audio by title this day in history november 23 in 1637

• produced by Hana Georg
• in

On this day, November 23, is Thanksgiving, and because we've all heard the happy Pilgrim and Indian story, I thought it would be appropriate to share a less heard tale… the true story of Thanksgiving. Most Americans today believe that Thanksgiving celebrates a harvest, but the real legacy of the Pilgrim fathers includes treachery and terror as well. In 1637 near present day Groton, Connecticut, over 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe had gathered for their annual Green Corn Festival which is our Thanksgiving celebration. In the predawn hours the sleeping Indians were surrounded by English and Dutch mercenaries who shot or clubbed them to death while the terrified women and children who huddled inside the longhouse were burned alive.