USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 21
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The accompanying map is the only plan of the city during the Dutch era which is known to exist. It is presumed that the English officers found it after the capture, and gave to it its present shape, adding the date, 1664. It fell into the British Museum, where it remained in obscurity until a few years since, when it was rescued by George H. Moore, the librarian of the New York Historical Society. The outlines of the streets, though apparently drawn without measurement, seem to follow the proper directions, and the general character of the buildings is given without any special attempt at accuracy. But the map itself is a curious memorial, worthy of tender preservation.
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LONGE . ISLE LAND.
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amon Passage Place
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THE DUKE'S PLAN"
A.DESCRIPTION. OF THE TOWNE OF MANNADOS: :OR.NEW.AMSTERDAM: as it was in September: 1661 ano lying in Lattitude 40 and 40: Anno Domini 1664
Governour's Garden
Hudfons . River
This Scale of Fiue Hondredyeardes is for the Joune:
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200
300 :
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1500
THE . MAINE . LAND
199
THE QUAKERS.
About the time it was issued (1661), a fresh effort was made to assure discontented Puritans and other Englishmen that they would be welcomed and cherished by the Dutch in New Netherland. The States-General caused a proclamation of " conditions and privileges " to be scattered through the British kingdom,1 appended to which was a glowing descrip- tion of the country "only six weeks' sail from Holland, . . . land fertile, ... climate the best in the world ;... seed may be committed to the soil without preparation, ... timber and wild fruit of all descriptions, furs, game, fisheries," etc., etc. The picture was attractive. It enlisted atten- tion in various quarters. Among the first who came to look at the country, with a view to investment and permanent settlement, was Hon. Robert Treat and Hon. Benjamin Fenn, as delegates from New Haven. That little republic was in high dudgeon at the prospect of annexation to Connecticut, and seriously contemplated flying from her impending fate. Stuyvesant courteously entertained the gentlemen at his own house, and took them in his barge to the shores of Newark Bay, where they spent some time in exploration, and finally negotiated terms by which the colony might remove bodily to that desirable locality. Events followed rapidly, however, which induced New Haven to throw herself into the arms of Connecticut for protection.
The invitation to "persons of tender conscience " to come freely into New Netherland, by no means referred to the Quakers. These were still heartlessly persecuted. A Quaker divine having stopped on Long Island, at the residence of Henry Townsend, the fact was soon known among the neighbors. The report reached Stuyvesant that a " conventicle " had actually been held in Mr. Townsend's parlor. Presently, soldiers appeared and arrested Mr. Townsend and all who attended the meeting, and a strong guard was placed over the infected district. Quaker meetings were held secretly in Flushing, the headquarters of the sect being at the house of John Bowne, who was accused and arrested, and, for refusal to pay his fine, shipped to Holland, as a terror to evil-doers. John Tilton and his wife Goodie Tilton, of Gravesend, persisted in their heresies , and were peremptorily ordered to quit the province. These rigorous measures were followed by a proclamation from the governor, forbidding the exercise of any but the Reformed religion "in houses, barns, ships, yachts, woods, or fields," under heavy penalties. The Amsterdam Cham- ber wrote to Stuyvesant shortly after, that, although it was their prefer- ence that " sectarians " should not be found in the province, yet it was not well to check population. " You had better let every one remain free," they said, " as long as he is modest, moderate, his political conduct
1 O'Callaghan, II. 443 - 452.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
irreproachable, and he does not offend others or oppose the govern- ment."
Indian disturbances at the North kept Stuyvesant almost constantly on the wing, passing to and from Albany. In 1662, he met delegates from New England at Fort Orange, and an " accommodation " was effected with the Mohawks and Oneidas by which they liberated a few French and English captives. But Canada was threatened, and the danger was only stayed, not averted.
In 1663, a severe shock of earthquake was felt in New Amsterdam, all along the Hudson River, in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Acadia, 1663. and Canada. It was followed by a terrible freshet, which de- stoyed the harvests in the neighborhood of Fort Orange, and inundated many other portions of the country. Upon the heels of this calamity, the small-pox made its appearance and spread with fearful rapidity.1 The good Puritans of New England declared, that, " the hand of God had gone out against the people of New Netherland by pestilential infec- tions."
In the midst of the panic in New Amsterdam, news came which caused the cheek to blanch and the blood to stand still. A horri- June 7. ble massacre had occurred at Esopus. On the morning of June 7, just after the men had gone to their work in the fields, a large number of Indians sauntered carelessly into the village and tried to sell some beans. Fifteen minutes later, a horseman rode at full speed down the road, shouting that the Indians were setting fire to the houses. Instantly the war-whoop was raised, shots were heard in every direction, and battle- axes and tomahawks flashed in the sunlight. Women and children were butchered in the most shocking manner. Many were left wounded and dying, and forty-five were carried into captivity. The men rallied with desperate energy, and, though poorly armed, succeeded eventually in driving the savages into the woods. But what a sight was there ! Twelve houses in the old, and every house in the new, village were mere heaps of smouldering rubbish; husbands were standing over murdered wives ; and fathers were trying to identify the bodies of children who had been burned alive.
Stuyvesant, having hastily called for volunteers, sent to the relief of the sufferers an armed force, commanded by Martin Cregier and Pieter Van Couwenhoven. They pursued the savages for a long distance through the wilderness, finding a guide in the person of Mrs. Dr. Van Imbroeck, the daughter of Dr. La Montagne, who had been one of the captives on the day of the massacre, but who had escaped from her
1 About one thousand Indians died of small-pox, among the Mohawks alone.
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THE INDIAN WAR OF 1663.
captors and succeeded in finding her way back to the settlement. She conducted the party to the Indian castle where she last saw the warriors ; but it was vacant. After using it as a shelter from a heavy rain-storm, the pursuers went on, through dense forests, over high hills, and across deep rivers, until they overtook the flying foe, and engaged them in a severe battle which resulted in the recovery of twenty-three prisoners. But the war did not end here. Other expeditions were planned and executed, and ancient treaties were renewed with the neighboring tribes. Still there was no peace. Out-settlers hurried to the forts and held regular watch, day and night ; and parties of soldiers scoured the woods all along the Hudson from Rensselaerswick to Manhattan. "Nothing is talked of," said Jeremias Van Rensselaer, in one of his letters, "but the Indians and the war." Late in the autumn, an "armistice " was agreed upon by the Esopus tribes, and all except three of the Oct. 9. prisoners were restored to their friends.
Lord Baltimore, in the mean time, had resorted to various methods to obtain control of the South River territory. His son, Charles Calvert, came over and visited the region, with a suite of twenty-seven persons, and was entertained, during his stay on the South River, by William Beekman, who was governor of the Dutch colony. The latter tried to discuss the matter of boundaries, but the young nobleman maintained an attitude of non-committal, and to all arguments replied that he would communicate with Lord Baltimore. At last, a transfer was made Dec. 3. by the West India Company of all their interests on the South River to the city of Amsterdam. De Hinoyossa was appointed governor by the burgomasters and schepens ; and he soon arrived, accompanied by one hundred colonists. Beekman was made sheriff at Esopus, in which office he continued until the close of Lovelace's administration, when he returned to New York.
The West India Company was at this time laboring under great pecu- niary depression. Its outlay for the province of New Netherland, over and above its receipts, exceeded ten tons of gold; and the province itself was threatened, from the North and the South, by a foreign power. Seeing no hope of obtaining in Europe a settlement of the limits between New Netherland and New England, the directors wrote to Stuyvesant, to see what arrangement he could effect in America. He accordingly made Sept. 6. a journey to Boston, to meet the commissioners who had agreed to the treaty of 1650. He asked them if they considered the agreement still in force. They were evasive. They talked about the king's rights and the Connecticut charter. They suggested that the whole controversy should undergo, a hearing the next year, after advices had been received from
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
England. The Connecticut delegates were triumphant, having obtained delay. Winthrop was able to predict with tolerable accuracy the final action of the English government, while Stuyvesant was perplexed by the extraordinary events which were taking place about him. He pro- posed a continuation of trade, and an alliance offensive and defensive against the savages, which was submitted to the General Courts Sept. 23. of Massachusetts and Connecticut. He returned to New Am- sterdam, much chagrined at the meager result of his mission. On his arrival, he found Long Island in a great ferment. The messenger who had attempted to read to the people of Gravesend an announcement that " they were no longer under the Dutch government, but under that of Connecticut," had been arrested and conveyed to the city. The next night, the sheriff's house had been ransacked by a mob of about one hun- dred and fifty men; he had escaped in the darkness to the house of his son-in-law and from there to New Amsterdam, where he had been Sept. 26. commended for his prompt action by the administration.
Three days later, Sergeant Hubbard was busy getting signatures Sept. 29. to a petition to the General Court at Hartford, in which, after a setting forth of the inconveniences "that doe much trouble us," is the following passage :
" As we ar alruddy according to our best information under the scurts of your patten, so you would be pleased to cast over us the scurts of your government and protecktion."
This was signed by Robert Coe, John Strickland, Zachariah Walker, Thomas Benedict, Thomas Benedict, Jr., and twenty-one others.1 Thomas Benedict2 was one of the bearers of the document to Hartford. He was well known and highly esteemed by Winthrop and his council; indeed, he was considered the main support of the cause of Connecticut on Long
1 Towns and Lands, I. 18, in the Secretary of State's office, Hartford. O'Callaghan, II. 486. Benedict Genealogy, 9-12.
2 Thomas Benedict was from Nottinghamshire, England. He came to New England in 1638, when only twenty-one years of age. He married a young Englishwoman who came over in the same vessel with him. He soon sought the smiling regions of Long Island, and took up his abode at Jamaica. He became a man of distinction among the men of the period. He was a magistrate, the officer of a little train band in the neighborhood, a pillar in the church, the arbitrator of differences between the settlers and the Indians, one of the legislative body to create and codify the system of law on Long Island after its conquest from the Dutch, and, subsequently, a member of the Colonial Assembly. He removed to Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1665, and took an active and prominent part in the affairs of that ancient town. He died at the latter place in 1689. He was the ancestor of a large and influential family, about whom, in every generation since, all sorts of offices in church and state have clustered, and have been honorably and usefully filled. Among the eminent representatives of the family in New York, at the present day, is the Hon. Erastus C. Benedict.
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THE EMBASSY TO CONNECTICUT.
Island. He urged the adoption of measures for the reduction of the Dutch towns.
Stuyvesant sent commissioners at once to Connecticut, to enter, if possible, into some boundary accommodation. The gentlemen chosen for this mission were Secretary Van Ruyven, Burgomaster Oloff S. Van Cortlandt, and John Lawrence. Money was wanted. Indeed, the press- ing necessities of the government induced the governor to draw upon the company for four thousand guilders ; but no one could be found will- ing to cash the draft until he pledged four of the brass guns of the fort as security. The commissioners went in a small vessel to Milford, Oct. 15. and thence on horseback to Hartford. They called upon Win-
throp, who was polite, but not communicative. They made known their errand to the General Court, which appointed a committee to confer with them. They stated their case. The committee sheltered themselves behind the royal patent, and said they knew of no New Netherland prov- ince ! The gentlemen from New Netherland offered to show the charter of the West India Company. The committee said that this was only a charter of commerce, and that its limits were conditional. The retort was, that the right to the territory lay with the States-General, on the ground of discovery, purchase from the Indians, possession, etc. The committee denied that right, and said that it was their duty to make the king's grant known. "How then are we to regard the treaty of 1650 ?" was asked. " As of no force whatever," was the reply.
The commissioners were nonplussed. They began to suspect a " wheel within a wheel "; that the powers beyond the seas were working mischief in some mysterious way ; that bloodshed was lurking at their very doors. To prevent the latter, they resolved to propose that, if Connecticut would refrain from assuming any jurisdiction over the English settlements on Long Island until the king and the States-General should agree on a boun- dary line, New Netherland would abandon all control over Westchester. The Hartford committee declined to agree to this ; but, after a long and excited debate, they offered to refrain for twelve months from exercising authority over the specified Long Island towns, provided the Dutch did not attempt any coercive power over them; but Westchester and Stamford must remain under Connecticut.
The commissioners, upon their return, found Stuyvesant seriously alarmed. "What shall I do ?" he asked in despair. "Our treasury is ex- hausted, Long Island in revolt, and the Esopus war not ended !" Seventy or eighty men had actually been in arms, marching from village to village on Long Island, in some instances changing the names of the places, and threatening the Dutch with extermination. He did not hesitate, but sent 13
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
Vice-Governor De Sille, with a posse of soldiers, to check the rebellion, and wrote to Winthrop, accepting the proposition in regard to a mutual for- bearance of jurisdiction for twelve months. Shortly after, he heard that twenty New-Englanders had gone to the Raritan River, to buy land of the Indians. He sent Martin Cregier, Govert Loockermans, and Jacques Cortelyou, with a few soldiers, in hot haste, to warn the sachems and pre- vent the sale.
" You are a band of traitors, and you act against the government of the state," said Loockermans, with dignity.
"Your government !" was the contemptuous response, "the king's patent is of quite another cast."
On the 2d of November, a convention was summoned which adopted a stern remonstrance, to be forwarded to Holland. It charged the
Nov. 2. responsibility of the disastrous condition of the province upon the West India Company, who seemed to be losing sight altogether of their own best interests. "Why do you not settle the boundary question ?" asked Stuyvesant, in a private letter to the directors. "Why is not your original charter solemnly confirmed by a public act of the States-General under their great seal ? Why are we left to fight your battles without any legal papers or patents by which we can respond to English imper- tinence ? "
In December, Scott returned to America, bearing royal letters, recom- mending him to the New England governments. Connecticut 1664. gave him the powers of a magistrate over Long Island, and Win- throp administered the oath of office. He proceeded to his field, and im- mediately commenced the missionary work of "freeing those who had been enslaved by the cruel and rapacious Dutch." He announced that Long Island was about to be given by the king to his brother the Duke of York, henceforth to be an independent government, and that, until then, he was to act as President. He raised a force of one hundred and Jan. 11. seventy men, to assist in the reduction of the Dutch villages. He proceeded from place to place, haranguing the people, and making unsuc- cessful efforts to establish his authority. In Breuckelen, he was jeered and insulted. In a fit of anger, he struck Martin Cregier's son, a bright boy of thirteen years, over the head with his whip, for refusing to take off his hat to the royal flag.
Stuyvesant sent Van Ruyven, Van Cortlandt, and Cregier to Jamaica to
treat with Scott, and they were coolly informed that " the Duke of Jan. 14. York was soon to possess himself of the whole of New Nether- land "! Upon their return, measures for defense were at once discussed. The city offered to appropriate its revenues towards the expense, and to
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HON. JEREMIAS VAN RENSSELAER.
raise a loan besides. The State government would do what it could, but it was drifting into bankruptcy.
The confusion on Long Island continued, and, at last, Stuyvesant went
S. Wallin
ARST
Portrait of Hon. Jeremias Van Rensselaer.
over to hold a personal interview with Scott. The latter, though a man of much boldness, possessed little principle. He had been March 3.
an officer in the army of Charles I., but was arrested for cut- ting the girths of some of the Parliamentary horses, and was not only fined £500, but also banished to New England. Stuyvesant was at- tended by Van Cortlandt, John Lawrence, Jacob Backer, and a military escort. Scott was surrounded by delegates from some of the English
1
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
towns, among whom were Daniel Denton, John Underhill, and Adam Mott. The result was only a conditional arrangement, by which the principal English towns on Long Island were to remain under the king without molestation for twelve months, to afford opportunity for settle- ment in Europe.
By request of the burgomasters and schepens of New Amsterdam, a Landtdag, or Diet, was called, which assembled in the City Hall April 10. on the 10th of April, for the purpose of taking into consideration the precarious condition of the province, The delegates from New Amsterdam were Burgomaster Cornelis Steenwyck and Schepen Jacob Backer ; from Rensselaerswick, Director Jeremias Van Rensselaer and Attorney Van Schelluyne; from Fort Orange, Jan Verbeck and Gerrit Van Slechtenhorst ; from Breuckelen, William Bredenbent and Albert Cornelis Wantenaar; from Flatbush, Jan Strycker and William Guil- liams ; from Esopus, Thomas Chambers and Dr. Van Imbroeck ; from Flatlands, Elbert Elbertsen and Coert Stevensen; from New Utrecht, David Jochemsen and Cornelis Beekman ; from Boswyck, Jan Van Cleef and Guisbert Teunissen; from New Haerlem, Daniel Terneur and Jo- hannes Verveeler ; from Bergen, Englebert Steenhuysen and Herman Smeeman ; from Staten Island, David De Marest and Pierre Billou.
The first question which agitated this august assemblage was that of the presidency. New Amsterdam claimed the honor, as the capital ; Rensselaerswick, as the oldest colony. The right of the latter was finally admitted, and Hon. Jeremias Van Rensselaer took the chair. The convention next demanded protection of the government against both April 11. barbarian and civilized foes ; and, if such protection could not be afforded, it desired to be informed " to whom the people should
address themselves." Stuyvesant answered, with dignity and subtle
sarcasm, that he had done all and more than his means per- Jeremias, Dan Rinsflair mitted, and that the object of the conven- tion was to consult, and not to dispute, Autograph of Jeremias Van Rensselaer. as to the best method of raising men and money to meet the emergency. The delegates apologized, saying, they wished only to know whether their application
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THE CONVENTION OF 1664.
should be addressed to the West India Company or the States-General. Stuyvesant accepted the explanation, and proceeded to define the busi- ness before the gentlemen assembled. He said New Netherland had never contributed to her own support or defense. He proposed a tax on mills and cattle, and the enrollment of every sixth man in the province on the militia. To this the convention would not assent, but prepared an appeal to the company for the necessary aid.
Before it was sent, a vessel arrived, bringing letters from Europe. Stuyvesant was informed that soldiers were on the way from Holland ; and he was instructed to exterminate the Esopus Indians, and to check the arrogance of the English on Long Island. The States-General had actually issued under their great seal a patent confirming the charter of the West India Company, - an important movement, had it come a little earlier. The convention, which had adjourned for a week, came April 22. together once more. But it was not in favor of an attempt to re-
duce the English towns. "Let me assure you," said Cornelis Beekman, " that the English rebels are as six to one, and that it would be impossible to subdue them. Connecticut would come to their help and massacre us all."
As for the Indians, they were apparently humbled. Three sachems were, at that moment, in New Amsterdam suing for peace. It was wise to treat with them. The result was a general treaty, concluded in the Council Chamber on the 15th of May. There were present a May 15. large number of chiefs ; Governor Stuyvesant, in full robes of state, with Vice-Governor De Sille at his right hand ; Abraham Wilmerdoncx, Jr., of the West India Company ; Thomas Chambers, of Esopus ; and, of the city magistrates, Cornelis Steenwyck, Paulus Van der Grist, Martin Cregier, Govert Loockermans, Jacob Backer, and Pieter Van Couwenhoven. Sarah, the wife of Dr. Hans Kiersted, acted as interpreter. She was the daughter of the celebrated Anetje Jans Bogardus, and was a woman of unusual nerve and strength of character. On many previous occasions, she had filled the office of interpreter with great satisfaction to the sachems, one of whom made her a present of a large tract of land, near the Hackinsack River.1
While the people of New Amsterdam were thus engaged, Connecticut had reached across the Sound and spoiled the ambitious projects of President Scott, who was carried to Hartford and imprisoned. Shortly after, when Stuyvesant's messengers went through the Long Island towns
1 After the death of Mrs. Sarah Kiersted, Dr. Kiersted married Jannetje Loockermans, who died about 1710. Dr. Kiersted left five children, whose descendants are numerous and influential at the present day.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
with mandatory letters from the States-General, they were forbidden to read them, and the documents were seized and sent to Hartford. Win- throp questioned their authenticity. At all events, he was fortified by the king's patent. About the same time, he authorized Thomas Pell to trade with the Indians for all the land between Westchester and the North River, including Spuyten Duyvel Creek, which the Dutch had bought and paid for, fifteen years before.
Early in June, news came to the city that Winthrop was at Gravesend, and Stuyvesant, accompanied by Secretary Van Ruyven and sev-
June. eral other prominent gentlemen, went over to meet him. Win- throp was very courtly and cold, and insisted that the English title was indisputable ; so that the interview was without any favorable results.
Meanwhile, in spite of treaties and at the risk of war, Charles and his ministers had resolved to seize New Netherland. The first important step was to purchase Lord Stirling's interest in Long Island, for which Clarendon agreed to pay three thousand five hundred pounds, in behalf of his son-in-law, James, Duke of York. He then hastened to affix the great seal to a patent, by which the king granted to the Duke of York " the territory comprehending Long Island and the islands in the neigh- borhood, and all the lands and rivers from the west side of the Connecti- cut River to the east side of Delaware Bay." This included the whole of New Netherland, and was in utter disregard of the Connecticut Charter.
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