11. The first contact with the natives led to an exchange of fire between them
The first contact between the Pilgrims and the natives occurred on December 16, 1620, when a party of 17 of the former landed near present-day Chatham. After raiding some burial mounds, which they had learned on the first expedition contained buried corn, the Pilgrims were attacked by Indians, who fired at them using bows and arrows. The Pilgrims returned fire with their muskets. The party then continued to the west in the shallop, reaching the area they finally selected for their settlement on December 21. There they discovered the remains of a former Indian settlement, with some of the shelters bearing skeletal remains. On December 29, in a conference held aboard Mayflower, the site of Plymouth Colony was selected, with the decision to commence building a shelter immediately.
The first building to be constructed was a twenty-foot square common house. Nearly completed by the end of January, it became the sanctuary for the sick. By then Mayflower was ravaged by disease and death. Scurvy, dysentery, and pneumonia, spread quickly in the confined conditions of the ship, and influenza likely took its toll as well. By early February 1621, less than a dozen of the Pilgrims were well enough to provide care for the sick and dying. A frustrated Captain Jones saw nearly half his crew die that winter. Mayflower’s seaworthiness decreased, as the crew proved unable to perform critical maintenance on the anchored vessel. Supplies continued to dwindle. The single encounter with the Indians imposed a dread on the Pilgrims of a potential attack which they were too weak to resist.