calling them to looke out a place for habitation, (as well as the
maisters & mariners importunitie,) they having brought a large shalop
with them out of England, stowed in quarters in y^e ship, they now
gott her out & sett their carpenters to worke to trime her up; but
being much brused & shatered in y^e shipe w^th foule weather, they saw
she would be longe in mending. Whereupon a few of them tendered them
selves to goe by land and discovere those nearest places, whilst y^e
shallop was in mending; and y^e rather because as they wente into y^t
harbor ther seemed to be an opening some 2. or 3. leagues of, which
y^e maister judged to be a river. It was conceived ther might be some
danger in y^e attempte yet seeing them resolute, they were permited to
goe, being 16. of them well armed, under y^e conduct of Captain
Standish, having shuch instructions given them as was thought meete.
They sett forth y^e 15. of Nove^br: and when they had marched aboute
y^e space of a mile by y^e sea side, they espied 5. or 6. persons with
a dogg coming towards them, who were salvages; but they fled from
them, & rane up into y^e woods, and y^e English followed them, partly
to see if they could speake with them, and partly to discover if ther
might not be more of them lying in ambush. But y^e Indeans seeing them
selyes thus followed, they again forsooke the woods, & rane away on
y^e sands as hard as they could, so as they could not come near them,
but followed them by y^e tracte of their feet sundrie miles, and saw
that they had come the same way. So, night coming on, they made their
randevous & set out ther sentinels, and rested in quiete y^e night,
and the next morning followed their tracte till they had headed a
great creeke, & so left the sands, & turned an other way into y^e
woods. But they still followed them by guess, hopeing to find their
dwellings; but they soone lost both them & them selves, falling into
shuch thickets as were ready to tear their cloaths & armore in peeces,
but were most distressed for wante of drinke.
But at length they found water & refreshed them selves, being y^e
first New-England water they drunke of, and was now in thir great
thirste as pleasante unto them as wine or bear had been in for-times.
Afterwards they directed their course to come to y^e other shore, for
they knew it was a necke of land they were to crosse over, and so at
length gott to y^e sea-side, and marched to this supposed river, & by
y^e way found a pond of clear fresh water, and shortly after a good
quantitie of clear ground wher y^e Indeans had formerly set corne, and
some of their graves. And proceeding furder they saw new-stuble wher
corne had been set y^e same year, also they found wher latly a house
had been, wher some planks and a great ketle was remaining, and heaps
of sand newly padled with their hands, which they, digging up, found
in them diverce faire Indean baskets filled with corne, and some in
eares, faire and good, of diverce collours, which seemed to them a
very goodly sight, (haveing never seen any shuch before).
The month of November being spente in these affairs, & much foule
weather falling in, the 6. of Desem^r: they sente out their shallop
againe with 10. of their principall men, & some sea men, upon further
discovery, intending to circulator that deepe bay of Cape-Codd. The
weather was very could, & it frose so hard as y^e sprea of y^e sea
lighting on their coats, they were as if they had been glased; yet
that night betimes they gott downe into y^e botome of y^e bay, and as
they dine nere y^e shore they saw some 10. or 12. Indeans very busie
aboute some thing. They landed about a league or 2. from them, and had
much flats. Being landed, it grew late, and they made themselves a
barricade with loggs & bowes as well as they could in y^e time, & set
out their sentenill & betooke them to rest, and saw y^e smoake of y^e
fire y^e savages made y^t night.
When morning was come they devided their company, some to coast alonge
y^e shore in y^e boate, and the rest marched throw y^e woods to see
y^e land, if any fit place might be for their dwelling. They came also
to y^e place whom they saw the Indeans y^e night before, & found they
had been cuting up a great fish like a grampus, being some 2. inches
thike of fate like a hogg, some peeces wher of they had left by y^e
way; and y^e shallop found 2. more of these fishes dead on y^e sands,
thing usuall after storms in y^t place, by reason of y^e great flats
of sand that lye of. So they ranged up and doune all y^t day, but
found no people, nor any place they liked. When y^e sune grue low,
they hasted out of y^e woods to meete with their shallop, to whom them
made signes to come to them into a creeke hardby, which they did at
high-water; of which they were very glad, for they had not seen each
other all y^t day, since y^e morning.
So they made them a barricado (as usually they did every night) with
loggs, staks, & thike pine bowes, y^e height of a man, leaving it open
to leeward, partly to shelter them from y^e could & wind (making their
fire in y^e midle, & lying round aboute it), and partly to defend them
from any sudden assaults of y^e savags, if they should surround them.
So being very weary, they betooke them to rest. But about midnight
they heard a hideous & great crie, and their sentinall caled, "Arme,
arme"; so they bestired them & stood to their armes, & shote of a
cupple of moskets, and then the noys seased. They concluded it was a
companie of wolves, or such like willd beasts; for one of y^e sea men
tould them he had often heard shuch a noyse in New-found land. So they
rested till about 5. of y^e clock in the morning; for y^e tide, & ther
purposs to goe from thence, made them be stiring betimes. So after
praier they prepared for breakfast, and it being day dawning, it was
thought best to be carring things downe to y^e boate. But some said it
was not best to carrie y^e armes downe, others said they would be the
readier, for they had laped them up in their coats from y^e dew.
But some 3. or 4. would not cary theirs till they wente them selves,
yet as it fell out, y^e water being not high enough, they layed them
downe on y^e banke side, & came up to breakfast. But presently, all on
y^e sudain, they heard a great & strange crie, which they knew to be
the same voyces they heard in y^e night, though they varied their
notes, and & one of their company being abroad came runing in, &
cried, "Men, Indeans, Indeans"; and wth all, their arowes came flying
amongst them. Their men rane with all speed to recover their armes, as
by y^e good providence of God they did. In y^e mean time, of those
that were ther ready, two muskets were discharged at them, & 2. more
stood ready in y^e entrance of ther randevoue, but were comanded not
to shoote till they could take full aime at them; & y^e other 2.
charged againe with all speed, for ther were only 4. had armes ther, &
defended y^e baricado which was first assalted. The crie of y^e
Indeans was dreadfull, espetially when they saw ther men rune out of
y^e randevoue towourds y^e shallop, to recover their armes, the
Indeans wheeling aboute upon them. But some runing out with coats of
malle on, & cutlasses in their hands, they soone got their armes, &
let flye amongst them, and quickly stopped their violence.
Yet ther was a lustie man, and no less valiante, stood behind a tree
within halfe a musket shot, and let his arrows flie at them. He was
seen shoot 3. arrowes, which were all avoyded. He stood 3. shot of a
musket, till one taking full aime at him, and made y^e barke or
splinters of y^e tree fly about his ears, after which he gave an
extraordinary shrike, and away they wente all of them. They left some
to keep y^e shalope, and followed them aboute a quarter of a mile, and
shouted once or twise, and shot of 2. or 3. peces, & so returned. This
they did, that they might conceive that they were not affrade of them
or any way discouraged. Thus it pleased God to vanquish their enimies,
and give them deliverance; and by his spetiall providence so to
dispose that not any one of them were either hurte, or hitt, though
their arrows came close by them, & on every side them, and sundry of
their coats which hunge up in y^e barricado, were shot throw & throw.
Afterwards they gave God sollamme thanks & praise for their
deliverance, & gathered up a bundle of their arrows, & sente them into
England afterward by y^e m^r. of y^e ship, and called that place y^e
first encounter.
From hence they departed, and costed all along, but discerned no place
likly for harbor & therfore hasted to a place that their pillote, (one
M^r. Coppin who had bine in y^e cuntrie before) did assure them was a
good harbor, which he had been in, and they might fetch it before
night; of which they were glad, for it begane to be foule weather.
After some houres sailing, it begane to snow & raine, & about y^e
midle of y afternoone, y^e wind increased, & y^e sea became very
rough, and they broake their rudder, & it was as much as 2. men could
doe to steere her with a cupple of oares. But their pillott bad them
be of good cheere, for he saw y^e harbor; but y^e storme increasing, &
night drawing on, they bore what saile they could to gett in, while
they could see. But herwith they broake their mast in 3 peeces, &
their saill fell over herd, in a very grown sea, so as they had like
to have been cast away; yet by Gods mercie they recovered themselves,
& having y^e floud with them, struck into y^e harbore. But when it
came too, y^e pillott was deceived in y^e place, and said, y^e Lord be
merciful unto them, for his eys never saw y^t place before; & he & the
m^r. mate would have rune her ashore, in a cove full of breakers,
before y^e winde. But a lusty seaman which steered, bad those which
rowed, if they were men, about with her, or ells they were all cast
away; the which they did with speed. So he bid them be of good cheere
& row lustly, for ther was a faire sound before them, & he doubted not
but they should find one place or other wher they might ride in
saftie.
And though it was very darke, and rained sore, yet in y^e end they
gott under y^e lee of a smalle iland, and remained ther all y^t night
saftie. But they knew not this to be an iland till morning, but were
devided into their minds; some would keepe y^e boate for fear they
might be amongst y^e Indians; others were so weake and could, they
could not endure, but got ashore, & with much adoe got fire, (all
things being so wett,) and y^e rest were glad to come to them; for
after midnight y^e wind shifted to the north-west, & it frose hard.
But though this had been a day & night of much trouble & danger unto
them, yet God gave them a morning of comforte and refreshing (as
usually he doth to his children), for y^e next day was a faire
sunshinig day, and they found them selvs to be on an iland secure from
y^e Indeans, wher they might drie their stufe, fixe their peeces, &
rest them selves, and gave God thanks for his mercies, in their
manifould deliverances. And this being the last day of y^e weeke, they
prepared ther to keepe y^e Sabath. On Munday they sounded y^e harbor,
and founde it fitt for shipping; and marched into y^e land, & found
diverse cornfields, & little runing brooks, a placed (as they
supposed) fitt for situation; at least it was y^e best they could
find, and y^e season, & their presente necessitie, made them glad to
accept of it. So they returned to their shipp againe with this news to
y^e rest of their people, which did much comforte their harts.
On y^e 15. of Desem^r. they wayed anchor to goe to y^e place they had
discovered, & came within 2. leagues of it, but were faine to bear up
againe; but y^e 16. day y^e winde came faire, and they arrived safe in
this harbor.[3] And afterwards took better view of y^e place, and
resolved wher to pitch their dwelling; and y^e 25. day begane to
erecte y^e first house for comone use to receive them and their goods.
I shall a litle returne backe and begine with a combination made by
them before they came ashore, being y^e first foundation of their
governmente in this place; occasioned partly by y^e discontented and
mutinous speeches that some of the strangers amongst them had let fall
from them in y^e ship--That when they came ashore they would use their
own libertie; for none had power to comand them, the patente they had
being for Virginia, and not for New-england, which belonged to an
other Government, with which y^e Virginia Company had nothing to doe.
And partly that shuch an acte by them done (this their condition
considered) might be as firme as any patent, and in some respects more
sure. The forme was as followeth:
"In y^e name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwriten, the loyall
subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by y^e Grace of
God, of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of y^e faith,
&c., having undertaken, for y^e glorie of God, and advancemente of y^e
Christian faith, and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to plant
y^e first colonie in y^e Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these
presents solemnly & mutualy in y^e presence of God, and one of
another, covenant & combine our selves together into a civill body
politick, for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance of y^e
ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and frame
such just & equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions, & offices,
from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient for y^e
generall good of y^e Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission
and obedience. In witness wherof we have hereunder subscribed our
names at Cape-Codd y^e 11. of November, in y^e year of England, Franc,
& Ireland y^e eighteenth, and of Scotland y^e fiftie fourth. An^o:
Dom. 1620."
[1] William Bradford had already been a leading member of a little
dissenting congregation in England, when, in 1608, it fled from
England to Holland, and in 1620 settled at Plymouth, Mass. A year
after the arrival at Plymouth Bradford was elected Governor of the
Colony, and, with the exception of two short intervals, held this
office until his death nearly forty years afterward.
Bradford's "History of Plymouth" is a classic in New England
historical literature--the foundation-stone, in fact, of the
history of New England. A curious item in the survival of the
manuscript is that, at the time of the evacuation of Boston by the
British, during the Revolution, it disappeared mysteriously, to be
discovered eighty years afterward in the palace of the Bishop of
London. More than forty years after this discovery, the manuscript
was restored by the diocese of London to the commonwealth of
Massachusetts, which now preserves it in the State Library in
Boston.
[2] Now known as Provincetown, where a lofty monument on a hilt
back of the harbor, dedicated in 1910, commemorates the landing
there of the Pilgrim Fathers. While the Mayflower lay in this
harbor, Paregrine White was born, the first child of English
parentage born in New England.
[3] The landing at Plymouth was effected on December 21.
THE FIRST NEW YORK SETTLEMENTS
(1623-1628)
BY NICHOLAS JEAN DE WASSENAER[1]
We treated in our preceding discourse of the discovery of some rivers
in Virginia; the studious reader will learn how affairs proceeded. The
West India Company being chartered to navigate these rivers, did not
neglect so to do, but equipped in the spring [of 1623] a vessel of 130
lasts, called the _New Netherland_ whereof Cornelis Jacobs of Hoorn
was skipper, with 30 families, mostly Walloons, to plant a colony
there. They sailed in the beginning of March, and directing their
course by the Canary Islands, steered towards the wild coast, and
gained the westwind which luckily (took) them in the beginning of May
into the river called, first Rio de Montagnes, now the river
Mauritius, lying in 40-1/2 degrees. He found a Frenchman lying in the
mouth of the river, who would erect the arms of the King of France
there; but the Hollanders would not permit him, opposing it by
commission from the Lords States General and the directors of the West
India Company; and in order not to be frustrated therein, with the
assistance of those of the _Mackerel_ which lay above, they caused a
yacht of 2 guns to be manned, and convoyed the Frenchman out of the
river, who would do the same thing in the south river, but he was also
prevented by the settlers there. This being done, the ship sailed up
to the Maykans, 44 miles, near which they built and completed a fort
named "Orange," with 4 bastions, on an island, by them called Castle
Island....
Respecting these colonies, they have already a prosperous beginning;
and the hope is that they will not fall through provided they be
zealously sustained, not only in that place but in the South river.
For their increase and prosperous advancement, it is highly necessary
that those sent out be first of all well provided with means both of
support and defense, and that being freemen, they be settled there on
a free tenure; that all they work for and gain be theirs to dispose of
and to sell it according to their pleasure; that whoever is placed
over them as commander act as their father not as their executioner,
leading them with a gentle hand; for whoever rules them as a friend
and associate will be beloved by them, as he who will order them as a
superior will subvert and nullify everything; yea, they will excite
against him the neighbouring provinces to which they will fly. `Tis
better to rule by love and friendship than by force....
As the country is well adapted for agriculture and the raising of
every thing that is produced here, the aforesaid Lords resolved to
take advantage of the circumstances, and to provide the place with
many necessaries, through the Honble. Pieter Evertsen Hulst, who
undertook to ship thither, at his risk, whatever was requisite, to
wit: one hundred and three head of cattle; stallions, mares, steers
and cows, for breeding and multiplying, besides all the hogs and sheep
that might be thought expedient to send thither; and to distribute
these in two ships of one hundred and forty lasts, in such a manner
that they should be well foddered and attended to....
In company with these, goes a fast sailing vessel at the risk of the
directors. In these aforesaid vessels also go six complete families
with some freemen, so that forty five newcomers or inhabitants are
taken out, to remain there. The natives of New Netherland are very
well disposed so long as no injury is done them. But if any wrong be
committed against them they think it long till they be revenged....
They are a wicked, bad people, very fierce in arms. Their dogs are
small. When the Honble. Lebrecht van Twenhuyzen, once a skipper, had
given them a big dog, and it was presented to them on ship-board, they
were very much afraid of it; calling it, also a Sachem of dogs, being
the biggest. The dog, tied with a rope on board, was very furious
against them, they being clad like beasts with skins, for he thought
they were game; but when they gave him some of their bread made of
Indian corn, which grows there, he learned to distinguish them, that
they were men.
The Colony was planted at this time, on the Manhates where a Fort was
staked out by Master Kryn Frederyeke, an engineer. It will be of large
dimensions....
The government over the people of New Netherland continued on the 15th
of August of this year in the aforesaid Minuit, successor to Verhulst,
who went thither from Holand on 9th January, Anno, 1626, and took up
his residence in the midst of a nation called Manhates, building a
fort there, to be called Amsterdam, having four points and faced
outside entirely with stone, as the walls of sand fall down, and are
now more compact.
The population consists of two hundred and seventy souls, including
men, women, and children. They remained as yet without the Fort, in no
fear, as the natives live peaceably with them. They are situate three
miles from the Sea, on the river by us called Mauritius, by others,
Rio de Montagne....
After the Right Honble Lords Directors of the Privileged West India
Company in the United Netherlands, had provided for the defence of New
Netherland and put everything there in good order, they taking into
consideration the advantages of said place, the favorable nature of
the air, and soil, and that considerable trade and goods and many
commodities may be obtained from thence, sent some persons, of their
own accord, thither with all sorts of cattle and implements necessary
for agriculture, so that in the year 1628 there already resided on the
island of the Manhates, two hundred and seventy souls, men, women, and
children, under Governor Minuit, Verhulst's successor, living there in
peace with the natives. But as the land, in many places being full of
weeds and wild productions, could not be properly cultivated in
consequence of the scantiness of the population, the said Lords
Directors of the West India Company, the better to people their lands,
& to bring the country to produce more abundantly, resolved to grant
divers privileges, freedoms, and exemptions to all patroons, masters
or individuals who should plant any colonies and cattle in New
Netherland, and they accordingly have constituted and published in
print (certain) exemptions, to afford better encouragement and infuse
greater zeal into whomsoever should be inclined to reside and plant
his colonie in New Netherland.
[1] From Wassenaer's "Description of the first settlement of New
Netherland." Printed in Hart's "American History Told by
Contemporaries." Wassenaer was a Dutchman, and wrote
contemporaneously with the events he describes. After Hudson's
discovery of the Hudson River, Dutch ships were sent over to
Manhattan Island to establish an agency for the collection of furs.
Rude cabins were pitched and lived in at the southern end of the
island but these did not constitute a permanent settlement; they
were a mere trading-post. The trade became so profitable, however,
that something more permanent was desired, and in 1623 the West
India Company dispatched ships with thirty families as the nucleus
of a colony to be established near the present site of Albany. Not
until two years later was it decided that the headquarters of the
colony should be on Manhattan Island. Two ships were then sent out
to establish there a permanent and more extensive settlement.
THE SWEDES AND DUTCH IN NEW JERSEY AND DELAWARE
(1627)
BY ISRAEL ACRELIUS[1]
After that the magnanimous Genoese Christopher Columbus, had, at the
expense of Ferdinand, King of Spain, in the year 1492, discovered the
Western hemisphere, and the illustrious Florentine, Americus
Vespucius, sent out by King Emanuel of Portugal, in the year 1502, to
make a further exploration of its coasts, had had the good fortune to
give the country his name, the European powers have, from time to
time, sought to promote their several interests there. Our Swedes and
Goths were the less backward in such expeditions, as they had always
been the first therein. They had already, in the year 996 after the
birth of Christ, visited America, had named it Vinland the Good, and
also Skrællings Land, and had called its inhabitants "the Skrællings
of Vinland." It is therefore evident that the Northmen had visited
some part of North America before the Spaniards and Portuguese went to
South America....
From that time until 1623, when the West India Company obtained its
charter, their trade with the Indians was conducted almost entirely on
shipboard, and they made no attempts to build any house or fortress
until 1629. Now, whether that was done with or without the permission
of England, the town of New Amsterdam was built and fortified, as also
the place Aurania, Orange, now called Albany, having since had three
general-governors, one after the other. But that was not yet enough.
They wished to extend their power to the river Delaware also, and
erected on its shores two or three small forts, which were, however,
soon after destroyed by the natives of the country.