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Watson's Hill

View on map:41.955319°N 70.665617°W

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Watson’s Hill
41.955319°N 70.665617°W

View from Burial Hill looking south toward Watson’s Hill. 6/20/2012 5:06:08 PM

On Mar. 16, 1621, the pilgrims had their first peaceful encounter with the Native Americans when Samoset showed up on Watson’s Hill and walked across Town Brook into the pilgrims’ colony.

Philbrick notes that Samoset saluted the pilgrims and said “Welcome Englishmen” which flabbergasted those present. No one could believe that a Native American spoke English. Samoset was a sachem from Pemaquid Point in Maine where he learned to speak some English from the English fishermen that began showing up in that region for the cod (the fisherman may have also been another source of the plague that hit the Native Americans so hard).
On Mar. 22, 1621, Samoset returned with Squanto who had been captured by the English and taken to Europe where he learned to speak excellent English. Squanto desired to set up a meeting with the Pakanoket sachem Massasoit and his brother Quadequina. The brothers were close by and the pilgrims agreed to meet. Edward Winslow accompanied Squanto and Samoset as the representative of Governor John Carver. It eventually led to a treaty with Massasoit.


Description

Samoset (ca. 1590–1653) was the first Native American to make contact with the Pilgrims. On March 16, 1621, the settlers were more than surprised when Samoset strolled straight through the middle of the encampment at Plymouth Colony and greeted them in English, which he had begun to learn from an earlier group of Englishmen to arrive in what is now Maine.

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