Squanto aka Tisquantum

Squanto ended up on an English ship in 1605, either bribed or kidnapped. Several tribes' members were kidnapped also by Thomas Hunt who then tried to sell them in Spain. Friars interrupted the sale and eventually ended up serving as a slave or indentured servant in England for 9 years under Ferdinando Gorges then John Slaney. Gorges was a principal of the Plymouth company. Slaney was the principal of the Newfoundland Company. In 1619 he made it back to the Massachusetts Bay area, finding his people wiped out. His services as a trade intermediary were necessary as trade dried up after the kidnappings. The Pilgrims arrived on his tribe's abandoned area in 1620. Squanto was living with the Wampanoag at the time and their chief Massasoit who used Squanto as an ambassador. Squanto enjoyed his influence too much and used it for personal gain among the Indians. He tried to trick the Pilgrims into military maneuvers against other tribes to prove his influence. His deceit was exposed and Massasoit demanded his life. But another ship of colonists appeared at the last hour and the Pilgrims were distracted and Squanto became needed again. Later, Squanto got a fever and started bleeding form the nose. He knew he was going to die. He asked Governor Bradford to pray for him that he might go to the English God's heaven. He left a legacy of peace between Pilgrim's and Wampanoag that lasted 50 years. Sources: Answers.com, Mayflowerhistory.com and Nativeamericans.com

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