Thanksgiving with the Wampanoag
November 21, 2018
Tomorrow, November 22, is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a day set aside each year for giving thanks and remembering the blessings of life. To celebrate the holiday and honor Native American Heritage Month, we look at the Wampanoag Indians of southeastern Massachusetts, the tribe with whom the English Pilgrims shared the first Thanksgiving in 1621.
Wampanoag Indians joined the recently arrived Pilgrims for a Thanksgiving feast in 1621. Credit: An oil painting on canvas (about 1919) by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (Corbis/Bettmann)
The Wampanoag traditionally lived by farming, hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plant foods. They were loosely organized into groups headed by leaders called sachems. However, no single sachem held authority over all the Wampanoag. The Wampanoag originally spoke an Algonquian language that is now extinct.
Credit: © Native American Heritage Month
Contact with Europeans beginning in the early 1600’s created terrible hardships for the Wampanoag. Smallpox, measles, and other European diseases killed many Indians. Other Indians were kidnapped and sold into slavery.
In 1620, the Pilgrims established Plymouth Colony along Cape Cod Bay. Massasoit, a Wampanoag sachem, made a treaty with the Pilgrims in 1621. Massasoit agreed that his people would not harm the Pilgrims as long as he lived. In return, the Pilgrims promised to protect the Indians and respect their rights. In the autumn of 1621, the Wampanoag celebrated a successful harvest with the Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving. But the friendly relations did not last.
A statue of Massasoit by the American sculptor Cyrus Dallin stands on a Pilgrim burial ground in Plymouth, Mass.
Credit: Bronze statue (1921); Artstreet
When Massasoit died, his elder son, Wamsutta—whom the Europeans called Alexander—succeeded him as sachem. Massasoit’s younger son, Metacom, later succeeded Wamsutta. Europeans referred to Metacom as King Philip, believing he ruled over all the Wampanoag. Metacom grew concerned that as their demand for land increased, the settlers would eventually destroy his people. He began preparations to drive out all the Europeans in New England. The violent conflict, known as King Philip’s War, began in 1675. After several battles, the settlers defeated Metacom’s forces at Mount Hope—near present-day Bristol, Rhode Island—on Aug. 12, 1676. The settlers hunted down Metacom and killed him in a nearby swamp.
Following the war, the Wampanoag lost most of their traditional lands to European settlers. Many Wampanoag adopted Christianity and other customs of the settlers. However, they never lost their sense of identity.
Today, about 3,000 Wampanoag live in the United States. They live mainly in southeastern Massachusetts, where they are organized into five bands: (1) Assonet, (2) Gay Head or Aquinnah, (3) Herring Pond, (4) Mashpee, and (5) Namasket. In the 1970’s, the Wampanoag formed a tribal council to represent the interests of the tribe. The council helped the Gay Head band of the Wampanoag obtain federal recognition in 1987. The Mashpee band became federally recognized in 2007.
