"The Connecticut governments seemed animated by the most vindictive feelings; and their own recent historian laments the refusal of the Massachusetts authorities to bear part in an offensive war against New Netherland, as an 'indelible stain upon their honor as men, and upon their morals as Christians.'"

There was a strong party in favor of war as the only means of wresting the magnificent domain of New Netherland from the Dutch and annexing it to the New England possessions. The majestic Hudson was greatly coveted, as it opened to commerce vast and unknown regions of the interior.

Hartford and New Haven discussed the question if they were not strong enough without the aid of Massachusetts to subdue the Dutch. Stamford and Fairfield commenced raising volunteers on their own account, and appointed one Ludlow as their leader. A petition was sent to the home government, the Commonwealth over which Oliver Cromwell was then presiding, praying

"that the Dutch be either removed or, so far, at least, subjected that the colonies may be free from injurious affronts and secured against the dangers and mischievous effects which daily grow upon them by their plotting with the Indians and furnishing them with arms against the English."

In conclusion they entreated that two or three frigates be sent out, and that Massachusetts be commanded to assist the other colonies to clear the coast "of a nation with which the English cannot either mingle or set under their government, nor so much as live near without danger of their lives and all their comforts in this world."

To fan this rising flame of animosity against the Dutch, a rancorous pamphlet was published in London, entitled,

"The second part of the Amboyna Tragedy; or a faithful account of a bloody, treacherous and cruel plot of the Dutch in America, purporting the total ruin and murder of all the English colonists in New England; extracted from the various letters lately written from New England to different merchants in London."

This was indeed an inflammatory pamphlet. The most violent language was used. The Dutch were accused of the "devilish project" of trying to rouse the savages to a simultaneous assault upon all the New England colonists. The crime was to be perpetrated on Sunday morning, when they should be collected in their houses of worship. Men, women and children were to be massacred, and the buildings laid in ashes.

The Amsterdam Directors had this "most infamous and lying libel," translated into their own language and sent a copy to Governor Stuyvesant and his council, saying: "We wish that your honors may see what stratagems that nation employs, not only to irritate the populace, but the whole world if possible and to stir it up against us."

The position of Governor Stuyvesant had become exceedingly uncomfortable. He was liable at any day to have from abroad war's most terrible storm burst upon him. And the enemy might come in such force that he would be utterly unable to make any effectual resistance. On the other hand the Dutch settlements were composed of emigrants from all lands. Many Englishmen, dissatisfied with the rigid rule of the New England colonies, had taken their residence in New Netherland.

The arbitrary rule of Stuyvesant was obnoxious to the majority of his subjects, and they were increasingly clamorous for a more liberal and popular government. On the 16th of December, 1630, a very important popular convention was held at New Amsterdam, composed of delegates from eight towns. There were nineteen delegates, ten of whom were Dutch and nine English. Unanimously they avowed fealty to the government of Holland. But they remonstrated against the establishment of an arbitrary government; and complained that laws had been enacted without the consent of the people.

"This," said they,

"is contrary to the granted privilege of the Netherland government and odious to every free-born man; and especially so to those whom God has placed in a free state in newly-settled lands, who are entitled to claim laws not transcending, but resembling as near as possible those of the Netherlands."

There were several minor offences enumerated to which we need not here refer. The memorial was drawn up by an Englishman, George Baxter. The imperious Stuyvesant was greatly annoyed by this document. To weaken its effect, he declared that the delegates had no authority to act or even to meet upon such questions. He endeavored to rouse national prejudice against the document by saying:

"The most ancient colony of Manhattan, the colonies of Rensselaerswyck and Staten Island and the settlements at Beaverswyck and on the South river are too prudent to subscribe to all that has been projected by an Englishman; as if among the Netherlands' nation there is no one sagacious and expert enough to draw up a remonstrance to the Director and council."



CHAPTER VIII.



ANOTHER INDIAN WAR.



Conflict Between the Governor and the Citizens.—Energy of the Governor.—His Measures of Defence.—Action of the English Colonies.—Claims of the Government of Sweden.—Fort Casimir captured by the Swedes.—Retaliation.—Measures for the recapture of Fort Casimir.—Shooting a Squaw.—Its Consequences.—The Ransom of Prisoners.—Complaints of the Swedish Governor.—Expedition from Sweden.—Its Fate.

There was a brief but bitter controversy between the governor and the convention, when the governor ordered the body to disperse, "on pain of our highest displeasure." "We derive our authority," said he, "from God, and from the Company, not from a few ignorant subjects. And we alone can call the inhabitants together." These decisive measures did not stifle the popular voice. Petitions were sent to the Company in Holland, full of complaints against the administration of Stuyvesant, and imploring its intervention to secure the redress of the grievances which were enumerated.

An able man, Francois le Bleuw, was sent to Holland with these documents, with instructions to do everything in his power to procure the reforms they urged. Though the citizens of New Amsterdam had, for a year, enjoyed a limited municipal government, they were by no means satisfied with what they had thus far attained. What they claimed, and reasonably claimed, were the larger franchises enjoyed by the cities in the fatherland.

The condition of New Netherland, at the commencement of the year 1654, was very precarious. The troubled times, as is ever the case, had called out swarms of pirates and robbers, who infested the shores of Long Island, inflicting the most cruel excesses upon the unprotected inhabitants. The English residents in the Dutch colonies were numerous, and they were ripe for revolt. The Dutch themselves were uttering loud murmurs. The governor acted with his accustomed energy. Several vessels were fitted out to act against the pirates. Many of these pirates professed to be privateersmen, serving the Commonwealth of England. It was suspected that the English residents were communicating with the freebooters, who were chiefly their own countrymen.

A proclamation was issued prohibiting all persons, under penalty of banishment and the confiscation of goods, from harboring the outlaws. Every third man was detailed to act as a minute man whenever required; and the whole population was pledged for the public defence. At the same time, to prevent any misunderstanding, messengers were sent to Connecticut to inform the colonial authorities there, that these measures were adopted solely for the protection of their commerce and the punishment of robbery.

In February of this year, a church was organized at Flatbush. Domine Polhemus was chosen pastor, with a salary of six hundred guilders. A cruciform wooden church was erected, sixty feet long and twenty-eight feet wide. This was the first Reformer Dutch Church on Long Island. The Lutherans had now become quite numerous in New Amsterdam. They petitioned for liberty to organize a church. Stuyvesant, a zealous Calvinist, declined, saying that he was bound by his oath to tolerate no other religion openly than the Reformed. In this intolerance he was sustained by the Company in Holland.

Oliver Cromwell now decided to carry the war against Holland into the New World. He sent word to the governors of the New England Colonists that he was about to dispatch war ships to the coasts of America, and he called upon them to give their utmost assistance for gaining the Manhattoes and other places under the power of the Dutch.

Four armed ships were soon crossing the Atlantic. The expedition was entrusted to Major Sedgwick and John Leverett. They were directed to enter some good port in New England, where they were to ascertain whether the colonial governments would join in vindicating the English right and in extirpating the Dutch.

"Being come to the Manhattoes," wrote secretary Thurlow,

"you shall, by surprise, open force, or otherwise, endeavor to take the place. You have power to give fair quarter in case it be rendered upon summons without opposition. If the Lord give his blessing, you shall not use cruelty to the inhabitants, but encourage those who are willing to remain under the English government, and give liberty to others to transport themselves to Europe."

Governor Stuyvesant received early intelligence of the projected expedition, and immediately convened his council. The danger was imminent. The Dutch alone could oppose but feeble resistance. The English in the Dutch colony, though they had sworn allegiance, would probably join their countrymen. "To invite them," Governor Stuyvesant said, "to aid us, would be bringing the Trojan horse within our walls." After much anxious deliberation, it was decided to enlist a force of seventy men, "silently and without beat of drum," and to lay in supplies to stand a siege.

The danger roused the spirit of patriotism. The Dutch rallied with great unanimity and, spade in hand, worked heartily on the fortifications. They were all conscious, however, that treason lurked within their walls.

Several of the New England colonies responded quite eagerly to the appeal of Cromwell. New Haven pledged herself to the most zealous efforts Connecticut promised two hundred men, and even five hundred rather than that the enterprise should fail. Plymouth ordered fifty men into the service, entrusting the command to Captain Miles Standish and Captain Thomas Willett. It is worthy of notice that the Plymouth people made an apology for this action, saying: "We concur in hostile measures against our ancient Dutch neighbors only in reference unto the national quarrel."

Massachusetts gave a reluctant consent that five hundred volunteers against the Dutch should be raised within their jurisdiction.

Just as the fleet was about to sail from Boston, on this expedition, the result of which could not be doubtful, a ship entered the port with the announcement that peace had been concluded between England Holland. This of course put a stop to any farther hostile action. The welcome news was soon conveyed to Governor Stuyvesant. He was quite overjoyed in its reception. The glad tidings were published from the City Hall, with ringing of bell and all other public demonstrations of satisfaction.

The 12th of August was appointed as a day of general thanksgiving to God for his great goodness. In his proclamation, the Governor devoutly exclaimed:

"Praise the Lord, O England's Jerusalem and Netherland's zion, praise ye the Lord! He hath secured your gates and blessed your possessions with peace, even here where the threatened torch of war was lighted, where the waves reached our lips and subsided only through the power of the Almighty."

From this moral conflict, which came so near being a physical one, Stuyvesant emerged very victorious. The Company had ever been disposed to sympathize with him in his measures. The delegate Le Bleuw, who had carried charges against him to Holland, was almost rudely repulsed, and was forbidden to return to New Netherland. The Directors of the Company wrote to the Governor:

"We are unable to discover in the whole remonstrance one single point to justify complaint. You ought to have acted with more vigor against the ringleaders of the gang, and not to have condescended to answer protests with protests. It is therefore our express command that you punish what has occurred as it deserves, so that others may be deterred in future, from following such examples."

To the citizens they wrote,

"We enjoin it upon you that you conduct yourselves quietly and peaceably, submit yourselves to the government placed over you, and in no wise allow yourselves to hold particular convention with the English or others, in matters of form or deliberation on affairs of state, which do not appertain to you, or attempt any alteration in the state and its government."

A ferry was established to convey passengers from one side of the river to the other. The licensed ferryman was bound to keep suitable boats and also a lodge on each side of the river to protect passengers from the weather. The toll established by law, was for a wagon and two horses one dollar; for a wagon and one horse eighty cents; a savage, male or female, thirty cents; each other person fifteen cents.

When Stuyvesant was preparing to defend New Netherland from the English, he encountered another great annoyance. It will be remembered that the Swedish government claimed the territory on the South, or Delaware river, upon which the Dutch governor had erected Fort Casimir. Gerrit Bikker was in command of the fort, with a garrison of twelve men. On the morning of the first of June, 1654, a strange sail was seen in the offing. A small party was sent out in a boat, to reconnoitre. They returned with the tidings that it was a Swedish ship full of people, with a new governor; and that they had come to take possession of the place, affirming that the fort was on land belonging to the Swedish government.

Bikker with his small garrison, and almost destitute of ammunition, could make no resistance. Twenty or thirty soldiers landed from the Swedish ship, entered the open gate of the fort and took possession of the place. John Rising the commander of the ship, stated that he was obeying the orders of his government; that the territory belonged to Sweden, and that neither the States-General of the Netherlands nor the West India Company had authorized Governor Stuyvesant to erect a fort upon that spot.

The garrison was disarmed, two shotted guns were fired over the works in token of their capture, and the name of the fort was changed to Trinity, as it was on Trinity Sunday that the fort was taken. A skilful engineer immediately employed many hands in strengthening the ramparts. The region was called New Sweden, and John Rising assumed his office as governor. Courteously he sent word to Governor Stuyvesant of his arrival and of his capture of the forts. He also summoned the chiefs of the neighboring tribes and entered into a treaty of friendship with them. Within a month he announced to the home government that the population of New Sweden had risen to three hundred and sixty-eight. "I hope," he added,

"we may be able to preserve them in order and in duty, and to constrain them if necessary. I will do in this respect, all that depends upon me. We will also endeavor to shut up the river."

Governor Stuyvesant was very indignant, in view of what he deemed the pusillanimous conduct of Bikker in "this dishonorable surrender of the fort." It was in vain for him to attempt its recovery. But with an eagle eye and an agitated mind he watched for an opportunity to retaliate.

About the middle of September, a Swedish ship, the Golden Shark, bound for the Delaware river, under command of Captain Elswyck, entered Sandy Hook and anchored behind Staten Island. The captain had made a mistake and supposed that he had entered the mouth of South river. Discovering his error, he sent a boat up to Manhattan for a pilot.

Stuyvesant's long-looked-for hour had come. He arrested the boat's crew, and sent them all to the guard-house. He also seized the Shark and transferred her cargo to the Company's magazine on shore. He then sent a courteous message to Governor Rising, at New Sweden, inviting him to visit New Amsterdam, "to arrange and settle some unexpected differences." He promised him a hospitable reception, but declared that he should detain the Swedish ship and cargo, "until a reciprocal restitution shall have been made." Governor Rising declined the invitation, not deeming it judicious to place himself so effectually in the power of his impetuous antagonist.

Upon the capture of fort Casimir, Governor Stuyvesant had immediately sent word of the occurrence to the Amsterdam Directors. In November he received their reply. It was, in brief, as follows:

"We hardly know whether we are more astonished at the audacious enterprise of the Swedes in taking our fort on the South river, or at the cowardly surrender of it by our commander, which is nearly insufferable. He has acted very unfaithfully, yea treacherously. We entreat you to exert every nerve to avenge that injury, not only by restoring affairs to their former situation, but by driving the Swedes from every side of the river. We have put in commission two armed ships, the King Solomon and the Great Christopher. The drum is beaten daily in the streets of Amsterdam for volunteers. And orders are given for the instant arrest of Bikker."

Stuyvesant adopted vigorous measures to cooperate with the little fleet upon its arrival, in its warfare against New Sweden. The 25th of August, 1655, was set apart as a day of fasting and prayer,

"to implore the only bountiful God, that it may please him to bless the projected enterprise, undertaken only for the greater security, extension and consolidation of this province, and to render it prosperous and successful to the glory of his name."

Enlistments were pushed with great energy. Three North river vessels were chartered, pilots were engaged and provisions and ammunition laid in store. A French privateer, L'Esperance, which chanced to enter the harbor of New Amsterdam at this time, was also engaged for the service.

It seems hardly consistent with the religious character of Stuyvesant and with his prayers for the divine blessing, that the Lord's day should have been chosen for the sailing of the expedition. But on the first Sunday in September, after the morning sermon, the sails of the little squadron of seven vessels were unfurled and the fleet put to sea, containing a military force of about seven hundred men. Governor Stuyvesant in person, commanded the expedition. He was accompanied by the Vice-Governor, De Lille, and by Domine Megapolensis, as chaplain.

On Friday morning they entered the Delaware river, and with favoring wind and tide, sailed up beyond fort Casimir, and landed their forces about a mile above. A flag of truce was promptly sent to the fort, demanding "the direct restitution of our own property." Some parleying occupied the time during the day, while Stuyvesant was landing his batteries. The next morning the Swedish commander, convinced of the folly of any further attempt at resistance, went on board the Balance and signed a capitulation. The victor was generous in his terms. The Swedes were allowed to remove their artillery; twelve men were to march out with full arms and accoutrements; all the rest retained their side-arms, and the officers held their personal property.

At noon the Dutch, with pealing bugles and flying banners again entered upon possession of the fort. Many of the Swedes took the oath of allegiance to the New Netherland government. The next day was Sunday. Chaplain Megapolensis preached a sermon to the troops. But a short distance above fort Casimir there was another Swedish fort called Christina. It was not denied that the Swedes had a legitimate title to that land. Indeed after the Company in Holland had sent directions to Stuyvesant to drive the Swedes from the river, they sent to him another order modifying these instructions. In this dispatch they said:

"You may allow the Swedes to hold the land on which fort Christina is built, with a garden to cultivate the tobacco, because it appears that they made this purchase with the previous consent of the Company, provided said Swedes will conduct themselves as good subjects of our government."

But the Swedish Governor, Rising, having lost fort Casimir, re-assembled his forces and strengthened his position in Fort Christina, which was two miles farther up the river. This fort was about thirty-five miles below the present site of Philadelphia, on a small stream called Christina creek. The fleet anchored at the mouth of the Brandywine, and invested the fort on all sides. The Swedes outside of the fort were ruthlessly pillaged; a battery was erected and the fort summoned to surrender. Resistance was hopeless. The articles of capitulation were soon signed between the victor and the vanquished.

"The Swedes marched out with their arms, colors flying, matches lighted, drums beating and fifes playing; and the Dutch took possession of the fort, hauled down the Swedish flag and hoisted their own."

The Swedes, who to the number of about two hundred had settled in that vicinity, were allowed to remain in the country, if they wished to do so, upon condition of taking the oath of allegiance to the Dutch authorities. Thus the Swedish dominion on the South river was brought to an end. This was the most powerful military expedition which had ever moved from any of the colonies. The Swedes had held their independent position on the Delaware but about seventeen years. Leaving an agent, as temporary commandant, Stuyvesant returned triumphantly to fort Amsterdam.

And now for ten years there had been peace with the Indians, when a gross outrage again roused their savage natures to revenge. The Indians, ever accustomed to roam the forest, and to gather fruits, nuts and game wherever they could find them, had not very discriminating views of the rights of private property. Ensign Van Dyck, the former treasurer, and one of the most noted men in the colony, detected an Indian woman in his orchard gathering peaches. Inhumanly he shot her dead. This roused all the neighboring tribes, and they united to avenge her death. There was certainly something chivalrous in this prompt combination of the warriors not to allow, what they deemed the murder of a sister, to pass unpunished.

Taking advantage of the absence of Governor Stuyvesant, with nearly all the military force he could raise, on his expedition to the South river, sixty-four war canoes, containing nineteen hundred armed Indians, were at midnight on the fifteenth of September, stealthily paddled into the waters surrounding fort Amsterdam. They were picked warriors from eight tribes. The night was dark, and the sighing of the wind through the tree tops and the breaking of the surf upon the beach added to the deep repose of the sleepers.

The Indians landed and stealthily crept through the silent streets; and yet, from some unexplained cause, they made no attack. Gradually the inhabitants were awakened, and there was a rapid assembling of the principal men within the fort. Several of the chiefs were called before them. They gave no satisfactory account of the object of their formidable visit, and uttered no threats. On the contrary they promised to withdraw before night, to Nutten Island, as Governor's island was then called. Still, watching their opportunity, one of the warriors pierced the bosom of Van Dyck with an arrow.

The cry of murder rang through the streets. The inhabitants were prepared for the not unexpected emergency. The military rushed from the fort, and a fierce battle ensued. The Indians, leaving three of their warriors dead in the streets, and having killed five white men and wounded three others, were driven to their canoes, and crossed over the North river to the Jersey shore.

And now their savage natures burst forth unrestrained. The flourishing little villages of Pavonia and Hoboken were instantly in flames. A general scene of massacre and destruction ensued. Men, women and children fell alike before the bullet, the arrow and the tomahawk. The inhabitants of fort Amsterdam in anguish witnessed the massacre, but could render no assistance. Nearly all their armed men were far away on the Delaware.

The savages, elated with success, crossed over to Staten island. The scattered settlements there numbered about ninety souls. There were eleven farms in a high state of cultivation, and several plantations. The settlers had received warning of their danger, perhaps by the flames and musketry of Hoboken and Pavonia, perhaps by some messenger from fort Amsterdam. Sixty-seven of them succeeded in reaching some stronghold where they were able to defend themselves. The rest, twenty-three in number, were cut off by the savages. The buildings of twenty-eight farms and plantations were laid in ashes and the crops destroyed.

For three days these merciless Indians had free range, with scarcely any opposition. During this time one hundred of the Dutch were killed, one hundred and fifty were taken prisoners, and more than three hundred were deprived of house, clothes and food. Six hundred cattle and a vast amount of grain were destroyed. The pecuniary value of the damage inflicted amounted to over eighty thousand dollars.

Such were the consequences which resulted from the folly and crime of one man in shooting an Indian woman who was purloining peaches from his orchard. Terror spread far and wide. The farmers with their families, fled from all directions to fort Amsterdam for protection. The feeble settlements on Long island were abandoned in dismay. Prowling bands of savages wandered over the island of Manhattan, burning and destroying. No one dared to venture to any distance from the fort. An express was dispatched to South river to inform Governor Stuyvesant of the peril of the colony, and to implore his return. This led to the hurried close of the transactions on the Delaware, and probably secured for the Swedes more favorable terms of capitulation than they would otherwise have obtained.

The return of Governor Stuyvesant with his military force, reassured the colonists. In such an hour his imperious nature hesitated not a moment in assuming the dictatorship. The one man power, so essential on the field of battle, seemed requisite in these scenes of peril. There was no time for deliberation. Prompt and energetic action was necessary.

The governor sent soldiers to the outer settlements; forbade any vessel to leave the harbor, forced into the ranks every man capable of bearing arms, and imposed a heavy tax to meet the expense of strengthening the fortifications. Several persons, who were about to sail for Europe, protested against being thus detained. Governor Stuyvesant fined them each ten dollars for disrespect to the established authorities, and contemptuously advised them to "possess their souls in patience."

The savages found their captives an incumbrance. Winter was approaching and provisions were scarce. They sent one of their prisoners, an influential man, captain Pos, who had been superintendent of the colony on Staten island, to propose the ransom of those captured for a stipulated amount of powder and balls. As captain Pos did not return as soon as was expected, another messenger was sent, and soon one of the chiefs returned to Governor Stuyvesant, fourteen Dutch men, women and children, as a present in token of his good will, and asking that a present of powder and ball might be forwarded to him.

The governor sent in return some ammunition and two Indian captives and promised to furnish more ammunition when other Christians should be brought in.

Three envoys from New Amsterdam visited the savages bearing these presents. They were received with the courtesies which civilized nations accord to a flag of truce. In this way twenty-eight more captives were ransomed. The promise was given that others should be soon brought in. Governor Stuyvesant inquired at what price they would release all the remaining prisoners en masse, or what they would ask for each individual. They deliberated upon the matter and then replied that they would deliver up twenty-eight prisoners for seventy-eight pounds of powder, and forty staves of lead.

The governor immediately sent the amount, and hoping to excite their generosity, added as a present in token of friendly feeling, thirty-five pounds of powder and ten staves of lead. But the savages did not appreciate this kindness. They returned the twenty-eight prisoners and no more.

The governor of the Swedish colony on the Delaware arrived at New Amsterdam with a numerous suite, awaiting their transportation to Europe according to the terms of the capitulation. He was in very ill humor, and Governor Stuyvesant found it impossible to please him. He entered bitter complaints against the governor, declaring that the articles of the late treaty had been grossly violated.

"In Christina," said he,

"the women were violently driven out of their houses. The oxen, cows and other animals were butchered. Even the horses were wantonly shot. The whole country was desolated. Your men carried off even my own property, and we were left without means of defence against the savages. No proper accommodations have been provided for me and my suite at New Amsterdam, and our expenses have not been defrayed."

With much dignity Governor Stuyvesant vindicated himself. "I offered," he said,

"to leave fort Christina in your possession, but you refused it. I am not responsible for any property for which I have not given a receipt. On account of your high station, I offered more than once to entertain you in my own house. As this did not satisfy you, you were induced to reside in one of the principal houses of the city. There you indulged in unmannerly threats that you would return and destroy this place. This so annoyed the people of the house that, for peace sake, they abandoned their lodgings.

"The rumors of these threats reached the ears of the captains of the small vessels, and the passengers with whom you were to embark. They did not deem it safe to take you and your suite, with such a large number of dependents. They feared to land you in England or France, unless they should chance to meet some English or French vessel in the Channel. We entered into no obligation to defray your expenses or those of your unusual suite."

Soon after this Governor Rising and his attendants were embarked for Europe in two vessels. A narrative was, at the same time, sent to the fatherland of the recent Indian troubles. The defenceless condition of the country was explained and assistance earnestly implored.

There were still a number of captives held by the Indian tribes who dwelt among the Highlands. The question was anxiously deliberated, in the Council, respecting the best mode of recovering them. One only, Van Tienhoven, was in favor of war. But Governor Stuyvesant said,

"The recent war is to be attributed to the rashness of a few hot-headed individuals. It becomes us to reform ourselves, to abstain from all that is wrong, and to protect our villages with proper defences. Let us build block-houses wherever they are needed and not permit any armed Indian to enter the European settlements."

The Long Island Indians sent a delegation to New Amsterdam declaring that for ten years, since 1645, they had been the friends of the Dutch, and had done them no harm, "not even to the value of a dog." They sent, as a present, a bundle of wampum in token of the friendship of the chiefs of the Eastern tribes. But the up-river Indians continued sullen. With their customary cunning or sagacity they retained quite a number of captives, holding them as pledges to secure themselves from the vengeance of the Dutch. There was no hope of liberating them by war, since the Indians would never deliver up a white captive in exchange for prisoners of their own tribes. And upon the first outbreak of war the unfortunate Dutch prisoners would be conveyed to inaccessible depths of the forests.

The Dutch settlers had scattered widely, on farms and plantations. Thus they were peculiarly exposed to attacks from the Indians, and could render each other but little assistance. As a remedy for this evil, Governor Stuyvesant issued a proclamation ordering all who lived in secluded places in the country to assemble and unite themselves in villages before the ensuing spring, "after the fashion," as he said, "of our New England neighbors."

In Sweden, before the tidings of the fall of fort Casimir had reached that country, an expedition had been fitted out for the South river, conveying one hundred and thirty emigrants. Stuyvesant, on learning of their arrival, forbade them to land. He dispatched a vessel and a land force, to capture the Swedish ship the Mercury, and bring it with all the passengers to fort Amsterdam. Having disposed of her cargo, the vessel and all the Swedish soldiers it bore, were sent back to Europe.

In obedience to orders from home, Stuyvesant erected a fort at Oyster Bay, on the north side of Long island. In the instructions he received he was enjoined, "to maintain, by force, if necessary, the integrity of the Dutch province, the boundaries of which have just been formally confirmed by the States-General."

The Directors added,

"We do not hesitate to approve of your expedition on the South river, and its happy termination. We should not have been displeased, however, if such a formal capitulation for the surrender of the forts had not taken place, but that the whole business had been transacted in a manner similar to that of which the Swedes set us an example when they made themselves masters of fort Casimir."



CHAPTER IX.



AN ENERGETIC ADMINISTRATION.



New Amsterdam in 1656.—Religious Intolerance.—Persecution of the Waldenses.—The New Colony on South river.—Wreck of the Prince Maurice.—The Friendly Indians.—Energetic Action of the Governor.—Persecution of the Quakers.—Remonstrance from Flushing.—The Desolation of Staten Island.—Purchase of Bergen.—Affairs at Esopus.—The Indian Council.—Generosity of the Indians.—New Amstel.—Encroachments of the English.

War would doubtless have arisen, between Sweden and Holland, in view of transactions on South river, had not all the energies of Sweden been then called into requisition in a war with Poland. The Swedish government contented itself with presenting a vigorous memorial to the States-General, which for eight years was renewed without accomplishing any redress.

The vice-governor resided at fort Orange, in a two story house, the upper floor of which was used as a court-room. This station was the principal mart for the fur trade, which had now become so considerable that upwards of thirty-five thousand beaver skins were exported during the year 1656.

A survey of the city of New Amsterdam was made this year, which showed that there were one hundred and twenty houses, and a population of one thousand souls. A man like Stuyvesant, the warm advocate of arbitrary power, would almost of necessity, be religiously intolerant. Zealously devoted to the Reformed church, and resolved to have unity in religion, notwithstanding the noble toleration which existed in Holland, he issued a proclamation forbidding any one from holding a religious meeting not in harmony with the Reformed church.

Any preacher, who should violate this ordinance was to be subjected to a penalty of one hundred pounds. Any one who should attend such a meeting was to be punished by a penalty of twenty-five pounds.

This law was rigorously enforced. Recusants were fined and imprisoned. Complaints were sent to Holland, and the governor was severely rebuked for his bigotry.

"We would fain," the Directors wrote to Stuyvesant,

"not have seen your worship's hand set to the placard against the Lutherans, nor have heard that you oppressed them with the imprisonments of which they have complained to us. It has always been our intention to let them enjoy all calmness and tranquillity. Wherefore you will not hereafter publish any similar placards, without our previous consent, but allow all the free exercise of their religion within their own houses."

But Stuyvesant was a man born to govern, not be governed. He was silent respecting the instructions he had received from home. When the Lutherans informed him that the Directors of the Company had ordered that the same toleration should exist in New Netherland which was practiced in the fatherland, he firmly replied that he must wait for further explanations, and that in the mean time his ordinance against public conventicles must be executed.

At Flushing a cobbler from Rhode Island, a baptist, William Wickendam by name, ventured to preach, "and even went with the people into the river and dipped them." He was fined one thousand pounds and ordered to be banished. As he was a poor man the debt was remitted, but he was obliged to leave the province.

It will be remembered that thus far nearly all the operations of the Dutch, in the New World, had been performed under the authority of Dutch merchants, called "The West India Company." Their chartered powers were very great. Only in a subordinate degree were they subject to the control of the States-General.

At this time there was a very cruel persecution commenced by the Duke of Savoy against the Waldenses. Hundreds of them fled to the city of Amsterdam, in Holland, which was then the refuge for the persecuted of all nations. They were received with the most noble hospitality. The city government not only gave them an asylum, but voted large sums from its treasury, for their support.

Carrying out this policy, the city decided to establish a colony of its own in New Netherland, to be composed mainly of these Waldenses. The municipal authorities purchased of the West India Company, for seven hundred guilders, all the land on the west side of South river, from Christina kill to Bombay Hook. This gave a river front of about forty miles, running back indefinitely into the interior. This region was named New Amstel. The colonists were offered a free passage, ample farms on the river, and provisions and clothing for one year. The city also agreed to send out "a proper person for a schoolmaster, who shall also read the holy Scriptures in public and set the Psalms." A church was to be organized so soon as there were two hundred inhabitants in the colony.



The Company wrote to Stuyvesant saying,

"The confidence we feel about the success and increase of this new colony of which we hope to see some prominent features next spring, when to all appearance, large numbers of the exiled Waldenses will flock thither, as to an asylum, induces us to send you orders to endeavor to purchase of the Indians, before it can be accomplished by any other nation, all that tract of land situated between the South river and the Hook of the North river, to provide establishments for these emigrants."

On Christmas day of 1656, three vessels containing one hundred and sixty emigrants, sailed from the Texel. A wintry storm soon separated them. The principal ship, the Prince Maurice, which had the largest number of passengers, after a long voyage, was wrecked on the South coast of Long island, near Fire island inlet, in the neighborhood of the present town of Islip. It was midnight when the ship struck. As soon as it was light the passengers and crew succeeded in reaching the shore in their boats through the breakers and through vast masses of floating ice.

They found upon the shore a bleak, barren, treeless waste, "without weeds, grass or timber of any sort to make a fire." It was bitter cold. A fierce wind swept the ocean and the land, and the sea ran so high that it was expected every moment the ship would go to pieces. These poor emigrants thus suddenly huddled upon the icy land, without food and without shelter, were in imminent peril of perishing from cold and starvation.

Their sufferings were so terrible that they were rejoiced to see some Indians approaching over the wide plains, though they knew not whether the savages would prove hostile or friendly. But the Indians came like brothers, aided them in every way, and dispatched two swift runners across the island to inform Governor Stuyvesant of the calamity. Some sails were brought on shore, with which a temporary shelter from the piercing blast was constructed, and enough food was secured to save from absolute starvation.

The energetic governor immediately dispatched nine or ten lighters to their assistance, and with needful supplies proceeded in person to the scene of the disaster. Thus nearly all the cargo was saved and the passengers were transported to New Amsterdam. There were one hundred and twenty-five passengers on board the Prince Maurice, seventy-six of whom were women and children. Another ship, the Gilded Beaver, was chartered at New Amsterdam which conveyed them all safely, after a five days' passage, to South river. The other vessels, with soldiers and a few settlers, also soon arrived.

It is said that at this time the "public," exercises of religion were not allowed to any sects in Holland except the Calvinists. But all others were permitted to engage freely in their worship in private houses, which were in fact, as if public, these places of preaching being spacious and of sufficient size for any assembly. Under this construction of the law every religion was in fact tolerated.[9]

The Lutherans in Holland sent a clergyman, Ernestus Goetwater, to New Amsterdam, to organize a church. The Directors wrote,

"It is our intention to permit every one to have freedom within his own dwelling, to serve God in such manner as his religion requires, but without authorizing any public meetings or conventicles."

This tolerance, so imperfect in the light of the nineteenth century, was very noble in the dark days of the seventeenth. Upon the arrival of Goetwater at New Amsterdam, the clergy of the Reformed church remonstrated against his being permitted to preach. The governor, adhering to his policy of bigotry, forbade him to hold any meeting, or to do any clerical service, but to regulate his conduct according to the placards of the province against private conventicles. Soon after this the governor ordered him to leave the colony and to return to Holland. This harsh decree was however suspended out of regard to the feeble health of Goetwater.

On the 6th of August, 1657, a ship arrived at New Amsterdam with several Quakers on board Two of them, women, began to preach publicly in the streets. They were arrested and imprisoned. Soon after they were discharged and embarked on board a ship to sail through Hell Gate, to Rhode Island, "where," writes Domine Megapolensis, "all kinds of scum dwell, for it is nothing else than a sink for New England."

One of the Quakers, Robert Hodgson, went over to Long Island. At Hempstead he was arrested and committed to prison, and was thence transferred to one of the dungeons of fort Amsterdam. He was brought before the Council, convicted of the crime of preaching contrary to the law, and was sentenced to pay a fine of six hundred guilders, about two hundred and forty dollars, or to labor two years at a wheelbarrow, with a negro.

After a few days' imprisonment he was chained to the wheelbarrow and commanded to work. He refused. A negro was ordered to beat him with a tarred rope, which he did until the sufferer fell, in utter exhaustion, almost senseless to the ground. The story of the persecutions which this unhappy man endured, is almost too dreadful to be told. But it ought to be told as a warning against all religious intolerance.

"Not satisfied," writes O'Callaghan,

"his persecutors had him lifted up. The negro again beat him until he fell a second time, after receiving, as was estimated, one hundred blows. Notwithstanding all this, he was kept, in the heat of the sun, chained to the wheelbarrow, his body bruised and swollen, faint from want of food, until at length he could no longer support himself and he was obliged to sit down.

"The night found him again in his cell, and the morrow at the wheelbarrow, with a sentinel over him, to prevent all conversation. On the third day he was again led forth, chained as before. He still refused to work, for he 'had committed no evil.' He was then led anew before the director-general, who ordered him to work, otherwise he should be whipt every day. He was again chained to the barrow and threatened, if he should speak to any person, with more severe punishment. But not being able to keep him silent, he was taken back to his dungeon, where he was kept several days, 'two nights and one day and a half of which without bread or water.'

"The rage of persecution was still unsatiated. He was now removed to a private room, stripped to his waist, and then hung up to the ceiling by his hands, with a heavy log of wood tied to his feet, so that he could not turn his body. A strong negro then commenced lashing him with rods until his flesh was cut in pieces. Now let down, he was thrown again into his loathsome dungeon, where he was kept ten days, in solitary confinement, after which he was brought forth to undergo a repetition of the same barbarous torture. He was now kept like a slave to hard work."

His case eventually excited so much compassion that Stuyvesant's sister interfered, and implored her brother so importunately that he was at last induced to liberate the unfortunate man. Let a firm Quaker resolve that he will not do something, and let a Governor Stuyvesant resolve that he shall do it, and it is indeed "Greek meeting Greek."

Henry Townsend, of Jamaica, ventured to hold prayer-meetings in his house, in defiance of the ordinance against conventicles. The governor sentenced him to pay a fine of eight pounds and to leave the province within six weeks, under pain of corporeal punishment. This sentence was followed by a proclamation, fining any one fifty pounds who should entertain a Quaker for a single night, and confiscating any vessels which should bring a Quaker to the province.

The inhabitants of Flushing, where Townsend had formerly resided, and where he was very highly respected, issued a noble remonstrance to Governor Stuyvesant against this persecution of their former townsman.

The remonstrance was drawn up by the town clerk, Edward Hart, and was signed by all the adult male inhabitants, twenty-nine in number. The memorial said:

"We are commanded by the law of God to do good unto all men. The law of love, peace and liberty, extending in the state to Jews, Turks and Egyptians, forms the glory of Holland. So love, peace and liberty extending to all in Christ Jesus, condemn hatred, war and bondage. We desire not to offend one of Christ's little ones under whatever form, name or title he may appear, whether Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist or Quaker. On the contrary we desire to do to all as we could wish all to do to us. Should any of those people come in love among us, we cannot lay violent hands upon them. We must give them free ingress and egress into our houses."

This remonstrance was carried to New Amsterdam by Tobias Feake, and presented to the governor. His indignation was roused. Feake was arrested and committed to prison. The sheriff was sent to Flushing to bring Hart and two of the magistrates, Farrington and Noble, to the presence of the enraged governor. It was a fearful thing to fall into his hands when his wrath was inflamed. They were imprisoned for some time, and were then released upon their humbly imploring the pardon of the governor, expressing their deep regret that they had signed the remonstrance and promising that they would sin in that way, no more. The town itself was punished by the prohibition in future of all town meetings, without the permission of the governor. Indeed the mass of the settlers were no longer to decide upon their local affairs, but a committee of seven persons was to decide all such questions. All who were dissatisfied with these arrangements were ordered to sell their property and leave the town.

It is not necessary to continue the record of this disgraceful persecution. The governor was unrelenting. Whoever ventured to oppose his will felt the weight of his chastising hand.

New Amsterdam consisted of wooden houses clustered together. The danger from fire was very great. The governor imposed a tax of a beaver skin, or its equivalent upon each householder to pay for two hundred and fifty leather fire buckets and hooks and ladders, to be procured in Holland. He also established a "rattle watch" to traverse the streets from nine o'clock in the evening until morning drum-beat.

Stuyvesant would allow nothing to be done which he did not control. The education of the young was greatly neglected. Jacob Corlaer opened a school. The governor peremptorily closed it, because he had presumed to take the office without governmental permission. To establish a place of amusement the governor formed a village called Haarlem, at the northern extremity of Manhattan island. He also constructed a good road over the island, through the forest, "so that it may be made easy to come hither, and return to that village on horseback or in a wagon." A ferry was also established to Long Island.

Staten Island was a dreary waste. It had not recovered from the massacre of 1655. Efforts were made to encourage the former settlers to return to their desolated homes, and to encourage fresh colonists to take up their residence upon the island. To promote the settlement of the west side of the North river, Stuyvesant purchased from the Indians, all the territory now known as Bergen, in New Jersey.

This purchase comprised the extensive region,

"beginning from the great rock above Wiehackan, and from there right through the land, until above the island Sikakes, and from there to the Kill van Col, and so along to the Constables Hook, and thence again to the rock above Wiehackan."

The settlement at Esopus, was in many respects in a flourishing condition. But it was so much more convenient for the farmers to have their dwellings in the midst of the fields they cultivated, instead of clustering them together in a compact village, that they persisted in the dangerous practice, notwithstanding all the warnings of the governor. There were individuals also who could not be restrained from paying brandy to the savages for their peltries The intoxicated Indians often committed outrages. One of the settlers was killed. The house and outbuildings of another were burned. The Dutch retaliated by destroying the cornfields of the Indians, hoping thus to drive them to a distance. At this time, in May, 1658, there were about seventy colonists at Esopus. They had widely extended fields of grain. But the Indians were becoming daily more inimical, and the alarmed colonists wrote to Govern or Stuyvesant, saying,

"We pray you to send forty or fifty soldiers to save Esopus, which, if well settled, might supply the whole of New Netherland with provisions."

The governor ordered a redoubt to be built at Esopus, sent an additional supply of ammunition, and taking fifty soldiers with him, went up the river to ascertain, by a personal investigation, the wants of the people. He urged them strenuously to unite in a village, which could be easily palisaded, and which would thus afford them complete protection. The colonists objected that it would be very difficult to remove from their farms, while their crops were ungathered, and that it would be impossible to select a site for the village which would please all. The governor refused to leave the soldiers with them unless they would immediately decide to concentrate in a village. In that case he would remain and aid them in constructing the palisade till it should be completed.

In the mean time messengers were sent to all the neighboring chiefs inviting them to come to Esopus to meet "the grand sachem from Manhattan." Sixty of these plumed warriors were soon assembled, with a few women and children. The governor, with two followers and an interpreter, met them beneath the widespread branches of an aged tree. One of the chiefs opened the interview by a long speech, in which he recounted all the injuries which he conceived that the Indians had experienced from the foreigners. The governor listened patiently. He then replied,

"These events occurred, as you well know, before my time. I am not responsible for them. Has any injury been done you since I came into the country? Your chiefs have asked us, over and over again, to make a settlement among them. We have not had a foot of your land without paying for it. We do not desire to have any more without making you full compensation. Why then have you committed this murder, burned our houses and killed our cattle? And why do you continue to threaten our people?"

There was a long pause, as though the chiefs were meditating upon the answer which should be made. Then one of them rose and, with great deliberation and dignity of manner, said, "You Swannekins," for that was the name they gave the Dutchmen,

"have sold our children drink. We cannot then control them, or prevent them from fighting. This murder has not been committed by any of our tribe, but by a Minnisinck, who now skulks among the Haverstraws. 'Twas he who fired the two houses and then fled. We have no malice. We do not wish to fight. But we cannot control our young men after you have sold them drink."

The best of the argument thus far, was manifestly with the Indians. The irascible governor lost his temper. "If any of your young savages," said he, "want to fight, let them come on. I will place man against man. Nay, I will place twenty against forty of your hotheads. It is not manly to threaten farmers and women and children who are not warriors. If this be not stopped I shall be compelled to retaliate on old and young, women and children. I expect of you that you will repair all damages and seize the murderer if he come among you.

"The Dutch are now to live together in one spot. It is desirable that you should sell us the whole of the Esopus land and move farther into the interior. It is not well for you to reside so near the Swannekins. Their cattle may eat your corn and thus cause fresh disturbance."

The Council was closed with professions of friendship on both sides. The Indians promised to take the suggestions of the governor into careful consideration. The settlers also decided to adopt the counsel of the governor. They agreed unanimously to form themselves into a village, leaving it with Governor Stuyvesant to select the site. He chose a spot at the bend of the creek, where three bides would be surrounded by water. Two hundred and ten yards of palisades formed the sufficient enclosure.

All hands now went to work energetically. While thus employed a band of Indian warriors, in their most showy attire, was seen approaching. It was feared that they were on the war path, and the soldiers immediately stood to their arms. It is undeniable that the Indians seemed ever disposed to cherish kindly feelings when justly treated.

These kind hearted savages fifty in number, notwithstanding all the wrongs which they had endured, came forward and one of them, addressing the governor, said,

"In token of our good will, and that we have laid aside all malice, we request the Grand Sachem to accept as a free present, the land on which he has commenced his settlement. We give it to grease his feet, as he has undertaken so long and painful a journey to visit us."

The labor of three weeks completed the defences. The buildings were reared within the enclosure. A strong guard-house, sixteen feet by twenty-three, was built in the northeast corner of the village. A bridge was thrown across the creek, and temporary quarters were erected for the soldiers. The energetic governor having accomplished all this in a month, left twenty-four soldiers behind him to guard the village, and returned to Manhattan.

In 1658, the little settlement of New Amstel presented quite a flourishing appearance. It had become a goodly town of about one hundred houses, containing about five hundred inhabitants. As many of these were Waldenses, Swedes and emigrants from other nationalities, they seemed to think themselves independent of the provincial authorities at New Amsterdam. The governor therefore visited the place in person, and called upon all to take the oath of allegiance.

There was great jealousy felt by the governor in reference to the encroachments of the English. They were pressing their claims everywhere. They were establishing small settlements upon territory undeniably belonging to the Dutch. English emigrants were crowding the Dutch colonies and were daily gaining in influence. Though they readily took the oath of allegiance to the Dutch authorities, all their sympathies were with England and the English colonies.

The Directors of the Company wrote to Stuyvesant recommending him

"to disentangle himself in the best manner possible from the Englishmen whom he had allowed to settle at New Amstel. And at all events not to admit any English besides them in that vicinity, much less to allure them by any means whatever."

There were many indications that the English were contemplating pressing up from Virginia to the beautiful region of the Delaware. The Directors urged Stuyvesant to purchase immediately from the Indians the tract of land between Cape Henlopen and Bombay Hook. This contained a frontage on Delaware bay of about seventy miles.

"You will perceive," they wrote,

"that speed is required, if for nothing else, that we may prevent other nations, and principally our English neighbors, as we really apprehend that this identical spot has attracted their notice. When we reflect upon the insufferable proceedings of that nation not only by intruding themselves upon our possessions about the North, to which our title is indisputable, and when we consider the bold arrogance and faithlessness of those who are residing within our jurisdiction, we cannot expect any good from that quarter."

In the autumn of this year a very momentous event occurred. Though it was but the death of a single individual, that individual was Oliver Cromwell. Under his powerful sway England had risen to a position of dignity and power such as the nation had never before attained. A terrible storm swept earth and sky during the night in which his tempestuous earthly life came to a close. The roar of the hurricane appalled all minds, as amid floods of rain trees were torn up by the roots, and houses were unroofed. The friends of the renowned Protector said that nature was weeping and mourning in her loudest accents over the great loss humanity was experiencing in the death of its most illustrious benefactor. The enemies of Cromwell affirmed that the Prince of the Power of the Air had come with all his shrieking demons, to seize the soul of the dying and bear it to its merited doom.

Scarce six months passed away ere the reins of government fell from the feeble hands of Richard, the eldest son and heir of Oliver Cromwell, and Monk marched across the Tweed and paved the way for the restoration of Charles the Second.

To add to the alarm of the Dutch, Massachusetts, taking the ground that the boundary established by the treaty of Hartford, extended only "so far as New Haven had jurisdiction," claimed by virtue of royal grant all of the land north of the forty-second degree of latitude to the Merrimac river, and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. The forty-second parallel of latitude crossed the Hudson near Red Hook and Saugerties. This boundary line transferred the whole of the upper Hudson and at least four-fifths of the State of New York to Massachusetts.

In accordance with this claim, Massachusetts granted a large section of land on the east side of the Hudson river, opposite the present site of Albany, to a number of her principal merchants to open energetically a trade with the Indians for their furs. An exploring party was also sent from Hartford to sail up the North river and examine its shores in reference to future settlements. The English could not enter the Hudson and pass fort Amsterdam with their vessels without permission of the Dutch. This permission Stuyvesant persistently refused.

"The Dutch," said the inflexible governor,

"never have forbidden the natives to trade with other nations. They prohibit such trade only on their own streams and purchased lands. They cannot grant Massachusetts or any other government any title to such privilege or a free passage through their rivers, without the surrender of their honor, reputation, property and blood, their bodies and lives."



CHAPTER X.



THE ESOPUS WAR.



Outrage at Esopus.—New Indian War.—Its Desolations.—Sufferings of both Parties.—Wonderful Energies of the Governor.—Difficulties of his Situation.—The Truce.—Renewal of the War.—The Mohawks.—The Controversy with Massachusetts.—Indian Efforts for Peace.—The Final Settlement.—Claims of the English upon the Delaware.—Renewed Persecution of the Quakers.

The exploring party from Massachusetts, which had ascended the North river, found a region around the Wappinger Kill, a few miles below the present site of Poughkeepsie, which they pronounced to be more beautiful than any spot which they had seen in New England. Here they decided to establish their settlement. Stuyvesant, informed of this, resolved to anticipate them. He wrote immediately to Holland urging the Company to send out at once as many Polish, Lithuanian, Prussian, Dutch and Flemish peasants as possible, "to form a colony there."

It would seem that no experience, however dreadful, could dissuade individuals of the Dutch Colonists from supplying the natives with brandy. At Esopus, in August, 1659, a man by the name of Thomas Chambers employed eight Indians to assist him in husking corn. At the end of their day's work he insanely supplied them with brandy. This led to a midnight carouse in which the poor savages, bereft of reason, howled and shrieked and fired their muskets, though without getting into any quarrel among themselves.

The uproar alarmed the garrison in the blockhouse. The sergeant of the guard was sent out, with a few soldiers, to ascertain the cause of the disorder. He returned with the report that it was only the revelry of a band of drunken savages.

One of the soldiers in the fort, Jansen Stot, called upon some of his comrades to follow him. Ensign Smith, who was in command, forbade them to go. In defiance of his orders they left the fort, and creeping through the underbrush, wantonly took deliberate aim, discharged a volley of bullets upon the inebriated savages, who were harming nobody but themselves. One was killed outright. Others were severely wounded. The soldiers, having performed this insane act, retreated, with the utmost speed to the fort. There never has been any denial that such were the facts in the case. They help to corroborate the remark of Mr. Moulton that "the cruelty of the Indians towards the whites will, when traced, be discovered, in almost every case, to have been provoked by oppression or aggression."

Ensign Smith, finding that he could no longer control his soldiers, indignantly resolved to return down the river to New Amsterdam. The inhabitants of Esopus were greatly alarmed. It was well known that the savages would not allow such an outrage to pass unavenged. The withdrawal of the soldiers would leave them at the mercy of those so justly exasperated. To prevent this the people hired every boat in the neighborhood. Ensign Smith then decided to send an express by land, to inform Governor Stuyvesant of the alarming state of affairs and to solicit his immediate presence.

A party of soldiers was sent to escort the express a few miles down the river banks. As these soldiers were returning, they fell into an ambuscade of the Indians, and thirteen of them were taken prisoners. War, horrible war, was now declared. The war-whoop resounded around the stockade at Esopus from five hundred savage throats. Every house, barn and corn-stack within their reach was burned. Cattle and horses were killed. The fort was so closely invested day and night that not a colonist could step outside of the stockade. The Indians, foiled in all their attempts to set fire to the fortress, and burnt ten of their prisoners at the stake. For three weeks this fierce warfare continued without interruption.

When the tidings of this new war, caused by so dastardly an outrage, reached Manhattan, it created a terrible panic. It could not be doubted that all the Indians would sympathize with their outraged brethren. The farmers, apprehending immediate attack, fled from all directions, with their families, to the fort, abandoning their homes, grain and cattle. Even many villages on Long Island were utterly deserted.

The administrative energies of Governor Stuyvesant were remarkably developed on this occasion. In the following terms, Mr. O'Callaghan, in his admirable history of New Netherland, describes the difficulties he encountered and his mode of surmounting them:

"Governor Stuyvesant, though laboring under severe indisposition, visited in person all the adjoining villages, encouraging the well-disposed, stimulating the timid and urging the farmers everywhere to fortify and defend their villages. He summoned next the burgomasters, schepens,[10] and officers of the militia of New Amsterdam, and laid before them the distressing situation of Esopus. They proposed to enlist by beat of drum, a sufficient number of men, and to encourage volunteers by resolving that whatever savages might be captured should be declared 'good prizes.'

"Stuyvesant, however, was opposed to this mode of proceeding. It would cause, in his opinion, too great a delay, as those at Esopus were already besieged some nine or ten days. He was left, notwithstanding, in a minority. Two more days were thus irretrievably lost; for at the end of that time only six or eight had enlisted, 'such a terrible horror had overpowered the citizens.'

"Captain Newton and Lieutenant Stillwell were now dispatched to all the English and Dutch villages, and letters were addressed to fort Orange and Rensselaerswyck, ordering out the Company's servants, calling for volunteers and authorizing the raising of a troop of mounted rangers. The half-dozen servants in fort Amsterdam, every person belonging to the artillery, all the clerks in the public offices, four of the Director-General's servants, three of the hands belonging to his brewery and five or six new comers, were put under requisition."

"Nothing could overcome the reluctance of the burghers. The one disheartened the other; the more violent maintaining that they were obliged to defend only their own homes, and that no citizen could be forced to jeopardize his life in fighting barbarous savages.

"Discouraged and almost deprived of hope by this opposition, the Director-General again summoned the city magistrates. He informed them that he had now some forty men, and that he expected between twenty and thirty Englishmen from the adjoining villages. He therefore ordered that the three companies of the city militia be paraded next day in his presence, armed and equipped, in order that one last effort might be made to obtain volunteers. If he should then fail of success, he announced his intention to make a draft.

"The companies paraded before the fort on the following morning according to orders. Stuyvesant addressed them in most exciting terms. He appealed to their sense both of honor and of duty, and represented to them how ardently they would look for aid, if they unfortunately were placed in a situation similar to that in which their brethren of Esopus now found themselves. He concluded his harangue by calling upon all such as would accompany him either for pay or as volunteers, to step forward to the rescue.

"Few came forward, only twenty-four or twenty-five persons. This number being considered insufficient, lots were immediately ordered to be drawn by one of the companies and those on whom they fell were warned to be ready on the next Sunday, on pain of paying fifty guilders. 'However,' said the governor, 'if any person is weak-hearted or discouraged he may procure a substitute provided he declares himself instantaneously.'"

In this way the governor raised a force of one hundred and eighty men. Of this number one hundred were drafted men, sixty-five volunteers, twenty-five of whom were Englishmen, and there were also twenty friendly Indians from Long Island.

With this force the governor embarked on Sunday evening, October 10th, after the second sermon, for the rescue of Esopus. Upon his arrival at that place he found that the savages, unable to penetrate the fort, had raised the siege and retired beyond the possibility of pursuit. They had doubtless watched the river with their scouts, who informed them of the approach of the troops. The governor, leaving a sufficient force to protect the village, returned with the remainder of the expedition to Manhattan.

During the siege the loss of the Dutch was one man killed and five or six wounded. The Indians also succeeded, by means of burning arrows, in firing one dwelling house and several stacks of corn within the palisades. As the troops were re-embarking the governor witnessed an occurrence which he declares "he blushes to mention." As all the troops could not go on board at once, a portion waited until the first division had embarked. Some of the sentinels hearing a dog bark, fired one or two shots. This created a terrible panic. The citizens, whose ears had been pierced by the shrieks of their countrymen, whom the Indians had tortured at the stake, were so terror-stricken that they lost all self-possession. "Many of them threw themselves into the water before they had seen an enemy."

The most friendly relations existed between the Mohawks and the settlers in the vicinity of Albany. A very extensive trade, equally lucrative to both parties, was there in operation. The Indians, being treated justly, were as harmless as lambs. When they heard of the troubles at Esopus they declared that they would take no part in the war. They could not but feel that the Indians had been deeply outraged. But with unexpected intelligence they decided that they would not retaliate by wreaking vengeance upon their long-tried friends. To confirm their friendly alliance, the authorities at fort Orange sent an embassy of twenty-five of their principal inhabitants to the Indian settlement at Caughnawaga. This was about forty miles west of Albany on the north bank of the Mohawk river and near the site of the present shire town of Montgomery county.

A large number of chiefs, from all the neighboring villages, attended. The council fire was lighted, and the calumet of peace was smoked. One of the Dutch delegation thus addressed the assembly!

"Brothers, sixteen years have now passed away, since friendship and fraternity were first established between you and the Hollanders. Since then we have been bound to each other by an iron chain. That chain has never been broken by us or by you. We hope that the Mohawks will remain our brothers for all time.

"Our chiefs are very angry that the Dutch will sell brandy to your people. They have always forbidden them to do so. Forbid your people also. Eighteen days ago you asked us not to sell any brandy to your people. Brothers, if your people do not come to buy brandy of us, we shall not sell any to them. Two days ago twenty or thirty kegs came to us, all to be filled with brandy. Are you willing that we should take from your people their brandy and their kegs. If so, say this before all here present."

With this speech there was presented to the chiefs several bundles of wampum, seventy pounds of powder, a hundred pounds of lead, fifteen axes two beavers worth of knives. The chiefs were highly pleased with the presents and eagerly gave their consent that the Dutch should seize the liquor kegs of the Indians.

The authorities at fort Orange, having secured the friendship of the Mohawks, endeavored to obtain an armistice with the Indians at Esopus, and a release of the captives they had taken. Several Mohawk and Mohegan chiefs, as mediators, visited Esopus, on this mission of mercy. They were partially successful. An armistice was reluctantly assented to, and two captives were liberated. The Indians, however, still retained a number of children, they having killed all the adults. Those who had agreed to the armistice were not the principal chiefs, and the spirit of the war remained unbroken.

Under these circumstances Stuyvesant wrote to Holland for aid. In his letter he said,

"If a farmer cannot plough, sow or reap, in a newly settled country, without being harassed; if the citizens and merchants cannot freely navigate the streams and rivers, they will doubtless leave the country and seek a residence in some place where they can find a government to protect them.'"

The Directors wrote back urging him to employ the Mohawks and other friendly tribes against the Esopus Indians. The governor replied,

"The Mohawks are, above all other savages, a vain-glorious, proud and bold tribe. If their aid be demanded and obtained, and success follow, they will only become the more inflated, and we the more contemptible in the eyes of the other tribes. If we did not then reward their services, in a manner satisfactory to their greedy appetites, they would incessantly revile us, and were this retorted, it might lead to collision. It is therefore safer to stand on our own feet as long as possible."

The governor had a long controversy with the Massachusetts authorities in reference to its claim to the upper valley of the Hudson. In this he expressed very strongly the title of Holland to the North river.

"Printed histories," he writes,

"archives, journals, and registers prove that the North river of New Netherland was discovered in the year 1609, by Hendrick Hudson, captain of the Half Moon, in the service and at the expense of the Dutch East India Company. Upon the report of the captain several merchants of Amsterdam sent another ship, in the following year, up the said river. These merchants obtained from the States-General a charter to navigate the same. For their security they erected in 1614, a fort on Castle Island, near fort Orange New Netherland, including the North river, was afterwards offered to the West India Company, who, in the year 1624, two years before Charles I. ascended the throne of England, actually and effectually possessed and fortified the country and planted colonies therein. The assertion that the Hudson river is within the Massachusetts patent granted but thirty-two years ago, therefore, scarcely deserves a serious answer."

Notwithstanding the undeniable strength of his argument, Governor Stuyvesant felt very uneasy. To his friends he said,

"The power of New England overbalances ours tenfold. To protest against their usurpations would be folly. They would only laugh at us."

As hostilities still continued with the Esopus Indians, Governor Stuyvesant again visited that post, hoping to obtain an interview with the chiefs, and to arrange a peace. Ensign Smith, with a very strong party of forty men, had utterly routed and put to flight two bands of Indians, one containing fifty warriors, the other one hundred. He took twelve warriors prisoners. They were sent to fort Amsterdam. In the mean time Stuyvesant had succeeded in renewing a treaty of alliance with the Indian tribes on Long Island, Staten Island, and at Hackensack, Haverstraw and Weckquaesgeek. The Long Island Indians consented to send some of their children to fort Amsterdam to be educated.

The Esopus Indians were now left in a very deplorable condition. Their brethren, on the upper Hudson, had refused to co-operate with them. Their routed bands were being driven across the mountains and many of their warriors were captives. To use the contemptuous language of the times, "they did nothing now but bawl for peace, peace."

There had never been a more favorable opportunity to secure a lasting peace, and to win back the affections of the Indians. By universal admission the colonists were outrageously in the wrong in provoking the conflict. They had given the Indians brandy until they had become intoxicated. And then half a dozen drunken soldiers had discharged a volley of bullets upon them as they were revelling in noisy but harmless orgies.

Had the governor frankly acknowledged that the colonists were in the wrong; had he made full amends, according to the Indian custom, for the great injury inflicted upon them, they would have been more than satisfied. Even more friendly relations than had ever before existed might have been established.

But instead of this the governor assumed that the Indians were entirely in the wrong; that they had wantonly commenced a series of murders and burnings without any provocation. The Esopus chiefs were afraid to meet the angry governor with proposals for peace. They therefore employed three Mohegan chiefs as their mediators. They offered to cease all hostilities, to abandon the Esopus country entirely, and surrender it to the Dutch if the Indian captives, whom the Dutch held, might be restored to them. These very honorable proposals were rejected. The Mohegan chiefs were told that the governor could not enter into any treaty of peace with the Esopus Indians unless their own chiefs came to fort Amsterdam to hold a council. And immediately the Indian captives received the awful doom of consignment to life-long slavery with the negroes, upon a tropical island, which was but a glowing sandbank in the Caribbean sea.

"On the next day," writes Mr. O'Callaghan,

"an order was issued, banishing the Esopus savages, some fifteen or twenty, to the insalubrious climate of Curacoa, to be employed there or at Buenaire with the negroes in the Company's service. Two or three others were retained at fort Amsterdam to be punished as it should be thought proper. By this harsh policy Stuyvesant laid the foundations of another Esopus war, for the Indians never forgot their banished brethren."

It was ascertained that several miles up the Esopus creek the Indians were planting corn. It was the 20th of May, 1660. Ensign Smith took a party of seventy-five men and advanced upon them. The barking of dogs announced his approach just as his band arrived within sight of the wigwams. They all made good their retreat with the exception of one, the oldest and best of their chiefs. His name was Preumaker. We know not whether pride of character or infirmity prevented his escape. It is said, however, that he received the soldiers very haughtily, aiming his gun at them and saying, "What are you doing here, you dogs?"

The weapon was easily wrenched from his feeble hands. A consultation was held as to what should be done with the courageous but powerless old chief. "As it was a considerable distance to carry him," writes Ensign Smith, "we struck him down with his own axe."

At length the sufferings of the Esopus Indians became so great from the burning of the villages and the trampling down of their cornfields, the loss of their armies and the terrified flight of their starving women and children, that they were constrained to make another effort for peace.

On the 11th of July, Governor Stuyvesant left New Amsterdam for Esopus. Messengers were dispatched to summon the Esopus chiefs to his presence. Appalled by the fate of their brethren, who had been sent as slaves to the West Indies, they were afraid to come. After waiting several days the governor sent envoys to the chiefs of other tribes, urging them "to bring the Esopus savages to terms."

At length four Esopus chiefs appeared before the gate of the village. Delegates from other tribes also appeared, and a grand council was held. It is very evident from this interview, that many of the more delicate feelings of the civilized man had full sway in the hearts of these poor Indians. Instead of imploring peace themselves, the Esopus Indians employed two chiefs, one of the Mohawk and the other of the Mingua tribe, to make the proposition in their behalf.

Governor Stuyvesant assented to peace upon condition that the Mohawks and the Minguas would stand as security for the faithful observance of the terms exacted. The chiefs of these tribes agreeing to this, in a formal speech admonished the Esopus chiefs to live with the Dutch as brothers. And then, turning to the Dutch, in a speech equally impressive, they warned them not to irritate the Indians by unjust treatment. The Indians were compelled to yield to such terms as Stuyvesant proposed.

All the lands of Esopus were surrendered to the Dutch. The starving Indians were to receive eight hundred schepels of corn as ransom for the captive christians. The Indian warriors sent as slaves to the West Indies, were to be left to their awful fate. The mediators were held responsible for the faithful execution of the treaty. Should the Esopus Indians break it, the mediators were bound to assist the Dutch in punishing them. No spirituous liquors were to be drank near the houses of the Dutch. No armed Indians to approach a Dutch plantation. Murderers were to be mutually surrendered, and damages reciprocally paid for.

Thus were the Esopus Indians driven from their homes, deprived of their independence and virtually ruined. Having thus triumphantly though cruelly settled this difficulty, Stuyvesant went up to fort Orange, where he held another grand council with the chiefs of all the tribes in those regions.

A clergyman was sent to Esopus and a church organized of sixteen members. In September, 1660, Domine Selyus was installed as the clergyman of Brooklyn, where he found one elder, two deacons and twenty-four church members. There were, at that time thirty-one families in Brooklyn, containing a population of one hundred and thirty-four persons. They had no church but worshipped in a barn. Governor Stuyvesant contributed nearly eighty dollars annually to the support of this minister, but upon condition that he should preach every Sunday afternoon, at his farm or bouwery upon Manhattan Island.

The last of May, Charles the Second, the fugitive King of England, was returning from his wanderings on the continent to ascend the throne of his ancestors. He was a weak man, of imperturbable good nature. On his way to London he stopped at the Hague, where he was magnificently entertained. In taking leave of the States-General he was lavish of his expressions of friendship. He declared that he should feel jealous should the Dutch prefer the friendship of any other state to that of Great Britain.

At that time Holland was in commercial enterprise, the most prosperous nation upon the globe; decidedly in advance of England. The British parliament envied Holland her commercial supremacy. "The Convention Parliament," writes Mr. Brodhead,

"which had called home the king, took early steps to render still more obnoxious one of England's most selfish measures. The Navigation Act of 1651 was revised; and it was now enacted that after the first day of December, 1660, no merchandise should be imported into, or exported from any of his majesty's plantations or territories in Asia, Africa or America, except in English vessels of which the master and three-fourths of the mariners at least are English."

Immediately after this, Lord Baltimore demanded the surrender of New Amstel and all the lands on the west side of Delaware bay. "All the country," it was said by his envoy,

"up to the fortieth degree, was granted to Lord Baltimore. The grant has been confirmed by the king and sanctioned by parliament. You are weak, we are strong, you had better yield at once."

A very earnest and prolonged discussion ensued. The Dutch Company said,

"We hold our rights by the States-General. We are resolved to defend those rights. If Lord Baltimore will persevere and resort to violent measures, we shall use all the means which God and nature have given us to protect the inhabitants and preserve their possessions."

This was indeed an alarming state of affairs for New Amstel. Various disasters had befallen the colony, so that it now numbered but thirty families. The garrison had been reduced, by desertion, to twenty-five men; and of these but eight or ten were in the principal fort. The English were in such strength upon the Chesapeake, that they could easily send five hundred men to the Delaware. Very earnest diplomatic intercourse was opened between the States-General and the British Parliament upon these questions.

Governor Stuyvesant, whose attention had been somewhat engrossed by the Indian difficulties, now renewed his persecution of the Quakers. Notwithstanding the law against private conventicles, Henry Townsend at Rustdorp, who had been already twice fined, persisted in holding private meetings in his house. He was arrested with two others, and carried to fort Amsterdam. Townsend and Tilton were banished from the colony. Two magistrates were appointed as spies to inform of any future meetings, and some soldiers were stationed in the village to suppress them. Whatever Governor Stuyvesant undertook to do he accomplished very thoroughly. The following paper was drawn up which the inhabitants were required to sign:

"If any meetings or conventicles of Quakers shall be held in this town of Rustdorp, that we know of, we will give information to the authority set up by the governor, and we will also give the authorities of the town such assistance against any such persons as needs may require."

A few refused to sign this paper. They were punished by having the soldiers quartered upon them.

Fort Orange was, at this time, the extreme frontier post, in the north and west of New Netherland. Though the country along the Mohawk river had been explored for a considerable distance, there were no settlements there, though one or two huts had been reared in the vicinity of the Cohoes Falls. This whole region had abounded with beavers and wild deer. But the fur trade had been pushed with so much vigor that the country was now almost entirely destitute of peltries. The colonists wished to purchase the fertile lands in the valley of the Mohawk, and the Indians manifested a willingness to sell them.



CHAPTER XI.



THE DISASTROUS YEAR.



Purchase of Staten Island.—The Restoration cf Charles Second.—Emigration Invited.—Settlement of Bushwick.—The Peculiar People.—Persecution of John Brown.—The Governor Rebuked.—Cumulation of Disasters.—The Outbreak at Esopus.—The Panic.—Measures of the Governor.—The Indian Fort.—The expedition to Mamaket.—Capture of the Fort.—Annihilation of the Esopus Indians.

In the year 1661, the Company purchased of Melyn, the patroon, for about five hundred dollars, all his rights to lands on Staten Island. Thus the whole island became the property of the Company. Grants of lands were immediately issued to individuals. The Waldenses, and the Huguenots from Rochelle in France, were invited to settle upon the island. A block-house was built which was armed with two cannon and garrisoned by ten soldiers. Fourteen families were soon gathered in a little settlement south of the Narrows.

Upon the restoration of Charles the Second, in England, the Royalists and churchmen insisted upon the restoration of the hierarchy. The Restoration was far from being the unanimous act of the nation. The republicans and dissenters, disappointed and persecuted, were disposed in ever increasing numbers, to take refuge in the New World. The West India Company of Holland being in possession of a vast territory, between the Hudson and the Delaware, which was quite uninhabited, save by a few tribes of Indians, availed themselves of this opportunity to endeavor to draw emigrants from all parts of Europe, and especially from England, to form settlements upon their lands.

They issued proclamations inviting settlers and offering them large inducements. The country, which embraced mainly what is now New Jersey, was described in glowing terms as if it were a second Eden. And yet there was no gross exaggeration in the narrative.

"This land," they wrote,

"is but six weeks' sail from Holland. It is fertile in the extreme. The climate serene and temperate, is the best in the world. The soil is ready for the plough, and seed can be committed to it with scarcely any preparation. The most valuable timber is abundant. The forest presents in profusion, nuts and wild fruit of every description. The richest furs can be obtained without trouble. Deer, turkeys, pigeons and almost every variety of wild game, are found in the woods, and there is every encouragement for the establishment of fisheries."

Having presented this view of the region, to which emigrants were invited, and having also announced an exceedingly attractive charter of civil and religious privileges which would be granted them, in the following terms the invitation to emigrate was urged:

"Therefore if any of the good Christians, who may be assured of the advantages to mankind of plantations in these latitudes, shall be disposed to transport themselves to said place, they shall have full liberty to live in the fear of the Lord upon the aforesaid good conditions and shall be likewise courteously used.

"We grant to all Christian people of tender conscience, in England or elsewhere oppressed, full liberty to erect a colony between New England and Virginia in America, now within the jurisdiction of Peter Stuyvesant."

Twenty-three families, most of them French, established a settlement on Long Island, at the place now called Bushwick. The village grew rapidly and in two years had forty men able to bear arms.

The proclamation issued by the Company, inviting emigrants to settle upon the lands between the Hudson and the Delaware, attracted much attention in Europe. Committees were sent to examine the lands which it was proposed thus to colonize. The region between New Amstel and Cape Henlopen, being quite unoccupied, attracted much attention. A company, the members of which may be truly called a peculiar people, decided to settle there. An extraordinary document was drawn up, consisting of one hundred and seventeen articles for the government of the association. In this singular agreement it is written:

"The associates are to be either married men or single men twenty-four years old, who are free from debt. Each one is bound to obey the ordinances of the society and not to seek his own advancement over any other member. No clergyman is to be admitted into the society. Religious services are to be as simple as possible. Every Sunday and holiday the people are to assemble, sing a Psalm and listen to a chapter from the Bible, to be read by one of the members in rotation. After this another Psalm is to be sung. At the end of these exercises the court shall be opened for public business. The object of the association being to establish a harmonious society of persons of different religious sentiments, all intractable people shall be excluded from it, such as those in communion with the Roman See usurious Jews, English stiff-necked Quakers, Puritans, fool-hardy believers in the Millenium and obstinate modern pretenders to revelation."

While the Company in Holland, were inviting emigrants to their territory of the New World, with the fullest promises of religious toleration, their governor, Stuyvesant, was unrelentingly persecuting all who did not sustain the established religion.

A very quiet, thoughtful, inoffensive man, John Brown, an Englishman, moved from Boston to Flushing. He was a plain farmer, very retiring in his habits and a man of but few words. From curiosity he attended a Quaker meeting. His meditative spirit was peculiarly impressed with the simplicity of their worship. He invited them to his house, and soon joined their society. The magistrates informed Stuyvesant that John Brown's house had become a conventicle for Quakers. Being arrested, he did not deny the charge, and was fined twenty-five pounds and threatened with banishment.

The next week a new proclamation was issued, saying,

"The public exercise of any religion but the Reformed, in houses, barns, ships, woods or fields, will be punished by a fine of fifty guilders; double for the second offence; and for the third quadruple with arbitrary correction."

John Brown, either unable or refusing to pay his fine, was taken to New Amsterdam, where he was imprisoned for three months. An order was then issued announcing his banishment.

"For the welfare," it was written,

"of the community, and to crush as far as possible, that abominable sect who treat with contempt both the political magistrate, and the ministers of God's holy word, and who endeavor to undermine the police and religion, John Brown is to be transported from this province in the first ship ready to sail, as an example to others."

He was sent to Holland in the "Gilded Fox." Stuyvesant wrote to the Company, "The contumacious prisoner has been banished as a terror to others who, if not discouraged by this example, will be dealt with still more severely."

The Company in Holland, was not at all in sympathy with its intolerant governor. The exile was received by them respectfully. The following dispatch, condemnatory of the severe measures of Stuyvesant, was forwarded to him:

"Although it is our cordial desire that similar and other sectarians may not be found there, yet, as the contrary seems to be the fact, we doubt very much whether vigorous proceedings against them ought not to be discontinued; unless indeed, you intend to check and destroy your population, which, in the youth of your existence, ought rather to be encouraged by all possible means.

"Wherefore it is our opinion that some connivance is useful, and that at least the consciences of men, ought to remain free and unshackled. Let every one remain free so long as he is modest, irreproachable in his political conduct, and so long as he does not offend others or oppose the government. This maxim of moderation has always been the guide of our magistrates in this city. The consequence has been that people have flocked from every land to this asylum. Tread thus in their steps and we doubt not you will be blessed."