USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 2 > Part 31
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"In respect to the convention concluded at Hartford, concerning boundaries, we have never acted in contravention to it."
" And, as to Delaware bay, and the lands thereabouts, we pro- tested before the convention was held, we could not, and would not . allow any people to settle there, nor shall we now or hereafter."
" You have charged me withi having entertained, and exchanged presents with a Narragansett sachem, called Nimnigret. This is in part true ; but then he came hither with a pass from Mr. John Winthorpe, to be cured of a disease he labored under." See Hazzard's S. P.
The aggressions and claims of the English on one side, and the Swedes on the other, caused much uneasiness to Stuyvesant.
On the 7th of June, 1654 ; J. C. Rising, the Swedish gover-
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. nor, renewed amity with ten of the native chiefs at Prince Hall, on the island of Tennacum. Presents were given, guns were. fred, and rejoicing had.
The natives exclaimed, upon hearing the guns discharged, " Pu- .hu-hu-moki-rick, pickon," that is, "hear, now believe the great guns are fired !" See History of New Swedeland, in the collec- tions of the New-York Historical Society.
The Dutch, in consequence of the capture of fort Casimir and the encroachments of the Swedes upon their possessions in that quarter, and on Delaware and Schuykill rivers, prepared an expedition against them.
Mr. Stuyvesant, the governor of the New Netherlands, com- manded the forces in person, and arrived with them in Delaware bay, on the 9th of September, 1655. A few days afterwards, he anchored before fort Casimir, and debarked his troops. He de- manded an immediate surrender of the fortress.
Suen Scutz the commandant, desired leave to consult Risingh, which being refused, he surrendered on the 16th day of the same month, on articles of capitulation. The whole strength of the place consisted of four cannon fourteen pounders, five swivels, and a parcel of small arms, which were all delivered up to the con- querors. Fort Christina was commanded by, Risingh. Mr. Stuy- vesant came before it, and Risingh capitulated on the 25th of Sep- tember. The name of Christina was changed to Altona. The troops employed, amounted to about seven hundred men. This put an end to the Swedish power and colony, on the American con- tinent.
The country being conquered ; governor Stuyvesant issued a proclamation in favor of the inhabitants, as would submit to the Dutch government ; about thirty Swedes swore fidelity, and obe- dience to the States General, and the lords directors of the West India Company, their subalterns, of the province of the New Netherlands, and the director general, there or thereafter, to be established.
Risingh, and one Elswych, a trader of note, were ordered to France, or England, and the rest of the Swedish inhabitants to Holland, and from thence to Gottenberg. The Dutch thus be-
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came masters, and possessed of all the country around Delaware bay, and along Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. See History of New Swedeland in the N. Y. H. also Smith's Hist. of N. Y.
. The Swedish colony must have been very feeble, since;only thirty persons swore allegiance. These, it is like, were husbandmet. Those sent to Holland, were in all probability merchants, and their servants and soldiers.
On the 5th of September, 1655, the Mohiccons and Wabingas assembled and made an attack upon New Amsterdam, with intent to destroy it. They entered the town, killed about one hundred per- sons, and set several houses on fire, but were compelled to with- draw, by the garrison and inhabitants. The following is taken from Mr. Wood's Sketch of Long Island.
" On the 5th of September, 1655, a body of Indians landed near the fort of New Amsterdam, from eighty-four canoes, consist- ing of more than five hundred men, on an expedition against the Indians on the east end of Long Island. Some of them broke into a house and provoked an affray. The Indians were [attacked by a detachment from the fort and compelled to embark : but they continued in the neighbourhood three days, killed fifty persons and took one hundred prisoners, burnt forty-eight houses destroyed cat- tle, and did much damage. They then landed on Staten Island, - and massacred sixty-seven persons. From thence they crossed the - Narrows and surrounded Gravesend, which was relieved by aid from New Amsterdam.
These Indians came partly from New Jersey, and partly from Westchester on the east side of Hudson's river. From 1640 to 1663, the same Indians committed many acts of hostility on the Dutch settlements.
In 1656, the town of Jamaica imposed thirty guilders on any one who should sell liquors to the Indians. The number and character of the natives rendered it prudent for the first settlers to guard against surprise, and to be prepared against every attack by them. Every man had to furnish himself with arms. Block-houses were erected in the towns as places of security. Gravesend was enclo- sed by palisadoes." Wood.
New Amsterdam must, at this time, have been a considerable village.
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On the 22nd of May, 1656, Mr. Stuyvesant, by letter, informed the commissioners of the United Colonies of New England of the peace concluded between Holland and England. He also informed - them that the settlement, in relation to boundaries, and other mat- ters, between the provinces, had been ratified agreeably to the re- port made by the referees ; and that he would meet them whenever they named a time and place, for the interchange of the articles contained in the said report. Hazzard's C. S. P.
We learn from the same letter; that Mr. Stuyvesant renewed the subject of a union between the colonists of both nations against the Indians and others : but the commissioners although they appear to have fallen in with the measure, did nothing towards consummating it. Hazzard's C. S. P.
. In the war between England and Holland, the colonies of both nations observed a neutrality. An uninterrupted intercourse was maintained and kept up between the respective members, as though no war had existed. The colonies were too feeble, and too suspi- cious of the Indians, to attempt any enterprises against one another; and too inconsiderable to attract the particular notice of the parent states.
We have already mentioned the capture of fort Casimir, the ta- king of Christina, and the conquest of the Swedes, and their expul- sion from the country around Delaware bay, and along Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, by the Dutch, under governor Stuyvesant. This country was afterwards under the command of lieutenant-go- vernors, subject to the controul of, and commissioned by, the gov- ernor of the New Netherlands at New Amsterdam. John Paul Jacquet was the first lieutenant-governor of South river. The Dutch called Hudson's river the North river, and Delaware river the South river. The latter designation was by way of distinction. Hence they applied the name of South river to the country. The succes- · sors of Johan Paul Jaquet were Messrs. Alricks, Hinojossa, and Beekman. These lieutenant-governors' had power to fgrant [lands, and their patents make a part of the ancient titles |of the present possessors. Mr. Alricks' commission of the 12th of April, 1657, shows the extent of the Dutch claim on the west side of Delaware bay and river at that time. He was appointed director-general of
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the colony of the South River of New Netherlands, and the fortress of Casimer, now called New Amstel, with all the lands depending thereon, according to the first purshase and deed of release of the natives dated the 19th of July, 1651, beginning at the west side of the Minqua, or Christina kill, called in the Moheakanncew language Suspecough to the month of the bay or river called Bompt Hook, and in the Moheakanneew Cannaresse ; and so far in as the bounds and limits of the Minquas land, with all the streams, apurtenances, and dependencies. Of the country northward of the kill no mention is made." See Smith's Hist. N. Y.
Orders were given, in the year 1658, to Mr. Beekman to pur- chase Cape HIenlopen from the natives, and to settle and fortify it'; which for want of goods was not done till the succeeding year. This cape is on the west side of Delaware bay, where it opens into the Atlantic ocean, and about seventy miles below Newcastle built on the site of fort Casimir.
The principal forts, &c. constructed by the Swedes were, Hopoo- kahacking, (Christiana,) in 1631, Tutae-ae-nunghi-teniko, on the isl- and of Tennacum ; Mocopomacka, now Chester, was a settlement ; Wootsessung-sing (Eifsburgh) near Cape Henlopen; Passaiung, and Korsholm ; Manijung or Schuylkill, four miles from Christiana, and Chinsessing, now Kingsess, on the Karrahung. Settlements were formed at all the foregoing places. The Spaniards, instigated by the Emperor of Germany and king of Poland, hindered the ships sent out with supplies from entering the bay. Hence these feeble colonists laboured under great disadvantages. See His. of N. Swede- land.
In the year 1659, some troubles arose from the claim of the Ma- rylanders to the lands on South river. In the month of September, colonel Nathaniel Utie, as commissioner from Fendal, lord Balti- more's governor, arrived at New Amstel from Maryland. He or- dered the Dutch to evacuate the country, lord Baltimore, as he al- leged, claimed all the land between thirty-eight and forty degrees, from sea to sea. Mr. Beekman, the lieutenant governor, and his council demanded evidence of his lordship's right, and offered to prove the State's General's grant to the West India Company, their payment to them for the land and possession : and upon the whole,
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proposed to refer the controversy to the republics of Holland and England ; desiring at the same time three weeks to consult his ex- cellency, Mr. Stuyvesant. The commissioners, a few days after, warned him to draw off beyond latitude forty : but Mr. Beekman paid no attention to the warning. Col. Utie thereupon returned to Maryland. An immediate invasion was expected from that quar- ter. Smith's Hist.
In the month of July, 1659, the commissioners of the United Colonies of New England had a meeting at Hartford, from whence they directed a communication to governor Stuyvesant.
" We presume," say they, " that you have heard from your peo- ple at the fort of Orania, (Orange,) that some of the English have lately been in those parts, upon discovery of some suitable place for a plantation, within the bounds of the patent of the Massachu- setts colony ; which is from the latitude of forty-two degrees and thirty minutes, and so northerly extends itself from east to west, in longitude, through the main land of America, from the Atlantic ocean to the South or West sea.
" We understand that the government of Massachusetts have granted liberty to some of their people, to erect a plantation in those parts, yet without encroachment upon the Dutch rights. We, there- fore, have thought proper, on their part, to desire liberty for the said planters to pass by your towns and forts on Hudson's river." See Hazzard's C. S. P. 1
The colonies of New England were continually advancing new claims to lands within the jurisdiction of the New Netherlands. No sooner was one difficulty adjusted than another was raised. A re- ference had been had at Hartford, in the year 1650, between the Dutch and English planters, in relation to disputes about bounda- ries ; and a report made which marked out and fixed the limits be- tween them. The report had been approved of and ratified by the parent states. The commissioners do not seem to have insisted on having a free passage up the Hudson. Mr. Stuyvesant gave no re- ply to the foregoing communication.
Early in the spring of the year 1660, governor Stuyvesant dis- patched, from New Amsterdam, Nicholas Van Leth and Brian Newton, to Virginia, in quality of ambassadors, with full power to
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open a trade, and conclude a league offensive and defensive against the barbarians. William Berckley, the governor, gave them a kind reception, and approved their proposal of peace and commerce ; which Sir Henry Moody was sent to New Amsterdam, shortly after to agree upon and perfect. Four articles, to that purpose, were drawn up and sent to the governor of Virginia for confirmation.
Governor Stuyvesant artfully endeavoured at this treaty to pro- cure an acknowledgment of the Dutch title to the country around Delaware bay, which Berckley as carefully avoided. Mr, Stuy- vesant was faithful to the States General, and the West India Coni- pany. This is abundantly proved by his letters to them, exciting their care of the colony.
In one, dated April 20th, 1600, which is very long and pathetic, representing the desperate situation of affairs on both sides of the , New Netherlands, he writes :- " You imagine that the troubles in England will prevent any attempts in these parts : alas, they are ten to one in number to us, and are able, without any assistance, to de- prive us of the country."
On the 25th of June, in the same year, he informs them-" that the demands, encroachments, and usurpations, of the English, give the people here great concern." " The right to both rivers," says he, " by purchase and possession is our own without dispute." " We apprehend that they, our more powerful neighbours, lay their claims under a royal patent, which we are unable to do in your name." The governor, at this time, had not the patent in his pos- session. See Smith's His. of N. Y.
It will be remembered that we have already mentioned that the States General of the Netherlands made a grant of the country to the West India Company.
Colonel Utie, having been unsuccessful, in the year 1659, in his mission to Mr. Beekman, the lieutenant-governor of South river, for the evacuation of the Dutch possessions on Delaware bay and river, lord Baltimore, in the autumn of 1660, applied by Captain Neal, his agent, to the West India Company in Holland for an or- der on the inhabitants of South river to submit to his authority: which they absolutely refused, asserting their right to that part of 'the colony by discovery, settlement, and possession. Smith's His. of N. Y.
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The people of New England still continued their encroachments on the east. The following letter, from Mr. Stuyvesant to the West India Company, dated July 21st, 1661, shows the state of the col- ony, at that time, on both sides. .
" We have not yet begun the fort on Long Island, near Oyster- bay, because our neighbours lay the boundaries a mile and a half more westerly than we do : and the more as your honors by your advice, of December 24th, 1660, are not inclined to stand by the treaty of Hartford, and propose to sue for redress on Long Island, and the Fresh Water river, by means of the States' ambassador. Lord Sterling is said to solicit a confirmation of his right to all Long Island, and importunes the present king to confirm the grant made by his royal father, which is affirmed to be already obtained.
" But more probable and material is the advice from Maryland, that lord Baltimore's patent, which contains the south part of South river, is confirmed by the king, and published in print. That lord Baltimore's natural brother is made governor there, and has received his claim, and protests to your honors in council, and has now more hopes of success. 1
" We have advice from England, that there is an invason intend- against these parts, and the country solicited of the king, the duke, and the parliament, is to be annexed to their dominions : and for that purpose they desire three or four frigates, persuading the king that the company possessed and held this country under an unlaw- ful title." See Smith's His. of N. Y.
In August, 1663, a ship arrived from Holland at South river, with new planters implements of husbandry and ammunition. Lord Baltimore's son landed a little after, and was entertained by Mr. Beekman, at New Amstel. Nothing was done in relation to the matters in dispute between Maryland and the New Netherlands. The possession of the lands around Delaware bay, was not as yet deemed a matter of much consequence. The Dutch and English colonists had already more lands than they could improve.
The troubles in England occasioned a very rapid colonization in New England. Tens of thousands left their native land and re- paired to this country. This rapid emigration gave the English colonies a preponderance over the Dutch.
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We shall quote some passages from Cotton Mather's Magnalia, to show that New England owed her colonization and rapid growth to religious persecution, and the troubles of the times.
" The first settlers of Plymouth and Massachusetts bay fied from religious and other persecutions. These received annually large accessions from England, owing to intolerance and persecution in matters of religion and otherwise."
· The number which actually arrived from England before the year 1640, had been computed at four thousand. After this pe- riod, and during the civil war and the protectorship of Cromwell, the numbers greatly exceeded those that had come over before 1640."
· " One hundred and ninety-eight ships, at different times, crossed the Atlantic ocean, crowded with emigrants, implements of hus- bandry and munitions of war."
" These ships brought over upwards of twenty thousand persons; and these were mostly persons in the prime of life. The whole sum expended, amounted to about £330,000 sterling," ($1,452, 000 :) a very large sum, when we consider the difference between the value of money then, and now. All the preparations, and all the disbursements, were made by the individuals concerned.
Again, " the first settlements were filled up to an overflowing. Swarms issued out and planted new establishments. Towns, vil- · lages, and hamlets, sprung up in the woods."
This immense emigration, which forms a new era in colonization in modern times, happened in less than twenty years. The same author adds, in less than fifty years, (that is, from 1620, to 1670, the United Colonies of New England contained upwards of one ·hundred thousand inhabitants.
Many came over on the restoration of Charles the II. which was in the same period ; but as soon as the troubles abated in England, the emigrations ceased.
Nearly all the present inhabitants of New England, including the multitude which have emigrated into this state, and elsewhere, during the last fifty years, are descended from the original stock, that is, those who came over between 1620, and 1670. The same causes for emigration did not exist in the Netherlands. Those
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therefore, who came over between 1614, and 1664, came volun- tarily. The colony at Jamestown in Virginia, owed its advance- ment in a great measure to the same troubles. Maryland was planted during the same period. New England, Virginia, and Maryland, were places where the persecuted of different sects sought refuge and peace.
While the Dutch were contending with their neighbors; the Mohiccons and Wabingas, gave them considerable trouble in West- chester, at New Amsterdam, on Long and Staten Islands, and at Esopus. At the latter place, June 7th, 1663, the Wabingas at- tacked Esopus, burnt part of the town, killed and wounded a num- ber of the inhabitants, and took many prisoners. This led to a war, which lasted for a short season ..
The Mohickanders, however, were soon vanquished, and had to implore peace. The Agoneaseah never gave the Dutch any dis- turbance, which was owing in a measure to their continual wars with the Adirondacks, or Algonquins, and the French who had set- . tled in Canada. The latter people found these nations at war on their arrival in Canada, in 1609, and lent their assistance to the former. This embroiled them in the contest, and for a long time, retarded the infant colony of Canada. In these wars, the Dutch traders living at Orange and Schenectady, furnished the Agonea- seah with guns, powder, ball, hatchets, and knives, which enabled them to recover their accustomed . ascendancy over the Adiron- dacks.
November 1st, 1663, Governor Stuyvesant, under the appre- hension that it was the design of the English to invade the New Netherlands, convened the magistrates of most of the villages at New Amsterdam. The meeting was composed of the magistrates of New Amsterdam, Rensselaerwick, Beverwick (Albany,) Har- laem, Bergen, Staten Island, Flatlands, Flatbush, Brooklyn, Utrecht,, fand ¡Bushwick. This meeting adjoiurned without doing any thing. Jamaica, Hempstead, Ulyssen, and Middleburgh were then towns. Wood's Sketches.
The English claimed all the American continent, between thirty- four and thirty-five degrees of north latitude. This claim was bottomed on two patents granted in the year 1606, by James the l.
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called the great north and south Virginia patent. Under these patents, two colonies had been planted ; the one in Virginia, and the other in New England.
The English colonists viewed the Dutch as intruders, and had made several applications to the mother country to drive them out. The usurper Cromwell was solicited to undertake it. His son .. Richard took some steps towards effecting it. The work was how- ever, reserved for the reign of Charles II., who was driven to it by the differences which subsisted between England and Holland. Before this expedition, the king granted a patent on the 12th of March, 1664, to his brother the duke of York, and Albany for sundry tracts of land in America, the boundaries of which, were as follow :-
" All that part of the main land of New England, beginning at ·St. Croix, next adjoining to New Scotland (Nova Scotia,) in Ame- rica, and extending from thence along the sea coast to Pemequid, and so up the river thereof, to the furthest head of the same, as it tendeth northwardly ; and extending from thence to the river Kim- . bequin, and so upwards by the shortest course of the river of Canada northwardly ; and also all that island, or islands commonly ·lled by the several names of Meitowacks, or Long Island situate, and being towards the west of Cape Cod, and the narrow Highgansetts, abutting upon the main land, between the two rivers called, or known by the several names of Connecticut and Hud- son's river, and all the land from the west side of Connecticut river, to the east side of Delaware bay, and also all those several is- 'ands known ;by the names of Martin's Vineyard, or Nantucks, herwise Nantucket, &c." See Smith's Hist. N. Y.
The duke, on the 23d day of June, 1664, conveyed part of this tract by lease to Jolin Lord Berkley, baron of Stratton, and Sir George Carteret of Saltrum in Devon, comprising the present state of New Jersey.
Thus, the New Netherlands became divided, before the surren- der, into New York, which took its name in honour of the duke of York, and New Jersey, so called after the island of Jersey in the British channel.
The Dutch inhabitants of the New Netherlands were not unap- :
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prised of the designs of the English against themi. Governo, Stuyvesant had received early intelligence from one Thomas Willet an Englishman, that an expedition was preparing in England against them, consisting of two frigates of forty and fifty guns, and a fly boat of forty guns, having on board three hundred soldiers, and each frigate one hundred and fifty men. He thereupon called a council, ordered the fortresses to be put into a posture of defence, and adopted such measures as were within his reach, to repel the invaders.
The people of Massachusetts were in the secret of the expedi- tion ; for the general court had in the month of May preceding, passed a vote for a supply of provisions towards refreshing the troops on their arrival. The fleet arrived at Boston towards the last of July, with the troops and Richard Nicolls and Sir George Cart- eret, two of the commissioners.
Colonel Nicolls sent a letter to Mr. Winthrop, the governor of Connecticut, notifying him that the fleet had come, and requiring his assistance. On the 29th of July, a second letter was sent to Mr. Winthrop, informing him that the fleet would sail for New Am- sterdam with the first fair wind, and desiring him so meet him with the Connecticut forces at the west end of Long Island.
About the 30th of August, 1664, colonel Nicolls entered the bay of the North river, (New-York bay) and anchored before New Amsterdam.
Stuyvesant immediately sent a letter from fort Anil to the com- manders of the frigates, by John Declyer, a counsellor, the Rev. John Megapolensis, Maj. Paul Lunder Vander Grelft, and Dr. Samuel Megapolensis, desiring to know the reason of their coming into the harbour of Naijarlij, without giving him notice.
Col. Nicolls, the next day, answered this letter with a summons to governor Stuyvesant to surrender New Amsterdam, and all the other forts, towns, and places in the New Netherlands. His excel- lency, upon the reception of this, promised an answer the next mor- ning, and in the meantime convened the council and burgomasters. He would willingly have made a defence, and refused a sight of the summons, both to the inhabitants and burgomasters, lest the easy terms offered might induce them to capitulate.
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