First Encounter

The Pilgrims pilfered the corn, which was a store of the Natives’ seed and food for the coming season. On the 28th of November, about 30 men assembled on their shallop and conducted a voyage into the mouth of the Pamet River, where they discovered two wetu recently vacated. They also discovered and took more corn that according to Bradford “is to be noted, a special providence of God, and a great mercy to this poor people, that here they got seed to plant them corn the next year, or else they might have starved.”  They showed no consideration for those Natives’ intentions for the same seed. Bradford justified this in the name of God: “The Lord is never wanting unto His in their greatest needs; let His holy name have all the praise.”

On the 16^th of December, the Pilgrims set out again in the shallop to explore the bay of Cape Cod, making camp at the mouth of the Herring River in today’s Eastham. It was there they made their first encounter with Nauset warriors, engaging in early morning combat.  The Nauset men cried out a warning before letting arrows fly at the party of Englishmen, who were made vulnerable as they had just scattered, some to the shore to tend the shallop while the others remained at their camp. Taken by surprise, they took their weapons and answered the barrage of arrows with musket shot. Edward Winslow wrote that he was among four men at the camp, “which was first assaulted. They thought it best to defend it, lest the enemy should take it and our stuff.”

While we cannot know for certain what provoked the Nauset attack, the taking of their “stuff” by the Englishmen could not have left them feeling warmly toward those English interlopers. In his manuscript, Of Plymouth Plantation, which was written some 40 years after the Mayflower arrived, Bradford claims the intent was always to return the corn, but that was hardly clear at the time, given the manner in which the English exploration party invaded the village of Nauset and wantonly took what they pleased.

Also, it had hardly been six years since an English ship had carried away seven men from their village, never to return. This was a devastating loss. It was followed by a deadly plague left behind by European adventurers killing tens of thousands of Wampanoag. What can be clear is that the Nauset people truly had little reason to welcome the Englishmen and made their dread and displeasure known. Eventually, the Nauset warriors cried out to end the encounter as it had started, and they retreated into the forest. Having the last word, the English party pursued them about a quarter-mile into the forest. “Then we shouted all together several times, and shot off a couple of muskets and so returned; this we did that they might see we were not afraid of them nor discouraged.”

Later that day, the shallop, buffeted down by an early winter storm, with broken rudder and then broken mast, was blown into Plymouth Harbor, landing at Clark’s Island. Thus this day that began in violence ended with refuge near their new home. “At least it was the best they could find, and the season and their necessity made them glad to accept of it.” (Bradford)