 Contact with the Native Americans came in March 1621 through Samoset , an English @-@ speaking Abenaki who arranged for the Pilgrims to meet with Massasoit , the sachem of the nearby Pokanoket tribe . On March 22 , the first governor of Plymouth Colony John Carver signed a treaty with Massasoit , declaring an alliance between the Pokanoket and the Englishmen and requiring the two parties to defend each other in times of need . Governor Carver died the same year and the responsibility of upholding the treaty fell to his successor William Bradford . Bradford and Standish were frequently preoccupied with the complex task of reacting to threats against both the Pilgrims and the <unk> from tribes such as the Massachusetts and the Narragansetts . As threats arose , Standish typically advocated intimidation to deter their rivals . Such behavior at times made Bradford uncomfortable , but he found it an expedient means of maintaining the treaty with the Pokanoket . 
