Of Plymouth Plantation: Book 2, Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

In April of 1621, the Pilgrims decide that it is time to send back the Mayflower, the ship on which they sailed to America. They would have sent it back much sooner except that they’d faced so many challenges, including sickness and starvation. Nevertheless, the Pilgrims have adjusted to their new life, planting corn and fishing for food.

The colony experiences a setback when Governor Carver becomes ill and dies. William Bradford is then chosen governor, despite the fact that he’s very ill. Isaac Allerton is appointed Bradford’s assistant, and the two of them are reelected to their positions for several years to come.

On May 12, the colony celebrates its first marriage, performed by the magistrate. Soon after, the Pilgrims send gifts to Massasoyt to earn his trust—they send him clothes, which he accepts politely. Massasoyt’s people have become afflicted with a mysterious plague in the years leading up to the English colonists’ arrival, and thousands have died. Soon afterwards, the Pilgrims repay the Indians for the corn they took during their exploration of Cape Cod.

Later in the year, an Indian named Hobbamok comes to live with the Pilgrims. Hobbamok and Squanto later become embroiled in an argument with another Indian named Corbitant, and Hobbamok reports to the Pilgrims that Corbitant may have attacked Squanto. To defend the Pilgrims’ friend, Governor Bradford sends armed men to punish Corbitant, only to find that Squanto is alive and well—Corbitant only threatened to hurt him.

On September 18, the Pilgrims send an expedition to the Massachusetts Bay, with Mr. Edward Winslow as the leader and Squanto as the interpreter. Squanto explains that there is a wild tribe of Indians, the Tarantines, living in Massachusetts. However, the Tarantines receive the Pilgrims politely, and give them beaver skins and other supplies. By this time, the Pilgrims have developed their own agriculture. In November a ship arrives carrying Robert Cushman, along with thirty-five others. Many of these people aren’t reformers at all, and when they see how desolate the Pilgrims’ lives are, some want to return to England. However, the ship’s captain prevents them from doing so.

The ship also comes to the Plymouth colony bearing a letter from Weston to the now deceased Carver. In the letter, Weston berates Carver for failing to send back any cargo or payment to repay Weston for the “great sums I disbursed for this former voyage,” and criticizes him for being an indecisive, incompetent leader. Nevertheless, Weston notes that he’s succeeded in reaching a new charter with the Virginia Company, one with better terms than its predecessor. The Pilgrims send the ship back to England, laden with valuable beaver and otter skins. Bradford also gives the captain a letter for Mr. Weston, in which he defends Carver’s decision to keep the ship near Cape Cod for so long.

Shortly after the ship’s departure, the Narragansett Indians send a messenger to the Pilgrims bearing a bundle of arrows—which Squanto explains is a threat of war. The Pilgrims respond by sending a pile of bullets. Governor Bradford organizes his people to take precautions in the event of war, and arranges for a barricade to be built around the community. Bradford ends his reminiscences of 1621 by noting how, on Christmas Day, most of the Pilgrims refused to work. When Bradford noticed children playing in the street, he sternly confiscated their games, saying that, if the Pilgrims wanted to worship, they should worship, and if they wanted to work, they should work. Since that time, Bradford reports, “nothing has been attempted in that way, at least openly.”