Folklore of the United States memorialized on the shore of Plymouth Harbor in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The holiday of Thanksgiving is said to have begun with the Pilgrims in 1621. They had come to America to escape religious persecution, but then nearly starved to death. Some friendly Native Americans (including Squanto) helped the Pilgrims survive through the first winter. The perseverance of the Pilgrims is celebrated during the annual Thanksgiving festival. George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799), the country's first president, is often said to be the father of his country. Apocryphal stories about Washington's childhood include a claim that he skipped a
Spanish assault on French Florida a breastwork of earth and fagots. This was the beginning of the Spanish colony at St. Augustine, which became the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the United States. When, in May of the following year, the settlement was temporarily moved to what was considered a more advantageous position on Anastasia Island, the first location received the name of "San Agustín Antigua" (Old St. Augustine) from the Spaniards. Menéndez at once began disembarking his troops, landing two hundred of them. On Friday, September 7, he sent his three smaller ships into the harbor, and three hundred more colonists were landed,