Tisquantum was a native of the Patuxet tribe, which lived at present-day Plymouth, and which belonged to the Wampanoag confederation of tribes.
In 1605, Captain George Weymouth led an expedition on behalf of some merchants in England, to look at the resources of North America. The captain's financial backers wanted to see some Indians so he kidnapped a few and persuaded a few others with food and trinkets. Tisquantum, a boy of about 14 was one of those who willingly accompied the captain.
Brought into England, Tisquantum was taught some English, and was eventually hired as a guide and interpreter for sea captains who were exploring the New England coasts.
In 1614, he was brought back to America, a captain Thomas Hunt kidnapped him and attempted to sell him into slavery in Malaga, Spain. Some local Friars discovered what was happening and took the remaining Indians from Hunt in order to instruct them in the Chirstian faith.
Tisquantum lived with the Friars until 1618 when he boarded a ship of Bristol headed for Newfoundland. When Tisquantum arrived in Newfoundland, a Captain Thomas Dermer recognized Tisquantum and returned him to England.
English backers once again organized another trip to North American with Tisquantum as guide and to re-initiate trade with the Indians along the New England coast who had been angry with the English after Hunt had kidnapped members of their tribes. At the end of the expedition, Tisquantum would be returned to his home at Patuxet.
When they arrived at Patuxet in 1619, Tisquantum soon found out that the entire Patuxet tribe had been wiped out in a plague in 1617. Squanto was the only Patuxet left alive, so he moved in with a neighboring tribe that lived at Pokanoket--the home of Wampanoag sachem Massasoit.
Just little more than a year after Tisquantum was returned to his homeland, the Pilgrims arrived--in November 1620. After the Pilgrim explorers checked out all of the surrounding regions, they finally decided to settle at Plymouth in late December. Little did they know that just a couple years ago, Plymouth had been center of the Patuxet tribe.
Two months after settling at Plymouth, an Indian visiting from Maine, by the name of Samoset, walked right into the middle of the Colony which was being built, and welcomed the Pilgrims in English. After Samoset had led several tradings with the Pilgrims, he told the Wampanoag living at Pokanoket that the Pilgrims wanted to make a peace with them. Massasoit sent Tisquantum to be interpreter, and on March 22, 1621, the Pilgrims met Squanto for the first time. That day, Squanto negotiated a peace treaty between Massasoit and the Wampanoag, and John Carver and the Pilgrims. It essentially stated that the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims would not harm each other, and they became a military alliance as well, such that if one were attacked, the other would come to the aid.
Tisquantum lived out the rest of his life in the Plymouth Colony. He befriended the Pilgrims, and taught them how to manure their corn, where to catch fish and eels, and acted as their interpreter and guide. Without Squanto's help, the Pilgrims would probably have had severe famine over the next year.
Tisquantum did not help the Pilgrims solely because he was a nice and caring individual. By late 1621 he was using his position with the Pilgrims for his own gain--threatening many Indians that if they did not do as he told them, he would have the Pilgrims "release the plague" against them. When Massasoit learned that Tisquantum was abusing his position to steal power, he demanded Squanto be turned over to him to be executed. The Pilgrims felt they needed Squanto's services, so they stalled--until an English ship came onto the horizon, and distracted everyone's attention for awhile.
But in November 1622, while on a trading expedition to the Massachusetts Indians, Tisquantum came down with Indian fever, his nose began to bleed, and he died.
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