Study Notes: The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony History

In September 1620, 102 passengers sailed from Plymouth, England, aboard the Mayflower seeking religious freedom as Separatists from the Church of England.
After navigating off course toward Cape Cod rather than their intended destination near the Hudson River, the 41 adult male passengers drafted and signed the Mayflower Compact on November 11, 1620, establishing a self-governing civil body politic.
Following initial exploration expeditions led by Captain Miles Standish along Cape Cod, the colonists selected Plymouth as their permanent settlement site in December 1620.

Exposure to severe winter weather, scurvy, and lack of provisions resulted in the deaths of 52 of the 102 passengers by the spring of 1621.
In March 1621, Samoset and Squanto (Tisquantum) established communication between the English settlers and Massasoit, the supreme sachem of the Pokanokets (Wampanoag).
Governor John Carver and Massasoit established a formal treaty of peace and mutual defense, assisted by Squanto, who taught the settlers how to fertilize and cultivate northern flint corn.
Following John Carver's death in April 1621, William Bradford was elected governor of Plymouth Colony.
In the autumn of 1621, the settlers and Massasoit, along with 90 Pokanoket men, celebrated a three-day harvest festival known as the First Thanksgiving.

The arrival of subsequent ships, including the Fortune in November 1621 and the Anne in 1623, expanded the settlement population but strained the limited food supply.
Preemptive military actions, such as Miles Standish's raid at Wessagussett in 1623, caused widespread panic and casualties among neighboring Native groups.
In 1637, the Pequot War introduced severe European-style total warfare to New England, culminating in the destruction of the Pequot fort at Mystic.
Following Massasoit's death, his eldest son Wamsutta (Alexander) became sachem; his death in 1662 shortly after being interrogated by Major Josiah Winslow elevated his younger brother Metacom (Philip) to supreme sachem.
Rapid English population growth, expanding settlements, and extensive Native land sales created intense territorial and economic friction between the groups.

The murder of John Sassamon in January 1675 and the subsequent trial and execution of three Pokanoket men by Plymouth authorities led to open conflict at Swansea in June 1675.
King Philip's War quickly spread across New England, uniting factions of Pokanokets, Nipmucks, Narragansetts, and Pocassets against the United Colonies.
Key battles included the ambushes at Brookfield and Bloody Brook, and the Great Swamp Fight in December 1675, where colonial forces under General Josiah Winslow destroyed the main fortified Narragansett winter settlement.
Captain Benjamin Church reshaped colonial strategy by adopting Native tactics and enlisting Native scouts, including Sakonnets under Awashonks.
On August 12, 1676, Philip was shot and killed at Mount Hope by Alderman, a Pocasset Indian serving under Captain Church.
The 14-month war resulted in the deaths of approximately 8% of Plymouth Colony's adult male population and 60% to 80% of southern New England's Native American population through combat, starvation, disease, and foreign enslavement.