Thomas and Ren Green, present-day leaders of the Massachusetts tribe discuss the settlements and life of the tribe. Once the dominant tribe in its namesake state, the number of people who self-identified as members of the Massachusetts tribe in the 2020 census was 2,100. In the 2000s, a rival tribe falsely attempted to claim sovereignty of their 17th century tribal land in a bid to build a casino in the Boston market.

Myles Standish and the Lost Colony

The familiar story of the Pilgrims centers on the First Thanksgiving, peaceful cooperation with Native Americans, and the survival of Plymouth Colony. Yet only two years later, that fragile peace collapsed in an episode of violence that profoundly shaped the future of New England but is largely absent from American memory.

In March 1623, Plymouth Governor William Bradford ordered military commander Myles Standish to confront what colonists believed was a conspiracy by several Native tribes to destroy both Plymouth Plantation and the struggling trading settlement at Wessagusset, established by London merchant Thomas Weston. Acting on intelligence provided by Massasoit, Plymouth’s Wampanoag ally, and a dramatic warning from Weston colonist Phineas Pratt, Standish sailed north with a handful of militia and the Native warrior Hobomock.

At Wessagusset, Standish lured the Massachusetts warriors Pecksuot, Wituwamat, and two companions into a house under the pretense of friendship. Once the door was locked, he seized Pecksuot’s knife and killed him in hand-to-hand combat while his men attacked the others. Wituwamat was decapitated, and his head was displayed on a pike at Plymouth as a warning to neighboring tribes. A running battle followed, after which the abandoned Weston Colony was evacuated.

Whether Standish prevented a devastating attack or committed an unnecessary preemptive massacre remains one of the enduring controversies of early American history. Even John Robinson, the Pilgrims’ spiritual leader in Holland, questioned the morality of the killings. Native peoples fled the region, intimidated by English firearms, military aggression, and devastating epidemics that had already ravaged coastal populations. The attack established Plymouth’s dominance and helped clear the way for the much larger Puritan migration that soon founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony around Boston.

Historians have long debated its exact location of the ill-fated Weston Colony, relying on seventeenth-century maps, eyewitness accounts, and archaeological evidence. Possible sites near Weymouth’s Fore River—including the mysterious “House of Skulls,” where human remains were discovered in the nineteenth century—continue to intrigue archaeologists, though an excavation found no traces of the settlement.

Today, the legacy of Wessagusset remains contested. Museums have shifted toward presenting Native perspectives, Plimoth Plantation has become Plimoth Patuxet, and Massachusetts is reconsidering symbols such as its state seal depicting Myles Standish’s sword above a Native figure. Memorials in the Wessagussett neighborhood of Weymouth now honor both the colonists and the Massachusetts tribe, emphasizing reconciliation rather than triumph.

The story of the Weston colonists reveals that America’s beginnings were shaped not only by cooperation and Thanksgiving, but also by fear, misunderstanding, violence, and competing visions of survival. It is a forgotten turning point whose consequences helped determine the future of New England and reminds us that the nation’s earliest history is far more complicated than its most familiar legends.

Map of the Assault on Wessaguscus, March 27, 1623, showing the Weston Colony, Standish and Plymouth Militia route, and Massachusetts Chief Aberdikes and Warriors — Author Doug Smock studied contemporary accounts and interpreted the location of the Weston Colony and the clash between Plymouth militia and Massachusetts warriors in a map that was drawn by cartographer Hal Jespersen.

Park in North Weymouth, Massachusetts commemorating the Weston Colony and Massachusetts tribe — The Weston Colony and Massachusetts tribe are remembered in a park in North Weymouth, Massachusetts that includes a stone monument erected by descendants of the Weston colonists and a memorial garden for the Indians who died in the clash.

For more information, see the first chapter of Forgotten Battles and American Memory titled “Myles Standish and the Lost Colony”.