Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War

“When violence and fear grip a society, there is an almost overpowering temptation to demonize the enemy.” 

Philbrick astutely suggests that fear lay at the root of the English settlers’ discriminatory behavior towards the Native Americans.

“I soon learned that the real-life Indians and English of the seventeenth century were too smart, too generous, too greedy, too brave—in short, too human—to behave so predictably.”

Many people are familiar with the story of the Mayflower’s voyage and the founding of Plymouth, but Philbrick’s account of this period in history seeks to challenge that easy familiarity and complicate the “predictable” narrative of relations between the English and the Native Americans. 

“It was the Leideners’ patriotic and spiritual duty to plant a godly English plantation in the New World.” 

The Separatists thought it their responsibility to God to begin a new way of life in the New World, a “responsibility” that often led to them overlooking the welfare of others, including Native Americans and, later, Quakers.

“It is deeply ironic that the document many consider to mark the beginning of what would one day be called the United States came from a people who had more in common with a cult than a democratic society.” 

The Separatists, with their insular attitude and strict religious beliefs, were viewed by most as a cult. It is from this group of people that the concept of a nation working together through civil law arose, via the Mayflower Compact.

“In Holland, they had enjoyed the benefits of a society in which the division between church and state had been, for the most part, rigorously maintained. They could not help but absorb some decidedly Dutch ways of looking at the world. For example, marriage in Holland was a civil ceremony, and so it would be.” 

Despite clinging to their English identity, Philbrick notes that the Separatists were influenced by the time they spent in Holland, as evinced by the fact that they treated marriage as a civil, rather than a religious, contract.

“For generations to come, Monday would be wash day in New England, a tradition that began with the women of the Mayflower.” 

Monday happened to be the day after worship (Sunday), and the day Pilgrim women decided to get work done shortly after landing in the New World. Because of this, Monday became the designated day for washing. 

“We think of the Pilgrims as resilient adventurers upheld by unwavering religious faith, but they were also human beings in the midst of what was, and continues to be, one of the most difficult emotional challenges a person can face: immigration and exile.” 

Philbrick suggests the possibility that Dorothy May, William Bradford’s wife, committed suicide, and highlights the fact that the Pilgrims were human beings experiencing real hardships and emotional struggles.

“By the spring, 52 of the 102 who had originally arrived at Provincetown were dead.” 

The Pilgrims died from starvation and disease at such an alarming rate that many wondered if anyone would be left to establish a settlement. Despite this high mortality rate, the colony managed to grow.

“The Pilgrims were men of God, but this did not mean that they were loath to use force. For more than a millennium and a half, Christians had looked to the Scriptures to sanction just about every conceivable act of violence.”

Philbrick contextualizes the Pilgrims’ use of violence and notes that the Bible had been used for centuries to justify the use of force in the name of religion. 

“The First Thanksgiving marked the conclusion of a remarkable year … By all rights, none of the Pilgrims should have emerged from the first winter alive.”

The first Thanksgiving was a celebration that included both the Pokanokets and the Pilgrims. Though it is remembered as a great occasion, it was actually a low-key event, made even more astonishing by the fact that the Pilgrims would have all died had it not been for the kindness of Massasoit.

“It seems never to have occurred to the Pilgrims that this was just the kind of intolerant attitude that had forced them to leave England. For them, it was not a question of liberty and freedom.” 

Philbrick highlights the irony of the Pilgrims’ refusal to allow others to worship as they chose, given that the fled to the New World to ensure their own religious freedom.

“The Pilgrims had stumbled on the power of capitalism. Although the fortunes of the colony still teetered precariously in the years ahead, the inhabitants never again starved.” 

Capitalism was a blessing for the Pilgrims, but it was also a curse. Elders like Bradford saw capitalism and materialism as root causes of the troubles that arose with the Pokanokets.

“By selling out his Native neighbors in Massachusetts and Cape Cod, [Massasoit] had cast his lot with a culture and technology on which his own people increasingly came to depend.” 

Massasoit’s plan to utilize the English for his own gain was a double-edged sword. In time, his people became ever more dependent on the way of life that the Pilgrims offered.

“With the Pequot War, New England was introduced to the horrors of European-style genocide.” 

Though New England was supposed to be different from Europe in many ways, the Pequot War brought the violence of European war to the New World. 

“According to John Quincy Adams, the United Colonies of 1643 was ‘the model and prototype of the North American Confederacy of 1774,’ which, in turn, became the basis of the United States.” 

The Mayflower Compact enabled the Pilgrims to establish a settlement and eventually led to the creation of colonies all over New England. These colonies joined with Puritan colonies to form a new government, creating a direct line from the Pilgrims to the modern-day U.S. government.

“Philip had been forced to prepare for war out of political necessity. After the disastrous summer of 1671, his survival as sachem had depended on it. But Armageddon had always been in the distant future. Thanks to the murder trial of Tobias and the others, Armageddon had arrived.” 

Though Philip had been preparing for war and waiting for the right time to attack, the extrajudicial executions of Tobias and other Native Americans was the spark that ignited the flames of war in New England.

“By immediately assuming the conflict was racial rather than a political struggle, the English were, in effect, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy … Indians across New England discovered that instead of considering them valued allies, the English had suddenly begun to regard them all as potential foes.” 

The English settlers’ prejudicial attitude to Native Americans undermined the alliances they had made with the indigenous people. When the Narragansett’s’ realized that the English were united by nationalism, they were forced to confront the fact that they perceived all Native peoples as the same, and thus, as possible enemies. 

“By November, Philip had become an almost mythic figure in the imagination of the Puritans, who saw his hand in every burning house and lifeless English body.” 

Philip’s mythical status highlights how fear and prejudice stoke the fires of hatred and war. 

“Contemporary accounts of the battle focus on the bravery of the English officers and soldiers but make little mention of the slaughter that followed the taking of the [Narragansett] fort.”

History is often said to favor the victor. In the case of the Great Swamp Fight and the burning of the Fort, history has omitted the massacre of hundreds of Native American women and children.

“In the end, the winner of the conflict was determined not by military prowess but by one side's ability to outlast the other.” 

Though the English eventually defeated Philip, it was because the New Englanders had England’s support and resources to rely on, whereas the Native Americans had no one to help them once their supplies ran out.

“It has been estimated that at least a thousand Indians were sold into slavery during King Philip's War, with over half the slaves coming from Plymouth Colony alone.” 

Philbrick again highlights how history often neglects the tale of the losing side. 

“Fifty-six years after the sailing of the Mayflower, the Pilgrims' children had not only defeated the Pokanokets in a devastating war, they had taken conscious, methodical measures to purge the land of its people.” 

Though the Pilgrims are thought of today as God-fearing people, they were also instrumental in the destruction and enslavement of Native American populations.

“In 2002 it was estimated that there were approximately 35 million descendants of the Mayflower passengers in the United States, which represents roughly 10 percent of the total U.S. population.” 

Despite nearly being wiped off the face of the earth by death and disease, the Pilgrims created a remarkable legacy for themselves and their descendants.