USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, 1609-1909 > Part 6
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The Navesinks, the Raritans and the Hackingsacks destroyed plantations west of North River, and killed those in charge of Stoffelsen's plantation at Pavonia; and several of the Long Island tribes attacked the settlements at Gravesend and Mespat. The former was successfully defended by Lady Deborah Moody's party of colonists, but Francis Doughty fled with his peo- ple to New Amsterdam, where he gathered a congregation of his compatriots, being the first English clergyman who officiated on Manhattan Island.
Seven tribes combined for an attack on New Amsterdam, and straggling parties of Indians attacked all but a few bouweries down to Kalck Hoek Pond, murdering many of the settlers. People flocked into Fort Amsterdam and there was much privation and suffering. The Eight Men, to relieve the situ- ation, advised Kieft to take the cargoes and use the crews of two company ships about to sail for Curaçoa loaded with wheat, but he declined to do so; but another recommendation of the Eight Men, that he should hire a hundred and fifty soldiers in New England and draw a bill on the company for their pay, met with more consideration, and Underhill and Allerton were sent to New Haven to arrange the matter. The offer, however, was declined. De Vries, who had been a greater power for good than any other colonist, risked his life once more by going alone to the River Indians to redeem the child of a friend. He felt disheartened over the fact that the situation was such that he could not help the colony, while his own properties had been ruined and wrecked by consecutive raids. He decided to leave the country, going first in September, 1643, to Virginia and thence to Holland. But before he left he
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
told Wilhelm Kieft that vengeance for the murders he had so wantonly com- mitted would yet be visited on his head. He never returned to America.
Soon after the departure of De Vries the Eight Men sent a memorial to the West India Company and to the States-General, in which the destitute and defenseless condition of the colony is set forth in urgent appeal and stating that if assistance should not arrive they would be compelled to betake them- selves "to the English of the East." The town was under martial law, but the force available for the suppression of domestic disorder was not sufficient, and stealing of cattle and other property went on constantly. Vigorous measures were taken against the Indians under the general direction of Councilor La Montagne, who led an expedition to Staten Island and returned with a good supply of corn; and in November he took a force against the Car- narsee Indians, consisting of regulars under Sergeant Cox (as Ensign Van Dyck was nursing a wound in the garrison), of settlers under Joachim Pie- tersen Kuyter, and English under Underwood. Two of the Carnarsee villages (one at Mespat) and one hundred and twenty savages were slain.
No relief came from Holland for the colony, but a ship arrived which was bound for Rensselaerswyck, and a forced levy was made on its cargo, which proved to include shoes and clothing; and guns and ammunition which were not on the ship's manifest were also found and promptly confiscated for the use of the troops. In January a party under Lieutenant Baxter and Sergeant Cox, destroyed two forts of the Weckquaesgecks, and in February, 1644, Cap- tain Underhill and Ensign Van Dyck went on an expedition against the Con- necticut Indians with a force of about one hundred and fifty men, which turned out to be the most important of the war. They landed at Greenwich from three yachts, and after a march through the deep snow over a rocky and difficult way, they came at night upon an Indian fort, which they attacked by moonlight, burning it and killing nearly all its occupants-men, women and children, variously estimated at from five hundred to six hundred. Only eight of the Indians escaped, and not a white man was killed and only fifteen injured. On their return to Fort Amsterdam the victors were received with rejoicing, and the director issued a proclamation of thanksgiving.
The effect of this victory was to cause several of the tribes to make overtures for peace, and with these a treaty was concluded in March, 1644; but there were still parties of Indians who made occasional raids on the island, even in the vicinity of the fort, so a palisade fence was built across the island, nearly corresponding in line with the present Wall Street, in order to keep the remaining cattle from the hands of the savage marauders. Kieft laid an excise duty on liquors and beaver skins to raise revenues; a measure which was very unpopular, as such imposts always are in a bibulous community such as New Amsterdam certainly was in those days.
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THE EIGHT MEN TURN UPON KIEFT
In June, 1644, a substantial addition was made to the population of New Amsterdam. Kieft had previously sent a call for aid to General Pieter Stuy- vesant, governor of the island of Curaçoa. Soon after, there had come to that island nearly two hundred Dutch settlers and soldiers from Brazil, whence they had been driven by the Portuguese. As Director Stuyvesant had at that time as much as he could do to care for his own people, he sent about one hundred and thirty of them on to New Amsterdam. Upon their arrival, on the ship Blue Cock, commanded by Captain Jan de Vries, Kieft decided to honorably discharge the English troops, and to put the Dutch soldiers, about eighty in number, who had come from Curaçoa, into service, billetting them upon the inhabitants of New Amsterdam, and putting the expense of clothing them upon the revenue from the excise.
Kieft and the Eight Men were now on decidedly hostile terms. The lat- ter had acceded, under protest, as a temporary expedient, to the excise, but in August, Kieft continued the excise by edict, without asking consent of the Eight Men; who, with the settlers in general, were loud against the tax, espe- cially those of two guilders per half barrel on beer, two stivers per quart on French wine and four stivers per quart on Spanish wine and brandy. The brewers refused to pay the tax, saying that if they did they would incur the displeasure of the Eight Men and the community. Whereupon Kieft sum- moned them to his court, gave judgment against them, and gave their beer to the soldiers. The Eight Men, because of the reinforcements from Curaçoa, were in favor of vigorous measures against the Indians who were still hostile, but Kieft did nothing. In August, 1644, Cornelis Melyn addressed a petition to the States-General setting forth the deplorable state of affairs, and in Octo- ber the entire Eight Men sent another memorial (written by Andries Hudde, the land surveyor) addressed to the Amsterdam Chamber, which at length discoursed upon all the grievances of the colony, which they laid to Kieft who had not only caused the war and was now permitting it to continue without a move against the savages; they charged him with unlawful taxation, tyranny and autocracy, and declared that he had not called their board of Eight Men together for more than six months, notwithstanding the dangerous straits of the colony. They asked the company to depose Kieft and send a new gover- nor, and to establish a village government in New Amsterdam and other vil- lages that might be established upon the plan and pattern of those in the Fatherland. The Eight signed the memorial.
Before this document was received the company, which had heard from Captain De Vries, from Father Jogues and others about the doings of Kieft, and was especially exercised because its revenues from New Netherland had practically ceased, sent some emphatic messages of reproof and warning, and he was sufficiently impressed to inaugurate measures for the settlement of the 5
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
trouble with the Indians. Seed-time was approaching, and Indians as well as whites desired to have opportunity to make their crops. In April, 1645, the neighboring tribes made a peace pact.
Up to that time, on the authority of the memorial of the Eight Men, Kieft had never but once or twice left the neighborhood of the fort, and had then only gone about half way up Manhattan Island. Following the agree- ment of local peace, however, he went up the river with La Montagne to Fort Orange, where he met representatives of the Mohawks and the Mohegans, who agreed to treaties of peace with the white men, and the Mohawks promised to induce the River tribes, of whom they were overlords, to do the same. Kieft returned to Manhattan and on August 25, 1645, seven sachems appeared at the fort to represent the hostile tribes, and Mohawk ambassadors came as witnesses of the assent of the Iroquois Confederacy. The seven sachems signed for the Indians, and for the white men, Director Kieft, Councilor La Montagne, and Van der Huygens, the schout-fiscal, also the new board of Eight Men, now composed equally of Netherlanders (Stoffelsen, Bout, Gis- bert Op Dyck, and Oloff Stevensen), and of Englishmen (Underhill, Baxter, Rev. Francis Doughty and Richard Smith). Under the treaty bygones were to be bygones, and all future aggressions, on either side, were not to be indi- vidually avenged, but should be referred to the respective rulers; and other stipulations calculated to preserve the peace. Among the stipulations was that the little daughter of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, who had been among the Indians since the massacre, should be delivered at the fort, and a ransom should be paid for her. This stipulation was promptly carried out and the child was sent to Boston.
Following the treaty the bouweries and plantations were again put in cultivation and in September the director bought from the Indians a large tract of land on Long Island stretching from "Coney Island" to Gowanus. A new English colony established itself at Vlissingen (Flushing), the patent running in the names of Thomas Farrington, John Townsend, John Law- rence and others. In February, 1646, Adriaen van der Donck, who had been schout-fiscal at Rennselaerswyck, came to New Amsterdam and secured a patroonship on the Hudson River from Spuyten Duyvel Creek northward. This grant was confirmed by the States-General and the resulting colony was called Donck's Colony. It became known in common speech as the "der Jonk- heer's" land, Jonkheer being an inferior title, a little higher than "heer" or Mr., and about equivalent to the German Freiherr. This designation has been transmuted by evolution into the present name of Yonkers.
The West India Company, loaded with complaints from New Nether- land, could ignore them no longer; so they referred all the papers to a Board of Accounts, whose report condemned Director Kieft, recommended that Lub-
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KIEFT AT WAR WITH THE DOMINE
bertus van Dincklagen, former schout-fiscal of New Netherland under Wouter van Twiller, should be appointed governor; and recommending various reforms in the government, favoring the introduction of a large number of negro slaves, and other changes.
The company chose Pieter Stuyvesant, who had been governor of Cura- çoa, as successor to Governor Kieft, and consoled Lubbertus van Dincklagen, whom the Board of Accounts had recommended, by appointment as vice director, and appointed Henry van Dyck to be schout-fiscal in place of Van Huyghens. Stuyvesant was commissioned in May, 1645, but the instructions given him then were revised in July, when, on Stuyvesant's recommendation, the Dutch West Indies were joined to New Netherland; and so many questions came up that it was the spring of 1647 before Stuyve- sant reached his post. Kieft, notified of the changes, devoted himself first to realizing as much as possible from his extensive proper- ties, and second to making things as unpleasant as possible for his enemies; who for their part, knowing that his tenure was nearing its close, were more outspoken than ever regard- ing the governor.
Domine Bogardus, who had been the minister at Fort Amsterdam ever since his arrival with Governor Van Twiller in April, SEAL OF NEW NETHERLAND 1623-1664 1633, was one of the most vigorous of the opponents and accusers of Governor Kieft. After Kieft became governor, in 1637, Captain De Vries had insisted that a church should be built as a more appropriate place of worship than the loft over the horsemill, and the governor acceded to the idea. Domine Bogardus had a daughter married in 1642, and after the ceremony several rounds of drink were served, the guests, of whom there were many, becoming quite hilarious. The subject of the need of a church came up and Governor Kieft promised a thousand guilders for the company. Captain De Vries subscribed a hundred guilders, and the governor, seeing that the time was propitious, took up subscriptions for the structure, which were very liberal. Many of the sub- scribers wanted to dodge or decrease them afterward, but Kieft made them pay, and the church was built in the fort and occupied, although not finished. After the Pavonia massacre, in 1643, he had denounced the governor's con- duct as murderous, and there had been little intercourse between them. Kieft never attended church and La Montagne, Van Tienhoven, and Oloff Steven- sen, who had been the governor's friends and advisers, as well as Van Huy-
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ghens, the schout-fiscal, were as godless as Kieft. To spite the Domine, Kieft incited soldiers to drum and shout outside the church during service, and finally determined to prosecute him. He charged the Domine with having scattered unchristian abuse and slander against Van Twiller, and since then against many others; that he was given to too much wine, that he had sup- ported the would-be assassin, Maryn Andriaensen, and had generally aided in stirring up mutiny and rebellion and showing contempt and derision of the governor. Kieft, however, was persuaded to drop the prosecution of Bogar- dus; and turned to the harrying of other enemies, among whom Cornelis Melyn and Jochem Pietersen Kuyter, who had declared him responsible for the destruction of their farms, were special objects of his ill will.
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GENERAL PIETER STUYVESANT BECOMES GOVERNOR OF NEW NETHERLAND AND MAINTAINS AUTOCRATIC RULE
Pieter Stuyvesant, or to use the Latinized form generally signed to his official papers, Petrus Stuyvesant, was the son of Rev. Balthazar Stuyvesant, a clergyman in Friesland, where he was born in 1592. He received a college education, then entered the army, serving during the Thirty Years' War in Europe. He afterward fought for the Dutch West India Company in Brazil and was later appointed governor of Curacoa. While serving there he attacked, without success, the Portuguese fort on the Island of St. Martin, the first Portuguese cannon-shot from the fort taking off one of his legs, which one, history does not record. When he came to New Amsterdam he had a silver-trimmed wooden limb in place of that which he had lost. His wife was with him, for he had married, a short time before, Judith Bayard, daughter of a Protestant clergyman. His wife had a brother, Samuel Bayard, who had married Pieter Stuyvesant's sister Anna, and afterward died. The widow accompanied Pieter Stuyvesant to New Amsterdam with her children, Bal- thazar, Peter and Nicholas. who were the progenitors of all the American Bayards.
Besides these members of his family, there embarked on the Princess the new vice director, Dr. Lubbertus van Dincklagen, Hendrick van Dyck, the schout-fiscal, and others, one of whom was William Beekman, who was pro- genitor of the well-known New York family of that name. Accompanying the Princess were the ships Great Gerrit, the Zwol and the Raet, and this little fleet of four vessels captured a Spanish prize on the way. The gov- ernor stopped at Curacoa on the way, and did not arrive at New Amsterdam until May 27, 1647.
The new governor was of a character very much different from his pre- decessor. His private life was reputable, his habits sober, and he wanted to be just, but he was a thorough autocrat; a martinet in discipline, stubborn, opinionated and irascible. He had an exalted opinion of the respect due to those in authority, especially himself, and on the voyage out he had already fallen out with Hendrick van Dyck. When he arrived, the last of the pow- der in the fort was used in firing off a salute in his honor, but when he landed he treated the inhabitants with much pomposity, and as a later complaint of him said he kept some of the principal burghers "standing bareheaded for hours while he remained covered as though he had been the Czar of Muscovy."
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
When Stuyvesant arrived the people assembled, and Wilhelm Kieft resigned the government into the hands of his successor, and made a speech in which he thanked the people for their loyalty; but in reply, instead of words of gratitude or appreciation, some of his auditors, among whom were Jochem Pietersen Kuyter and Cornelis Melyn, told him they had no cause to thank him. Stuyvesant promised to be a father to New Nether- land, and to do equal justice to all.
Stuyvesant's first moves were very displeasing to the people. If it were possible, Cornelis van Tienhoven was more unpopular than Kieft, yet Stuyvesant reappointed Van Tienhoven as secretary, and George Baxter, who had been English secretary for Kieft, was chosen to serve Stuyvesant in the same capacity. He appointed to the council La Montagne, who had been
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A-the fort. B-the church. C-the wind-mill. D-the flag, which is hoisted when vessels arrive in
port. E-the prison. F-the house of the general. G-the place of execution. H-the place of expose or pillory
Kieft's unfaltering backer in all things; Brian Newton, an English soldier, who had been connected with Stuyvesant in the West Indies and had come out with him on the Princess to be chief military officer of New Netherland; and Paulus Leendertsen van der Grist, who had come out as officer of the port; and occasionally Adriaen Keyser, who had come out with Stuyvesant as chief commissary, was invited to the council board. None of these were acceptable to the populace, and particularly was this the case with those who had been the tools of Wilhelm Kieft. Another of that coterie was Jan Jan- sen Dam, who had signed the fraudulent petition which Kieft had used to justify the Indian massacre, who was appointed one of the new churchwardens.
Domine Bogardus, who wanted to go to Holland to tell his side of the disputes which had arisen and to endeavor to satisfy the Classis, resigned
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STUYVESANT APPOINTS HIS COUNCIL
from his pastorate and was succeeded by Domine Backerus, who had been at Curaçoa, but had been brought to New Netherland by Stuyvesant. Domine Backerus was very loath to accept the appointment, because he, too, wanted to go back to Holland. He was not much impressed with his congregation, which numbered one hundred and seventy members who, he said, in his report to the Classis of Amsterdam, were "nearly all very ignorant in religious matters, and much given to drink, to which they are led by the seventeen tap-houses here." This reverend critic is supported by much contemporary testimony as to the bibulous tendencies of New Amsterdam.
Governor Stuyvesant made stringent laws against the sale of intoxicants after nine o'clock on week days, and before two o'clock on Sundays. If there was an afternoon sermon the tap-room might not open until four. He also made stronger the law against the selling of liquors to the Indians; issued an order for the fencing of all farms; made regulations for the fur trade and harbor regulations to prevent smuggling; and he placed an excise on wines and liquors in order to raise money to complete the church and for other public purposes.
Wilhelm Kieft, from the moment of his successor's arrival, had busied himself in the endeavor to curry favor with Stuyvesant, and in this effort was supremely successful. Melyn and Kuyter, in order to secure evidence to back up a complaint which they were preparing for use in Holland, peti- tioned Stuyvesant that the chief officials of Kieft's government should be examined in regard to its conduct, and particularly in relation to the Indian war. Stuyvesant received the petition with disdain, declaring that he had received no instructions to inquire into his predecessor's acts and advising his council that it was treason to petition against magistrates, without regard to the truth of the charges brought. So Kieft made charges against Kuyter and Melyn, and although they put up a strong defense, they were convicted, fined and banished, Melyn for seven years and Kuyter for three years; the vote of the council thus modifying the wish of Stuyvesant to put Melyn to death and confiscate his estate. Melyn declared he would appeal to the States- General; upon which Stuyvesant became much enraged. As they did not depart on the first vessel as ordered, they were sent as prisoners on the Prin- cess, which left for Holland in August, 1647. On the same ship, as chief passenger, was Wilhelm Kieft, the retiring governor, who carried with him a large fortune acquired in various ways, but chiefly from the profits of his still on Staten Island; Domine Bogardus, Van der Huyghens, the former schout-fiscal, and various others of the company's servants whose terms had expired; some returning settlers and the crew, making one hundred and twenty persons in all. There was also a rich cargo, estimated at four hun- dred thousand guilders.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
The ship was navigated with great carelessness, for instead of steer- ing south of Land's End a course was made up the Bristol Channel, in which the ship struck on a rock near Swansea, and eighty-one persons perished, among whom were Kieft, Bogardus, Van der Huygens, and others, includ- ing a son of Cornelis Melyn. Melyn himself, Kuyter and others were saved after struggling in the sea, and after they landed, Melyn and Kuyter spent three days searching and dragging near the beach; they recovered a few of their papers from the sea. By their aid a suspension of the unjust sentence against Melyn and Kuyter was secured, although the matter dragged along wearily. The death of Kieft and Bogardus brought about a summary dis- posal of the charges and countercharges that had been filed with the company ; which, however, in August, 1648, sent to Stuyvesant a communication which ascribed to the people of New Amsterdam the stigma of being "very wild and loose in their morals," and charged the trouble of the colony to the weak- ness of Kieft and neglect of duty by Domine Bogardus.
After Kieft's departure, Stuyvesant set to work in the endeavor to make financial and other arrangements. Money was needed to repair the fort, to finish the church, build a schoolhouse, and for many other purposes. He sent two company vessels on a privateering cruise to the West Indies, but realized that most of the income of the province must come from its inhabitants. His councilors advised him that to secure money from the people he must give them a share in the government. Stuyvesant therefore ordered an election, in which the people should choose a board of eighteen representa- tives. They chose the required number, out of whom the governor selected nine; three to represent the merchants, three the farmers, and three burghers who were neither merchants nor farmers. The nine were all Netherlanders but two, and the merchants were Govert Lockermans, Arnoldus van Har- denbergh, and Augustine Herrman (Bohemian) ; the farmers, Machiel Jan- sen, Jan Evertsen Bout, and Thomas Hall (English) ; while the burghers were Jacobus Wolfertsen van Couwenhoven, Jansen Damen, and Hendrick Hendricksen Kip.
Stuyvesant had no use for a curb on his authority; and in constituting it and defining its powers he placed all possible limitations on the Board of Nine Men. The nine were subdivided into three groups, each consisting of one man from each of the three classes. These groups, in order, were appointed to attend, in rotation, the weekly sessions of the court, and to act as arbitrators in such civil cases as might be referred to them. They were to meet as a body only when legally convened, and then only to discuss and advise such matters as the governor might bring before them; and the gov- ernor himself or some one deputed by him was to preside over their meet- ings. They could hold office until the governor repealed their charter.
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THE NINE MEN MEET IN THE SCHOOL ROOM
In the room where David Provoost conducted his school the Nine Men met in session. Director Stuyvesant was unable to be present because there was at that time an epidemic of influenza (probably of the species which we moderns have named lagrippe), which raged all over New Netherland and New England. The governor had laid certain subjects before the board for consideration, with recommendations. They declined the request for aid in repairing the fort, because, they said, the company had agreed to defend the colonists and the cost of such defence should come from the customs duties, the tolls of the company's gristmill, and the excise duties which had been imposed by the governor. The completion of the church building and the needs of the public school, however, were different matters, for which they were willing to raise part of the cost. They appointed a vendue master to take charge of all public sales, and fire wardens, to whom was given the oversight of all the buildings between the fort and Kalck Hoek Pond; and Adriaen Keyser, commissary for the company, Thomas Hall, Martin Cregier and Joris Wolsey, were appointed as the first members of the fire department of Manhattan, their terms beginning in January, 1648. Ordinances were passed requiring that there should be two church services every Sunday; that owners of town lots who would not improve them should be forced to sell them to those who would; brewers should not retail beer, nor tapsters brew it, and a strict license system was established.
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