Native American Indians welcomed us to these shores in Florida, Virginia, and Massachusetts, and eventually the entire East coast. The Spanish ship Pelayo landed in St. Augustine, Florida on September 8, 1565, and the first Mass of Thanksgiving on American soil was celebrated with the Timucuan Indians from Seloy village in attendance. "The battle of the Wild West was transferred to the classroom," Krauss said. "Teachers punished Native American children for speaking their languages, all in the name of bettering their conditions."an." Heinemann and a team of linguists in South Carolina are compiling a Catawba dictionary.