Editing Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) (section)

====Settlement====
{{main|Plymouth Colony}}
[[File:Port St Louis Annotated.png|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Samuel de Champlain]]'s 1605 map of Plymouth Harbor showing the Wampanoag village of Patuxet, with some modern place names added for reference. The star marks the approximate location of the Plymouth Colony.]]
[[File:Plymouth Rock, Plymouth, MA, jjron 03.05.2012.jpg|thumb|[[Plymouth Rock]] commemorates the landing of the ''[[Mayflower]]'' in 1620]]

Continuing westward, the shallop's mast and rudder were broken by storms and the sail was lost. They rowed for safety, encountering the harbor formed by [[Duxbury, Massachusetts|Duxbury]] and Plymouth barrier beaches. They remained at this spot for two days to recuperate and repair equipment. They named it Clark's Island for a ''Mayflower'' mate who first set foot on it.<ref>John (1895). ''The Pilgrim Fathers of New England and their Puritan Successors''. Reprinted: 1970. Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications. pp. 198.</ref>

They resumed exploration on Monday, December 11/21 when the party crossed over to the mainland and surveyed the area that ultimately became the settlement. The anniversary of this survey is observed in Massachusetts as [[Forefathers' Day]] and is traditionally associated with the [[Plymouth Rock]] landing tradition. This land was especially suited to winter building because it had already been cleared, and the tall hills provided a good defensive position.

The cleared village was known as Patuxet to the [[Wampanoag people]] and was abandoned about three years earlier following a plague that killed all of its residents. The "Indian fever" involved hemorrhaging<ref name="bradford_2_1622">{{harvnb|Bradford|(1898)|loc=Book 2, Anno 1622.|Ref=Bradford_1898}}</ref> and is assumed to have been fulminating [[smallpox]]. The outbreak had been severe enough that the colonists discovered unburied skeletons in the dwellings.<ref name="bradford_2_1621">{{harvnb|Bradford|(1898)|loc=Book 2, Anno 1621.|Ref=Bradford_1898}}</ref>

The exploratory party returned to the ''Mayflower'', which was anchored {{convert|25|mi|km|spell=in}} away,<ref>John (1895). ''The Pilgrim Fathers of New England and their Puritan Successors''. Reprinted: 1970. Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications. pp. 200</ref> having been brought to the harbor on December 16/26. The Pilgrims evaluated the nearby sites and selected a hill in Plymouth (so named on earlier charts) on December 19/29.<ref>{{cite web
|url         = http://www.histarch.uiuc.edu/plymouth/smithmap.html
|title       = Smith's Map of New England, 1614
|access-date  = November 11, 2008
|last1        = Deetz
|first1       = Patricia Scott
|first2      = Christopher
|last2       = Fennell
|date        = December 14, 2007
|work        = The Plymouth Colony Archive Project
}}</ref>

The Pilgrims began construction immediately, with the first common house nearly completed by January 9/19, 20 feet square and built for general use.<ref name="John 1895 pp. 202">John (1895). ''The Pilgrim Fathers of New England and their Puritan Successors''. Reprinted: 1970. Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications. pp. 202.</ref> At this point, each single man was ordered to join himself to one of the 19 families in order to eliminate the need to build any more houses than absolutely necessary.<ref name="John 1895 pp. 202"/> Each extended family was assigned a plot one-half rod wide and three rods long for each household member,<ref name="John 1895 pp. 202"/> then each family built its own dwelling. They brought supplies ashore, and the settlement was mostly complete by early February.<ref name="bradford_1_10" /><ref>{{harvnb|Bradford and Winslow|(1865)|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=xb3coQS13NYC&pg=PA60 60–65], [https://books.google.com/books?id=xb3coQS13NYC&pg=PA71 71–72].|Ref=Bradford_Winslow_1865}}</ref>

When the first house was finished, it immediately became a hospital for the ill Pilgrims. Thirty-one of the company were dead by the end of February, with deaths still rising. Coles Hill became the first cemetery, on a prominence above the beach, and they allowed grass to overgrow the graves for fear that the Indians would discover how weakened the settlement had actually become.<ref name="John 1895 pp. 203">John (1895). ''The Pilgrim Fathers of New England and their Puritan Successors''. Reprinted: 1970. Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications. pp. 203.</ref>

Between the landing and March, only 47 colonists had survived the diseases that they contracted on the ship.<ref name="John 1895 pp. 203"/> During the worst of the sickness, only six or seven of the group were able to feed and care for the rest. In this time, half the ''Mayflower'' crew also died.<ref name="bradford_2_1620" />

[[William Bradford (Plymouth Colony governor)|William Bradford]] became governor in 1621 upon the death of [[John Carver (Mayflower passenger)|John Carver]]. On March 22, 1621, the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony signed a peace treaty with [[Massasoit]] of the [[Wampanoag people|Wampanoags]]. Bradford surrendered the patent of [[Plymouth Colony]] to the [[Freeman (Colonial)|freemen]] in 1640, minus a small reserve of three tracts of land. He served as governor for 11 consecutive years, and was elected to various other terms before his death in 1657.

The colony contained [[Bristol County, Massachusetts|Bristol County]], [[Plymouth County, Massachusetts|Plymouth County]], and [[Barnstable County, Massachusetts]]. The [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] was reorganized and issued a new charter as the [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]] in 1691, and Plymouth ended its history as a separate colony.