Eagle Feathers #318 – Thanksgiving – 420 years

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

In the autumn of 1621, the custom of Thanksgiving in America was first announced by Governor Bradford of the Plymouth Colony. This tradition was created to give thanks for the survival of the European immigrants who fled religious and self-governing intolerance and survived the grueling sixty-six-day voyage across the stormy Atlantic Ocean.

The arduous voyage took place one year earlier and was comprised of 102 over-crowded Pilgrims who had endured the harsh winter elements, diseases and a drastic food shortage on the freezing Atlantic coast. It took the lives of half of its population.

This first Thanksgiving Day was a celebration in gratitude for the first harvest in their new world. Much of their gratitude was for Myles Standish, the military leader of the Plymouth Colony. He was the protector of the Colony and the fifth signer of the Mayflower Compact. He was sent northward by the original Plymouth Colony to attempt to make peace with non-hostile natives and request their help in order for the settlement to survive.

Standish, nine of his men, and three natives sailed in shallops up the coast from Plymouth, past today’s Boston harbor to the base of the Mystic River. Here, they disembarked and explored roughly five miles inland. It brought them to today’s West Somerville and Medford area where they scouted and made contact with peaceful natives. It was a successful mission exploring and creating new friendships with indigenous tribes.

Standish was the first European to explore what is now Somerville. Plymouth Colony was in a particularly precarious way and truly needed this success to survive. It was at this time that the First Thanksgiving was celebrated. It was at this dinner that 90 Native Americans, Standish (the only lawman in New England,) and 51 other pilgrims hailed their newfound friendship and partnership.

In 1872, the same year that Somerville became a city, the cornerstone was laid for the Myles Standish Monument on Captains Hill overlooking Plymouth Bay in Duxbury. At the time, the 116-foot-tall shaft, with a 14-foot statue of Standish at the top, was rivaled only by the Washington Monument as a United States monument to an individual.

So, when we sit down with families and friends this difficult year of 2020, let’s be thankful for all our blessings and remember that what is now our City of Somerville played a small part in making this great holiday.

Happy 404th birthday to Plymouth!