USA > New York > History of the state of New York. Vol. II, Pt. 1 > Part 14
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* Col. Doc., iii., 158; Chalmers, i., 506, 537 ; Whitehead's Index N. J. Col. Doc., 4. Chal- Petz ways that Nicolis transmitted these answers in July, 1665. They are not dated, but D'ey appear to have been sent by him in November, 1666, as they are placed in the volume Is the State Paper Office next to his letter to the commissioners at Albany of 6 November, 124: 0 01. Doc., iff., 136, 143, 1SS; New York Papers, i., 28, 30, 31. It was first intended 1.4tys Robert Carr should convey these papers to England, and then that Maverick should, w vtr or both had been ordered home. But both were "taken sick," and neither could gu " wir, however, sailed from Boston on 20 March, 1GUT, for Bristol, where he arrived on the 4 .4; of June following, and died the next day : Col. Doc., iii., 160, 101 ; Hutch. Mass., i, : . Morton's Mem., 315, note; Smith, i, 23 ; Masz. I. S. Coll., XXXvii., 319, 313.
11-1
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. IIL which both would be weakened. Winthrop, however, learn- 1666. ing from Baker at Albany that the French were endeavor- ing to gain the Mahicans, interfered so seasonably as to 26 July. prevent the going over of " many hundred" expected auxil- iaries. Horsemen were likewise sent out from Hartford and Springfield, who penetrated with great difficulty one hundred and twenty miles through the wilderness as far as Lake Champlain, "to discover the way toward Canada," September. and procure intelligence. Winthrop also went to Boston to consult with the Massachusetts authorities and Sir Thomas Temple, the Governor of Nova Scotia. It was there unan- imously agreed "that at present there could be nothing done by these colonies in reducing those places at or about 24 October. Canada." The General Court of Massachusetts notified Massachu- setts re- fuses. . Lord Arlington that the reduction of Canada was "not at present feazable, as well in respect of the difficulty, if not impossibility, of a land march over the rocky mountains and howling desarts about four hundred miles, as the strength of the French there, according to reports." Winthrop also 25 October. Wrote to the same effect. Privateers, however, were com- Privateers commis- sioned. missioned at Boston, which made prize of several French fishing vessels."
33 May. Submission of the We ern Iro- quois to the French
On their side the French had not been idle. As soon as the Saint Lawrence was clear of ice, ten Seneca sachems came down to Quebec to ratify the treaty which the Onon- dagas had made in their behalf with Tracy the previous December. They now promised to send some of their fam- filies to settle in Canada as hostages, and to acknowledge the King of France "henceforth as their sovereign." Tracy, on his part, agreed to send French colonists and Jesuit mis- sionaries to the Senecas, who stipulated to build cabins for their shelter and forts to protect them from "the common enemy the Andastes and others."+
Thus the Upper Iroquois confirmed their vassalage to France. But no overtures came from the Mohawks. Tracy now resolved to extend his permanent military occupation further to the south, and directed Captain La Motte to build a new fort on an island in the upper part of Lake
· Col. Doc., ili., 117, 120, 121, 137, 138, 141; Col. Rec. Conn., ii., 40, 43, 45, 514; Mass. Res .. iv. (ii.), 316, 317, 348, 329 ; Mass. II. S. Coll., xviii., 101-109 ; xxx., 63 ; Hutch. Mass., i., 256, 237; Coll., 407: Bancroft, il., S9; Palfrey, il., 630; ili., 114-116; ante. p. 97.
t Col. Doc , ili., 125; ix., 44, 45; Doc. Hist., i., 47 ; Faillon, iii., 134; ante, p. 100, no'e.
115
RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR.
Champlain. This post, which was the first one possessed CHAP. III. by the French within the ancient limits of New York, was 1666.
named Fort Sainte Anne, but was afterward better known Fort Sainte as Fort La Motte. Intended to command the Mohawk La Motte. country, it soon caused uneasiness to the neighboring En- glish colonies .*
Soon afterward Oneida envoys came to Quebec, tardily ; July.
27 June. bringing the letter of the Albany officers assuring Tracy that the Mohawks wished peace with the French. Two detachments of two hundred men each had meanwhile been ordered to march, under Courcelles and Sorel, from the forts on the Richelieu, against that nation. Under- standing the Albany letter as a guarantee for the good faith of the Mohawks, Tracy countermanded the expedi- tions, and signed a treaty covenanting peace between the f's July. French and the Oneidas and Mohawks. Prisoners were to dns and The Onri- be mutually restored, and trade with Canada by way of: agree to Mohawks Lake Saint Sacrement was to be open to the Oneidas, who theFrench, now ratified the treaty made two months before by the Western Iroquois, and, like them, acknowledged the King of France " from this time as their sovereign." It was also agreed that Jesuit missionaries should be sent "to make known to them the God of the French, whom they prom- ise to love and adore." Hostages were left with Tracy for the faithful performance of these conditions. At the re- quest of the Oneidas, the Father Thierry Bechefer, with Hertel and two other Frenchmen, were sent, under their 11 July. escort, to visit the soldiers whom Courcelles had left at Al- bany, and treat with the Mohawks there, or assure them that they might safely come to Quebec at any time within forty days. The letter of the Albany authorities was also published at the several French garrisons; and all felt con- fident that peace between Canada and the Iroquois was secured.t
But scarcely had Bechefer and his companions gone three days' journey from Quebec, when news came that several French officers, who had gone out a hunting from
* Relation, 1605, 10 ; 1666, 7, 8; Doc. Hist., i., 43, 48; ii., 162; Col. Doc., ill., 141, 145, 140, ** 3, NO; Iv., 195, 404 ; ix., 601, 1050 ; Faillon, iii., 126, 135. Fort Sainte Anne, or La Motte, ";"vais to have been built on Isle La Motte, which, being east of the present boundary.lin , Interen New York and Vermont. belongs to the latter state: N. Y. Revised Statutes, i., Et. * * . ! Doc .. il., 126-139, 153 ; ix., 45, 46, 52, 169, 786; Doc. Ifist., i., 47, 51, 32; Relation, 11/1, 24; 1600, 7; 1070, 45; Charlevoix, ii., 110, 111, 155; Shea, 252, 500 ; ante, p. 10%.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. III. the new Fort Sainte Anne, had been waylaid and murder-
French offi- cers killed.
1666. ed by the Mohawks, and some others taken prisoners. One of the chief victims was a nephew of the viceroy, the Sieur de Chazy, whose name is yet commemorated in that of one of the towns in the county of Clinton. Bechefer and the other Frenchmen on their way to Albany were at once re- called, and the Oneidas who escorted them were imprison- ed. Sorel quickly collected three hundred men, with whom he pushed on toward the Mohawk country, intending to lay "a heavy hand every where." But when he had come within twenty leagues of their villages he met a party of Mohawks, who declared that they were on their way to Quebec to restore the Frenchmen captured near Fort Sainte Anne, and offer satisfaction for those who had been slain, as well as new guarantees for peace. The party was led by a half-breed known among the Indians as "Smits Jan," and among the French as " the Dutch Bastard."" Belier- ing their statement, Sorel turned about, and conducted Smits Jan and his followers to the viceroy, by whom they were well received. A few days afterward, Agariata, a Mohawk chief, came to Quebec and announced himself as also a delegate from his nation. Negotiations for peace went on prosperously, until one day, Tracy having invited the two pretended ambassadors to his table, the talk fell upon the death of De Chazy. The Mohawk chief, lifting up his arm, exclaimed, " It was this which broke the head of that young officer !" All present were filled with indig- nation. "You shall kill no more," said the viceroy to Agariata, who was at once hung in the sight of his com- rades, and Smits Jan was committed to prison.
Tracy's ' vengeance. 22 July. Tracy now sent William Couture, who had been a pris- oner with Jogues among the Mohawks, with a letter to the Albany officers, complaining that they had deceived him as to the peaceful disposition of that nation. Learning that Nicolls at Albany. a courier had come from Quebec, Nicolls voyaged up the river, which was "pleasant enough at that season of the year," to meet him. But before the governor reached Al- bany, Couture had returned to Canada. Nicolls, however,
* This " Smits Jan" was the son of a Hollander and a Mohawk squaw, and had been brought up among the savages. He was one of the witnesses to Cartwright's treaty at Al- bany in September, 1004, and was in the English interest : Col. Doc., iii., 68, 146, 148, 151. 435; Charlevoix, il., 51, 69, 155, 161; Relation, 1654, 10, 11.
117
RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR.
wrote courteously to Tracy, expressing his surprise at CHAP. III. Courcelles's inroad into New York the last winter, but declaring his purpose to promote "the European inter- 1666. 28 August. est amidst the heathen in America, as becomes a good Answers to Christian, provided that the bounds and limits of these Tracy. His Majesty's of England's dominions be not invaded, or the peace and safety of his subjects interrupted." Baker and the Albany magistrates also wrote to the viceroy, justifying their conduct respecting the Mohawks, and stat- ing that they would not intermeddle with French affairs in future .*
Ambassadors from all the nations but the Mohawks having met Tracy and Courcelles in the Park of the 3} August. Jesuits at Quebec, the Cayugas renewed their request for missionaries, and the Fathers, Jacques Fremin and Josuit mix- Pierre Raffeix were chosen to go to them. Seeing no sionaries reason to hope for peace with the Mohawks, the viceroy determined to chastise them effectually. Colbert had insisted upon a prudent administration "in the present 5 April. conjuncture, when His Majesty is obliged to maintain a heavy war against the English, whom none of his pre- decessors had ever before attacked on the sea." Talon accordingly submitted to Tracy and Courcelles various 1 Septer. considerations for war and for peace. It was argued, among other things, that a successful attack on the Mo- hawks would open the door for the seizure of Albany, where the Dutch might be found inclined to aid the French against the English, upon whom they wished "to avenge the usurpation unjustly committed upon them," and of whose "insupportable dominion" they were weary. An expedition against the Mohawks was ordered, and six hun- Father. dred soldiers of the Carignan regiment, with an equal num- aguiar the P-dition ber of militia, and one hundred Hurons and Algonquins, Mohawk. were soon collected. Notwithstanding he was more than seventy years old, Tracy set out from Quebec to lead 14 Sept.t .: his forces in person. The Jesuit Fathers Charles Al- banel and Pierre Raffeix, and two secular priests, Du
º C.1. Doc., iii., 63, 131-134, 146, 151, 153, 157 ; ix., 52: Doc. Hist., i., 47, 48, 56 ; Rela . the, 1645, 23 ; 1647, 10. 24; 1048, 11 ; 1666, 7, 8; La Potherie, il., S5; Charlevoix, 1., 4 ?; 1. . 61 69, 135, 156; Colden, i., 33, 34; Garneau, i., 193; Ferland, i., 317 : Faillon, ill., 125. IST ; ente, vol. i., 346, 347, 873. The Albany letters of 20 August, 1666, did not reach Tracy vold April, 1607 : Col. Doc., ill., 146, 147, 149, 151, 152.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. III. Bois D'Esgriselles, and Dollier de Casson, accompanied the expedition.
$ October.
vance.
1666. The general rendezvous was Fort Sainte Anne, on Lake Champlain. It was October before the main body of troops was ready to advance; but Courcelles, with charac- teristic impatience, pushed forward with four hundred men. Tracy'sad- The rear-guard followed four days after the main column, under Tracy. Three hundred light bateaux and bark ca- noes were prepared, each of which could convey five or six persons; and two pieces of artillery were carried along with great labor. The viceroy endeavored to advance cantiously, so as to surprise the Mohawk castles; but the watchful Iroquois scouts on the mountain tops saw the French flotilla afar off, as it swept southward over Lake Champlain, and the alarm was quickly spread. As the troops debarked the savages whooped on the hill-sides, and fired random shots at the invaders. Expecting to find abundance of corn in the Mohawk villages, the French carried only small supplies of provisions. These were soon exhausted, and the army was on the point of disband- ing to seek food, when it fortunately entered a forest of chestnut-trees, the just ripening fruit of which relieved the famishing troops.
After marching thirty or forty leagues from the lake, the French reached the first Mohawk village, which they found abandoned. Entering it in order of battle, with flags flying and drums beating, the hungry army discover- ed abundance of corn buried in the earth. A second and a third village farther west were found deserted like the first. At length, guided by an Algonquin, who had long been a prisoner in the canton, the French reached the fourth Mohawk village. Here the savages were observed in great force, and, by their heavy fire, appeared disposed to defend their fortress with desperation. The invaders prepared to attack it in regular form; but, as their van came on to at- tack, the Mohawks fled in terror into the forest, whither the French could not pursue them. An old man and two old women, too infirm to escape, and the half-roasted re- mains of two or three prisoners, were found in the desert- ed stronghold. It was surrounded by a triple palisade twenty fect high, flanked by four bastions, and abundantly
Mohawk villages de. stroyed.
119
RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR.
supplied with water in bark tanks to extinguish fire. Pro- Cuar. III digious quantities of provisions had been stored. Some of the cabins, which were one hundred and twenty feet long, 1666. and proportionably wide, and were planked on the inside, moved the admiration of the Frenchmen.
The cross was planted, mass said, a Te Deum sung, and 17 Octobre : formal possession was taken for the King of France of session of French Ink - " The Fort of Andaraque," as well as all the other con- taken. the country quered Iroquois strong-holds, " and of all the lands in the neighborhood as far and in as great a quantity as they may extend." A post, with the king's arms affixed, was erect- cd, amid the shouts of " Vive le Roi!" The palisades and cabins, with vast stores of corn, beans, and other provisions, were then burned. On its return, the expedition completed the devastation of the other villages; and grain "enough to sustain the whole colony for two years" was destroyed.
Supposing that famine and the terror of the French arms would overawe the Mohawks and keep them peaceful, Tracy judged it unnecessary to establish a fort in their country. Those on the Richelieu River were thought suf- ficient to maintain the sovereignty of France. Colbert's. policy was against extending the Canadian settlements too far from each other. For the present, the Jesuit mission- aries were to form the advanced guard of the French among the Mohawks. The viceroy would nevertheless have pushed on westward, and humbled the Oneidas also, if the approach of November had not warned him to re- Tracy i- turn. The paths were now much more difficult to travel, Cannes and the swollen rivers hindered the march of the troops. On Lake Champlain two canoes and several soldiers were lost in a storm. Throughout the whole march of three hundred leagues, and during fifty-three days, Tracy, who was a very large man, shared all the fatigues of his army, submitting to be borne in a litter for two days only, when crippled by the gout. Courcelles, attacked by a nervous disease, had to be carried in the same manner. On reach- ing Quebec, the viceroy hung two or three of his prisoners Neverstor ? by way of example, and sent the rest back to their cantons, with Smits Jan, the Dutch bastard, after having shown them many kindnesses. The returning Iroquois carried the terms of peace which Tracy offered to the Mohawks,
120
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. III. and which they were.expected to accept before the end of the next June .*
1666.
After their severe humiliation by the French, the Mo- hawks came to confer with the Albany officers. It was now supposed that Tracy, wearied with his "two fruitless 1667. voyages," would hardly attempt another expedition. Yet Precan- tions of Nicolle. no precaution was neglected. Nicolls had visited the gar- risons on the North River the previous autumn, and had given the Albany magistrates full directions in case the French should attempt to do them harm. Captain Brod- 7 January. head was now ordered to be " ready, upon an hour's warn- ing," with all his soldiers at Esopus, and as many of the burghers as possible, to assist Albany in case of need, because it was "impossible" to send any from New York during the winter. Van Curler was also desired to pre- pare a map of Lake Champlain, with the French forts, showing " how it borders upon the Maquas's River."t
11 Jan.
Nicolls's instruc- tions re- ¥pecting the Mo- hawks.
When Nicolls received the news from Canada brought by Smits Jan, he directed that the Mohawks should be coun- seled to insist that the French must demolish all their new advanced forts on Lake Champlain. Baker was specially instructed to advise the Mohawks to "make a good peace, or none, with the French, such as may bring in beaver to Albany, and leave them without fear or jealousy of the French ;" and also that they "should declare to the French that the King of England is the great king of all their country and parts adjacent, and unto him they are subor- dinate, living in peace and trading with all his subjects; and now they are willing to make peace with the French, and will resolve to keep it, if the French will demolish their forts, and bring no more troops of soldiers into the King of England's country or their Plantation."}
On receiving the letters of Nicolls and the Albany offi- cers written the previous August, Tracy explained the in- road of Courcelles into the Mohawk country, and declared
* Relation, 160G, 8, 9 ; Charlevoix. ii., 157-161; La Potherie, ii., 123; ili., 55: Col. Doc , ill., 135, 146, 151 ; iv., 352; ix., 41, 52-57, 786; Doc. Hist., i., 48, 49, 53, 51; Colden, i., 33; Shea, 252; Faillon, iii., 138-155. The map of Tracy's route is in the Library of Parliament at Quebec: eee Catalogue (1958), p. 1614.
t Col. Doc., ili., 143, 144, 145; Col. MISS., xxii., 22. The letters of Nicolls to Van Curler and the Albany magistrates were translated into Dutch, at the governor's request, by Coun- . selor Van Ruyven.
# Col. Doc, iii., 116-14S. Colden says nothing of this.
081
121
RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR.
that until then he did not know that New Netherland was CHAP. IIL. not under the dominion of the United Provinces. "The 1667. French nation," he added, "is too much inclined to ac- 30 April. knowledge courtesies not to confess that the Dutch have Tracy writes to had very much charity for the French who have been pris- Nicolle. oners with the Mohawks, and that they have redeemed divers, who had been burned without their succour. They vught also to be assured of our gratitude towards them, and to any others who shall exercise such Christian deeds as they have done." The viceroy also absolved the Albany officers from blame in regard to the murder of his officers by the Mohawks near Fort Sainte Anne, and invited Van Curler to visit him the next summer at Quebec .*
Van Curler, accompanied by La Fontaine, a young French- man whom he had rescued from the savages, now went to es May. Canada, with passports from Nicolls, who wrote a kind let- goes to- Van Curler ter to Tracy. Embarking in a canoe on Lake Champlain, ads. ward Can- he had a prosperous voyage as far as "a great bay" on its western side, opposite the " Isles des quatres vents." While crossing this bay the canoe was upset by a tempest, and Drownel Van Curler was drowned. The memory of this estimable Cham- in Lake Hollander was long preserved by the Iroquois, who insisted plain. upon calling the successive governors of New York " Cor- "Conlaer." laer." For years Lake Champlain was known among the English as "Corlaer's Lake." The bay in which he was drowned -long called by the French "Baye Corlar" -- is now known as " Peru Bay," in Essex county, New York.t
Soon after Nicolls left Esopus, in the previous autumn, the ill feeling which had been growing between its inhab- itants and the garrison broke out into open hostility. The soldiers, who, as well as their officers, were all Englishmen. did nothing to conciliate and much to offend the Dutch burghers. Disturbances occurred both at the village of Dit !! Wildwyck and at the redoubt on the creek. When, in obo- Lopus. dience to Nicolls's orders, Captain Brodhead was " gather- ing some of the young burghers together" to go to Albany. Antonio d'Elba, a French refugee, openly said, " Shall we go and fight our friends, and leave our enemies at home ?"
* ( /1. Dec .. iff., 153, 184, 150-154; Doc. IHist .. i., 55; ante, vol. i., 402.
' Map in Charlevoix, i, 226 : Rel., 1668. 5; Ord., Warr., etc., ii., 150, 100; Col. Ixx., LL, 126, 155, 157, 322, 095, 558, 550, $15, 817 ; Colden, L, 32; O'Call., i., 323 ; smith. I., C5.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1667 Brodhead'a overbear- ing con- duct. Feb.
CHAP. III. Much of the ill feeling was due to the overbearing conduct of Brodhead, who did not hesitate to commit to the guard any who offended him. Ile imprisoned a burgher who would keep Christmas according to the Dutch and not the English style. Hle quarreled with and arrested Cornelis Barentsen Slegt, the village brewer, and a sergeant of its militia. Slegt's wife and children thereupon ran crying through Wildwyck. The excited villagers rushed to arms. Finding some sixty of them drawn up before their lieuten- ant's door, Captain Brodhead marched thither with a few of his soldiers, and ordered them to disperse. The local magistrates asked Brodhead to release his prisoner and have him tried before them, which he refused, and threat- ened to resist any attempt at a rescue. The people would not disperse until late at night, and then only with the uu- derstanding that the whole matter should be laid before the governor. What added to the bitterness was that Hen- drick Cornelissen, the village ropemaker, was killed by Wil- liam Fisher, one of Brodhead's soldiers."
16 April. Special commis- sion sent to Esopus.
Reports were sent down to Nicolls, who issued a special commission empowering Counselors Needham and Dela- vall and Justice Van Ruyven to go to Esopus, and "hear, receive, and determine such and so many complaints as they shall judge necessary or of moment, and to pass sen- tence of imprisonment, fine, correction, or suspension of of- fice against such who shall be found guilty." At the same time the governor guided the action of his commissioners Nicolls's private in- by private instructions. They were to be attended by a file structions. of soldiers, and were to admit but "very few" into the room in which they might sit. The case of Fisher was "to be the first tried, because a man is killed." But he could only be convicted of manslaughter; and it might turn out that he had acted in self-defense. In regard to the "first occa- sion" of the mutiny, as Slegt, the brewer, had first assaulted Captain Brodhead, they were "to declare that the king's officer is not of so mean a quality as to be struck by a burgher," and were to enlarge their discourse on this point as they should " find fit." But as the captain had broken his instructions several times, they were to suspend him
* Col. MAS., xxii., 14, 21-32; Alb. Rec., xviii., 327-330, 470; Esopus Records; Col. Doc., iii., 144, 149.
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123
RICHARD NICOLLS, GOVERNOR.
from his command for "that only fault" of keeping the Cuar. III. brewer in prison after the schout and commissaries had asked for his release. A few of the "most notorious" in- 1667. surgents were to be found guilty of "a treasonable and malicious Riot," and were to be brought to New York for " final sentence of punishment" by the governor. "Dis- courage not the soldiers too much in public," added Nicolls, "Jest the boors insult over them; appear favorable to the most of the boors, but severe against the principal incen- diaries; and, in general, you may tell them freely that I will proceed against every man that shall lift arms against Ilis Majestie's garrison, as rebellious subjects and common enemies."*
The commissioners sat three days at Esopus. Captain 25 April. Brodhead frankly admitted the charges against him, and &: April. 26 April. was suspended from his command, which was intrusted to mnepend- Sergeant Beresford. The burghers excused their being in ed. arms because the soldiers had threatened to burn the town, and because Brodhead had imprisoned their sergeant. Four of the movers of the insurrection, Antonio d'Elba, Albert Heymans, Arent Albertsen, his son, and Cornelius Barent- sen, were found guilty of a " rebellious and mutinous Riot," and were carried down to New York for sentence by the governor. Nicolls was of opinion that they deserved death. But, on the petition of the inhabitants and by the advice of his council, he sentenced Heymans to be banished for life 3 May. out of the government, and the others, for shorter terms, ers ren- out of Esopus, Albany, and New York. These sentences were afterward modified ; and Heymans, the chief offend- er, became a prominent officer at Esopus.+
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