Mayflower

I just finished a timely holiday book called Mayflower by Nathan Philbrick.  This was a non-fiction tale of the Puritan settlers that landed in 1620.  Right off the boat they proceeded to rob the graves of Native Americans.  The Puritans took advantage of the native Americans from the start.  The conflict between the religious extremist Puritans and the native Americans changed both cultures.  For the next 50 years the conflict simmered until it broke out into "King Phillip's War."  The native Americans were decimated to 18% of their population.  And the Puritans lost some of their extremist views and took up Native American foods, skills, and culture.  So the whole Thanksgiving Day scene with the Pilgrims and the Indians peacefully sharing a meal is more of a myth than a reality. I wonder if Massasoit, the Native American leader at the scene, would have behaved differently if he had a glimpse of what would occur in the next 50 years?  If he could foresee that his grandchildren would be killed or sent as slaves to the West Indies, would he have been as helpful as he was?  American history, it can be a sad subject sometimes.