Tomorrow, Americans sit down to a traditional feast which, the history books tell us, owes it origins to the resident American Indians' generosity in sharing their food with a starving Pilgrim settlement in Plymouth four centuries ago.
Sadly, these friendly relations did not last, and much blood was spilled in subsequent years right up until the end of the 19th century when the last remnants of the native population were pushed onto reservations out west.
The demise of the New England tribes came much earlier. But their history is no less important than that of the Europeans who supplanted them, and modern laws have sought to redress some of the wrongs inflicted on these Native Americans.
Officials in Hamilton now have a chance to accord a member of the Agawam tribe, whose remains were found in Ipswich back in the 1980s, a proper burial atop Sagamore Hill.
The former ski hill, which is also the site of a U.S. Air Force observatory, is already the burial place of Masconomet, the leader (or "sagamore") of the Agawam tribe, who sold the land now occupied by Topsfield, Essex, Boxford, Rowley and Hamilton, to a group of English settlers in 1633 for 20 pounds.
With the Air Force already having given its blessing to the idea, all that's needed is for the various municipal entities in Hamilton with claim to the gravesite to add their endorsement.
Selectmen say they expect details to be ironed out in time for them to give their approval at next Monday's meeting.
Then, finally, the remains, discovered in a ditch being dug for a sewer line and moved several times since, can be delivered to a suitable final resting place.
