September 6th, 1620 - 120 people, aboard the Mayflower, set sail for the New World
They didn't know what was ahead. They didn't know what they would find or what they might face. They didn't know the many blessings, but also the many difficulties, that lay ahead.
Why did they want to go to the New World? And why did they bring men, women, and children on this journey? What was SO important that they brought whole families, including small children, on such a dangerous journey?
And why does it matter? Why learn about them, and why care about what they went thru?
The history of the pilgrims is rich in faith and Christianity, and it is an important part of our countries foundation. But sadly now days the history of the pilgrims is being changed and re-written, and the truth is not being told. In this post I want to take you through the history of the pilgrims and the Mayflower, and how they came to America. And, of course, the history of what is famously called the first Thanksgiving.
Who were the Pilgrims? They were Puritans. Puritans were people who disagreed with the church of England and thought it needed to be purified. But some of the Puritans thought that the church of England was too far gone, concerned over ceremonies and fancy accessories, that they thought it would be best to complete break from the church of England. These Puritans were called Separatists. Well, the King of England, King James, was not happy that people were leaving the church of England. A lot of the Puritans and especially the Separatists were persecuted, fined, and arrested. So, in 1609, a group of Separatists moved to Holland, where they could enjoy religious freedom. They stayed there for 11 years, until 1620. But they did not like how hard and poor the working conditions were there, and they didn't like that their children were forgetting their English language and ways and were speaking Dutch. So, some of the Separatists decided to journey to the New World in the hopes that they could live in better conditions, live among other Englishers, and have freedom of religion. Many of the Separatists stayed in Holland, and when the time came for the Pilgrims to leave there were many tears shed as they said good-bye, possibly forever, to the rest of the Separatists.
So, the Mayflower left with 102 passengers (not all of them were Separatists; 40 were Separatists, 62 were non-separatists, and there was also 25-30 sailors). Originally there was 2 ships, the Speedwell and the Mayflower. But twice after setting out the Speedwell sprung a leak. So all the passengers had to crowd into one ship, the Mayflower. (Some passengers stayed behind after that, and so the 102 that were left all boarded the Mayflower.)
The Pilgrims actually didn't call themselves Pilgrims. They called themselves "First Comers". But many years after they arrived in the New World, William Bradford, one of the Separatists, wrote about their group as "pilgrims" because they had taken a pilgrimage - a long journey to a holy land.
The First Comers were very crowded, smelly, itchy, cold, and wet on the Mayflower. The journey was anything but easy! Not only did all 102 passengers have to crowd aboard with the sailors, but they also had food, supplies, dogs, cats, goats, pigs, chickens, tables, rugs, chairs, chests of clothes, pillows, seeds, tools, and dishes. The journey at sea lasted 66 days, and none of the Pilgrims showered or bathed during the whole journey! Plus, if they had to go to the bathroom or got seasick they had to use buckets that they would then empty overboard. Let's just say that that ship probably didn't smell the best. There were also plenty of lice and flees, making for an itchy 66 days!
The journey was from September 6th until November 11th, so you can imagine that it was cold! They were cramped below deck were it was dark and smelly! And water would drip in through the ceiling. The ceiling was only 5 and a half feet tall!
The sailors often yelled at the pilgrims to "stay below deck!" So many of the pilgrims didn't get any fresh air for those 66 days either.
The food situation only made matters worse. They didn't want to risk setting fire to the Mayflower, so, they had to eat uncooked foods, like stale biscuits, dried beans and peas, salted meat, and moldy cheese.
And imagine how bored they got! The children would play quiet games and listen to stories. They also would sing psalms and spiritual songs.
They ran into storms too. The sailors had to work to keep the ship from tipping, filling with water, breaking, or sailing in the wrong direction. Many got sea sick from the wind and waves. During one storm the main beam of the Mayflower cracked! The sailors were able to replace it, but they didn't have anything to keep it in place. One of the passengers was able to give one of his screws and the beam was fixed! During yet another storm one passenger, John Howland, came up on deck out of desperation for some fresh air. The seas were rough and the waves huge, and John fell overboard! Thankfully John was able to grab a rope that was hanging over the boat, and it saved him! Only one passenger died on the Mayflower and that was William Butten. He refused to take a spoonful of lemon juice every day, as the ship's doctor had ordered him too. He became sick and died, and was buried at sea. One of the sailors also died at sea and was buried at sea. He had been especially rude and nasty to the God-fearing pilgrims. After about 2 weeks at sea, this sailor got a fever and died within a day.
One woman, Elizabeth Hopkins, gave birth on the Mayflower! She named her son, Oceanus. There were 2 other women pregnant on the Mayflower but they didn't have their babies on the ship.
And this whole time the Pilgrims didn't even know for sure what they would fine in the new world.
One day, the Pilgrims FINALLY spotted land! Land Ho! On November 11th, 1620, after their 66 day journey, the pilgrims finally landed! They landed at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This was 2-3 thousand miles from Plymouth, England, where the pilgrims had first left on the Mayflower. This was 200 miles northeast of the Hudson River (in present-day New York) where the pilgrims intended to land, but it was land, so the pilgrims were thankful. What did they do when they finally landed? They prayed and gave thanks to God, the women did laundry, the men stood guard, the children ran and played. Imagine not seeing land for 2 months, being cramped in a small, smelly boat with about a hundred other people, and then finally being able to walk on land, smell fresh air, and see the sun again! But problems arose quickly. The passengers argued. Some wanted to stay together, others wanted to go off on their own. So the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact. This document said that the settlers agreed to stay together and elect a governor. They elected John Carver as the colony's first governor. (William Bradford was their 2nd governor.)
The Mayflower Compact:
In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.:
In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.
The Pilgrims stayed in Cape Cod for about a month. But there was a lot of Indians and not enough fresh water, so the Pilgrims decided to find a better place. 18 of the men took a shallop to find a better place to stay, and they found Plymouth. The Mayflower arrived in Plymouth on December 16th, 1620. Winter was setting in and it was beginning to get cold. The pilgrims worked hard to build homes before winter came. Many single people and smaller families had to share a home with the bigger families because there was not enough time to build homes for everyone before winter. That winter, more than half of these new settlers died. One illness going around was scurvy, a lack of vitamin C. Sometimes only a handful of people were healthy, and they had to take care of the sick. Others died of starvation. There's a legend that some days there was only enough for each pilgrim to eat 5 kernels of corn.
It wasn't until March 1621 that the Pilgrims met their first Native American neighbor! This was Samoset. The Pilgrims were shocked to find out that he spoke English! He had learned English from an English explorer not long before the Pilgrims arrived. Samoset was an Algonkian Indian Chief. He was actually from present-day Maine, but had come to Plymouth with the English explorer. A few days later Samoset returned with 5 more Indians! One of these was the famous, Tisquantum, or Squanto. Squanto had been kidnapped by an English Captain and sold into slavery in Spain. Some kind monks bought him and taught him the gospel and the English language. Eventually, Squanto was able to get back home. But when he returned he found out that a plague had killed his entire tribe! So Squanto had come to live with the Wampanoag tribe.
In April of 1621, the Mayflower and it's sailors returned to England. That spring/summer, Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to plant and hunt. Without his help, none of the pilgrims would have likely survived. He knew the land and how to get the best crop. Squanto not only helped the Pilgrims plant, hunt, and fish, but he also taught them how to tell what plants were safe to eat. Squanto also served as an interpreter between the Wampanoag and Pilgrims. With Squantos help, Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims signed a treaty. Peace between them lasted until 1675. That is over 50 years! The treaty they signed promised that they would help one another if attacked, they would not carry weapons when visiting with one another, they would not steal from one another, and they would never attack one another.
Well, to celebrate their bountiful harvest that year, 1621, the Pilgrims decided host a feast! Fun Fact: The Pilgrims weren't the first to celebrate a harvest feast! Native Americans often had feast to celebrate the harvest, and other settler who had come before had done so too. The Pilgrims didn't actually call the first Thanksgiving "Thanksgiving". A day of thanksgiving to them would have been a day of prayer and fasting. But they did have plenty to be thankful for and probably did give thanks on that day! Another fun fact: That first Thanksgiving was actually in October of 1621, not in November when we now celebrate it.
They ate deer, ducks, geese, turkeys, wild onions, salad, wild berries, cranberries, cod, salmon, bass, eels, lobster, mussels, oysters, clams, pumpkins, carrots, cabbages, radishes, turnips, beets, cucumbers, cornmeal bread, and pudding. They celebrated for 3 days! They ran, played games, shot at targets, sang, danced, and the women cooked and prepared the feast!
One common misconception is that the Pilgrims always wore black, like we see in all the childrens books.
But the Pilgrims actually wore colorful clothes. See THIS quick article on how the Pilgrims dressed.
The Pilgrims didn't celebrate the next year, but in 1623 they held another harvest feast to celebrate the end of a long drought. This feast was the first religious Thanksgiving day we have recorded. The Pilgrims thanked God for bringing them through the drought.
In the 1760's, December 22nd was called Founders Day. Americans celebrated our Founding Fathers. In 1777 the first national Thanksgiving day was proclaimed to celebrate the colonist's victory over the British at Saratoga. Early Presidents would declare days of thanksgiving and prayer. In 1789 President George Washington declared Thursday, November 26th, 1789, the first national Thanksgiving. After that Thanksgiving was celebrated sporadically, with the government sometimes making proclamations and sometimes not. From 1846 to 1863 Sarah Hale helped start a movement pushing for Thanksgiving to become a national holiday celebrated every July fourth. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November Thanksgiving day. He proclaimed it a day of national "Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." Each year the President would declare the fourth Thursday of November a day of Thanksgiving. Finally, in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill making the fourth Thursday of November the national holiday we now know, Thanksgiving. (He had originally declared Thanksgiving on the third Thursday of November, but the public opposed this.)
There is so much more history I could give. And unfortunately now they are re-writing history in the public schools. They are taking God and His word out of this holiday. They are calling the pilgrims racists. They are removing so much of the foundational truths that established this free country we live in! God has blessed our country abundantly, but the more we turn from Him, the more His blessings are turning from us. May we turn back to our Creator and walk in His ways! May we look back and not see a bunch of self sustained hero's, or a bunch of racists white Englishers. But may we see men and women with courage who loved God, were strengthened by God, and sought to honor Him, and may we see a mighty and powerful and sovereign God, who rules over all!
So may you have a blessed Thanksgiving, remembering all we have to be thankful for. And may you never forget how our country was founded, what the Pilgrims and founding fathers did, and most importantly, what God has done!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
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