USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. II > Part 37
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1 Alb. Rec. iv., 331 ; xvi., 101, 103, 105, 107 ; xviii., 54-60, 69, 102, 103. Rens- selaerswyck MSS.
VOL. II. 26
402
HISTORY OF
BOOK V. 1659.
Several years had now elapsed since the peace of 1654, and nothing had occurred to mar the good understanding which had then been re-established between the authori- ties of New Netherland and their New England neighbors. The Dutch, being the weakest, were very careful not to give any cause of offence, and therefore no differences arose of any moment. But the spirit of encroachment at the East only slumbered. Under the cover of its charter, Massachusetts now claimed the country north of the forty- second degree of latitude, from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, and acting on this pretension, made a grant of a plantation in the neighborhood of Fort Orange, to several persons of respectability residing within her jurisdiction. June. With a view to locate this grant, an exploring party pro- ceeded this summer to Beverwyck, where they were received with marked respect.1 After examining most of the land along the east bank of the Hudson, they announced their intention to establish a village near the mouth of the Wappinger creek, a few miles south of the present enter- prising town of Poughkeepsie, where the country, in point of beauty and fertility, surpassed anything they had seen in the East. As this spot was, however, at a great dis- tance from the settled parts of New England, and difficult of access, in consequence of the intervening wilderness, the undertakers applied to the Dutch authorities for leave to proceed thither by the North River. Stuyvesant at once saw the danger to accrue from such a project, inde- pendent of any right of jurisdiction. " They would intrude with their wampum on our beaver trade, and thus divert it away from us." To encourage such a settlement in their midst would be only to hasten the loss of the whole prov- ince, for "so many hounds will assuredly be death to the hare." He therefore determined to anticipate their project by purchasing the lands, and establishing a village of some July. twenty-five or thirty families thereupon, and wrote to
1 The following item in Commissary La Montagne's accounts of this year, has reference to this visit : For a treat and feast to the English ambassadors from Hartford, fl. 132.4. At Fort Orange a salute was fired on the arrival and at the departure of the Englishmen. Alb. Rec. xxiv., 215.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
the Directors urging them to send hither, by the first ves- CHAP. sels, a colony of Polish, Lutheran, Prussian, Dutch, or~ XI. Flemish peasants.
1659.
The Englishmen, however, did not abandon their en- terprise. They had sufficient influence to obtain from Sep. 17. the commissioners of the United Colonies, letters to the Director-general, soliciting in their behalf the right of passage through the Hudson. But Stuyvesant stil. avoided making such a concession. Twenty-three or twenty-four years ago, they played the same game on the Fresh River. They commenced by asking a free passage to the Fort Good Hope. They finished by usurping not only the beaver trade, but the whole river, and after a while, all the land between the Manhattans and the Connecticut. He was determined to oppose a repetition of that game by all means within his power. Yet his resolution was not unmixed with serious mis- givings. The power of New England "overbalances ours tenfold." To protest against their usurpations would be folly. "They will laugh at us." He therefore pre- Oct. 29. ferred to explain fully, in reply, the reasons which com- pelled him to refuse all persons, except the citizens of the country, the privilege of trading on or passing through the North River, against the orders of his principals. These reasons appear not, however, to have been satisfactory to the General Court at Boston, for they immediately sent Nov. 22. Major William Hawthorne and Mr. John Richards, " to communicate their honest intentions in this matter, and to demonstrate the equity of the motion of the com- missioners in their behalf." Having described their limits, and claimed the upper waters of the Hudson River as within their patent, " though the Dutch perhaps may have intruded within the same," they asserted their intention to plant the land thereabout, not actually in possession of the Dutch. The permission to pass through the Hudson should not, they said, prejudice any rights the Dutch may have. The Rhine, the Elbe, and many other rivers pass through the territories of divers prov- inces, yet afford passage to all in amity. The denial
404
HISTORY OF
BOOK of this request would militate only against the Dutch. V. As regarded the Indian trade, they claimed the right to 1660. traffic with their own tribes living near Fort Orange, even though it might affect Dutch interests. Yet they would not deny to the latter the like freedom. The treaty of Hartford did not, in their opinion, apply to Massachusetts, whose commissioners had been only arbi- trators in that affair. But. even were they principals, it could not prejudice their claims to the Hudson, because that agreement, not applying nearer than ten miles from that river, is expressly limited to within twenty miles from the sea, which they never claimed, as it came not to 42° 20'. Those parts of the Hudson, however, which are within this latitude and more than twenty miles from the sea, were liable, they concluded, to their claim, not- withstanding the treaty.
April 20.
The Director-general replied to this letter at consider- able length. He denied that the patent granted to Massachusetts had any bearing on the question at issue. The King of England could not deprive the States General of the power and authority to grant similar patents to their subjects. Such a patent they had granted to the Dutch West India Company; and though the government of Massachusetts had forgotten, " either accidentally or delib- erately," to mention the date of their patent, "it is well known from English and Dutch history," that the late unhappy monarch did not succeed his father until 1625. Now, printed histories, archives, journals, and registers prove that the North River of New Netherland was dis- covered in the year 1609, by Hendrick Hudson, skipper of the Half Moon, in the service, and at the expense of the Dutch East India Company ; that on the report of that skipper, several merchants of Amsterdam sent another ship in the following year up the said river ; that these merchants obtained, from the States General, a charter to navigate the same, and had for their security erected in 1615, (1614,) a fort on Castle Island, near Fort Orange ; that New Netherland, including the North River, was afterwards offered to the West India Company, who in
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NEW NETHERLAND.
1623-two years before Charles I. ascended his throne- CHAP. actually and effectually possessed and fortified the country XI. and planted colonies therein. The assertion that the 1660. Hudson River is within the Massachusetts patent granted thirty-two years ago, therefore, " scarcely deserves a serious answer." For that river was first discovered by persons in the employ of the Dutch, and had been navigated by Hollanders, not only for thirty-two years, but for more than half a century, and has been colonized by the West India Company over thirty-seven years. The appellation of "intruders" can consequently, with more justice, be applied to those who now endeavor to intrude themselves within the Dutch limits, and who "intruded" and settled between the Fresh and the North Rivers on Dutch territories, secured by Dutch forts, many years " before one single Englishman had possessed any land between these two rivers." The free navigation of the Elbe and other rivers in Germany, was a case by no means in point. That of the Thames would be more applicable. Yet the English do not open to other nations that river, much less allow them possession of or jurisdic- tion over it. As for the liberty to trade with the natives, which the government of Massachusetts were so generous as to say they should permit, Director Stuyvesant pre- sumed that the authority of their superiors placed the Dutch in a position to dispense with it, or to render them indifferent as to what regulations others may undertake to adopt. But the assertion that the English would not be prevented trading with their own tribes residing in the vicinity of the Dutch, perhaps to the obstruction of the latter's trade, was pronounced to be so unbecoming pro- fessors of the Christian faith, that they who made preten- sions to some sense of common justice, "could never bring forward such a claim, without being covered with shame." For they do not attempt to designate who "their own Indians" are, nor to state how far their claims ex- tend. The Dutch never forbade the natives to trade with other nations. They prohibited such trade only on their own streams and purchased lands, and cannot now grant
406
HISTORY OF NEW NETHERLAND.
BOOK either Massachusetts, or any other government, any title v. to such privilege, or a free passage through their rivers, 1660. " without a surrender of their honor, reputation, property and blood, their bodies and lives." To the threat ac- companying the demand, he should make no other reply than that he had nothing more to fear than what shall be pleasing to a merciful and just God, in whose power alone it is to maintain the Dutch in their just possessions, as well by small, yea, by no human efforts, as by great power and means. The treaty of Hartford spoke, he concluded, for itself. As the Massachusetts commissioners then pre- tended to be disinterested in the discussion regarding the limits between New Netherland, Connecticut and New Haven, they put forward at the time no claim to lands on the North River. Had they done so, then a fair discussion of such pretensions might have taken place, and would have been fully answered.
Having thus dispatched the New England men, Stuy- June 25. vesant took an early opportunity to impress on the Com- pany the necessity of being prepared against further encroachments from the East. Additional reinforcements ought to be sent out, and a frigate of fourteen to sixteen guns stationed at the mouth of the Hudson. Circumstances, however, interposed, and for a moment interrupted the designs of the New Englanders. A revolution restored monarchy to England, and those of Boston abandoned, for the time, the design of seizing on the North River.1
1 Alb. Rec. xviii., 31-34, 61, 62, 89, 90, 104, 123, 140, 144; xxiv., 161, 165-174; Hol. Doc. ix., 169-171 ; Hazard's State Papers, ii., 408; Hutchinson'sColl. 318.
BOOK VI.
FROM THE FIRST ESOPUS WAR TO THE SURRENDER OF NEW NETHERLAND TO THE ENGLISH.
1660-1664.
CHAPTER I.
Continued misunderstanding with the Esopus Indians-Further enlistments decided on-Embassy to Virginia-Treaties with the River tribes-Stuyve- sant visits the Esopus-Operations against the savages there-The Dutch transport their prisoners to Curaçoa-Continuation of the war-Other tribes mediate-Result of the embassy to Virginia-Renewal of negotiations at the Esopus-Stuyvesant's speech to the Indians-Re-establishment of peace- Stuyvesant sows the seed of another Indian war-Trouble with the Runners at Fort Orange-Stuyvesant proceeds thither-Mcets delegates from the Seneca country-Their address, and his reply.
THE spring of 1660 found the affairs of the Esopus in an CHAP. unsettled condition, and Stuyvesant, anxious "to vindicate I. the honor of the down-fallen Batavian reputation," urged 1660. the Council to adopt hostile operations so soon as a suf- Feb. 9. ficient force could be enlisted. Secretary Van Ruyven was of a different opinion, and counselled the renewal of the treaty, especially considering the difficulties with which the province was threatened both by Maryland and Mas- sachusetts. The prospects for raising new troops were very unfavorable, and few or no volunteers could be ob- tained. He was therefore opposed, in toto, to all offensive operations. These views influenced, though they did not altogether control, the decision of the Executive. War was declared necessary, but hostilities were postponed Feb. 12. until the fall. A hundred or more men were to be en-
408
HISTORY OF
BOOK listed in the interim, either at the north, or in Virginia.1 It VI. was at this conjuncture that intelligence was received 1660. of the death of Samuel Matthews, Governor of the latter province. Nicolaus Varleth, Stuyvesant's brother-in-law, having claims against the estate of the deceased, applied for permission to proceed to Jamestown. The opportunity Feb 27. was seized to commission this gentleman and Capt. Newton to conclude with that government a league, offensive and defensive, against the savages, and a treaty of commerce, on the same basis as that existing between England and Holland. They were, in addition, instructed to apply for leave to enlist twenty-five or thirty good and de- termined men, among whom were to be " as many Scotch- men as possible."" An agent was also sent to the South River to recruit among the Swedes and Finns, who could furnish at this date one hundred and thirty men capable of Mar. 6. bearing arms.3 A treaty of peace was next concluded with the Marrespinck and Rechgaweck Indians of Long Island, and also with the Staten Island, Nyack, Hacking- sack, Haverstraw, Wechquaesqueeck, and other Highland tribes, whereby, among other things, the savages bound themselves to deliver to the Dutch some of their children to be instructed in the elements of civilized education.4 A Mar.15. few days afterwards, Goethals, chief of the Wappingers, requested that the Esopus savages should be included in the treaty. They had wampum and beaver, and were desirous that they and the Dutch should till the ground in peace. Stuyvesant was not averse to their re- quest, but gave it as his opinion that they were insincere.
1 Alb. Rec. xxiv., 57-59, 68-76.
2 Messrs. Varleth and Newton's Commission and Instructions are in Alb. Rec. xviii., 97 ; xxiv., 101.
3 According to this, the Swedes and Finns numbered at this date about 700 souls. None of them would consent to enter the Dutch service.
4 This interesting article is as follows: "Whereas our posterity, after the lapse of ages, will see and know what we now speak and conclude together, whilst your posterity cannot do it equally well, as they cannot read or write, we demand that you entrust us with the education of some of your children." The chiefs replied that they were willing to leave a child now with the Dutch, and when an opportunity offered, they would bring more hither. Alb. Rec. xxiv., 118-121.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
" The Indians say the same of the Dutch," was the Wap- CHIAP. pingers' reply. Kaelcop, Pemmyraweck, and the other
1 sachems are anxious for peace. It is only " the Kale- 1660. backers," the poor, hungry savages, who are not inclined to treat, but the chiefs would make these come in. "What security can there be for peace, if the Kalebackers prefer war ?" asked the Director-general. There was "no de- cisive answer." " The Esopus chiefs must come here if they wish for a cessation of hostilities." "They are too much frightened, and dare not come," was the answer. Believ- ing this, Director Stuyvesant consented to go to Esopus ; they should meet him there, and then propose what they pleased. Thither he proceeded accordingly, accompanied by the Attorney-general, leaving, ad interim, the adminis- tration of public affairs at New Amsterdam to Secretary Van Ruyven and Burgomasters Martin Krygier and Oloff Stevensen.1
Meanwhile Ensign Smith advanced with forty men Mar. 17. three (Dutch) miles into the interior, where he discovered sixty savages; but so terror-stricken were these at his appearance, that they made no resistance, but fled, leaving three or four dead, and twelve others prisoners, in the hands of their pursuers. A large quantity of maize, peas, and bearskins fell, by this expedition, into the hands of the Dutch, together with the palisaded Indian fort of Wiltmeet.
Stuyvesant, on his arrival, found all hope of meeting the Mar. 18. sachems at an end. He therefore sent the plunder and the prisoners to the Manhattans, and having given orders to drive the remaining Indians across the Katskill, proceeded to Fort Orange, where he issued a formal declaration of Mar. 25. war against the Esopus savages "and all their adherents."2 Smith now followed up his advantage by posting forty- April 4. three of his men in ambuscade, " over the creek among the rocks." A body of one hundred savages soon made their appearance, but their scouts discovered the snare. Thereupon a general attack ensued. Three of the enemy
1 Alb. Rec. xxiv., 125-129.
$ Alb. Rec. xxiv., 131, 137.
410
HISTORY OF
BOOK fell; two were severely wounded, and one was taken pris- VI. oner. A complete rout now took place. The Dutch fol- 1660. lowed the flying Indians upwards of an hour, killing three horses in the ardor of the pursuit. But the red men escaped without any further damage, and Smith and his party returned to the fort.1
These vigorous operations produced a material change in the deportment of the enemy. "They did nothing now but bawl for peace, peace." Several of the neighboring April 21. chiefs applied at Fort Orange and the Esopus for a cessa- tion of hostilities, but the officers at these posts having no authority to conclude a treaty, referred the parties to the May 24. Manhattans .? Here three Mohegan ambassadors present- ed themselves in the course of the ensuing month, and de- clared in the name of those of Esopus, that the latter were willing to quit that country and transfer it to the Dutch, as an indemnity for the murder of the Christians, on condition that their friends now in captivity should be surrendered, and a firm and durable peace concluded. Security was required that the young men concurred in these demands. Laying down four belts of wampum, " These," said Aepjen, "are a guarantee that the Kalebackers desire peace, and that we are authorized to treat in their behalf." The belts were taken up, but the chiefs were told that peace would be concluded with the Esopus tribes only when their sachems came to negotiate at the Manhattans or Fort Orange. Two other belts were now offered, and the Dutch were request- ed to liberate the captured savages. Those prisoners could not be restored, so the belts were returned ; whereupon the ambassadors laid twelve wampum belts on the ground and renewed their request. They received the same answer, and the belts were returned. "What then are your intentions as regards these men ?" demanded the sachems. The Dutch answered by enquiring, " What have they done with the Christian prisoners ?"
After a brief consultation, and finding all attempts at making an impression on Stuyvesant vain, one of the chiefs
1 Alb Rec. xvi., 133.
% Ibid. vi., 328, 330, 331.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
laid a wampum belt at his feet, and requested that the CHAP. war be confined to the Esopus country. He was told I. that so long as they observed peace, the Dutch would treat 1660. them as friends. Other belts were then presented " to wipe away the remembrance of the rejection of the belts they had offered for the prisoners," after which a blanket, a piece of frieze, an axe, a knife, a pair of stockings and two small kettles were given to each of the ambassadors, and they departed, content. On the next day an order May 25. was issued banishing the Esopus savages, some fifteen or twenty, to the insalubrious climate of Curaçoa, " to be em- ployed there, or at Buenaire, with the negroes in the Com- pany's service." Two or three others were retained at Fort Amsterdam, to be punished "as it should be thought proper." By this harsh policy Stuyvesant laid the founda- tion of another Esopus war, for the Indians never forgot their banished brethren.1
Ensign Smith now took seventy-five men, and, guided May 30. by one of his prisoners, discovered, "at the second fall on Kit Davit's kill,"" a few savages planting maize on the opposite bank. The stream being swollen, it was found impossible to cross, so he returned to the fort, where he learned that the Indians had concentrated their force at an almost inaccessible spot, "about nine (Dutch) miles up the river, beyond the above-mentioned falls, where it was pretty easy to ford" the kill. Thither he determined to pursue them, but on discovering their wigwams, the enemy got notice of his approach by the barking of their dogs, and they made good their retreat, leaving behind them Preummaker, "the oldest and best of their chiefs."
The aged sachem, no way daunted by the presence of the overwhelming force before him, received the Dutch troopers very haughtily. " What do ye here, ye dogs ?" he asked, aiming his gun at the soldiers whilst he spoke. But the weapon was easily wrenched from his feeble hands, and he was also deprived of his axe and knives. A
1 Alb. Rec. xxiv., 258-261, 265, 266.
2 Kit Davit's farm lay on the west side of the Esopus creek, about three (Dutch) miles from the North River.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK consultation was now held as to how he should be disposed VI. of. " As it was a considerable distance to carry him, we 1660. struck him down," writes the Ensign, " with his own axe." On the return of the soldiers to their quarters, they were occasionally harassed by scattered Indians lying in the brushwood, who, on being assailed in return, were put to flight.1 The death of this old chief was a wanton and a needless act. Some days previous, Seuwhackenamo, one of the principal sachems of the tribe, had called together the Wauwapiesje warriors, who lived at a distance, and asked to know their wishes. "We will fight no more," was their brief reply. The chief next assembled the squaws, and enquired " what seemed to them best ?" These answered : " That we plant our fields in peace and live in quiet." He then went to the young men, who lived apart in another quarter, and asked also their opinion. They told him to make peace with the Dutch. "They would not kill either hog or fowl any more."" Having thus ob- tained the unanimous opinion of his people in favor of peace, Seuwhackenamo proceeded to Gamoenepan to se- cure the mediation of the sachems of Hackingsack and Haverstraw, in favor of a cessation of hostilities. There June 2. he received the afflicting intelligence of the death of " the greatest and best chief" of his tribe. The news quite unmanned him. " He knew not what to do." With a heavy heart he returned to his people, leaving his Hackingsack and Haverstraw friends to treat, the best way they could, with the Dutch.
June 3. These presented themselves accordingly at Fort Am- sterdam, and having been assured that the Dutch were disposed for friendship, " It is very strange, then," said the Hackingsack, " that your people were so recently engaged against the savages, and had killed their chief." He was told that it was the custom among white men to exert all their strength until they had conquered a peace. There-
1 Alb. Rec. xvi., 125, 127-129, 131, 133, 135.
These proceedings are interesting, as showing the preliminaries which the natives observed to obtain the views of the tribe before entering on matters of importance. Even the women had a voice in public affairs. The Indians seem in this respect to have been in advance of modern civilization.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
upon the chief requested a truce pending the negotia- CHAP tions. He was told that if he consented to visit Esopus 1. with the Dutch interpreter, and learn for himself what the 1660. dispositions of the Indians thereabouts were, an armistice should be observed until his return. This proposition was accepted, and Oratani took his leave, saying, " Now I shall see for myself if these Esopus savages contemplate any good."
In the meanwhile Messrs. Varleth and Newton, having concluded negotiations with the colony of Virginia, Sir Henry Moody, son of the late Lady Moody of Gravesend, arrived at the Manhattans as ambassador from the Governor June 21. and Assembly of that province, to exchange ratifications. He was received with marked respect by the Director- general, and the following treaty was shortly after made public :-
" ARTICLES of amitie and commerce agreed and concluded on between the Right Honourable the Governour and As- sembly of Virginia and Mr. Nicholas Varleth, Capt. Lieut. Brian Newton, agents for the Right Honourable Peter Stuyvesant, Governour-generall of New Netherland, Curaçoa, Bonaire, Aruba, and Councill of State there established :-
"First, It is concluded and agreed that a free trade and commerce shall be permitted to the inhabitants of New Netherland, provided they pay unto the Right Honourable Governour of Virginia for the tobacco by them exported, such rates and customes as other neighbouring English and strangers doe, or shall pay ; all trade and commerce with the Indians being on each syde prohibited.
"Secondly, It is concluded, that the inhabitants of Virginia and New Netherland, trading each with the other, shall have equal despatch and justice in each other's courts of judicature as their own nation has, and that uppon complaint of injustice done on either syde, in any inferior court, the Governour of each place shall be pleased to grant a rehearinge in his own person, and if it shall be
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