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By fall 1622, the new settlers sent by Thomas Weston – except those who were sick and remained in the care of the Pilgrims — left to settle in Wessagussett, twenty-two miles to the north of Plymouth at the site of today’s Weymouth. It was in fact a great location for a settlement with one important qualification: It was decidedly in the territory of the Massachusetts tribe, and by no means unoccupied or abandoned as Patuxet had been. This would turn out to be a catastrophic decision, and yet it would paradoxically lead to a more durable peace for the Pilgrims at Plymouth and the tribes following Massasoit at Pokanoket. But only after the Pilgrims made gutsy decisions and acted boldly.
Along the way Squanto would die under mysterious circumstances, and a miracle of healing would change everything.
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Selected references for this episode
Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: Voyage, Community, War
John G. Turner, They Knew They Were Pilgrims: Plymouth Colony and the Contest for American Liberty
Edward Winslow, Good News From New England
William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation
