The Pilgrims' first year in New England

Front matter

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I

PILGRIMS' FIRST YEAR. Page 80.

Preface

Several valuable works, upon the early history of the Plymouth Pilgrims, have been published within the last twenty years. Among these are " Chronicles of the Pilgrims," by Alexander Young ; " Guide to Plymouth," by Hon. William S. Eussell ; "The Pilgrun Fathers," by W. H. Bartlett. The last work relates to the "footsteps" of the Fathers in the Old World as well as in the New. To this list we may now add Governor Bradford's History of Plymouth, just published by the Massachusetts Historical Society. The original materials for these books, except the last named, and for several others, worthy of being mentioned, have been drawn from the writings of the Pilgrims, who left on record the most ample and accurate accounts of their sufferings and labors in their new homes.

iv

PREFACE,

But these original documents are published, for the most part, in large volumes, not generally accessible to the community. A number of the books, also, which have been compiled from them, are out of print, and very few copies can be found, even in the libraries of intelligent descendants of the Pilgrims. The wants of the public, therefore, in relation to the history of the Fathers, are not yet fully met.

Too little is known, even in New England, especially among the young, of the principles, the sufferings, and the noble deeds of the men and women who were passengers in the Mayflower.

This little book, the fruit of a summer excursion to the Cape, and of intermittent studies prosecuted annually, about the 2 2d of December, is intended as an introduction to the first page of our colonial history. If it shall lead to the perusal of larger and more valuable works, it will not fail to be useful.

Though some of the "facts" which it contains are "stranger than fiction," they are none the less facts. Nothing is stated as true, but what is

PREFACE.

V believed to rest upon reliable authority; though, for the sake of brevity, authorities are not generally given. Frequent quotations, sometimes in quaint language, the reader will notice, have been made from the writings of the Pilgrims, and in a few instances the original spelling is retained.

In so many details of minor facts, it is wellnigh impossible to avoid errors, but it is hoped that few of importance have escaped detection. When statements are made which have only probability for their basis, care has been taken to indicate this, so that they may be readily distinguished from what is supported by positive evidence. A number of interesting anecdotes, though often published, have been omitted in this work, because probabilities were strongly against their truth. May the author be permitted to hope, that the pleasure he has enjoyed in writing these pages will be shared by his readers.

It has been his object to present the Pilgrims as they were, the first year of their residence in Massachusetts; and by a faithful chronicle of their every-day life to correct misstatements respecting vi

PREFACE.

tHeir doings, which are often made and believed, and misconceptions of their character, cherished by too many.

Surely no lover of truth can arise from the perusad of the early history of our forefathers, without subscribing heartily to their eulogy, by Mr. Stoughton, in his election sermon for 1668. " God sifted a whole nation, that he might send choice grain over into this wilderness." Lee, March, 1857.

Contents

CHAPTER

T x<

II. Tit

TV

V.

Discovery of clark's island

VI.

The forest sanctuary .

VIL

Landing at forefather's rock

vm.

The town located

IX.

Dwelling-houses erected

X.

A night of sorrow

XI.

Friendly visits of Indians .

XII.

Treaty with massasoit

xni.

Sailing of the Mayflower .

XIV.

The first wedding

XV.

Summer life at Plymouth

viii CONTENTS,

XVI. A JOURNEY TO PACKANOKICK . 264

XVII. A VOYAGE TO NANSET . . 275

XVIII. A MILITARY EXPEDITION . . 286

XIX. A VOYAGE TO MASSACHUSETTS BAY 298

XX. The harvest festival . .312

XXI. Close of the first year . 323

THE

PILGRIMS' FIRST YEAR

IN

Chapter I. Landing At Cape Cod

IVorember, 16^0.

First sight of the coast. — Joy of the passengers. — Attempt to reach the Hudson. — The ship in peril. — Determination to land. — Come to anchor in the bay. — The bay and shore described. — Guided by Providence. — Mr. Everetfs view. — Religious service on board. — Great length of their voyage. — Unexpected delays. — Storms at .5ea. — A party go ashore. — Place of first landing. — Boat returns with wood. — The soil rich and well wooded. — First footsteps of the Pilgrims here. — Present appearance of the place. — A nionu' ment needed at Long Point. — Provincetown and the hills. — 2)«- lightful sea-view.

How slow yon tiny vessel ploughs the main ! Amid the heaving billows now she seems A toiling atom, then from wave to wave Leaps madly, by the tempest lashed, — or reels, Half wicked, through gulfe profound.

But still that lonely traveller treads the deep. I see an ice-bound coast, toward which she steers With such a tardy movement, that it seems Stern Winter's hand hath turned her keel to stone, And sealed his victory on her slippery shrouds.

" They land ! — They land ! "

L. H. SiGOURNET.

At day-break, on Thursday the 9th of November, A. D. 1620, old style, the Pilgrims in the Mayflower first saw the shores of New England. They readily knew where they were ; for the two mates of the ship had been on the coast before ; and since the discovery of Cape Cod, by Captain Goswold, in 1602, many vessels had visited it to fish, and to trade with the Indians.

The land first seen, was probably the extreme northern part of the Cape. These beaches and hills of moving sand, as the traveller now finds them, without a tree or scarcely a shrub, much comforted the Pilgrim voyagers. They describe the Cfpe as a " goodly land and wooded to the brink of

IN NEW ENGLAND.

the sea ; " and add, " it caused us to rejoice together and praise God that had given us again to see land." As it is the intention of the Pilgrims to settle near the mouth of the Hudson, they pursue their voyage " to the southward," hoping soon to reach a river, which they suppose to be ''ten leagues " south. About noon, they fall among " roaring shoals and breakers," which lie off the southern extremity of the Cape, between the main land and the Island of Nantucket. Finding themselves " in great hazard " and, toward night, " the wind being contrary," they " put round again for the Bay of Cape Cod; " and on Saturday morning, November 11th, " ride in safety in Provincetown Harbor," as that beautiful bay is now called, from the town which skirts its crescent shore. The Pilgrims were much pleased with their place of anchorage. They call it a " good harbor and pleasant

Bay, circled round, except in the entrance, which is about four miles over from land to land, compassed about to the very sea with oaks, pines, juniper, sassafras, and other sweet wood ; it is a harbor wherein a thousand sail of ships may safely ride." It seems truly providential, that they were directed first to just this spot on our dangerous coast.

" I dare not call it," says Mr. Everett, " a mere piece of good fortune. I feel my spirit raised above the sphere of mere natural agencies. I see the mountains of New England rising from their rocky thrones. They rush forward into the ocean, settling down as they advance ; and there they range themselves, a mighty bulwark around the heaven-directed vessel. Yes, the everlasting God himself stretches out the arms of his mercy and his power in substantial manifestation, arid gathers the meek com-

IN NEW ENGLAND.

pany of his worshippers as in the hollow of his hand."

As soon as the Mayflower was at anchor, the Pilgrim band acknowledged the sustaining and guiding providence of God by solemn acts of worship. Their own account of this scene shows the character of these men of faith. " Being now passed the vast ocean and a sea of troubles, before their proposition unto further proceedings, as to seek out a place for habitation, etc., they fell down upon their knees and blessed the Lord, the God of heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element."

They had indeed great cause for gratitude, that they had escaped the " perils and miseries " of the deep.

It was on the 22d of July that their pastor, Mr. Robinson, " with watery cheeks," commended them " with most fervent prayer to God, at Delft-Haven, when they embarked for England, on their way to the New World. Nearly four months, then, have passed since most of them came on shipboard. They sailed from Southampton the 5th of August, which would make the length of their voyage from England ninety-eight days ! After putting back twice with the leaky " Speedwell," the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth September 6 th, which would make the voyage, since the last embarkation, no less than sixty-six days ! In the midst of the Atlantic they met " with cross winds and many fierce storms." With a hundred passengers, besides the crew, men, women, and children, crowded into a ship of a hundred and eighty tons, this long voyage must have

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tried the courage and faith of the strongest Pilgrim.

Nor are these perils by any means yet passed. They intended to have been upon the coast of Northern Virginia" in the early part of September ; but the failure of one of their ships, and their unusually long voyage delayed them, according to our calender, till the 22d of November, which corresponds with the 11th, old style. " But here," says Bradford in his history, " I cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half-amazed at this poor peoples' present condition ; and so I think will the reader too, when he well considers the same." He then gives us a graphic sketch of the ^' poor peoples' condition." No friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh their weather-beaten bodies,, no houses, or much less towns to repair to, to seek for succor." " The season, it was

14 THE PILGRIMS' FIRST YEAJt winter," known to be " sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms." " Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men ; and what multitudes there might be of them, they knew not." Nor can it be concealed that the master and company of the ship had no sympathy with the Pilgrims ; " yea, it was muttered by some, that if they got not a place in time, they would turn them and their goods ashore and leave them."

Well does the pious historian ask, " what could now sustain them, but the spirit of God, and his grace." And he adds with equal propriety, " may not, and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say : Our fathers were Englishmen, which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness ; but they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voice, and looked

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on their adversity, etc. Let them therefore praise the Lord because he is good, and his mercies endure forever." Compare Deut. 26 : 6-7, with Ps. 107 : 1-8.

On the day of the landing, after worship was concluded, a company of fifteen or sixteen men, well armed, were set on shore near the extremity of the Cape, which is now called " Long Point." It is impossible to determine precisely where this first landing was effected. In an account of the exploring party, which started December 6th, it is incidentally mentioned, that the ship was anchored " within less than a furlong " of a " Sandie Poynt," which is, without doubt, the extreme point of the Cape above mentioned. But in the first account of the anchoring, they say " we could not come near the shore by threequarters of an English mile, because of shallow water, which was a great prejudice to US, for our people going on shore were forced to wade a bow-shot or two in going aland, which caused many to get colds and coughs, for it was many times freezing cold weather."

This description does not agree with the present appearance of Long Point, for the shore there is very bold, and the writer of this recently leaped from the prow of a large sail boat upon the soft and dry sand, while at the stern of the boat the water measured six feet in depth. Perhaps the Mayflower at first anchored further up the harbor, and afterwards, becoming better acquainted with the place, changed her position for one nearer the Point. It is not impossible that two centuries have wrought great changes in the formation of the shore and the depth of water in various places. Judging from present appearances, the place of this first landing would m NEW ENGLAND.

seem to have been near " Wood End," where the flats extend three-fourths of a mile from the shore. The object of the landing was to " fetch wood," see what the land was, and what inhabitants they could meet with. They saw no Indians, but at night they returned to the ship with a boat load of Juniper wood, " which smelled very sweet,"

This wood of " aromatic odor," was doubtless the red cedar ; such wood, as a writer of that age says " Solomon used for the building of that glorious temple of Hierusalem." That this part of the Cape was once heavily wooded is beyond a question. In riding from " Race Point " to Provincetown, in June of last year, the writer saw, on a sand plain, many stumps of red cedar trees, which the winds were bringing to view, after they had been covered with sand, perhaps for ages. Some of the wood was brought awaj'', but most of its color and " aromatic odor," was gone. To those who have waded through the sand on these shores of Long Point, and have seen what efforts have been made by planting beach grass to keep the whole region from being blown away, the following description of it by our fathers must, in some of its particulars, seem almost fabulous. " They found it to be a small neck of land ; on this side where we was in the bay, and the further side the sea ; the ground, or earth, sand hills much like the Downs in Holland, but much better ; the crust of the earth a spit's (spade's) depth, excellent black earth ; all wooded with Oaks, Pines, Sassafras, Juniper, Birch, Holly, Vines, some Ash, and Walnut ; the wood for the most part open and without underwood, fit either to go or ride in." Such was the place where the passengers

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in the Mayflower passed their first month on the coast. The traveller, therefore, who would trace the first footsteps of the Pilgrims in the New World, must begin his journey, not at Plymouth, but at Long Point. He will find it a delightful beach. Fifty families reside there ; and though the whole region is barren of vegetation, in a bright summer's day, it puts on an appearance of cheerfulness. If these hardy sons of Neptune cannot plough the land, they plough the ocean, and reap from it golden harvests. On this spot some simple monument should remind the mariner of the Cape, that Pilgrim feet trod those sands in the " olden time."

There, too, not a league distant from the point, is the unique village of Provincetown, distinguished for its enterprise and wealth; and though, with its thousands of acres, it boasts but one farmer, no visitor will find it deficient in the good things which the earth yields. A few miles down the shores of the bay, may be found the rising land, on which a Pilgrim band encamped, the first night spent on shore. A sea-view from these hills, either on the bay or the ocean side, is worth a journey from the far distant interior. Why, then, in tracing the Pilgrim's footsteps, do most stop at Plymouth ? Surely, the extreme part of the Cape has a prior claim upon our notice.

IN NEW ENGLAND.

Chapter II. Civil Government Established

Norember, 1630.

The Constitution. — Names of the signers. — Merits of the instrument. — Mr. J. Q, Adam.';' opinion. — Mr. Bancrofts view of it. — Praised by Mr. Everts as a charter of liberty. — The germ of the New England town-meeting. — Origin of this compact. — One peculiar clause. — Religious character of the enterprise. — Testimony of Bradford and Winslow confirmed by Robinson. — Difficulties of carrying out the original design. — Its accomplishment in the next generation. — Picture of signing the compact. — Mr. CarlyWs eulogy on the Mayflower passengers.

What constitutes a State ?

Not high-raised battlements or labored mound,

Thick wall or moated gate \ Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned)

Not bays and broad-arm ports, Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride ;

No ; men, high-minded men.

Men, who their duties know, But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain J

These constitute a State.

Ancl sovereign Law, that State's collected will,

Sis Willum Joirxf .

Before we proceed to follow in our narrative the Pilgrims through the forests and along the coasts, as they search for a place of settlement, we should read the following brief, but able document, which formed them into a civil community.

IN the name of GOD, Amen ! We, whose names are underwritten, the legal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of GOD, of Great Britain, France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, &c.

Having undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian Faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first Colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body Politic for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; and by virtue

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whereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal Laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, officers from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony ; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.

Cape Cod, 11th November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, 18, and of Scotland, 54. Anno Domini, 1620.

John Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, Isaac AUerton, Miles Standish, John Alden, Samuel Puller, Christopher Martin, William MuUins, William White, Richard Warren, John Howland,

John Turner, Francis Eaton, James Chilton, John Crackston, John Billington, Moses Fletcher, John Goodman, Degory Priest, Thomas Williams, Gilbert Winslow, Edmund Margeson, Peter Brown, Richard Britterige, m THE PILGRIMS' FIRST TEAR

Stephen Hopkins, George Soule,

Edward Fuller,

These forty-one signatures are all that historians have attached to this instrument ; but according to Bradford's manuscript, recently discovered, there were other adult male passengers ; and probably other names — two or three, at least — should be added to this list of conscript fathers."

It may be questioned, also, whether all the names here given were on the original compact. Bradford says, " Leister, after he was at liberty^ went to Virginia." Does not this imply that he was a minor ? If so, was he a signer ?

Edward Tilly, John Tilly,

Richard Clarke, Richard Gardiner,

Francis Cook, Thomas Rogers, Thomas Tinker, John Rigdale,

John AUerton, Thomas English, Edward Dotey, Edward Leister.

IN NEW ENGLAND.

This instrument proves that our fathers were not factious, ignorant, and canting fanatics. It is a solemn, dignified, loyal state paper, worthy of the founders of a free Republic. Worthy of men, " high-minded men," who know their rights and their duties, and are fitted without the pride of heraldry or pomp of power to constitute a State. The statesmanship of the Pilgrims, as shown in this compact, has been much praised by eminent civilians and historians.

^' It is," says Mr. J. Q. Adams, " a full demonstration that the nature of civil government, abstracted from the political institutions of their native country, had been an object of their serious meditation."

Of this compact, Mr. Bancroft says, " This was the birth of popular constitutional liberty. The middle age had been familiar with characters and constitutions ; but they had been merely compacts for immunities, partial enfranchisements, patents of nobility, concessions of municipal privileges, or limitations of the sovereign povs^er in favor of feudal institutions. In the cabin of the Mayflower, humanity recognized its rights, and instituted government on the basis of equal laws for the general good."

Says another able writer, Mr. Everts, " We thank God, that, as they did not bring with them the least germ of unjust policy, so they set the growing empire with not one base element of hereditary caste, or admitted principle of slavery; or any seed of aught that heaven's eternal justice could not perfectly approve. That compact has been, and is the ground of legislation in New England to this day ; and we are well called on to rejoice that from no peculiar institution of New England does occasion of disquietude, or discontent arise to vex the public security ; that the evils and danger of ignorance and sloth are imbedded in no masses of her population, local or derivative ; that not for her children are borne our heavy burdens of pauperism and crime. And if our whole country, and our country's laws had been true to the original Mayflower compact, there would have been no such thing as slavery or legal injustice at this day, in all this northern country."

This constitution of the infant commonwealth is indeed simple, democratic, just. It acknowledges equality of right, community of interest and reciprocity of duty. It provides for the enactment of laws and the choice of rulers by the vote of the majority of adult male citizens.

28 THE PttaMlMS' FIRST TEAR

Here is the germ of our New England town-meetings and of universal suffrage.

And where did the Pilgrims learn this form of government, the first practical and safe embodiment of liberty, equality, fraternity ? From the church to which they belonged. Their " solemn contract," by which they became a State, was modelled after the solemn " covenant," by which they had many years been a church. Religious freedom is the parent of civil liberty. The New Testament is the statesman's best manual for seminal principles of law, as well as for motives of action.

There are in . this constitution of the Pilgrim's commonwealth several clauses of peculiar force and significance, revealing the statesmanlike wisdom and the Cliristian integrity and good-will of its framers. But one line of it is so full of

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meaning, and is so different from what ordinarily appears in instruments of this nature, that it demands our special notice. The Pilgrims declare, first of all, in this constitution, that they have undertaken this voyage " for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith." Can there be a doubt of this ? How often did they declare it to be their purpose. Were they not true and honest men ?

One says that among other things which induced them to undertake this voyage was " the desire of carrying the gospel of Christ into those foreign parts, amongst those people that as yet have no knowledge nor taste of God." Bradford, in his history, in giving the reasons why the Pilgrims left Holland, says, " Lastly, and which was not the least, a great hope and inward zeal, they had of laying some good so THE PILGRIMS' FIRST YEAR foundation, or at least, to make some way thereunto, for the propagating and advancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in these remote parts of the world; yea, though they should be but as steppingstones unto others for performing of so great a work."

To this we may add the testimony of Winslow, that they came to " enlarge the church of Christ, if the Lord have a people amongst the natives whither he should bring us."

To all this, agrees the exclamation of Robinson, when he heard that some hostile Indians had fallen by the sword of Standish. " Oh, how happy a thing had it been that you had converted some before you killed any."

May not this have been even so ? Squanto, one of the first Indians the Pilgrims met, died in 1622, and it is recorded of

IN NEW ENGLAND.

him, " He desired the governor to pray that he might go to tlie Englishman's God in heaven." And Hobbamock, their early and tried friend, who died probably not much later, is thus noticed by a contemporary historian. " As he increased in knowledge, so in affection, and also in his practice, reforming and conforming himself accordingly ; and though he was much tempted by enticements, scoffs, and scorns from the Indians, yet could he never be gotten from the English, nor from seeking after their God, but died amongst them, leaving some good hopes in their hearts, that his soul went to rest." How many other sons of the forest may have been affected in a similar manner by the early Pilgrims' prayers and teachings and examples, we cannot know. But the testimony is abundant, that the Plymouth Pilgrims made the same impression upon the natives, that Christian missionaries now make upon the heathen tribes, among whom they reside.

The early privations, and poverty, and want of ministers in the colony, no doubt delayed the work of evangelizing the Indians. Unexpected delays there may have been ; mistakes, as to the best mode of conducting such a work, they no doubt made, in that age, so wanting in practical experience in missions ; but the design of the voyage, as a missionary enterprise, cannot be doubted, and considering all the circumstances of the case, was not this end sought with as much vigor and success as could reasonably have been expected ? Many of that generation of natives heard the gospel, and a very large number of the next generation were gathered into the fold of Christ. Who can doubt that it was this deep religious element that gave them such fortitude under trials, such faith in the dark day, such

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perseverance unto the end, such protection from God, and such marked interposition in their favor " in six troubles, yea, in seven I "

This scene — the signing of the compact — is worthy of the painter's pencil. Happy are we to know that an artist (Mr. Edwin White) has already given it to the canvas, and the engravings from the picture will soon adorn many a Christian parlor.

Looking at the Mayflower in the harbor, while the Pilgrims are pausing and signing the constitution of their free commonwealth, we may well exclaim with Mr. Carlyle, though he does not seem fully to understand the mission of the men he honors :

" Hail to thee, thou poor little ship, Mayflower, of Delft-Haven ! — poor common Idfcking ship, hired by common charterparty for coined dollars — caulked with new oakum and tar, — provisioned with viilgarist biscuit and bacon ; — yet what ship Argo, or miraculous epic ship, built by the sea gods, was other than a foolisli bumbarge in comparison ? Golden fleeces, or the like, these sailed for, with or without effect. Thou, little Mayflower, hadst in thee a veritable Promethean spark, the life-spark of the largest nation on our earth ; — so we may already name the Transatlantic Saxon nation.^ They went, seeking leave to hear sermon in their own method, these Mayflower Puritans, a most indispensable search, and yet, like Saul, the son of Kish, seeking a small thing, they found this unexpected great thing. Honor to the brave and true ! They verily, we say, carry fire from heaven, and have a power that themselves dream not of. Let all men honor Puritanism, since God "lias honored it ! "

Chapter III. The Pilgrims Introduced

IVoTcmber, 1630.

Notice of Gov. Carver. — Mr. Robinson^ s confidence in him. — TV.siimony of Plymouth Church Records. — Elder Brewster noticed. His educoUion and early life. — His occupation in Holland. — His preaching and views of public prayer. — His library. — His cheerful, social spirit. — Curious names of his children. — Sketch of .Brad' ford^s life and character. — Is learned in the languages. — The Washington of the colony. — His poetry. — Notice of Winslow and his wife. — His ambassador. — His residence. — Appointment under Cromwell. — His portrait and moral likeness. — Mr. Allerton the merchant. — His honesty and generosity, — Capt. Standish introduced. — His character.^ family., and coat of arms. — His daughters sampler. — Dr. Fuller., the " beloved physician.''^ — Is a good deacon. — His eulogium by his Christian brethren. — Notice of 'Mr. Hopkins. — Of John Howland. — Of John Alden and others. — Number of married men in the company. — Married ladies. — Young ladies and misses. — The last survivor of the hundred paS' sengers. — Priscilla and Mary, famous in traditionary history. — The Mayflower boys. — Number of males and females, of adults and children in the company. — The fitness of the Pilgrim band for their work. — A great mistake in regard to them.