December 25, 1620 • First house frame erected.
March 16, 1621 • samoset, the first Native American to approach the settlement, speaks the now famous words, “Welcome, Englishmen!”
March 22, 1621 • samoset returns to Plymouth with squanto. Massasoit visits with his brother Quidequina, and the Pilgrims record treaty negotiations made with the Indians.
April 5, 1621 • The Mayflower sets sail for the return trip to England.
April 1621 • Governor Carver dies. William Bradford is elected the new governor.
July 7, 1621 • Edward Winslow and steven Hopkins arrive back at Plymouth after visiting Massasoit’s village on Narragansett Bay.
August 14, 1621 • Hobbamock and Miles standish lead Pilgrims on a midnight raid to Nemasket.
September 13, 1621 • Nine sachems come to Plymouth to sign a treaty professing loyalty to the English King James.
Fall 1621 • The First Thanksgiving is celebrated.
November 1621 • The English ship the Fortune arrives at Plymouth Harbor.
November 1621 • The Pilgrims receive a threatening message from the Narragansetts and decide to build a wall around their village.
Fall 1622 • The Pilgrims build a fort at Plymouth. Thomas Weston’s men leave Plymouth to settle at Wessagussett.
February 1623 • Massasoit falls ill; Winslow, Hobbamock, and John Hamden visit and attend to the sachem.
Winter 1623 • Raid at Wessagussett led by standish.
Summer 1623 • The supply ship Anne arrives with sixty passengers.
1625 • Minister John Robinson dies in Leiden.
1626 • Holland purchases Manhattan from the Indians and establishes the colony of New Netherland. The Adventurers in London disband, and members of Plymouth take on the colony’s debt.
1630 • Puritans arrive in area of Boston, Massachusetts, and begin the Great Migration.
1636 • Roger Williams founds the colony of Rhode Island.
1637 • The Pequot War.
1639 • Benjamin Church born in Plymouth.
1642 • Miantonomi attempts to persuade the Montauks on Long Island to join the Narrangansetts against the English.
1643 • Miantonomi is captured and executed by Uncas and the Mohegans.
September 7, 1643 • The United Colonies of New England is established and meets for the first time.
1646 • Winslow sails to England on a diplomatic mission and never returns to Plymouth.
May 9, 1657 • Governor William Bradford dies.
Fall 1657 • Massasoit signs his last Plymouth land deed.
Spring 1660 • Wamsutta and his brother Metacom officially change their names to Alexander and Philip.
July 1662 • Major Josiah Winslow leaves with ten men to bring Alexander into court for illegally selling land. Alexander dies after being taken by Winslow and his men.
August 1662 • Philip becomes sachem of Mount Hope and appears in Plymouth court.
April 1664 • Philip sells land bordering the towns of Bridgewater, Taunton, and Rehoboth for a record £66 (roughly $12,000 today).
September 24, 1671 • Philip meets Plymouth officials and signs a treaty that results in the confiscation of all of his weapons and a large fine.
1673 • Philip sells the last parcels of land surrounding his territory at Mount Hope. Josiah Winslow becomes governor of Plymouth.
June 1-8, 1675 • Three Indians put on trial for murdering John sassamon are found guilty and executed.
June 20, 1675 • Indians start burning houses around the English village of Kickemuit.
June 28, 1675 • Major James Cudworth leads English forces against Philip at Mount Hope.
July 9, 1675 • Benjamin Church and thirty-six of his men are caught in the Pease Field Fight.
July 19, 1675 • A combined Plymouth-Massachusetts force engages Philip and Weetamoo in the swamps of Pocasset.
August 6, 1675 • Having escaped to Nipmuck country, Philip meets with three sachems.
August 22, 1675 • Nipmucks attack the town of Lancaster.
August 24, 1675 • Council of War held by the English at Hatfield on the Connecticut River.
September 18, 1675 • The Battle at Bloody Brook takes place just after a day of public humiliation and prayer had been declared in Boston.
October 5, 1675 • Indians attack springfield.
October 30, 1675 • Hundreds of Praying Indians are confined to Deer Island in Boston Harbor.
December 8, 1675 • Winslow and an army of a thousand men depart Dedham, Massachusetts, for Rhode Island.
December 15, 1675 • Indians attack Bull’s Garrison in Narragansett, Rhode Island.
December 19, 1675 • Winslow and his army attack the Narragansetts in the Great swamp Fight.
January 27, 1676 • Winslow pursues the Narragansetts in what comes to be known as the Hungry March.
February 5, 1676 • Winslow disbands his army.
February 10, 1676 • Indians attack Lancaster for the second time and take hostages, including Mary Rowlandson.
March 4, 1676 • Governor Edmund Andros witnesses the Mohawks’ triumphant return to Albany after attacking Philip’s forces.
March 9, 1676 • Philip meets Canonchet, leader of the Narragansetts, for the first time during the war.
March 26, 1676 • The English, led by Captain Michael Pierce and his men, suffer one of the worst defeats of the war along the Blackstone River.
April 9, 1676 • Canonchet is caught by Niantic warriors—allies of the English—and killed by a Pequot firing squad.
April 12, 1676 • The Praying Indian Tom Doublet returns to Boston with the news that the Indians will not yet discuss peace, but will consider the possibility of ransoming hostages.
May 16, 1676 • Mary Rowlandson is released at Redemption Rock.
June 9, 1676 • Nipmuck leader sagamore sam loses his wife in an English assault, and the Nipmucks decide to make peace with the English.
June 16, 1676 • Philip and his army attack swansea and burn all but four garrisons to the ground.
June 27, 1676 • Bradford’s army arrives at Pocasset.
July 7, 1676 • Church arrives in Plymouth to get permission from officials to enlist the sakonnet Indians.
July 24, 1676 • Winslow officially gives Church the power to grant mercy to Indians who will fight with the English.
July 30, 1676 • Church is sent to pursue Indians seen on the Taunton River.
August 6, 1676 • Weetamoo drowns while attempting to escape across the Taunton River.
August 12, 1676 • Church and his company attack and kill Philip at Mount Hope.
August 17, 1676 • Church and his company arrive at Plymouth with Philip’s head.
September 7, 1676 • Church begins pursuit and eventual capture of Philip’s leading warrior, Annawon. By the end of the month, the heads of Annawon and Philip’s brother-in-law Tuspaquin join Philip’s head on the palisades of Fort Hill in Plymouth.
September 1676 • The Seaflower leaves New England for Jamaica with 180 Native American slaves aboard.
1741 • Thomas Faunce, son of a man who arrived in Plymouth in 1623, originates the legend of Plymouth Rock.
MAYFLOWER PASSENGER LIST
Transcription of William Bradford’s list of original passengers traveling on the Mayflower, as found in his account, Of Plymouth Plantation.
Mr. John Carver, Katherine his wife, Desire Minter, and two manservants, John Howland, Roger Wilder. William Latham, a boy, and a maidservant and a child that was put to him called Jasper More.
Mr. William Brewster, Mary, his wife, with two sons, whose names were Love and Wrestling. And a boy was put to him called Richard More, and another of his brothers. The rest of his children were left behind and came over afterwards.
Mr. Edward Winslow, Elizabeth his wife and two menservants called George Soule and Elias Story; also a little girl was put to him called Ellen, the sister of Richard More.
William
Bradford and Dorothy his wife, having but one child, a son left behind who came afterward.
Mr. Isaac Allerton and Mary his wife, with three children, Bartholomew, Remember and Mary. And a servant boy John Hooke.
Mr. Samuel Fuller and a servant called William Button. His wife was behind, and a child which came afterwards.
John Crackston and his son John Crackston.
Captain Myles Standish and Rose his wife.
Mr. Christopher Martin and his wife and two servants, Solomon Prower and John Langmore.
Mr. William Mullins and his wife and two children, Joseph and Priscilla; and a servant, Robert Carter.
Mr. William White and Susanna his wife and one son called Resolved, and one born a-shipboard called Peregrine, and two servants named William Holbeck and Edward Thompson.
Mr. Stephen Hopkins and Elizabeth his wife, and two children called Giles and Constanta, a daughter, both by a former wife. And two more by this wife called Damaris and Oceanus; the last was born at sea. And two servants called Edward Doty and Edward Lester.
Mr. Richard Warren, but his wife and children were left behind and came afterwards.
John Billington and Ellen his wife, and two sons, John and Francis.
Edward Tilley and Ann his wife, and two children that were their cousins, Henry Sampson and Humility Cooper.
John Tilley and his wife, and Elizabeth their daughter.
Francis Cooke and his son John; but his wife and other children came afterwards.
Thomas Rogers and Joseph his son; his other children came afterwards.
Thomas Tinker and his wife and a son.
John Rigsdale and Alice his wife.
James Chilton and his wife, and Mary their daughter; they had another daughter that was married, came afterward.
Edward Fuller and his wife, and Samuel their son.
John Turner and two sons; he had a daughter came some years after to Salem, where she is now living.
Francis Eaton and Sarah his wife, and Samuel their son, a young child.
Moses Fletcher, John Goodman, Thomas Williams, Digory Priest, Edmund Margesson, Peter Browne, Richard Britteridge, Richard Clarke, Richard Gardiner, Gilbert Winslow.
John Alden was hired for a cooper at Southampton where the ship victualed, and being a hopeful young man was much desired but left to his own liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed and married here.
John Allerton and Thomas English were both hired, the latter to go master of a shallop here, and the other was reputed as one of the company but was to go back (being a seaman) for the help of others behind. But they both died here before the ship returned.
There were also other two seamen hired to stay a year here in the country, William Trevor, and one Ely. But when their time was out they both returned.
These being about a hundred souls, came over in this first ship and began this work, which God of His goodness hath hitherto blessed. Let His holy name have the praise.
—William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation
SELECTED READING
Anderson, Robert Charles. The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony, 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004. This detailed and readable work includes biographies of the passengers who came to America on the Mayflower.
Arenstam, Peter, John Kemp, and Catherine O’Neill Grace. Mayflower 1620: A New Look at a Pilgrim Voyage. National Geographic Society, 2003. An excellent description of the voyage for young readers that includes beautiful photography of the Mayflower II, the replica of the Pilgrim ship.
Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. Hill and Wang, 1983. This is the definitive account of how the arrival of English colonists impacted on the native people and ecology of New England.
Deetz, James, and Patricia Scott Deetz. The Times of Their Lives: Life, Love, and Death in Plymouth Colony. W. H. Freeman, 2000. A fun, informative, sometimes iconoclastic book about the Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony from a noted archaeologist who helped make Plimoth Plantation the important institution it is today.
Grace, Catherine O’Neill, and Margaret M. Bruchac. 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving. National Geographic Society, 2001. This tells the story of Thanksgiving with the help of photographs taken at Plimoth Plantation; aimed at young readers.
Philbrick, Thomas, and Nathaniel Philbrick, eds. The Mayflower Papers: Selected Writings of Colonial New England. Penguin, 2007. A selection of the original documents used in writing The Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ New World, with large portions of William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation and Benjamin Church’s narrative of King Philip’s War.
Schultz, Eric B., and Michael J. Tougias. King Philip’s War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict. Countryman Press, 1999. An accessible and detailed account of King Philip’s War that includes directions to the actual places where the war was fought.
Simmons, William S. Spirit of the New England Tribes: Indian History and Folklore, 1620-1984. University Press of New England, 1986. A fascinating compilation of the recorded oral traditions of the native people of New England.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to everyone at G. P. Putnam’s sons—Nancy Paulsen, Richard Amari, shauna Fay and especially John Rudolph for a fantastic job of editing. special thanks to Wendell Minor for the cover art. Many thanks to my agent stuart Krichevsky for first suggesting that I write for a younger audience. I’d also like to thank my parents, Thomas and Marianne Philbrick, and my in-laws, Marshall and Betty Douthart—educators all and all young at heart—as well as my children, Jennie and Ethan, and especially my wife, Melissa. Lastly, to my middle-school and younger nieces and nephews—Abby, Lilly, Ryan, and Andrew—this book is for you.
PICTURE CREDITS
Courtesy American Antiquarian society: pp. 175, 215, 266; Azel Ames, M.D., The Mayflower and Her Log, July 15, 1620-May 6, 1621, Houghton Mifflin and Company, The Riverside Press, 1907: pp. ii-iii; Author’s Collection: pp. 197, 200, 211, 221, 234, 282, 292; Illustration courtesy of Marc Castelli: p. 63; Collection Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), The Hague: pp. 18-19; Photographs courtesy of shauna Fay: pp. 113, 277; Fruitlands Museums, Harvard, Massachusetts: p. 204; Getty Images: pp. 102-103, 240; Courtesy of the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, san Marino, California: p. 188; The John Carter Brown Library at Brown University: pp. endpaper, 161; Courtesy of Caleb Johnson, MayflowerHistory.com: pp. 15, 33; Kellscraft studio: pp. 49, 76, 93, 118, 145; Library of Congress: pp. 39, 99, 124-25, 272-73, 320; Courtesy of the Little Compton Historical society, photo by Edward Denham: p. 289; Illustrations courtesy of PD Malone and Patrick Malone: pp. 72, 185; Patrick Malone, The Skulking Way of War: Technology and Tactics Among the New England Indians, Madison Books, 1991: pp. 42-43, 239, 242, 250-51, 252-53, 296-97, 311; Massachusetts Historical society: pp. 1, 8, 11, 52-53, 82-83, 172, 177, 218, 271, 280, 303, 306, 309, 314; Nativestock Pictures: p. 69; Photograph courtesy Peabody-Essex Museum: p. 224; Pilgrim Hall Museum: pp. 12, 21, 40, 88, 91, 126, 131, 139, 168, 186, 194; Courtesy of Plimoth Plantation: pp. 3, 27, 30; Plymouth County Commissioners: p. 190; Courtesy of the state Library of Massachusetts: p. 157; Wikipedia: pp. 7, 58, 97, 108.
INDEX
Note: Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations
Abenakis
Adams, John Quincy
Adventurers
Akkompoin (Philip’s uncle)
Alden, John
Alderman (Pocasset Indian)
Alexander of Pokanoket death of
Allerton, Isaac
Allerton, Mary
Almy, John
Amie (sister of Philip)
Amos (Praying Indian)
Anderson, Cornelius
Andros, Edmund
Annawon
Anne
Appleton, Major samuel
Aquidneck Island
see also Rhode Island, colony of
Aspinet (sachem)
/>
Awashonks (sachem)
Church and
King Philip’s War and
Ayres, sergeant John
Bacquag River
Baptists
Barnes, Jonathan
Beers, Richard
Belcher, Andrew
Billington, Francis
Billington, John
Billington, John, Jr.
Billingtons
Billington sea
Blackstone River
Bloody Brook
Book of Martyrs (Foxe)
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston Harbor
Bourne garrison
bows and arrows, described
Bradford, Alice southworth
Bradford, Dorothy May
Bradford, John
Bradford, William
background of
becomes governor of Plymouth
Billington’s rescue and
conflict between Pilgrims and strangers and
death of
death of first wife
on exploration expeditions of 1620,
First Thanksgiving
Fortune and
health of
Indian relations and
military affairs and defense of Plymouth
Of Plymouth Plantation
second marriage
squanto and
trade mission and
wall around Plymouth settlement
Bradford, William, Jr.
King Philip’s War and
Brewster, Jonathan
Brewster, Love
Brewster, Mary
Brewster, William
Brewster, Wrestling
Bridgewater, town of
Britteridge, Richard
Brookfield, town of
Brown, John
Brown, Peter
buff coat