William’s shivering turned into chills and chattering teeth. He could no longer feel his toes; the water was frozen. He feared that if the cold continued to attack much longer, it could achieve what the natives had tried: to kill them all.
Raised in a small English town, William Bradford lived in a time of turmoil and opportunity. With a group of separatists, he fled England to start a new life in Holland and eventually set sail on the Mayflower for a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.
The New World was a land promising freedom and possibilities. However, its rough waters, freezing winters, indigenous attacks, famine, and betrayal threatened the lives of the colonists. Thanks to William’s vision and leadership, the Plymouth colony would endure, and his descendants would lay the cornerstone of a great nation (1590-1657).
