Letter from William Bradford

A picture of us Pilgrims with the American Indians

 

March 16, 1623

Dear loving wife and son,

              I wish that you both were here with me. I miss you both very much. As you know, I am the leader of the pilgrims, so I have to guide and protect us. I am happy to say that we’re all fine right now. We all have had hard times here, but in the end it all turned out well. Here are some things that have happened so far.  We couldn’t practice our religion in England, so we moved to the Netherlands which was on 1608. In the beginning, the Dutch welcomed us and allowed us to practice our religion freely. But later on, some families weren’t happy, since their children were learning the Dutch language and culture, they were afraid that their children might forget about the English traditions. So, we left the Netherlands and went back to England to ask permission to settle in Virginia. We were on board the Mayflower, and we landed at Plymouth.  Everyone including me was very happy. But many of us pilgrims died when the first winter came. I guess we weren’t that prepared for such a cold winter.

         Well, we didn’t really meet any American Indians in the beginning. There were empty fields there, so we planted some crops, but it didn’t really work out that well. Later on, we met an American Indian named Samoset. He helped and taught us about Plymouth and also other places. Then he later introduced us to Squanto. Squanto is also an American Indian. He was a big help for us. He was the one who translated for us, and he taught us to grow corn, catch fish, and even fertilize soil with fish remains.  We weren’t that wealthy but women have more rights here, and this seems like a really good place to be in. We pilgrims and the American Indians are good friends. I hope we remain good friends till the end! I’ll tell you more later on.  I’ll be coming there really soon and we’ll all be happy here in Plymouth. Take care and god bless always!

                                                 Sincerely,

                                                  William Bradford