We Shall Remain

After the Mayflower (1x1)

: 13, 2009

In March of 1621, in what is now southeastern Massachusetts, Massasoit, the leading sachem of the Wampanoag, sat down to negotiate with a ragged group of English colonists. Hungry, dirty, and sick, the pale-skinned foreigners were struggling to stay alive; they were in desperate need of Native help. Massasoit's people had lately been decimated by unexplained sickness, leaving them vulnerable to the rival Narragansett. The Wampanoag thought that a tactical alliance with the foreigners would provide a way to protect his people and hold his Native enemies at bay. A half-century later, as a brutal war flared between the English colonists and a confederation of New England Indians. Five decades of English immigration, mistreatment, lethal epidemics, and environmental degradation had brought the Indians and their way of life to the brink of disaster. Led by Metacom, Massasoit’s son, the Wampanoag and their allies fought back against the English, nearly pushing them into the sea.