Bradford's History of 'Plimoth Plantation'

by William Bradford

From the Original Manuscript. With a Report of the Proceedings Incident to the Return of the Manuscript to Massachusetts

William Bradford came to America on the Mayflower in 1620, was elected governor of Plymouth Colony the next year, and held the office for most of three decades. His history of the colony, written between 1630 and 1650, is the primary record of the Pilgrims: their separation from the Church of England, the years in Leiden, the voyage, the first terrible winter, the treaty with Massasoit, the harvest later remembered as the first Thanksgiving, the quarrels with investors and with Thomas Morton of Merry Mount, and the slow dispersal of the original community. The manuscript vanished during the Revolution, turned up in the Bishop of London's library, and was returned to Massachusetts in 1897; this edition prints it with an account of the return. It is available to read online in your browser on Vinteuil, with the first chapter free.