The Mayflower | The First Thanksgiving | 3

"The winter of 1620-21 took a deadly toll on Plymouth Colony. The Pilgrims had only just begun to construct their homes when illness began spreading through the settlement. Their flimsy shelters offered little protection from the freezing weather. As dysentery, pneumonia, and scurvy ravaged the colony, only a handful were left to build the settlement, care for the sick, and bury the dead. And the Pilgrims sensed that nearby Indians were waiting patiently for the right moment to strike. But they knew that if they were going to survive in the New World, they would need to befriend the Native people who had lived in the region for generations. Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletter Listen to American History Tellers on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Experience all episodes ad-free and be the first to binge the newest season. Unlock exclusive early access by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial today by visiting wondery.com/links/american-history-tellers/ now." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lindsay Graham?

  Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.

• 0:25Lindsay Graham?

  Imagine it's February 1621 and you're a sailor on board the Mayflower. The ship lies anchored in Plymouth Harbor, where it's been transformed into a sort of floating hospital. You've lost track of how many people have died since you arrived here three months ago. You skirt around a coughing woman and a child huddled together on a cot to find Captain Christopher Jones collecting dirty linens. "There you are, Captain." Captain Jones gives you a brief, harried look before returning to his work. "Well, not now, I'm busy." "But Captain, you promised us we would sail back to London as soon as the colonists started building their settlement. I have my wife and my two little boys waiting for me back home. They'll be wondering if I'm still alive by now."

• 1:05Lindsay Graham?

  Jones drops the linens on the floor and leans against a damp wooden beam, his arms folded across his chest. "We can't leave these people when they barely managed to build a roof over their heads. We've done the job we were hired to do." "Well, that may be true, but this ship is their only lifeline. What about our lives? You should never have let those people convalesce on board. The crew's getting sick too." "Oh, I can't just leave them stranded like this. They'll never survive. We can't set sail anyway, not until enough of the crew is recovered." You throw up your arms, unable to restrain your frustration. "Well, with respect, sir, if we wait any longer, there won't be any crew left to sail with. We've already lost a boatswain, the gunner, the cook, half a dozen other sailors.

• 1:46Lindsay Graham?

  My God, how many more must die before we finally leave this godforsaken place?" Captain Jones clenches his jaw, but there's no mistaking the glint of fear in his eyes. He's worried too. "If you want to go home so badly, why don't you make yourself useful? Fetch some broth for these people." Jones then stoops to pick up the linens, and you walk past him to climb up the stairs to the galley. You're furious to find yourself trapped in this wretched land, and you're starting to wonder if you'll ever make it out of here alive.

• 2:20Speaker 01

  I'm Lauren Malloy, the host of the podcast My Mom's Murder. For 30 years, I thought my mom died of natural causes. That's what everyone told me. That's what I believed. Until one day, I got a phone call that changed everything. A woman claiming to be my mom's best friend told me my mother was murdered and that no one had ever investigated it. So I did what the detectives wouldn't, pulled the threads, knocked on doors, and confronted the contradictions. And what I found, it's worse than I imagined. Something happened to my mom. Someone killed her. And I won't stop until I find out who.

• 3:03Speaker 01

  The system may have given up on my mom, but I never will. Listen to My Mom's Murder wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all 10 episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.

• 3:21Speaker 02

  Hey, I'm Cassie DePecce, host of Against the Odds from Audible Originals. In our latest series, when a fur trapper named Hugh Glass is brutally mauled by a grizzly bear and left for dead, he fights for survival and his chance for revenge. Listen to Against the Odds on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 3:44Lindsay Graham?

  From Wondery, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is American History Tellers, our history, your story.

• 4:06Lindsay Graham?

  After arriving in New England in November 1620, the pilgrims endured a harrowing first winter in America. They had only just begun to construct their houses when illness began spreading through the makeshift settlement. Most of the sick took refuge on the Mayflower, preventing Captain Christopher Jones and his crew from making a return journey to England. But the pilgrims' struggle with hunger, disease, and bitter cold was not their only concern. Although the landscape around them appeared desolate, they knew they were not alone. And soon, at a moment when the colony's future hung in the balance, an unlikely visitor would step out of the shadows. This is episode three, The First Thanksgiving.

• 4:49Lindsay Graham?

  The winter of 1620 took a grisly toll on Plymouth Colony. As dysentery, scurvy, and pneumonia spread throughout the settlement, six people died in December and another eight perished in January. And only later in that same month did the pilgrims manage to complete work on a common house, a twenty-foot square structure made out of tree trunks and branches, cemented together with mud. On Sundays, they gathered there to worship under their spiritual leader William Brewster and pray for their survival. But fighting the weather and illness meant all other construction ground to a halt. At times, only half a dozen men and women remained on their feet, and they were burdened with the responsibility of preparing meals, tending fires, washing clothes, and emptying chamber pots for the rest of the colony.

• 5:34Lindsay Graham?

  And as the death toll mounted, the crew of the Mayflower grew anxious to sail back to London. Captain Christopher Jones had originally planned to leave Plymouth as soon as the colonists found a suitable site to settle, but the illness affecting both the settlers and his crew caused him to delay. The Mayflower remained anchored in Plymouth Harbor, serving as a makeshift hospital. Meanwhile, growing fears of an Indian attack compounded the settlers' stress. Throughout the winter, the pilgrims heard cries in the woods and caught glimpses of distant campfires. They feared that Indians were watching them, waiting patiently for their numbers to dwindle so they could mount an attack and wipe them out completely. So to project strength, the colonists took pains to hide their dead, and they went so far as to prop the gravely ill against trees,

• 6:19Lindsay Graham?

  placing muskets in their hands so that they would look like sentinels guarding the settlement. Then, on February 16th, 1621, one of the colonists was out hunting for ducks when he spotted twelve native men passing nearby, with more following in the distance. He rushed back to Plymouth to raise the alarm. The next day, the settlers organized a military force, appointing former mercenary Miles Standish as captain. The following week, the colonists began transporting cannons from the Mayflower to one of the hills overlooking their settlement. They had brought half a dozen cannon from England that were capable of firing up to a mile away. But even as the settlers fortified Plymouth, some began to wonder if there would be anyone left to defend it.

• 7:01Lindsay Graham?

  In February and March, there were days when two or three colonists died. Almost everyone lost a loved one. Entire families were wiped out, and many children were left orphaned, so that by spring, half of the original one hundred two settlers were dead. The onslaught of death made the safety of the tiny colony all the more paramount. And on March 16th, as the pilgrims were discussing military matters, a lone Indian emerged from the trees and walked boldly toward them. He was tall, with long black hair, and he wore nothing but a leather loin cloth. To the colonists' astonishment, he then greeted them in English, declaring "Welcome, Englishman." He introduced himself as Samoset, and explained that he was from an area in Maine where English fishermen frequently visited.

• 7:45Lindsay Graham?

  It was through his dealings with them that he learned to speak English. Pilgrims offered Samoset brandy to drink, and he began pouring out information to them. He spoke freely about the local geography, tribes, and power dynamics. He recalled previous acts of violence committed by English explorers against local Indians, and informed them that their settlement was on the grounds of a village known as Pawtucket, which had been decimated by a recent epidemic. Then he said he had been sent by the most powerful native leader in the region, a man named Massasoit. Massasoit was the great Seacham, a term for chief or leader of the Wampanoag people. He lived in a place called Pocanocat, about forty miles to the southwest. As the conversation wore on, night fell, and Samoset insisted on staying.

• 8:30Lindsay Graham?

  Despite the colonists' wariness, they offered him shelter and food, and he left the next morning, promising to return soon. Samoset's visit was the first the colonists had ever heard of the Seacham Massasoit, but all winter, Massasoit had been closely monitoring the struggling pilgrims from afar. He saw that their situation was as desperate as his own, and while the pilgrims were reeling from a devastating winter, Massasoit had seen his people, the Wampanoag, ravaged by the recent epidemic spread by European fishermen. A thriving population of 12,000 had been reduced to only a few hundred. This overwhelming loss left the Wampanoag vulnerable to their chief enemies, the Narragansett in the west, in modern-day Rhode Island,

• 9:11Lindsay Graham?

  because while the epidemic decimated the Wampanoag, the Narragansett were left relatively untouched. They numbered 20,000 people, including 5,000 warriors. But Massasoit was not without allies. He fought to counter the dominance of the Narragansett by forging alliances with other tribes, the Massachusetts of the north, and the Nauset to the east on Cape Cod. And as Massasoit took stock of the pilgrims, he observed that unlike previous European visitors, they had brought women and children along with them, and they were building homes rather than attempting to make trades. It was obvious that these new arrivals planned to stay. But rather than attack, Massasoit hesitated. Only a year had passed since a group of English sailors had slaughtered some of his people, and he remained wary of Englishmen.

• 9:55Lindsay Graham?

  So as he considered his options, he consulted with an English-speaking Indian named Squanto. Squanto was a Wampanoag Indian who had been kidnapped by an English explorer in 1614. He spent the next five years in Newfoundland, Spain, and England. In 1619, he finally returned to New England alongside an English explorer named Thomas Dermer, only to find his village Pawtucket ravaged by a recent epidemic, with only a few survivors remaining. It was the same site where the pilgrims were now building Plymouth. But soon after Thomas Dermer and Squanto arrived in New England, local tribes sought revenge for earlier English violence. Dermer's party was attacked and nearly wiped out, and Squanto was captured once again. By the fall of 1620,

• 10:40Lindsay Graham?

  he was living with Massasoit and the Wampanoag in Pocanocat. After his years with the English, he spoke the language well and offered Massasoit his skills as an interpreter. But even though Squanto was a member of his tribe, Massasoit looked at Squanto with suspicion. He knew that if the English gained a foothold in the region, anyone who could speak their language would have a powerful advantage. They would be able to make claims about what the English were saying, and no one would know whether they were telling the truth. And after years of devastating loss, the stakes were high. Massasoit harbored doubts about where Squanto's loyalties truly lay.

• 11:18Lindsay Graham?

  Imagine it's mid-March 1620 in the village of Pocanocat. You're the sachem of the Wampanoag people, and you've invited Squanto and Girawigwam to advise you what to do about the English. He knows these men, their language, and their ways better than anyone, but you're not sure you can trust him. A fire crackles low at your feet, and you stare at him through the smoke curling its way up to the hole in the ceiling. You raise an eyebrow as you address Squanto. So why shouldn't we strike these Englishmen now? Their weapons may be powerful, but their numbers are pitiful. They've only managed to build a few crude structures to protect them. They wouldn't stand a chance. Squanto leans forward, the firelight reflecting in his gaze. Well, it's because they are weak that you must not attack.

• 12:00Lindsay Graham?

  The English are no danger to us now. They're too busy trying to survive. They have no crops to eat. They can barely dig up enough shellfish from the mud to stave off hunger. Yes, but weakness does not mean they come in peace. We've seen too much of their kind to expect anything but treachery. It was only a year ago, remember, that English sailors lured our people onto their ship and killed them without reason. Why should I believe these Englishmen are any different? Well, you must consider your own position. The Narragansett grow more powerful by the day, and we cannot resist them alone. But maybe if we befriend the English and make use of their guns and cannons, then the Narragansett will think twice before attacking us. Yes, I've thought of this. The English weapons would give us an advantage. And that's not all. The English have the power to unleash disease upon anyone they wish.

• 12:44Lindsay Graham?

  You must befriend them if you want to avoid their wrath. You know this to be true? Well, I've lived among them. I've seen their power. Please, let me go to them and invite their friendship. You know that I speak their tongue better than anyone. You study Squanto for a long moment, but his expression is unreadable. Still, his logic is beginning to make sense to you. All right, but we will go to them, together. We'll leave at first light tomorrow.

• 13:09Lindsay Graham?

  Squanto bows his head in agreement. You're still not sure whose side he's on. His ability to speak their language gives him a unique advantage, but despite the risk, you know he's right. An alliance with the English may be the only way to ensure your people endure.

• 13:27Lindsay Graham?

  In March 1621, Squanto exploited Massasoit's paranoia to convince him to seek friendship with the English. He warned him that the pilgrims not only possessed muskets and cannons, but insisted that they had the power to unleash plague on their enemies. He also argued that allying with the English could help Massasoit overpower their enemy, the Narragansett tribe. But to seek an alliance with the English, Massasoit needed an intermediary. He had sent the English-speaking Sammaset to Plymouth as a first step. Now, he would reluctantly rely on Squanto, who was a local man and a much better English speaker with direct knowledge of English culture after having lived in captivity in London. So on March 22, Sammaset returned to Plymouth with Squanto by his side.

• 14:11Lindsay Graham?

  Squanto spoke with ease about his life in England and quickly earned the pilgrims' trust. Then he announced that Massasoit, the leader of the Wampanoag tribe, was nearby, and right on cue, Massasoit appeared on the hill above the settlement. His face was painted in dark red, and he wore a necklace of white shell beads with a long knife suspended from a string. Beside him was an entourage of sixty armed warriors painted in vivid colors. It was an intimidating display that made for a powerful contrast to the pilgrims. By then, fewer than twenty adult men were left in Plymouth. Squanto then relayed the message that Massasoit wanted an English onboard to speak with him. A pilgrim leader named Edward Winslow agreed to go.

• 14:53Lindsay Graham?

  After donning armor and a sword, he walked up the hill with Squanto to meet Massasoit. Winslow began by giving Massasoit a pair of knives, some copper chains, alcohol, and a few biscuits. Then he delivered a brief speech, offering a message of friendship on behalf of the English King James. Massasoit responded positively, and Winslow invited the sachem to the settlement for a more formal meeting with the colony's governor, John Carver. So Massasoit went down to Plymouth with twenty men by his side. The pilgrims mustered as much pomp and circumstance as they could, beating drums and blaring trumpets. Carver then invited Massasoit into a half-built house where the two leaders sat down on a rug spread over the dirt floor.

• 15:34Lindsay Graham?

  After sharing food and liquor, they got down to business and struck a peace agreement. They promised not to harm each other's people and come to each other's aid in the event of an attack. They also agreed that Squanto would stay with the struggling pilgrims to help them with spring planting. After five months of loss and uncertainty, the pilgrims had secured a peace pact with a man who appeared to rule a large swath of New England. It was a remarkable turn of events that seemed to bode well for the pilgrims' future, but it would not be too long before the alliance would be put to the test.

• 16:12Speaker 03

  Dr. Seuss's Cat in the Hat and Fish are back for a whole lot of wonderfully whimsical fun. What happens when you switch bodies with your best friend? Discover a caveman frozen in ice? Or make an alien so angry he threatens to destroy the planet? Find out in season two of the Cat in the Hat podcast. The Cat and Fish are traveling the world in the great catastrophic cacophony cruiser, meeting genies, clown professors, cave trolls, and extraordinary characters along the way. With clever wordplay, imaginative rhymes, original songs, and stories celebrating curiosity, empathy, and creative problem solving, every adventure brings something new to discover. It's a world of wonderful

• 16:55Speaker 03

  words, big imaginations, and plenty of heart for the whole family. Listen to the Cat in the Hat podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all 20 episodes early and ad-free right now.

• 17:11Speaker 04

  I'm Gemma Whelan, and in the new season of The Spy Who, we tell the story of the original femme fatale, the spy who was Mata Hari. A famous dancer turned World War I secret agent, accused of seducing Allied officers to uncover their plans. But was she a temptress or a scapegoat for French failures? Follow The Spy Who now, wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also listen to the full season of The Spy Who was Mata Hari, early and ad-free on Audible.

• 17:48Lindsay Graham?

  On April 5, 1621, the pilgrims bid farewell to Captain Christopher Jones and the crew of the Mayflower as they began their journey back across the Atlantic. The warmer spring weather had allowed the death rate in Plymouth to finally subside, and Jones felt it was at last time to return to England. But he would be sailing with a severely diminished crew. Half of the 35 sailors who had journeyed to America had died that winter. And although the pilgrims had planned to load the ship with goods to satisfy their investors, their struggles over the winter had made that impossible. The Mayflower therefore set sail for England with nothing but a pile of ballast stones taken from the shore of Plymouth Harbor. Strong westerly winds would carry the ship to London in just one short month, less than half the time it took to sail to America.

• 18:33Lindsay Graham?

  But Captain Jones's health had deteriorated during his time in New England, and he would die less than a year later, leaving the Mayflower anchored on the banks of the Thames. In the end, the ship that carried the pilgrims on their historic voyage would be sold for scrap. But for the pilgrims, after the departure of the Mayflower, it was more important than ever to secure a reliable food supply. Fortunately, after agreeing to a peace pact with the Wampanoak, they now had the help of the English-speaking Squanto, who'd come to live with them. Almost immediately, he won over the pilgrims by bringing them a new food source. Wading into a nearby tidal creek, he used his feet to squeeze eels out of the mud, gathering up so many that he could barely carry them all back to Plymouth.

• 19:16Lindsay Graham?

  The colonists happily ate them, praising them as fat and sweet. Then, as spring went on, Squanto gave the pilgrims a rapid lesson in native agriculture. Under his careful supervision, they planted the corn seed that they had stolen the previous December. The land surrounding Plymouth was poor, though, so Squanto showed them how to fertilize the soil with dead herring. And once the corn sprouted, he had them add squash and beans. As the squash and bean creepers climbed up the cornstalks, they shaded the roots from the summer sun and prevented weeds from sprouting. Thanks to Squanto, the native crops thrived, while the barley and peas the colonists had brought from England struggled to take root in the foreign soil. And as was typical for the Puritans,

• 19:58Lindsay Graham?

  colonist William Bradford interpreted Squanto's arrival as an act of divine providence, writing that he was "a special instrument, sent from God for our good." But that spring wasn't all good tidings. In April, Plymouth's governor John Carver was working in the fields when he started complaining of a sudden headache. He went home to lie down, and then lapsed into a coma. Only a few days later, he was dead. It was yet another devastating loss at a time when the colonists were only just beginning to recover from a harrowing winter. Supplies were still low, no cargo had been sent back to England, and tensions were flaring within the settlement. The pilgrims needed a strong and unifying leader. They decided that 31-year-old William Bradford fit the bill, and elected him as governor.

• 20:42Lindsay Graham?

  In his new position that summer, Bradford decided it was time to establish trade relations with nearby Indian tribes. His first priority was strengthening their alliance with the Massasoit and the Wampanoag. So in July, he sent a delegation to visit them in the town of Pokonoka, forty miles to the southwest. That same month, the Pilgrims established peaceful relations with the Indians to the east, a tribe known as the Nauset. By then, the Pilgrims had learned that the Nauset were the owners of the corn that they had stolen upon their arrival in Cape Cod the previous winter. In late July 1621, the Nauset captured a sixteen-year-old pilgrim who had gotten lost in the woods. Governor Bradford dispatched a rescue party, led by Squanto, who secured the boy's release in exchange for a knife.

• 21:25Lindsay Graham?

  The Pilgrims then also promised to reimburse the Nauset for the stolen corn, and the two groups declared peace. So by that August, the Pilgrims believed that their colony was finally beginning to find its footing, until they received troubling news. One of Massasoit's men brought word that an ambitious Wampanoag leader named Corbatant had kidnapped and possibly killed Squanto. Although Corbatant served under Massasoit, he opposed Massasoit's treaty with the Pilgrims. He hoped that by abducting the Pilgrims' trusted interpreter and guide, he could end Massasoit's alliance with the English. As Corbatant explained, if Squanto were killed, the English would lose their tongue, and once they did, he would seize power for himself.

• 22:11Lindsay Graham?

  Imagine it's August 1621 in Plymouth. You're the military leader of the colony, and you and five other men are crammed into Governor William Bradford's house. You've learned that your trusted interpreter Squanto has been kidnapped by the sachem Corbatant, who is being held fifteen miles away in the Indian village of Mamasket. Bradford has called a meeting of his closest advisers to decide on a plan, and you're one of them. You lean forward, pressing your palms flat against the rough-hewn table. "I believe we must take immediate and forceful action. If we don't act fast, Squanto could be killed." The separatist elder William Brewster rubs his temple and shakes his head. We must not be so hasty. It would be unwise to provoke a wider conflict. You mean to bring the whole region against us? A better war than weakness, surely. You may lead the church, but you have little

• 22:56Lindsay Graham?

  understanding of military strategy. Corbett needs to know that he cannot challenge us without consequences. And our ally Massasoit needs to know that we won't stand by while one of his men betrays him. So what do you propose we do? We gather ten men and lead them to Namaskit. If Squanto is still alive, we'll bring him home. But if he's dead, then I will seize Corbett himself, give him a punishment fit for a traitor. I'll cut off his head and bring it back to Plymouth, plant it on our gates so that no one will doubt our resolve. Brewster visibly recoils, his mouth falling open. You suggest we mimic the savagery of our enemies? I suggest we follow the words of scripture, Elder Brewster. Remember Joshua, who brought down the walls of Jericho and destroyed every living thing inside them?

• 23:41Lindsay Graham?

  But we're only just getting on our feet. There are so few of us and so many of them. You pound your fists on the table, your anger getting the better of you. Which is why we must go to Namaskit. These people think we are feeble. It's time we assert our power.

• 23:57Lindsay Graham?

  Governor Bradford leans back in his chair and rubs his chin. Then he announces that you are to go to Namaskit and rescue Squanto, adding that if he's already dead, then you will know what to do. Brewster bows his head, his lips moving in silent prayer, but you rise to your feet and nod at Bradford, your heart pounding. This is the moment you've been preparing for, a chance to finally show the Indians your strength.

• 24:23Lindsay Graham?

  After learning that Squanto had been kidnapped, Plymouth's governor William Bradford consulted his closest advisers, including the colony's military leader Miles Standish. Terrified by the idea of losing his trusted interpreter and guide, Bradford agreed with Standish's recommendation that the pilgrims act quickly and decisively. He also hoped to prove the pilgrims' loyalty to Massasoit. He later explained the wider strategic importance of the decision, declaring that if they allowed their allies to be mistreated without consequence, the pilgrims would be isolated, cut off from all information, and left vulnerable to future attacks. The next morning, August 14, 1621, Standish led ten men on a fifteen-mile march to the village of Damasket.

• 25:05Lindsay Graham?

  Arriving at midnight, Standish burst into a wigwam and demanded to know where Corbatant was. While the terrified people inside the wigwam screamed and wept, the pilgrims outside fired their muskets, wounding two villagers. Then, they discovered Squanto was alive and well, but Corbatant was nowhere to be found. The next morning, Standish gave a stern warning to the villagers, treated the wounded, and then he and his men returned with Squanto to Plymouth. This bold display of military resolve earned the pilgrims newfound respect among surrounding tribes. On September 13, nine sachems, including Corbatant, traveled to Plymouth to sign a treaty professing their loyalty to King James.

• 25:45Lindsay Graham?

  So as tension subsided, the colonists turned their attention back to the more urgent work of building their town. By October, they had finished eleven crude structures, seven homes, and four common buildings. And because of Squanto's help, they managed to reap a successful harvest. It was also a time when large numbers of migrating birds frequented the area. Governor Bradford ordered four men to go hunting, and in just a few hours, they had killed enough ducks and geese to feed the settlement for weeks. Bradford declared that they had now gathered the fruit of our labors, and it was time to rejoice together. But around that same time, Massasoit and ninety Wampanoag men arrived in Plymouth uninvited,

• 26:24Lindsay Graham?

  but they brought with them several deer to add to the spread, and over the next three days, the two groups enjoyed a harvest celebration marked by feasting and games. Subsequent generations of New Englanders would recast this event as the first Thanksgiving, a watershed moment of English-Indian unity. But the pilgrims themselves never used the term Thanksgiving, and unlike later depictions, it was an entirely informal event. There was no long table or silverware. Instead, the pilgrims and Indians most likely stood, squatted, or sat on the ground. The pilgrims also made almost no mention of the festivities in their writings beyond a single two-sentence description. Still, for years to come, the story of the feast would capture the American imagination.

• 27:08Lindsay Graham?

  This harvest celebration marked the end of an extraordinary year. Just 11 months earlier, the pilgrims had arrived in New England wholly unprepared for the brutal winter ahead. Half of them had died, but against all odds, the settlement survived, in large part due to their willingness to adapt to their new environment and its existing power dynamics. They had established trade relations, demonstrated their strength, and cemented a diplomatic alliance to help ensure their safety. But challenges still remained. The pilgrims had entered a harsh and uncertain world where multiple groups were vying for power, and soon, one of their most trusted allies would make a move to undo everything they had built.

• 27:53Speaker 05

  You stepped out for your morning jog, except it's not your usual morning jog. You started listening to an epic sci-fi book on Audible. Thirty chapters later, you've accidentally run a half marathon. You've lost track of how far you've run, somewhere just past the city limits. You can't stop. You have to find out what happens next. Then it's over. The universe seems bigger. You feel different. You feel like you have no idea where you are. Audible: Stories That Speak to You.

• 28:23Speaker 06

  A trucker merges onto the I-10 in New Orleans. He checks his mirrors. The lane is clear. And then, boom. Impact. A pickup truck, seemingly out of nowhere, scrapes down the side of his 18-wheeler, multiple passengers inside. One man flees the scene, and the driver of the pickup? He doesn't seem all that upset. It didn't feel like a regular accident, because it wasn't. Across the city, truckers are getting sideswiped, all on the same stretch of the same freeway. And behind many of the cases is one person: a Hollywood stunt woman turned personal injury lawyer named Vanessa Moda. This podcast is a story about fake accidents that lead to real consequences, and a scheme that ends in betrayal and murder.

• 29:08Speaker 06

  Listen to Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

• 29:29Lindsay Graham?

  On November 9, 1621, a lookout spotted a small ship in Plymouth Harbor. It was the first vessel the colonists had seen since the Mayflower left their shores six months earlier. And although they initially feared they were under attack by French pirates, it turned out to be an English relief ship called the Fortune. It was sent by their London broker, Thomas Weston, the man chiefly responsible for recruiting investors for Plymouth. And with the arrival of the Fortune, the size of the colony doubled in an instant. But much to Governor William Bradford's frustration, the small vessel brought thirty-seven colonists that he would now have to house and feed just as winter was about to set in. Even worse, the Fortune carried no additional provisions, and only a handful of the new

• 30:12Lindsay Graham?

  arrivals were Puritan separatists who shared the same religious beliefs as the colony's leaders. The rest were strangers. But the good news was that most of the newcomers were young men who could help with Plymouth's labor needs. There were now sixty-six men and sixteen women in the colony, and this six-to-one ratio of eligible men to eligible women placed intense pressure on orphan teenage girls to marry. Colonists who had been widowed also quickly remarried. But the new ship not only brought new settlers, it also delivered a furious letter from Thomas Weston rebuking the pilgrims for failing to load the Mayflower with cargo before it left London. He wrote, "I know your weakness was the cause of it, and I believe more weakness of judgment than weakness of hands."

• 30:55Lindsay Graham?

  Despite his criticism, Weston nevertheless pledged his loyalty, promising the pilgrims that they could count on him. But Bradford was outraged by the accusations. He pointed out that while the investors risked their money, the pilgrims had risked their lives. Nevertheless, they still had a debt to pay. So when the Fortune prepared to head back to London in December, the pilgrims loaded it with beaver skins, sassafras, and split oak. The value of the cargo totaled nearly five hundred pounds, almost half of what the colonists owed Weston and other investors. So with this, the pilgrims had taken a major step in easing their debt. But they soon faced another crisis: the potential for an attack by the powerful Narragansett tribe, the chief enemies of the pilgrims' Wampanoag allies.

• 31:39Lindsay Graham?

  The alliance between the English and the Wampanoag posed a threat to the Narragansett, and later that year, the leader of the Narragansett set a symbolic challenge to Plymouth: a bundle of arrows wrapped in the skin of a rattlesnake. Bradford responded by stuffing the snake skin with gunpowder and bullets and sending it back to the Narragansett Satchem. It seemed to have the desired effect. One colonist reported, "It was no small terror to the savage king, in so much as he would not once touch the powder and shot, or suffer it to stay in his house or country." But as December wore on, the pilgrims continued to worry about potential threats. To safeguard Plymouth, Bradford and the colony's military leader Captain Miles Stanish ordered the construction of an eight-foot-high timber wall around the settlement.

• 32:23Lindsay Graham?

  To defend both the cannons on Fort Hill and the houses on the adjacent Coal Hill, the wall would need to be more than half a mile long. But there were only a few dozen able-bodied men to perform the backbreaking work of building the wall. And the task was made harder by the pilgrims' poor tools, lack of oxen, and low rations. It was a project that demanded unity and discipline, but tensions were flaring between the original settlers and the new arrivals from the fort.

• 32:52Lindsay Graham?

  Imagine it's Christmas Day 1621 in Plymouth. You've recently arrived here from England, and you and some of your fellow colonists are enjoying a day of leisure after spending the past few weeks building a wall around the settlement. They're playing stool ball, a Christmas tradition that you cherish back in England, and you've begun to feel more at home here than you have in weeks, as you step up to the bat and squint against the sun, waiting for the pitch. You swing and hit the ball with a satisfying crack. But then you freeze in your tracks as you see Governor William Bradford striding toward you with a furious look on his face. "What do you think you're doing? You know, when you and the other strangers insisted that it was against your conscience to work on Christmas, I begrudgingly gave you the day off to rest, and I am more than

• 33:35Lindsay Graham?

  willing to let you spend Christmas praying quietly at home, but I won't allow reveling in the streets." You lift your bat across your shoulder and draw a shaky breath. "Well, but sir, I've played stool ball on Christmas for as long as I can remember. It's a tradition." "Well, that may be true, but it's no way for members of a godly Puritan community to conduct themselves." Bradford's hand shoots forward and before you can react, he wrenches the bat from your grasp. All right, now gather up the balls. This game ends now. The boys around you silently obey, but you can feel heat rising in your chest. Oh, Gov- Governor, please. This one game couldn't hurt, could it? It's what we always do, back home in England. Well, son, you are no longer in England. You're in Plymouth,

• 34:17Lindsay Graham?

  which operates by its own God-ordained rules, and everyone, including you, is expected to conform. God, well, has it ever occurred to you that this intolerance is exactly what drove you from England in the first place? Bradford's eyes blaze. This is not about tolerance or freedom. It's about right or wrong.

• 34:37Lindsay Graham?

  Bradford turns and walks away, your bat tucked firmly under his arm. Only a few minutes ago, the street was alive with laughter and play, but now feels as though Bradford has drained all the joy from Christmas.

• 34:53Lindsay Graham?

  William Bradford and his fellow Puritan separatists sought to strip Christianity of all rituals and traditions not found in the Bible. They saw no justification for Christmas festivities in the Bible, so they refused to celebrate the holiday. But while they treated December 25th like any other day, the new so-called strangers in the colony who did not share their religious beliefs refused to work, and instead of resting quietly, play games in the street. Bradford confiscated their games, viewing them as an affront to the Puritans' desire to create a godly community. But although this conflict over Christmas revealed deep and lingering tensions within the settlement, the more immediate problem of defense demanded the colonists' attention. In March 1622, construction on the new wall around Plymouth was finally complete,

• 35:39Lindsay Graham?

  and Miles Standish organized the men into defensive units and began drilling them regularly. The pilgrims had made it clear to anyone watching that they had no plans to leave. But soon, a new threat appeared, and this time, from within. In April 1622, Standish planned a trading expedition near modern-day Boston. He and his men had begun sailing north when a relative of Squanto came running down the beach. He claimed that Massasoit and the Wampanoag had joined forces with their enemies the Narakancet and were preparing an imminent attack on Plymouth. The story was suspect, though, given the Wampanoag's longtime alliance with the Pilgrims and rivalry with the Narakancet, but Bradford ordered the cannons fired as a warning signal

• 36:21Lindsay Graham?

  to the Pilgrims, and Standish, who was still an earshot, turned his boat around, returning to Plymouth to prepare for battle. But before making any rash decisions, Bradford consulted with Habamoc, a trusted aide of Massasoit, who'd been sent to live with the Pilgrims to keep an eye on Squanto. Habamoc was also highly suspicious of the claims, and he sent his wife to Massasoit's village to investigate. When Massasoit heard the story, he was outraged and denied any hostile intent toward the Pilgrims, but the story seemed to confirm his distrust of Squanto. The full truth emerged over the next few weeks. The Pilgrims learned that Squanto quietly coveted his own chieftain and had been spreading rumors that the Pilgrims had the power to unleash plagues on their enemies, so he promised

• 37:04Lindsay Graham?

  to protect native villages in exchange for tributes. Growing numbers of local Indians had begun to look to Squanto for protection instead of Massasoit, and Squanto had fabricated the story of Massasoit planning an attack on Plymouth to try to drive a wedge between the two allies. So in May 1622, a furious Massasoit sent messengers to Plymouth, demanding Squanto's death. Governor Bradford stalled, torn between his alliance with Massasoit and his close friendship with Squanto. The Pilgrims had come to depend on Squanto, and Bradford could not bear the thought of losing his interpreter, who'd become a lifeline for the colony. But just as Massasoit's warriors arrived to execute the death sentence, white sails appeared on the horizon.

• 37:46Lindsay Graham?

  Governor Bradford told the warriors he feared it could be the French, and declared that he refused to surrender Squanto until after he found out whether enemies were approaching. The warriors left in frustration, and Squanto was spared, but Bradford would soon discover that the biggest threat to the colony was not his compromised friend, but the ship entering the harbor, and soon Plymouth would face its gravest challenge yet.

• 38:10Lindsay Graham?

  From Wondery, this is episode three of our four-part series, The Mayflower, from American History Tellers. In the next episode, a new rival colony puts unprecedented strain on the Pilgrims' resources. Rumors spread of a planned attack on Plymouth, prompting the Pilgrims to make a controversial move, one that would transform the balance of power in New England.

• 38:34Lindsay Graham?

  American History Tellers is only possible because of listeners like you, so thank you. And don't miss an episode. Be sure to follow American History Tellers on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. And to find out more about me, including my other podcasts, my live show, the history tours I'm arranging, and all sorts of other things, go to historyishuman.com. That's historyishuman.com.

• 39:11Lindsay Graham?

  American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsay Graham, for Airship. Audio editing by Mohamed Shazi. Sound design by Molly Bach. Music by Thrum. This episode is written by Ellie Stanton. Edited by Dorian Marina. Senior producer Andy Beckerman. Executive producers are Jenny Lauer-Beckman and Marsha Louis for Wondery.

• 39:38Speaker 05

  Imagine you're reading Pride and Prejudice, except you're not reading it. Harris Dickinson and Marissa Abella are reading it to you on Audible. Her barbs sting you. His coldness sends a shiver up your spine. Your heart aches. Your ears burn. You yearn for Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy to profess their undying love for one another. You can't bear it any longer. Well, maybe a chapter longer. Performance is so good, you'll give love a second chance. Audible. Stories that speak to you.