Excerpt from “A VOYAGE MADE BY TEN of our Men to the Kingdom of Nauset”

In June 1621, teenager John Billington Jr. left the town of Plymouth and wandered several miles south into the Wampanoag community of Manomet¹. The Manomet almost certainly knew of the establishment of Plymouth and the colonists’ experiences on Cape Cod, but they chose not to return John. Instead, they sent him nearly forty miles onto Cape Cod to the community of Nauset (more commonly known today as Eastham, MA) with whom the English had clashed several months early in what is now referred to as “First Encounter.” Intelligence from Ousamequin (Massasoit) and a diplomatic envoy of English colonists to Aspinet, thesachem of Nauset, resulted in John’s return. For historians, the incident underscores how each 17th-century community was independently governed based on priorities formed by their own unique experiences with Europeans.

Transcription

After dinner we took Boat [sic] for Nauset², Iyanough [sachem at Cummaquid³] and two of his men accompanying us. Ere we came to Nauset, the day and tide were almost spent, insomuch as we could not go in with our shallop: but the Sachem or Governor of Cummaquid went ashore and his men with him, we also sent Tisquantum to tell Aspinet, the Sachem of Nauset wherefore we came. The [Nauset]⁴ here came very thick amongst us, and were earnest with us to bring in our Boat. But we neither well could, nor yet desired to do it, because we had least cause to trust them, being they only had formerly made an Assault upon us in the same place, in time of our Winter Discovery for Habitation. And indeed it was no marvel they did so, for howsoever through snow or otherwise, we saw no houses, yet we were in the midst of them.

When our boat was aground they came very thick, but we stood therein upon our guard, not suffering any to enter except two: the one being of Manamoyik, and one of those, whose corn we had formerly found, we promised him restitution, & desired him either to come to Patuxet for satisfaction, or else we would bring them so much corn again, he promised to come, we used him very kindly for the present. Some few skins [furs] we got there but not many.

After sunset, Aspinet came with a great train, and brought the boy with him, one bearing him through the water: he had not less than a hundred with him, the half whereof came to the Shallop side unarmed with him, the other stood aloof with their bow and arrows. There he delivered us the boy, behung with beads, and made peace with us; we bestowing a knife on him, and likewise on another that first entertained the Boy and brought him thither. So they departed from us.⁵

• Who are Iyanough and Aspinet? Use the map of Wampanoag communities in the 1600s to find their communities. What do you notice about their location compared to Patuxet (Plymouth)?
  
• What do you think the author means when he says “we were in the midst of them?” Who are “they”?
  
• How did the first encounter between the Nauset and the English colonists in the winter of 1620/1621 impact their diplomatic relationships the following summer?
  
• What factors does Aspinet need to consider when deciding how to react to the colonists’ arrival?
  

• ¹ Manomet is also known today as Cedarville, a village located in Plymouth MA.
• ²Nauset is also known today as Eastham, MA.
• ³ Cummaquid is also known today as Barnstable, MA.
• ⁴ See note on cultural literacy and historical terminology
• ⁵Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth ed. Dwight Heath (Bedford, MA: Applewood Books, 1963), 70-71.
• ⁶ See note on cultural literacy and historical terminology.
• ⁷ From Dwight Heath, ed. Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth (Bedford, MA: Applewood Books, 1963), 70-71.