Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikeyy
Thanksgiving....Shouldn't we be thanking some indians today? Just a thought. And do you suppose that Native Americans should celebrate this holiday? Just thinking. Does the tribe that came to the rescue still exist. Questions upon questions
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According to English sources, Massasoit (sachem of the Wampanog) prevented the failure of Plymouth Colony and the almost certain starvation that the Pilgrims faced during the earliest years of the colony's establishment. Moreover, Massasoit forged critical political and personal ties with the colonial leaders John Carver, Stephen Hopkins, Edward Winslow, William Bradford, and Miles Standish – ties which culminated in a negotiated peace treaty on March 22, 1621. Massasoit's alliance ensured that the Wampanoag remained neutral during the Pequot War in 1636.
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After his recovery, Massasoit now saw that "the English are my friends and love me." Moreover, Massasoit felt duty-bound to observe that "whilst I live I will never forget this kindness they have showed me."
In 1659, Massasoit sold a tract of land to Miles Standish and others of Duxbury.
During his reign as grand sachem, Massasoit never permitted the Pokanoket to convert to Christianity, and with great diplomatic skill, managed to stay such efforts. Perhaps unsurprisingly however, the half century of peace that Massasoit so assiduously negotiated collapsed soon after his death. Breaking with his father's diplomacy, and in response to increasing depredations into Wampanoag territory by his ally, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Wamsutta began to form an alliance with Connecticut Colony. Within a year of his succession, and almost immediately after appearing in front of the court, in 1662, Wamsutta died suddenly. Metacom, Massasoit's second son, became sachem of the Pokanoket, and chief sachem of the Greater Wampanoag Confederacy. Metacom, also known as Philip, certainly believed that Wamsutta had been murdered at the hands of the English. Wamsutta's death was one of the leading factors that eventually led to King Philip's War, the bloodiest war in American history — indeed, more so than the American Civil War in terms of lives lost proportional to population.
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On Martha's Vineyard there were three reservations in the 18th and 19th centuries – Chappaquiddick, Christiantown and Gay Head. The Chappaquiddick Reservation was part of a small island with the same name, and was located on the eastern point of that island. As the result of the sale of land in 1789, the Indians lost valuable areas, and the remaining land was distributed between the Indians residents in 1810. In 1823 the laws were changed, in order to hinder those trying to get rid of the Indians and to implement a visible beginning of a civic organization. Around 1849, they owned 692 acres (2.80 km2) of infertile land, and many of the residents moved to nearby Edgartown, so that they could practice a trade and obtain some civil rights.
Christiantown was originally a "praying town" on the northwest side of Martha's Vineyard, northwest of Tisbury. In 1849 the reservation still consisted of 390 acres (1.6 km2), of which all but 10 were distributed among the residents. The land which was kept under community ownership yielded very few crops, and the tribe members left it behind to get paying jobs in the cities. It is known, through oral tradition, that Christiantown was wiped out in 1888 by a smallpox epidemic.
The third reservation on Martha's Vineyard was constructed in 1711 by the New England Company (founded in 1649) to Christianize the Indians. They bought land for the Gay Head Indians, who had lived there since before 1642. Unfortunately there was a fierce dispute over how the land should be cultivated, because the better sections of the land had been leased to the whites at low interest. The original goal of creating an undisturbed center for missionary work was quickly forgotten. The state finally created a reservation on a peninsula on the western point of Martha's Vineyard and named it Gay Head. This region was connected to the main island by an isthmus and created the isolation that the Indians wanted to have. In 1849 they had 2,400 acres (9.7 km2) there, of which 500 were distributed among the tribe members. The rest was communal property. In contrast to the other groups on Massachusetts reservations, the tribe had no guardian or headman. When they needed advice on legal questions, they asked the guardian of the Chappaquiddick Reservation, but other matters they handled themselves. They had no legal claim to their land and allowed the tribal members free rein over their choice of land, as well as over cultivation and building, in order to make their ownership clear. They did not allow whites to settle on their land, and the laws regulating tribe membership were strict. As a result they were able to strengthen the groups' ties to each other, and they did not lose their tribal identity until long after the other groups.
The Wampanoag on Nantucket Island were almost completely destroyed by an unknown plague in 1763; the last Nantucket died in 1855.
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A little over 2,000 Wampanoag survive (many of whose ancestry includes other tribes), and many live on the reservation (Watuppa Wampanoag Reservation) on Martha's Vineyard, in Dukes County. It is located in the town of Aquinnah (formerly known as Gay Head), at the extreme western part of the island. It has a land area of 1.952 square kilometres (482 acres), and a 2000 census resident population of 91 persons.
Sources are from WIKI: "Massasoit" and "Wampanog" 
11-26-2009, 11:39 AM
Thanking the native Americans
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