USA > Delaware > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 13
USA > New Jersey > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 13
USA > Pennsylvania > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 13
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1 Governor Stuyvesant lost his leg in 1644, in an engagement with the Portu- guese on the island of St. Martins, in the West Indies.
'See Frank Strong, "A Forgotten Danger to the New England Colonies," Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1898, pp. 77-94.
' Hendrick Elswick, originally a Lübeck merchant, removed to Stockholm, and in 1654 was sent over to serve as factor of New Sweden. He returned to Sweden in 1656. Amandus Johnson, Swedish Settlements, 491-526.
Stephen Goodyear (d. 1658), deputy governor of New Haven, had been a London merchant. From New Haven he engaged extensively in foreign com- merce, sometimes in company with Governor Eaton and others. In 1654 he was sent to Delaware Bay to treat with the Swedes about the New Haven settle- ment near present Salem Creek, New Jersey.
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ought to be kept at Rieten Island 1 with cannon to keep out one or another party, who wish to come in with force, and it would be a good means to prevent injustice when power should be needed; yet it would seem best to come to some sort of an agreement with them, for it seems indeed that they will never quit their pretensions, especially since Governor Eaton? has contributed most to the English colony and plantation here in the river.
All this alarms us indeed somewhat, but it is borne in upon us that we are placed here just as on a theatre; and if we re- ceive succor we will with the help of God play our part accord- ing to our power as well as the other nations do according to theirs. But now we lack power for so large a design, where such a splendid land and river now stand open for us at this time, and which could be planted and secured with a reason- able expense. The Minques, who are yet faithful to us and call themselves our protectors, were recently here and presented me with a very beautiful piece of land' beyond (utom) the
1 Reedy Island.
* Theophilus Eaton (c. 1591-1658), the first Governor of New Haven, was a native of Stony Stratford, Oxfordshire, England. He had been an agent in Den- mark and a successful London merchant before his coming to New Haven, in 1637. He was the leader in the governmental as well as in the commercial affairs of his colony. He was one of the largest investors in the New Haven settlement at the Varkens Kill on the Delaware.
" Governor Rising in his unpublished manuscript journal states, that in 1655 " they [the chiefs] . . . on behalf of the entire council of the Minquas and their united nations presented to us Swedes all the land which is located on the east side of (wydh) the Virginia River (called Elk River in English), all [the way] from the beginning of the Chakakitque-fall all the [way] unto the ends of Amisackan-fall; a land . . . of choice soil and endowed with beautiful fresh rivers, so that many thousand families, who might settle there, can find nourishment." Another Swedish manuscript, of 1667, says that "the warlike Minquas presented to us two beautiful rivers and land situated near their limits, called Cheakakitquate and Amihakan 22 Dutch miles in length and 12 [Dutch] miles im width." The piece of land thus secured from the Indians extended apparently from the "fall line" on Big Elk Creek in Cecil County, Maryland, well up into Pennsylvania. Chakahilque or Chakakitque Fall was possibly the first stoppage of navigation at what is now the town of Elkton, Cecil County. Amisackan Fall may have been in a creek of nearly the same name entering Cobbs Creek, in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.
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English river, namely, all the way from Chakahilque to Am- isackan, which we have long desired, and it is said to be very suitable for drawing to us the trade with the Minques, like- wise the tobacco trade from Virginia, and for making a staple here in Christina. Jacob Swensson has accomplished this with them, and has done good service this year and is entirely indispensable in the country. But the Minques stipulated that we should soon build there and keep there all sorts of cargoes for as good price as others give them and have black- smiths and artisans for [the mending of] their guns. All this I promised them, when our ships arrive.
All such could be placed in good condition with moderate resources, and it would be possible now to do more with one or a half barrel of gold than could be done in the future with millions, when other nations have put their foot there. If succor now is long delayed, then our affairs will have a short end and we shall all be ruined among so many jealous people and persecutors, for we sit here already as though we had hands and feet tied. The newly built ship lies in its place and rots. Our sloop is leaking and has been drawn up on the land for lack of timber, and our good intentions of erecting useful manufactories in the country, namely, saw-mills, powder-mills, timbering and logging, brick-making, etc., have not been car- ried out. Our trade is lessening and is already very small, and it is unspeakably hard to supply all this people with food and clothes in a desert, yet if they lack anything they are im- mediately disposed to run away from here. If large succors do not come soon we shall miss all our credit and respect with the savage nations, who will on that account insult us and do us harm. The Christians will also do us more harm than good, for we sit here as a beam in the eye unto them, and this work cannot be carried on with little succor sent at long intervals, for in that case it is as it was in the beginning, lost expense and work, and in the end it will all go to ruin.
But on the other hand, as has been said before, our courage among ourselves and our reputation among the others are sus- tained by the belief that we shall indeed receive a complete succor, for we assure ourselves that Your Noble Highness and the Well-born Lords will not allow their work to go to pieces, which can become so great. And if now in the beginning a
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half barrel of gold should be employed as a capital, then the land (with God's blessing) would be improved to the value of many barrels of gold, and would bring in fifty per cent. when it has become well established, as the factor Elswic will humbly represent in his proposal. Then the people here would cul- tivate the land with pleasure. Sweden would be freed from many indolent people, who in this place would have to work or starve. Much goods would be produced and a good profit would be derived from them. Many skilled workmen would get work and sustenance here and there, and increase the sup- ply of manufactured goods; our sailors would become experi- enced, our ships and our commerce, and also the building of ships, would increase, trade and produce would develop, and our own goods and the profits of them would remain in our own hands and not be chased into the purses of strangers, as often happens. Indeed, if it could be advanced so far that shipping and commerce could be instituted here in N. Sweden, then a good part of the West Indian merchandise could be stored here and be brought back with our ships for much better price than now happens, especially if our ships would take the proper course to these coasts (according to the course which the English sail from England) which can be accom- plished at the most in five to ten weeks, and in this manner they sail in a cold climate and thus lose less people from heat and sickness, and lose less time, have less expense, and indeed run less risk than is the case with our ships, which come hither by way of the Canaries and Caribbean Islands, and thus sail on the W. Indian coast, a course many hundred miles longer than hither to the North English1 or these coasts.
Moreover, all the cargoes needed here, concerning which Your Excellency and High-born Lords have already been in- formed, can also be made up from the supplies of the Com- pany at home in Sweden; and since linen, fine and coarse, can be bought for a cheap price, and wadmal' and hards' also, then it would be well if it would be continued a hundred- fold, for there would be a splendid gain to be secured from these goods from every country, especially here in America,
1 I. e., New Englanders. ' A kind of coarse woolen cloth.
"The coarser parts of flax or hemp separated in hackling, a coarse fabrie being made therefrom.
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[1655
since there is no linen either in the North or in the South. And we wish with the next ship one or two barrels of good flax-seed, and the same amount of hemp seed, since the former is entirely ruined. If now through the Grace of God and the assistance of Your Excellency and the Well-born Lords this river could be brought into a prosperous condition, then the Fatherland could be supplied from here with tobacco, calmus, sassafras, sugar, figs and other goods, and our ships could be supplied with provisions homeward, which would save much expense, if the ships could bring more freight. All this I suggest in all humility and good intention, well knowing that the good knowledge of Your Excellency and your regard for the whole work will support me as well as the others.
And as we have been compelled for the sustenance of the people to buy provisions and other goods from the above men- tioned Richard Lord, merchant in Harfort in New England, and we have not in this predicament had means with which to pay him, therefore we have jointly found no other counsel to satisfy him than that we should draw a draft on the Com- mercial College as our principals amounting to [2196}]1 rix- dollars, humbly requesting that said draft might be paid to him, (iron necessity has compelled us to this), and we hope that it will be easier for the Company to pay there, for he as well as all the English do not take beavers in any other way than by the pound, which is an unspeakable injury to us; the same also with the elk-skins and deer-skins. We hope the draft can be paid without any loss. The bills for this will be sent over at the first opportunity as well as the draft.
Last year we should have been in lack of bread and pro- visions if he had not come to our rescue; we could not have subsisted with so many poor people in a desert country among so many enemies. He offers every good thing to us, promises to bring us sheep of the English breed, bees, fruit trees, and other things for the good of this colony, barley and grain for seed of every kind, and gives directions concerning plantations and our trade and where we can bring lumbering and other things to a good condition. He also says that he will place his brother here under Her Royal Majesty's authority.
1 Amandus Johnson, Swedish Settlements, p. 530.
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He has also promised to send our letters to Holland and therefore I address these to P. Trotzigh1 in Amsterdam, re- questing humbly that Your Excellency and the Well-born Lords would also send our letters the same way, that Trotzigh may send them to London to the correspondent of Lord. Then they will be delivered safely into our hands, especially if the envelope shall be addressed to him as follows: "To the Hounorable Richart Lord, Marcht. ath Hareforth i Niew England." And I would regard it as the greatest benefaction if I could at least receive letters and news, what we have to expect for the advancement of our work, and how things stand at home. In this manner we could write twice a year and receive letters twice, and be sure of receiving them, for otherwise they will be intercepted.
Further, as to what concerns us here in the country, [I can report] that we are in good courage, and each one does his best, and there is not one in the country who has not been put to his work. We now hope for a complete and early assistance as well as a good success in our undertaking, and we have this year cleared more land, and occupied as much again as there ever was in the country, and have planted it all with maize, so that the Company should be relieved for the year from furnishing rations for the people, since they can obtain their own. We have also good hope that the Fatherland will supply a capital for it liberally since, with God's help, it will be re- warded with gain. The sum which the factor Elswic has se- cured in P.[orto] Rico to be paid in Spain for the loss of the ship Katt, will also help to increase this. The original documents concerning the transaction are still lying here and he will give a report about it. He is an indispensable man here, and does his work with diligence and faithfulness. For here are as many who will scatter, as there are who will hold things to- gether, so that I had with difficulty striven to keep things together before his arrival. May God help and grant that
1 Peter Trotzig, a native of Sweden, removed to Amsterdam and was a mer- chant there. In 1642 he became agent of the Swedish government and in 1661 commissary, his duties including the hiring of Dutch sailors, officers, and skilled laborers for the Swedish service, the purchasing of ships and the like. As factor of the New Sweden Company in Holland he purchased many of the cargoes sent to the Delaware. About 1666 he returned to Sweden. Amandus Johnson, Swedish Settlements, especially p. 697.
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good people may come over, whereby the madness and ex- cesses of some of those who are now here might be remedied. And at this time a few [law] cases could not be tried, be- cause our small power will not allow that the cases be fully examined into and the punishment executed, especially since the door of flight stands open.
Here at Christina the people are building houses as far as they are able and six or eight lots are now occupied. I expect that when more people come there will be more buildings, in the form of a city, where it seems best to place the staple town, since a port can be made and the place can be fortified against attack, so that ships can lie there in the winter away from the ice of the spring, and at no other place in the river. Fort Christina was built up last autumn with good ramparts of turf, on two sides where it had mostly fallen down. In the spring it was surrounded by palisades, so that one can dwell there securely against the attacks of the savages. Yet one side is greatly dilapidated, which like the forementioned is made of turf. This I have it in mind to mend as soon as the hay and the grain have been harvested, with which the people are now occupied. Commandant Schute is diligently working on Fort Trinity, where already two bastions with the curtain are ready, as also a fine rampart on the water side in front of the fort. He is hurrying the work forward with speed.
The Hollanders dwelling there who took the oath are now gone off to Manathans, two or three weeks ago. Yet they have been compelled to pay 14 days' work each upon the said Fort Trinity, of which I according to the agreement could not relieve them, and they were out of their element here in the river. The land is now practically clear of the Hollanders. It would be well if the same thing could be said of the Eng- lish, concerning whom I am awaiting orders as well as concern- ing other things which should be regulated for us, as for ex- ample concerning the rule of the country, its improvement and progress.
Regarding these I have indeed made some ordinances ac- cording to the commission given to me by the College of Com- merce and have had them examined and discussed by the principal men here in the country, but I have not published them before, God willing, a further supply of people shall ar-
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rive here. And we especially await ordinance concerning the donations, about which I have written before, and which with- out further orders will cause much bad confusion here, the basis and organization of the trade, the freedoms of the in- habitants, when and how they can in the future be taxed, and other things.
Skilled workmen would be very useful to us, especially the following which are now needed-saltpeter-makers and powder- makers, ship-carpenters and house-carpenters, those who un- derstand how to cut all kinds of timber (yet we expect to ob- tain them best from New England), cabinet-makers, brick- makers, potters (for here is very beautiful clay of every kind, red as bolus[?], white to whitewash houses with, as good as lime, yellow, blue, etc.), and clay workers, millwrights, gardeners, and hop-garden masters, etc., which I have enumerated before.
Whatever else may be found necessary for the advance- ment of this country according to the desire and pleasure of Your Noble Countly Excellency and Well-born Lords expressed in the memorial, this I shall and will strive to do and to accom- plish according to my small ability with all faithfulness and diligence and I remain ever,
Your Noble Countly Excellency's and Well-born Lordships' faithful and most humble servant,
JOHAN RISINGH. Dated, Christina in New Sweden, June 14, Anno 1655, in greatest haste.1
1 It was received by the Commercial College in Stockholm on Nov. 15, 1655.
RELATION OF THE SURRENDER OF NEW SWEDEN, BY GOVERNOR JOHAN CLASON RISING, 1655
L
INTRODUCTION
AN eighteenth-century manuscript copy of this report in Swedish is in the library of the University of Upsala, Sweden. It was first published in Swedish, at Upsala, in 1825, by Carl David Arfwedson, in the appendix of his Latin dissertation, De Colonia Nova Suecia (Concerning the Colony of New Sweden), pp. 23-30. It was again printed, in a translation by George P. Marsh, in the Collections of the New York His- torical Society, second series, I. 443-448 (1841); and thence re- printed in Samuel Hazard's Annals of Pennsylvania (1850) and in Pennsylvania Archives, second series, V. (1890), pp. 239-244. The version in the Collections is the basis of the present text, as collated and revised from Arfwedson by Dr. Amandus Johnson.
A Dutch account of the same episode, the absorption of New Sweden into New Netherland, will be found in another volume of this series, Narratives of New Netherland, pp. 279- 286.
A. C. M.
RELATION OF THE SURRENDER OF NEW SWEDEN, BY GOVERNOR JOHAN CLASON RISING, 1655
Relation concerning the unexpected and hostile Attack on the Swedish Colony in Nova Suecia, by the Dutch, under the Command of P. Stuyvesant, Governor of the New Nether- lands, wherefore the Faithful Subjects of His Royal Majesty of Sweden,1 who have endured such Violence, do most humbly appeal to His Royal Majesty's Most Gracious Shelter and Protection, to the Intent that they may be sustained and in- demnified for the Wrongs and Injuries which they have suf- fered.
IN the year 1655, on the 30th day of August, the Dutch from the North River, where Manhattan or New Amsterdam is situated, with seven ships or vessels, under command of the said P. Stüvesant, having on board 600 or 700 men, arrived in the South River, where N[ova] Suecia lieth, and anchored be- fore the fortress of Elfsborg, which then lay in ruins; the next day, they passed Fort Casimir, and bringing to a little above, they landed, and immediately summoned Swen Sküthe, who was in command, to surrender the fort, enforcing their sum- mons both with menaces and persuasion; and proceeded to throw up some works. And although some time before this, when we learned from the savages that the Dutch were about to assail us, we had caused Fort Casimir to be supplied with men and munitions to the best of our ability, and had drawn up a resolution in writing to defend the fort in case the Dutch should attack it, ordering Captain Schütte, the commandant, to send on board their ships, when they approached, and de- mand of them whether they came as friends, and in any case
1 King Charles X. Gustavus, who had succeeded Queen Christina upon the latter's abdication in 1654.
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to warn them not to run by the said fort, upon pain of being fired upon, (which in such case they could not reckon an act of hostility); but if they were minded to treat with us as friends concerning our territory and boundaries, he should compliment them with a Swedish national salute, and assure them that we were well disposed to a fast friendship; never- theless, Captain Swen Schute not only suffered the Dutch ships to pass the fort without remonstrance or firing a gun, whereby they gained the command both of the fort and of the whole river, and cut off the communication between the forts, by posting troops between them, as high up as Christina Kill, but also surrendered the fort to Stuvesant by a disad- vantageous capitulation, in which he forgot to stipulate a place to which he, with his people and effects, might retire; he also subscribed the capitulation, not in the fort or in any indifferent place, but on board a Dutch ship. So Stuvesant detained the people, and transported most of them to Mana- hatans, whereby we were greatly reduced in strength and left destitute, and not even knowing as yet that Fort Casimir had so suddenly fallen into the enemy's hands, we had sent thither in the mean time, September 1, nine or ten of our best freemen to strengthen the garrison. This detachment, when they had crossed Christina Kill betimes in the morning, found the Dutch posted there, who immediately attacked them, fifty or sixty men strong, and summoned them to surrender; but they put themselves in posture of defence, and after a skirmish with the Dutch, were all taken prisoners, except two, who re- treated to the boat, the Dutch firing many shots after them, but without hitting. Upon this we fired upon the Dutch from the sconce, with a gun, whereupon they retired into the woods, and afterwards treated harshly and cruelly such of our people as fell into their hands.
The same day the factor Hendr. Elzvii' was sent down from Fort Christina to Stuvesant to obtain an explanation of his arrival and intention, and to dissuade him from further hos- tilities, as we could not be persuaded that he seriously pur- posed to disturb us in the lawful dominions of His Royal Majesty and our principals. But as Stuvesant had so cheaply obtained possession of Fort Casimir, whither we before had
" Hendrick Elswick.
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sent our best soldiers, thus depriving ourselves in a great measure both of men and munitions, he would give Elzvii no satisfaction, but claimed the whole river and all our territory, and had well nigh detained Elzvii as a spy. When we learned this we collected all the people we could for the defence of Fort Christina, and labored with all our might, by night and by day, on ramparts and gabions. The next day, being Sep- tember 2, the Dutch shewed themselves in considerable strength on the upper bank of Christina Kill, but seemed to undertake nothing special. On the morning of the 3d, they hoisted a flag on our shallop, which lay drawn up on the beach, and appeared to be about establishing themselves in a house. We therefore sent over Lieutenant Swen Hook,1 with a drummer, to find out what they purposed, for what cause they posted themselves there, and for what we should hold them. When he had nearly crossed the creek, he asked them from the boat, whether he might freely go to them? They answered yes; and whether, after discharging his commission, he might freely return? to which also they answered yes, as we could all hear in Fort Christina, and can bear witness accordingly. So the drummer rowed the boat to the shore, without beat of drum, because the lieutenant already had their parole, and knowing no cause of hostility, he supposed this ceremony to be unnecessary. They then both went on shore, and an officer met them, and conducted them some dis- tance to a house, where the enemy had already taken up & position. The Dutch then sent our lieutenant down to Stu- vesant, pretending that he was a spy, and Stüvesant arrested him and threw him into the ship's hold, but Captain Fridr. Konich detained the drummer and his drum in his own custody, and thus they treated our messengers, contrary to the laws and customs of all civilized nations.
On the night of the 4th they had planted gabions about the house on the opposite bank of Christina Kill, above [the fort], and afterwards threw up a battery under cover of them, and entrenched themselves there. Some of our people inter-
1 Sven Hook came over from Sweden in the ship Hay, in 1653, and served as lieutenant in the colony. After the Dutch conquest he returned to Sweden and entered the navy, in 1658 commanding the vessel Postryttarens. Amandus Johnson, Swedish Settlements, pp. 596, et seq., 681.
-
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preted all this as indicating the purpose of the Dutch to be to claim and hold all our territory up to the creek, and to con- struct a fort there, not yet believing that they would, in con- tempt of public peace, and without any known cause, com- mence hostilities against us, until they had set up some claim, or promulgated some protest against us, whereas up to this time we had received from them neither message nor letter as- signing any manner of cause or complaint.
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