The first Thanksgiving Day (actually, a three-day celebration) was held in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts after a successful corn harvest by the Pilgrims. Guests included Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag tribe.
Abraham Lincoln issued the first proclamation for a nationwide celebration in 1863, at the height of the Civil War. He was responding to a decades-long effort by a noted magazine editor and writer, Sara Josepha Hale to launch Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Interestingly, Ms. Hale is best known for authoring the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Apparently, “Mary Cooked a Big Turkey” was not as popular.