Luck or Miracle? Samoset and the Pilgrims, 400 Years Later

The Plymouth colonists met what were perhaps the only two English-speaking Indians on the eastern seaboard

"Thanksgiving at Plymouth" by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, (1925). (Public domain)

Today marks an historic milestone. Its story is a real-life adventure marked by what some regard as pure luck while others label as miraculous.

Four hundred years ago—on March 16, 1621—an English-speaking Indian from the Abenaki tribe strode into the new settlement of Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. He greeted the astonished Pilgrims and requested a beverage brewed from fermented cereal grains.

“Welcome, Englishmen!” proclaimed Samoset, whose name meant “he who walks over much.” In a stout, resonant voice he asked, “Do you have beer?”

The Pilgrims were certainly not teetotalers, but on this occasion of their very first, up-close meeting with a Native American, the tap was dry. “The Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers” reveals that they instead offered “strong water”—likely a brandy—as well as “biscuit, and butter, and cheese, and pudding, and a piece of mallard; all of which he liked well.”

No beer, but still an exceptionally good meal from settlers emerging from their first winter in the New World! Many of their number had starved or died from disease since their landing three months earlier.

Samoset was a remarkable Indian for many reasons. The Encyclopedia of World Biography notes,

“An accomplished diplomat for more than 30 years, Samoset recognized the need for mutually beneficial alliances and treaties with the European colonists that would help his people survive wars, plagues, and slave traders. On July 15, 1625, Samoset signed the first land sale transaction between the eastern coastal Indians and the colonists. He deeded 12,000 acres of Pemaquid Point to John Brown, thus establishing that the true owners of the land in the new world were the Indians, not the English Crown. After Samoset signed another deed of land in 1653, he disappeared from historical records and is believed to have died soon after in what is today Bristol, Maine.”

So let’s remember Samoset and the 16th of March, the day he met the Pilgrims and asked for a cold one. He set in motion events that are surely more important in world history than the leprechauns and St. Patrick we’ll celebrate tomorrow.

Lawrence W. Reed is FEE’s President Emeritus, Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty, having served for nearly 11 years as FEE’s president (2008-2019). He is the author of the 2020 book, “Was Jesus a Socialist?” as well as “Real Heroes: Incredible True Stories of Courage, Character, and Conviction” and “Excuse Me, Professor: Challenging the Myths of Progressivism.” Follow on LinkedIn and Twitter and Like his public figure page on Facebook. His website is LawrenceWReed.com. 

This article was originally published on FEE.org.