.

That is a brief summary of who Squanto was, now the question is how did he help the Pilgrims. For one, he translated between two entirely different cultures. I agree with many historians when they say that he was simply bidding his time and waiting for his chance to make his move. He was obviously a very intelligent man. He played both sides, and while they may have distrusted him, what could they do? They had to be able to communicate with each other.

This distrust on both sides would prove to be well founded. Later, after the help he gave to the Pilgrims with the interaction with the

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>