It was good to see John Moore’s “Let’s Put the thanks back in Thanksgiving” article in the Sunday, Nov. 24 issue of the Tyler Morning Telegraph. The more people know and understand that the first American Thanksgiving was a Christian thanks-to-God event, the more they can understand that it was an important part of “America’s founding on religious principles”… a concept that so many today don’t believe or outright deny.

It is also of interest that the history of American Thanksgiving is frequently a little distorted by leading one to believe that the Thanksgiving of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock was the first and/or only historic one. But that is simply not so!

Unless one was brought up in Florida schools in the 20th century (where a textbook by L.S. Copeland and J.E. Dovell, “La Florida,” was used), most people believe the first Thanksgiving commemoration took place at Plymouth, in English Massachusetts, in the year 1621.

Actually, there was a similar and earlier Thanksgiving event at Berkeley Hundred, English Virginia, in 1619.

Then, there is an even earlier Thanksgiving that took place at the founding of St. Augustine in the year 1565 in Spanish La Florida (“Land of Flowers”).

However, a year before that, 1564, another Thanksgiving took place in La Florida. In this case, the “thankful” colonists were not Spanish, but French Huguenots who founded the first European Protestant colony in North America and named it La Caroline (“Land of Charles”).

The French government of young King Charles IX in those days was trying to peacefully accommodate and settle the growing troubles between the newer Protestant Huguenots and the existing Catholics. This included setting up government-sponsored Huguenot colonies in America.

After an exploratory voyage to La Florida in 1562, this was becoming a reality as the French thought the Spanish had no further real interest in that area of the New World. The French then claimed portions of it based on their 1562 exploration.

Three hundred Huguenot colonists, in three ships, sailed into the mouth of the “River of May” (present-day St. John’s River, Jacksonville, Florida) on June 24, 1564. With the help of friendly Timucua Indians, they immediately started building living quarters and protective Fort Caroline. The fort eventually became the center of the colony’s life.

Under the leadership of their Huguenot captain, Rene de Laudonniere, a Thanksgiving commemoration and feast were held (including some of the Timucuans) on June 30, 1564.

With “…the sounding of trumpets (he) called them together in assembly to give thanks to God for their successful voyage and the auspicious beginning of the colony. They sang a psalm of thanksgiving and asked God’s blessing for their enterprise and that all might turn to His glory.” (“Fort Caroline and Its Leader,” by C.E. Bennett.)

Thus the first American Thanksgiving occurred — and passed into history, an event unknown by the vast majority of Americans and Frenchmen today.

John S. “Jack” Gibson

Hideaway

Congress, are you listening?

I am an older American, and I need my members of Congress to address the skyrocketing prescription drug prices.

There’s bipartisan proposals in Congress to fix this — so this is the moment to finally enact legislation into law.

In addition to being an older American, I’m also a retired Navy veteran. Every time I turn around, you’re also raising our TRICARE rates. How can an individual, living on a fixed income, still have to choose between paying outrageous prices for lifesaving medication and going without?

Put yourself in my shoes. You have the opportunity to do something for those of us who put you in office. Don’t you think that now is the time to do something right for the average American?

Ms. Patricia Pelletier

Tyler