In 1621 the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony signed a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoag. Massasoit Sachem or Ousamequin (c. 1581 – 1661), was the sachem, or leader, of the Wampanoag, and "Massasoit" of the Wampanoag Confederacy. The term Massasoit means Great Sachem. According to English sources, Massasoit prevented the failure of the Plymouth Colony and the almost certain starvation that the Pilgrims faced during the earliest years of the colony's establishment. In Massasoit's first contact with the English, several men of his tribe had been killed in an unprovoked attack by English sailors. He also knew of the Pilgrims' theft of the corn stores in their landings at Provincetown. As a result, Massosoit wanted a peace treaty with the Pilgrims to protect his people and land, which he arranged on this day.