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First English Settlers Arrive in the New World
The Pilgrims arrived first at Cape Cod on November 5th, 1620, and then settled in Plymouth. They met the Native Americans when they set ashore. When the Native Americans first saw the English, they ran to the woods because they were afraid. The first night that the Pilgrims were on land, they started to take up their lodging and prepare themselves for a new life. -
The First Thanksgiving Takes Place
The Pilgrims had begun to harvest, and soon the Native Americans joined in. The Native American's King Massasoit and ninety other men came to engage in on the feasting and entertainment that followed on to the next three days. -
Sickness Strikes
The first sign of trouble was shown in the spring of 1634, when many Native Americans had fallen ill with smallpox. Specifically, the Native Americans that lived in their trading homes. The English barley were sick, so they showed compassion to the Native Americans by getting their wood and water, making them fires, and burying the people who succumbed to the smallpox. -
Populations Shift
Around July of 1670, the populations of both the Native Americans and the Pilgrims changed drastically. The population of the Native Americans in the year 1625 was about 55,000 people, but, mainly due to small pox, their population decreased to less than 5,000 in the year 1670. The population of the English started off at about 10,000 in 1625, and then increased to about 56,000 around the year 1670. -
Grievances Against the English
Around the 1670s, there were many grievances against the Pilgrims. One grievance is that the Native Americans say that when twenty of their most honest people testify against an Englishman, nothing really happens, but even if one of their most distrustful people testifies against a Native American, it is acceptable. Another grievance is that the English had so many horses and cattle that even if they went 30 miles away from each other, the animals would still ruin the Native American's crops. -
Native American Found Dead
In the winter of 1674, a Native American was found dead in a hole through broken ice in a pond, next to some fowl and a gun. Three Native Americans were accusing their King Philip because they wanted him to be killed in order to take his land. Eventually, the Native American was declared murdered. -
King Philip's War
King Philip's War lasted from 1675-1676. It started with the English and the Native Americans cheating each other on deals over land or supplies. Then, after the Pilgrim's animals destroyed all of their crops, the Native Americans began to pilfer the empty English homes in order to scavenge. Once, a Native American was caught and shot by an English child, which sparked violence between the two groups. That incident started a cycle of retaliation that formed the war.