The relationship between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans has been portrayed - even glorified - as being the ultimate show of co-operation between two very different cultures, culminating in a Thanksgiving feast that lasted three days. Indeed, the Pilgrims' existence depended on the help of the friendly Wampanoag tribe. There are many who have a vested interest in keeping this view of the Pilgrims & Native Americans being altruistic, but is there a darker truth that we overlook for the sake of national pride in the first successful settlement in North America? I have a friend who is trying to uncover the truth behind the myths of the Pilgrim and Native American relations, but he has come under attack from Mayflower descendants who don't want the moral character of their relative questioned. So I ask historians:
If you read Governor William Bradford's book, which he began at the behest of Governor Winthrop some ten years after the first landing, you quickly see that the Separatists were treated like a small heavily armed tribe. The natives tried to leverage their presence to advantage in the existing political scene and they did the same thing back with the tribes. In particular Massasoyt and Squanto tried to gain advantage by befriending the Separatists. When either side was wronged they sometimes responded violently. Punitive expeditions, of which there were a small number, were usually led by Myles Standish.
You can read the book here. Once you've done that I would start exploring the secondary literature to see what bias and addendums modern academics have uncovered.