THE ADMINISTRATION OF VAN TWILLER.
Friendly Relations Restored.--Wouter Van Twiller New
Director.--Captain Elkins.--Remonstrance of De
Vrees.--Claims for the Connecticut.--The Plymouth
Expedition.--A Boat's Crew Murdered.--Condition of the
Colony in 1633.--Emigration to the Connecticut.--Emigrants
from Holland.--The Red Rocks.--New Haven Colony
Established.--Natural.--Indian Remonstrance Against
Taxation.--Outrage upon the Raritan Indians.--Indian
Revenge.
De Vrees very wisely decided that it would be but a barren vengeance
to endeavor to retaliate upon the roaming savages, when probably more
suffering would be inflicted upon the innocent than upon the guilty.
He therefore, to their astonishment and great joy, entered into a
formal treaty of peace and alliance with them. Any attempt to bring
the offenders to justice would of course have been unavailing, as they
could easily scatter, far and wide, through the trackless wilderness.
Arrangements were made for re-opening trade, and the Indians with
alacrity departed to hunt beaver.
A new Director was appointed at Manhattan, Wouter Van Twiller. He was
an inexperienced young man, and owed his appointment to the powerful
patronage he enjoyed from having married the niece of the patroon Van
Rensselaer. Thus a "raw Amsterdam clerk," embarked in a ship of twenty
guns, with a military force of one hundred and four soldiers, to
assume the government of New Netherland. The main object of this
mercantile governor seemed to be to secure trade with the natives and
to send home furs.
De Vrees, having concluded his peace with the Indians, sailed up the
South river, as they then called the Delaware, through the floating
ice, to a trading post, which had been established some time before at
a point about four miles below the present site of Philadelphia. He
thought he saw indications of treachery, and was constantly on his
guard. He found the post, which was called Fort Nassau, like a similar
post on the Hudson, deserted. The chiefs, however, of nine different
tribes, came on board, bringing presents of beaver skins, avowing the
most friendly feelings, and they entered into a formal treaty with the
Dutch. There did not, however, seem to be any encouragement again to
attempt the establishment of a colony, or of any trading posts in that
region. He therefore abandoned the Delaware river, and for some time
no further attempts were made to colonize its coasts.
In April, 1633, an English ship arrived at Manhattan. The bluff
captain, Jacob Elkins, who had formerly been in the Dutch employ, but
had been dismissed from their service, refused to recognize the Dutch
authorities, declaring that New Netherland was English territory,
discovered by Hudson, an Englishman. It was replied that though Hudson
was an Englishman, he was in the service of the East India Company at
Amsterdam; that no English colonists had ever settled in the region,
and that the river itself was named Mauritius river, after the Prince
of Orange.
Elkins was not to be thus dissuaded. He had formerly spent four years
at this post, and was thoroughly acquainted with the habits and
language of the Indians. His spirit was roused. He declared that he
would sail up the river if it cost him his life. Van Twiller was
equally firm in his refusal. He ordered the Dutch flag to be run up at
fort Amsterdam, and a salute to be fired in honor of the Prince of
Orange. Elkins, in retaliation, unfurled the English flag at his
mast-head, and fired a salute in honor of King Charles. After
remaining a week at fort Amsterdam, and being refused a license to
ascend the river, he defiantly spread his colors to the breeze,
weighed anchor, and boldly sailed up the stream to fort Orange. This
was the first British vessel which ascended the North river.
The pusillanimous Van Twiller was in a great rage, but had no decision
of character to guide him in such an emergency. The merchant clerk,
invested with gubernatorial powers, found himself in waters quite
beyond his depth. He collected all the people of the fort, broached a
cask of wine, and railed valiantly at the intrepid Englishman, whose
ship was fast disappearing beyond the palisades. His conduct excited
only the contempt and derision of those around.
DeVrees was a man of very different fibre. He had, but a few days
before, entered the port from Swaanendael. He dined with the Governor
that day, and said to him in very intelligible Dutch:
"You have committed a great folly. Had it been my case, I
would have helped the Englishman to some eight pound iron
beans, and have prevented him from going up the river. The
English are of so haughty a nature that they think that
everything belongs to them. I would immediately send a
frigate after him, and drive him out of the river."
Stimulated by this advice, Van Twiller prepared, as speedily as
possible, three well armed vessels, strongly manned with soldiers, and
sent them, under an intrepid captain, in pursuit of the intruders.
They found the English ship, the William, about a mile below fort
Orange. A tent was pitched upon the shore, where, for a fortnight, the
English had been pursuing a very lucrative traffic for furs. The Dutch
soldiers were in strength which Elkins could not resist.
They ordered him to strike his tent. He refused. They did it for him;
reshipped all his goods which he had transferred to the shore, to
trade with the Indians, and also the furs which he had purchased. They
then weighed the anchors of the William, unfurled her sails, and, with
trumpet blasts of victory, brought the ship, captain and crew down to
fort Amsterdam. The ship was then convoyed to sea, and the discomfited
Elkins returned to London. Thus terminated, in utter failure, the
first attempt of the English to enter into trade with the Indians of
New Netherland.
The Dutch were now the only Europeans who had occupied any part of the
present territory of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
They were also carrying on a very flourishing trade with the Indians
on the Connecticut river, which was then called Fresh river, and this
"long before any English had dreamed of going there." The Value of
this traffic may be inferred from the fact that, in the year 1633,
sixteen thousand beaver skins were sent to Holland from the North
river alone.
To strengthen their title, thus far founded on discovery and exclusive
visitation, the Dutch, in 1632, purchased of the Indians nearly all of
the lands on both sides of the Connecticut river, including Saybrook
Point, at the mouth, where the arms of the States-General were affixed
to a tree in token of possession. A fort was also commenced, near the
mouth of the river, and a trading post established some miles up the
stream, at the point now occupied by the city of Hartford.
About the same time, Lord Warwick, assuming that a legitimate grant of
the region had been made to him by the king of England, conveyed to
Lords Say, Brook and others, all the territory running southwest from
Narragansett river, to the distance of one hundred and twenty miles
along the coast, and reaching back, through the whole breadth of the
country, from the Western Ocean to the South Sea. The geography of
these regions was then very imperfectly known. No one had any
conception of the vast distance between the Atlantic Ocean and the
shores of the Pacific. The trading post, which the Dutch had
established on the Connecticut, was called Fort Hope.
As soon as it was known, at Plymouth and Boston, that the Dutch had
taken formal possession of the valley of the Connecticut, Governor
Winslow hastened to confer with the Massachusetts Governor respecting
their duties. As it was doubtful whether the region of the Connecticut
was embraced within either of their patents, they decided not to
interfere. But through diplomatic policy they assigned a different
reason for their refusal.
"In regard," said Governor Winthrop,
"that the place was not fit for plantation, there being
three or four thousand warlike Indians, and the river not to
be gone into but by small pinnaces, having a bar affording
but six feet at high water, and for that no vessel can get
in for seven months in the year, partly by reason of the
ice, and then the violent stream, we thought not fit to
meddle with it."[4]
Still Governor Winthrop looked wistfully towards the Connecticut.
Though he admitted that the lower part of the valley was "out of the
claim of the Massachusetts patent," it could not be denied that the
upper part of the valley was included in their grant. In the summer of
1633, John Oldham, with three companions, penetrated the wilderness,
through the Indian trails, one hundred and sixty miles to the
Connecticut river. They were hospitably entertained in the many Indian
villages they passed through by the way.
They brought back early in the autumn, glowing accounts of the beauty
of the region, and of the luxuriant meadows which bordered the stream.
Governor Winthrop then sent a vessel on a trading voyage, through Long
Island Sound, to Manhattan, there to inform the Dutch authorities that
the king of England had granted the Connecticut river and the adjacent
country to the subjects of Great Britain.
In most of these transactions the Dutch appear to great advantage.
After five weeks' absence the vessel returned to Boston to report the
friendly reception of the Massachusetts party at Manhattan, and
bearing a courteous letter to Governor Winthrop, in which Van Twiller,
in respectful terms, urged him to defer his claim to Connecticut until
the king of England and the States-General of Holland should agree
about their limits, so that the colonists of both nations, might live
"as good neighbors in these heathenish countries." Director Van
Twiller added, with good sense, which does him much credit:
"I have, in the name of the States-General and the West
India Company, taken possession of the forementioned river,
and, for testimony thereof, have set up an house on the
north side of the said river. It is not the intent of the
States to take the land from the poor natives, but rather to
take it at some reasonable price, which, God be praised, we
have done hitherto. In this part of the world there are many
heathen lands which are destitute of inhabitants, so that
there need not be any question respecting a little part or
portion thereof."
At the same time the Plymouth colony made a move to obtain a foothold
upon the Connecticut. To secure the color of a title, the colony
purchased of a company of Indians who had been driven from their homes
by the all-victorious Pequods, a tract of land just above fort Hope,
embracing the territory where the town of Windsor now stands.
Lieutenant Holmes was then dispatched with a chosen company, in a
vessel which conveyed the frame of a small house carefully stowed
away, and which could be very expeditiously put together. He was
directed to push directly by fort Hope, and raise and fortify his
house upon the purchased lands. Governor Bradford, of Plymouth, gives
the following quaint account of this adventure:
"When they came up the river the Dutch demanded what they
intended, and whither they would go? They answered, 'up the
river to trade.' Now their order was to go and seat above
them. They bid them strike and stay or they would shoot
them, and stood by their ordnance ready fitted. They
answered, they had commission from the Governor of Plymouth
to go up the river to such a place, and if they did shoot
they must obey their order and proceed; they would not
molest them but go on. So they passed along. And though the
Dutch threatened them hard yet they shot not. Coming to
their place they clapped up their house quickly, and landed
their provisions, and left the company appointed, and sent
the bark home, and afterward palisaded their house about,
and fortified themselves better."
Van Twiller, informed of this intrusion, sent a commissioner,
protesting against this conduct and ordering Holmes to depart, with
all his people. Holmes replied, "I am here in the name of the king of
England, and here I shall remain."
Matters soon became seriously complicated. A boat's crew was robbed
and murdered by some vagabond Indians. The culprits were taken and
hung.
This exasperated against the Dutch the powerful Pequods who had the
supremacy over all that territory. Open war soon ensued. The Pequods
sent an embassy to Boston, and entered into a treaty of alliance with
the Massachusetts colony, in which they surrendered to that colony the
Connecticut valley.
In the meantime, Van Twiller having received instructions from the
home government, dispatched a force of seventy well armed men to drive
Lieutenant Holmes and his men from their post. The English stood
firmly upon their defence. The Dutch, seeing that a bloody battle must
ensue, with uncertain results, withdrew without offering any violence.
In many respects the Dutch colonies continued to enjoy much
prosperity. Mr. Brodhead gives the following interesting account of
the state of affairs at the mouth of the Hudson, in the year 1633:
"Fort Amsterdam, which had become dilapidated, was repaired,
and a guard-house and a barrack for the newly arrived
soldiers were constructed within the ramparts, at a cost of
several thousand guilders.
"Three expensive windmills were also erected. But they were
injudiciously placed so near the fort that the buildings,
within its walls, frequently intercepted and turned off the
south wind.
"Several brick and frame houses were built for the Director
and his officers. On the Company's farm, north of the fort,
a dwelling-house, brewery, boat-house and barn were erected.
Other smaller houses were built for the corporal, the smith,
the cooper. The loft, in which the people had worshipped
since 1626, was now replaced by a plain wooden building,
like a barn, situated on the East River, in what is now
Broad street, between Pearl and Bridge streets. Near this
old church a dwelling-house and stable were erected for the
use of the Domine. In the Fatherland the title of Domine was
familiarly given to clergymen. The phrase crossed the
Atlantic with Bogardus, and it has survived to the present
day among the descendants of the Dutch colonists of New
Netherland."
The little settlement at Manhattan was entitled to the feudal right of
levying a tax upon all the merchandise passing up or down the river.
The English were, at this time, so ignorant of this region of the
North American coast that a sloop was dispatched to Delaware Bay "to
see if there were any river there." As the Dutch had vacated the
Delaware, the English decided to attempt to obtain a foothold on those
waters. Accordingly, in the year 1635, they sent a party of fourteen
or fifteen Englishmen, under George Holmes, to seize the vacant Dutch
fort.
Van Twiller, informed of this fact, with much energy sent an armed
vessel, by which the whole company was arrested and brought to
Manhattan, whence they were sent, "pack and sack," to an English
settlement on the Chesapeake.
The Plymouth people had now been two years in undisturbed possession
of their post at Windsor, on the Connecticut. Stimulated by their
example, the General Court of Massachusetts encouraged emigration to
the Connecticut valley, urging, as a consideration, their need of
pasturage for their increasing flocks and herds; the great beauty and
fruitfulness of the Connecticut valley, and the danger that the Dutch,
or other English colonies, might get possession of it. "Like the banks
of the Hudson," it was said, "the Connecticut had been first explored
and even occupied by the Dutch. But should a log hut and a few
straggling soldiers seal a territory against other emigrants?"[5]
Thus solicited, families from Watertown and Roxbury commenced a
settlement at Wethersfield in the year 1635. Some emigrants, from
Dorchester, established themselves just below the colony of the
Plymouth people at Windsor. This led to a stern remonstrance on the
part of Governor Bradford, of Plymouth, denouncing their unrighteous
intrusion.
"Thus the Plymouth colonists on the Connecticut, themselves
intruders within the territory of New Netherland, soon began
to quarrel with their Massachusetts brethren for trespassing
upon their usurped domain."
In November of this year, Governor Winthrop dispatched a bark of
twenty tons from Boston, with about twenty armed men, to take
possession of the mouth of the Connecticut. It will be remembered that
the Dutch had purchased this land of the Indians three years before,
and, in token of their possession, had affixed the arms of the
States-General to a tree. The English contemptuously tore down these
arms, "and engraved a ridiculous face in their place."
The Dutch had called this region, Kievit's Hook. The English named it
Saybrook, in honor of lords Say and Brook, who were regarded as the
leading English proprietors. Early the next year the Massachusetts
people established a colony at Agawam, now Springfield. Thus, step by
step, the English encroached upon the Dutch, until nearly the whole
valley of the Connecticut was wrested from them.
About this time Van Twiller issued a grant of sixty-two acres of land,
a little northwest of fort Amsterdam, to Roelof Jansen. This was the
original conveyance of the now almost priceless estate, held by the
corporation of Trinity Church. The directors, in Holland, encouraged
emigration by all the means in their power. Free passage was offered
to farmers and their families. They were also promised the lease of a
farm, fit for the plough, for six years, with a dwelling house, a
barn, four horses and four cows. They were to pay a rent for these six
years, of forty dollars a year, and eighty pounds of butter.
At the expiration of the six years the tenants were to restore the
number of cattle they had received, retaining the increase. They were
also assisted with clothing, provisions, etc., on credit, at an
advance of fifty per cent. But notwithstanding the rapid increase of
the Dutch settlements, thus secured, the English settlements were
increasing with still greater rapidity. Not satisfied with their
encroachments on the Connecticut, the English looked wistfully upon
the fertile lands extending between that stream and the Hudson.
The region about New Haven, which, from the East and West rocks, was
called the Red Rocks, attracted especial attention. Some men from
Boston, who had visited it, greatly extolled the beauty and fertility
of the region, declaring it to be far superior to Massachusetts Bay.
"The Dutch will seize it," they wrote, "if we do not. And it is too
good for any but friends."
Just then an English non-conformist clergyman, John Davenport, and two
merchants from London, men of property and high religious worth,
arrived at Boston. They sailed to the Red Rocks, purchased a large
territory of the Indians, and regardless of the Dutch title, under the
shadow of a great oak, laid the foundations of New Haven. The colony
was very prosperous, and, in one year's time, numbered over one
hundred souls.
And now the English made vigorous efforts to gain all the lands as far
west as the Hudson river. A village of fifty log huts soon rose at
Stratford, near the Housatonic. Enterprising emigrants also pushed
forward as far as Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich. The colony at
Saybrook consisted in 1640, of a hundred houses, and a fine church.
The Dutch now held, in the Connecticut valley, only the flat lands
around fort Hope. And even these the English began to plough up. They
cudgelled those of the Dutch garrison who opposed them, saying, "It
would be a sin to leave uncultivated so valuable a land which can
produce such excellent corn."
The English now laid claim to the whole of Long Island, and commenced
a settlement at its eastern extremity. In the meantime very bitter
complaints were sent to Holland respecting the incapacity of the
Director Van Twiller. It was said that he, neglecting the affairs of
the colony, was directing all his energies to enriching himself. He
had become, it was reported, the richest landholder in the province.
Though sustained by very powerful friends, he was removed.
William Kieft was appointed in his stead, the fifth Director. He was a
man of very unenviable reputation, and his administration was far from
successful. Mr. Brodhead gives the following true and very interesting
account of the abundant natural resources of the Dutch settlements on
the Hudson at this time:
"The colonists lived amid nature's richest profusion. In the
forests, by the water side, and on the islands, grew a rank
abundance of nuts and plums. The hills were covered with
thickets of blackberries. On the flat lands, near the
rivers, wild strawberries came up so plentifully that the
people went there to lie down and eat them. Vines, covered
with grapes as good and sweet as in Holland, clambered over
the loftiest trees. Deer abounded in the forests, in harvest
time and autumn, as fat as any Holland deer can be. Enormous
wild turkeys and myriads of partridges, pheasants and
pigeons roosted in the neighboring woods. Sometimes the
turkeys and deer came down to the houses of the colonists to
feed. A stag was frequently sold by the Indians for a loaf
of bread, or a knife, or even for a tobacco pipe. The river
produced the finest fish. There was a great plenty of
sturgeon, which, at that time, the Christians did not make
use of, but the Indians ate them greedily. Flax and hemp
grew spontaneously. Peltries and hides were brought in great
quantities, by the savages, and sold for trifles. The land
was very well provisioned with all the necessaries of
life."[6]
Thus far, as a general rule, friendly relations had existed between
the Dutch and the Indians. But all sorts of characters were now
emigrating from the old world. The Indians were often defrauded, or
treated harshly. Individuals among the natives retaliated by stealing.
When caught they were severely punished. Notwithstanding the
government prohibited the sale of muskets to the Indians, so eager
were the savages to gain these weapons, so invaluable to them on their
hunting-fields, that they would offer almost any price for them. Thus
the Mohawks ere long obtained "guns, powder and bullets for four
hundred warriors."
Kieft endeavored to tax the Indians, extorting payment in corn and
furs. This exasperated them. Their reply, through one of their chiefs,
would have done honor to any deliberative assembly. Indignantly the
chief exclaimed:
"How can the sachem at the fort dare to exact a tax from us!
He must be a very shabby fellow. He has come to live in our
land when we have not invited him; and now he attempts to
deprive us of our corn for nothing. The soldiers at fort
Amsterdam are no protection to us. Why should we be called
upon to support them? We have allowed the Dutch to live
peaceably in our country, and have never demanded of them
any recompense. When they lost a ship here, and built a new
one, we supplied them with food and all other necessaries.
We took care of them for two winters until their ship was
finished. The Dutch are under obligations to us. We have
paid full price for everything we have purchased of them.
There is, therefore, no reason why we should supply them
with corn and furs for nothing. If we have ceded to them the
country they are living in, we yet remain masters of what we
have retained for ourselves."
This unanswerable argument covered the whole ground. The most
illiterate Indian could feel the force of such logic.
Some European vagabonds, as it was afterwards clearly proved, stole
some swine from Staten Island. The blame was thrown upon the innocent
Raritan Indians, who lived twenty miles inland. The rash Director
Kieft resolved to punish them with severity which should be a warning
to all the Indians.
He sent to this innocent, unsuspecting tribe, a party of seventy well
armed men, many of them unprincipled desperadoes. They fell upon the
peaceful Indians, brutally killed several, destroyed their crops, and
perpetrated all sorts of outrages.
The Indians never forget a wrong. The spirit of revenge burned in
their bosoms. There was a thriving plantation belonging to DeVrees on
Staten Island. The Indians attacked it, killed four of the laborers,
burned the dwelling and destroyed the crops. Kieft, in his blind rage,
resolved upon the extermination of the Raritans. He offered a large
bounty for the head of any member of that tribe.
It will be remembered that some years before an Indian had been robbed
and murdered near the pond, in the vicinity of the fort at Manhattan,
and that his nephew, a boy, had escaped. That boy was now a man, and,
through all these years, with almost religious scrupulousness, had
been cherishing his sense of duty to avenge his uncle's unatoned
death.
A very harmless Dutchman, by the name of Claes Smits, had reared his
solitary hut upon the Indian trail near the East river. The nephew of
the murdered savage came one day to this humble dwelling, and stopped
under the pretence of selling some beaver skins. As Smits was stooping
over the great chest in which he kept his goods, the savage, seizing
an axe, killed him by a single blow. In doing this, he probably felt
the joys of an approving conscience,--a conscience all uninstructed in
religious truth--and thanked the great spirit that he had at length
been enabled to discharge his duty in avenging his uncle's death.
Kieft sent to the chief of the tribe, demanding the murderer. The
culprit Indian sent back the reply:
"When the fort was building some years ago, my uncle and I,
carrying some beaver skins to the fort to trade, were
attacked by some Dutchmen, who killed my uncle and stole the
furs. This happened when I was a small boy. I vowed to
revenge it upon the Dutch when I grew up. I saw no better
chance than this of Claes Smits."
The sachem refused to deliver up the criminal, saying that he had but
done his duty, according to the custom of his race, in avenging the
death of his kinsman, murdered many years before. Kieft was
exceedingly embarrassed. He was very unpopular; was getting the colony
deeper and deeper into difficulty, and was accused of seeking war with
the Indians that he "might make a wrong reckoning with the Company."
In this emergency, that others might share the responsibility with
him, he reluctantly sought the counsel of the community. Twelve
"select men" were chosen to consider the propositions to be submitted
to them by the Director. To them the question was propounded:
"Is it not just, that the murder lately committed by a
savage, upon Claes Smits, be avenged and punished? In case
the Indians will not surrender the murderer, is it not just
to destroy the whole village to which he belongs? In what
manner, when, and by whom ought this to be executed?"
The result of their deliberations was, in brief, as follows:
"Our harvest is still ungathered; our cattle are scattered
in the woods. Many of the inhabitants, unsuspicious of
danger, are at a distance. It is not best to precipitate
hostilities. In the meantime let two hundred coats of mail
be procured in preparation for the expedition. Let our
friendly intercourse with the savages be uninterrupted, to
throw them off their guard. When the hunting season
commences, let two armed bands be sent out to attack the
Indians from opposite directions. Let as many negroes as can
be spared, be sent on this expedition, each armed with
tomahawk and half-pike. Still let messengers be sent once,
twice and even a third time to solicit the surrender of the
murderer."
The Governor had the reputation of being an arrant coward. It had
often been said, "It is very well for him to send us into the field,
while he secures his own life in a good fort, out of which he has not
slept a single night in all the years he has been here." They
therefore shrewdly added, "The Governor himself ought to lead the van
in this attack. We will follow his steps and obey his commands."
The hunting season soon came. Still it was decided to delay
hostilities. The savages were on their guard. A very general feeling
of unfriendliness pervaded the tribes. The Dutch settlers were widely
scattered. A combination of the Indians against the colonists might
prove an awful calamity. Thus, for a time, the war which was evidently
approaching was averted.