The Rescue of John Billington

With that less than welcoming uncomfortable experience behind them, the Mayflower passengers would ultimately and quite notably settle in Plymouth to establish the first successful New England colony. The following summer they would have cause to return to Nauset where they discovered the native people apparently did not hold a grudge.

Late in July of 1621, six-year-old John Billington wandered away from the Plymouth settlement and became lost. A search party of ten men and two Native interpreters, Squanto and Tokamahamon, ventured out in the shallop to find the child. Taking port first in Cummaquid, they met the village sachem Iyanough, who advised them the boy was safe and in the hands of the Nauset. The nervous expedition proceeded the next day to the scene of their uncomfortable first encounter with the Nauset. Anchored in the harbor, the Englishmen remained anxious aboard their shallop while the Native interpreters went ashore to inquire about the boy. Squanto and Tokamahamon returned with the Nauset sachem Aspinet, flanked by about 100 warriors but who proved to be no threat to the expedition. In his arms, Aspinet carried young John who was bedecked in beads and in otherwise fine condition. In their gratitude, the Englishmen apologized for raiding the Nauset stores the previous fall, and promised to replenish the corn they had taken. They departed with the boy, and without the customary shouting or musket- blasting bravado they had displayed during their last visit.

It should also be noted that during their visit to Cummaquid, the Englishmen learned first-hand of the devastating impact of the kidnapping of Wampanoag men that occurred in 1614. They were met there by an old woman, who wept as she begged for news of her three sons. The Englishmen deplored the actions of the men who stole her sons and gave her some trinkets.