Part 11 (1/2)

Jan Evertsen-Bout, formerly an officer of the Company, came the last time in the year 1634, with the s.h.i.+p Eendracht [Union], in the service of the Honorable Michiel Paauw, and lived in Pavonia until the year 1643, and prospered tolerably. As the Honorable Company purchased the property of the Heer Paauw, the said Jan Evertsen succeeded well in the service of the Company, but as his house and barn at Pavonia were burnt down in the war, he appears to take that as a cause for complaint. It is here to be remarked, that the Honorable Company, having paid 26,000 guilders for the colony of the Heer Paauw, gave to the aforesaid Jan Evertsen, gratis, long after his house was burnt, the possession of the land upon which his house and farmstead are located, and which yielded good grain. The land and a poor unfinished house, with a few cattle, Michiel Jansen has bought for eight thousand guilders.

In brief, these people, to give their doings a gloss, say that they are bound by oath and compelled by conscience; but if that were the case they would not a.s.sail their benefactors, the Company and others, and endeavor to deprive them of this n.o.ble country, by advising their removal, now that it begins to be like something, and now that there is a prospect of the Company getting its own again. And now that many of the inhabitants are themselves in a better condition than ever, this is evidently the cause of the ambition of many, etc.

At the Hague, 29th November, 1650.

LETTER OF JOHANNES BOGAERT TO HANS BONTEMANTEL, 1655

Letter of Johannes Bogaert to Hans Bontemantel, 1655. In J. Franklin Jameson, ed., Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 (Original Narratives of Early American History). NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909.

INTRODUCTION

THE chief military exploit of Director Stuyvesant was the conquest in 1655 of the Swedish settlements on the Delaware River. New Sweden had been founded in 1638 by a party of settlers under Peter Minuit, sent out by the Swedish South Company, with private help from Dutch merchants.

The history of this little colony belongs to another volume of this series, but some account of its absorption in New Netherland should find a place in this.

At first the Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware, the former with their Fort Na.s.sau on the east side, the latter with their three forts, Nya Elfsborg on the east side, Christina and Nya Goteborg (New Gottenburg) on the west, dwelt together in amity. But compet.i.tion for the Indian trade was keen, conflicting purchases of land from the Indians gave rise to disputes, and from the beginning of Stuyvesant's administration there was friction. This he greatly increased by proceeding to the South River with armed forces, in 1651, and building Fort Casimir on the west side of the river, near the present site of Newcastle, and uncomfortably near to Fort Christina. In 1654 a large reinforcement to the Swedish colony came out under Johan Rising, who seized Fort Casimir. But the serious efforts to strengthen the colony, made by Sweden in the last year of Queen Christina and the first year of King Charles X., were made too late. The Dutch West India Company ordered Director Stuyvesant not only to retake Fort Casimir but to expel the Swedish power from the whole river. He proceeded to organize in August, 1655, the largest military force which had yet been seen in the Atlantic colonies. The best Dutch account of what it achieved is presented in translation in the following pages; the Swedish side is told by Governor Rising in a report printed in the _Collections of the New York Historical Society_, second series, I. 443-448, and in _Pennsylvania Archives_, second series, V.

222-229.(1)

(1) Rising's dates are given according to Old Style, Swedish fas.h.i.+on, Bogaert's according to New Style, as customary in the province of Holland.

Of Johannes Bogaert, author of the following letter, we know only that he was a ”writer,” or clerk. Hans Bontemantel, to whom the letter was addressed, was a director in the Amsterdam Chamber of the West India Company, and a schepen (magistrate) of Amsterdam from 1655 to 1672, in which last year he took a prominent part in bringing William III. The letter was first printed in 1858 in _De Navorscher_ (the Dutch _Notes and Queries_), VIII. 185-186. A translation by Henry C. Murphy was published the same year in _The Historical Magazine_, II. 258-259, and this, carefully revised by the present editor, appears below. For a history of New Sweden, see Professor Gregory B. Keen's chapter in Winsor's _Narrative and Critical History of America_, IV. 443-488.

LETTER OF JOHANNES BOGAERT TO HANS BONTEMANTEL, 1655

n.o.ble and Mighty Sir:

Mr. Schepen Bontemantel:

THIS is to advise your Honor of what has occurred since the 5th of September, 1655, when we sailed with our seven s.h.i.+ps,(1) composed of two yachts called the Holanse Tuijn (Dutch Frontier), the Prinses Royael (Princess Royal,) a galiot called the Hoop (Hope), mounting four guns, the flyboat Liefde (Love), mounting four guns, the yacht Dolphijn (Dolphin), vice-admiral, with four guns, the yacht Abrams Offerhande (Abraham's Offering), as rear-admiral, mounting four guns; and on the 8th arrived before the Swedish fort, named Elsener.(2) This south fort had been abandoned. Our force consisted of 317 soldiers, besides a company of sailors.(3) The general's(4) company, of which Lieutenant Nuijtingh was captain, and Jan Hagel ensign-bearer, was ninety strong.

The general's second company, of which Dirck Smit was captain, and Don Pouwel ensign-bearer, was sixty strong. Nicolaes de Silla the marshal's company, of which Lieutenant Pieter Ebel was captain, and William van Reijnevelt ensign-bearer, was fifty-five strong. The major's second company, which was composed of seamen and pilots, with Dirck Jansz Verstraten of Ossanen as their captain, boatswain's-mate Dirck Claesz of Munnikendam as ensign-bearer, and the sail-maker Jan Illisz of Honsum as lieutenant, consisted of fifty men; making altogether 317 men. The 10th, after breakfast, the fleet got under way, and ran close under the guns of Fort Casemier, and anch.o.r.ed about a cannon-shot's distance from it.

The troops were landed immediately, and General Stuijvesant dispatched Lieutenant Dirck Smit with a drummer and a white flag to the commandant, named Swen Schoeten,(5) to summon the fort. In the meantime we occupied a guard-house about half a cannon-shot distant from the fort; and at night placed a company of soldiers in it, which had been previously used as a magazine. The 11th, the commander, Swen Schoeten, sent a flag requesting to speak with the General, who consented. They came together, and after a conference the said commander surrendered Fort Casemier to the general, upon the following conditions:

(1) Six are named below. The seventh (or first) was the ”admiral” or flag-s.h.i.+p De Waegh (”The Balance”), on which the writer sailed. The Hoop was a French privateer, L'Esperance, which had just arrived at New Amsterdam and was engaged for the expedition.

(2) Nya Elfsborg.

(3) Rising states the total number of the force as 600 or 700.

(4) I.e., Stuyvesant's. In the military organization of that day, one or two companies were usually given a primary position as the ”general's own” or ”colonel's own.” Of the persons mentioned below, Nicasius de Sille was a member of the Council, and De Koningh was the captain of De Waegh.

(5) Sven Schute.

First, The commander, whenever he pleases and shall have the opportunity, by the arrival of s.h.i.+ps belonging to the crown, or private s.h.i.+ps, shall be permitted to remove from Fort Casemier the guns of the crown, large and small: consisting, according to the statement of the commander, of four iron guns and five case-shot guns, of which four are small and one is large. Second, Twelve men shall march out as the body-guard of the commander, fully accoutred, with the flag of the crown; the others with their side-arms only. The guns and muskets which belong to the crown shall be and remain at the disposition of the commandant, to take or cause them to be taken from the fort whenever the commander shall have an opportunity to do so. Third, The commander shall have all his private personal effects uninjured, in order to take them with him or to have them taken away whenever he pleases, and also the effects of all the officers. Fourth, The commander shall this day restore into the hands of the General Fort Casemier and all the guns, ammunition, materials, and other property belonging to the General Chartered West India Company. Done, concluded and signed by the contracting parties the 11th September, 1655, on board the s.h.i.+p De Waegh, lying at Fort Casemier. (Signed) Petrus Stuijvesant, Swen Schuts.(1)