USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > History of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the territory included within its limits to the present time > Part 6
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It may be inferred from the proceedings in this controversy that an arrangement had been entered into between the Swedes and the Dutch about the trade of the Schuylkill. To a query propounded by Printz : " On the Schuylkill, in what manner the property of it is ascertained and understood ; what and how far are extended its limits ?" Hudde answers, "That the acts re- lative to the division of the limits are at the Manhattans, where he (Printz) may obtain correct information." Also in the letter of the Governor to Blaneke, directing him to leave, this language occurs : " Directly leave that spot with your trading vessel in the Schuylkill, seek the spot where usually sloops are accustomed to trade-which shall not be prohibited ; neither do I desire that my subjects shall be admitted there, from respect and friendship for the commander and his commissions as long as you are re- maining and trading in the Schuylkill, or that they would obstruct your interests." It is evident that it was the particular place that Blancke was in, that he was commanded to leave, and not the kill. The letter of Governor Printz is dated at " Tinnekonk" on the 20th of June, 1646.2
On the 12th of July following, the particulars of this event was communicated by Hudde to Governor Kieft at Manhattan, together with a plan for continuing the trade with the Minquas,
1 Hudde's Rep. 431-432.
2 Ib .- In this communication by Governor Printz to Hudde, the following language occurs: " That I compelled by force, Jurian Blanck to sail up and fasten his bark to the bridge." It may reasonably be conjectured that this bridge was over Minquas creek, connecting the main land with the opposite island near the site of the "strong house."-See map of Early Settlements.
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and in the meantime he received instructions to inquire about certain minerals in the country ; in pursuance of which he visited Sankikans which was the Indian name for the Falls of the Delaware at Trenton, but he was arrested in his upward progress by an Indian sachem, who confided in the truth of a story alleged to have been gotten up by Governor Printz, that the Dutch "had an intention to build a house near the Great Falls, and that in the vessels which were expected-250 men would arrive -which would be sent hither from the Manhattans, and would kill all the savages below on the river, &e !"1 It was manifestly the interest of the Dutch at this time, to have an establishment higher up the river in order to secure its trade, and it is much more reasonable to believe that something of the kind was con- templated by them, than that the whole story was the malicious invention of the Swedish governor.
Under instructions received on the 7th of September of this year, "to purchase some land from the savages, which was situ- ated on the west shore about a mile (Dutch,) distant from Fort Nassau on the north," we find the vigilant commissary busily engaged on the very next day, in taking possession of the covet- ed spot, by erecting the company's arms upon it. This Christian method of acquiring title to Indian lands, by taking possession in advance of the purchase, is to be excused in the present in- stance on account of the proprietor not being " at home." On the 25th of the same month, however, the purchase was com- pleted, in evidence of which the original proprietor aided in placing the arms of the company on a pole, which was fixed in the ground on the limits.2 This purchase included a portion of the grounds now occupied by the city of Philadelphia, as it also certainly did some of the lands that had been purchased by the Swedes upon their first arrival in the country, and of course this transaction became a bone of contention between the two govern- ments. The planting of a Dutch settlement on the western shore of the Delaware was now the policy of the authorities at Manhattan.3 Upon certain Dutch freemen making preparations to build on their newly acquired possessions, the Swedish com- missary Henry Huygen, removed the emblem of Dutch sove- reignty, that had been set up by Hudde with the assent of his savage grantor, using at the same time the very insulting re-
1 Hudde's Rep. 432. 2 Ib. 433.
3 As a further evidence of the disposition of the Dutch to gain a footing on the west shore of the Delaware, their governor (Kieft) about this time granted to four freemen 100 Morgens of land, " lying almost over against the little island called Vogelsant, (Singing bird) now Egg island, in the state of Delaware, on the condition that they would improve it, and bear allegiance to their high Mightinesses, &c. See Haz. Reg. iv. 119; Hist. N. Netherland i. 373; " York Book" Rec. deeds office, Dover, where the name of the island is translated " Bird land ;" Acrelius says the grantces never came there. N. Y. Ilist. Col. N. S. i. 417.
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mark : " that although it had been the colors of the Prince of Orange that were hoisted, he would have thrown these too under his feet."1 In one of the conflicts between the parties, a Swedish sergeant behaved himself so much "against all good order and decency," that Commissary Hudde felt it to be his duty to arrest him and keep him "in the guard house some time," besides giving him a severe reproof.
This event elicited from Governor Printz a sharp protest,2 directed to Hudde, in which he reminds him, "to discontinue the injuries of which he has been guilty against the Royal Majesty of Sweden," and accuses him of "gross conduct" on account of his " secret and unlawful purchase of land from the savages," alleging that in making it, " he betrayed his conviction of the justice, equity and antiquity of his pretensive claims, of which he so loudly boasted." This protest is dated N. Gotten- burg, September 30th, 1646, O. S., and was delivered by Oloff Stille and Moens Flom, two Swedish freemen.
On the 22nd of October, the reply of Hudde was sent to the Governor.3 It is rather pacific in its tone. He assures the Governor, that he purchased the land of " the real owner," and if he (the sachem) had sold the land previously to his Honor, then he had imposed most shamefully upon him. He protests, " that he performed everything and endeavoured to employ all means, by which a good correspondence and mutual harmony might be promoted," and closes with these words, " I will con- fide, that it is your Honor's intention, to act in the same manner -at least from the consideration that we who are christians will not place ourselves as a stumbling block, or laughing stock to those savage heathens which I trust, that shall remain so, as it is by your affectionate friend."
This affectionate epistle was received in a rather gruff manner by the Governor, who threw it towards one of his attendants saying, "there take care of it." This is reported by Hudde's sergeant who acted as messenger on the occasion, and as the Governor was engaged with "some Englishmen just arrived from New England," the statement may be credited; but no credit can be given to his tale, that the Governor took a gun down from the wall " with the intention of shooting him."
Hudde also complained that Printz had forbidded his subjeets, (as he called them,) "to enter into any transactions" with the Dutch. This non-intercourse policy does not appear to have been very strictly enforced, for in less than a year, we find Hudde and his wife at the Governor's table-the fact being re-
I Acrelius says that this language was used upon the occasion of pulling down the Dutch coat of arms raised at Sawtikan, (Trenton.)
2 Hudde's Report, 433.
3 Ib. 434.
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ported to show the rough and vulgar expressions, his excellency was capable of using in the presence of a lady.1
Nor were the Dutch annoyed alone by the Swedes. A letter2 from President Eaton of New Haven, to Governor Kieft, dated August 12th, 1646, O. S., complains of "injuries and outrages," to the persons and estates of the English, received at Manhattaes, Delaware river, &c. Since the removal of the English colony from Salem creek, there is no account of that people being present in the river, except those in conference with Governor Printz, above mentioned, and a trading vessel from Boston in 1644; four of whose crew were inhumanly murdered by the Indians, and the balance-a man and a boy carried off by them. These, through the instrumentality of Governor Printz, were procured from their captors and sent to Boston-the man to be tried for his life on the charge of having betrayed the vessel into the hands of the Indians.3
It is not very creditable to the Rev. John Campanius, who accompanied Governor Printz to America, that he has not fur- nished a better account of the progress of ecclesiastical affairs during his residence. He was no doubt much occupied in learn- ing the language of the Indians, into which he translated Luther's catechism. This work was partly accomplished during the six years he resided in New Sweden. The Rev. Reorus Torkillus dying about the time of the arrival of Campanius, the latter no doubt officiated at Christina as well as at New Gottenburg. During the year 1646, a church was erected at the seat of government at Tinicum, which was consecrated to divine services on the 4th of September and also its burying place, by the Rev'd pastor. " The first corpse that was buried there was that of Catharine, the daughter of Andrew Hanson. She was buried on the 28th of October, in the same year being the feast of St. Simon and St Jude."4
The site of the burying place, and doubtless that of the church also, was close on the margin of the river, and is now occupied by a part of its bed between the Lazaretto and Tinieum hotel, but nearer the latter. It is not many years since human bones were seen protruding from the undermined and receding bank of the river.
The younger Campanius relates that "the Indians were fre- quent visitors at his grandfather's house. When for the first time he performed divine service in the Swedish congregation, they came to hear him, and greatly wondered that he had so
1 Hudde's Report, 436.
2 For the letter, see N. Y. Hist. Col. i. 191, in which it is republished from vol. ii. Haz. Hist. Col.
3 Haz. Ann. 82, as extracted from Winthrop's Journal.
+ Campanius, 79-80.
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much to say, and that he stood alone and talked so long, while all the rest were listening in silence. This excited in them strange suspicions ; they thought everything was not right, and that some conspiracy was going forward amongst us ; in conse- quence of which, my grandfather's life, and that of the other priests, were for some time, in considerable danger from the Indians, who daily came to him and asked him many questions."
1
Campanius availed himself of these opportunities to make his savage visitors understand there was one self-existing God; to acquaint them with the doctrine of the Trinity ; the creation of the world and of man ; original sin ; together with the doctrines and miracles of Christianity generally. If we are to credit his grandson, whose statements are not the most reliable, he was so successful in his instructions "that many of those barbarians were converted to the Christian faith, or at least acquired so much knowledge of it, that they were ready to exclaim, as Cap- tain John Smith relates of the Virginia Indians, that so far as the cannons and guns of the Christians exceeded the bows and arrows of the Indians in shooting, so far was their God superior to that of the Indians."1
Governor Kieft having been recalled, the administration of affairs upon Dutch account on our river, passed into the hands of Peter Stuyvesant, his successor, a man of great energy, intel- ligence and bravery, but possessed of a will characteristic of his countrymen. His administration commenced on the 27th of May, 1647, and continued till 1664, when the American inter- ests of the Dutch passed into the hands of the English.
The bickerings between the Swedes and Dutch were continued, and during the early part of the administration of the new direc- tor general, the latter, in their claims for redress were not more successful than they had been under his less worthy predecessor. The reason is obvious, as according to the most reliable authority on the subject, the whole population of New Netherland at the close of Kieft's administration did not exceed a thousand souls.2 Besides their weakness, the Dutch authorities may find an addi- tional excuse for the neglect of their interests on the Delaware, in the fact, that the whole energies of the government were, at this time, required to resist the constant encroachments of the New Englanders on their territory.
If the evidence of Commissary Hudde is to be relied upon, the annoyances practised by the Swedes towards the Dutch were un- ceasing and unendurable. In the absence of Swedish authority on the subject, without questioning the general truthfulness of the Commissary's statements, it would be unjust to give too
1 Campanius, 75, 76.
2 Hist. New Netherland, i. 386.
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ready an ear to his suspicions ; to admit the correctness of his conclusions without some grains of allowance ; or to believe that all the aggressions of which he complains, were without provoca- tion on the part of his people.
Hudde accuses Governor Printz with conniving at the abuse of the Company's subjects-freemen as well as servants-" when arriving at the place where he resides, * * * * * so that they are often, on returning home, bloody and bruised," and he seems to attribute similar treatment from the savages to these examples, and particularly a surprise meditated by the Armewsick savages on the 12th of May, 1647, at noon, which "was rendered void by God's mercy and correct information, and through a misun- derstanding amongst them." He accuses the governor with closing the river, "so that no vessel can enter it on any account, except with his previous consent ;" with vilifying their High Mightinesses ; treating as frivolous and insignificant the commis- sions granted by the Director-general, &c.1
A petition for indemnity on account of Swedish aggressions, got up in the year 1651, and presented to Governor Stuyvesant, contains the following item :
"I, the undersigned Symon Root, most humbly request due indemnity for incurred losses and damages ; first for the opposi- tion of the Swedes offered to my building at Wiggnakoing2 in the year 1647; inasmuch as the throwing down of the Honble Com- pany's arms, and the destruction of the building erected by Com- missary Andries Hudde, rendered it sufficiently apparent, that further occupation there would be prevented by them."3
The Swedish governor is also accused by one John Geract, of seizing himself and his boat, the Siraen, with force and violence, with handling his goods, and with taking from him three guns and some powder.4
However unsatisfactory the proceedings of Printz were to the Dutch, they met the hearty approval of his own government. In a letter sent home by him in February of this year, he gave full information " of the nature and actual condition of New Sweden, as also respecting the progress of cultivation and the construction of dwellings in that country." This information was "infinitely agreeable" to her Majesty's government, and although she "had remarked with particular satisfaction the zeal, skill and activity" with which he had filled his station as Commander, (for so he is styled in the letter,) and gave him assurances that " his zealous and faithful services" should be held in remembrance and re- warded with all her royal favor, yet she declined for the present to confer on him " certain lands and occupations" for which he
1 Hudde's Report, 436.
3 N. Y. Col. Doc. i. 594.
2 Now Wicacco in Philadelphia.
4 Ib.
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had made a particular request in his letter. She " was well dis- posed to grant him what was just," but the cautious government of Sweden required that the business should first be examined in the " chamber of finance," and that it should be ascertained that the lands he asked " had not been given away or were not required for the cavalry or soldiers."1
Printzdorp, hereafter to be mentioned, was probably granted in response to the letter of the Governor.
On the 17th of August, Hudde delivered to Governor Printz, a protest which he had received from Director General Stuyve- sant, and having obtained permission to visit Manhattan, he carried back with him the reply of the Swedish Governor. These documents do not appear to be on record.
The ship Swan, which had accompanied Printz, arrived a second time during the year 1647, bringing more people. Three other vessels are mentioned as arriving during the administration of Printz-the Black Cat, the Key and the Lamb.2
On the 20th of January, 1648, the Government of Sweden issued letters patent in favor of the South Company, "for the State of New Sweden and the payment of those in their employ, granting one third of the excises of the crown upon all confiscated tobacco, besides fines and forfeitures, and provided that in case the revenue from this source should be insufficient to furnish the necessary sum for the annual support of the State of New Sweden," the deficit was to be made up from the other resources of the crown. In addition, all merchandise from Holland transported to New Sweden, and not landed in Sweden to be sold, was to be free from payment of duty, as were also tobacco and furs sent from New Sweden to the mother country.3 This was a wise stroke of policy on the part of the Swedish Government, as it secured the regular payment of wages to the persons in their employ, and at the same time gave the colony commercial ad- vantages as favorable as could be desired.
A Swedish bark in going up the river, in violation of an understanding between the two governments, neglected to show her colors in passing Fort Nassau. This Hudde regarded as a national insult, and sent eight men in pursuit, which proved unsuccessful. The testy commissary was not disposed to allow the affair to pass unnoticed, particularly as the offending skipper, on his return, had aggravated his offence by telling Hudde, that his act was intended as a personal insult. The result was a for- mal protest to Governor Printz, which, if it had no other effect,
1 For the Queen's letter, see Haz. Reg. iv. 315.
Unfortunately the letter of Printz is not among the documents procured by Mr. Russell and presented to the Philoso- phical Society.
2 Acrelius, 410.
3 Haz. Reg. iv. 373.
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it gave reason to suspect that the representative of New Nether- land, on " the South river," was disposed to make the most out of a very small matter.1
Governor Printz was generally successful in the execution of every scheme in which he engaged, but this year Stuyvesant was advised that he (the governor) was tampering with the Minquas, and endeavouring to obtain their consent to the erection of a Swedish trading post in their country.2 Either the Dutch gover- nor was misinformed, or Printz had over-estimated his influence with this distant savage nation ; for no such trading post was ever established.
During the winter, the Swedes had been engaged in bringing together a large quantity of logs, and had already carried a great number of them to the Schuylkill. This made Hudde appre- hensive, " that the Governor had an intention to construct some buildings near the place where the vessels are now usually laying at anchor ;" and he says, "as these, trading as before, had been driven from Kinsessing, and we cannot otherwise approach the large woods to trade with the Minquas, by which consequently the trade being lost to us, the possession of the river, as I well observed before, would deserve very little consideration."3 In case the Swede went on with the building, and took possession of some yet unoccupied places, Hudde humbly proposed "to take possession of the tract of land nearest to him, in the name of the Company." It happened very opportunely for the commis- sary, and affords him some excuse for his subsequent proceedings, which otherwise might have been considered as an act of aggres- sion, " that on the fourth day of the same month, some sachems came to him from the savages of Passayonk, who asked him why he did not build on the Schuylkill ; that the Swedes had already there some buildings constructed." Circumstances sometimes almost miraculously adapt themselves to our wishes, or we might suspect that Hudde had some instrumentality in bringing about this kind invitation of the Passayonk savages, for the Dutch to occupy their lands.
Having received " correct information with regard to the anti- cipation by the Swede ; and particularly so with regard to some places of the highest importance," he directly prepared himself to build near the place, and on the 27th " went thither with the most necessary timber, calling then without delay for the sachems, and stating to them, that at present, he came there with the
1 Hudde's Rep. 437. 2 Hist. New Netherland, ii. 79.
3 Hudde's Report, 438. This langnage of Hudde, confirms what has before been suggested that the Dutch vessels were not driven from their usual place of anchorage and trade in the Schuylkill, by the Swedes, and had only been interfered with when they themselves were the aggressors. They were very properly driven from "Kinsess- ing," where the Swedes had their " Strong House" as a regular trading post.
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intention to build on that spot which they had granted him." Upon this representation, the sachems sent a message to the Swedes " who lived there already, and commanded them to depart from thenee, insinuating that they had taken possession of that spot in a clandestine way, and against their will and that they had made a cession, for the present to Iludde ; that he too should build there ; on which two of the principal sachems, as Maarte Hoock and Wissementes, planted there with their own hands the colors of the prince of Orange, and ordered that I should fire a gun three times, as a mark that I had taken possession."!
After this ceremony and waste of powder, the house was raised in the presence of the chiefs, but towards evening the Swedish Commissary, Huygens, with seven or eight men arrived there, to question Hudde, " by whose permission or order he had raised that house." Hudde replied, " by order of his masters, and with the previous consent of the savages." The Swede demanded documentary evidence that he was acting by authority of his masters, " and not on letters of some freemen." This Hudde agreed to produce, after Huygens had delivered to him the like authority for making such a demand.
The sachems now interceded, and delivered a rather sharp reprimand to Hendrick Huygens and his company. They in- formed them that they should grant the Dutch "that tract of land, and that they would settle there ;" and asked, "by whose orders they, (the Swedes,) did erect buildings there ? If it was not enough that they were already in possession of Matennekonk, the Schuylkill, Kinsessing, Kakanken, Upland, and other places possessed by the Swedes, all of which they had stolen from them ? that Mennewit, now about eleven years past, had no more than six small traets of land, upon Paghaghacking, purchased to plant there some tobacco, of which the natives, in gratitude, should enjoy the half of the produce ; . .... that they, (the Swedes,) arrived only lately on the river, and had taken already so much land from them, which they actually settled, while they, [the Dutch] pointing to them, never had taken from them any land, although they had dwelt here and conversed with them more than thirty years."2 Hudde continued the work-" surrounding the house with palisades because the Swedes had destroyed before, the house, which the company possessed on the Schuylkill, and built a fort in its place, and they might do the same here." While we were thus at work, continues Hudde, "arrives Maens Klingo, Lieutenant at the fort on the Schuylkill, with twenty- four men fully armed, with charged muskets, and bearing maces, marching in ranks. He asked if we intended to finish that work,
1 Iludde's Report, 438. 4
2 Ib. 439.
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and if we would proceed with it? To which I answered, what was commenced must be finished too ; upon which, he commanded that his men should lay down their muskets, and each of them should take his axe in his hand, and cut down every tree that stood around or near the house-destroying even the fruit trees that I had planted there."
This House of Contention, afterwards became what was well known as "Fort Bevers Rheede," though the fact is not directly stated by Hudde. As permission for its erection was obtained from the Passayunk Indians, the site of this fort must have been at some point on the east bank of the Schuylkill, now in the first ward of the City of Philadelphia, and within the limits of the former township of Passayunk. An approximate location has been assigned to this fort, on " the map of the early settle- ments," after taking into consideration the suitableness of loca- tion in connection with the facts above stated.1
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