by Michael Totten

Created on: November 03, 2009

The Pilgrims arrived in the New World very late in 1620. By the time the Mayflower exploration party could reconcile their distance from the land grant area and begin building houses, it was already Christmas Day. It was not until March 1621 that the Wampanoag native Samoset walked into the fledgling colony, which would ensure its survival to become the second successful English settlement in New England. During that first winter, half of the Pilgrims died from starvation, exposure, and disease.

After the 2-month journey against the prevailing west winds, many of the Pilgrims were suffering from scurvy. The exploration party soon ran into a skirmish with the local Nauset, due to events which were not of the Pilgrims' making. Because of this, the Pilgrims decided to leave Provincetown Harbor and find another location, adding another month on board ship. Because of earlier complications in leaving the Netherlands and then again at Southampton, England, many had not left the Mayflower for 6 months.

While assessing the Provincetown landing area, the Mayflower exploration party had discovered baskets of maize in native caches and burial mounds. It fended off winter starvation and gave some seed to replace the wheat, which turned out not to be viable for the local soil and climate.

The planned building of houses was delayed by a mid-December storm, and further delayed by the need to maintain a security force against the Nauset. Although disease and starvation meant that only 7 residences out of a planned 19 could be built that winter, all 5 cannon had been placed defensively on Fort Hill.

The construction of the Pilgrims' houses was rural English wattle and daub, a mixture of straw and mud in a wooden lattice which stands up well to mild English winters, but which is highly vulnerable to frost. As well, the constant expansion and shrinkage of the building materials creates cracks for drafts. The ground on which the houses were built was partly excavated so that the floor of the houses were below ground level, with less open wall space exposed to the elements. However, even during what was by local standards a mild winter, the thatched roofs were completely inadequate to heavy New England winter snow and sleet. As a result, the original squared-log "Common House," which had been intended solely as a church, also became a common family shelter and a hospital.

That winter, an epidemic swept through the colony. The records of the colony refer to it only as "the sickness." Out of the original 102 passengers of the Mayflower, only 53 people survived to see spring, including just 5 adult women. Four families were wiped out completely. Just 7 people in the colony had escaped illness, including William Brewster, the senior elder of New Plymouth, and Myles Standish, the first commander of New Plymouth. If it were not for Samoset's and Squanto's timely intervention, New Plymouth might have shared the fate of Squanto's home.

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