Plymouth Plantation

But presently, all on the sudden, they heard a great and strange cry, which they knew to be the same voices they heard in the night, though they varied their notes; and one of their company being abroad came running in and cried, "Men, Indians! Indians!" And withal, their arrows came flying amongst them. Their men ran with all speed to recover their arms, as by the good providence of God they did. In the meantime, of those that were there ready, two muskets were discharged at them, and two more stood ready in the entrance of their rendezvous but were commanded not to shoot till they could take full aim at them. And the other two charged again with-all speed, for there were only four had arms there, and defended the barricade, which was first assaulted. The cry of the Indians was dreadful, especially when they saw the men run out of the rendezvous toward the shallop to recover their arms, the Indians wheeling about upon them. But some running out with coats of mail on, and cutlasses in their hands, they soon got their arms land let fly amongst them and quickly stopped their violence. Yet there was a lusty man, and no less valiant, stood behind a tree within half a musket shot, and let his arrows fly at them; he was seen [to] shoot three arrows, which were all avoided. He stood three shots of a musket, till one taking full aim at him and made the bark or splinters of the tree fly about his ears, after which he gave an extraordinary shriek and away they went, all of them. They' left some to keep the shallop and followed them about a quarter of a mile and shouted once or twice, and shot off two or three pieces, and so returned. This they did that they might conceive that they were not afraid of them or any way discouraged.
Thus it pleased God to vanquish their enemies and give them deliverance; and by His special providence so to dispose that not any one of them were either hurt or hit, though their arrows came close by them and on every side [of] them; and sundry of their coats, which hung up in the barricade, were shot through and through. Afterwards they gave God solemn thanks and praise for their deliverance, and gathered up a bundle of their arrows and sent them into England afterward by the master of the ship, and called that place the First Encounter.
William Bradford. "Of Plymouth Plantation". March 23, 2008 <http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/english/coke/bradford.htm>

Reflection: In this selection you see one of the first encounters with Native Americans that these pilgrims encountered and it sheds some light on their relationship. Their first interaction with this group of Native Americans is hostile. This may be because they have had a bad encounter with other immigrants to the New World and learned to be defensive of their land. Another reason for their attack could be that they lived in a land where tribe territories are constantly being fought over and because of this this tribe saw these newcomers to be a threat to their tribe and their land and took defensive action. This selection also shows the strong faith the pilgrims possess despite being in a foreign land with countless threats facing them.

Dear Diary,

It is by the grace of our God that we survived our first encounter with the natives. They are a strange bunch that are wary of our prescence and are very hostile towards us. There are probably sundry groups of these natives scattered about in this strange land. After we chased away these strange people we sat and thanked the Lord for delivering us from this unkown threat unscathed. After giving Him our thanks and praise we continued further down the coast looking for a proper spot to moore our shallops and stop to rest. Soon we neared a clear area near the opening of a river. We set up camp and started to cook our meal from a deer we had managed to catch. We thanked the Lord for providing us with this meal and ate.
In the middle of the morning the next day we once again ran across a group of Natives and a lusty young man traveling with us was felled by one of their arrows. We all saw it as God's will that he fall. We managed to escape from our pursuiters and find saftey further along the coast. What a strange land this is and what a hostile, and primitive group these natives are. I hope that we will soon come across others of our kind just for safety's sake.

Essential Question:
The Puritans' American dream was their driving force, their reason for facing many dangers to come to America and start a new life. One of the main reasons, if not the main reason itself, is their want to worship God through their religion without being persecuted. This yearning to hold a communion with God leads to them coming to America. Once they arrived and started to settle they relied on their faith to give them strength and hope for the future. The Puritans strived to live God's word and it shows in their literature. Their lives were focused on faith and they strived to praise God and not to question his doing. This is because of they were a God fearing people and because they were always reminded of the threat of Hell by ministers around them such as Edwards. This shaped their community by creating, for the most part, a peaceful God fearing society which only worked to glorify their God.