Thanksgiving and American resilience

In 1585, English settlers attempted to establish a colony on Roanoke Island in what is now North Carolina. The colony failed, but a second attempt was undertaken in 1587. Poorly supplied and troubled by ill relations with the native populations, the colony was found abandoned in 1590. Etchings in a tree led some to believe that survivors had relocated to a neighboring island, but there was also speculation of a massacre by Native Americans. The fates of an estimated 120 individuals remains a mystery to this day.

A later effort, in Jamestown, Virginia was established in 1607. Initially, it too failed after more than 80 percent of the colonists died from disease and starvation. While in the process of abandoning the settlement, the survivors met a resupply ship on the James River and returned to the settlement to start anew, and eventually become the state capital. Although the town remained viable into the mid 18th century, its decline began when a new capitol building was constructed in Williamsburg in 1699.

In 1620, a group of 102 religious separatists, also called pilgrims, and a crew of 30 undertook an arduous, late-season, ten-week voyage across the Atlantic in the now-famous Mayflower. The late departure subjected the ship to winter gales, stresses on the hull, leaks, and severe seasickness. One passenger died during the voyage.

Running short on supplies, they abandoned their planned landing destination and eventually settled at a former Patuxet tribe site in what they called “New Plymouth.” During the first winter at the settlement, the pilgrims suffered from a lack of shelter, a lack of food, and sickness. 45 of the 102 pilgrims died during the first winter.

In the fall of 1621, 53 remaining Plymouth residents celebrated what has come down through history as the first American Thanksgiving. The initial event was probably not as we imagine it. William Bradford, Governor of the Colony and author of the definitive history of the settlement didn’t even mention it in his memoir. We do know through other sources that approximately 90 Wompanoags attended the harvest feast, hunted for additional deer to put on the table, and played games with the colonists.

While harvest celebrations have been a part of nearly every culture throughout the history of mankind, the observations have ranged from strictly religious events to, in one case, remembrance of a battle with Native Americans. In Massachusetts, several members of the Pequot tribe were alleged to have killed a colonist, and in retribution, colonial vigilantes attacked and burned Pequot villages. Several hundred natives were killed, and Governor Bradford decreed that Thanksgiving would be a celebration of “the bloody victory.”

Throughout the years, Thanksgiving events were largely an ad hoc affair declared by various political figures with a variety of ascribed meanings. It wasn’t until the darkest days of the Civil War that Abraham Lincoln, in response to an intense lobbying effort, proclaimed Thanksgiving as a National Holiday. Interestingly, Lincoln set the holiday for the last Thursday in November, but that was later changed to the second-to-last Thursday in November in 1939 by Franklin Roosevelt. As justification, Roosevelt cited “business reasons” for the change, which I presume would be the proximity to Christmas.

As we prepare for the unique 2020 Thanksgiving holiday, restricted to gatherings of no more than ten and parties of no more than eight (and six feet distance to the kid’s table) in an effort to thwart a virus with a 99% survival rate, let’s try to remember that we are doing so to protect the most vulnerable among us. We happily adjust for the elderly, those with compromised immune systems, and other comorbidities. We do it to prevent overwhelming our supply of hospital beds and the medical professionals who attend to them.

We do not act out of fear or weakness, and we certainly don’t hail from fragile stock. The sacrifices of the colonists, like those of the homesteaders should teach us as much. The American spirit is not weak, it is not frail, and we will overcome this. Have a safe, healthy, happy thanksgiving.