USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume I > Part 14
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In this crisis De Vries returned to Holland by way of Virginia, lay- ing the blame for the perilous condition of affairs on Director-General Kieft. "I doubt not that vengeance for the innocent blood you have shed in your murderings, sooner or later, will be visited on your head" was the warning he addressed to Kieft before departing. An urgent appeal was made about the same time by the eight men to the directors of the West India Company and to the States-General, describing the perilous condition of the province and the destruction with which it was menaced. There appeared, however, very little indication of any assistance being sent from abroad and the colonists began to recog- nize the fact that they had been thrown on their own resources and would have to meet the crisis with all the courage they could com- mand. The town had been put under martial law and strict ordinances were promulgated for the maintenance of discipline. The period of tension brought a period of good resolutions. Whoever profaned the name of God at the guardhouse, abused a companion on duty, or ne- glected his turn of service, was to pay a fine; and whoever discharged his gun without order of the corporal when reveille was sounded was to be fined a florin. The town nevertheless continued in a state of dis- order, and thefts and surreptitious killing of cattle became frequent. The Fiscal was brought before the council and accused of having in
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his cups called the director-general a rascal, thief, and drunkard; and was sternly commanded to discharge his duties more carefully. The authorities moreover put forth energetic efforts to crush the offensive of the enemy. Councillor La Montagne and, under him, Joachim Pieter- sen Kuyter, with forty other citizens, and English soldiers under Lieu- tenant Baxter, made an excursion to Staten Island, and brought to the fort a large quantity of corn, which was badly needed. An expedition was also sent in January, 1644, against the Connecticut Indians, who had made an attack on the English settlers of Greenwich, who, under the direction of one Captain Patrick, had placed themselves under Dutch protection. The expedition went by water and after some delay a detachment surprised and attacked an Indian village and killed a score of warriors. Another party, under Lieutenant Baxter and Sergeant Cock, marched to the strongholds of the Weckquaesgecks, in the West- chester region. They succeeded in destroying two of their strongholds, and fortifying a third one and using it as a base. They ravaged the crops of the savages through Westchester and in the direction of the Bronx valley, and after killing a number of the aborigines, returned to Fort Amsterdam, carrying several prisoners with them in triumph.
Indian Defeats-Towards the close of the year 1644 a force of one hundred and twenty men, composed of the regulars under Sergeant Cock and armed citizens led by Joachim Pietersen Kuyter, under the general command of the indefatigable Montagne, was sent against the Canarsee Indians on Long Island, who were suspected of treachery and of meditating hostilities against certain English settlers, who, under Fordham, Ogden, and Lawrence, had been established on the plains and bay at Heemstede under a patent that had been given out not long before. Montagne and Underhill, the latter the commander of the English forces, in separate detachments, attacked two villages, one at Mespat, and succeeded in killing one hundred and twenty of the Indians. It is related that two of the prisoners were afterwards killed at the fort under circumstances of great barbarity. A forced levy on the cargo of a ship from Holland bound for Rensselaerswyck, and having on board guns and ammunition not on its manifest, had supplied the troops with much-needed clothing and military supplies, and enabled the director to send out his attacking parties. Captain Underhill and Ensign Van Dyck were also despatched in mid-winter on an expedition against the Connecticut Indians and succeeded in accomplishing the most impor- tant undertaking of the war. Landing at Greenwich from three boats the expedition made a difficult and perilous march through a wilderness, impeded by snow and by rocks over which the men were obliged to crawl, and arriving at night at a stronghold of the savages. Once on
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the spot they boldly charged the red men, swords in their hands. The Indians were not unprepared and made a desperate resistance, and made repeated sallies from behind their palisades. Nearly two hundred of the aboriginal warriors were killed in this encounter and their village hav- ing been fired, upwards of three hundred more of the savages were shot down or driven back into the flames. The next morning the victors marched back over the toilsome route and passing through Stamford, after a journey of two days and a night in reaching that place, returned to Fort Amsterdam, where they were received with jubilation. The di- rector issued a proclamation of thanksgiving for the success of the Dutch arms, which at that critical time, was of great importance to the colony.
It was thus the turn of the white man, who in a brief time had won a series of decisive victories over the red men. The punishment in- flicted on the aborigines made a deep impression on the survivors; and the time for sowing their crops having arrived overtures for peace were made by some of the hostile tribes. In the spring of 1644, Mongock- onone and Papenaharrow, sachems of the Weckquaesgecks, and Mar- maranck, chief of the Crotons, arrived at the fort and entered into terms of peace for their tribes. Leading men among the Wappingers, or Wappinecks, and of tribes north of Greenwich and Stamford, came also. It was agreed that Pacham, the fighting chief of the Tankitekes, should be surrendered. Then the Mattinnecocks on Long Island ex- pressed their wish for peace, and promised that the tribes in their vicin- ity would be restrained from attacks on the settlers. Palisades were erected by the settlers in various localities as an added protection against future forays.
Savages Still Aggressive-The eight men of the province then took counsel on the posture of affairs to see what could be done in the case of settlements such as those in The Bronx, too far removed from the tip of the Manhattan to benefit much by the force collected there, and open still to depredations. No aid had been received from Holland, and the colonial government, having no funds with which to meet the expense of the English soldiers, the director, in opposition to the pro- tests of the eight men, as well as of other citizens, laid an excise duty on liquors and beaver skins, in order to raise a revenue. The remon- strance against the impost was treated with disdain by Kieft, who re- marked : "I have more power here than the company itself; therefore, I may, and do allow, in this country, what I please. I am my own master ; for I have my commission not only from the company, but from the States-General." Some assistance finally came to the distressed colony in the summer, in the form of a body of one hundred and thirty
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soldiers, who had been driven from the company's settlement in Brazil by the Portuguese, and were sent to New Amsterdam by Peter Stuy- vesant, the company's director at Curaçao. It was thereupon deter- mined that the English mercenaries should be honorably dismissed from further service and that the Dutch soldiers should remain, for the pres- ent, at New Amsterdam, and be billeted upon the inhabitants, while the cost of providing them with clothes was to be paid from the excise moneys.
A great deal had thus been done, but much still remained to be done. The eight men, stimulated by the additional military strength that had come to the colony, were of opinion that the war against the Indians should be prosecuted with vigor. But there was a great deal of dilly- dallying, and the lack of decision was accentuated by dissension be- tween the director-general and his councillors. In the interval of inac- tion the aborigines grew aggressive again, and parties roving day and night through Westchester and through Manhattan kept the colonists in continual trepidation. No expedition was undertaken of any im- portance, though a raid was made through Westchester and The Bronx valley in which some of the Indians were slain. The troubles in New Amsterdam meanwhile continued and the fault was laid on the director- general. The bitterness against him was accentuated by the imposition of the new excise and as a result of the general feeling the eight men, led by Melyn, forwarded in October, 1644, a memorial to the States- General for his recall, and after describing the Indian massacres, peti- tioned at the same time for a system of government like that appertain- ing to the municipalities of Holland. The language of the memorial of the eight men presented a gloomy picture of the state of the province. It told of its former peaceable condition and the friendly disposition of the Indians under the administration of Van Twiller.
These, it stated, hath the Director, by various uncalled for proceedings, from time to time, so estranged from us and so embittered against the Netherlands nation, that we do not believe that anything will bring them and peace back, unless that the Lord God, who bends all men's hearts to his will, propitiate their people; so that the ancient sage hath well observed, any man can create turmoil and set the people one against the other, but to establish harmony again is in the power of God alone. The memorial goes on to declare that a temporary and illusory peace had been patched up, but that the savages were continually aggressive and attacked settlers, at times, within a thousand feet of the Fort, and that the Com- pany's farms are in danger of being burnt; that nothing has been done recently, even since the arrival of the immigrants and soldiers from Brazil, and that every- thing is going to ruin. Honored Lords, the memorial continued, this is what we have, in the sorrow of our hearts, complained of; that one man who has been sent out, sworn and instructed by his lords and masters to whom he is responsible, should dispose here of our lives and properties, at his will and pleasure, in a man- ner so arbitrary that a king dare not legally do the like.
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They requested that a new governor might be sent out and magis- trates appointed, or that they all, with their wives and families, be al- lowed to return to Holland. In the meantime the memorials of August, 1643, which had been sent over both to the States-General and the di- rectors of the company, had reached Holland, causing grave concern and leading to the earnest discussion of the affairs of the province. The States-General called the attention of the Assembly of XIX, which had the particular direction of the affairs of New Netherland, to its disturbed condition. The response was that the bankrupt condition of the com- pany rendered it unable to send any relief, and that the long looked-for profits from thence had not come. They asked for a subsidy of a million of guilders in order to place the colony in a safe and prosperous condition.
New Netherland Unprofitable-Prior to the taking of any steps, how- ever, the memorial of the eight men of October, 1644, arrived and made a considerable impression on the directors, and the whole matter was referred to the Amsterdam Chamber for further investigation and re- port. The directors of the company came to the conclusion that the state of the colony was such and Kieft's incapacity so manifest that either a new director should be sent over or the colonists be transported to Holland and the colony abandoned. It was in the end determined to recall Kieft and provisionally to appoint Lubberts Van Dincklagen in his place. The Chamber of Accounts, to whom the affairs of the province were referred for a particular investigation, reported, after a long review of the history of the colony, that its ruinous condition was due immediately to the unnecessary Indian wars promoted by Kieft, the separation of the colonists, and the imposition of tribute on the In- dians; and concluded that, although the colony, instead of being a source of profit, had caused the company, from 1626 to 1644 inclusive, a net loss of over five hundred and fifty thousand guilders, the com- pany could not decently or consistently abandon it. The bureau made certain recommendations for the future government of the province; among other things they opposed the views of Kieft to the effect that a body of soldiers should be sent and the hostile Indians exterminated, but that the opinion of the commonalty should be adopted and the sav- ages appeased. It would also be proper, the report stated, to order hither the director and council, who are responsible for the bloody ex- ploit of the 28th of February, 1643, to justify and vindicate their ad- ministration before the noble Assembly of the XIX. It was further recommended that the fort was in such a state that it should be rebuilt of stone.
It was thus evident that at the period treated the Dutch colony
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was in anything but a prosperous condition. Instead of fulfilling the promise of development indicated at the beginning of the administration the settlement of the province had been retarded, the population had de- clined, immigration had almost ceased, trade had been suspended, farms had been abandoned, cattle destroyed, and the people were discon- tented and defiant. All the evils resulting from five years of war, with an interval of only a few months of peace, had been experienced by the unfortunate colony. During two years it was estimated that over six- teen hundred Indians had been killed and not much above a hundred white men remained on Manhattan and in the region of what was later Westchester and The Bronx. Some had gone to Fort Orange; many had returned to Holland. All the settlements on the west side of the North River had been destroyed. In The Bronx and Westchester the farms had been almost completely abandoned and the devastated plan- tations testified to the trail of ruin which had passed through the peace- ful valley of the Aquahung. However, peace was once again to reign over the distracted New Netherland. The Indians were in trouble from the neglect of their annual crops; and a treaty was made in May, 1645, with some of the neighboring aborigines of Long Island. On this there was great expression of rejoicing, and at the firing of a salute from three of the dangerous pieces of ordnance at the fort, one of them, a six-pounder, bursting, seriously wounded one of the gunners. Many of the more distant Indians on Long Island soon after came to terms, through the aid of the Mockgonecocks, a friendly tribe. Then the di- rector, in July, 1645, went with his faithful councillor, La Montagne, up the river, to Fort Orange; and arrangements for peace were made with the hostile nation of the Mohegans and other tribes in the terri- tory of The Bronx and Westchester. Peace was also concluded with the tribes in the vicinity of the island of Manhattan; and as the terms of the pacification were submitted to the public the joy was great and the approval general. Towards the end of August, 1645, sachems from the various tribes and a number of prominent men in the colony, sit- ting in the open air within the crumbling walls of the fort, ratified the terms of the general pacification. Among the sachems present were those of the Hackingsacks and Tapaans, Aepjen, chief of the Mohegans, delegates for the Weckquaesgecks and Sint Sinks, the Kicktawanks, the Wappinecks, the Nayacks, and other river tribes. There, too, were Mohawk ambassadors, with their own interpreter, giving assent for the great Iroquois confederacy. Among the signers of the treaty were : Kieft, La Montagne, Underhill, George Baxter, Francis Doughty, Gys- bert Opdyck, Aepjen, sachem of the Mohegans, by his mark, and also by their marks, the sachems Oratary, Auronge, Sespechemis, and Wil-
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liam of Tapaan. By the terms of the peace, all future aggressions or injuries by the Indians or the Dutch were to be referred to their re- spective rulers for redress. No armed Indian was in future to visit the settlements in the province; and the Dutch, on their part, were to re- frain from visiting the Indian villages without permission, unless con- ducted by one of the tribe. It was in this treaty that the stipulation was contained for the return of the granddaughter of Anne Hutchinson, stolen on the occasion of the murder of that stern and vigorous woman and others of her family, and the destruction of her plantation in The Bronx region.
A proclamation of thanksgiving for the peace was issued by the coun- cil. After declaring that the "long-desired peace with the savages had been bestowed by the Almighty," the proclamation concluded as fol- lows: "So it has been deemed becoming to proclaim this good tidings throughout New Netherland, to the intention that, in all places where there are any English or Dutch Churches, God Almighty shall be thanked and praised, on the 6th of September next. The words of the text must be appropriate to the occasion, and the Sermon likewise." The settlers in the outlying plantations, in Westchester and The Bronx, and on Manhattan, began at this juncture to return to their respective bouweries and to collect such of their stock and other property as could be found. Another colony of English was begun under a patent granted to Thomas Farrington, John Townsend, John Lawrence, and others, at what was then called Vlissingen, and later Flushing, just opposite The Bronx settlement across the Sound. The settlers were to have muni- cipal privileges, freedom of conscience, and their own ecclesiastical rule. The English minister, Doughty, and his associates also repossessed themselves of their plantation at Mespat; and Lady Moody and her Anabaptist friends received a formal patent of the region which they had planted and valiantly defended at Gravesend, with power to estab- lish a town government. The director also, in September, procured for the company, by grant from the Indians, a large tract on Long Island extending from the Coneyn Island to Gowanus. The marks of the signatures of the red men were arrows, sticks and beavers.
Change in Government-The heads of the West India Company in Holland, having apprised themselves of the perilous condition of the colony, and of the unfitness of Kieft for his office, determined to make a change in its government. The provisional appointment of Van Dincklagen, as a new director in place of Kieft, was revoked, and it was resolved to appoint as his successor Peter Stuyvesant. The As- sembly of the XIX adopted a code of extensive regulations and instruc- tions for the future administration of the province; among which was
-
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the throwing open of the carrying trade between New Netherland and Holland. Lack of agreement among the chambers of the West India Company and the intelligence received of peace established delayed the accession of the new government; and Kieft remained as director-gen- eral a year after the appointment of Stuyvesant, although the friction between him and the prominent men of the colony had increased from his knowledge of the criticism they had made to headquarters against him.
It was around this period, in February, 1646, that there arrived at New Amsterdam from the colony at Rensselaerswyck, where he had filled the office of schout fiscal, Adriaen Van Der Donck, concerning whom details have already been given in this history. He was one of the figures most prominent in the earliest history of the region of The Bronx. His education at Leyden and his doctorship in both civil and canon law made him a man of consequence in the colony. He had as- sisted the director in making peace at Fort Orange and he was granted a patroonship over the large territory on the North River, extending from Spuyten Duyvil upward and inward to the Saw-kill valley; and having purchased the region from the Indians, and his patroonship be- ing confirmed by the States-General, the colony called Colon Donck, or Donck's Colony, was established in the region of The Bronx. It was during the period of Stuyvesant's administration that Van Der Donck published his pamphlet, commonly called the "Vertoogh," in which he gave a representation of the condition of New Netherland, and criticized unfavorably the Kieft administration. At this time the English of New Haven made purchases from the Indians of lands be- tween the Naugatuck and the North River, which Kieft claimed was an encroachment on the company's possessions to the east of the Hud- son. The action of the New Haven people and the English at Hartford, who were complaining against the action of the Dutch at Fort Good Hope, was sustained by the commissioners of the United New England colonies, who met in council at New Haven. Thus no redress was obtained. In the course of the negotiations the director sent to the commissioners several protests, in Latin, threatening that, at a fit op- portunity, satisfaction would be exacted; but the New Englanders ap- pear to have disregarded these protests, except by making counter charges. The English in any case knew that right or wrong they had might on their side. At that time they had upward of five thousand men capable of bearing arms and a population of forty thousand. The director was well aware of this also, and likened the charges of the Eng- lish to the accusations of the wolf against the lamb-the fable so ap- plicable before and since to the relations of the strong and the weak.
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Manhattan and The Bronx-The naming of Peter Stuyvesant for the office of the director-general of New Netherland was formally ap- proved by the States-General in July, 1646, and at the same time Lub- bertus Van Dincklagen was appointed vice-director. The new officials did not leave Holland till December of the same year; and after land- ing at the West Indies at Curaçao, arrived at New Amsterdam on May 11, 1647 ; and the administration of Kieft thus came to an end. We can figure pretty well how Manhattan and The Bronx would appear to the visitor at that time. There were the great rivers on both sides and there were picturesque hills and dales. Windmills were among the most conspicuous of the objects which owed their origin to the handi- work of man. In Manhattan the fort would be the central object of the view from the river, and it would arouse a natural curiosity as the symbol of the strength of the colony, the emblem of home authority, the local manifestation of sovereign power, the representative habita- tion abroad of the authority of their High Mightinesses, the States-Gen- eral. Around its walls the early memories of the settlers gathered and on its bastion floated the flag that recalled the Fatherland that had been left behind, under the protecting power of which the hamlet over the ocean had nestled and spread and grown, so that even with its few and ancient cannon and crumbling earthworks, it was still able to bid de- fiance to both civilized and aboriginal foe. The church within the walls of the fort, with its twin roofs and little belfry, would from the river stand clearly out against the sky; while, to the east, would rise the Stadt Herberg, conspicuous above the surrounding cottages with their peaked roofs. Along the shore might be seen, perhaps, some Indian lazily paddling his canoe in the river, laden with tobacco and maize, towards the mouth of the gracht at the foot of Broad Street; while out in the bay, drying her sails, would be a vessel, just arrived from Curaçao, with her cargo of salt and cattle and slaves. Of the two great rivers the Hudson was called by Europeans and settlers the "River of the Mountains" and the "Mauritius ;" also the "Nassau" and the "Great North River"-this last in relation to the Delaware, which was called the "South River." It was variously designated by the Indians the "Mahican," the "Shatemuc," and the "Cahohatatea"-poetical names that ought to find some place in the nomenclature of New York, but that up to this have not.
We appear to have very little early pictorial representations of The Bronx region as we have of Manhattan. The best attempt to visualize the life over the Harlem is given perhaps by E. W. Deming's painting of "The Purchase of Keskeskeck," at present in the Morris High School. The picture is an ideal one and brings before our eyes a Dutch interior
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of the period. The most striking figure in the group is the stalwart form of the Indian warrior who is speaking for his fellows. These are crouched on the ground behind him, while the Dutch burghers with whom they are in conference are seated at a plain table in the centre, the scrivener busy with pen and paper. Four or five women add to the homelike atmosphere of the smoky interior. There is a huge brick fireplace with pewter and candlesticks, and in the background is a tesselated window, long and narrow. The rafters can just be seen through the smoke. The Dutch colonists look very spry in their linen cravats, their long jackets, their tall, flapping boots, and their white linen cuffs. There is an atmosphere of intentness about the picture, most of the eyes being fixed on the sachem, who speaks with out- stretched arm, and who gives the impression of keen regard for the rights of himself and his brethren. The group may be a work of pure imagination, but even so the scene when the first large transference of land was made in The Bronx region from the possession of the abor- igines to the white man must have had many features in common with it.
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