Plymouth's First Winter

Plymouth nearly died too. About half the Pilgrims were gone by spring, killed by cold, hunger, and disease in their first months ashore. What saved the rest was not a better plan — it was help.

A Patuxet man named Tisquantum, known as Squanto, spoke English and chose to stay with them. He showed the colonists where to fish, how to fertilize corn with buried fish, and which local plants to eat. With that knowledge, the survivors brought in a harvest and held on.