USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1900 > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66
There is no doubt that the Dutch, alarmed for the very existence of their New Netherland colony, this time most serupulously observed the compact entered into; but the Indians, still restless and unsa- tiated, renewed hostilities with the expiration of the summer season. In September they attacked and captured two boats descending the river from Fort Orange, and, resuming their programme of promiscu- ons slaughter, they soon afterward murdered the New England refu- gees on the coast of the Sound and burnt their dwellings. It was consequently resolved by the Dutch to take up arms once more, and, if possible, administer a crushing blow to the power of their enemy, a resolve which, during the ensuing winter, they were enabled by good fortune to realize, at least to the limit of reasonable expectation.
Kieft first sent a force to scour Staten Island, which, like Van Dyck's Westchester expedition of 1642, returned without results, no foe being encountered. A detachment of one hundred and twenty men was then dispatched by water to the English settlement of Greenwich, on the Sound, it having been reported that a large body of hostile Indians was encamped in the vicinity of that place. Disap- pointment was also experienced there. After marching all night without finding the expected enemy, the troops came to Stamford, where they halted to wait for fresh information. From here a raid
L. uf C.
100
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
was made on a small Indian village (probably lying within West- chester borders), and some twenty braves were put to death. An aged Indian who had been taken prisoner now volunteered to lead the Dutch to one of the strongholds of the natives, consisting of three powerful castles. He kept his promise; but, although the castles were duly found, they were deserted. Two of them were burned, the third being reserved for purposes of retreat in case of emergency. Thus the second armed expedition sent into Westchester County ac- complished comparatively little in the way of inflicting the long-de- sired punishment upon the audacious savages. Numbers of West- chester Indians (mostly women and children) were captured and sent to Fort Amsterdam, where, as testified by Dutch official records, they were treated with malignant cruelty.
The next move was somewhat more successful. A mixed force of English and Dutch, commanded jointly by Captain John Underhill, the celebrated Indian fighter from New England, and Sergeant Peter Cock, of Fort Amsterdam, proceeded to the neighborhood of Heen- stede (Hempstead), Long Island, and attacked two Indian villages. More than a hundred Indians were killed, the Dutch and English loss being only one killed and three wounded. But as the principal strength of the enemy was known to be in the regions north of the Harlem River, whence the warriors who slow the settlers and de- vastated the fields of Manhattan Island were constantly emerging, it was deemed indispensable to conduct decisive operations in that quarter. Captain Underhill, whose long experience and known dis- cretion in savage warfare indicated him as the man for the occasion, was sent to Stamford, with orders to investigate and report upon the situation. Being trustworthily informed that a very numerous body of the Indians was assembled at a village at no great distance, and placing confidence in the representations of a guide who claimed to know the way to the locality, he advised prompt action. Director Kieft, adopting his recommendation, placed him in command of one hundred and thirty armed men, who were immediately transported on three yachts to Greenwich. This was in the month of Febru- ary, 1644.
A raging snowstorm prevented the forward movement of the troops from Greenwich for the greater part of a day and night. But the weather being more favorable the next morning, they set our about daybreak, and, led by the guide, advanced in a general northwest- wardly direction. It was a toilsome all-day march through deep snow and over mountainous hills and frequent streams, some of the latter being scarcely fordable. At eight o'clock in the evening they halted within a few miles of the village, " which had been carefully
101
CAPTAIN JOHN UNDERHILL
arranged for winter quarters, lay snugly ensconced in a low moun- tain recess, completely sheltered from the bleak northerly winds, and consisted of a large number of huts disposed in three streets, each about eighty paces long." After allowing his men two hours of rest and strengthening them with abundant refreshments, Underhill gave the word to resume the march. The enterprise, attended by extreme hardships up to this time, was now, in its final stage, favored by peculiarly satisfactory conditions. It was near midnight, the show completely deadened the footsteps of the avenging host, and a bril- liant full moon was shining-" a winter's day could not be brighter."
O'Callaghan, in his " History of New Netherland," gives the follow- ing account of the resulting conflict:
The Indians were as much on the alert as their enemy. They soon discovered the Dutch troops, who charged forthwith, surrounding the camp, sword in hand. The Indians evineed on this occasion considerable boldness, and made a rush once or twice to break the Duteh lines and open some way for escape. But in this they failed, leaving one dead and twelve prisoners in the hands of the assailants, who now kept up such a brisk fire that it was impos- sible for any of the besieged to escape. After a desperate conflict of an hour, one hundred and eighty Indians lay dead on the snow outside their dwellings. Not one of the survivors durst now show his face. They remained under cover, discharging their arrows from behind, to the great annoyanee of the Dutch troops. Underhill, now seeing no other way to overcome the obstinate resistance of the foe, gave orders to fire their huts. The order was forthwith obeyed; the wretched inmates endeavoring in every way to escape from the horrid flames, but mostly without success. The moment they made their appearance they rushed or were driven precipitately back into their burning hovels, preferring to be consumed by fire than to fall by our weapons. In this merciless manner were butchered, as some of the Indians afterward reported, five hundred human beings. Others carry the number to seven hundred; "the Lord having collected most of our enemies there to celebrate some peculiar festival." Of the whole party, no more than eight men escaped this terrible slaughter by fire and sword. Three of these were badly wounded. Throughout the entire carnage not one of the sufferers-man, woman, or child-was heard to utter a shriek or moan.
This battle, if battle it may be called, was by far the most sanguin- ary ever fought on Westchester soil. At White Plains, the most considerable Westchester engagement of the Revolution, the com- bined losses of both sides in killed, wounded, and missing did not reach four hundred.
The site of the exterminated Indian village has been exactly lo- cated by Bolton. It was called Nanichiestawack, and was in the Town (township) of Bedford, not far from the present Bedford village. It " occupied the southern spur of Indian Hill, sometimes called the Indian Farm, and Stony Point (or Hill), stretching toward the north- west. There is a most romantic approach to the site of the mountain fastness by a steep, narrow, beaten track opposite to Stamford cart- path, as it was formerly denominated, which followed the old Indian trail called the Thoroughfare." The picturesque Mianus River flows by the scene. The last ghastly memorials of the slaughter have long since passed away, but local tradition preserves the recollection of
102
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
many mounds under which the bones of the slain were interred. They were probably laid there by friendly hands. Underhill, in the bitter winter season, with his small and exhausted party, and with no im- plements for turning the frozen sod, naturally could not tarry to give burial to five hundred corpses.
Captain John Underhill is an entirely unique figure in early Amer- ican colonial history, both English and Dutch. Although his name, when mentioned apart from any specific connection, is usually asso- ciated with New England, he belongs at least equally to New Nether- land and New York. Indeed, during more than two-thirds of his residence in America he lived within the confines of the present State of New York, where most of his descendants have continued. West- chester County, by his prowess rescued from the anarchy into which it had been thrown by the aboriginal barbarians and established on a secure foundation for practical development, became the home of one of his sons, Nathaniel Underhill, from whom a large and conspicuous family of the county has descended.
The captain sprang from the old Underhill stock of Huningham, in Warwickshire, England. He was born about 1600, and early im- bibed an ardent love of liberty, civic and religious, by his service as a soldier under the illustrious Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, in the Low Countries, where he had for one of his comrades-at-arms the noted Captain Miles Standish. Coming to New England with Gov- ernor Winthrop, he immediately took a prominent place in the Massa- chusetts colony, being appointed one of the first deputies from Boston to the General Court, and one of the earliest officers of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. In the Pequod War (1636-37) he was selected by the governor, Sir Harry Vane (who was his personal friend), to command the colonial troops; and, proceeding to the seat of the disturbances in Connectient, he fought (May 26, 1637) the des- perate and victorious battle of Mystic Hill. In this encounter seven hundred Pequods were arrayed against him, of whom seven were taken prisoners, seven escaped, and the remainder were killed-a record almost identical, it will be noted, with that made at the battle in our Bedford township in 1644. Captain Underhill felt no compune- tions of conscience for the dreadful and almost exterminating de- structiveness of his vietories over the Indians. In his narrative of the Mystie Hill fight, alluding to this feature of the subject, he says: " It may be demanded: Why should you be so furious? Should not Christians have more merey and compassion? But I would refer you to David's war. When a people is grown io such a height of blood and sin against God and man, and all confederates in the ac- tion, then He hath no respect to persons, but harrows and saws them,
16.3
CAPTAIN JOHN UNDERHILL
and puts them to the sword and the most terriblest death that may be. Sometimes the Scripture declareth that women and children must perish with their parents; sometimes the case alters, but we will not dispute it now. We had sufficient light from the Word of God for our proceedings."
Espousing the religious doctrines and personal cause of Anne Hutchinson, Captain Underhill suffered persecution in common with the other Hutchinsonians, and in the fall of 1637, only a few months after his triumphant return from the wars, was disfranchised and forced to leave Massachusetts. Ile went to England the next year, and published a curious book, entitled " News from America; or, A New and Experimental Discoverie of New England: Containing a true relation of their warlike proceedings there, two years last past, with a figure of the Indian Fort, or Palizado. By Capt. John Under- hill, a commander in the warres there." Returning to America, he settled in New Hampshire. Later, he lived in Stamford, Conn., and was a delegate from that town to the General Court at New Haven. From the time that he accepted his commission from the Dutch in their wars with the Indians until his death he lived on Long Island. He first resided at Flushing, and finally made his home at Oyster Bay, where he died July 21, 1672. In 1653 he was active in defending the English colonists of Long Island against the hostilities of the Indians, and in that year he fought his last battle with the savages, at Fort Neck. In 1665 he was a delegate from the Town of Oyster Bay to the assembly held at Hempstead under the call of the first English gov- ernor, Nicolls, by whom he was later appointed under-sheriff of the North Riding of Yorkshire, or Queens County. In 1667 he was pre- sented by the Matinecoc Indians with one hundred and fifty acres of land, to which he gave the name of Kenilworth or Killingworth. portion of this tract is still in the possession of his descendants.
The character and personality of Captain John Underhill have been variously estimated and pictured. No doubt most of our readers are familiar with Whittier's poem, which quite idealizes him:
Goodly and stately and grave to see, Into the clearing's space rode he, With the sun on the hilt of his sword in sheath, And his silver buckles and spurs beneath, And the settlers welcomed him, one and all, From swift Quampeagan to Gonie Fall.
" Tarry with us," the settlers eried, " Thon man of God, as our ruler and guide." And Captain Underhill bowed his head,
" The will of the Lord be done!" he said. And the morrow beheld him sitting down In the ruler's seat in Cocheco town.
104
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
And he judged therein as a just man should; His words were wise and his rule was good; He coveted not his neighbor's land, From the holding of bribes he shook his hand; And through the camps of the heathen ran A wholesome fear of this valiant man.
A man of independent and fearless convictions he unquestionably was, as also of conscientious principles. He was not, however, a typical Puritan hero; and it is not from the gentle and reverent muse of Whittier, which loves to celebrate the grave and stately (but other- wise mostly disagreeable) forefathers of New England, that a faithful idea of the Captain John Underhill of history is to be obtained. His associations during his very brief residence in Massachusetts were certainly not with the representative men of that rigorous and somber order, but with the imaginative, ardent, and sprightly natures, whose presence was felt as a grievous burden upon the theocratic state. He was grimly hated and scornfully expelled from Boston by the Puri- tans, whom he reciprocally despised. In his book he gives decidedly unflattering characterizations of Winthrop and others, showing this animus. Captain Underhill was really a man of high and impetuous spirits, fond of adventure, always seeking military employment, lead- ing a changeful and roving life almost to his last days; yet possessing earnest motives and substantial traits of character, which made him a good and respected citizen, and enabled him to accumulate consid- erable property. But although not a Puritan, his tinal adoption of New Netherland as a place of residence was not from any special liking for the Dutch; in fact, he never was satisfied to live in any of the distinctive Dutch settlements, and, though much inclined to the honors and dignities of public position, never held civie office under the Dutch. During his life on Long Island he made his home among the English colonists, and preserved a firm devotion for English in- terests, which he manifested on several occasions long before the end of Dutch rule, by holding correspondence with the English au- thorities concerning the position of affairs on Long Island.
Soon after Captain Underhill's expedition to Bedford the Indian tribes again sued for peace. " Mamaranack, chief of the Indians re- siding on the Kiektawane or Croton River; Mongockonone, Pappeno- harrow, from the Weckqnaesgeeks and Nochpeems, and the Wap- pings from Stamford, presented themselves, in a few days, at Fort Amsterdam; and having pledged themselves that they would not henceforth commit any injury whatever on the inhabitants of New Netherland, their cattle and houses, nor show themselves, except in a canoe, before Fort Amsterdam, should the Dutch be at war with any of the Manhattan tribes, and having further promised to deliver up
105
DR. ADRIAN VAN DER DONCK
Pacham, the chief of the Tankitekes (who resided in the rear of Sing Sing), peace was concluded between them and the Dutch, who prom- ised, on their part, not to molest them in any way." It appears that this peace was effected through the intervention of Underhill, was unsatisfactory to the Dutch, and proved but a makeshift; for in the fall of 1644 the " Eight Men " wrote as follows to the home office of the West India Company: " A semblance of peace was attempted to be patched up last spring with two or three tribes of savages toward the north by a stranger, whom we, for cause, shall not now name, without one of the company's servants having been present, while our principal enemies have been unmolested. This peace hath borne little fruit for the common advantage and reputation of our lords, etc., for as soon as the savages had stowed away their maize into holes, they began again to murder our people in various directions. They rove in parties continually around day and night on the island of Manhattans, slaying our folks, not a thousand paces from the fort; and 'tis now arrived at such a pass that no one dare move a foot to feteh a stick of firewood without a strong escort."
It was not until the summer of 1645 that a lasting treaty was ar- ranged. On the 30th of August, says O'Callaghan, a number of chiefs representing the warring tribes " seated themselves, silent and grave, in front of Fort Amsterdam, before the director-general and his coun- «il and the whole commonalty; and there, having religiously smoked the great calumet, concluded in the presence of the sun and ocean a solemn and durable peace with the Dutch, which both the contracting parties reciprocally bound themselves honorably and firmly to main- tain and observe." It was stipulated that all cases of injury on either side were to be laid before the respective authorities. No armed Indian was to come within the line of settlement, and no colonist was to visit the Indian villages withont a native to escort him. Hand- some presents were made by Kieft to the chiefs, for the purchase of which, it is said, he was obliged to borrow money from Adrian Van der Donck, at that time sheriff of Rensselaerswyck.
The settlement of the lands beyond the Harlem was not, however, resumed at once. For some time the restoration of the burned farm- honses and ruined fields of Manhattan Island claimed all the energies of the Dutch; and the memories of the dreadful experience of the colonies of Anne Hutchinson and John Throckmorton effectually de- terred other New Englanders from seeking the Vredeland. In 1646, however, two enterprises of great historic interest were undertaken within the limits of our county. One of these was the settlement by Thomas Cornell on Cornell's Neck, whose details we have already narrated. The other was the creation of " Colen Donck," or Donck's
106
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
colony, embracing the country from Spuyten Duyvil Creek northward along the Hudson as far as a little stream called the Amackassin, and reaching inland to the Bronx River, under a patent granted by the Dutch authorities to Adrian Van der Donck.
The exact date of Van der Donck's grant is unknown, and the record of his purchase of the territory from the Indians has not been preserved. The tract constituted a portion of the so-called Keskes- keek region, bought from the natives for the West India Company by Secretary Van Tienhoven, " in consideration of a certain lot of mer- chandise," under date of August 3, 1639. That Van der Donck made substantial recompense to the original owners of the soil is legally established by testimony taken in 1666 before Richard Nicolls, the first English governor of New York, in which it is stated that the Indian proprietors concerned " acknowledged to have sold and received satisfaction of Van der Donck."
Adrian Van der Donck was a gen- tleman by birth, being a native of Breda, Holland. He was educated at the University of Leyden, and studied and practiced law, becoming utriusque juris. In 1641 he accompanied Kiliaen Van Rensselaer to New Netherland, and was installed as schout-fiscaal, or sheriff, of the patroonship of Rens- OLD DUTCH HOUSE. selaerswyck. In this post he con- tinned until the death of the patroon, in 1646. Meantime he had manifested a strong inclination to establish a " colonie " of his own, at Katskill; but as such a proceeding by a sworn officer of an already existing patroonship would have been violative of the company's reg- ulations, he was forced to abandon the project. On October 22, 1645. he married Mary, daughter of the Rev. Francis Doughty, of Long Is- land. Earlier in the same year he loaned money to Director Kieft, a transaction which probably helped to pave the way for the prompt bestowal upon him of landed rights upon the termination of his offi- cial connection with Rensselaerswyck.
In the Dutch grant to Van der Donck, the territory of which he was made patroon was called Nepperhaem, from the Indian name of the stream, the Nepperhan, which empties into the Hudson at Yonk- ers, where stood at that period, and for perhaps a quarter of a century later, the native Village of Nappeckamack (the " Rapid Water Settle- ment "). The whole extensive patroonship, styled at first Colen
107
DR. ADRIAN VAN DER DONCK
Donck, soon came to be known also as " De Jonkheer's land," or " De Jonkheer's," meaning the estate of the jonkheer, or young lord or gentleman, as Van der Donck was called. Hence is derived the name Yonkers, applied from the earliest days of English rule to that entire district, and later conferred upon the township, the village, and the city. To the possibilities of this magnificent but as yet utterly wild property Van der Donck gave a portion of his attention during the three years following the procurement of his patent. In one of his papers he states that before 1649 he built a sawmill on the estate, be- sides laying out a farm and plantation; and that, having chosen Spurten Duyvil as his place of residence, he had begun to build there and to place the soil under cultivation. His sawmill was located at the mouth of the Nepperhan River, and from its presence that stream was called by the Dutch " De Zaag Kill," whence comes its present popular name of the Sawmill River. Van der Donek's plantation, " a flat, with some convenient meadows about it," was located about a mile above Kingsbridge, near where the Van Cortlandt mansion now stands. "On the flat just behind the present grove of locusts, north of the old mill, he built his bouwerie, or farmhouse, with his planting field on the plain, extending to the southerly end of Vault Hill." It is not probable that Van der Donck lived for any considerable time upon his lands in our county. He was a man of prominence in Fort Amsterdam, was its first lawyer, and soon became busied with its local affairs in a public-spirited manner, which led to his embroilment in contentions with the ruling authorities, and, in that connection, to his departure for Europe and protracted absence there.
In the spring of 1649 he was selected a member of the advisory council of the " Nine Men," a body chosen by the popular voice to assist in the general government. In this capacity he at once took strong ground against the tyrannical conduct of the new director, Stuyvesant, and, in behalf of the Nine, drew up a memorial, or re- monstrance, reciting the abuses under which the people of New Neth- erland suffered. Stuyvesant at first treated this action of his coun- cilors with arbitrary vindictiveness, and caused Van der Donck to be arrested and imprisoned. After his release, continuing his course of active protest against misgovernment and oppression, he prepared a second and more elaborate memorial, and, with two others, was dis- patched to Holland by the commonalty to lay the whole subject be- fore the States-General. In this mission he had the moral support of the vice-director under Stuyvesant, Van Dincklagen, who wrote a letter to the States-General promotive of his objects. But upon arriv- ing in the mother country he found himself opposed by the powerful influences of the company, which not only succeeded in defeating the
108
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
principal reforms that he sought to secure, but eventually directed against him the persecution of the government, and prevented him, to his great inconvenience and loss, from returning to New Netherland for fully four years. Yet Van der Donck's earnest and commendable efforts for the public weal were not wholly without result. An act was passed separating the local functions of the principal settlement on Manhattan Island from the general affairs of the province. By this measure the settlement formerly known as Fort Amsterdam be- came an incorporated Dutch city, with the name of New Amsterdam; and thus to the labors of Van der Donck the first municipal organiza- tion of what is now the City of New York is directly traceable. In addition, a final modification of the Charter of Freedoms and Exemp- tions was effected (May 24, 1650), introducing various improvements in its detailed provisions. He even procured the adoption of an order recalling Stuyvesant, which, however, in view of the critical position of political affairs (a war with England being threatened) was never executed.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.