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Tisquantum (better known as Squanto) (c. 1580s – November 1622) was one of two Native American Indians (Samoset being the other) that assisted the Pilgrims after their first winter in the New World. He was a member of the Patuxet tribe, a subtribe of the Wampanoag Confederacy.
George Weymouth was an English captain who explored the area now known as the state of Maine. During the course of the exploration in 1605, he and his men captured some indigenous people to show to his sponsor, as evidence of his exploratory work. The names of the natives were: Manida, Skidwarres/Skettawarroes, Nahanada/Dehanada, Assacumet and Tisquantum. They were turned over to Weymouth's superior, Sir Ferdinando Gorges. It is then thought that Tisquantum was trained in English to be a translator in New England. He returned to North America in 1612 with Captain John Smith, who after some service time released him to walk home to his village.
On his way back to his tribe in 1614, Tisquantum was kidnapped by another Englishman, Thomas Hunt. Hunt was one of John Smith's lieutenants. Hunt was planning to sell fish, corn, and captured slaves in Málaga, Spain. Hunt attempted to sell Tisquantum and a number of other Native Americans into slavery for £20 apiece.citation needed
Sir Ferdinando Gorges, in A Brief Relation of the Discovery and Plantation of New England (London, 1622) wrote that some local friars, however, discovered what Hunt was attempting and took the remaining Indians, Tisquantum included, in order to instruct them in the Christian faith. Eventually, Tisquantum escaped to London, living with a John Slany for a few years, and then went to Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland. Attempting to avoid the walk from Newfoundland to his home village, Tisquantum tried to take part in an expedition to that part of the North American east coast. He returned to England in 1618, however, when that plan fell through.citation needed
He returned once more to his homeland in 1619, making his way with an exploratory expedition along the New England coast. He was soon to discover that his tribe, the Patuxet, as well as a majority of coastal New England tribes (mostly Wampanoag and Massachusett), had been decimated the year before by a plague, possibly smallpox.citation needed
Tisquantum finally settled with the Pilgrims at the site of his former village and helped them recover from their first difficult winter by teaching them to increase their food production by fertilizing their crops, and by directing them to the best places to catch fish and eels.
Whatever Tisquantum's motives, he ended up distrusted by both the English and the Native people. Massasoit, the sachem who originally appointed Tisquantum a diplomat to the Pilgrims, did not trust him before the tribe's dealing with the pilgrims (as is evidenced by the assignment of Hobamok, whose name may also have been a pseudonym as it referred to "mischievous," to watch over Tisquantum and act as a second representative), and certainly not after.citation needed
On his way back from a meeting to repair the damaged relations between the Natives and the Pilgrims, Tisquantum became sick with a fever; however, is speculated that he had been poisoned because of his disloyalty to the sachem. He died a few days later in 1622 in Chatham, Massachusetts, and is now buried in an unmarked grave on Burial Hill in Chathamport, overlooking Ryder's Cove. But his legacy remained relatively untarnished as peace between the two groups lasted for another fifty years.citation needed
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