Part 11 (2/2)

(1) This agrees with the official text in _N.Y. Col. Doc._, XII. 102.

The 13th, was taken prisoner the lieutenant of Fort Crist[ina], with a drummer, it being supposed that he had come as a spy upon the army, in consequence of the drummer's having no drum. The 14th, the small fleet was again under sail with the army for Verdrietige Point,(1) where they were landed. The 15th, we arrived at the west of Fort Christina, where we formed ourselves into three divisions; the major's company and his company of sailors were stationed on the south side of the creek, by the yacht Eendraght (Union), where the major constructed a battery of three guns, one eight-pounder and two six-pounders; the general's company and the field marshal's were divided into two. The marshal threw up a battery of two twelve-pounders, about northwest of the fort. The general placed a battery about north of the fort, opposite the land entrance, one hundred paces, by calculation, from the fort, and mounting one eighteen-pounder, one eight-pounder, one six-pounder, and one three-pounder.(2)

(1) On Augustin Herrman's excellent map of Maryland and Delaware, ”Virdrietige Hoeck” (Tedious Point) appears as a name of a promontory about where Marcus Hook, Pa., now is.

Rising, however, reports the Dutch as landing at Tridje Hoeck (”Third Point”), just north of Christina Creek.

(2) For a plan of the siege, derived from that made by the Swedish engineer Linstrom, see Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History of America_, IV. 480.

The 17th, the flyboat Liefde returned to the Manhathans with the Swedish prisoners. From the 17th to the 23rd nothing particular happened. Then, when we had everything ready, the governor of the fort received a letter from our general, to which our general was to have an answer the next day. The same day an Indian, whom we had dispatched on the 13th to Menades, arrived, bringing news and letters to the effect that some Dutch people had been killed at Menades by the Indians;(1) which caused a feeling of horror through the army, so that the general sent a letter immediately to the fort, that he would give them no time the next morning. Then Then the general agreed wit the Swedish governor to come together in the morning and make an arrangement. The general had a tent erected between our quarter and their fort, and there an agreement was made, whereby the governor, Johan Risingh, surrendered the fort on the 24th of September, upon the conditions mentioned in the accompanying capitulation.(2) On the 28th of September the general left with the s.h.i.+ps and yachts, and we were ordered to remain from eight to fourteen days, and let the men work daily at Fort Casemier, in the construction of ramparts.(3)

(1) A hundred were killed, a hundred and fifty taken prisoners.

(2) _N.Y. Col. Doc._, XII. 104-106.

(3) Fort Casimir was made the seat of Dutch administration on the South River. In 1657 it was named New Amstel, and the colony there was taken over by the city of Amsterdam.

The 11th of October, Governor Rijsingh and Factor Elswijck, with some Swedes, came on board, whom we carried with us to Menades. We ran out to sea for the Menades on the 12th, and on the 17th happily arrived within Sandy Hook. On the 21st we sailed for the North River, from Staten Island, by the watering-place, and saw that all the houses there, and about Molyn's house,(1) were burned up by the Indians; and we learned here that Johannes van Beeck, with his wife and some other people, and the captain of a slave-trader which was lying here at anchor with a vessel, having gone on a pleasure excursion, were attacked by the Indians, who murdered Van Beeck and the captain, and took captive his wife and sister. We found Van Beeck dead in a canoe, and buried him. His wife has got back. The general is doing all that lies in his power to redeem the captives and to make peace. Commending your Honor, with hearty salutations, to the protection of the Most High, that he will bless you and keep you in continued Health, I remain your Honor's

Obedient servant,

JOHANNES BOGAERT, Clerk.

Laus Deo, s.h.i.+p De Waegh (The Balance), The 31st October, 1655.

Hon. Mr. Schepen Bontemantel, Director of the Chartered West India Company, at Amsterdam.

(1) The house of Cornelis Melyn, on Staten Island.

LETTERS OF THE DUTCH MINISTERS TO THE CLa.s.sIS OF AMSTERDAM, 1655-1664

Reference material and sources.

Johannes Megapolensis, Samuel Drisius, and Henricus Selyns, Letters of the Dutch Ministers to the Cla.s.sis of Amsterdam, 1655-1664. 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 Dutch clergy of the Reformed Church, as has already been mentioned in a previous introduction, were men whose observations we must value because of their intelligence and their acquirements; and they also had a point of view which was to a large extent independent of the Director General and other civil officials. Hence the series of their reports to the Cla.s.sis of Amsterdam is worthy of much attention. In the absence of a continuous narrative of high importance for the years from 1655 to 1664 it has been deemed best to make use for those years of certain of these clerical letters.

Of their authors, Domine Megapolensis has been already treated, in the introduction to his tract on the Mohawks. He remained at New Amsterdam through the period of the English conquest, and died there in 1669. The Reverend Samuel Drisius (Dries) was born about 1602, of Dutch parents, but was throughout his earlier life a pastor in England, until the troubles in that country caused him to return to the Netherlands. Since he was able to preach not only in Dutch but also in English and even in French, it was natural that the Cla.s.sis should send him out to New Netherland in response to the urgent requests made for a.s.sistance to Megapolensis, especially in dealing with the non-Dutch population at New Amsterdam. He began his pastoral service there in 1653, and continued throughout the remainder of the period represented by this book. In 1669 he is reported as incapacitated by failing mental powers, and he died in 1673. Domine Henricus Selyns was examined as a candidate for the ministry in 1657, ordained by the Cla.s.sis in 1660, called to Breukelen and inducted there in that year. He returned to Holland in 1664, before the surrender, but came back to New York in 1682 as minister of the Collegiate Church, and died there in 1701.

John Romeyn Brodhead, at the time of his remarkable mission to the Netherlands (1841), included in his endeavors a search for Dutch ecclesiastical papers bearing on New Netherland. The letters which follow were among those which he found in Amsterdam, in the archives of the Cla.s.sis. In 1842 they were Lent, in 1846 given, by the Cla.s.sis to the General Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church in America. To this material large Additions were made by a further search carried out in 1897-1898, by the Reverend Dr. Edward T. Corwin, acting as agent of that church, who is responsible for the translations which follow. An account of all this ecclesiastical material, under the t.i.tle ”The Amsterdam Correspondence,” was printed by him in 1897 in the eight volume of the _Papers of the American Society of Church History_. He edited the material for publication in the first volume of the series called _Ecclesiastical Records, State of New York_, published by the state in 1901. The letters which follow are taken, with slight revision, from various pages (from page 334 to page 562) of that volume.

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