I finally got around to watching the first episode of the PBS series We Shall Remain. It tells the story of the early interaction between the English settlers and the native people of coastal New England. Heavily emphasized in the narrative is the Wompanoag tribe,and it’s most historically significant members,  Massasoit, Tisquantum, and Metacom. The land where the pilgrims built Plimoth was an unoccupied Wampanoag village called Pawtuxet. At the time just prior to the pilgrim’s arrival, the Wompanoag had been decimated by disease, leaving a good plot of land available. 

This production does  a good job of telling the story of the important relationship between Edward Winslow and Massasoit. I say “good” here because I think it creates the correct picture of men from radically different worlds who ultimately want what is best for each of their respective groups, with minimum hostility and perhaps even interaction with the others. If it fails at all in historical accuracy or completeness I can forgive it, up to a point. Any production of this scope is faced with an unavoidable requirement that they abbreviate, truncate, and even take liberties with history. I understand that but I also feel that it is at least possible to include references to important events truthfully. 

Here is where I have an issue with this production. Contemporary with the colony at Plimoth was another colony 20 miles to the north called Wessagussett. I have written about this previously in my post here . This colony was the nemesis of Plimoth,  populated by ignorant, slothful, criminals looking to make a quick profit in the fur trade. They may have been tough on the streets of London but they were as useless as balls on a Jesuit in the woods of New England. They stole, they lied, they starved, they sold themselves into servitude to the natives. The natives by the way, were the Massachusetts, not the Wampanoag. As was often the case, there were historical disputes over territory and resources between these tribes. It appears that during this period they largely stayed out of each others way but they didn’t owe each other any favors either. By circumstance, the pilgrims allied themselves with the Wampanoag and in so doing, owed no favors to their competitors. When the Massachusetts of Wessagussett had had all they could tolerate from the English settlers they planned to kill them all and while they were at it, take out the colony at Plimoth too. It was as hard to keep secrets then as it is now. Ultimately, it was Massasoit himself who revealed the plan to the colonists at Plimoth. He felt a debt of gratitude to Winslow, but he also saw that he could simultaneously garner favor with the English and strike a blow to his enemies. Credit is due to the writers of this episode to address and speculate on Massasoit’s inner conflict over issues like this.

As I recounted in my earlier post, and as was mentioned in the first episode of We Shall Remain, Myles Standish was sent to assassinate the leaders of the Wessagussett natives under the guise of making peace. My early version has several inaccuracies,  the result of a retelling of local mythology. The TV version is inadequate in its glossing over perhaps the most important English/native event in colonial New England. Yes, I am biased because I am attached to this story by my personal history, but if I exaggerate it is not by much. A preemptive strike was made to send a message to the natives and to ward off the total destruction of Plimoth at the hands of a much greater force. Does that sound like an event important enough to merit a bit more information? 

The name of the tribe routed at Wessagussett was 

Massachusetts. 

The names of the leaders assassinated and decapitated there were 

Wituwamet and Pecksuot. 

The man whose head was in that bag held aloft in the shallop by Myles Standish as it returned to Plimoth was

 Wituwamet. 

His head and, as I know the story, that of Pecksuot were hung from the walls of the fort at Plimoth for years. 

Heads hung from the walls, by the pious pilgrims.

Do not forget this

The story of Metacom, AKA Phillip, was handled pretty well. His uprising, King Phillip’s War, was too late to be anything but disastrous. In the end, he is killed and his body dismembered and scattered like so much dog meat. His head, however, was too good to let go to waste, impaled on a spike in the heart of town at Plimoth for at least twenty years. A trophy, a warning, a symbol of what was to come for the rest of the native inhabitants of this land. 

I applaud PBS for reminding viewers that the brutality of settlers from Europe toward Native people began early, and was not relegated to the westward expansion and subsequent genocide. I hope that eventually, there will be a more balanced recounting of this story taught in history classes. It just isn’t entirely a happy story of cooperation and friendship. There is enough sorrow and loss and injustice in this story to merit something of the gravity of a holocaust memorial or museum. This PBS production is an important but limited step in the telling and remembering of the stories of people who truly do remain in America and in the American psyche.

A view of "the field" where many of the events described in my and in Wessagussett's posts took place. Near our childhood homes.

This link is an excellent place to start for some background:

Plymouth Archaeological Rediscovery Project

 Also, please look  at my friend and fellow North Weymouth product's blog: Wessagussett