USA > New York > History of the state of New-York : including its aboriginal and colonial annals, vol. pt 1 > Part 18
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The boat was hoisted into the ship, and every precaution taken to guard against attack. It was expected that this first instance of hostility would have broken off all intercourse with the natives ; but on the second day after the death of Colman, they brought Indian wheat (corn) and tobacco, traded freely, and offered no violence. The next day they repeated their visits, but armed with bows and arrows, and in greater num- bers, with apparently hostile intention. They were not suffer- ed to board, except two who were kept, and red coats put upon them. The rest returned, when a canoe came out with two only, one of whom was also taken with a view of keeping him with the others, probably as hostages for the good be- haviour of their friends. The last one, however, jumped up. and leaped overboard. Thereupon, Hudson weighed anchor, and went off into the channel of the narrows for the night.
212 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PART 1.
Next day he went over towards the cast sand bank, sound- ed, found it shallow and again anchored. On the eleventh, having spent a week south of the Narrows, Hudson passed through them into the New-York Bay, and finding it an ex- cellent harbour for all winds, he remained until the afternoon of the next day. Here the people of the country came on board, " making great show of love, giving tobacco and In- dian wheat, but we could not trust them."*
On the morning of the 12th, they rode up into the mouth! of the "great river." Twenty eight canoes full of men, women and children, now came out, but as they were suspect- ed of treacherous intentions, they were not permitted to come on board. Some of their oysters and beans were purchased. " Copper tobacco pipes, and pots of earth to cook their meat in," were observed among them. At noon they depart- ed, and -the ship in the afternoon went into the river two leagues and anchored. Hudson now prepared to explore the North river. It does not appear that he turned his attention at all to the East river. As his main object throughout his voyage had been a north-west passage to China, if this was still in view, he might have deemed it useless to explore a river that bore eastward.
We shall refer more particularly to the East river, the Long Island sound, Connecticut river, the coasts and islands in their vicinity, and the south river or Delaware, in our history of the progress of the Dutch settlements, during which, Adrian Block, Godyn, Cornelius Jacobszoon May, and others, in their voy- ages left their names to several islands, capes, and waters, some of which still retain the same.
The great river into which Hudson entered for the purpose of exploring, is now distinguished by the names of Hudson and the North river. The former was early attached to it. for although the Hollanders during the period in which they held the reigns of government here, applied to it other names.
" Journal.
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such as De Groote rivier, on account of its magnitude ; Mau- ritius rirer, in honour of their Stadtholder Prince Maurice, who, as we heretofore related, flourished when it was discover- ed and settled ; Manhattan rirer, from a neighbouring Indian tribe; Noordt rivier, in contradistinction to Zuydt rivier, (or South river, known also as the Nassau or Delaware river,) and " De Groote Noordtrievier van Nieuw Nederlandt," as De Laet emphatically calls it,* yet it was known by the Holland- ers and others at that period, by the name which is now in honour of its discoverer invariably applied to it, except when it is intended to discriminate between this and the East river : then it is called North river. Hudson did not give his name to it; he denominated it the " great river." It was also early known by the appellation of Riviere des Montagnes, f or river of mountains, in consequence of the highlands through which it ran. This has been thought to have been of Spanish origin ; į but Professor EbelingS says, that it may be a cor- ruption of Manat-hans. It was also called in early times, particularly by the New-England people, Mohegan river, li- by reason of its, being inhabited by a tribe so called, whose real name was Mohicans or Mohiccanni, descendants from the Lenni Lenape or Delawares. Its Indian name was sometimes
* And makes it the head of the 9th chap. of B. 3. in his Nieuw Wereldt. f And " Rio de Montaigne," according to De Laet.
# See N. Y. Hist. Coll. Vol. I. p. 37 n. Judge Berson (in his memoir &c.) says, there is no trace of the Spaniards having landed in our vicinity. But he suggests as a matter of conjecture, that some of the early Spanish voyagers, (perhaps those who gave the name of Campobello to an i-land in the Bay of Fundy, Tremont to the peninsula of Boston, from the thec eminences in it, and cape Mallebarre to the south-east point of the peninsu- la of cape Cod.) may possibly have approached so near as to discern dis- tinctly the opening of the Warrows, and concluding it to be the entrance into a river, and perceiving Neversink and Staten-Island to be the only land on the coast apparently mountainous, they gave the name of the River of the mountains, and passed on. Sec ante p. 130.
History of America (in German.).
i See Josselyn's account of Voyages to New-England. p. 245. London 1674. Douglass Seminary, &c. Vol. II. p. 256.
214 European Discoveries und Claims to New-York. [PART I.
Shatemuck,* which may have been a corruption of its truc Delaware or Mohicanni name, which was Mahakaneghtuc.t But the Iroquois name seems most harmonious, it was Coho- hatutea.t
Having alluded to Indians bordering on this river, it may not be irrelevant, as illustrative of Hudson's discovery and his progress up the river, to mention the tribes with whom he had intercourse, by the names under which they were afterwards known. The colonial relations with the river Indians, as they were called, and their history, will be hereafter sketched.
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Before we accompany, therefore, our discoverer to the head of navigation in this river, we will take a topographical glance at the great bay through which he passed, the islands in its vicinity, and the Indians who then inhabited these shores, as well as those of the river Hudson.
The Bay of New-York is strictly that which forms the harbour of New-York ; bounded by Long and Staten Islands; communicating with the East and North rivers, with Newark Bay through the kills, and the Atlantic through the Narrows. But the Great Bay, as it was in former times emphatically denominated, embosomed the waters and islands as far as Sandy Hook and the Jersey shore. The Great Bay of New
Judge Benson, (in his memnoir, &c.) says the name of the Hudson was Sha-te-muc. He derived it in 1785, from a German settler within the litnits of the Livingston manor, whowas well acquainted with the Indian lan- quage, and had learned the name from the Indians in that vicinity, and par- ticularly from the Wiccapee Indians in the Highlands. Shatemuck is also mentioned as the name by Washington Irving in his Knickerbocker Vol. I.
¡ Mahicannitluck or Mahicannihiltuck, the river of the Mahicanni. The Wickapy Indians (whom Judge Benson mentions, see note above) were of Delaware descent, had crossed the river and intermixed with the Mahi- canni. Sce Rev. Mr. Heckewelder's MS. Commu. post.
! See Vol. I. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 44. 37. and Heckewelder in Vol. I. Phila. Lit. and Philo. Trans. Sce Ogilby's map in Hist. of Amer. 1671.
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Netherland, so called by Vander Donck, or by way of emi- nence, the Great Bay, was bounded* on the south by the Ocean, cast by Long Island, north partly by the mouth of the Hudson, and partly by the shore of New-Jersey, and west wholly by this shore. Newark Bay, from its relative situa- tion to the Great Bay, the Dutch called Het achter Cul, literally the Black Bay ; Cul, borrowed from the French Cul de sac, was also in use with the Dutch to signify a bay. Achter Cul was corrupted to Arthur Cul's Bay. The pas- sage from this into the Great Bay they called Het Kill van het cul, (the kill of the cul) which was finally expressed by the kills. A reef in the bay, (now Robin's Reef) not far from the mouth of the Kills, they called Robyn's rift, that is, Seal reef, Robyn being the name of seal, which frequented the bay. The passage from the bay and the river to the sound was also occasionally distinguished by them as the Great Bay, denoted from its relative situation to the other rivers and inlets to the East river. The island at the commencement of it they called Nocten Island, Nut Island, corrupted to Nut- ten Island, the name by which it was known until within the last half century, when at times it was referred to as the Governor's Island, being reserved from the beginning for the use of the Governor, and this is now its name exclusively. Staaten Island retains its name with a slight orthographical variation .;
De Laett calls the bay, as named by the Dutch, Porto May, and he seems to have applied the name indiscriminate- ly to signify the Great Bay, or the bay in its restricted and present limits.
When Hudson arrived, the Great Bay, in its more compre-
* Egbert Benson, Esq. in his Memoir read before the New-York Society in 1816.
t Judge Benson, ib. Long Island is the translation from its Dutch name. A legal name was given by an act of Assembly in 1693. viz. Island of Nas. sau. ib.
! In Nieuw Werldt, b. III ch. 9 and 1 !.
216 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. PART 1.
hensive designation, embraced ten islands, if we may in- clude those of the vicinity of Long Island, viz. Schryer and Coney Islands; Staten and Manhattan Is'. nds, and those which were formerly visible within the bay or harbour of New-York.
Coney Island, whereon Hudson may have first landed, is derived from Conyn, a Dutch surname .* Sandy Hook, within which Hudson anchored and landed, and which he named Coleman's Point, was afterwards generally called by the Dutch Sandt Punt, was mentioned also as Sondt Hocck, and for some time called by the English Sandy Point. Pass- ing, however, through the Narrows, (called Hoofden by the Dutch, being their name for forelands. or literally head-lands) Iludson arrived and anchored in the bay of New-York, as it is now understood. If we include Red Hook as an island, (and it is laid down on charts as surrounded by water so late as the revolution) there were six islands in this bay when Hudson visited it. Nutten or Governor's Island we have already spoken of. De Lact says, that about half a mile with- in the Hook, f or corner of the river next to the east coast lics " Noten Eyland," half a mile in area, and containing many fine aut trees, and over against this, on the west shore of the bay, are four other small islands.j Two of them only, viz. Ellis and Bedlow, are now visible except at very low water, when the rocks of the others, viz. Oyster Island and Robins Reef, are discoverable. Oyster Island is in the Oyster Banks, at .a small distance south west of Bedlow's Island.§ Robin's Reef we described. Ellis and Governor's Islands are the nearest of the islands to New-York, or Manhattan Island. This
* Or as it is the same as Rabbit, it may have indicated the existence of that animal, says Judge Benson, to whom we are indebted for the Dutch names of Sandy Hook, and Coney Island, and the Narrows.
i Red Hook.
! De Laet Nienw Werldt.
/ This is named on Katzer's map of New-York. 1766-7. "Bedlow's or Kennedy I-land," and Ellis Island was then " Bucking Island."
il From the first on Ellis to the west battery, or Castle Clinton, the dis. tance is 2040 yards. Frein Castle William ou Governor's Island to the same js 1217. See Randel's map of New-York.
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island, when Hudson visited it, particularly that part of it now covered by the city, presented a wild and rough aspect : a thick forest covered those parts of it where vegetation could find support; its beach was broken, sandy, or rocky, and full of inlets ; its interior presented hills of stony or sandy alluvion, masses of rock, ponds, swamps, and marshes.
The triumph of art over this barren wild, within two hundred and fifteen years, is too apparent to require de- scription .* The Indian name of this island, and the people who occupied that and the neighbouring country, when Hud- son appeared, will be mentioned in our description of the bay and river Indians, which here follows :
De Laet, who published his "Nieuwe Wereldt,"+ (or descrip- tion of the West Indies, as the country was so denominated,) sixteen years after Hudson's discovery, gives a brief account of it, which he perhaps derived from that which Hudson trans- mitted to the directors of the East India Company after his return. He says that Hudson upon going on shore, after first coming to anchor in the bay, within Sandy Hook, found the natives standing along the shore, ranged according to the re- spective situations which they occupied, and singing. This corresponds with the brevity of the journal, which mentions, that on landing, the shores were lined with men, women, and children. The natives are described by De Laet as " mani- festing all friendship" when Hudson first landed. They were clothed in skins of elks, foxes, and other animals. Their
* For further description of the Bay and Islands, see Spafford's Gazetteer, 2d edit. Randel's map of N. Y. Sinith's Hist. of New-York. The geology of this region of the country-See Dr. Mitchill's Geol. of N. Amer. (in Cuvier's Theory) p. 386, 389. Dr. Akerly's Gcology of the Iludson, as to N. Y. Island, p. 47, and the other islands and shores, p. 45, 22, 61, 65, 25, 26, 14, 68.
i Nieuwe Werledt ofte Beschryvigle van West Indien, &c. Door Joannes De Laet. Tot Leyden, D. A. 1625, see B. 3. ch. 7. 10. A Latin edition was afterwards published, viz. Novus orbis seu Descriptionis India occidentalis. Authore Joanne De Laet. Antwerp. Lugd. Batav. 1633 folio.
Von .. J.
28
218 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PART I.
canoes were made out of trees-their arms were bows and arrows, with sharp points of stone fixed to them, and fastened by hard pitch-they had no houses, but slept under the blue heavens, some on mats made of brush or bullrushes, some upon leaves of trees-they had good tobacco, and copper tobacco pipes. After their first acquaintance they frequently visited Hudson's ship.
Is an account in manuscript* by the late Rev. Mr. Abeel, (translated, as it seems, from De Laet,) he says, in reference to Hudson's visit to the New-York bay and mouth of the river. that on the point where New-York is now built, he found living a very hostile people, who would not deal or trade with him. But those living on the western shore from the Kills upward, (that is, along what are now the Bergen shores, Communipa, Powles' Hook, and Hoboken,) came daily on board the ves- sel while she lay at anchor in the river, bringing with them to barter, furs, the largest and finest oysters, indian corn, beans, pumpkins, squashes, grapes, and some apples ; all which they exchanged for trifles : Here Hudson landed.
Although it is not improbable (as will appear hereafter,) that He should have landed at Manhattan Island, at or near the Battery, (which is in 40° 42',) yet there is no corroborative proof to be found in the journal, that the people were actually hostile. It will appear that on his return Hudson was attack- ed by people near the north end of the island, and perhaps the above account, giving a general view of the voyage, has confounded that circumstance with the incidents of his first entry. In his slow progress from Sandy Hook into the mouth of the river, it is very probable that he went ashore several times, but whether the remarkable scene which we shall by and by describe, and which was displayed in his first interview with the natives, took place at Coney Island, or behind the " Jow sandy point," (Sandy Hook) where De Laet says he landed, or upon Manhattan Island, or at Albany, will remain a subject of speculation. It may be impossible to locate the spot, and it might not be very important if we could. The in-
* lu New-York Historical library, MISS.
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New-York Bay and River Indians.
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quiry will now be, who were the Indians with whom Hudson had his intercourse during the first week of his visit, and pre- yiously to the continuation of his voyage up the river.
De Laet* says that on the west side within the Sandy Hook, between the point of sand along the bay, and along the west- ern shore, the Sanhikans reside. They were deadly enemies of the Manatthans, and a better people than they, who were a wicked nation, for, says De Laet, they have always con- ducted towards the Dutch in a cruel and inimical manner. It appears that the former extended some distance beyond the Hook and Bay, for De Laet, in speaking of the South river, f (now Delaware,) says, that on this river live various Indians, as "Sanwanoos, Sanhicans, Minquaas, Capitanasses, Gacheos, Sennecaas, Canomakers, Naratekons, Konekotays, Matanac- kouses, Armcomecks," all of the same condition and habits as those before described. Those living on the land east of the bay, viz. Long Island, De Laet names Matouwachs. Another Dutch author,į who wrote twenty-six years after De Laet, confirms the statement by saying that the Indians called by the name of Sankikani when the Dutch arrived, lived on the New-York bay, on the Jersey shore, opposite Mahattan's Island, and thence some distance up the river, lining the shore. They were deadly enemies of the Mahattans, though a much less ferocious and sanguinary people.
The Rev. John Heckewelder, in a manuscript communica- tion, § says that the Sankhicanni derive their name from " Sank- hican," which signifies " Fire-works ;" therefore "Sank-hi-can- ni," explains the word or name, " The Fire workers," or the
* Nieuw Wereldt, B. 3. ch. 9. De Laet in " Novus Orbis," etc. says, the Indians on the Hudson, especially the Sankikani, prayed to the devil, whoin they called Menutto, vel, Menetto. (See hereafter Indian history.) The Sankikani were the infessissimi hostes of the fierce Manhitta.
¿ Book 3, chapter 11.
# Joost Hartger, who published his work at Amsterdam, 1651.
$ In possession of the New-York Hist. Soc. and addressed to Dr. Miller, 1801. Mr. Heckewelder, says that the above account is collected fromn good authority, and may be relied on.
220 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PART I.
Fire work people. They and the Wabinga, (or Wapinga,) sprung from the Delawares and Munsies ; but both living op- posite the Mahicanni, on the North or Hudson river, inter- married with the Mahicanni; so that after some length of time their language had, or betrayed more of the Mahicanni, than of the Delaware. The settlements of the Wapingi were the lowermost of the two. They lived up the Pachsajeck, (i. e. a valley.) now called Passaick, and on the banks of the Hudson near Thuphanne, now called Tappan. The Sankhicanni lived higher up the river, and extended their settlements to- wards where Albany now is. The Dutch, in consequence of the highlands which the former people occupied, soon gave them the name of " Hocklanders," (i. e. Highlanders.) In the course of time, those two tribes were under the necessity of leaving their country, when they went over to the Mahicanni, with the exception of a few families, who again joined the Delawares, but for fear of being soon again driven from their settlements by the whites, went first to Susquehannab, and next to the Ohio.
Charles Thompson, Esq. Secretary to the first American Congress, observes" that the Wapinga sometimes called river Indians, sometimes Mohickanders, (a branch of the Delawares, or Lenape,) had their dwellings between the west branch of Delaware and Hudson river, from the Kettatinney ridge down to the Rariton. Dr. Barton, f in speaking of this account, says, that the Wapinga, whom Mr. Thompson identifies with the River Indians, or Mohicanders, (who were sometimes, as Mr. T. says, called Wapinga,) were not Mahiccans, but a branch of the Delawares. Mr. Heckewelder, also sayst the name of the tribe, called Wabingi, is derived from the opossum. 'This animal, in the language of the Delawares, is called Waping : the Unamis, say " Oping :" " Wapingi" signifieth
* In note 5, appendix to Mr. Jefferson's notes on Virginia.
{ In M.S. Communication to Dr. Miller, in 1800, and among the ma- nmcripts of the New-York Historical Society.
Į In M. S. Comm. ib.
: Ifist. of America, in German, (New-York, p. 30.)
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"the Opossummani." They were one of the tribes which con- stituted the Delaware Confederacy. Professor Ebeling, ob- serves that the Esopus Indians, who, (as will appear in our history of New Netherlands,) gave the Dutch so much trou- ble by their hostility, were supposed to be Wappinges, or Wampingees. At a still later period it will appear, that the Wappingers, as the English called them, occupied that part of the east side of the Hudson, near a hill called Anthony's Nose, in the highlands, which embraced what was called Philips's upper patent in Dutches County, including Pollipel's island. Although formerly numerous, they had in 1767 dwindled to 227 persons. Their occupation was principally planting and hunting. The highlands afforded fine hunting ground, and the surrounding soil was excellent for planting. Their story involves much interest, and will be detailed in the pro- gress of our history. It was their fate, though a similar fate with others, to be compelled to abandon their once pleasant Wickapy, (which was the name of the lands where the tribe chiefly resided,) and to scek refuge in remote, and to them, strange places .*
From these various accounts we may conclude that the Sankhicanni and Wabingi were the same people, spreading on the western shores. of New-Jersey, and along the western side of the Hudson river beyond the highlands. When Hud- son arrived, they were denominated Sanhikans. In the pro- gress of settlement by the whites, they changed their habita- tions until they were diminished to the small remnant of Wickapy Wappingers, who had crossed the Hudson and in- termixed, as Mr. Heckewelder observes, with the Mahicanni, and who finally disappeared from the banks of the river. This conclusion corresponds with that of Governor Clinton, whot says, that those Indians on the west bank of Hudson's
* Sce narrative of the controversy between the Wappinger tribe of In- dians, and the claimants under the original patent of land in Philip's upper patent. Hartford, printed 1768.
i Iu discourse before N. Y. Hist. Soc. Sec N. Y. II. Coll. p. 41.
222 European Discoveries and Claimsto New- York. [PART I.
river, from its mouth to the Kaat's Kill mountains, were some- times denominated Wabinga, and sometimes Sankikani, and they and the Mohegans, whose original name was Muhleka- new, went by the general appellation of river Indians, or, according to the Dutch, Mohickanders. The Mohegans were settled on that part of the cast shore of the river below Albany .*
Who they were, and what Indians resided on the west banks of the Hudson beyond the Catskill mountains, or north of the confines of the Wabingi, will be mentioned after we shall have described those who lived opposite the Sankhicani, upon Long Island, Staten, and Manhattan islands.
According to Mr. Thompson, ; the Mahicon or Mahattan, another branch of the Delawares, occupied Staten Island, York Island, Long Island, and a part of Connecticut, and New-York, between Connecticut river and Hudson river from the Highlands, which is a continuation of the Kittatinney ridge, down to the Sound. This nation, in alliance with the Shawanese on the Susquehannah, carried on a long and bloody war with the Iroquois confederacy, who lived. north of them between the Kittatinny mountains or Highlands, and Lake Ontario. This war was carried on with the greatest fury when Captain Smith landed in Virgina. The Mingos (Iroquois) had penetrated to the mouth of the Susquehannah, where in 1008, Captain Smith in one of his excursions up the bay, met their canoes and warriors.
i
Mr. Heckeweldert relates, that from the best accounts he could obtain, the Indians which inhabited Long Island, were Delawares, and those which inhabited York Island either De- lawares, or the tribe called Monseys, or as they call them- selves, " Minsi," derived, they say, from the word " Minissi," which signifieth a Peninsula. Those of Long Island, how- ever, were early known by the denomination of Matuwakes,
* In discourse before N. Y. Hist. Soc. See N. Y. II. Coll. p. 41.
{ In note 5. Appx. to Jefferson's notes on Virg.
: In MS. Commu. ib.
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according to De Laet and Professor Ebeling. The remnants of this tribe are now hardly to be found .* So with regard to Staten and Manhattan islands, the tribes who occupied them, were, in the opinion of Governor Clinton, | the Mohic- cons, Mahatons or Manhattans. These will appear to have been the names of the same people, and originating from the Lenape or Delaware stock.
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