Peter Stuyvesant, the Last Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam

CHAPTER IV.. The Administration of Van Twiller. 77

THE ADMINISTRATION OF VAN TWILLER. 77

Friendly Relations Restored. Wouter Van Thiller 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.

CHAPTER V.. War and Its Devastations. 100

WAR AND ITS DEVASTATIONS. 100

Approaching Hostilities. Noble Remonstrance. Massacre of the Natives. The War Storm. Noble Conduct of De Vrees. The Humiliation of Kieft. Wide Spread Desolation. The Reign of Terror. State of Affairs at Fort Nassau. The Massacre at Stamford. Memorial of the Select Men. Kieft Superseded by Peter Stuyvesant.

CHAPTER VI.. Governor Stuyvesant. 121

GOVERNOR STUYVESANT. 121

New Netherland in 1646. Early Years of Peter Stuyvesant. Decay of New Amsterdam. The Germs of a Representative Government. Energetic Administration. Death of Governor Winthrop. Claims for Long Island. Arrogance of the Governor. Remonstrance of the Nine Men. The Pastoral Office. Boundary Lines. Increasing Discontent. Division of Parties. Dictatorial Measures.

CHAPTER VII.. War Between England and Holland. 144

WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND HOLLAND. 144

Action of the Patroons. Settlements on the Hudson. Alarm of the Home Government. Recall of Stuyvesant. His Escape from Humiliation. Difficulties between England and Holland. The Breaking Out of War. Directions to Stuyvesant. The Relations of the Colonies. Charges Against the Dutch Governor. Their Refutation. Efforts of Stuyvesant for Peace. Noble Conduct of the Massachusetts Government. The Advocates for War.

CHAPTER VIII.. Another Indian War. 167

ANOTHER INDIAN WAR. 167

Conflict Between the Governor and the Citizens. Energy of the Governor. His Measures of Defence. Action of the English Colony. 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.

CHAPTER IX. An Energetic Administration. 191

AN ENERGETIC ADMINISTRATION. 191

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.

CHAPTER X.. The Esopus War. 213

THE ESOPUS WAR. 213

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.

CHAPTER XI.. The Disastrous Year. 234

THE DISASTROUS YEAR. 234

Purchase of Staten Island. The Restoration of 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.

CHAPTER XII.. Encroachments of the English. 257

ENCROACHMENTS OF THE ENGLISH. 257

Annihilation of the Esopus Tribe. The Boundary Question. Troubles on Long Island. The Dutch and English Villages. Petition of the English. Embarrassments of Governor Stuyvesant. Embassage to Hartford. The Repulse. Peril of New Netherland. Memorial to the Fatherland. New Outbreak on Long Island. John Scott and his Highhanded Measures. Strengthening the Fortifications.

CHAPTER XIII.. Hostile Measures Commenced. 279

HOSTILE MEASURES COMMENCED. 279

John Scott and his Movements. Losses of the Dutch. The First General Assembly. Action of the Home Government. Peace with the Indians. Arrest of John Scott. Governor Winthrop's Visit to Long Island. Sailing of the Fleet. Preparations for War. The False Dispatches. Arrival of the Fleet. The Summons to Surrender.

CHAPTER XIV.. The Capture of New Amsterdam. 301

THE CAPTURE OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 301

The Approach of the Fleet. The Governor Unjustly Censured. The Flag of Truce. The Haughty Response. The Remonstrance. The Defenceless City. The Surrender. The Expedition to the Delaware. Sack and Plunder. Change of Name. Testimony to the Dutch Government. Death of the Governor. His Farm, or Bouwerie. War Between Holland and England. New York Menaced by the Dutch.

CHAPTER XV.. The Final Surrender. 324

THE FINAL SURRENDER. 324

The Summons. The Bombardment. Disembarkation of the Land Force. Indecision of Captain Manning. The Surrender. Short Administration of the Dutch. Social Customs. The Tea Party. Testimony of Travellers. Visit to Long Island. Fruitfulness of the Country. Exploration of Manhattan Island.

CHAPTER XVI.. The Olden Time. 346

THE OLDEN TIME. 346

Wealth and Rank of the Ancient Families. Their Vast Landed Estates. Distinctions in Dress. Veneration for the Patroon. Kip's Mansion. Days of the Revolution. Mr. John Adams' Journal. Negro Slavery. Consequences of the System. General Panic.

PETER STUYVESANT.

CHAPTER I.

DISCOVERY OF THE HUDSON RIVER.

The Discovery of America.--Colonies.--The Bay of New York.--Description of the Bay.--Voyage of Sir Henry Hudson.--Discovery of the Delaware.--The Natives.--The Boat Attacked.--Ascending the Hudson.--Escape of the Prisoners.--The Chiefs Intoxicated.--The Return.--The Village at Castleton.--The Theft and its Punishment.--The Return to England.

On the 12th of October, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed upon the shores of San Salvador, one of the West India islands, and thus revealed to astonished Europe a new world. Four years after this, in the year 1496, Sebastian Cabot discovered the continent of North America. Thirty-three years passed away of many wild adventures of European voyagers, when, in the year 1539, Ferdinand de Soto landed at Tampa Bay, in Florida, and penetrating the interior of the vast continent, discovered the Mississippi River. Twenty-six years more elapsed ere, in 1565, the first European colony was established at St. Augustine, in Florida.

In the year 1585, twenty years after the settlement of St. Augustine, Sir Walter Raleigh commenced his world-renowned colony upon the Roanoke. Twenty-two years passed when, in 1607, the London Company established the Virginia Colony upon the banks of the James river.

In the year 1524, a Florentine navigator by the name of Jean de Verrazano, under commission of the French monarch, Francis I., coasting northward along the shores of the continent, entered the bay of New York. In a letter to king Francis I., dated July 8th, 1524, he thus describes the Narrows and the Bay:

"After proceeding one hundred leagues, we found a very pleasant situation among some steep hills, through which a very large river, deep at its mouth, forced its way to the sea. From the sea to the estuary of the river, any ship heavily laden might pass, with the help of the tide, which rises eight feet. But as we were riding at anchor, in a good berth, we would not venture up in our vessel without a knowledge of the mouth. Therefore we took the boat, and entering the river, we found the country, on its banks, well peopled, the inhabitants not much differing from the others, being dressed out with the feathers of birds of various colors.

"They came towards us with evident delight, raising loud shouts of admiration, and showing us where we could most securely land with our boat. We passed up this river about half a league, when we found it formed a most beautiful lake three leagues in circuit, upon which they were rowing thirty or more of their small boats, from one shore to the other, filled with multitudes who came to see us. All of a sudden, as is wont to happen to navigators, a violent contrary wind blew in from the sea, and forced us to return to our ship, greatly regretting to leave this region which seemed so commodious and delightful, and which we supposed must also contain great riches, as the hills showed many indications of minerals."

In the year 1609, a band of Dutch merchants, called the East India Company, fitted out an expedition to discover a northeast passage to the Indies. They built a vessel of about eighty tons burden, called the Half Moon, and manning her with twenty sailors, entrusted the command to an Englishman, Henry Hudson. He sailed from the Texel in his solitary vessel, upon this hazardous expedition, on the 6th of April, 1609. Doubling North Cape amid storms and fog and ice, after the rough voyage of a month, he became discouraged, and determined to change his plan and seek a northwest passage.

Crossing the Atlantic, which, in those high latitudes, seems ever to be swept by storms, he laid in a store of codfish on the banks of Newfoundland, and, on the 17th of July, ran his storm-shattered bark into what is now known as Penobscot Bay, on the coast of Maine. Here he found the natives friendly. He had lost his foremast in a storm, and remained at this place a week, preparing a new one. He had heard in Europe that there was probably a passage through the unexplored continent, to the Pacific ocean, south of Virginia. Continuing his voyage southward, he passed Cape Cod, which he supposed to be an island, and arrived on the 18th of August at the entrance of Chesapeake Bay. He then ran along the coast in a northerly direction and entered a great bay with rivers, which he named South River, but which has since received the name of the Delaware.

Still following the coast, he reached the Highlands of Neversink, on the 2d of September, and at three o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, came to what then seemed to him to be the mouths of three large rivers. These were undoubtedly the Raritan, the Narrows, and Rockaway Inlet. After careful soundings he, the next morning, passed Sandy Hook and anchored in the bay at but two cables' length from the shore. The waters around him were swarming with fish. The scenery appeared to him enchanting. Small Indian villages were clustered along the shores, and many birch canoes were seen gliding rapidly to and fro, indicating that the region was quite densely populated, and that the natives were greatly agitated if not alarmed by the strange arrival.

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