After all, at the Jamestown colony eight or nine of every ten settlers has died. His name is Squanto, and each day he teaches us more - how to fish, plant corn, fertilize, stalk deer, make syrup from maple trees. He also has shown us which plants are good remedies for illness. Governor Bradford has declared a day of Public Thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father for seeing us through this first year. He has invited Chief Massasoit of the Algonquin tribe, along with Squanto.
Preparations are underway.
I will write more after the celebration. . . . . At this unexpected sight some of us feared for our lives. But when we realized they were not about to do us harm, we turned our worries to the provisions we had put away for the winter. We soon found out, however, that the Indians had come to share. They brought with them five deer and at least a dozen wild turkeys.