 Massasoit and Squanto were apprehensive about the Pilgrims . In Massasoit 's first contact with the English , several men of his tribe had been killed in an unprovoked attack by English sailors . He also knew of the Pilgrims ' theft of the corn stores in their landings at Provincetown . Squanto had been abducted in 1614 by English explorer Thomas Hunt and had spent five years in Europe , first as a slave for a group of Spanish monks , then in England . He had returned to New England in 1619 , acting as a guide to explorer Capt. Robert Gorges . Massasoit and his men had massacred the crew of the ship and had taken in Squanto . 
