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95-468: In addition to its home city, the paper also covers adjacent towns on Cape Ann in Essex County : Essex , Manchester-by-the-Sea and Rockport . Its circulation in 2012 was approximately 10,000, giving it some 22,000 readers each day. Gloucester Daily Times began as an independent daily in 1888. However, in the 21st century the paper has the centerpiece of a consolidation effort that once saw almost all

190-571: A boy named John Billington became lost for some time in the woods around the colony. It was reported that he was found by the Nausets , the same tribe on Cape Cod from whom the Pilgrims had unwittingly stolen corn seed the prior year upon their first explorations. The colonists organized a party to return Billington to Plymouth, and they agreed to reimburse the Nausets for the corn which they had taken in return for

285-595: A community of their own, or at least be free from the bonds by which the Plymouth colonists were enslaved. A letter addressed to the colonists and signed by thirteen of the merchants recited these facts and urged acceptance of the new comers on the specified terms." The new arrivals were allotted land in the area of the Eel River known as Hobs Hole , which became Wellingsley, a mile south of Plymouth Rock. In September 1623, another ship arrived carrying settlers destined to refound

380-443: A defensive cannon would be stationed. Also important in choosing the site was the fact that the prior villagers had cleared much of the land, making agriculture relatively easy. Fresh water for the colony was provided by Town Brook and Billington Sea . There are no contemporaneous accounts to verify the legend, but Plymouth Rock is often hailed as the point where the colonists first set foot on their new homeland. The area where

475-644: A feast which included numerous types of waterfowl, wild turkeys, and fish procured by the colonists, and five deer brought by the Wampanoags. After the departure of Massasoit and his men, Squanto remained in Plymouth to teach the Pilgrims how to survive in New England, such as using dead fish to fertilize the soil. For the first few years of colonial life, the fur trade was the dominant source of income beyond subsistence farming, buying furs from Natives, and selling to Europeans. Governor Carver suddenly died shortly after

570-464: A formal treaty of peace after exchanging gifts. This treaty ensured that each people would not bring harm to the other, that Massasoit would send his allies to make peaceful negotiations with Plymouth, and that they would come to each other's aid in a time of war. The Mayflower set sail for England on April 5, 1621, after being anchored for almost four months in Plymouth Harbor . Nearly half of

665-411: A house at Wessagussett under the pretense of sharing a meal and making negotiations. Standish and his men then stabbed and killed them. Standish and his men pursued Obtakiest, a local sachem, but he escaped with three prisoners from Wessagussett; he then executed them. Within a short time, Wessagussett was disbanded, and the survivors were integrated into the town of Plymouth. Word quickly spread among

760-578: A lesser-known disease called leptospirosis . The absence of any serious Indian opposition to the Pilgrims' settlement may have been a pivotal event to their success and to English colonization in America. Popham Colony , also known as Fort St. George, was organized by the Plymouth Company (unrelated to Plymouth Colony) and founded in 1607. It was settled on the coast of Maine and was beset by internal political struggles, sickness, and weather problems. It

855-571: A letter from the Merchant Adventurers chastising the colony for failure to return goods with the Mayflower that had been promised in return for their support. The Fortune began its return to England laden with £500 worth of goods (equivalent to £78,000 in 2010, or $ 118,799 at PPP ), more than enough to keep the colonists on schedule for repayment of their debt. However, the Fortune was captured by

950-477: A patent to settle this area, and some passengers began to question their right to land, objecting that there was no legal authority to establish a colony and hence no guarantee of retaining ownership over any land that they had improved. In response to this, a group of colonists drafted and signed the Mayflower Compact while still aboard the ship as it lay at anchor, which became the first governing document for

1045-584: A retaliatory raid by Pequot warriors on the town of Wethersfield, Connecticut , where some 30 English settlers were killed. This led to a further retaliation, where a raid led by Captain John Underhill and Captain John Mason burned a Pequot village to the ground in Mystic , killing 300 Pequots. Plymouth Colony had little to do with the actual fighting in the war. When it appeared that the war would resume, four of

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1140-524: A sailor and his negative feelings towards both Cape Ann and the sailors who sail around it. It has been recorded by musicians such as The Irish Rovers , Gordon Bok , and The X-Seaman's Institute (formed as part of the South Street Seaport ). Cape Ann is the location of the fictional town of Sea Harbor, the setting of the Seaside Knitters mysteries by author Sally Goldenbaum. Sea Harbor is on

1235-510: A settlement site. They rejected several sites, including one on Clark's Island and another at the mouth of the Jones River , in favor of the site of a recently abandoned settlement which had been occupied by the Patuxet tribe. The location was chosen largely for its defensive position. The settlement would be centered on two hills: Cole's Hill, where the village would be built, and Fort Hill, where

1330-561: A skirmish with Indians known as the "First Encounter" near Eastham, Massachusetts . The colonists decided to look elsewhere, having failed to secure a proper site for their settlement, and fearing that they had angered the Indians by taking their corn and firing upon them. The Mayflower left Provincetown Harbor and set sail for Plymouth Harbor. The Mayflower dropped anchor in Plymouth Harbor on December 16 and spent three days looking for

1425-473: A slave for a group of Spanish monks, then as a freeman in England. He had returned to New England in 1619, acting as a guide to explorer Capt. Robert Gorges , but Massasoit and his men had massacred the crew of the ship and had taken Squanto. Samoset returned to Plymouth on March 22 with a delegation from Massasoit that included Squanto; Massasoit joined them shortly after, and he and Governor Carver established

1520-472: A tongue in cheek salute to the paper and how it covers everything from "who knows all the town meeting rules?" to "whose dog had puppies" to "who can dig for clams this year?" Cape Ann Cape Ann is a rocky peninsula in northeastern Massachusetts on the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Boston and marks the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay . Cape Ann includes

1615-575: A treaty with Wampanoag Chief Massasoit which helped to ensure its success; in this, they were aided by Squanto , a member of the Patuxet tribe. Plymouth played a central role in King Philip's War (1675–1678), one of several Indian Wars , but the colony was ultimately merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony and other territories in 1691 to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay . Despite

1710-499: A vessel named the Sparrow arrived carrying seven men from the Merchant Adventurers whose purpose was to seek out a site for a new settlement in the area. Two ships followed shortly after carrying 60 settlers, all men. They spent July and August in Plymouth before moving north to settle in Weymouth, Massachusetts , at a settlement which they named Wessagussett . The settlement of Wessagussett

1805-556: A woman whom he met while in Turkey as a prisoner of war. He had been taken as a prisoner of war and enslaved in the Ottoman Empire before escaping. Smith presented his map to Charles I and suggested that Charles should feel free to change any of the "barbarous names" into English ones. The king made many such changes, but only four survive today. One was Cape Ann, which Charles named in honor of his mother Anne of Denmark . Prior to

1900-528: Is estimated that the entire population of the colony at the point of its dissolution was around 7,000. For comparison, it is estimated that more than 20,000 settlers had arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1630 and 1640 (a period known as the Great Migration ), and the population of all New England was estimated to be about 60,000 by 1678. Plymouth was the first colony in the region, but it

1995-582: Is now the southeastern portion of Massachusetts . Many of the people and events surrounding Plymouth Colony have become part of American folklore , including the American tradition of Thanksgiving and the monument of Plymouth Rock . Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of Protestant Separatists initially known as the Brownist Emigration, who came to be known as the Pilgrims . The colony established

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2090-411: The Mayflower returned to England. William Bradford was elected to replace him and went on to lead the colony through much of its formative years. As promised by Massasoit, numerous Natives arrived at Plymouth throughout the middle of 1621 with pledges of peace. On July 2, a party of Pilgrims led by Edward Winslow (who later became the chief diplomat of the colony) set out to continue negotiations with

2185-457: The Mayflower . It remained with the Pilgrims when the Mayflower returned to England. On November 15, Captain Myles Standish led a party of 16 men on an exploratory mission, during which they disturbed an Indian grave and located a buried cache of Indian corn. The following week, Susanna White gave birth to son Peregrine White on the Mayflower . He was the first child born to the Pilgrims in

2280-464: The Narragansett Bay and completely omitted most of the New England coast. European fishermen had also been plying the waters off the New England coast for much of the 16th and 17th centuries. Frenchman Samuel de Champlain had explored the area extensively in 1605. He had specifically explored Plymouth Harbor , which he called "Port St. Louis", and he made an extensive and detailed map of it and

2375-626: The North Shore papers bought by one owner, CNHI. Essex County Newspapers was founded by Philip Saltonstall Weld , a former International Herald Tribune publisher who bought newspapers in Gloucester and Newburyport in 1952, later adding the Beverly and Peabody titles. Weld was among the first small-daily publishers to endorse political candidates, and in 1958 the Gloucester Daily Times became

2470-451: The Speedwell forced the expedition to return again to England, this time to the port of Plymouth . The Speedwell was found to be unseaworthy; some passengers abandoned their attempt to emigrate, while others joined the Mayflower , crowding the already heavily burdened ship. Later, it was speculated that the crew of the Speedwell had intentionally sabotaged the ship to avoid having to make

2565-711: The Speedwell in July 1620 in the Dutch port of Delfshaven . Speedwell was re-rigged with larger masts before leaving Holland and setting out to meet Mayflower in Southampton, England , around the end of July 1620. The Mayflower was purchased in London. The original captains were Captain Reynolds for Speedwell and Captain Christopher Jones for Mayflower . Other passengers joined

2660-418: The Speedwell suffered significant leakage, which required the ships to immediately put in at Dartmouth . The leakage was partly caused by being overmasted and being pressed too much with sail. Repairs were completed, and a further delay ensued as they awaited favorable winds. The two ships finally set sail on August 23; they traveled only 200 miles (320 km) beyond Land's End before another major leak in

2755-579: The United States from New York to San Francisco . Cape Ann became a thriving center of activity for artists in the 19th century, including the Rocky Neck Art Colony in Gloucester. Fitz Henry Lane who began his career in Gloucester as a lithographer developed a distinctive style for his marine paintings known as luminism . The Cape Ann Museum has a significant collection of paintings by local artists who reached national prominence. Later in

2850-525: The indentured servants . Among the Strangers were Myles Standish , who was the colony's military leader; Christopher Martin , who had been designated by the Merchant Adventurers to act as shipboard governor during the trans-Atlantic trip; and Stephen Hopkins , a veteran of a failed colonial venture that may have inspired Shakespeare 's The Tempest . The group who later became the Leiden Leaders after

2945-536: The 19th and early 20th century, American Impressionists were attracted to Rockport such as marine landscapist Harry Aiken Vincent who arrived in 1916 and helped to form the Rockport Art Association . The region continues to provide a base for many galleries and working artists. The entirety of Cape Ann lies within Essex County . Anchored by the city of Gloucester , the nexus of the local fishing industry , other towns on Cape Ann include Rockport , at

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3040-470: The Cape Ann settlement a legal form of government was established, and from that Massachusetts Bay Colony sprang. Roger Conant was the governor under the Cape Ann patent, and as such, has been called the first governor of Massachusetts. This colony predated Massachusetts Bay charter and colony. For that reason, members of the colony were referred to as " old planters ". The first Great House in New England

3135-712: The Dutch Army. They also were still not free from the persecutions of the English Crown. English authorities came to Leiden to arrest William Brewster in 1618 after he published comments highly critical of the King of England and the Anglican Church . Brewster escaped arrest, but the events spurred the congregation to move farther from England. The congregation obtained a land patent from the Plymouth Company in June 1619. They had declined

3230-611: The Dutch in settling the area. Other tribes in the area sided with the English, including the Narragansetts and Mohegans , who were the traditional enemies of the Pequots. The event that sparked formal hostilities was the capture of a boat and the murder of captain John Oldham in 1636, an event blamed on allies of the Pequots. In April 1637, a raid on a Pequot village by John Endicott led to

3325-689: The French before she could deliver her cargo to England, creating an even larger deficit for the colony. In July 1623, two more ships arrived: the Anne under the command of Captain "Master" William Peirce and Master John Bridges, and the Little James under the command of Captain Emanuel Altham. These ships carried 96 new settlers, among them Leideners, including William Bradford 's future wife Alice and William and Mary Brewster's daughters Patience and Fear. Some of

3420-586: The Indians are run away from their habitations". The only positive effect of Standish's raid seemed to be the increased power of the Massasoit-led Wampanoag tribe, the Pilgrims' closest ally in the region. A second ship arrived in November 1621 named the Fortune , sent by the Merchant Adventurers one year after the Pilgrims first set foot in New England. It arrived with 37 new settlers for Plymouth. However,

3515-613: The Indigenous tribes of Standish's attack; many Natives abandoned their villages and fled the area. As noted by Philbrick: "Standish's raid had irreparably damaged the human ecology of the region ... It was some time before a new equilibrium came to the region." Edward Winslow reports in his 1624 memoirs Good News from New England that "they forsook their houses, running to and fro like men distracted, living in swamps and other desert places, and so brought manifold diseases amongst themselves, whereof very many are dead". The Pilgrims lost

3610-599: The Netherlands, settling first in Amsterdam and then in Leiden . In Leiden, the congregation gained the freedom to worship as they chose, but Dutch society was unfamiliar to them. Scrooby had been an agricultural community, whereas Leiden was a thriving industrial center, and they found the pace of life difficult. The community remained close-knit, but their children began adopting the Dutch language and customs, and some also entered

3705-652: The New England colonies (Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut , New Haven , and Plymouth) formed a defensive compact known as the United Colonies of New England . Edward Winslow was already known for his diplomatic skills, and he was the chief architect of the United Colonies. His experience in the United Provinces of the Netherlands during the Leiden years was key to organizing the confederation. John Adams later considered

3800-507: The New World. The shallop was finished on November 27, and a second expedition was undertaken using it, under the direction of Mayflower master Christopher Jones . Thirty-four men went, but the expedition was beset by bad weather; the only positive result was that they found an Indian burial ground and corn that had been intended for the dead, taking the corn for future planting. A third expedition along Cape Cod left on December 6; it resulted in

3895-779: The North Shore chain in 2002, paying US$ 70 million for the Gloucester Daily Times , The Daily News of Newburyport and The Salem Evening News . Eagle-Tribune executives touted the creation of a regional news organization; they also laid off some 45 staffers at the Essex County papers, including the editors of the Newburyport and Salem papers. The Eagle-Tribune chain was itself bought for an undisclosed amount of money by Community Newspaper Holdings , an Alabama company, in 2005. Local folk duo Daisy Nell and Captain Stan recorded "G.D. Times",

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3990-524: The United Colonies to be the prototype for the Articles of Confederation , which was the first attempt at a national American government. Metacomet was the younger son of Massasoit and the heir of Massasoit's position as sachem of the Pokanokets and supreme leader of the Wampanoags. He was known to the colonists as Philip, and he became sachem upon the sudden death of his older brother Wamsutta in 1662, who

4085-533: The arrival of European settlers, Cape Ann was a home for indigenous people. The English colony at Cape Ann was first founded in 1623. It was the fourth colonizing effort in New England after Popham Colony , Plymouth Colony and Nantasket Beach . Two ships of the Dorchester Company brought 32 in number with John Tylly and Thomas Gardner as overseers of a fishing operation and the plantation, respectively. At

4180-599: The book Trouble . Cape Ann is the title of the fifth and final section of T. S. Eliot's poem, "Landscapes," which lists the coastal birds of the region. Additionally, the title of his poem The Dry Salvages refers to a cluster of rocks "off the N.E. coast of Cape Ann, Massachusetts." The fictional town of Paradise, setting of the Jesse Stone novels, is near Cape Ann, which is briefly mentioned in Night and Day . Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth )

4275-580: The boy. This negotiation did much to secure further peace with the tribes in the area. During their dealings with the Nausets over the release of John Billington, the Pilgrims learned of troubles that Massasoit was experiencing. Massasoit, Squanto, and several other Wampanoags had been captured by Corbitant , sachem of the Narragansett tribe. A party of ten men under the leadership of Myles Standish set out to find and execute Corbitant. While hunting for him, they learned that Squanto had escaped and Massasoit

4370-415: The building progressed, 20 men always remained ashore for security purposes while the rest of the work crews returned each night to the Mayflower . Women, children, and the infirm remained on board the Mayflower , and many had not left the ship for six months. The first structure was a common house of wattle and daub , and it took two weeks to complete in the harsh New England winter. In the following weeks,

4465-420: The chief. The delegation also included Squanto, who acted as a translator. After traveling for several days, they arrived at Massasoit's village of Sowams near Narragansett Bay . After meals and an exchange of gifts, Massasoit agreed to an exclusive trading pact with the Plymouth colonists. Squanto remained behind and traveled throughout the area to establish trading relations with several tribes. In late July,

4560-451: The city of Gloucester and the towns of Essex , Manchester-by-the-Sea and Rockport . During the summer of 1606, French explorer Samuel de Champlain visited Cape Ann for the second time. He came ashore in Gloucester and drew a map of the Gloucester harbor, naming it as le Beau port. Eight years later, English Captain John Smith named the area around Gloucester Cape Tragabigzanda , after

4655-601: The coast, with Gloucester as its nearest neighbor town. Cape Ann is also featured as the setting for the Harry Chapin song "Dogtown," which is also the name for an abandoned town on the Cape. The fictional "Gloucester Island" in 1966 Cold War comedy film The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming is located off Cape Ann and was named for the city of Gloucester. The book Slaughterhouse Five mentions Cape Ann as

4750-405: The colonists settled had been identified as "New Plymouth" in maps which John Smith published in 1614. The colonists elected to retain the name for their own settlement, in honor of their final point of departure from Plymouth, Devon . On December 21, 1620, the first landing party arrived at the site of Plymouth . Plans to build houses, however, were delayed by bad weather until December 23. As

4845-411: The colony should be governed by "just and equal laws," and those who signed it promised to keep those laws. The group remained on board the ship through the next day for prayer and worship, as it was a Sunday. They finally set foot on land at Provincetown on November 13. The first task was to rebuild a shallop , a shallow draft boat that had been built in England and disassembled for transport aboard

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4940-421: The colony's relatively short existence, Plymouth holds a special role in American history. The social and legal systems of the colony became closely tied to their religious beliefs, as well as to English custom. Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of Brownists (a sect of English Protestant dissenters ) who came to be known as the Pilgrims . The core group (roughly 40 percent of the adults and 56 percent of

5035-463: The colony. The intent of the compact was to establish a means of governing the colony, though it did little more than confirm that the colony would be governed like any English town. It did, however, serve the purpose of relieving the property concerns of many of the settlers. This social contract was written and signed by 41 male passengers . It was modeled on the church covenants that Congregationalists used to form new congregations. It made clear that

5130-451: The failed colony at Weymouth, and they stayed temporarily in Plymouth. In March 1624, a ship arrived bearing a few additional settlers and the first cattle. A 1627 division of cattle lists 156 colonists divided into twelve lots of thirteen colonists each. Another ship arrived in August 1629, also named the Mayflower , with 35 additional members of the Leiden congregation. Ships arrived throughout

5225-415: The family groupings) were part of a congregation led in America by William Bradford and William Brewster . They began to feel the pressures of religious persecution while still in the English village of Scrooby , near East Retford , Nottinghamshire. In 1607, Archbishop Tobias Matthew raided homes and imprisoned several members of the congregation. The congregation left England in 1608 and moved to

5320-564: The financing secured from the Merchant Adventurers, the Colonists bought provisions and obtained passage on the Mayflower and the Speedwell . They had intended to leave early in 1620, but they were delayed several months due to difficulties in dealing with the Merchant Adventurers, including several changes in plans for the voyage and financing. The congregation and the other colonists finally boarded

5415-538: The first afternoon daily to print its Saturday edition in the morning, to put its pressmen on a five-day workweek. By the 1980s, the chain was owned by Ottaway Community Newspapers , a division of Dow Jones & Company , which also owned the Cape Cod Times and The Standard-Times of New Bedford . Ottaway added The Salem Evening News to its holdings, closing the evening Beverly Times and Peabody Times , in 1995. The Eagle-Tribune of North Andover , one of Essex County Newspapers' chief competitors, bought

5510-399: The group in Southampton, including William Brewster, who had been in hiding for the better part of a year, and a group of people known to the Leiden congregation as "The Strangers." This group was largely made up of people recruited by the Merchant Adventurers to provide practical assistance to the colony and additional hands to work for the colony's ventures. The term was also used for many of

5605-437: The honeymoon location for the main character Billy Pilgrim . The movie The Perfect Storm was filmed in Gloucester in 2000. Setting out for the one last catch that will make up for a lackluster fishing season, Captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney) pushes his boat, the Andrea Gail , out to the waters of the Flemish Cap off Nova Scotia; based on actual events in 1991. Cape Ann is also the location of main character's home in

5700-481: The men were too infirm to work; 45 out of 102 pilgrims died and were buried on Cole's Hill . Thus, only seven residences and four common houses were constructed during the first winter out of a planned 19. By the end of January, enough of the settlement had been built to begin unloading provisions from the Mayflower . The men of the settlement organized themselves into military orders in mid-February, after several tense encounters with local Indians, and Myles Standish

5795-421: The merging of ships included John Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, and Isaac Allerton. The departure of the Mayflower and Speedwell was beset by delays. Further disagreements with the Merchant Adventurers held up the departure in Southampton. A total of 120 passengers finally departed on August 5 – 90 on the Mayflower and 30 on the Speedwell . Leaving Southampton,

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5890-446: The midst of the settlement and proclaimed, "Welcome, Englishmen!" It was during this meeting that the Pilgrims learned how the previous residents of Patuxet had died of an epidemic. They also learned that an important leader of the region was Wampanoag Indian chief Massasoit , and they learned about Squanto (Tisquantum) who was the sole survivor from Patuxet. Squanto had spent time in Europe and spoke English quite well. Samoset spent

5985-453: The murder. Philip had already begun war preparations at his home base near Mount Hope where he started raiding English farms and pillaging their property. In response, Governor Josiah Winslow called out the militia, and they organized and began to move on Philip's position. Philip's men attacked unarmed women and children in order to receive a ransom. One such attack resulted in the capture of Mary Rowlandson . The war continued through

6080-425: The night in Plymouth and agreed to arrange a meeting with some of Massasoit's men. Massasoit and Squanto were apprehensive about the Pilgrims, as several men of his tribe had been killed by English sailors. He also knew that the Pilgrims had taken some corn stores in their landings at Provincetown. Squanto himself had been abducted in 1614 by English explorer Thomas Hunt and had spent five years in Europe, first as

6175-441: The opportunity to settle south of Cape Cod in New Netherland because of their desire to avoid the Dutch influence. This land patent allowed them to settle at the mouth of the Hudson River . They sought to finance their venture through the Merchant Adventurers , a group of businessmen who principally viewed the colony as a means of making a profit. Upon arriving in America, the Pilgrims began working to repay their debts. Using

6270-414: The original 102 passengers had died during the first winter. As William Bradford wrote, "of these one hundred persons who came over in this first ship together, the greatest half died in the general mortality, and most of them in two or three months' time". Several of the graves on Cole's Hill were uncovered in 1855; their bodies were disinterred and moved to a site near Plymouth Rock. In November 1621,

6365-441: The passengers decided to return north to Cape Cod Bay and abandon their original landing plans. The Pilgrims were not the first Europeans in the area. John Cabot 's discovery of Newfoundland in 1497 had laid the foundation for the extensive English claims over the east coast of America. Cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi made one of the earliest maps of New England c.  1540 , but he erroneously identified Cape Breton with

6460-414: The passengers who arrived on the Anne were either unprepared for frontier life or undesirable additions to the colony, and they returned to England the next year. According to Gleason Archer, "those who remained were not willing to join the colony under the terms of the agreement with the Merchant Adventurers. They had embarked for America upon an understanding with the Adventurers that they might settle in

6555-429: The period between 1629 and 1630 carrying new settlers, though the exact number is unknown; contemporaneous documents indicate that the colony had almost 300 people by January 1630. In 1643, the colony had an estimated 600 males fit for military service, implying a total population of about 2,000. The estimated total population of Plymouth County was 3,055 by 1690, on the eve of the colony's merger with Massachusetts Bay. It

6650-570: The pilgrims celebrated a feast of thanksgiving which became known in the 19th century as "The First Thanksgiving ". The feast was probably held in early October 1621 and was celebrated by the 53 surviving Pilgrims, along with Massasoit and 90 of his men. Three contemporaneous accounts of the event survive: Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, Mourt's Relation probably written by Edward Winslow, and New England's Memorial by Plymouth Colony Secretary (and Bradford's nephew) Capt. Nathaniel Morton . The celebration lasted three days and featured

6745-399: The rest of 1675 and into the next year. The colonists were constantly frustrated by the Native Americans' refusal to meet them in pitched battle. They employed a form of guerrilla warfare that confounded the English. Captain Benjamin Church continuously campaigned to enlist the help of friendly Native Americans to help learn how to fight on an even footing with Philip's warrior bands, but he

6840-409: The rest of the settlement slowly took shape. The living and working structures were built on the relatively flat top of Cole's Hill, and a wooden platform was constructed atop nearby Fort Hill to support the cannon that would defend the settlement. During the winter, the Mayflower colonists suffered greatly from lack of shelter, diseases such as scurvy , and general conditions on board ship. Many of

6935-511: The second winter, he helped design and organize the construction of a large palisade wall surrounding the settlement. Standish led two early military raids on Indian villages: the raid to find and punish Corbitant for his attempted coup, and the killing at Wessagussett called "Standish's raid". The former had the desired effect of gaining the respect of the local Indians; the latter only served to frighten and scatter them, resulting in loss of trade and income. The first major war in New England

7030-600: The settlers of the town. The proximate cause of the conflict was the death of a Praying Indian named John Sassamon in 1675. Sassamon had been an advisor and friend to Philip; however, Sassamon's conversion to Christianity had driven the two apart. Accused in the murder of Sassamon were some of Philip's most senior lieutenants. A jury of twelve Englishmen and six Praying Indians found the Native Americans guilty of murder and sentenced them to death. To this day, some debate exists whether King Philip's men actually committed

7125-515: The ship had arrived unexpectedly and also without many supplies, so the additional settlers put a strain on the resources of the colony. Among the passengers of the Fortune were several of the original Leiden congregation, including William Brewster 's son Jonathan, Edward Winslow's brother John, and Philip Delano (the family name was earlier "de la Noye") whose descendants include President Franklin Delano Roosevelt . The Fortune also carried

7220-468: The ship. One death occurred, that of William Button. After two months at sea, they sighted land on November 9, 1620, off the coast of Cape Cod . They attempted to sail south to the designated landing site at the mouth of the Hudson but ran into trouble in the region of Pollock Rip , a shallow area of shoals between Cape Cod and Nantucket Island . With winter approaching and provisions running dangerously low,

7315-422: The site as "New Plimouth." In the Mayflower settlers' first explorations of Cape Cod, they came across evidence that Europeans had previously spent extensive time there. They discovered remains of a European fort and uncovered a grave that contained the remains of both an adult European male and an Indian child. The Mayflower anchored at Provincetown Harbor on November 11, 1620. The Pilgrims did not have

7410-452: The small, 106 feet (32 m) long ship. The seas were not severe during the first month in the Atlantic but, by the second month, the ship was being hit by strong north-Atlantic winter gales, causing it to be badly shaken with water leaks from structural damage. There were many obstacles throughout the trip, including multiple cases of seasickness and the bending and cracking of a main beam of

7505-523: The surrounding lands. He showed the Patuxet village (where the town of Plymouth was later built) as a thriving settlement. However, an epidemic wiped out up to 90 percent of the Indians along the Massachusetts coast in 1617–1619, including the Patuxets, before the arrival of the Mayflower . The epidemic has traditionally been thought to be smallpox, but a recent analysis has concluded that it may have been

7600-632: The third expedition, during which Standish fired the first recorded shot by the Pilgrim settlers in an event known as the First Encounter. Standish had training in military engineering from the University of Leiden , and it was he who decided the defensive layout of the settlement when they finally arrived at Plymouth. He also organized the able-bodied men into military orders in February of the first winter. During

7695-572: The tip of the cape, and the towns of Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea , which are located where Cape Ann joins the mainland. At the end of Cape Ann, and splitting Gloucester into two parts, is the Annisquam River . Many locals who live in Gloucester and Rockport refer to the land east of the Annisquam as "The Island". Cape Ann is the subject of the folk song 'Cape Ann', which may have been written by Maine-based folk singer Gordon Bok . It describes

7790-465: The trade in furs which they had enjoyed with the local tribes, and which was their main source of income for paying off their debts to the Merchant Adventurers. Rather than strengthening their position, Standish's raid had disastrous consequences for the colony, as attested by William Bradford in a letter to the Merchant Adventurers: "we had much damaged our trade, for there where we had most skins

7885-471: The treacherous trans-Atlantic voyage. The delays had significant consequences; the cost of the repairs and port fees required that the colonists sell some of their vital provisions. More importantly, the late-autumn voyage meant that everyone had to spend the coming winter on board the Mayflower off Cape Cod in increasingly squalid conditions. The Mayflower departed Plymouth , England , on September 6, 1620, with 102 passengers and about 30 crew members in

7980-442: The war that bears his name. Throughout July 1676, Church's band captured hundreds of Native American warriors, often without much of a fight, though Philip eluded him. Church was given permission to grant amnesty to any captured Native Americans who would agree to join the colonial side, and his force grew immensely. Philip was killed by a Pocasset Indian, and the war soon ended as an overwhelming colonial victory. Eight percent of

8075-515: Was abandoned in 1608. Captain John Smith of Jamestown had explored the area in 1614 and is credited with naming the region New England. He named many locations using approximations of Indian words. He gave the name "Accomack" to the Patuxet settlement on which the Pilgrims founded Plymouth, but he changed it to New Plymouth after consulting Prince Charles , son of King James. A map published in his 1616 work A Description of New England clearly shows

8170-462: Was also known as Alexander. Indian leaders such as Philip resented the colonists' increasing land acquisitions, and they looked for a means to slow or reverse it. Of specific concern was the founding of the town of Swansea , which was located only a few miles from the Wampanoag capital at Mount Hope . The General Court of Plymouth began using military force to coerce the sale of Wampanoag land to

8265-484: Was back in power. Standish and his men had injured several Native Americans, so the colonists offered them medical attention in Plymouth. They had failed to capture Corbitant, but the show of force by Standish had garnered respect for the Pilgrims and, as a result, nine of the most powerful sachems in the area signed a treaty in September, including Massasoit and Corbitant, pledging their loyalty to King James. In May 1622,

8360-671: Was built on Cape Ann by the planters. This house was dismantled on the orders of John Endecott in 1628 and moved to Salem to serve as his "governor's" house. When Higginson arrived in Salem, he wrote that "we found a faire house newly built for the Governor" which was remarkable for being two stories high. By 1634 the name of Cape Ann was already established, as it is mentioned and depicted on maps in William Wood's New England's Prospect first published in that year. On November 18, 1755, Cape Ann

8455-540: Was constantly rebuffed by the Plymouth leadership who mistrusted all Native Americans, thinking them potential enemies. Eventually, Governor Winslow and Plymouth military commander Major William Bradford (son of the late Governor William Bradford) relented and gave Church permission to organize a combined force of English and Native Americans. After securing the alliance of the Sakonnets, he led his combined force in pursuit of Philip, who had thus far avoided any major battles in

8550-541: Was designated as the commanding officer. By the end of the month, five cannons had been defensively positioned on Fort Hill. John Carver was elected governor to replace Governor Martin. On March 16, 1621, the first formal contact occurred with the Indians. Samoset was an Abenaki sagamore who was originally from Pemaquid Point in Maine . He had learned some English from fishermen and trappers in Maine, and he walked boldly into

8645-594: Was much smaller than Massachusetts Bay Colony by the time that they merged. Myles Standish was the military leader of Plymouth Colony from the beginning. He was officially designated as the captain of the colony's militia in February 1621, shortly after the arrival of the Mayflower in December 1620. He organized and led the first party from the Mayflower to set foot in New England, an exploratory expedition of Cape Cod upon arrival in Provincetown Harbor. He also led

8740-493: Was short-lived, but it provided the spark for an event that dramatically changed the political landscape between the local tribes and the settlers. Reports reached Plymouth of a military threat to Wessagussett, and Myles Standish organized a militia to defend them. However, he found that there had been no attack. He therefore decided on a pre-emptive strike, an event which historian Nathaniel Philbrick calls "Standish's raid". He lured two prominent Massachusett military leaders into

8835-693: Was the Pequot War of 1637. The war's roots go back to 1632, when a dispute arose between Dutch fur traders and Plymouth officials over control of the Connecticut River Valley near Hartford . Representatives from the Dutch East India Company and Plymouth Colony both had deeds which claimed that they had rightfully purchased the land from the Pequots . A sort of land rush occurred as settlers from Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies tried to beat

8930-522: Was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America , after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony . It was settled by the passengers on the Mayflower at a location that had previously been surveyed and named by Captain John Smith . The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts . At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of what

9025-502: Was the land nearest the offshore epicenter of an earthquake , which is extremely rare for Massachusetts. There were no seismographs at that time; but, based on available data, the tremor was estimated at magnitude 6.5. It caused serious damage in the Boston area, but no casualties. By the mid-1800s, Cape Ann was known for its specialization in granite production, specifically in creating paving blocks for roads and streets and were used across

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