<P> As promised by Massasoit, numerous Native Americans arrived at Plymouth throughout the middle of 1621 with pledges of peace . On July 2, a party of Pilgrims led by Edward Winslow (who later became the chief diplomat of the colony) set out to continue negotiations with the chief . The delegation also included Squanto, who acted as a translator . After traveling for several days, they arrived at Massasoit's capital, the village of Sowams near Narragansett Bay . After meals and an exchange of gifts, Massasoit agreed to an exclusive trading pact with the English; thus, the French were no longer welcome, though they were also frequent traders in the area . Squanto remained behind and traveled throughout the area to establish trading relations with several tribes . </P> <P> In late July, a boy named John Billington became lost for some time in the woods around the colony . It was reported that he was found by the Nauset, the same group of Native Americans on Cape Cod from whom the Pilgrims had unwittingly stolen corn seed the prior year upon their first explorations . The English organized a party to return Billington to Plymouth . The Pilgrims agreed to reimburse the Nauset for the corn which they had taken in return for the Billington boy . This negotiation did much to secure further peace with the Native Americans in the area . </P> <P> During their dealings with the Nausets over the release of John Billington, the Pilgrims learned of troubles that Massasoit was experiencing . Massasoit, Squanto, and several other Wampanoags had been captured by Corbitant, sachem of the Narragansett tribe . A party of ten men under the leadership of Myles Standish set out to find and execute Corbitant . While hunting for Corbitant, they learned that Squanto had escaped and Massasoit was back in power . Several Native Americans had been injured by Standish and his men and were offered medical attention in Plymouth . They had failed to capture Corbitant, but the show of force by Standish had garnered respect for the Pilgrims and, as a result, nine of the most powerful sachems in the area signed a treaty in September, including Massasoit and Corbitant, pledging their loyalty to King James . </P> <P> In May 1622, a vessel named the Sparrow arrived carrying seven men from the Merchant Adventurers whose purpose was to seek out a site for a new settlement in the area . Two ships followed shortly thereafter carrying sixty settlers, all men . They spent July and August in Plymouth before moving north to settle in modern Weymouth, Massachusetts at a settlement which they named Wessagussett . The settlement of Wessagussett was short - lived, but it provided the spark for an event that dramatically changed the political landscape between the local Native American tribes and the English settlers . Reports reached Plymouth of a military threat to Wessagussett, and Myles Standish organized a militia to defend them . However, he found that there had been no attack . He therefore decided on a pre-emptive strike, an event which historian Nathaniel Philbrick calls "Standish's raid". He lured two prominent Massachusett military leaders into a house at Wessagussett under the pretense of sharing a meal and making negotiations . Standish and his men then stabbed and killed the two unsuspecting Native Americans . The local sachem named Obtakiest was pursued by Standish and his men but escaped with three English prisoners from Wessagussett, whom he then executed . Within a short time, Wessagussett was disbanded, and the survivors were integrated into the town of Plymouth . </P>

Why did half the plymouth colonists die the first winter