Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, eventually led the efforts to recognize what we now know as Thanksgiving. Hale wrote many articles promoting her Thanksgiving cause in magazines, books and newspapers. And, after a 40 year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale's Thanksgiving obsession became a reality when, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national holiday for Thanksgiving. More Thanksgiving Party Celebrations

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The first winter after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620 was so devastating that by the beginning of the Fall of 1621 they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest for the first year was a bountiful one, so the remaining colonists decided to have a thanksgiving celebration with a feast. They invited 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive the first year. The Pilgrims might not have made it through the first year without the help of the Indians. The three-day Thanksgiving feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance.