Tisquantum Strange Friend Of The Pilgrims

Originally Aired: January 23, 1940 Cavalcade of America #171, "Tisquantum Strange Friend Of The Pilgrims," dramatizes the remarkable true story of Tisquantum, known as Squanto, whose journey becomes intertwined with the survival of the Plymouth Colony. The episode opens in 1614, six years before the Pilgrims' arrival, when Captain Thomas Hunt lures Squanto and twenty-two other Indians aboard his ship under the pretense of trade, only to capture them and transport them to the slave markets of Malaga, Spain. Though friars intervene to prevent the sale, declaring the Indians under God's protection, Squanto manages to escape the chaos and stow away on merchant John Slaney's England-bound vessel. Slaney takes Squanto to London, where the displaced Indian learns English customs and language while living with Slaney's household. As Squanto masters the words of English psalms and adopts European dress, he struggles with homesickness for his native land and people. The narrative sets up the extraordinary circumstances that will eventually bring Squanto back to his homeland, where his unique knowledge of both worlds will prove invaluable to desperate English colonists arriving at Plymouth Rock.