What do you think?
Rate this book
Squanto: The Life and Legacy of the Patuxet Native Who Saved the Pilgrims of the Mayflower
*Includes pictures
*Includes contemporary accounts of Squanto
*Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading
Squanto is a name so familiar to Americans that it is part of the very fabric of the nation’s history, but somewhat fittingly, given the nation’s less-than-stellar record concerning Native American culture, even some of the nation’s foremost historians cannot agree on how it is to be spelled. In fact, a more correct pronunciation of his name would have been Tisquantum, sometimes spelled by 17th century people who wrote about him as Tasquantum or Tusquantum.
As Shakespeare asked, “What’s in a name?” In this case, not much it seems, for while Squanto’s name could have meant “the rage of the Manitou” in his native language, there was nothing rageful about this man who, in spite of a lifetime of hardship and mistreatment, nonetheless had the strength of character to look past skin color and help a small group of starving English families survive their first winter in the “New World.” At the same time, one of the obstacles in understanding Squanto’s life is the fact that almost everything now known about him is based on information recorded by others who had a certain stake in what they wrote. As historian Jeffery Miller noted, “In their transatlantic correspondence, the Pilgrims presented an image of powerful conquerors subjecting territory through diplomacy and just war. However, as their writings reveal, they relied heavily on Native allies, such as Squanto, the Indian guide who had explained the meaning of the Narragansetts’ snakeskin bundle. For centuries, Squanto has been celebrated as a selfless mediator who showed the Pilgrims how to plant corn and helped them survive their first winters. However, the details of Squanto’s life and his role in English alliances are more complicated than admiring portraits reveal. Taken captive by traders in the early part of the seventeenth century, Squanto had traveled widely before meeting the Pilgrims, even living in London from 1616 to 1617. When he returned home, he found that his tribe had been destroyed by plague. … While gunpowder diplomacy offered the Pilgrims a way to publicize their legitimacy, it offered Squanto a means to appear powerful in the eyes of other Natives through his association with the Pilgrims and their weapons.”
In fact, Squanto paid a high personal price in order to help the Pilgrims, and inadvertently secure himself a place in American history. Historian George Sabato has observed, “One of the earliest accounts of an Indian being captured and enslaved is that of Squanto. Squanto is traditionally introduced as the Indian who facilitated communication between the Pilgrims and the Indians. The part of the story generally not told is that Squanto had been captured and brought to England as a slave, later to be brought back to America with Captain John Smith. While in England, Squanto learned English and became a Christian. This is the ‘secret revealed’ as to how Squanto was able to speak English to the Pilgrims and serve as their translator, and was able to teach them to farm.”
The Life and Legacy of the Patuxet Native Who Saved the Pilgrims of the Mayflower examines the life of one of North America’s most famous figures. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Squanto like never before.
*Includes contemporary accounts of Squanto
*Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading
Squanto is a name so familiar to Americans that it is part of the very fabric of the nation’s history, but somewhat fittingly, given the nation’s less-than-stellar record concerning Native American culture, even some of the nation’s foremost historians cannot agree on how it is to be spelled. In fact, a more correct pronunciation of his name would have been Tisquantum, sometimes spelled by 17th century people who wrote about him as Tasquantum or Tusquantum.
As Shakespeare asked, “What’s in a name?” In this case, not much it seems, for while Squanto’s name could have meant “the rage of the Manitou” in his native language, there was nothing rageful about this man who, in spite of a lifetime of hardship and mistreatment, nonetheless had the strength of character to look past skin color and help a small group of starving English families survive their first winter in the “New World.” At the same time, one of the obstacles in understanding Squanto’s life is the fact that almost everything now known about him is based on information recorded by others who had a certain stake in what they wrote. As historian Jeffery Miller noted, “In their transatlantic correspondence, the Pilgrims presented an image of powerful conquerors subjecting territory through diplomacy and just war. However, as their writings reveal, they relied heavily on Native allies, such as Squanto, the Indian guide who had explained the meaning of the Narragansetts’ snakeskin bundle. For centuries, Squanto has been celebrated as a selfless mediator who showed the Pilgrims how to plant corn and helped them survive their first winters. However, the details of Squanto’s life and his role in English alliances are more complicated than admiring portraits reveal. Taken captive by traders in the early part of the seventeenth century, Squanto had traveled widely before meeting the Pilgrims, even living in London from 1616 to 1617. When he returned home, he found that his tribe had been destroyed by plague. … While gunpowder diplomacy offered the Pilgrims a way to publicize their legitimacy, it offered Squanto a means to appear powerful in the eyes of other Natives through his association with the Pilgrims and their weapons.”
In fact, Squanto paid a high personal price in order to help the Pilgrims, and inadvertently secure himself a place in American history. Historian George Sabato has observed, “One of the earliest accounts of an Indian being captured and enslaved is that of Squanto. Squanto is traditionally introduced as the Indian who facilitated communication between the Pilgrims and the Indians. The part of the story generally not told is that Squanto had been captured and brought to England as a slave, later to be brought back to America with Captain John Smith. While in England, Squanto learned English and became a Christian. This is the ‘secret revealed’ as to how Squanto was able to speak English to the Pilgrims and serve as their translator, and was able to teach them to farm.”
The Life and Legacy of the Patuxet Native Who Saved the Pilgrims of the Mayflower examines the life of one of North America’s most famous figures. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Squanto like never before.
72 pages, Paperback
Published October 11, 2017
23 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Charles River Editors
5,213 books282 followersCharles River Editors is an independent publisher of thousands of ebooks on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple iBookstore & provider of original content for third parties.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 6, 2019
It is a very short book and very interesting to read. It provides information collected from different sources about Squanto. It also provides further reading resources. In my opinion the book ended abruptly and leaves the reader somewhat surprised.
November 19, 2018
I found this when I went searching for some historical books on the first Thanksgiving, and it was really enlightening. The grade school story was that Squanto was this perfectly nice guy despite having been enslaved by an Englishman, and still had no misgivings about helping other Englishmen later, despite the death of his whole tribe.
While the logistics of that story are true (he was enslaved, came back, family dead, helped the Pilgrims) the details in between were much more complex, and a lot of what we know about him comes from conflicting original sources, which are not all that numerous anyway.
This book shines light on a couple of the different original sources that knew Squanto and had varying experiences with him. I thought it was really good and it painted a clearer, less sterile picture of this time in American history.
Man alive, people back then were just plain tougher than we are.
While the logistics of that story are true (he was enslaved, came back, family dead, helped the Pilgrims) the details in between were much more complex, and a lot of what we know about him comes from conflicting original sources, which are not all that numerous anyway.
This book shines light on a couple of the different original sources that knew Squanto and had varying experiences with him. I thought it was really good and it painted a clearer, less sterile picture of this time in American history.
Man alive, people back then were just plain tougher than we are.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews