by Larry Mack
Time passed, and the little colony was doing well. A couple more ships came from England, so more people joined them. Other English people also came nearby who were not so welcome. They came from Maine!
In 1623, a man named Thomas Weston traveled from Maine with some English friends of his. Thomas Weston was lazy, and he was the boss of a kind of gang. They were looking for a place that was easier to live in, and they thought Massachusetts sounded good.
They sailed around and landed at Cape Cod, a little way from Plymouth Colony. They started building their own colony, which they called Wessagassett.
Well, Thomas Weston and the other men with him were mean and lazy. They wouldn't do anything for themselves, not even if it would save their lives. They never agreed on anything.
"Hey Thomas!" one Englishman said, with a bad look on his face.
"WHAT?" Thomas Yelled. He wore all black, and smoked a lot. He had a scraggly black beard.
"Well, since we have no food..." the other man began.
"Yeah?" Thomas said.
"Well, we could steal some food from the Massachusett tribe, from their gardens," the first guy said. The Massachusett tribe was the village of Native people who lived nearest to the Wessagassett Colony. They were friends with the Wampanoag tribe.
"Okay, partner!"
Thomas said. So they walked along toward the Massachusett gardens.
"Over there!" said the first guy.
"Shhh!" Thomas said. "Let's go!" They snuck up and stole the corn, beans, and pumpkins, and then left as fast as they could.
The next day, a young Massachusett man named Wituwamat came to the garden to check to see if it was time to harvest the crops. He was only half dressed, and he had feathers in his hair.
"Hey, where's our food?" Wituwamat said.
"Thomas did this!" another Massachusett Native named Pecksuot yelled. After that, many of the Massachusett warriors got together and decided to kill Thomas Weston and his English friends.
"Hey, all you Massachusett warriors," Wituwarnat said. "Raise your hands if you want to kill Thomas Weston and the Englishmen!" Many of them raised their hands.