USA > New York > History of the state of New York Vol I > Part 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
Charles set up his standard at Nottingham, and the 22 August. civil war began. Parliament was supreme at London, of the civil Beginning but the king was still sovereign in the rural districts. war. The sympathies of the Puritan colonists in America were with the Puritan House of Commons. The States Gen- eral promptly referred Joachimi's dispatches to the West 25 October. India Company ; but though the ambassador was instruct- ed to represent that it need not be apprehended that his countrymen in New Netherland could ever "prevail" against their stronger neighbors, the threats of the Lon- don friends of New England were entirely disregarded at the Hague .* The distracted kingdom caused no present anxiety to foreign powers.
Interesting events were now occurring at Rensselaers- 1641. wyck. Adriaen van der Donck, of Breda, in North Bra- Adriaen bant, a man of intelligence and learning, having taken a lease from the patroon of the westerly half of Castle Isl- and, known as " Welysburg," adjoining the fertile farm of Brandt Peelen, was appointed schout-fiscal of the colo- nie, and arrived at Manhattan in the autumn of 1641. As the colonists had shown a disposition " to pass by the carpenters and other of the patroon's laborers," and to employ whom they pleased, Van der Donck was specially instructed to repress this spirit of independence, and pros- 18 July
van der Donck schout-fis-
cal of Rensse- laerswyck
* Hol. Doc., ii., 276-307 ; O'Call., i., 255-257 ; Aitzema, ii., 932 ; Lingard, x., 152.
31 July. 8 August. 17 Sept. 17 October.
342
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. X. ecute the offenders before the colonial court. He was also 1642. charged to procure the enactment of "stricter statutes or ordinances, and to punish the delinquents by penalties and fines, according to law."*
The want of a permanent clergyman, and the need of a proper church edifice, had now for some time been felt in the colonie ; and, early the next year, the patroon took measures to place his colonists in as good a condi- tion in these respects as the inhabitants of Manhattan. 6 March. Johannes sis the first clergyman in the colo- nie. He therefore made an agreement with the Reverend Megapolen- Doctor Johannes Megapolensis, a learned clergyman be- longing to the Classis of Alckmaer, to send him out to Rensselaerswyck, " for the edifying improvement of the inhabitants and Indians." The patroon bound himself to convey the Domine and his family to New Netherland free of expense, provide him with a proper residence, and assure him, for six years, an annual salary of one thousand guild- ers, with a promise of an addition of two hundred guilders annually for the three following years, " should the patroon
be satisfied with his service." On the other hand, Megapo- lensis agreed " to befriend and serve the patroon in all things
18 March.
22 March.
wherein he could do so without interfering with or imped- ing his duties." As the Classis of Amsterdam was the ec- clesiastical superior of all the Dutch colonial clergy, it was necessary to obtain its assent to the arrangement ; and the Domine accordingly appeared before the committee of that body, "ad res exteras," and explained his views in wishing to settle himself in New Netherland. A few days afterward, the classis attested a formal " call" for Megapolensis to preach the Gospel and govern the Church at Rensselaerswyck, "in conformity with the Govern- ment, Confession, and Catechism of the Netherland churches, and the Synodal acts of Dordrecht." The Am- sterdam Chamber, however, as the political superior of New Netherland, claimed the right of approving this in- strument. The patroon, on the other hand, at first de- murred to what he thought a curtailment of his feudal
* Renss. MSS .; O'Call., i., 327, 328.
343
WILLIAM KIEFT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
rights ; but, after several months' delay, he agreed that CHAP. X. the directors should affix their aet of approbation, under protest that the rights of both parties should remain un- prejudiced. The Amsterdam Chamber accordingly ap- proved the call. Domine Megapolensis was furnished ber. 6 June. with a detailed memorandum, respecting the settlement of the colonists, and the arrangement of the new church and parsonage ; a plan for all the buildings was provided ; and a small theological library was supplied at the pa- troon's expense. The transportation of the colonists to Fort Orange was to be arranged under the advice of Kieft, to whom the patroon sent a present of a saddle and mili- tary equipments, "as the noble director hath heretofore had much trouble with my people and goods." A num- ber of respectable emigrants embarked with Megapolensis Arrives at and his family in the ship Houttuyn, which, after a pros- perous voyage, arrived in August.
At this period it was not uncommon for ships to lie a The new fortnight at Manhattan before intelligence of their arrival at Rensse- emigrants was received at Rensselaerswyek. Prompt measures, how- ever, were taken to convey up the river the new emi- grants, who, upon reaching their destination, were reg- 11 August. istered by Arendt van Curler, the commissary."To con- centrate the inhabitants as much as possible, and thus avoid danger of their lives from the Indians, " as sorrow- ful experience hath demonstrated around Manhattan," the patroon required that all the colonists, except the farmers and tobacco-planters, should live near each other, so as to form a "Kerek-buurte," or church neighborhood. This was to be settled near the Beaver's Creek ; where a ferry was at once established for the accommodation of the col- onists across the river at Greenbush. The patroon's di- rections were followed, and Van Curler notified all the col- onists to " regulate themselves accordingly."
The church, however, was not built until the following year ; but the houses which were to surround it were planned ; the dwelling of Maryn Adriaensen, one of the colonists who was about to remove to Manhattan, was
1642. Ilis call ap- proved by the Amster-
Manhattan.
laerswyck.
344
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1642. Megapolen- sis begins his clerical labors.
CHAP. X. bought for a parsonage ; and the first clergyman at Rens- selaerswyck began to execute the duties of his holy office. The colonists revered and esteemed their faithful monitor, whose influence was soon exerted in restraining immoral- ities, which the license of a frontier life had hitherto al- lowed to pass unrebuked. The counsels of the Domine were received with respect by Commissary Van Curler, who always asked his opinion upon public affairs before he " concluded to undertake any thing."*
Soon after the arrival of Domine Megapolensis at Rens- selaerswyck, an occasion arose to test the characteristic Progress of the Jesuits benevolence of the Dutch. Champlain had early planned . in Canada. the scheme of extending the empire of France over North America, by means of religious missions ; and his saga- cious conception was zealously seconded by the heroic and self-denying emissaries of the Church. Just before the 1635. Father of New France was buried upon the field of his noble toils, and a year before Massachusetts made provi- sion for what afterward became Harvard University, a mis- sionary college was founded at Quebec. A few years aft- 1641. erward, the festival of the Assumption was solemnly cel- 15 August. ebrated on the island of Montreal, before vast crowds of savages and Frenchmen. "There," said Father Le Jeune, " shall the Mohawk and the feebler Algonquin make their home ; the wolf, shall dwell with the lamb, and a little child shall lead them."
Views of the French.
From the time Champlain first penetrated the valley of Onondaga in 1615, the French had seen the advantage of possessing a post on the territory of Western New York. The settlements of the Dutch were as yet confined to the valleys of the Mohawk and of the North River. The views of the French in Canada did not, however, conflict with those of the Hollanders in New Netherland. France desired to control the great West ; Holland looked more to the possession of the sea-coast. "Could we but gain the mastery," argued the missionaries of Canada, "of the shore of Ontario, on the side nearest the abode of the Iro-
* Corr. Classis Amst. ; Renss. MSS .; O'Call., i., 328-330, 448-462.
3445
WILLIAM KIEFT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
quois, we could ascend by the Saint Lawrence without CHAP. A danger, and pass free beyond Niagara."
But the hereditary enmity between the Iroquois Con- federates and the Hurons and Algonquins of Canada thwarted the plans of the French missionaries. The nav- igation of Lake Ontario was closed against their enter- prise ; and a French canoe had never yet been launched upon Lake Erie. The Dutch traders at Rensselaerswyck had now supplied the Iroquois warriors with the fire-arms of Europe ; and the proud Konoshioni burned to be su- preme. In the autumn of 1641, two Jesuit Fathers, September. Charles Raymbault and Isaac Jogues, pushing onward from the Huron mission station, coasted, in their birch- bark canoe, along the Manitoulin Islands, and, stemming the swift current of the Saint Mary's, reached the Sault, 4 October. where they found two thousand Chippewas assembled, expecting their arrival. Returning to Quebec, Jogues prepared, the next year, to repeat his visit. But as he 1642. was ascending the Saint Lawrence with an escort of Hu- Capture of 4 August. rons, the party was surprised by a band of Mohawks ly- Jogues. Father ing in ambuscade. A part of the expedition was captur- ed ; and Jogues and his fellow-prisoners were conducted through the country of the Iroquois to the valley of the 15 August. Mohawk. Horrible savage cruelties were inflicted upon the captives. From village to village their tortures were renewed ; but the faithful missionaries, as they ran the gauntlet, consoled themselves with visions of heavenly glory.
Intelligence that three Frenchmen were prisoners among The Dutch the Iroquois soon reached Fort Orange ; and, prompted by at Fort Or- nge at- tempt :o ransom Jogues. a noble humanity, Commissary Van Curler, in company with Labbatie and Jansen, two of the colonists, went on horseback to the Mohawk country to attempt their rescue. The Dutch visitors were received with "great joy," and the presents which they brought were thankfully accept- ed by the warriors at the three castles. Before each cas- tle they were obliged to halt a quarter of an hour, until the Mohawks had saluted them " with divers musket-
1641.
346
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1642. 7 Sept. Van among the Mohawks.
CHAP. X. shots." Indians were sent out to shoot, and brought them in excellent turkeys. On the eve of the Nativity of the Vir- gin, Van Curler reached the village where Jogues was de- tained. Inviting the chiefs to assemble together, he press- ed them to release the French prisoners, "one of whom was a Jesuit, a very learned scholar." But the Mohawk sachems refused. "We shall show you every friendship in our power," said the chiefs, "but on this subject we shall be silent." Days were spent in vain attempts to procure the release of the captives : six hundred guilders worth of goods, "to which all the colony would contrib- ute," were offered as their ransom, and inexorably re- fused. In the end, Van Curler "persuaded them so far, that they promised not to kill them, and to convey them back to their country." As the party set out on their re- turn to Fort Orange, the French captives ran after them, beseeching the Dutch to rescue them out of the hands of the barbarians. An escort of ten or twelve armed savages conducted the embassy home, through "the most beauti- ful land on the Mohawk River that eye ever saw." But the Hollanders had scarcely left, before the " clamorous braves" insisted upon blood ; and René Goupil, a "donné," or novice, who had accompanied Jogues, was struck dead with a tomahawk, invoking the name of Jesus as he fell. The life of the Father was, however, spared. Carving the emblem of his faith upon a majestic tree, the devoted Jes- uit, during the following winter, held lonely communion with his God. For a time he was unmolested ; but the Mohawks at length finding him at prayer, " attacked him most violently, saying that they hated the cross; that it was a sign unknown to them and their friends, the neigh- boring Europeans" at Fort Orange .*
19 Sept.
Jogues' life spared.
1643.
In the annals of New Netherland, 1643 was, emphat- ically, "the year of blood." While New England was filled with alarm at the suspicion of a general rising of
* Relation, 1640-41, 50, 211 ; 1647, 56, 111 ; Jogues's Letters of the 5th and 30th of Au- gust, 1643, in ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., iii. ; Tanner's " Societas Jesu," &c., 510-531 ; Megap., in Hazard, i., 522 ; De Vries, 157; Creuxius, 338 ; Charlevoix, i., 234-250; Renss. MSS., O'Call., i., 463, 464 ; Bancroft, iii., 122-134 ; Warburton's Conquest of Canada, i., 101, 356.
347
WILLIAM KIEFT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
the Indians, and benighted travellers could not halloo in CHAP. X. the woods without causing fear that savages were tor- turing their European captives, the neighboring Dutch 1643. Forebod- ings of a general war with the sav- January. province partook of the universal panie. Miantonomoh, " the great sachem of Sloup's Bay," was reported to have ! come with one hundred men to the neighborhood of Green- ages. wich, and to have passed through all the villages of the Indians, soliciting them to a general war against the En- glish and the Dutch. The wildest storics were circulated among the fireside gossips at Manhattan. The outlaying Indians were accused of setting fire to the powder of the Dutch, wherever they could find it, and of attempting to poison and bewitch the director .* Anxiety and terror al- ready pervaded the defenseless hamlets around Fort Am- sterdam, when an event occurred which precipitated open hostilities, and nearly annihilated the rising hopes of the West India Company.
De Vries, while rambling, gun on shoulder, toward Van der Horst's new colony at Hackinsaek, which was "but an hour's walk" from Vriesendael, met an Indian " who was very drunk." Coming up to the patroon, he " stroked him over the arms" in token of friendship. "You are a good chief," said the Indian; " when we visit you, you give us milk to drink, for nothing. But I have just come from Hackinsaek, where they sold me brandy, half mixed with water, and then stole my beaver-skin coat." The A Dutch- savage vowed a bloody revenge. He would go home for dered by an man mur- his bow and arrows, and then shoot one of the "roguish Hackin- Indian at Swannekens" who had stolen his things. De Vries en- sack. deavored to soothe him; and, on reaching Hackinsaek, warned Van der Horst's people against the danger of treat- ing the wild natives as they had the one he had just met. Scarcely had he returned to his own house, before some of the chiefs of the Hackinsacks and of the Reekawaneks, in his neighborhood, came to Vriesendael. The revenge- ful savage had kept his vow. Watching his opportunity, he had shot one of the Dutch colonists, Garret Jansen van
* Winthrop, ii., 84 ; Hol. Doc., iu., 107 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv., 9.
348
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. X. Voorst, as he was quietly thatching the roof of one of Van
1643.
der Horst's houses. The chiefs had hastened to seek coun- sel of De Vries. They dared not go to Fort Amsterdam, for fear Kieft would keep them prisoners ; but they were willing to pay two hundred fathoms of wampum to the widow of the murdered man, "and that should purchase their peace."* They offered the full expiation which In-
The sav-
ages offer a
blood atonement. dian justice demanded-a blood-atonement of money ; and the custom, so universal among the red men of America, was in singular accordance with the usage of classic Greece.t
Kieft de- rnands the murderer.
At length, persuaded by De Vries, who answered for their safe return, the chiefs accompanied him to Fort Am- sterdam. Explaining to Kieft the unhappy occurrence at Hackinsack, they repeated their offer of a "just atone- ment." The director inexorably demanded the murderer. Imitating the example of Massachusetts in the case of the Pequods, he would be content with nothing but blood. But the chiefs could not bind themselves to surrender the criminal. He had gone "two days' journey off, among the Tankitekes ;" and, besides, he was the son of a chief. Again they proposed an expiatory offering of wampum to appease the widow's grief. " Why do you sell brandy to our young men ?" said the chiefs. "They are not used to it-it makes them crazy. Even your own people, who are accustomed to strong liquors, sometimes become drunk, and fight with knives. Sell no more strong drink to the Indians, if you would avoid mischief." With this, they took leave of the director, and returned to Vriesendael ; and Kieft soon afterward sent a peremptory message to Pacham, the crafty chief of the Tankitekes, to surrender the refugee.#
But before Pacham obeyed the mandate, more serious
* De Vries, 166; Hol. Doc., iii., 107 ; Breeden Raedt, 16; Bancroft, ii., 289. " If a brother bleed,
+ On just atonement we remit the deed ; A sire the slaughter of his son forgives, The price of blood discharged, the murderer lives." POPE, Iliad, ix.
De Vries, 166 ; Hol. Doc., iii., 108 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv., 10; Alb. Rec., ii., 212.
349
WILLIAM KIEFT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
,
events occurred. In the depth of winter, a party of eighty or ninety Mohawk warriors, " each with a musket on his shoulder," came down from the neighborhood of Fort Or- 1643. February. The Mo- hawks at- tack the River In- dians. ange, to colleet tribute from the Weckquaesgeeks and Tappans. The river tribes quailed before the formidable Iroquois. No resistance was offered by the more numer- ous but subjugated Algonquins ; seventy of whom were killed, and many women and children made prisoners. Half-famished parties fled from West Chester to Manhat- The tribu- tan, where they were kindly entertained. In their despair, ages seek tary sav- refuge at four or five hundred of the cowering tributaries floeked to Vriesen- Vriesendael, to beg assistance and protection. The pa- nia, and troon told them, however, that the Fort Orange Indians were " friends of the Dutch," who could not interfere in their wars. Finding his house full of savages, and only five men besides himself to defend it, De Vries went, in a canoe, through the floating ice, down to Fort Amster- dam, to ask Kieft to assist him with some soldiers, The director, however, had none to spare. The next day, 21 Feb. " troops of savages," who had come down from Vriesen- dael, encamped near the "oyster banks" at Pavonia, among the Hackinsacks, who were " full a thousand strong." Some of them, crossing the river to Manhattan, took refuge at " Corlaer's Bouwery," where a few Rocka- way Indians from Long Island, with their chief, Nainde Nummerus, had already built their wigwams .*
In this conjuncture, public opinion at Manhattan was Public opin. divided in regard to the policy to be observed toward the hattan. ion at Man- savages. Now that they were fugitives from the dreaded Iroquois, and felt grateful for the temporary protection which they had received from the Dutch, the river In- dians could easily be won to a sincere friendship, thought De Vries and a majority of the community. But there were other spirits-active, unquiet, panting for war, who, though few, were aided by the influence of Van Tienhoven, the astute provincial secretary. As Kieft was dining, at Shrovetide, at the house of Jan Jansen Dam, one of the 22 Feb.
* De Vries, 177, 178 ; Hol. Doc., ii., 375 ; iii., 109 ; Breeden Raedt, 15.
CHAP. X.
dael, Pavo- Manhattan.
350
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1643. Petition for leave to at- tack the savages presented to the di- rector.
CHAP: X "Twelve Men," the host, with Adriaensen and Planck, two of his former colleagues, assuming to speak in the name of the commonalty, presented a petition to the director, urg- ing instant hostilities against the unsuspecting savages. Van Tienhoven, who had drafted the petition, well knew the temper of his chief. The Indians, it was argued, had not yet made any atonement for their murders, nor had the assassins of Smits and Van Voorst been delivered up. While. innocent blood was unavenged, the national char- acter of the Dutch must suffer. God had now delivered their enemies into their hands ; "We pray you," urged the petitioners, " let us attack them; to this end we offer our persons, and we propose that a party of freemen and another of soldiers be dispatched against them at different places."*
Kieft re- solves on war.
The sanguinary director was delighted with the pros- pect of war ; and, "in a significant toast," announced the approaching hostilities. Just one year before, Kieft had dissolved the board of "Twelve Men," and had forbidden any public meetings without his express permission. He had, moreover, distinctly denied that the Twelve Men had any other function than simply to give their advice re- specting the murder of Smits. But now that a self-con- stituted committee, falsely claiming to represent the Twelve Men elected by the commonalty, counseled violence, the director rashly resolved to make the savages " wipe their chops." They had unanimously refused to pay the con- tribution he had imposed ; and, seeing himself deprived of this source of revenue, "of which he was very greedy," Kieft was charged with now devising other means "to satisfy his insatiable avaricious soul."
Van Tienhoven and Corporal Hans Steen were, there- fore, promptly dispatched to Pavonia to reconnoitre the position of the savages. But Domine Bogardus, who was invited to the council, warned Kieft against his rashness. La Montagne begged him to wait for the arrival of the
24 Feb.
* De Vries, 178; Breeden Raedt, 15; Hol. Doc., ii., 374 ; iii., 146, 220 ; O'Call., i., 266, 419; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv., 10, 11. t De Vries, 178 ; Breeden Raedt, 15 ; ante, p. 329
351
WILLIAM KIEFT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
next ship from the Fatherland, and predicted that he was CHAP. X. building a bridge over which, before long, "war would stalk through the whole country." De Vries protested that no warlike steps could be taken without the assent of the commonalty ; and that the advice Kieft had re- ness. ceived was not that of the Twelve Men, of whom he was the president. The destruction of the colonies at Swaan- endael and at Staten Island, and the bootless expedition against the Raritans, were held up as warning examples. The Dutch colonists in the open country, it was urged, were all unprepared, and the Indians would wreak their vengeance on the unprotected farmers. It was all in vain. Taking De Vries with him into the great hall which he had just completed at the side of his house, Kieft showed him " all his soldiers ready reviewed," to pass over the river to Pavonia. " Let this work alone," again urged De Vries ; "you want to break the Indians' mouths, but you will also murder our own people."*
All remonstrance was idle. The director doggedly re- All remon. plied, " The order has gone forth ; it can not be recalled." vain. strance Van Tienhoven had reconnoitered the position of the sav- ages at Pavonia, and his " false report" had confirmed Kieft's resolution. Orders were issued to Sergeant Rodolf to lead a troop of soldiers to Pavonia, and " drive away and destroy" the savages who were " skulking" behind the bouwery of Jan Evertsen Bout. A similar commission 25 Feb. directed Adriaensen, with a force of volunteers, to attack "a party of savages skulking behind Corlaer's Hocek," and "aet with them in every such manner as they shall deem proper." " The commonalty solicit," was the false pretense by which Kieft endeavored to screen himself from any unhappy consequences of his bloody purposes ; which his impious orders declared were undertaken " in the full confidenee that God will crown our resolutions with suc- cess."+
* De Vries, 178; Hol. Doc., ii., 161, 174 ; iii., 110 ; v., 51, 52 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv., 10. t Alb. Rec., ii., 210, 211 ; Hol. Doc., iii., 148, 204 ; v., 333, 334 ; O'Call., i., 267, 268 ; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 278 ; ii., 300.
1643. Kieft warn- d against his rasb-
352
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. X. During the night between the twenty-fifth and twenty- 1643. sixth of February, the tragedy which Kieft and his coad- jutors had been meditating, was terribly accomplished. Crossing over to Pavonia, Rodolf cautiously led his force of eighty soldiers to the encampment of the refugee Tap- pans, near the bouweries of Bout and Wouterssen. About midnight, while the savages were quietly sleeping in fan- cied security from their Mohawk subjugators, the mur- derous attack commenced. The noise of muskets min- gled with the shrieks of the terrified Indians. Neither age nor sex were spared. Warrior and squaw, sachem and child, mother and babe, were alike massacred. Daybreak scarcely ended the furious slaughter. Mangled victims, seeking safety in the thickets, were driven into the river; and parents, rushing to save their children whom the sol- diery had thrown into the stream, were driven back into the waters, and drowned before the eyes of their unrelent- Massacre at ing murderers. Eighty savages perished at Pavonia. "I Pavonia. sat up that night," said De Vries, " by the kitchen fire at the director's. About midnight, hearing loud shrieks, I ran up to the ramparts of the fort. Looking toward Pa- vonia, I saw nothing but shooting, and heard nothing but the shrieks of Indians murdered in their sleep." A few minutes afterward, an Indian and a squaw, who lived near Vriesendael, and who had escaped from Pavonia in a small skiff, came to the kitchen fire, whither De Vries had returned with an aching heart. "The Fort Orange In- dians have fallen on us," said the terrified savages, " and we have come to hide ourselves in the fort." "It is no time to hide yourselves in the fort-no Indians have done this deed. It is the work of the Swannekens-the Dutch," answered the humane De Vries, as he led the undeceived fugitives to the gate, "where stood no sentinel," and Attack on the savages Hook. watched them until they were hidden in the woods. In at Corlaer's the mean time, Adriaensen and his party had surprised the Weckquaesgeek fugitives at Corlaer's Hook, and mur- dered forty of them in their sleep. The carnage of that awful night equaled in remorseless cruelty the atrocities,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.