USA > New York > The history of New York from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20
Desirous of making immediate atonement, a deputation of chiefs waited on Kieft, and offered two hundred fathom of wampam as an indemnity for the crime. The wampum was refused, and & peremptory demand made for the murderer. The- chieftains declined to surrender him. " You yourselves," said they, "are the cause of this evil. You ought not to craze the young Indians with brandy. Your own people, when drunk, fight with knives and do foolish things; and you cannot prevent mischief till you cease to sell strong drink to the Indian."
Notwithstanding the obvious truth of this re -. monstrance, Kieft would listen to no terms of accommodation that did not include the surrender of the fugitive. The chiefs were equally inflexi- ble in shielding him. While the anger of the Dutch governor was at its height, his allies, the
1
72
HISTORY OF NEW YORK.
[1643.
Mohawks, descended upon the Raritans, and forced them to throw themselves upon the mercy of the Dutch. Their forlorn condition awakening a feeling of pity, some of the more compassionate of the colonists supplied them with food. Fearing to return to their former homes in the vicinity of Tappan, the fugitives took shelter among the Hackensacks. The two tribes most obnoxious to the Dutch being thus brought near to each other, the war party among the colonists determined upon their massacre; and, in defiance of the re- monstrances of De Vries and many of the most influential inhabitants of New Amsterdam, prepa- rations were at once made to carry their san- guinary purpose into effect.
Acting under the authority of the passionate and overbearing governor, two armed parties, composed respectively of troops and volunteers, crossed the Hudson on the night of the 25th of February, 1643, and fell suddenly upon the In- dian encampments. Taken entirely by surprise, scarcely any resistance was offered; and in the stillness of the night, the noise of the musketry and the shricks of the victims could be distinctly heard by the inhabitants of the island of Man- hattan. No mercy was shown. Men, women, children, all were indiscriminately slaughtered. Infants bound in their bark cradles were flung into the icy river ; and the poor frantic mothers, who had plunged into the water to their rescue,
73
FEARFUL RETALIATION.
1643.]
were mercilessly forced back from the shore until they were drowned. This fearful massacre continued throughout the following day. The wounded, who during the darkness of the night had crawled into secret hiding-places, were hunted out and killed in cold blood. Nearly a hundred Indians, of all ages, perished in this barbarous onslaught, and some thirty others were taken pri- soners to New Amsterdam.
But the triumph of the Dutch was only tem- porary. All the tribes around Manhattan made common cause with the Raritans and Hacken- sacks, and commenced a war of retaliation. In every direction plantations were destroyed, vil- lages burned, the men and women murdered, and the helpless children hurried away into captivity. The settlements on Long Island were laid deso- late. Those on the opposite shore of the Sound shared the same fate. Ruin and despair stared the harassed colonists in the face. Many sought safety in flying from the country. "Mine cyes," says Roger Williams, "saw the flames of their towns, the frights and hurries of men, women, and children, and the present removal of, all that could to Holland."
The fury of Kieft was succeeded by terror and remorse. He was charged with having been the cause of the massacre. He threw the blame on Adriansen, an old freebooter, who had headed the ferocious attack on the Raritans. Rendered
7.
கல்ஸ்கஸ் வாளிகள்
M
74
HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1643.
furious by this accusation, Adriansen, armed with cutlass and pistol, attempted the life of the gover- nor. His assault being frustrated, he was seized and sent a prisoner to Holland. In this fearful state of things, all the colonists were enrolled into service, and a day was set apart for a solemn fast.
Happily, the vengeance of the combined tribes was satiated. Offers of peace were made and ac- cepted. A deputation, led by De Vries, met the principal chiefs of Long Island at Rockaway, on the 5th of March, 1643. . In the council which was held soon after their arrival, one of the chiefs arose, bearing in his hand a bundle of small sticks. Addressing himself to De Vries and his companions, he said :-
"When you first arrived on our shores, you were destitute of food; we gave you our beans and our corn; we fed you with oysters and fish ; and now, for our recompense, you murder our people." Here the chief put down one little stick. Having thus indicated that this was his first accusation, he continued :-
" The traders whom your first ships left upon our shore to traffic till their return, were cherished by us as the apple of our eye ; we gave them our daughters for their wives; among those whom you have murdered were children of your own blood." This closed the orator's second charge, and he laid down another stick. Many other
١
75
HOSTILITIES RENEWED.
1643.]
complaints of a similar nature remained behind. as was shown by the number of sticks which he still held in his hand.
A truce was at length agreed upon, to which the river tribes assented soon after; but it was only of brief duration. Their wrongs had been too great for the Indians to settle down quietly, and the presents they received as an equivalent for the damage they had sustained bore no pro- portion to the losses they had incurred. " The price of blood has not been paid," said an old chief sadly, and the war broke out anew.
In September, the confederated tribes recom- menced their devastations upon the frontier settle- ments, and Kieft was again compelled to call upon the colonists for assistance and advice. _ 1 board of eight men were appointed by the popu- lar voice to consult with and aid the governor in the conduct of the war. John Underhill, an English soldier, who had already distinguished himself by his bravery in the Pequod war of New England, was chosen to command the Dutch troops.
Never were energetic measures more im- peratively needed. Nearly all the settlements upon Long Island were deserted and de- stroyed; and of the plantations upon Manhattan Island, only three remained. The distressed colonists, flying before the fury of the savages, were now huddled around the fort at New Am-
76
HISTORY OF NEW YORK.
[1644.
sterdam, where, half famished for want of pro- visions, and in daily fear of an attack, which they felt themselves incompetent to successfully resist, they dragged out for nearly two years a misera ble and precarious existence. Fearful of being utterly exterminated, they applied for assistance to the colonists of Connecticut, and to the Dutch West India Company. But the former were un- willing to embroil themselves with their savage neighbours ; and the latter, having suffered serious military disasters in the Brazils, was unable to afford any relief.
Underhill and his subordinates were, however actively engaged to the best of their ability. Ths Indian villages on Long Island were attacked with partial success. The natives of Tappan were harassed, their corn destroyed, and their forts burned to the ground. Two other expedi- tions to Long Island, in 1644, were still more effective. In the first, one hundred Indians were killed, and several taken prisoners to New Am- sterdam. In the second, Underhill, with one hundred and twenty men, made a sudden descent upon a large Indian town, and falling upon the inhabitants while they were celebrating one of their annual festivals, slew five hundred of them, and set fire to their wigwams.
By these fierce but energetic measures, the spirit of the confederacy was subdued. Several of the tribes solicited peace, but others still reso-
1
77
TREATY OF PEACE.
1645.]
lutely held out. A reinforcement of Dutch troops from Curacoa, arriving in June, 1645, placed the colonists of New Netherland in a better con- dition to carry on the war. The Mohawks at length interposed. They sent an envoy to Man- hattan, to use his influence in favour of a peace. The overtures were successful. On the 30th of August, 1645, delegates from the hostile tribes met in council in the vicinity of Fort Amster- dam, and by a solemn treaty put an end to a war which had been conducted with equal ferocity · by both parties.
7*
d
78
HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1647.
CHAPTER VI.
Close of the Indian war -- Unpopularity of Keift -- His recall and shipwreck-Governor Stuyvesant-Condition of New Neth- erland-Beaverswyk -- New Amsterdam-Negotiations with New England-Provisional treaty-War between England and Holland-Prudent policy of Massachusetts-The Dutch solicit assistance from the Narragansetts-Reply of one of their chiefs-Swedish settlements on the Delaware-Fort Cassimer erected-Contentions with the Swedes-Capture of Fort Cassimer-Reduction of the Swedish province by Stuyvesant-Flourishing condition of New Netherland-In- ternal dissensions-Arbitrary rule of Stuyvesant-Claims of Maryland-Sale of Delaware to the city of Amsterdam-Po- litical privileges granted by Stuyvesant-Patent of Charles II. to the Duke of York -- English force sent to take posses- sion of New Netherland-Surrender of the province.
THE close of the Indian war was celebrated with great rejoicings by the harassed colonists of New Netherland; but Kieft, who laboured under the imputation of having provoked the disasters they had undergone, grew daily more unpopular. His arbitrary temper and reckless policy pro- duced numerous complaints among the colonists, and fostered a general desire for his removal. Fully conscious that the condition of antagonism which existed between the people of the province and their governor was greatly prejudicial to their commercial interests, the directors of the West India Company sought to restore harmony by the recall of Kieft, and the appointment of Peter
79
PETER STUYVESANT.
1648.]
Stuyvesant in his place. At the same time, the few remaining commercial restrictions. were abolished, and the trade thrown open to all com- petitors.
Stuyvesant arrived in the province during the early part of May, 1647, and in the fall of the same year, Kieft sailed for Europe. The ship in which he embarked, laden with a valuable cargo of furs, was cast ashore on the coast of Wales, and the sanguinary governor, together with some eighty others, perished in the waves.
The new director-general, or governor of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, was possessed of many estimable qualities. He was a brave, frank, honest, and tolerably well-educated soldier. The commencement of his rule was marked by a more tolerant policy toward the neighbouring Indians, though he soon showed himself disposed to regard the poorer settlers with a feeling pretty closely allied to contempt. In comparison with the neighbouring English colonies, that of Man- hattan could not be said, up to this period, to have flourished. Its settlement, lucrative as the fur trade had proved itself at first, had not only absorbed the profits of the traffic, but had cost the Dutch West India Company a con- siderable sum besides. New England already contained twenty thousand inhabitants; while the whole of the settlers within the jurisdiction of New Netherlands did not exceed three
To
80
HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1650.
thousand. A few houses were clustered about Fort Orange, or Beaverswyk, as the present town of Albany was then called. The island of Manhattan was still mostly forest land, many of the cleared plantations having been abandoned during the prevalence of the Indian war, and only some five or six of them, on the arrival of Stuyve- sant, continued to be successfully worked. New Amsterdam, the seat of government, was nothing but a mere village of huts, roughly constructed, protected by palisades, and by the fort of the same name, itself hardly in a defensible condition.
One of the first duties which devolved upon Governor Stuyvesant was the arrangement of the long-pending territorial dispute with New England. This, however, was found to be a diffi- culty by no means easy to be settled harmoniously. The Puritan colonies were already powerful, both in numbers and unity of action; and they were but little disposed to regard the protests of a weaker neighbour, whose title to any territory at all they had always questioned. To war, the. Dutch West India Company were decidedly averse, both from the expense attendant upon its prosecution, and from the consciousness that a successful prosecution of it was altogether hope- less.
Finding that negotiation from a distance made but slow progress, Stuyvesant bent his pride to the occasion, and visited Hartford in person. At
-
81
WAR BREAKS OUT.
1651.]
this place, on the 11th of November, 1650, he succeeded in concluding a provisional treaty, by which the New England commissioners consented to the partition of Long Island between them- selves and the Dutch, the boundary between the two colonies being settled to begin in the vicinity of Greenwich on the main, and to extend to Oys- ter Bay. The treaty received the consent of the Dutch West India Company, and was accepted by the States General; but it failed of being ratified in England.
When the war broke out between England and Ilolland in 1651, it was at first supposed that it would involve the English and Dutch colonies in a similar struggle; but Massachusetts restrained the ardour of the western settlements, who were anxious for the reduction of New Amsterdam, and urged it upon the colonies, as the safest and most prudent policy, "to forbear the use of the sword, but to be in a posture of defence."
Deeply apprehensive of such an attack, the Dutch West India Company had authorized Go- vernor Stuyvesant to purchase the aid of the Narragansetts; but the latter firmly refused to render any assistance. When pressed by the offers of the Dutch, Mixam, one of the chiefs, nobly replied: "I am poor, but no presents of goods, or of guns, or of powder and shot, shall draw me into a conspiracy against my friends the English."
82
HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1655.
Fortunately, the peace of 1653 put an end to all apprehension of an invasion from New Eng- land, and also effectually prevented the sailing of an expedition against New Amsterdam, which had been authorized by Cromwell.
In addition to his difficulties with the New · England colonies in relation to boundaries, and the subsequent danger of hostilities, Stuyvesant became uneasy at the growth of the Swedish set- tlements on the Delaware. At first, harassed by the prospect of a more imposing peril, and acting in obedience to the pacific policy of his superiors, he restricted himself merely to protecting the Dutch commerce in that quarter, by building Fort Cassimer, near the mouth of the Brandy- wine.
As Fort Christiana was not more than five mniles distant, the proximity of the rival garrisons speedily led to annoyances and contentions. These petty quarrels were kept up until 1654, when Risingh, the Swedish governor, drove out the Dutch troops, and took possession of their fort. The news of this high-handed measure was no sooner made known to the West India Com- pany, than Stuyvesant was ordered to drive the Swedes from the river, or compel their submis- sion. Such great preparations were accordingly made for this undertaking, that it was not until September, 1655, that the expedition was com- pletely organized. Sailing from New Amsterdam
-
1
83
1655.] RELIGIOUS TOLERATION.
with a force of six hundred men, Stuyvesant en- turel the Delaware, and reduced fort after fort, without meeting with any resistance. Risingh capitulated on honourable terms, and the whole Swedish colony, amounting to seven hundred per- sons, acknowledged the jurisdiction of the States General, and were confirmed in the possession of their lands and personal property.
From this period the province of New Nether- land steadily advanced in numbers and prosperity. The Dutch themselves began to appreciate its value; and immigration to the banks of the Hud- son was encouraged by wise and liberal regula- tions.
The religious tolerance extended to all comers influenced persons from all parts of Europe to take up their residence in the favoured land. Bo- hemia, Germany, England, France, Switzerland, and Italy aided to increase the population of New Netherland ; and the little village of thatched huts on the island of Manhattan speedily ex- changed its rude and primitive dwellings for structures of a more imposing character. Fugi- tives from persecution in other lands found welcome and a home at New Amsterdam. Me- chanics, "farmers and labourers, foreigners and exiles, men inured to toil and penury," were in- vited to assist in building up the colony, by the offer of a free passage from the old world to the new; and the directors of the company had soon
I
84
HISTORY OF NEW YORK.
[1655.
the satisfaction of perceiving that their liberal policy was productive of the most beneficial re- sults.
The province of New Netherland, previously retarded in its growth by restrictions and mo- nopolies, now began to assume an importance which justified the most sanguine predictions of its future greatness. Agriculture flourished, timber was exported, mechanical labourers were in steady demand, and peace and plenty rewarded the toils of all.
Among other commercial enterprises in which the West India Company were engaged at this period, was a traffic in slaves. A portion of these soon found a market at New Amsterdam. Others continued the property of the company, and these latter, after a certain period of service, were settled upon small farms, upon the condi- tion of paying annually a stipulated amount of produce.
But in the midst of all this tolerance of opinion, the people of New Netherland were far from en- joying the same political privileges which were exercised by the neighbouring English colonies. In this respect, the directors of the company still continued arbitrary and unwise. The delegates elected to advise with the governor during the dangerous period of the Indian war had been tolerated no longer than their services were ac- tually necessary; and although several attempts
85
1656.] DISCONTENT OF THE PEOPLE.
were subsequently made by the people to obtain some concessions of authority, all such efforts were stigmatized as factious, and speedily re- pressed.
After numerous complaints had been made, commercial privileges were extended, but politi- cal enfranchisement was steadily denied. A con- vention, called by the people to assert their right to share in the enactment of laws for the proper government of the province, was dissolved by Stuyvesant, who regarded the demand as an in- novation from New England, and fraught with the most dangerous consequences. In answer to a petition which was presented to him, requiring that no new laws should be enacted but with the consent of the people, he haughtily told the deputation that the directors would never make themselves responsible to subjects, and that his authority was derived "from God and the West India Company," and not from the pleasure of the wavering multitude.
In this bold and arbitrary avowal, Stuyvesant was fully and amply sustained by the directors in Holland. They instructed him to pay no regard to the clamours of the people; but to let them fully understand that they must "indulge no longer the visionary dream that taxes could be imposed only with their consent." But the dis- content had already taken root, and although the acts of the sturdy old governor were sullenly
8
T
1
86
HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1659.
tolerated, the sentiment of loyalty was weakened, and a change of rulers began to be regarded not only without aversion, but as an object of desire.
The western shore of the Delaware being claimed by Lord Baltimore, the proprietary of Maryland, the West India Company, fearful of encroachments from that quarter, and desirous of building up a barrier against any aggressions on their southern frontier, transferred their claim to all that portion of Delaware lying be- tween Cape Henlopen and the falls of Trenton to the city of Amsterdam, which immediately pro- ceeded to colonize it, principally with indented servants. This scheme, however, soon proved partially unsuccessful. A condition of freedom, under the more liberal government of Maryland, induced many of the Dutch settlers to break through the restraints imposed upon them by their task-masters, and seek refuge in the terri- tory of the English. During the year 1659, Fendall, the governor of Maryland, laid formal claim to the possession of Delaware; but he was answered by the Dutch envoy, that his people had purchased and colonized the territory in dispute, before the patent of Lord Baltimore was in ex- istence. The reply of Fendall being of a threat- ening character, and the claim of Lord Baltimore being pertinaciously reasserted by his agents, the directors of the West India Company adopted
1
87
PROPRIETARY DISPUTES.
1659.]
the spirited resolution to defend their rights, "even to the spilling of blood."
Similar troubles were already in agitation at the north. Massachusetts claimed the right to extend the territory of that colony to the upper waters of the Hudson, and thence westwardly as far as they thought proper; while Connecticut had no sooner obtained a royal charter than claims were asserted under it to a considerable portion of territory over which the Dutch had previously exercised undisputed jurisdiction.
Conscious of his inability to resist by force of arms the encroachments of his English neigh- bours, Stuyvesant went in person to Boston, in order to try what he could effect by negotiation. He met a convention of the New England colo- nies at that place, in September, 1663; but was compelled to return as he went, without being able to obtain, either then, or during the subse- quent month at Hartford, the recognition of any territory at all, as belonging of right to the pro- vince of New Netherland. To the cautious Pu- ritan didomatists, the Dutch province was a fiction, inasmuch as the English laid claim to the whole of the continent discovered by Cabot.
In the midst of these proprietary disputes, Stuyvesant, foreseeing the danger that was im- pending over the colony, sought to restore har- mony among the people of New Netherland them- selves, by granting them certain privileges which
1
88
HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1664.
· he had heretofore indignantly refused. In 1663, a popular assembly was conceded, which met in November of the same year, and in fuller num- bers during the spring of 1664. But that confi- dence which the government had superciliously alienated was not to be so easily regained. The privilege which had been extended to the "waver- ing multitude" had been extorted from the fears of the governor, and not from his sense of justice. An alarming invasion was threatened, and it was necessary to conciliate the people, in order to prevail upon them to take up arms in defence of the province. But the concessions came too late.
In 1664, Charles II. granted to his brother James, Duke of York, a patent for all the main- land of New England, beginning at St. Croix, extending thence to the Pemaquid, and stretching across and embracing the whole territory, from Connecticut River to Delaware Bay.
Without any previous declaration of war against the Dutch, three ships, with six hundred men, were despatched from England to take possession of New Netherland in the name of the Duke of York. These ships, having three commissioners on board, reached Boston in July; and toward the close of the following month, the troops pitched their camp on Long Island, on the site of the present city of Brooklyn.
Governor Stuyvesant had received early intel- ligence of the sailing of this expedition and its
89
1664.] CAPTURED BY THE BRITISH.
destination ; but all his efforts to arouse the spirit of the colonists were unavailing. Indeed, many of the latter, elated at the prospect of obtaining the same political privileges which were enjoyed by the neighbouring provinces, boldly denied that the Dutch had ever any right to the country.
No sooner had one of the frigates entered Gravesend Bay, than Stuyvesant despatched a letter to the English commander, desiring to know the reason of his approach and anchorage in the harbour, without giving the customary notifica- tion. Sir Richard Nichols responded by a sum- mons of surrender, on the condition of security to the inhabitants of their estates, lives, and liberties.
The governor, a brave old soldier, who had lost a limb in the service of the States, was desirous of making a sturdy defence; but the council and burgomasters, whom he had convened for consul- tation, being well aware that any resistance they could offer would be of no avail, advised submis- sion, provided the terms offered in the summons were such as the inhabitants could accept.
The fiery governor struggled hard to induce them to change their determination. He refused to let them know the liberal conditions which had been offered, and upon their demanding a sight of the summons, his wrath knew no bounds; sud- denly producing the latter, he passionately tore it into shreds before their eyes. Finally, how-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.