Island. But, parting company in a fog, the _Guinea_, with Nicolls and
Cartwright on board, made Cape Cod, and went on to Boston, while the
other ships put in at Piscataway. The commissioners immediately
demanded the assistance of Massachusetts, but the people of the Bay,
who feared, perhaps, that the King's success in reducing the Dutch
would enable him the better to put down his enemies in New England,
were full of excuses. Connecticut, however, showed sufficient
alacrity; and Winthrop was desired to meet the squadron at the west
end of Long Island, whither it would sail with the first fair wind.
When the truth of Willett's intelligence became confirmed, the council
sent an express to recall Stuyvesant from Fort Orange. Hurrying back
to the capital, the anxious director endeavored to redeem the time
which had been lost. The municipal authorities ordered one-third of
the inhabitants, without exception, to labor every third day at the
fortifications; organized a permanent guard; forbade the brewers to
malt any grain; and called on the provincial government for artillery
and ammunition. Six pieces, besides the fourteen previously allotted,
and a thousand pounds of powder were accordingly granted to the city.
The colonists around Fort Orange, pleading their own danger from the
savages, could afford no help; but the soldiers of Esopus were ordered
to come down, after leaving a small garrison at Ronduit.
In the meantime the English squadron had anchored just below the
Narrows, in Nyack Bay, between New Utrecht and Coney Island. The mouth
of the river was shut up; communication between Long Island and
Manhattan, Bergen and Achter Cul, interrupted; several yachts on their
way to the South River captured; and the block-house on the opposite
shore of Staten Island seized. Stuyvesant now dispatched Counsellor de
Decker, Burgomaster Van der Grist, and the two domines Megapolensis
with a letter to the English commanders inquiring why they had come,
and why they continued at Nyack without giving notice. The next
morning, which was Saturday, Nicolls sent Colonel Cartwright, Captain
Needham, Captain Groves, and Mr. Thomas Delavall up to Fort Amsterdam
with a summons for the surrender of "the town situate on the island
and commonly known by the name of Manhatoes, with all the forts
thereunto belonging."
This summons was accompanied by a proclamation declaring that all who
would submit to his majesty's government should be protected "in his
majesty's laws and justice," and peaceably enjoy their property.
Stuyvesant immediately called together the council and the
burgomasters, but would not allow the terms offered by Nicolls to be
communicated to the people, lest they might insist on capitulating. In
a short time several of the burghers and city officers assembled at
the Stadt-Huys. It was determined to prevent the enemy from surprizing
the town; but, as opinion was generally against protracted resistance,
a copy of the English communication was asked from the director. On
the following Monday the burgomasters explained to a meeting of the
citizens the terms offered by Nicolls. But this would not suffice; a
copy of the paper itself must be exhibited. Stuyvesant then went in
person to the meeting. "Such a course," said he, "would be disapproved
of in the Fatherland--it would discourage the people." All his
efforts, however, were in vain; and the director, protesting that he
should not be held answerable for the "calamitous consequences," was
obliged to yield to the popular will.
Nicolls now addrest a letter to Winthrop, who with other commissioners
from New England had joined the squadron, authorizing him to assure
Stuyvesant that, if Manhattan should be delivered up to the King, "any
people from the Netherlands may freely come and plant there or
thereabouts; and such vessels of their own country may freely come
thither, and any of them may as freely return home in vessels of their
own country." Visiting the city under a flag of truce Winthrop
delivered this to Stuyvesant outside the fort and urged him to
surrender. The director declined; and, returning to the fort, he
opened Nicolls' letter before the council and the burgomasters, who
desired that it should be communicated, as "all which regarded the
public welfare ought to be made public." Against this Stuyvesant
earnestly remonstrated, and, finding that the burgomasters continued
firm, in a fit of passion he "tore the letter in pieces." The citizens
suddenly ceasing their work at the palisades, hurried to the
Stadt-Huys, and sent three of their number to the fort to demand the
letter.
In vain the director hastened to pacify the burghers and urge them to
go on with the fortifications. "Complaints and curses" were uttered on
all sides against the company's misgovernment; resistance was declared
to be idle; "The letter! the letter!" was the general cry. To avoid a
mutiny Stuyvesant yielded, and a copy, made out from the collected
fragments, was handed to the burgomasters. In answer, however, to
Nicolls' summons he submitted a long justification of the Dutch title;
yet while protesting against any breach of the peace between the King
and the States-General, "for the hinderance and prevention of all
differences and the spilling of innocent blood, not only in these
parts, but also in Europe," he offered to treat. "Long Island is gone
and lost;" the capital "can not hold out long," was the last dispatch
to the "Lord Majors" of New Netherlands, which its director sent off
that night "in silence through hell Gate."
Observing Stuyvesant's reluctance to surrender, Nicolls directed
Captain Hyde, who commanded the squadron, to reduce the fort. Two of
the ships accordingly landed their troops just below Breuckelen
(Brooklyn), where volunteers from New England and the Long Island
villages had already encamped. The other two, coming up with full sail
passed in front of Fort Amsterdam and anchored between it and Nutten
Island.[2] Standing on one of the angles of the fortress--an
artilleryman with a lighted match at his side--the director watched
their approach. At this moment the two domines Megapolensis, imploring
him not to begin hostilities, led Stuyvesant from the rampart, who
then, with a hundred of the garrison, went into the city to resist the
landing of the English. Hoping on against hope, the director now sent
Counsellor de Decker, Secretary Van Ruypen, Burgomaster Steenwyck, and
"Schepen" Cousseau with a letter to Nicolls stating that, as he felt
bound "to stand the storm," he desired if possible to arrange on
accommodation. But the English commander merely declared, "To-morrow I
will speak with you at Manhattan."
"Friends," was the answer, "will be welcome if they come in a friendly
manner."
"I shall come with ships and soldiers," replied Nicolls; "raise the
white flag of peace at the fort, and then something may be
considered." When this imperious message became known, men, women, and
children flocked to the director, beseeching him to submit. His only
answer was, "I would rather be carried out dead." The next day the
city authorities, the clergymen, and the officers of the burgher
guard, assembling at the Stadt-Huys, at the suggestion of Domine
Megapolensis, adopted a remonstrance to the director, exhibiting the
hopeless situation of New Amsterdam, on all sides encompassed and
hemmed in by enemies, and protesting against any further opposition to
the will of God. Besides the _schout_, burgomasters, and schepens, the
remonstrance was signed by Wilmerdonck and eighty-five of the
principal inhabitants, among whom was Stuyvesant's own son, Balthazar.
At last the director was obliged to yield. Although there were now
fifteen hundred souls in New Amsterdam, there were not more than two
hundred and fifty men able to bear arms, besides the one hundred fifty
regular soldiers. The people had at length refused to be called out,
and the regular troops were already heard talking of "where booty is
to be found, and where the young women live who wear gold chains." The
city, entirely open along both rivers, was shut on the northern side
by a breastwork and palisades[3], which, though sufficient to keep out
the savages, afforded no defense against a military siege. There were
scarcely six hundred pounds of serviceable powder in store.
A council of war had reported Fort Amsterdam untenable; for though it
mounted twenty-four guns, its single wall of earth, not more than ten
feet high and four thick, was almost touched by the private dwellings
clustered around, and was commanded, within a pistol-shot, by hills on
the north, over which ran the "Heereweg" or Broadway.
Upon the faith of Nicolls' promise to deliver back the city and fort
"in case the difference of the limits of this province be agreed upon
betwixt his majesty of England and the high and mighty States-General,"
Stuyvesant now commissioned Counsellor John de Decker, Captain
Nicholas Varlett, Dr. Samuel Megapolensis, Burgomaster Cornelius
Steenwyck, old Burgomaster Oloff Stevenson van Cortlandt, and old
Schepen Jacques Cousseau to agree upon articles with the English
commander or his representatives. Nicolls, on his part, appointed Sir
Robert Carr and Colonel George Cartwright, John Winthrop, and Samuel
Willys, of Connecticut, and Thomas Clarke and John Pynchon, of
Massachusetts. "The reason why those of Boston and Connecticut were
joined," afterward explained the royal commander, "was because those
two colonies should hold themselves the more engaged with us if the
Dutch had been overconfident of their strength."
At eight o'clock the next morning, which was Saturday, the
commissioners on both sides met at Stuyvesant's "bouwery" and arranged
the terms of capitulation. The only difference which arose was
respecting the Dutch soldiers, whom the English refused to convey back
to Holland. The articles of capitulation promised the Dutch security
in their property, customs of inheritance, liberty of conscience and
church discipline. The municipal officers of Manhattan were to
continue for the present unchanged, and the town was to be allowed to
chose deputies, with "free voices in all public affairs." Owners of
property in Fort Orange might, if they pleased, "slight the
fortifications there," and enjoy their houses "as people do where
there is no fort."
For six months there was to be free intercourse with Holland. Public
records were to be respected. The articles, consented to by Nicolls,
were to be ratified by Stuyvesant the next Monday morning at eight
o'clock, and within two hours afterward, the "fort and town called New
Amsterdam, upon the Isle of Manhatoes," were to be delivered up, and
the military officers and soldiers were to "march out with their arms,
drums beating, and colors flying, and lighted matches."
On the following Monday morning at eight o'clock Stuyvesant, at the
head of the garrison, marched out of Fort Amsterdam with all the
honors of war, and led his soldiers down the Beaver Lane to the
water-side, whence they were embarked for Holland. An English
corporal's guard at the same time took possession of the fort; and
Nicolls and Carr, with their two companies, about a hundred seventy
strong, entered the city, while Cartwright took possession of the
gates and the Stadt-Huys. The New England and Long Island volunteers,
however, were prudently kept at the Breuckelen ferry, as the citizens
dreaded most being plundered by them. The English flag was hoisted on
Fort Amsterdam, the name of which was immediately changed to "Fort
James." Nicolls was now proclaimed by the burgomasters deputy-governor
for the Duke of York, in compliment to whom he directed that the city
of New Amsterdam should thenceforth be known as "New York."
To Nicolls' European eye the Dutch metropolis, with its earthen fort,
enclosing a windmill and high flag-staff, a prison and a governor's
house, and a double-roofed church, above which loomed a square tower,
its gallows and whipping-post at the river's side, and its rows of
houses which hugged the citadel, presented but a mean appearance. Yet
before long he described it to the Duke as "the best of all his
majesty's towns in America," and assured his royal highness that, with
proper management, "within five years the staple of America will be
drawn hither, of which the brethren of Boston are very sensible."...
The reduction of New Netherlands was now accomplished. All that could
be further done was to change its name; and, to glorify one of the
most bigoted princes in English history, the royal province was
ordered to be called "New York." Ignorant of James' grant of New
Jersey to Berkeley and Carteret, Nicolls gave to the region west of
the Hudson the name of "Albania," and to Long Island that of
"Yorkshire," so as to comprehend all the titles of the Duke of York.
The flag of England was at length triumphantly displayed, where, for
half a century, that of Holland had rightfuly waved; and from Virginia
to Canada, the King of Great Britain was acknowledged as sovereign.
Viewed in all its aspects, the event which gave to the whole of that
country a unity in allegiance, and to which a misgoverned people
complacently submitted, was as inevitable as it was momentous. But
whatever may have been its ultimate consequences, this treacherous and
violent seizure of the territory and possessions of an unsuspecting
ally was no less a breach of private justice than of public faith.
It may, indeed, be affirmed that, among all the acts of selfish
perfidy which royal ingratitude conceived and executed, there have
been few more characteristic and none more base.
[1] From Brodhead's "History of New York."
[2] Now called Governor's Island.
[3] A fortification from which has come the modern name of Wall
Street.
BACON'S REBELLION IN VIRGINIA
(1676)
BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER[1]
There is no nation this day under the copes of Heaven can so
experimentaly speak the sad effects of men of great parts being
reduc't to necessity, as England; but not to rake up the notorious
misdemeanours of the dead, I shall endeavour to prevent the sad
effects of so deplorable a cause, by giving you an account of the
remarkable life and death of this gentleman of whom I am about to
discourse. And because when a man has once ingag'd himself in an ill
action, all men are ready to heap an innumerable aspersions upon him,
of which he is no ways guilty, I shall be so just in the History of
his Life as not to rob him of those commendations which his Birth and
Acquisitions claim as due, and so kind both to Loyalty and the wholsom
constituted Laws of our Kingdom, as not to smother any thing which
would render him to blame.
This Gentleman who has of late becconed the attention of all men of
understanding who are any ways desirous of Novelty, [or] care what
becomes of any part of the World besides that themselves live in, had
the honour to be descended of an Ancient and Honourable Family, his
name Nathanael Bacon, to whom to the long known Title of Gentleman, by
his long study [at] the Inns of Court he has since added that of
Esquire. He was the Son of Mr. Thomas Bacon of an ancient Seat known
by the denomination of Freestone-Hall, in the County of Suffolk, a
Gentleman of known loyalty and ability. His Father as he was able so
he was willing to allow this his Son a very Gentile Competency to
subsist upon, but he as it proved having a Soul too large for that
allowance, could not contain himself within bounds; which his careful
Father perceiving, and also that he had a mind to Travel (having seen
divers parts of the World before) consented to his inclination of
going to Virginia, and accommodated him with a Stock for that purpose,
to the value of 1,800l. Starling, as I am credibly informed by a
Merchant of very good wealth, who is now in this City, and had the
fortune to carry him thither.
He began his Voyage thitherwards about Three years since, and lived
for about a years space in that Continent in very good repute, his
extraordinary parts like a Letter of recommendation rendring him
aceptable in all mens company, whilst his considerable Concerns in
that place were able to bear him out in the best of Society. These
Accomplishments of mind and fortune rendred him so remarkable, that
the worthy Governour of that Continent thought it requisite to take
him into his Privy Council.
That Plantation which he chose to settle in is generally known by the
name of Curles, situate in the upper part of James River and the time
of his revolt was not till the beginning of March, 1675-6. At which
time the Susquo-hannan Indians (a known Enemy to that Country) having
made an Insurrection, and kild divers of the English, amongst whom it
was his misfortune to have a Servant slain; in revenge of whose death,
and other dammage(s) he received from those turbulent Susquo-hanians,
without the Governeur's consent he furiously took up Arms against
them, and was so fortunate as to put them to flight, but not content
therewith; the aforesaid Governour hearing of his eager pursuit after
the vanquisht Indians, sent out a select Company of Souldiers to
command him to desist; but he instead of listning thereunto, persisted
in his Revenge, and sent to the Governour to intreat his Commission,
that he might more chearfully prosecute his design; which being denyed
him by the Messenger he sent for that purpose, he notwithstanding
continued to make head with his own Servants, and other English then
resident in Curles against them.
In this interim the people of Henrico had returned him Burgess of
their county; and he in order thereunto took his own Sloop and came
down towards James Town, conducted by thirty odd Souldiers, with part
of which he came ashore to Mr. Laurences House, to understand whether
he might come in with safety or not, but being discovered by one
Parson Clough, and also it being perceived that he had lined the
Bushes of the said Town with Souldiers, the Governour thereupon
ordered an allarm to be beaten through the whole Town, which took so
hot, that Bacon thinking himself not secure whilst he remained there
within reach of their Fort, immediately commanded his men aboard, and
tow'd his Sloop up the River; which the Governour perceiving, ordered
the Ships which lay at Sandy-point to pursue and take him; and they by
the industry of their Commanders succeeded so well in the attempt,
that they presently stopt his passage; so that Mr. Bacon finding
himself pursued both before and behind, after some capitulations,
quietly surrendered himself Prisoner to the Governours Commissioners,
to the great satisfaction of all his Friends; which action of his was
so obliging to the Governour, that he granted him his liberty
immediately upon Paroll, without confining him either to Prison or
Chamber, and the next day, after some private discourse passed betwixt
the Governour, the Privy Council, and himself, he was amply restored
to all his former Honours and Dignities, and a Commission partly
promised him to be General against the Indian Army; but upon further
enquiry into his Affairs it was not thought fit to be granted him;
whereat his ambitious mind seem'd mightily to be displeas'd; insomuch
that he gave out, that it was his intention to sell his whole concerns
in Virginia, and to go with his whole Family to live either in
Merry-land or the South, because he would avoid (as he said) the
scandal of being accounted a factious person there.
But this resolution it seems was but a pretence, for afterwards he
headed the same Runnagado English that he formerly found ready to
undertake and go sharers with him in any of his Rebellions, and adding
to them the assistance of his own Slaves and Servants, headed them so
far till they toucht at the Occonegies Town, where he was treated very
civilly, and by the Inhabitants informed where some of the
Susquohanno's were inforted, whom presently he assails, and after he
had vanquished them, slew about seventy of them in their Fort: But as
he returned back to the Occoneges, he found they had fortified
themselves with divers more Indians than they had at his first
arrival; wherefore he desired Hostages of them for their good
behaviour, whilst he and his followers lay within command of their
Fort. But those treacherous Indians grown confident by reason of their
late recruit, returned him this Answer, That their Guns were the only
Hostages he was like to have of them, and if he would have them he
must fetch them. Which was no soner spoke, but the Indians salied out
of the Fort and shot one of his Sentinels, whereupon he charged them
so fiercely, that the Fight continued not only all that day, but the
next also, till the approach of the Evening, at which time finding his
men grow faint for want of Provision, he laid hold of the opportunity,
being befriended by a gloomy night, and so made an honourable retreat
homewards. Howbeit we may judge what respect he had gain'd in
James-Town by this subsequent transaction.
When he was first brought hither it was frequently reported among the
Commonalty that he was kept close Prisoner, which report caused the
people of that Town, those of Charles-city, Henrico, and New-Kent
Countries, being in all about the Number of eight hundred, or a
thousand, to rise and march thitherwards in order to his rescue;
whereupon the Governor was forced to desire Mr. Bacon to go himself in
Person, and by his open appearance quiet the people.
This being past, Mr. Bacon, about the 25th of June last, dissatisfied
that he could not have a Commission granted him to go against the
Indians, in the night time departed the Town unknown to any body, and
about a week after got together between four and five hundred men of
New-Kent County, with whom he marched to James-Town, and drew up in
order before the House of State; and there peremptorily demanded of
the Governor, Council and Burgesses (there then collected) a
Commission to go against the Indians, which if they should refuse to
grant him, he told them that neither he nor ne're a man in his Company
would depart from their Doors till he had obtained his request;
whereupon to prevent farther danger in so great an exigence, the
Council and Burgesses by much intreaty obtain'd him a Commission
Signed by the Governor, an Act for one thousand men to be Listed under
his command to go against the Indians, to whom the same pay was to be
granted as was allowed to them who went against the Fort. But Bacon
was not satisfied with this, but afterwards earnestly importuned, and
at length obtained of the House, to pass an Act of Indemnity to all
Persons who had sided with him, and also Letters of recommendations
from the Governor to his Majesty in his behalf; and moreover caused
Collonel Claybourn and his Son, Captain Claybourn, Lieutenant Collonel
West, and Lieutenant Collonel Hill, and many others, to be degraded
for ever bearing any Office, whether it were Military or Civil.
Having obtained these large Civilities of the Governor, &c. one would
have thought that if the Principles of honesty would not have obliged
him to peace and loyalty, those of gratitude should. But, alas, when
men have been once flusht or entred with Vice, how hard is it for them
to leave it, especially it tends towards ambition or greatness, which
is the general lust of a large Soul, and the common error of vast
parts, which fix their Eyes so upon the lure of greatness, that they
have no time left them to consider by what indirect and unlawful means
they must (if ever) attain it.
This certainly was Mr. Bacon's Crime, who, after he had once lanched
into Rebellion, nay, and upon submission had been pardoned for it, and
also restored, as if he had committed no such hainous offence, to his
former honour and dignities (which weer considerable enough to content
any reasonable mind) yet for all this he could not forbear wading into
his former misdemeanors, and continued his opposition against that
prudent and established Government, ordered by his Majesty of Great
Brittain to be duely observed in that Continent.