Thanksgiving (United States) The most prominent historic thanksgiving event in American popular culture is the 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation, where the settlers held a harvest feast after a successful growing season. Autumn or early winter feasts continued sporadically in later years, first as an impromptu religious observance and later as a civil tradition. The Plymouth settlers, known as Pilgrims, had settled in land abandoned when all but one of the Patuxet Indians died in a plague. After a harsh winter killed half of the Plymouth settlers, the last surviving Patuxet, Squanto (who had learned English and avoided the plague as a
Raid on St. Augustine destroyed fort "San Juan" was replaced with another wooden fort. A masonry fortress to defend the presidio was not built until construction of the Castillo de San Marcos began in 1672. Drake's fleet sailed from St. Augustine on 29 May, heading northwards up the coast, looking for signs of Raleigh's settlement. They cruised into what is now Charleston Harbor but found it deserted, then continued up the coast until they saw smoke. A boat was sent to investigate, and its crew finally made contact with the English settlers, who were encamped on Roanoke Island. Drake had no supplies but offered