By the 1670s, conflict erupted into the devastating war associated with Metacom, Ousamequin’s younger son, whom the English called King Philip.

The war killed thousands of Native people and colonists, destroyed communities, and accelerated Native dispossession across southern New England.

Tisquantum did not cause that outcome.

But remembering the later history changes how the early alliance is understood.

The 1621 relationship was not the stable beginning of a shared society.

It was a temporary political arrangement made under conditions that changed rapidly.

The Thanksgiving myth freezes the relationship at its most hopeful moment.

History keeps moving.

Why The Thanksgiving Story Needed A Squanto

National myths tend to simplify complicated beginnings.