History of the state of New York Vol I, Part 18

Author: Brodhead, John Romeyn, 1814-1873. 4n
Publication date: 1871
Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers
Number of Pages: 844

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* Wassenaar, xii., 37, 38 ; xvi., 13; xviii., 94 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 42, 43, 47, 48 Van der Donck's Map of N. N. ; Deposition of Peter Laurensen, in Deed Book, vii., and in Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 50. Laurensen's deposition was made before Governor Dongan, on the 24th of March, 1685. He says that " he came into this Province a servant to the West India Company, in the year 1628; and in the year 1630 (1631 ?), by order of the West India Company, he, with seven more, were sent in a sloop with hoy saile to Dela ware, where the company had a trading house, with ten or twelve servants belonging to it, which the deponent himself did see there settled. And he further saith, that at his return from Delaware River, the said vessel stopped at the Horekill, where the depo nent did also see a settlement of a brick house, belonging to the West India Company And the deponent further saith, that upon an island near the falls of that river, and near the west side thereof, the said company, some three or four years afore, had a trading house, where there were three or four families of Walloons. The place of their settlement he saw ; and that they had been seated there, he was informed by some of the said Wal- loons themselves, when they were returned from thence."-G. Thomas' W. Jersey, p. 14.

161

WILLIAM VERHULST, DIRECTOR.

once more aroused men of all sects and all opinions to CHAP. V. unite in defense of their Fatherland .*

1625.

The death of James I., which happened about a month 27 March. before that of Maurice, led the government at the Hague Death of

King James and the directors of the West India Company to hope that I. the hostilities, which had just broken out between En- gland and Spain, would be vigorously prosecuted by Charles I., and would assist the military operations of the Accession of Charles

republic against the common enemy. They were not dis- I. appointed. In revenge for the failure of the Prince of Wales's intended marriage with the Infanta, James had been hurried into a war with his former ally. Still fur- ther to humble her, he had, in 1624, entered into a de- fensive alliance, for two years, with the Dutch; and had agreed to allow the States General to levy six thousand men within his kingdom, and at his cost, upon condition that their expenses should be repaid at the conclusion of a peace between the United Provinces and Spain. With- in six months after his accession, Charles I. took a still more decided step. He concluded, at Southampton, a , Sept. treaty with the States General, by which he entered into southamp- Treaty of

ton be- an offensive and defensive alliance with the Dutch, to con- tween the tinue as long as the King of Spain should prosecute his and Dutch. English designs "against the liberty and rights of the United Prov- inces," and occupy the Palatinate with his troops. The allies bound themselves to equip fleets for the purpose of destroying the Spanish commerce in the East and West Indies ; and the treaty expressly stipulated that the ports of the two countries should be reciprocally open to the war and merchant vessels of both parties.t The king, how- ever, accompanied his ratification of the Treaty of South- ampton with a protest that it should not prevent his de- manding proper satisfaction for the injuries which the Dutch were alleged to have done the English at Amboy- na, the year before. A few weeks afterward, Charles dis- 17 October. patched the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Hol-

* Davies, ii., 557, 566.

t Corps. Dip., v., 2, 458, 478 ; Clarendon State Papers, i., 41, 53 ; Aitzema, i., 691, 1226, Lond. Doc., i., 36; Hol. Doc., ix., 292 ; N. Y. Col. MSS., iii., 13.

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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

CHAP. V. land as ambassadors extraordinary to the States General, 1625. charged with instructions to negotiate a still closer alli- ance ; to "remember" the States General " that the only foundation and principal cement of their estate being their unity, they must by all means conserve that;" and to as- sure them of the king's sincere desire to interpose, " by way of mediation, in all differences within their state," and continue in " every office and duty of a good neighbor, friend, and ally."*

Peter Min- uit suc- ceeds Ver- hulst as Director General of

These circumstances favorably affected the rising for- tunes of New Netherland. Great Britain and the United Provinces were now allies. The West India Company, presuming that the same causes that had induced Charles to open his ports to their vessels, and postpone retaliation for the alleged barbarities at Amboyna, would prevent his interfering with their design to found a stable colony in America, immediately commissioned Peter Minuit, of We- sel, to succeed William Verhulst, in the chief command in New Netherland, as its Director General. Minuit left Am- New Neth- sterdam, accordingly, toward the end of December, in the ship " Sea-Mew," Captain Adriaen Joris. The ship sailed 1626. from the Texel on the ninth of January, 1626, and arrived at Manhattan on the fourth of the following May.t

erland. 19 Dec.

4 May. Arrives at Manhattan.

* Rymer Federa, xviii., 77, 209.

t Wassenaar, xii., 39 ; xvi., 13 ; De Laet, App., 4 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 46, 47.

163

PETER MINUIT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

CHAPTER VI.

1626-1629.

THE College of Nineteen of the West India Company, CHAP. VI. immediately on its organization, intrusted, as we have seen, to the Amsterdam Chamber the particular manage- 1626. Provincial ment of its North American Province. Sworn to the govern-

double allegiance which the charter required, Director

ment of jew Neth- erland un- PETER MINUIT, on his arrival at Manhattan, commenced der Peter Minuit. an administration which was to be a faithful reflection of 4 May. the peculiar commercial policy of his immediate princi- pals. Their will, as expressed in instructions, or de- clared in ordinances, was to be the supreme law of New Netherland : in cases not thus specifically provided for, the civil law, and the statutes, edicts, and customs of the Fatherland were to be paramount .*

To assist the director, a council was appointed, which Council. was invested with all local, legislative, judicial, and ex- ecutive powers, subject to the supervision and appellate jurisdiction of the Chamber at Amsterdam. Criminal justice was administered by the council to the extent of fine and imprisonment, but not to the taking away of life. If any person was capitally convicted, " he must be sent, with his sentence, to Holland." Next in authority to the director and council was the chief commissary or "Koopman," who was the book-keeper of the company's affairs, and also acted as Secretary of the Province. Sub- ordinate to these was the "Schout,"# whose responsible Schout.

* Moulton, 369. + Wassenaar, xii., 38 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 43.

# According to Grotius, this term is an abbreviation of "Schuld-rechter," a judge of crimes .- Grotius, Inleydinge, 127 ; Davies, i., 77.

164

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

CHAP. VI. office combined the double duties of Public Procurator 1626. and Sheriff. He was not a member of the council, but their executive officer ; and, besides his other ordinary functions, he was specially charged with the due inspec- tion and enforcement of the revenue regulations of the Colonial Custom-house. During Minuit's direction of af- fairs, his council consisted of Peter Byvelt, Jacob Elbert- sen Wissinck, Jan Janssen Brouwer, Simon Dircksen Pos, and Reynert Harmenssen. The schout, or sheriff, was Jan Lampo, of Cantelberg. Isaac de Rasieres was book- keeper and provincial secretary for about two years, and was then succeeded by Jan van Remund.

Provincial secretary.

Manhattan

Minuit's administration began vigorously. Up to this period, the Dutch had possessed Manhattan Island only by right of first discovery and occupation. It was now determined to superadd a higher title, by purchase from Purchase of the aborigines. As soon as Minuit was installed in his Island from government, he opened negotiations with the savages ; and the aborig- ines. a mutually satisfactory treaty was promptly concluded, by which the entire island of Manhattan, then estimated to contain about twenty-two thousand acres of land, was ceded by the native proprietors, to the Dutch West India Company, " for the value of sixty guilders," or about twenty-four dollars of our present currency .* This event, one of the most interesting in our colonial annals, as well deserves commemoration, as the famous treaty, immortal- ized by painters, poets, and historians, which William 1682. Penn concluded, fifty-six years afterward, under the great elm-tree, with the Indians at Shackamaxon.

A short time after Minuit sailed, another ship, the "Arms of Amsterdam," was dispatched from Holland, having on board Isaac de Rasieres, a protégé of Samuel Blommaert, one of the leading directors of the West India 1626. Company. De Rasieres reached New Netherland in July, and immediately entered on his duties as "opper koop-

27 July.

* Hol. Doc., i., 155 ; Mr. S. Lawrence's Report to the Senate of the State of N. Y., 3d February, 1844, No. 42, p. 4, 5; Mr. G. Folsom's Report to the Senate, 5th May, 1845, No. 111, p. 5, 6.

165

PETER MINUIT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

man," or chief commissary, and secretary of the province CHAP. VI. under Director Minuit .* As yet, no arrangements had been made for a regular clergyman ; but his place was, 1626. to a certain extent, supplied by two "Krank-besocckers," or "consolers of the sick," Sebastian Jansen Krol and Jan Comforters Huyck, whose particular duty it was to read to the peo- of the sick. ple, on Sundays, " some texts out of the Scriptures, to- gether with the Creeds."t François Molemaecker was also employed in building a horse-mill, with a spacious room above to serve for a large congregation ; and a tower was to be added, in which the Spanish bells captured at Porto Rico, the year before, by the West India Company's fleet, were intended to be hung.#

The island of Manhattan having now become, by pur- chase, the private property of the West India Company, no time was lost in providing for its permanent security. A large fort, " with four angles," and to be faced with Fort com- solid stone, was staked out by the engineer, Kryn Fred- Manhattan menced on erycke, on the southern point of the island.§ "This Island. point," suggested De Rasieres, "might, with little trouble, be made a small island, by cutting through Blommaert's valley, so as to afford a haven, winter and summer, for sloops and ships." Its commanding position was well ap- Command- preciated ; and its future destiny prophesied. "It ought, tion of the from its nature, to be a Royal Fort, so that it could be preciated. approached by land only on one side ; as it is a triangle bounded by the two rivers. Three angles are indicated by nature. The most northern is opposite to, and com- mands within the range of a cannon shot, the Great Mau-

ing situa- Battery ap-

* De Rasieres's Letter, in ii. N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii., 343.

t In the Church of Holland, it is the duty of the "Krank-besoeckers," or " Zieken- troosters," to visit and pray with the sick. See also Liturgy of the R. D. Church, part vi. The translation of Wassenaar, in Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 42, erroneously renders " met de gelofsen," " with the comment." The "Geloof"' really means "the Creed ;" which the " voorleezers," or clerks, in the churches in Holland, to this day, read from the " Doop- huysje." or baptistery, under the pulpit. Until a recent period, this custom was kept up in the Reformed Dutch churches in this country.

# Wassenaar, xii., 38; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 42, 43.

§ Wassenaar, xii., 38 ; xvi., 13; Hol. Doc., ii., 370. Moulton, 367, affirms, that the fort " was a mere block-house, surrounded with red-cedar palisades." The circumstance that, in 1790 and 1791, several cedar palisades were dug up under the ruins of the old fort, seems to be the only authority for this statement.

166

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

Houses at Manhattan.

CHAP. VI. ritius River and the land. The southernmost, on the wa- 1626. ter level, commands the channel between Nutten Island and the fort, together with the Hell-gate ; the third point, opposite to Blommaert's valley, commands the low land. The middle, which ought to be left as a landmark, is the height of a hillock above the surrounding land, and should always serve as a Battery, which might command the three points, if the streets should be arranged according- ly."* The"" Comptoir," or counting-house of the compa- ny, was kept in a stone building, thatched with reeds. Some thirty other "ordinary houses," constructed chiefly of the bark of trees, were clustered along the east side of the river, " which runs nearly north and south." Each colonist had his own house. The director and the koop- man and secretary lived together. As soon, however, as the fort should be built, it was intended that all the set- tlers should betake themselves within its walls, so as to be secure from any sudden attack of the savages.t

The fort named sterdam."

In advance of its completion, the post was named "Fort "Fort Am- Amsterdam."# While it was in progress of building, an event occurred which, though its criminal authors may have escaped detection and punishment, was destined to cause much of the misery which afterward visited the province. A Weckquaesgeek Indian, with his nephew, " a small boy," and another savage, came down from the abode of their tribe in West Chester, bringing with them some beaver-skins to barter with the Dutch at the fort. The beaten trail of the savages, coming from the north and east to Manhattan, was along the shore of the East River, · from which, just north of what is now called "Kip's Bay," it diverged to the westward, and passed near the swampy ground forming the "Kolck," or pond of fresh water, until Murder of recently known as the "Collect." When the Indian trad- ing-party reached this pond, they were met by three farm- the Kolek. servants, in the employ of Commander Minuit, who robbed

a Weck- quaesgeek Indian near

* De Rasieres's Letter, in ii. N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii., 345, 346.

t Wassenaar, xii., 38; xvi., 13; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 42, 47.

# Wassenaar, xvi., 13.

167

PETER MINUIT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

the Weckquaesgeek of his peltries, and then murdered CHAP. VI. him. The atrocious deed seems to have remained for a long time unknown to the Dutch authorities ; and its act- 1626. ual perpetrators probably escaped punishment. But the young savage, who witnessed his uncle's murder, vowed that, when he grew up, " he would revenge himself on the Dutch." And, in after years, the duty which Indian jus- tice inexorably imposed was awfully executed .*

Such were the "rude beginnings" of Manhattan. Its first settlers brought with them the characteristics of their Fatherland. " They were as busy and industrious as in Holland." One traded with the natives, southward and northward ; another built houses ; a third cultivated the land. Each farmer had his homestead upon the compa- ny's land, and was also furnished with cows, the milk of which was his own profit.t "The island of the Manha- tas," wrote De Rasieres to his patron Blommaert, " is full Description of trees, and, in the middle, rocky. On the north side, of Manhat- an by De Rasieres. there is good land in two places, where two farmers, each with four horses, would have enough to do, without much clearing or grubbing at first. The grass is good in the forests and valleys ; but when made into hay, it is not so nutritious for the cattle as the hay in Holland, in conse- quence of its wild state ; yet it annually improves by cul- tivation. On the east side there riscs a large level field, of about one hundred and sixty acres, through which runs a very fine fresh stream ;# so that that land can be plow- ed without much clearing. It appears to be good. The six farms, four of which lie along the River Hell-gate, stretching to the south side of the island, have at least one hundred and twenty acres ready to be sown with

* De Vries's Voyages, 164 ; Journal van N. N., Hol. Doc., iii., 105 ; v., 314. The " Versch Water," or Fresh Water, mentioned by De Vries as the scene of this murder, was the large pond formerly about midway between Broadway and Chatham Street, known as "het Kolck," or " the Pond." From this Kolck a stream, over which there was a bridge, near the corner of Chatham and Roosevelt Streets, flowed into the East River. The " Kolck" was afterward Anglicized into " Collect ;" and Judge Benson affirms that, as it collected the waters from the adjacent high grounds, "an etymologist not long since chose to im- agine the true original name to have been an English one."-Memoir, &c., p. 83.

t Wassenaar, xii., 38 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 43.

# The Kolck.

168

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

CHAP VI. winter seed, which, at the most, may have been plowed eight times."*

1626. Affairs at Fort Orange.

While every thing was thus thriving at Manhattan, the settlers at Fort Orange, who, independently of ten or twelve sailors in the company's service, forming the gar- rison, now numbered eight families, were quietly pursu- ing their farming operations, and maintaining the most friendly relations with the neighboring savages. This was the most northern point at which the Hollanders had trad- ed; and Commissary Krieckebeeck, who had now been for three years in command of the post, had hitherto giv- en general satisfaction, both to the colonists and the na- tives. The superintendence of the fur trade, however, aft- er Eelkens's supersedure, was conducted by Peter Barent- sen, who, from time to time, went up the river, and along the coasts to the eastward, visiting all the neighboring wa- ters in his shallops, and bringing back large cargoes to Manhattan. Barentsen soon became very popular among the various savage tribes to the north and east, from the Mohawks and Mahicans to the Wapenoos around Narra- gansett Bay, and "traded with them for peltries in great friendship." The chief of the Sequins, inhabiting the val- ley of the Connecticut, and " to whom all the clans of the north coast were tributary," whom Eelkens had treach- erously imprisoned on board his yacht in 1622, for a long time would have no intercourse with the Dutch. Barent- sen at length succeeded in making a treaty with the chief; who, however, " would trust no one but him."+

An event now occurred which affected very materially the prosperity of the settlement at Fort Orange. The stockaded village of the Mahicans was situated on the east side of the river, nearly opposite the Dutch fort; and a constant intercourse was kept up between the two parties. Since the Treaty at Tawasentha, the Mohawks and Ma- hicans had lived in harmony with each other, and with

* De Rasieres's Letter, in ii. N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii., 345. The name of " Hell-gate," which is now confined to the whirlpool near Hallett's Cove, was, as has been stated (ante, p. 56, note), applied by the Dutch to the East River generally.

+ Wassenaar, xii., 39 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 45.

169

PETER MINUIT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

the Dutch settlers, who had continued to observe a strict CHAP. VI. neutrality. Peace, however, was now interrupted ; and a war party of thic Mahicans crossing the river, asked the Dutch commander to join them, with six of his men, on a hostile expedition against the Mohawks. Krieckcbeeck inconsiderately assenting, accompanied them a few miles into the interior from Fort Orange, where they met the Mohawks, "who fell upon them so vigorously with a dis- charge of arrows," that the whole party was put to flight, and many of them killed. Among the slain were Kriccke- Is slain. becck and three of his men, one of whom, Tymen Bou- wensen, "was caten by the savages after he had been well roasted." The bodies of the commander and his other two men were buried side by side. Three of the party, two of whom were Portuguese, and one a Hollander from Hoorn, escaped. One of the Portuguese was hit in the back by an arrow as he was swimming for his life .* A leg and an arm of the slain were carried home by the vic- torious Mohawks, to be distributed among their wigwams, "as a proof that they had overcome their adversaries."

A few days after this occurrence, Peter Barentsen ar- rived at Fort Orange in his trading shallop. The Mo- hawks immediately justified their conduct. "We have done nothing," said the red men, "against the whitcs- why did they meddle with us ? Had it been otherwise, this, would not have happened from us."t

As there was now no commander at Fort Orange, Di- Barentsen rector Minuit ordered Barentsen to take charge of the post. in his place appointed After a short time, having succeeded in placing affairs there once more upon a good footing with the Mohawks, he was relieved by Sebastian Jansen Krol, one of the " con- Succeeded solers of the sick" at Manhattan ; who, for several years, by Krol. continued in command of Fort Orange, as the company's commissary and "vice-director." Soon afterward, Barcnt- 23 Sept. Barentsen sen embarked for Holland, in the " Arms of Amsterdam," returns to Holland. Captain Adriaen Joris, in charge of a very valuable cargo

* The Mohawks do not appear to have been, as yet, provided with fire-arms.

+ Wassenaar, xii., 38 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 43, 44.

1626. Command- er Kriecke- beeck at- tacks the Mohawks.

170

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

CHAP. VI. of furs and ship timber ; and brought to the Amsterdam

1626. Chamber the interesting intelligence of the purchase of Manhattan Island, and of the diligence and prosperity of the colonists there, "whose wives had borne them chil- dren."*

Colonists removed from Fort Orange to Manhattan

The tragical result of Krieckebeeck's inconsiderate con- duct interrupted for a time the progress of colonization at Fort Orange. Minuit, distrustful of the safety of the set- tlers there, who were so far off from the succor of their countrymen, now directed the eight families to remove, during the course of the year, down the river to Manhat- tan. A garrison of sixteen men only, "without any wom- en," was left at Fort Orange, under the command of Krol, who was assisted by Dirck Cornelissen Duyster, as under commissary.

At the same time, the Walloons at " Verhulsten Island," on the South River, seem to have returned from their lone- ly post, to Manhattan and Long Island. Fort Nassau was also evacuated by its small garrison, which was transfer- red to Manhattan; and, for the sake of economy, a single yacht only was employed in trading in that region. At this early period, the intermediate regions between Man- hattan and the South River were very little known to the colonists. The Indian tribes of New Jersey were in a state of constant enmity, and the inland passage "was seldom made." When the Dutch had occasion to send letters overland, they were dispatched "across the bay," and car- ried forward from tribe to tribe, by different runners, un- less "one among them might happen to be on friendly terms, and might venture to go there." The chief motive for these arrangements was to concentrate as many house- holders as possible at the chief colony on Manhattan, where the natives were "becoming more and more accustomed to the presence of foreigners."+

The Puri- tans at New The Puritan Pilgrims had, meanwhile, been quietly set- Plymouth. tled for five years at New Plymouth. During this period,

* Hol. Doc , i., 155 ; Wassenaar, xii., 39.

t Wassenaar, xii., 38 ; xvi., 13; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 50 ; De Rasieres's Letter, in ii., N. Y. H. S Coll., ii., 344, 345 ; ante, page 160, note.

Verhulsten Island and Fort Nas- sau desert- ed by the Dutch.

171

PETER MINUIT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

their attention had been chiefly confined to the domestic CHAP. VI. concerns of their colony ; and so little were they, at first, aware of the geography of the country directly around 1626. them, that, relying upon the vague reports of the Indians, they supposed New England to be an island .* With Mas- sasoit, the sachem of the Wapanoos, or Wampanoags, around Narragansett Bay, they had early concluded a treaty of friendship. In the spring of 1623, intelligence 1623. reached New Plymouth that a Dutch ship had been driven March. ashore by stress of weather in Narragansett Bay, near the residence of Massasoit, who was, at the same time, rc- ported to be dangerously ill. Governor Bradford accord- ingly determined to send " some acceptable persons" to visit the sachem, as well as "to have some conference with the Dutch, not knowing when we should have so fit an opportunity." Edward Winslow, who had formerly been in Holland, and understood, " in some measure, the Dutch tongue," was therefore selected for the service. But the Dutch ship had, meanwhile, got afloat, and sailed away about two o'clock of the day that Winslow reached the Narragansett Bay; "so that, in that respect," his journey " was frustrate."t

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History of the state of New York Vol I, Part 18

Author: Brodhead, John Romeyn, 1814-1873. 4n Publication date: 1871 Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers Number of Pages: 844

Author: Brodhead, John Romeyn, 1814-1873. 4n
Publication date: 1871
Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers
Number of Pages: 844