Good Newes from New England

Summary

Edward Winslow’s Good Newes from New England, printed in London in 1624, is a sequel to Mourt’s Relation and a report of the next years at Plymouth, from the arrival of new colonists through 1623. The hosted text follows Young’s 1841 Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers as transcribed in Project Gutenberg ebook 66332. Winslow writes as a participant, not as a later historian, and he uses the names he heard: the sachem is Massassowat; the interpreter is Tisquantum, not the later nickname Squanto. The book is valuable because it will not flatten the first years into a single feast. Winslow records a false alarm in which Tisquantum, as Winslow judges the matter, hoped to provoke a march against Massassowat, “especially because of the continued peace between Massassowat and us.” Hobbamock, the sachem’s champion, “said flatly that it was false, assuring us of Massassowat’s faithfulness.” The governor, having tested the report, “sharply reproved” Tisquantum, yet still found him necessary as an interpreter. Students should take this as Winslow’s account of a strained friendship, not as a final verdict on every person named. The most memorable chapter is the visit of March 1623, when news came “that Massassowat was like to die.” Winslow went to him, in what he calls the Indians’ “laudable custom” of visiting a friend in extremity. The sachem, barely able to speak, said, “O Winslow, I shall never see thee again.” After washing his mouth and giving him conserves and broth, Winslow writes, “Never did I see a man so low brought, recover in that measure in so short a time.” Massassowat later said, “Now I see the English are my friends and love me; and whilst I live, I will never forget this kindness they have showed me.” The same book also tells of Master Weston’s struggling colony at Wessagusset, of hunger, of plans to take corn by force which Plymouth would not approve, and of Captain Standish’s later expedition, in which Wituwamat and others were killed. That episode should be read with the same care as the illness narrative: it is part of the record, and it is not the whole of the relationship. Good Newes belongs beside Mourt’s Relation and Bradford’s history, and beside Winthrop’s Model of Christian Charity as another early New England reckoning with friendship, fear, and providence.

Top Lessons

• Do not stop at the harvest letter

  Good Newes is the sequel to Mourt’s Relation. It shows friendship under strain: a false alarm, a visit to a sick sachem, and a later killing. The first feast is not the whole story.

• Winslow is a witness, not an umpire of every soul

  When Winslow says Tisquantum raised a false alarm, he is giving his own judgment. Students should be able to repeat that judgment and still know it is one man’s account.

• Wessagusset belongs in the lesson

  The book also records hunger at Weston’s colony, a rejected plan to take corn by force, and Standish’s later expedition, in which Wituwamat and others were killed. Discernment means facing that episode, not hiding it and not reducing the whole relationship to it.

Verified Quotes

Medical Lens

The chapter on Massassowat’s sickness is a first-person account of a visit, a fouled mouth and swollen tongue, conserves and broth, and a rapid recovery as Winslow saw it. It is not a modern diagnosis. The Wessagusset pages also describe hunger in Weston’s colony.

• March 1623, the visit to Massassowat

  Winslow finds the sachem barely able to speak or swallow, washes his mouth, scrapes his tongue, gives conserves and later broth, and reports a recovery he had never seen in so short a time.

• Weston’s colony at Wessagusset

  Winslow describes a company that has spent its bread and corn, is tempted to take food by force, and is in great want before the later expedition.