The historical person is harder to use that way.

He had reasons to distrust English people.

He worked with them anyway.

He helped them survive.

He may also have manipulated their fears.

He operated under Ousamequin’s authority but tried to increase his own status.

He was both victim of colonization and participant in colonial survival.

Those contradictions make him less convenient and more real.

The difference between “Squanto” as symbol and Tisquantum as historical person is therefore one of the central themes of his legacy.

The symbol belongs to American mythology.