The Great Epidemic Summary
The Great Epidemic of 1616-1619
Shortly before the Pilgrims arrived, a devastating epidemic wiped out as much as 90% of the Native population in southern New England. In 1615, a shipwrecked French trading vessel carried the disease(s) that caused the Great Epidemic. The Europeans introduced cholera, typhus, smallpox, leptospirosis and other infectious diseases to the Native populations; diseases that the Natives had no natural immunity to. Because of the Great Epidemic, the surviving Wampanoag Indians were terrified of Europeans. They wrongly assumed that the white man's God sent the epidemic to destroy them. So out of fear of the Europeans, and to appease their angry God, they helped the Pilgrims survive their first winter in America. Later,
the Wampanoags taught the Pilgrims how to hunt and plant crops, giving them the skills to survive on their own. Subsequently, the Pilgrims invited them to the first unofficial Thanksgiving in 1621. By the way, the Pilgrims never called this “Thanksgiving.” For them, a thanksgiving day would have been one spent in prayer and giving of thanks, not a day of feasting. Nevertheless, we see that the Natives and Pilgrims came together, not out of true friendship, but out of fear. That's the real story of the so-called First Thanksgiving.
Shortly before the Pilgrims arrived, a devastating epidemic wiped out as much as 90% of the Native population in southern New England. In 1615, a shipwrecked French trading vessel carried the disease(s) that caused the Great Epidemic. The Europeans introduced cholera, typhus, smallpox, leptospirosis and other infectious diseases to the Native populations; diseases that the Natives had no natural immunity to. Because of the Great Epidemic, the surviving Wampanoag Indians were terrified of Europeans. They wrongly assumed that the white man's God sent the epidemic to destroy them. So out of fear of the Europeans, and to appease their angry God, they helped the Pilgrims survive their first winter in America. Later,
the Wampanoags taught the Pilgrims how to hunt and plant crops, giving them the skills to survive on their own. Subsequently, the Pilgrims invited them to the first unofficial Thanksgiving in 1621. By the way, the Pilgrims never called this “Thanksgiving.” For them, a thanksgiving day would have been one spent in prayer and giving of thanks, not a day of feasting. Nevertheless, we see that the Natives and Pilgrims came together, not out of true friendship, but out of fear. That's the real story of the so-called First Thanksgiving.