"A FIRST THANKSGIVING REALITY"

"When The First Europeans Arrived In North America.....The Wampanoag Indian Tribe (Who Inhabited The Western Coast Of Cape Cod) Were About 100,000 Strong....Their Name Means "People Of The First Light"....There Was Plenty Of Deer ... Elk ...Clams And Fish In The Waters...They Cultivated Corn Squash And Beans....But Around 1616 The Colonists That Were Arriving Brought Plague With Them And Wiped Out Almost 90% Of The Population...IN 1818 English Explorers Kidnapped 20 Indians From The Tribe And Sold Them Into Slavery In Spain.......It Was From The First 3 Day Long Thanksgiving That Included 90 Men From The Tribe That Taught The English How To Survive...........And Survive They Did

Under The Leadership Of Chief Massasoit The Indians And Colonist Enjoyed 50 Years Of A General Peace...But When Massasoit Died...And After The Colonists Consistently Violated The Rules That Had Been Agreed Upon.....The So Called Peace...Was Over.

From 1675 To 1678...A Devastating War erupted And Heavy Losses Were Encountered On Both Sides....When The Wampanoag Indians Were finally Defeated? Most That Survived Were Either Executed Or Sold Into Slavery..The Colonists Took Their Language Away From Them....The Children Were Put Into Boarding Schools...And Families Were Ripped Apart...Eventually The Indians Lost What Was Left Of Their Lands Due To The English Taxes That Were set Upon Them...At This Point The Tribe was Almost extinct And Were Down to Less Than 1,000 In The End

This Is What Happened In Just About Every Time A tribe Tried To Be Friendly To These New Comers
When You Greet Foreigners And Help Them Survive

And Years Later?.... One Great Oglala Sioux Chief...Red Cloud ....Said It Best When He Was Quoted

"They Made Us Many Promises...More Than I Can Remember...But They Never Kept But One...They Promised To Take Our Land...And They Took It"