USA > New York > History of the state of New-York : including its aboriginal and colonial annals, vol. pt 1 > Part 13
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* Who conuneneed king anno 1560. Mezery.
162 European Discoveries and Claims to New- York. [PAET L.
ingly built fort Charles, and called the whole country Carolina. 'The Spaniards afterwards attacked this colony, and put near- ly the whole to the sword; others they hung, and put up this inscription, " They were hung as Lutherans, not as Frenchmen." They committed also great outrages upon the natives, and by this unprovoked cruelty prepared themselves for the vengeance that soon followed. For though the Admiral and his party were destroyed in the infamous massacre of St. Bartholomew, and though the design of colonising, died with him; yet Ml. de Guerges, (106) a private gentleman, fluted out four ships purely to revenge the murder of his countrymen and friends. The Indians eagerly joined them in the siege of the Spanish forts, which they took, and put the garrison to the sword, hanging fifteen, and setting up this inscription, " They were hung as trai- tors, robbers, and murderers, not as Spaniards or mariners." Satisfied with the action, the adventurers returned, and happily for the English, the French court, blinded by their bigotry, did not understand the advantages which might have been de- rived from giving America to the protestants, as the English afterwards did to the dissenters as a place of refuge. Had they taken this step, the English would have made no settlements, or if any, small in extent and precarious in tenure .*
The twenty-two years' succeeding reign of Henry III. of Francef passed away, during which France did not under- take any more North American voyages for ultramarine set- tlement.
* Thus Carolina was the first of these United States that had been coloniz- ed either by Spaniards, French, or English, yet it remained unsettled till the reign of Charles II. (1663) Acct. Europ. Sett. in America, Vol. II. Wil- Jia:nson's North Carolina, Vol. I.
¡ Who succeeded Charles IX. and reigned from 1574 to 1589, when Weary IV. ascended the throne. Megerau.
§ 34.] Causes of Colonization and European Policy. 153
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The causes why a century elapsed after the discovery of the Cabots, before any plan of colonization proved successful in North America, may be found in the agitated state of Eu- rope at the commencement and during the progress of the Re- formation ;# the operation upon the public mind of the Pope's grant ; the superior golden attractions of South America and the East Indies ; the peculiar dispositions and policy of kings. and the aversion of subjects to exchange the certain comforts of civilization for the difficulties of a wilderness.
But a secret cause was in slow operation, more powerful than gold or the gains of commerce, which was to colonize America. It was religious persecution, engendered by reli- gious fanaticism. This, combined with the prior impulse which was to be given to maritime adventure by three illus- trious contemporaries, Henry IV. of France, Queen Elizabeth of England, and Prince Maurice of Holland, at the close of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century was to produce a simultaneous effect, which was to secure, as it did secure, the permanent settlement of North America.
At that era the people of Europe were unacquainted with those artificial wants which the subsequent influx of wealth and of luxury superinduced upon their simplicity of man- ners. The means of comfortable subsistence were within the range of ordinary industry, and few comparatively felt an inclination to brave the dangers of the seas, and submit to the incidental privations of an uncultivated and distant region, merely for the prospect of acquiring wealth. `Men thus situ- ated must be goaded by a keen sense of intolerable oppres- sion, to feel an inducement to bid adieu to the home of their birth, and seek quiet in the barbarous wilds of a new world. If it happen now and then that some signal tyranny, ." the vio-
Sce Robertson's Charles V.
00
154 European Discoveries and Claims to New- York. [PARTÍ.
lation of Lucretia, the death of Virginia, the oppression of' Tell," excite discontent and rouse to mutiny ; if men thus exasperated, prefer even to incur the dangers of an open civil war, rather than quit their distracted country for a distant land of tranquillity; how powerful must be the excitement, impe- rious the necessity, or seductive the inducement, that could prevail upon them, at other times, to abandon for ever the cha- rities of kindred and home, the pleasures of long cultivated friendship; the customs, the institutions, the very errors of their country; and those numerous memorials around which their prejudices and prepossessions had been accustomed to rally and to linger ! Even in modern days, where is the emigrant or the exile, whether induced by interest or forced by oppres- sion, to leave the land of his forefathers, who does not look back to the seats of his youth with an inextinguishable attach- ment? If an Englishman, be will still exclaim with Cowper : (107)
England, with all thy faults, I love thee still --- My country !
If' he came from the
Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, The land of mountain and of flood, (108) So famed for song and beauty's charms ; So patient in toil, serene amidst alarms, Inflexible in faith, invincible in arms ; (103)
he will remember with melancholy pleasure the periods when he deemed the tie that bound him to the land of his nativity as indissoluble as that which Sir Walter Scott (110) seems to pre- dict will rivet him for life, when, in this beautiful apostrophe, he exclaims ---
O Caledonia ! stern and wild, Meet nurse for a poetic child ; Land of my sires, what mortal hand Can e'er untie the filial band That Beits me to thy rugged strand '
155
5 34.] Causes of Colonization and European Policy.
Or if an Irishman, he will still lament over the miseries of his devoted country, and recall with cherishing fondness the variegated endearments associated with his carly recollections of the green Emerald Isle. (111)
Such is the strong impulse of feeling which consti- tutes the love of country, that it requires a combination of extraordinary circumstances, in order to bring about the , colonization of a country situated as ours was at the period before mentioned. But enthusiasm is the parent of great results ; and in what cause soever it be enlisted, whether in that of error or of truth; in war, in politics, in religion, or the trans- actions of social life, the most signal consequences follow. Hence that bigotry which was excited by the collision of reli- gious opinions in Europe ; and that fanaticism which had de- populated America at the south, were destined eventually to repeople it in the north .* Although the religious wars that dis- turbed England and France did not have an immediate effect upon the first settlement of our State, yet at later periods they had; and it will hereafter appear that some of our most dis- tinguished patriots (for instance the venerable John Jay) were descendants of emigrants who had been persecuted in their na- tive land ; that the very pilgrims, the founders of New-Eng- land, (who were the ancestors also of many of the citizens of our State) having been driven from their country and taken refuge in Holland, the common asylum of political and reli- gious liberty at that time, removed to Leyden during the year in which Hudson discovered our river, and afterwards embark- ed for the purpose of settling upon its banks, but from certain causes, which will be hereafter unfolded, were diverted to the rock of New Plymouth.
* See Abbe Revnal's British Settlements in America, Vol. I.
156 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PART I.
§ 35.
The first attempt at an effectual colonization by the Eng- Jish, took place at the close of the ever-memorable reign of Queen Elizabeth. This princess cherished every project which could strengthen her navy, extend her commerce, give cclat to her imperious ambition, or range to her proud, lofty, heroic spirit. Spain, whose claim to North America had not yet sluinbered, she neither dreaded or flattered. About the close of the sixteenth century, she gave a powerful impetus to the enterprising spirit of her subjects, assisted the Dutch re- public in achieving its emancipation, and scattered the invin- cible armada, which Philip had prepared for her humiliation. The carlier events of her reign, had predisposed the nation to bold adventure. Though she encouraged maritime skill and science more than polite literaturc, yet the latter kept pace with the former. The study of foreign works laid the foundation of the English classics ; and just, indeed, is the renown of that reign, in which the fame of a Spenser, a Sydney, and a Shakespeare, is associated with that of a Raleigh, a Drake, and a Hawkins.
Under these celebrated commanders, several squadrons had been equipped by Elizabeth, to cruise upon the Spanish coasts and islands of America. They returned with accounts so flattering, of the fertility and riches of Florida, that many of her enterprising subjects appeared very zealous in promo- ting settlements in that part of the world.
The first letters patent granted by the queen, "for inhabit- ing and planting our people in America," was in 1578, to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who was reputed for naval skill, and for a high and resolute spirit. (112) Five years passed without ef- fecting any profitable result, when, in 1583, Sir Humphrey took solemn possession of Newfoundland, and perished on his return to England.
15:
2 85.]
Queen Elizabeth-Sir Walter Raleigh.
The crisis, though favourable for colonization, still seemed to require some master-spirit to give to it a suitable impulse and an enduring effect. This master-spirit appeared in the person of Sir Walter Raleigh, the most extraordinary genius of his own, or perhaps any other, times : a penetrating states- man, an accomplished courtier, a deep scholar, a fine writer, a great soldier, and one of the ablest seamen in the world. This great genius conceived a project to make his nation par- take of the prodigious riches, which, for nearly a century, had flown from the western hemisphere into the castern. He cast his eye on the eastern coast of North America. The talent he had for subduing the mind, by representing all his propo- sals in a striking light, soon procured him associates both at court, and among the merchants. High in the favour of his queen, the company that was formed in consequence of his magnificent promises, obtained (the year after the disaster of Sir Walter's half brother, Sir Humphrey) in March 1584. the absolute disposal of all the discoveries that should be made between 33° and 40° of north latitude ; and with out any further encouragement, they fitted out two ships in April following, that entered Pampico Sound, and afterwards anchored in Roanoke Bay, now a part of Caro- lina, took possession thereof in the name of Queen Eli- zabeth, and called the country Virginia, after her. Every thing that these successful navigators reported on their return to Europe, concerning the temperature of the climate, the fer- tility of the soil, and the disposition of the inhabitants, en- couraged the society to proceed. (113) But though several at- tempts were renewed at great expense, yet the fall and disgrace of Raleigh, whose genius withal was of a fiery and eccentric nature, suspended further enterprise, and the colony having lost its founder, was forgotten for twelve years, when, in 1602. transatlantic adventure was renewed by Bartholomew Gos- nold, and a new spirit of colonial enterprise consequently in- fused among the English.
15S European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PART I.
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The first house erected, and the first soil cultivated by any modern Europeans within the colonial limits of New-York,* and indeed the first particular examination of any part of New-England, were by Bartholomew Gosnold, one year before the death of Queen Elizabeth. One hundred and ninety-five years afterwards, (viz. in 1797) Dr. Belknapt discovered the cellar of the store-house which had been built by Gos- nold on one of the Elizabeth islands, t and some vestiges of it were found by a party of gentlemen, who recently visited the spot.s
Bartholomew Gosnold was an intrepid mariner of the west of England. He had sailed to Virginia in one of Sir Walter Raleigh's ships, and became convinced that a shorter route than that by the Canaries, might be pursued from England to America. It is not known by whose encouragement, and un- der whose patronage, he fitted out the present expedition. It might have been the project of his own enterprising genius, and carried into effect at his own expense. But as he had been in Raleigh's employment ; as Martin Pring, who was with him in the present voyage, afterwards pursued the same direction, by permission of Sir Walter and his associates, (who, it seems, had the exclusive right of planting Virginia) and as Rosier, also one of Gosnold's company, afterwards wrote an account of the present voyage, || and presented it to Sir Walter, it may be concluded as probable, that Gosnold
* Sce ante, p. 110,
¡ Sec his Amer. Biog. V. II. p. 113, 114.
# See description of these islands and Duke's county, Vol. III. (2d se- ries, ) Mass. Hist. Collections.
9 Sce Vol. V. North Am. Rev. p. 315.
|| See Gosnold's Voyage in Purchase, Vol. V. and in Vol. II. (contain- ing the most accurate account of it) Belknap's Amer. Biog. See ante- colonial Hist. of New-Forland. Vol. VI. N. Am. Rev. p. 36. (n. s.)
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Queen Elizabeth-Gosnold. 159
sailed under his auspices. For it appears, that his design was to lay the foundation of a colony in America, and for that purpose he no doubt received the approbation, if not the pa- tronage, of Sir Walter, with whose patented rights he must have been acquainted.
Accordingly, with this design, Gosnold associated with him- self, a company of thirty-two men, eight of whom were ma- riners, and in a small bark sailed from Falmouth, in Corn- wall, on the 27th March, 1602. To test the practicability of a nearer route than by the Canaries and Mexico, he boldly steered his course in as direct a way, and as far to the north as winds and current would permit ; and after a passage of se- ven weeks, he enjoyed the satisfaction of having his prior - conviction confirmed, and consequently the honour of being the first Englishman, who, by deviating from the usual circu- cuitous route, greatly lessened the distance, and therefore diminished the dangers of a passage to America. He arri- ved in sight of Massachusetts Bay, discovered and named Cape Cod, passed Nantucket, and landed upon the island, which has been denominated No Man's Land. When Gosnold first arrived, (May 14th) on the continent, he met a shallop of European fabric, in which were cight savages, one of whom was dressed in European clothes, from which circumstances. it was concluded, that some unfortunate fisherman of Biscay had been wrecked on the coast. The fishery and for trade had been busily carried on by different nations ; and even the English, notwithstanding the failure of Sir Walter Raleigh's spirited exertions to colonise Virginia, had continued this kind of northern adventure, in common with other nations. At any rate, there is no reason to suppose that any European had been here before Gosnold, with views similar to those which had induced him hither.
On his arrival at No Man's Land, he landed. This is a small island, the most castern of those now known as Eliza- beth islands. It is five leagues from that which Gosnold na- med Elizabeth, four from that which is now known as the Vineyard, and its Indian name, according to Dr. Belknap, is
160 European Discoveries and Claims to New- York. [PART I.
Nenimissett. Its modern name of No Man's Land, arose from its being deserted or uninhabited. Having landed, Gos- nold explored the island, and found it five miles in circumfer- ence. It is now four, having since diminished by the effect of the tides that set in and out of the bay. Gosnold found it un- inhabited, full of woods, berries, deer, and vines. From the abundance of the last. he named the island Martha's Vine- yard. According to Hubbard," who cites Captain Brierton, one of the company, they took up their station in Martha's Vineyard, planted grain and peas in the middle of May, which vegetated with wonderful rapidity. It is possible, however, that he may refer to the large island which afterwards acquired that name. For according to the journal, f they remained but two days, and then passed round Gay Head, naming it Dover Cliff .¿ and anchored in Vineyard Sound, probably near Menemsha Bite. Still, as the large island was inhabited, and the small one not, perhaps Gosnold might have subsequently. visited the latter, to learn the result of his experiment. When the name of Martha's Vineyard was transferred from the small - to the large island, Dr. Belknap says he cannot explain, un- les it might arise from the fact, that the latter was called by old writers, Martin's Vineyard ; and as the former was unin- habited, and the latter was always peopled, and had also rines, § the two names of Martha and Martin, became confound- ed, and the first was gradually applied to the Vineyard. It will appear that Pring, whose name was Martin, again visited these islands after this first voyage had terminated, and it may
* In Hist. of New-Eng. Vol. V. Mass. Hist. Collections.
i Gabriel Archer is mentioned as the journalist by Belknap, to whom we are principally indebted for the facts here detailed.
# Which is supposed to be the castern head of a small island, which was called by the natives Onky Tonky, but now corrupted into Unele Tommy. The rocky ledge is called Rattlesnake Neck.
§ The ancient Vinelanders found the grape long before Gosnold, see p. 115. 116, ante. .
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Gosnold. . 161
1
be that the large island was named after him. Hubbard* says the name of Martha's Vineyard was bestowed in conse- quence of its fruitfulness ; that the island, Capowake, (its In- dian name) was called Martha, or commonly, 'Martyne's Vineyard.'f Its Indian name was Capawock, as given by old writers, but according to Gookin, it was Nope. It probably had two names. į It might afford relief to the dryness of this investigation, if we should interrupt it for the present, and here superadd to the Indian names of this island, the Indian tradition respecting its aboriginal discovery, and that of some of the neighbouring islands.
The tradition respecting Martha's vineyard is this:§ The Arst Indian who came to the vineyard, was brought thither with his dog on a cake of ice. When he came to Gay Head, he found a very large man, whose name was Moskup. He had a wife and five children, four sons and one daughter, and lived in the den He used to catch whales, and then plock up trees, and make a fire and roast them. The coals of the trees, and the bones of the whales, were to be seen, (according to the tradition at the time when it was related, viz.) a century ago. After he was tired of staying here, he told his children to go and play ball on a beach that joined No Man's Land to Gay Head. He then made a mark with his toe across the beach at each end, and so deep that the water followed and cut away the beach, so that his children were in fear of drown- ing. They took their sister up and held her out of the water. He told them to act as if they were going to kill whales, and they were all turned into killers, (a fish so called.) The sister was dressed in large stripes. He gave them a strict charge always to be kind to her. His wife mourned the loss of her children so exceedingly, that he threw her away. She fell
* Hist. New-Eng. ib. p. 68.
¡ The Dutch called it "Marten Vingers," according to De Laet, ' Nieuwe Werelat,' B. 3. ch. S. but, according to Judge Benson, it was " Martin Wyngaard's Island." t See Vol. III. Mass. Hist. Coll. 1st series. p. 154, 201.
: See Vol. I. Massachusetts Historical Collection. p. 199 Vor .. 1. 21
162 European Discoveries and Claims to New- York. [PART I.
upon Seconet, near the rocks, where she lived some time, cx- acting contribution of all who passed by water. After a while she was changed into a stone. The entire shape remained for several years. But after the English came, some of them broke off the arms, head, &c. but the most of the body re- mains to this day. Maushup went away nobody knows whither. He had no conversation with the Indians, but was kind to them, by sending whales, &c. ashore to them to cat. But after they grew thick around him, he left them.
Among the Indians of Nantucket island a tradition pre- vailed, that an eagle having seized and carried off in his ta- Jons a papoos, the parents followed him in their canoe till they came to Nantucket, where they found the bones of their child dropped by the eagle."
The more particular tradition of the aboriginal discovery of Nantucket is this :| A great many moons ago, a bird of extraordinary size often visited the south shore of Cape Cod, and carried thence southward, a great number of small chil- dren. Maushop, the Indian giant, who lived in those parts, enraged at this havoc, once waded into the sea in pursuit of the bird, till he had crossed the sound and reached Nantucket, which had been unknown to the aborigines. There he found the bones of the children in a heap under a large tree. Desir- ous of sinoking, he ransacked the island for tobacco, but finding none, filled his pipe with poke, (a weed.) Ever since, fogs have been frequent at Nantucket and on the Cape. In allusion to their tradition, the natives upon observing fogs arise, exclaim, " there comes old Maushop's smoke."}
We will now return to Gosnold, who had, as we observed, anchored in Vineyard Sound after doubling and naming Gay
* Notes on Nantucket, in Vol. III. Mass. Hist. Coll. (new series,) p. 35. ¡ In Memorabilia of Yarmouth, Vol. V. (first series,) Mass. Hist. Coll. p. 56.
# Another tradition states that Nantucket was formed out of the ashes which Maushop knocked out of his pipe. See Vol. I. Memoirs of Boston Academy of Arts and Sciences.
y 36] Gosnold --- First attempt to Colonise New-York. 163
Head. Leaving his mooring, he passed round the ledge of rocks known by the name of the Sow and Pigs, which extend a mile into the sea, entered the mouth of Buzzards Bay, and finally landed upon Cuttyhunk, the most western of the Eliza- beth islands. Finding it covered with vines, rich in foilage, romantic in scenery, and secure and protected from its insular situation, he determined to make it his abiding place. Its Indian name is contracted from " Poo-cut-oh-hunk," which sig- niftes a thing that lies out of water. But Gosnold gave to it the name of Elizabeth in honour of the queen.
Upon exploring the island for the purpose of selecting & suitable site for building, this young colony made choice of 2 snug little rocky islet, the Indian name of which was Nau- shaun : its area was about one acre, and it was situated at the west end of the north side of Cuttyhunk, in the centre of a pond of fresh water, three quarters of a mile long, and of an unequal breadth. Three weeks were employed in clearing the islet, digging and stoning a cellar, erecting a house, for- tifying it with palisades, and covering it with sedge which grew on the sides of the pond. While about one-third of them were thus engaged, Gosnold crossed the bay and discovered the mouth of two rivers; one of them is that, near which, is Hap's Hill, the other, on the shores of which stands New- Bedford. On his first approach to the main land, he was met by "men, women, and children, who, with all courteous kindness entertained him, giving him skins of wild beasts, to- bacco, turtles, hemp, atificial strings coloured, (wampum,) and such like things as they had about them." Thus cordially welcomed by a people whose manners indicated the primitive sincerity and simplicity of the olden time, and in a country which displayed the most enchanting scenery, Gosnold might have fancied he had arrived at that land which the visions of poetry had painted as the seat of the blessed. The calmness and mildness of the weather at this peculiar season ; the serenity of the North American sky ; thes alubrity of the sea breeze, as it met and mingled with the fragrance of the meadow and
164 European Discoveries und Claims to New- York. [PART i.
the wood, the silent majesty of the ocean "reposing in her dark strength," yet gilded by the sun-beams as they fitted across its bosom ; the surrounding grandeur of the forest; the luxuriance of vegetation; the harmony which made " spring vocal :" constituted altogether a scene so delightfully new, picturesque, and romantic, blending in the contemplation of a reflecting observer, so much natural beauty with moral sub- limity, as to vindicate the most extravagant anticipations of happiness which Gosnold might have indulged ; while survey- ing the scene he brought to mind, that hither he had arrived to lay the foundation of a colony, which might be the germ of a powerful empire. With such views he recrossed the bay and rejoined his associates, after an absence of five days, and with such views, he afterwards, as it will appear, revisited his native country.
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