USA > New York > History of the state of New York Vol I > Part 24
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with the had come to make a lasting peace ; and a present of ten beaver skins, each accompanied with Indian ceremony,
P
226
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. VIII. ratified their formal treaty with the Dutch. After obtain-
1633. ing a small supply of beans and corn, and purchasing some
13 January. beaver skins, De Vries returned to his ship off Swaan- endael .*
18 January. De Vries revisits Fort Nas- sau.
3 Feb.
20 Feb.
A few days afterward, the yacht again ascended the river. After remaining a fortnight frozen up in "Vine- yard Creek," the beautiful banks of which abounded in wild grape-vines, and shooting multitudes of wild turkeys, " weighing from thirty to thirty-six pounds," De Vries at length reached Fort Nassau once more. But the Minquas were now at war with the Sankitans, and no provisions could be obtained. So making the best of her way through the floating ice, the yacht rejoined the ship, whose crew were overjoyed to meet once more their adventurous com- rades. De Vries now resolved to go for supplies to Vir- ginia, where he thought that corn could be more readily obtained than at Fort Amsterdam. Supposing that no Dutch vessel from New Netherland had yet gone to the Chesapeake, the patroon was ambitious to be " the first Hollander from this quarter to visit that region."+
5 March. Sails for Virginia.
8 March.
11 March. Reception or Harvey.
In three days, De Vries reached Cape Henry. As he sailed up the James River, he saw, every where, beautiful gardens stocked with Provence roses, and apple, and cher- ry, and pear, and peach trees, blossoming around the houses. Arrived at Jamestown, he was welcomed by Sir John Har- by Govern- vey, the governor, who came down to the beach, attended by a guard of halberdiers and musketeers. . " Whence come you ?" was the friendly challenge. "From the South Bay of New Netherland," the prompt reply. "How far is that from our Bay ?" demanded the governor. "About ninety miles," replied the Dutch patroon. Inviting De Vries into his house, and pledging him in a "Venice glass of sack," Harvey produced an English chart, on which he pointed out the South Bay, " named by them my Lord
* De Vries, 101-104.
t De Vries, 104-107. May, however, had visited Jamestown in 1620 (ante, p. 97) ; and it seems, from an entry in Winthrop's journal, that in the month of April, 1632, a Dutch ship arrived at Boston from Virginia, bringing two thousand bushels of corn, which were sold at four and sixpence a bushel .- Winthrop, i., 73.
227
WOUTER VAN TWILLER, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
Delaware's Bay." Some years before, explained the gov- CHAP. VIII. ernor, Lord Delaware had been driven into this bay by foul weather, but, finding it full of shoals, had supposed 1633. it unnavigable ; and therefore they had not looked after it since .* " Yet it is our king's land, and not New Neth- Harvey's erland," insisted the loyal knight. De Vries replied, that ing. frank bear- the South River was a beautiful stream, into which no Englishman had been for ten years; and that, several years before, the Dutch had built a fort there, which they called Fort Nassau. Harvey was surprised to hear that he could have had such neighbors without knowing it. He had, indeed, heard that the Dutch had a fort upon " Hudson's River, as the English called it;"t and only in the previous September, he had sent a sloop, with sev- en or eight men, to Delaware Bay, " to see whether there was a river there." But they had not yet returned ; "he did not know whether the sea had swallowed them up or not." De Vries then told Harvey of the savages he had seen in the South River, wearing English jackets, and re- lated what he had heard of the tragical fate of the sloop's company. "There are lands enough-we should be good neighbors with each other," said. the honest knight ; add- ing expressively, "you will have no trouble from us-if only those of New England do not approach too near you, and dwell at a distance from you."#
Thus a pleasant intercourse was opened between the Intercourse Dutch and their English neighbors in Virginia. Harvey's the Dutch between genial frankness, on his first interview with De Vries, con- Virginians. and the trasts significantly with Bradford's querulous pertinacity six years before. The Virginia governor's warning was prophetie. From "those of New England" came encroach- ment and annoyance; until, in the end, the coveted pos- sessions of the Dutch in New Netherland were seized by an overwhelming British foree. The open-hearted cava-
* See note D, Appendix.
t This seems to sustain Chalmers's position (p. 229), that by the phrase "the adjoining plantations of the Dutch," in Clayborne's trading license of 18th March, 1632 (N. S.), Har- vey meant the settlements on the North or Hudson River only. Moulton (p. 412) and Bancroft (ii., p. 281), however, seem to suppose that Harvey referred to De Vries's colony at Swaanendael.
+ De Vries, 110.
228
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. VIII. liers of the " Old Dominion," though they did not fail to 1633. insist upon the paramount English title to Delaware Bay, were always more amiably disposed toward the Holland- ers on the North River, than were those austere neighbors who soon began to people the valley of the Connecticut, and push their thriving villages west and south. It was only natural that the New Netherland Dutch, on their part, should have regarded the inhabitants of Virginia with much more kindliness than they did the colonists of New England .*
18 March.
De Vries returns to the South River. 29 March.
14 April.
After a week's sojourn at Jamestown, De Vries took leave of the hospitable Harvey, who, understanding that "there were no goats at Fort Amsterdam," sent several on board the yacht, as a present to the governor of New Neth- erland. Returning to Swaanendael with a welcome sup- ply of provisions, De Vries found that his ship had, mean- while, taken a few whales. But he was now satisfied that the fishery could not be prosecuted to advantage; and preparations were, therefore, made for a final departure from the South River. Once more Swaanendael was aban- doned to its aboriginal lords ; and, for a space, European colonization paused in its progress on the banks of the Delaware.
16 April. Arrives at Manhatta
Wishing to explore the coast, De Vries embarked in his yacht; and after a pleasant voyage of two days, arrived before Fort Amsterdam.t Here was lying at anchor, with her prize, the ship Soutberg, in which Van Twiller had just come out from Holland. De Vries immediately land- ing, was welcomed by the new director, to whom he re- ported his disappointment in the whale-fishery on the South River, and intimated his purpose to leave his large ship at anchor near Sandy Hook, and dispatch his yacht, as soon as possible, to trade in New England and Canada.#
* N. Y. H. S. Coll., i. (N. S.), p. 274.
t De Vries, 111-113. The journal speaks of his visiting "Eyer Haven," or Egg Har- bor, and of his anchoring in a fog, on the 15th of April, off " Barende-gat," or Breaker's Inlet, where, in two hours, he took upward of eighty codfish, which were "better than those of Newfoundland." These names, to this day, commemorate, in the vernacular of Holland, the early exploration of the coasts of New Jersey by Dutch navigators. # De Vries, 113.
229
WOUTER VAN TWILLER, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
A few days afterward, the " William," a London vessel, CHAP. VIII. arrived at Fort Amsterdam from New Plymouth, whither she had been dispatched to set up a fishery, and " so to 1633. 18 April. The En- glish ship William arrives at go to trade at Hudson's River."* The supercargo, or " Koopman," on board this vessel was Jacob Eelkens, the former commissary at Fort Orange, whom the West India Manhattan. Company had superseded in 1623. After his dismission by the Dutch, he went to England, and was engaged by some London merchants to manage for them an adventure in the peltry trade in New Netherland. Thoroughly in the interest of his English employers, Eelkens now wished to go up the river, and traffie in the neighborhood of his old habitation. But Van Twiller, learning his purpose, demanded his commission, which Eelkens refused to pro- duce. He was now, he said, in English service; and New Netherland itself was British territory, discovered by Hudson, an Englishman. This claim of sovereignty was promptly repelled by the director and his couneil. Hud- son, they admitted, had discovered the river ; but the dis- covery was made in the service, and at the cost, of the East India Company at Amsterdam ; and no English col- onists had ever been settled in the country. The river it- self was named " Mauritius River, after our Prince of Orange."
Eelkens, intent to accomplish his object, informed Van 17 April. Twiller, after a few days, that he would go up the river, if it eost him his life. The director peremptorily refused his assent, and ordered the Orange flag to be run up at Fort Amsterdam, and a salute of three guns to be fired in honor of the Prinee. Eelkens, on his part, caused the En- glish flag to be displayed on board the William, and a sim- ilar salute to be fired in honor of King Charles. After lin- Sails up to gering a week before Fort Amsterdam, and failing to re- ange. Fort Or- 24 April. ceive a license, the ship weighed anehor, and boldly sailed up to Fort Orange. The "William," of London, was the first British vessel that ever ascended the North River.
Enraged at this audacity, Van Twiller collected all the
* Winthrop, i., 100.
230
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1633. Van Twil- ler's absu conduct.
CHAP. VIII. people in the fort before his door, and, broaching a cask of wine, filled a bumper, calling on those who loved the Prince of Orange and himself to imitate him, and " assist in protecting him from the violence which the Englishman had committed." But the ship was already out of sight, sailing up the river ; and the people all began to laugh at their pusillanimous director. De Vries, dining with Van Twiller the same day, told him bluntly that he had "com- mitted great folly." The Englishman had no commission, but only a custom-house clearance to sail to New En- gland, and not to New Netherland. "If it had been my case," said the mortified patroon, " I should have helped him from the fort to some eight-pound iron beans, and have prevented him from going up the river." The En- glish " are of so haughty a nature, that they think every thing belongs to them." "I should send the ship Sout- berg after him, and drive him out of the river."*
A Dutch force dis- patched to Fort Or- ange.
The counsels of the energetic East India captain at last aroused Van Twiller to action. A few days after- ward, some soldiers, and "a pinnace, a caravel, and a hoy," were dispatched to Fort Orange, with a. protest against the intruders, and an order for their departure. In the mean time, Eelkens had pitched a tent about a mile below the fort, and, for a fortnight, had been carry- ing on a lucrative trade with the Indians, with whose lan- guage and habits his former residence had made him fa- miliar. Houten, the commissary at Fort Orange, had also set up a rival tent beside that of Eelkens, and used every exertion to hinder his trade. When the little fleet ar- rived at the encampment, the intruders were ordered to retire. Eelkens still persisting, his tent was struck, and his goods reshipped by the Dutch soldiers, who, as they were thus engaged, " sounded their trumpet in the boat The "Will- in disgrace of the English." The anchor was weighed at iam" brought down to Manhattar
May.
once, and the ship, accompanied by the Dutch vessels, was taken down to Fort Amsterdam. Here the director re- quired from Eelkens a list of his peltries. This was fur-
* De Vries, 113, 114; Hol. Doc., ii., 81-85.
231
WOUTER VAN TWILLER, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
nished ; but Van Twiller forbade any of the people at Man- CHAP. VIII. hattan, "on pain of death and loss of all their wages," to sign any certificates respecting Eelkens's treatment. Im- 1633. Forced to mediately afterward, the " William" was convoyed to sea ; sea. and her supercargo returned to London, entirely foiled in his purpose of interfering with the Dutch fur trade on the North River, the annual returns from which were now es- timated at about sixteen thousand beaver skins .*
Eelkens's intrusive visit, besides damaging the fur trade of the Dutch, did them a much more serious injury. The friendly relations of the Hollanders with the Indians were Hostility of for awhile interrupted, and "the injurious seed of discord" the Indians toward the Dutch at Fort Or- was sown between them. Peace was not fully restored, until many " serious mischiefs" had been effected by the ange. savages, and the colonists at Fort Orange had lost several " men and eattle."+
Van Twiller soon had another opportunity to enforce the trading monopoly of his immediate superiors. Before re- Van Twil- turning with his large ship to Holland, De Vries wished ous con- ler's vexa- to send his yacht, the Squirrel, through Hell-gate, "toward ward De duct to- the north," to trade along the coasts. The director, how- Vries. ever, refused his assent, and ordered a lighter alongside, 20 May. to unload the yacht of her ballast; to which her owner demurred, and produced his "exemptions" as a patroon. Van Twiller, however, insisted that "all princes and po- tentates" were accustomed to search vessels, and that it was his duty to see whether there was any thing on board the yacht subject to the company's tax. He then ordered the guns of Fort Amsterdam to be trained on the Squirrel. Seeing this, De Vries ran to the angle of the fort, where stood the director, with the secretary, and one or two of the council. " The land is full of fools," exelaimed the in- dignant patroon ; " if you want to shoot, why did you not shoot at the Englishman who violated your river against your will ?" Upon this, "they let their shooting stand ;" and the Squirrel sailed through Hell-gate, followed by a
* Hol. Doc., ii., 51-58 ; O'Call., i., 145, 146.
+ Hol. Doc., ii., 140-143.
232
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. VIII. yacht, which Van Twiller dispatched from Manhattan to watch her movements.
1633.
Arendt Corssen appointed commissa- ry on the South Riv- er.
The accounts which De Vries brought from the South River indicated the necessity of prompt measures to se- cure the fur trade and possession of the West India Com- pany there, especially as Fort Nassau had now been, for some time, deserted by the Dutch. Arendt Corssen was accordingly appointed commissary, and was instructed to purchase a tract of land on the Schuylkill, which, "for its fitness and handsome situation, as well in regard of trade as of culture," was held in high estimation. The beaver trade with the Minquas and the " wild Indians" could be carried on very briskly at that point, and would " amount Purchases a tract on to thousands" annually. In the course of this year, Cors- the Schuyl- sen succeeded in purchasing, " for certain cargoes," from " the right owners and Indian chiefs," a tract of land call- ed " Armenveruis," lying about and on the Schuylkill. The Indian title being thus secured, formal possession of Pennsylvania was taken by the Dutch, who erected a trading-house there ; and afterward a more considerable post, to which they gave the name of "Fort Beversrede."*
kill.
Affairs on the Connec- The Dutch, who were the only Europeans that had thus ticut River. far actually occupied any part of the present territory of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, were now to assert, against a pertinacious rival, their right to the possession of Connecticut, which, from the time of Block's exploration, and long " before any English had dreamed of going there," they had constantly visited, and where they had carried on an exclusive and lucrative trade. When the remnant of the Mahicans opposite Fort 1628. Orange, who had been subdued by the Mohawks, were ex- pelled from their ancient abode, they settled themselves on the Fresh River, "called Connittecock by the natives," under the sachem Sequeen, who claimed the aboriginal ownership of "the whole river, and the lands thereabouts." It was a beautiful flat country, "subject in the spring to
* Hol. Doc. viii., 35, 55 ; Hudde's Report, in Alb. Rec., xvii., and in ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 429, 440 ; O'Call., i., 156 ; ii., 81, 581 ; Hazard, Ann. Penn., 35, 77, 78 ; De Vries, 102, 103, 104 ; post, p. 483, 485.
233
WOUTER VAN TWILLER, DIRECTOR GENERAL ..
inundations like those of the Nile." But constant ques- CHAP. VIII. tions of jurisdiction arose between Sequeen and the Pe- quods, who, under Meautinay, their chief, inhabited the 1628. regions east of the river, as far as the Narragansett coun- try. It was, therefore, agreed that their differenecs should The Pe- be settled by arms, "upon condition that the winner should quods vic- torious. always, for himself and his successors, remain the true owner of the Fresh River." After three different battles in the open field, Meautinay obtained " the victory and the land ;" and so defeated and humbled Sequeen, that he " bceame subject to the Pequods." With the consent of the victors, Sequeen placed himself, and the remnant of his tribe, " under the protection of the Netherlanders."*
From that moment, the relations between the Dutch and the tribes on the Connecticut became still more inti- mate. The fur trade was carried on briskly, and to mu- tual satisfaction. But the humbled warriors panted to be revenged. The poliey of the Duteh avoided any interfer- ence in the quarrel ; and, in hopes of engaging the recent- ly-arrived English on his side, Wahginnacut, the sachem of the expelled Mahicans, made a journey to Boston, as 1631. we have seen, " to extol the fertility of his country, and i's April. solieit an English plantation as a bulwark against the Pe- quods." But neither Massachusetts nor New Plymouth would then become parties to the Indian strife ; nor were any steps taken by the English to plant a settlement ; though Edward Winslow visited the river the next year, 1632. and selected a site for a house. The Dutch remained in quiet possession of their valuable trade; but before the recall of Minuit, no purchases of lands had been made, nor had any patroonships been erected, under the charter of 1629, in any part of the Connecticut valley.t
While detained in England by the negotiations for the release of the Eendragt, the reealled director probably be-
* Hol. Doc., vii., 70-88 ; Beverninck, 607; Wassenaar, xvi., 13 ; Benson's Memoir, 86. The meaning of the Indian name "Connecticoota," is the "Long River." Sequeen is stated to have been the Sagamore of Pyquang, or Wethersfield, and to have been under Sowheag, the great sachem at Mattabesick, or Middletown .- Trumbull, i., 40, 41.
t Winthrop, i., 52 ; Bancroft, i., 361 ; Hutchinson, i., 148 ; ante, p. 207, 210.
234
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. VIII. came aware of the grant of Connecticut, which the Earl 1632. The West pany pur- chases lands of the Connecti- cut Indian of Warwick had just sealed. , The West India Company now perceived that their title to that part of New Neth- India Com- erland would be " sharply contested" by the English. It was, therefore, thought expedient that, to their existing rights by discovery and exclusive visitation, should be added the more definite title, by purchase from the ab- origines. In the course of the following ,summer, the Dutch traders on the Connecticut were accordingly di- rected to arrange with the native Indians for the purchase of " most all the lands on both sides of the river." This was accomplished ; and " Hans den Sluys, an officer of the company," also purchased, at the same time, the " Kievit's Hoeck," afterward called Saybrook Point, at the mouth of the Connecticut, where the arms of the States General were "affixed to a tree in token of pos- session."*
1633.
Commis ry Van Curler sent to the Fresh River.
8 June.
One of the most important duties of the new director was to secure the West India Company's title to Eastern New Netherland ; and Van Twiller, soon after his arrival at Manhattan, dispatched Jacob van Curler, one of his commissaries, with six others, to finish the long-projected fort on the Connecticut River, and obtain a formal Indian deed for the tracts of land formerly selected. The trading- house which had been projected in 1623, and " had been a long time in esse," was now commenced on the west bank of the river, about the site of the present town of Hartford. In a few days, Van Curler agreed with the Sachem Tattoepan, the "owner of the Fresh River of New Netherland," for the purchase of the " flat land ex- tending about three miles down along the river to the next little stream, and again upward, a musket-shot over the kill, being one mile broad to the heights." The pur- chase was made " with the free will and consent of the inhabitants there," upon condition that the ceded territo- ry, "named Sicajoock," should always be a neutral ground, * Hol. Doc., iv., 71, 110 ; Vertoogh van N. N., in ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii., p. 276, 277. The Kievit is a bird commonly known as the "Pewit." In Holland, its eggs are con. sidered a great delicacy in the spring.
Purchases land.
235
WOUTER VAN TWILLER, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
where all the tribes might resort for purposes of trade, and CHAP. VIII. where no wars should ever be waged. With the consent of the Pequod sachem Magaritinne, "chief of Sloup's Bay," 1633. it was also arranged that Sequcen should thereafter live with the Dutch. This land " was bought from the Pe- quods as conquerors, with the good-will and assent of Se- queen."*
Thus the Dutch West India Company obtained the In- dian title to the territory on the Connecticut River, of the whole of which they " had previously taken possession." The purchase was made of the natives, who " declared themselves the rightful owners ;" Lord Warwiek's grantees had, as yet, done nothing toward the occupation of the re- gions which they claimed ; and the people of New Plym- outh had made no attempt to plant a settlement in a re- gion which they knew was beyond the limits of their pat- cnt. Van Curler, the Dutch commissary, soon completed a Van Curler redoubt " upon the flat land on the edge of the river, with completes ort " Good Hope." a creek emptying at the side." The little post was fortified with two small cannon, and named the "Good Hope."t
Van Twiller had an early opportunity to aequaint the West India Company with his proceedings. De Vries be- June. ing about to sail for Holland, eame up from his ship at Sandy Hook, to take leave of the director, and receive his
* Hol. Doc., ix., 187, 189 ; Hazard, ii., 262, 263 ; N. Y, H. S. Coll., i., 271, 272 ; O'Call., i., 150, 151 ; Verbael van Beverninck, 607. The Sachem Tattoepan, of whom Van Curler made the purchase, is called, by Winslow, " Tatobum, whose title to the river was by conquest."-Morton's Mem., App., 396. It seems that a few years afterward, when the Pequods had been exterminated, Sequasson, the son of Sequeen, was induced to make the following declaration before the Hartford authorities : " 1640, 2d July, Saqueston testifies in court that he never sold any ground to the Dutch, neither was at any time conquered by the Pequods, nor paid any tribute to them."-J. H. Trumbull's Colonial Records of Connecticut, 56.
t De Vries, 150 ; Hol. Doc., ii , 368 ; Alb. Rec., xviii., 289 ; Hazard, ii., 268. " In 1819," says Dr. Holmes, the annalist, "I went with Mr. Perkins, of Hartford, to see the remains of this Dutch fort, which were then distinctly visible on the bank of the Connecticut River, not far below the seat of the Wyllys family. There were some decayed pieces of timber and bricks."-Holmes, Am. Ann., i., 219, note. The point where the " Little River," which now runs through Hartford, empties into the Connecticut, is still known as " Dutch Point." On a map of Hartford in 1640, recently prepared by W. S. Porter, " surveyor and antiqua- rian," the meadow on the south of the Little River is also marked as " Dutchman's land." The Fort " Hope" was built at the northernmost point of this south meadow. Mr. J. H. Trumbull, the able compiler of that excellent work, the " Public Records of Connecticut," informs me, that the ruins of the old fort have been traced by persons now living ; and that several of the yellow Dutch bricks used in its construction are still preserved by res- idents in Hartford.
236
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1633. Van Twil- ler repeats his vexa- tious con- duet to- ward De Vries.
CHAP. VIII. dispatches. But Van Twiller, renewing his " vexatious conduct," objected to the sailing of the ship until she had been visited by the officers of Fort Amsterdam. This De Vries refused to allow. "I am going," said he, " to the Fatherland ; if you wish to prepare letters, you can send them after me; I shall return with my boat." The di- rector immediately dispatched a dozen musketeers down to the beach, to prevent his departure ; but the patroon or- dered his boat's crew to row away at once, in spite of the soldiers, who were now "ridiculed with shouts and jeers by all the by-standers." Returning to the fort, De Vries reproached Van Twiller for his " buffoonery" in sending down a guard, by which he had made himself a laughing. stock to all the people. He then joined his boat, which had been waiting behind Nutten (Governor's) Island, and rowed across the river to Pavonia, where he was " well entertained" by Michael Paulusen, the commissary.
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