When the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth, on the shores of Massachusetts Bay, they were surprised and delighted to find an Indian who could speak English. Squanto, who became a friend of that band of immigrants to a strange land, not only knew English but Spanish as well, for this heroic young American was one of the most widely traveled men of his time.

Actually the colonization of New England was an extension of a vast fishing industry which had been bringing as many as eight hundred vessels a year to the North America coast for more than a century before the Mayflower voyage. In the course of this commerce, not only did white men sail to America, but Indians journeyed to Europe as well.

His complete trust in his fellow man made the young Tisquantum a captive of the English and later the Spanish. Destiny was to decree that he was to be the last of the Patuxet tribe.

Squanto and other Indians were kidnapped and taken to England aboard The Archangel. From the port of Plymouth he was taken to the home of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who was the Governor of Plymouth and a lifelong promoted of New England colonization. Here he proved to be of great assistance to Sir Ferdinando, who was compiling a listing of English words and their equivalents in the Algonkian tongue. Squanto told Gorges what he knew of his section of America and helped fire Gorges's enthusiasm for outfitting expeditions to the New World. Squanto became one of the first native Americans to interpret America to the English.

He was later to accompany Captain John Smith on a voyage of exploration to Maine and returned eventually to New England to live. Later Squanto was again kidnapped and this time taken to Spain and sold as a slave.

During the last years of his short life, as the seventeenth century was ushering in one of the great ages of colonization, Squanto left his mark on American history when he became the closest friend and counselor the Pilgrims had during their first, crucial years in the New World. His help was decisive in the ultimate success of the Pilgrim settlement.

In her exciting biography of a little known Indian, Feenie Ziner has restored Squanto—one of our forgotten heroes—to his rightful place in history.

From the dust jacket