The very first “thanksgiving” was celebrated in 1619, one year
before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth by another group of
English settlers. The event was held on the banks of the James
River at what is now Berkeley Plantation, the birthplace of
Benjamin Harrison, signer of the Declaration of Independence and
father of the ninth President of the United States, William
Henry. Most Americans, however, remember that the Thanksgiving
Day tradition was modeled after the 1621 event in Plymouth,
Massachusetts where fifty Pilgrims and ninety Wampanoag Indians
feasted for three full days. The Pilgrims were indeed thankful
for friendship and a bountiful harvest. In the previous year,
half of the Pilgrims had starved to death. A Patuxet Indian
named Squanto came to their rescue helping them to survive in
the New World. Throughout our history, Americans were called
hundreds of times by their leaders to days of fasting and prayer
and subsequent days of thanksgiving often by local officials and
governors. The first Thanksgi