A football game is playing on the television while pumpkin pie aromas drift through the air. It is Thanksgiving: a time to celebrate family and be thankful; however, despite what many were taught in school, there is a gruesome history behind America’s most delicious holiday. 

In Nov of 1637, the Native American Pequot tribe was burned alive in the middle of the night. The Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies banded together to murder the Native families living in the local villages. After conquering the innocent tribes, Massachusetts Bay’s governor, John Winthrop, declared a day to celebrate the colonial soldiers who had just slaughtered hundreds of Pequot men, women, and children in what is now Mystic, Connecticut. He named the new holiday “Thanksgiving,” thanking God for their newfound land.  

“It is messed up how the holiday was actually created. It makes me rethink celebrating because it would be like celebrating a bunch of murders,” Dominic Marlo, freshman, said. 

The story many have been told has pilgrims and Native Americans joining hands around a table and eating dinner—a display of perfect peace. Sadly, this tale has been proven to be a myth. The colonists and natives never formed any strong alliances. When the original chief of the Pequot’s died, his son, Metacomet, inherited leadership. Many loved him; however, the Europeans did not favor him and went so far as to brutally murder him, displaying his dismembered body for all his people to see.  

“I am disgusted to hear about all the gruesome ways that the colonists treated Natives, but I am even more appalled to learn that they went so far as to show their chief’s body for all to see,” Katie Copelyn, junior, said. 

Metacomet’s death caused angry uproar among Native Americans. Pequot and Wampanoag (another Native American tribe) warriors responded with raids, and the New England Confederation of Colonies declared war. This battle was devastating, with the death toll resulting in the passing of nearly 30% of the European population and more than half of the Native population. 

“The whole story is just awful. It is terrible how many people were killed, especially the Native Americans,” Deziray Turner, senior, said. 

While cutting into a perfectly cooked turkey this season, one should keep in mind Thanksgiving’s true story, and do so to honor and remember the lives lost many years ago on this classic American holiday.