p129  VI

Intruders, Forts, and Beaver Trade

In the summer of 1633, Arent Corssen, an employee of the West India Company, was sent from Manhattan to Fort Nassau. He crossed the Delaware River, sailed up the Schuylkill, and there purchased a small plot of land from the Passayunk Indians. The place was called Armenveruis, presumably an Indian word, but what it means is unknown; however, it was one of the places where a Minquas trail touched the river. There he erected a small, crudely built trading post — not a permanent station, but a shelter to occupy when trade with the Indians was in process.⁠1 This was the first gesture indicating awareness by the Company that the western side of the Delaware could be potentially important in the fur trade. Now the Dutch sloops sent from Manhattan could make two profitable stops, first at Fort Nassau and next at the hut Corssen built — and they still had the beaver trade practically to themselves. Unknown to them, other nationals were preparing to challenge that monopoly.

In the fall of 1634 the two Englishmen previously mentioned, Thomas Yong and his nephew and lieutenant Robert Evelyn, came into the Delaware River, but neither in his writings made  p130 reference to Fort Nassau or the Dutch trading post on the Schuylkill. They did, however, encounter Dutch trading vessels, and Yong said they "came to trade as formerly they had done." In his "Relation" he deliberately avoided reference to prior Dutch occupation on the Delaware. In the letter he addressed to Sir Francis Windebanke accompanying the Relation, he indicated he intended to build a fortification on the Delaware; see the complete letter in Appendix B. Yong may not have known about Swanendael and the settlement on Burlington Island, both of which were vacated at the time of his visit, but he certainly knew about Fort Nassau. There was a good reason why he did not mention the Dutch in terms of their having fortified or settled on the Delaware. The special commission issued to him by the king, "to search, discover and find out what parts are not yet inhabited in Virginia and other parts thereto adjoining," contained the following qualification:

Obviously, any admission by Yong of Dutch possession would have invalidated his right to claim that territory for his sovereign and his own personal gain. His expedition was at his own expense, and his commission empowered him to seize unsettled territory and to prohibit others from trading or settling there without getting a license from him. If he found gold, silver, or precious stones he was permitted to retain four-fifths, rendering one-fifth to the Crown. Furthermore — and this was overlooked by Myers and others — Yong was given authority "to make and set up Factories [i.e., trading houses where factors, or agents, could be  p131 stationed] in any place he shall discover, and there to fortify with Fortresses and Ordnance, and leave as many of our Subjects with Arms, Munition and other Provision at the discretion of the said Thomas Yong, as to himself shall seem needfull, thereby to resist those Nations and Countries that shall attempt by force to expell them from thence. . . ."

Yong's "Relation" says nothing about stationing men on the Delaware, but the accompanying letter to Windebanke indicates his intention of building a fort, which would obviously require a garrison. James Waye, in a deposition made in 1684 (see Appendix B), states that such a settlement was "made by one Peter Holmes an Englishman near fifty years since [i.e., 1634] brought thither by one Captain Young at a place called Arrowamex." Waye's phraseology is confusing — it is not clear whether he meant that Yong placed Holmes and others at Arrowamex to establish an English base (after he had written his letter to Windebanke) or whether Holmes was one of a party landed by Yong in Virginia, who later came up the Delaware to take possession. The only other evidence that can be found to clarify the incident is in Governor Berkeley's letter of protest to the Swedes, written in 1642. The following passage suggests that Yong brought settlers, including Holmes, and placed them on the Delaware:

 p132  As he agreed to do before departing from England, Yong sent Lieutenant Evelyn as his courier back to England, via Virginia, with a relation of his travels and the letter to Windebanke, dated October 20, 1634. Both communications were written while he was still lying in the Delaware River; since neither missive refers to a settlement having been made, he must have placed Holmes and his party at Arrowamex sometime after they were written.

Yong had another objective on this voyage, and there was only veiled reference to it in his commission. He was seeking that elusive goal that Henry Hudson and dozens of earlier adventurers had failed to find; namely, the all-water passage to the Orient. Thus, after taking possession of the Delaware for England, and assuring himself that he could not pass through it to the western ocean, he evidently left a party of men and departed to seek the passage through the waters of New England. In leaving the men on the Delaware he was implementing his commission, which authorized him to "leave as many of our Subjects with Arms, Munition and other Provision . . . thereby to resist those Nations and Countries that shall attempt by force to expell them from thence and to keep and defend for Us the said Countries, Ports and Places."

There is no problem in identifying the place Arrowamex where these Englishmen were seated. The word is an English rendition of the form Arwarmus, which Peter Lourenson stated was the name of the place where Fort Nassau was located. In a letter written to Sir Edmund Plowden's wife, Robert Evelyn refers to the place as Eriwoneck, stating it was "where we sate down." The name, an Algonkian word of unknown meaning, occurs in many variants, depending upon the ear conditioning of the scribe recording it. In its various forms it was also used to describe the Indians in the neighborhood, e.g. Armeomeks, Amewanninge, Ermemormhai, Armewamese, and so on. These Indians were not friendly to the whites — they were among a  p133 larger group who attempted to murder de Vries and his men when he visited Fort Nassau in 1633, and they attacked some of the Dutch settlers during Hudde's administration.

If credence can be given to James Waye's deposition, it was a threatened Indian attack that caused Holmes and his party to leave Arrowamex, aided by the Dutch. The Dutch had a different version of this incident, and their account provides a very interesting item of information: the English party had indeed "sate down" at Arrowamex, but the place of their seating was in the Dutch-built Fort Nassau! Furthermore, as soon as Yong had left the river, either the Dutch ousted the Englishmen or the latter decided to leave due to a threatened Indian attack. On September 1, 1635, the English party was in Manhattan, and de Vries relates in his Journal what happened:

De Vries said the English commander was "named Mr. Joris Hooms," probably the same person as the aforementioned Peter Holmes.⁠4 This passage from de Vries has been generally interpreted to mean that the Dutch captured the English intruders at  p134 Fort Nassau, taking them to Manhattan as prisoners. De Vries' words, however, do not make this a certainty, and viewed in light of the James Waye deposition it can be argued that the Englishmen asked the Dutch to take them away. De Vries carried the English party to Point Comfort in Virginia, as directed, arriving there September 10, 1635. There he found another vessel with twenty Englishmen preparing to sail to the Delaware to reinforce their countrymen. De Vries' arrival resulted in cancellation of the operation — thus the Dutch had success­fully blocked the first English attempt to seat the Delaware.

The West India Company now began to have fears about the security of its position on the Delaware. The various directors and their councils at Manhattan had taken the Delaware for granted, but now the growing English colonies in New England and Virginia seemed to be closing in on New Netherland from the north and south. If the Walloons had not been withdrawn a decade earlier, or if Swanendael had been reoccupied when the company bought the lands from the patroons, the colony on the Delaware might have grown strong enough to deter intruders — but the Company had not been so inclined. It would seem to have been an error of judgment, for now the directors found it necessary to consolidate a poorly held position, at a late date when their enemies were strong, and at a cost that the Company could not well afford. Already the expense of developing commerce in New Netherland was cutting deep into the Company's profits — and now Fort Nassau must be strengthened and properly garrisoned to deter further English encroachment.

In 1636 or 1637 a group of soldiers was sent from Manhattan to Fort Nassau, with Jan Jansen of Ilpendam appointed commis and Peter Mey his assistant. About this time Gillis Pietersen van der Gouw, a master house carpenter, was sent to build "a large house" to replace the former house then in disrepair.⁠5 In 1638  p135 the Company sent Jan Pietersen of Essenfeldt as surgeon at a salary of ten florins a month.⁠6 Nothing was done to improve, strengthen, or expand the position on the Schuylkill — the officials stubbornly clung to the notion that a stronger Fort Nassau was the key to the Indian trade on the Delaware.

In the spring of 1638 a new threat challenged the Dutch position: Peter Minuit, the former director-general of New Netherland, but now out of favor, had found employment with another company formed in Sweden, and into the Delaware he sailed with two vessels under Swedish colors! It was only Minuit's former high position with the West India Company that made his new situation appear an unusual one; actually, many Dutch soldiers served in Swedish armies, and Dutch skippers commanded Swedish vessels. Dutch brains and finances developed some of the Swedish industries and there was considerable intercourse between the two nations.

Before starting to build the stronghold called Fort Christina (at the mouth of the Christina River, thus controlling access to a major route to the Minquas country on the west bank) Minuit sent a sloop up the Delaware to investigate the status of Fort Nassau. Not having been in America for six years, he did not know whether or not Nassau was occupied, or what changes might have taken place there under the administration of his successors. His doubts were soon ended — as the sloop passed the fort, the sailors could see the new building and the activity on the shore. After reporting back to Minuit, the sloop undertook a second trip up the river, and this time Peter Mey sailed out from the fort to challenge the intruders. At this moment Jan Jansen, Mey's superior, was on a trip to Manhattan; later he returned to issue a formal protest to Minuit from the newly arrived Governor Kieft. Kieft's letter was blunt and uncompromising. He warned Minuit that he was trespassing on Dutch property; that  p136 he objected to Minuit's building a fort on the Company's lands' that the Dutch would hold him responsible for all "damages, expenses and losses, together with all mishaps, bloodsheds and disturbances, which may arise in future time therefrom and that we shall maintain our jurisdiction in such manner, as we shall deem most expedient."⁠7

Minuit ignored Kieft's threats. They didn't come as a surprise to him, for he had expected the Dutch would object once they got wind of what he was doing; he had a good idea how they would react, because he had previously held the position Kieft now occupied. Minuit had also correctly anticipated that if there were a garrison at Fort Nassau, it would not be strong enough to prevent the execution of his plans, and that the Company's offices at Manhattan would not be disposed to send ships and soldiers to drive him away.

After buying land on the western shore of the river from the Indians, Minuit built the stronghold he called Fort Christina in honor of the Swedish queen. The members of his company promptly started to barter with the Indians for beaver pelts, underselling the Dutch agents. When the full realization of what was happening dawned on Kieft, he was prompted to make an eloquent understatement: "to behold this contentedly, to be thus hectored, deprived of the trade and robbed of our land is a vast annoyance."⁠8

With the Swedes consolidating their position at Fort Christina, the English from New Haven beginning to send traders to the Delaware, and the English of Virginia eager to share in the Minquas trade, Fort Nassau was at the most critical period in its history. Its support became a heavier drain than ever on the Company when measured against the decline in the receipt of furs — now the Swedes and English were getting part of the  p137 business that had heretofore belonged exclusively to the Dutch. Fort Nassau was too weak, its garrison in 1640 consisting of only twenty men; and it was not placed strategically to prevent Swedish activity on the opposite side of the river. Kieft wrote in 1640 that he was attempting to treat the Swedes with all civility, but they were "forcibly sailing up past our fort, trading, threatening to run off with our sloop, and so forth."⁠9

On one occasion Jan Jansen attempted a display of strength by firing three cannon shot and a musket ball at a Swedish sloop passing the fort, but he did no damage.⁠10 The Swedes at this time, although few in number, were probably strong enough to have seized the Dutch fort, but it was of no use militarily or commercially, and, moreover, they preferred to pursue their own ends peacefully and without open conflict with the Dutch. Swedish and Dutch interests coincided on one important issue; neither wanted the English in the Delaware Valley. Nevertheless, the English came, and it was primarily the quest for furs that brought them.

In 1642 a party of New Haven English under the leader­ship of Nathaniel Turner had previously traded with the Indians in the Delaware area, and James Waye (see his deposition in Appendix B) stated that these same English had settled in 1641 at "Wattseson" (Watcessit), a place on the Salem River, then called Varckens Kill. After establishing their little colony on the east side of the Delaware and south of Fort Nassau they sent a party of men to build on the Schuylkill where they could make ready contact with the Minquas. The Dutch could not tolerate this threat to their commerce; they reinforced Jansen with two sloops, the Real and the St. Martin, with orders to drive the English away.⁠11 He then "destroyed Lamberton's  p138 house then in the Schuylkill" and carried the English occupants off to Manhattan as prisoners for trespassing on Dutch land.⁠12 Yet the English could produce Indian deeds to prove they had bought the land, for both Lamberton and Turner had rounded up the Indian chiefs and native owners and paid them handsomely for land rights. James Waye was present when the negotiations were made, and goods equal to forty pounds sterling were given the Indians for land along the western bank of the Delaware from the Schuylkill all the way down to the sea! An English version of the incident provides additional details regarding Jansen's actions:

Although the settlers from New Haven had been ousted, the Delaware would soon have English visitors from the more northerly Massachusetts Bay Colony. There had been formed in Boston a syndicate of merchants who were given a trade  p139  monopoly for twenty-one years to seek out a great lake supposed to lie in the northwest part of the territory from whence the profitable beaver trade was supposed to originate. Access to this region was believed to be southerly via the Delaware River system, and the merchants outfitted a pinnace with provisions and trading stuff in 1644. William Aspinwall, a resident of Boston, was in charge of the party of fourteen men. In his journal, Governor Winthrop gave the English view of what happened to the expedition:

What really happened was this:

Neither the Swedes nor Dutch wanted Aspinwall's party (or any other English) in the Delaware, but neither wanted openly to obstruct the Puritans. Governor Printz and Governor Kieft had agreed that these English really intended, in Printz's words, to "erect a fort above our post at Zanchikan [Sankikans] and equip and garrison it with people and cannon and then to strengthen  p140 their position there, so as to draw to themselves the entire profit of the River here."

Although Kieft allowed Aspinwall to sail past Manhattan en route to the Delaware, he promptly sent orders to Jansen to prevent his going above Fort Nassau. Printz agreed with Kieft secretly that he, too, would pretend to be friendly to the English, but would do everything possible to prevent them from executing their plans. As a result of this conniving, Aspinwall was forced to turn back without achieving his objective. His situation was made worse because the captain of his little vessel was a drunkard and "when they should have left the vessel to have gone up the lake in a small boat, he would in his drunkenness have betrayed their goods, etc. to the Dutch, whereupon they gave over and returned home; and bringing their action against the master both for his drunkenness and denial to proceed as they required, and as by charter party he was bound, they recovered two hundred pounds from him, which was too much, though he did deal badly with them, for it was very probable they could not have proceeded."

Johan Printz, long experienced in Swedish military strategy, now began to move aggressively in the direction of blocking the Dutch. At this moment, so far as the Swedes were concerned, the Dutch were a more formidable competitor than the English. When Printz arrived in 1643 in the area Minuit had first named "New Sweden," he quickly sized up the situation. Evidently he saw the untenability of the Dutch position at Fort Nassau; he recognized the importance of the western side of the Delaware and the Schuylkill and Christina systems in pursuing the beaver trade with the Minquas. While pretending friendship with Kieft (witness his cooperation in preventing Aspinwall from seating his people), he proceeded to strengthen the Swedish position against the Dutch. He did what the Dutch could have done years before: lower down the river on the east shore he built Fort Elfsborgh, by  p141 means of which, according to a Dutch report, "he closes the entrance of the River so that all vessels, either these arriving from here [Manhattan] or other places, are compelled to cast anchor . . . to obtain his consent . . . no matter whether they are Englishmen or Hollanders and regardless of their commissions.⁠15

Among the buildings erected by Printz, three in the Schuylkill area were intended to further Swedish beaver trade with the Minquas before they reached the banks of the Delaware. The first post, called Fort Nya Korsholm, was described as being "on a very convenient spot on an island near the edge of the Kill, which is from the west side secured by another kill and from the south-south-east and east sides with underwood and valley lands."⁠16 This was the place where Corssen had built his little trading house, which the Swedes removed before building their post.

The description of the place where the second fort was built reads as follows: "at a little distance from this fort [Nya Korsholm] runs a Kill extending to the forest, which place is named Kinsessing by the Savages." The second fort was called by the Swedes, Fort Vasa or Wasa.⁠17

 p142  The third fort, "built on the same Minquas road," was named Molndall, and here Printz erected a water-powered grist mill, as well as a log blockhouse.⁠18 The Indian name of this place was Kakarikonk.⁠19

A Dutchman looking this situation over wrote, "Thus no access to the Minquas is left open and he, too, controls nearly all the trade of the Savages on the [Delaware] River, as the greatest part of them go a hunting in that neighborhood [the area drained by the Schuylkill, especially its upper branches] which they are not able to do without passing this place [Kakarikonk]."⁠20

Printz could confidently report early in 1647 that "when the great traders the Minquas wish to travel to the Dutch trading place or their house, Nassau," they were now obliged to pass his posts, where he could negotiate for their furs.⁠21 Not only did Printz control the territory and trade routes, but he made commerce with the Swedes more attractive to the Indians by allowing the "wild people to obtain the necessary things they need for somewhat more moderate price than they are getting them of the Hollanders from Fort Nassau or the adjacent English."⁠22

Jan Jansen must have tried to meet Swedish competition, for he was accused of wronging the Company by "giving more to the Indians than the ordinary rate." The complaint against him  p143 included other instances of alleged misfeasance, and on October 12, 1645, his case was tried in Manhattan. Andries Hudde was sent to Fort Nassau provisionally to examine the books, take physical inventory of the goods and "to excercise command there as commissary until further orders."⁠23 Hudde was capable, intelligent, aggressive; he was well educated, experienced as a surveyor, and had been in the Company's employ at Manhattan as a "commis of stores" as early as 1634.⁠24 Upon his arrival at Fort Nassau, he lost no time in making a complete survey of the situation. He not only saw the piti­ful condition of the small supply of merchandise, but he quickly recognized that the fort was ineffective to compete in the beaver trade with the Swedes, who held superior geographical positions.

Hudde was not to be frightened by the bravado of Governor Printz, and he told him confidently that "the place, which we possess, we possess in right owner­ship and have had a just title to them, perhaps before the South River was heard of in Sweden." ⁠25 Hudde received his answer while he and his wife were dining with the Swedish governor. "The Devil," said Printz, in a response that has been recorded, "was the oldest proprietor of Hell, but that he might even admit a younger one!"⁠26

Among the members of Hudde's garrison were Sander Boyer, who was both quartermaster and interpreter to the Indians, and David Davitsen and Jacob Hendricksen, soldiers.⁠27 Two of the freemen then at the fort were Philip Gerraert and Juriaen Planck. The latter was supercargo of a private sloop sent with merchandise to trade with the Indians. These names were taken from one of Hudde's reports — there were others, but he did not name them at this time.

 p144  Dutch strategy now, at long last, was to try again to place permanent residents on the Delaware, and in 1646 Kieft granted one hundred morgens of land [a morgen was about 2,900 square yards] to Abraham Planck, Symon Root, Jan Andriesen, and Pieter Harmensen.⁠28 The land was on the west side of the river "opposite to a little island called 't Vogele Sant [the Birds Sand]" and the intention of the grantees was to establish "four bouweries or plantations and to cultivate them within a year from date, or earlier, if possible."

Hudde was also instructed to buy a certain specified plot from the Indians, which he did on September 25, 1646; this is one of the earliest purchases from the Indians which relates to specific land now included within the limits of the present city of Philadelphia. See Appendix B for the complete document, herein published for the first time.

In 1647, the militant Peter Stuyvesant replaced Kieft as Director-General of New Netherland, bringing considerable experience as a soldier. Kieft's vessel was lost at sea on the return voyage and he was never heard of again. Through the Bontemantel documents we learn that he had taken with him many of the New Netherland records, including documents pertaining to the South River, and all of these went down with the vessel.⁠29

 p145  Printz had maintained very friendly relations with Kieft, but he would soon learn that the new Dutch commander was too much like himself, and not of a mind to tolerate threats or insults to his employers or his government. Shortly after his arrival, Stuyvesant ordered Hudde to erect a new house at Fort Nassau and put everything there in repair. He sent boards, building materials, and a house carpenter named Pieter Cornelissen to do the work.⁠30 He authorized Hudde to discharge and give a former Company employee, Jan't Dyrsen, and a companion, a place to build a house near Fort Nassau if he thought it advisable.⁠31 Stuyvesant was also aware of the importance of pla­cing permanent residences in an area under dispute, something his predecessors had not foreseen.

Starting with Stuyvesant's appointment and continuing until 1651, a series of "incidents" characterized Dutch-Swedish affairs, and the friendly relations of the Kieft and Printz administrations no longer existed; things became progressively worse as each moved to block the other. The turning point came when Hudde, who now recognized that Fort Nassau could not control the Delaware regardless of how well it was built or how its garrison was strengthened, urged Stuyvesant to permit him to build a stronghouse on the Schuylkill. Hudde painted the crisis with such clarity that Stuyvesant immediately saw there was no alternative.

Hudde knew that with three Swedish posts flourishing at key locations there remained only one place in the Schuylkill open to Dutch traders as an anchorage for convenient barter with the Minquas. Then, when he received intelligence that the Swedes were laying up hemlock logs near that very place, he feared they  p146 would erect a fourth fort which would completely exclude the Dutch. He wrote as follows:

To carry out his orders, Hudde met on April 24, 1648, with the principal Passayunk chiefs, who consented to his building a trading post at the site in question; in fact, they gavehim a plot of land on which to build! He reported further that Mattahorn and Wissemenetto, two of the principal chiefs, "themselves took and planted there the Prince's flag and ordered me to fire three shots as a sign of possession."⁠33

On April 27 he started to erect the post called Fort Beversreede, evidently a small structure, but he does not describe it except to state it was surrounded by palisades.⁠34 The exact location of the fort is not known, but it was on the east bank of the river in the present district known as Passayunk.⁠35 The name is derived from two Dutch words meaning "beaver road," i.e., "the road of the beaver." Needless to say, the Swedes strongly opposed this project, but if we can believe Hudde, the Indians supported him and turned to several of the Swedes and asked:

In receipt of these exciting reports from Hudde, Stuyvesant, ever eager for action, decided it was time to make a personal inspection of Fort Nassau and Fort Beversreede; he reasoned that a commander should make his own appraisal of a critical situation whenever possible. He made two attempts to leave in the vessel Prince William, but each time adverse weather forced him back to port.⁠37 When the weather cleared he was forced to cancel the trip due to pressing business, sending in his place Lubberthus van Dincklage (also given as Lubbert van Dinklagen), his vice-director, and Dr. Jean de la Montagne, a physician and councillor. The two officials arrived at Fort Nassau on June 7, 1648.⁠38 Hudde arranged for them to confer three days later with the principal Passayunk chiefs at Beversreede who owned the district Armenveruis, namely, Amattehooren (Mattahorn), Alibakinne, and Sinquees. There they reconfirmed the land purchase  p148 made in 1643 by Arent Corssen; the new document they drew up for the records was worded to indicate that Corssen had bought more than the district called Armenveruis, for there is reference to "adjoining lands." The officials from Manhattan then gave the chiefs the balance owed them by Corssen, who had not paid in full for the lands.⁠39 It is possible that retroactively they were making Corssen's purchase seem more important than it was, because it was now necessary for the Dutch to be able to prove to the Swedes that they occupied the lands by right of bona fide purchase from the Indians! Witnesses to the instrument, in the spelling given, were "Augustyn Heermans,⁠40 Govert Loockermans,⁠41 Jeuriaen Planck, Cornelis Jansen Coele, Sander Leendertsen."⁠42

The two emissaries also authorized certain Dutch colonists to take up land and build houses. Next they paid a visit to Governor Printz's log mansion on Tinicum Island to register official protest against his actions. They were not graciously received, and Hoygen and Papegaya "kept their Honors standing in the open air in the rain for about half an hour."⁠43

Stuyvesant continued to encourage colonists and traders to leave Manhattan and settle on the Delaware, particularly in the  p149 Schuylkill region, something that his predecessors might have done years before. The Swedes did everything in their power to thwart his design by interfering with the house building and trading. Thomas Broen started to build a house at a place called New Hooven (New Farm) and it was promptly pulled down by the Swedes.⁠44 Symon Root, an Englishman in Dutch service, attempted to build a house at Wigquakoing (one of the variants of Wicacoa, Indian name for the section of present-day Philadelphia purchased by Hudde from the Indians), but the Swedes interfered.⁠45 A house under construction by Hans Jacobsen on the Schuylkill was torn down and burnt, and Jacobsen was threatened with bodily injury if he tried to rebuild.⁠46 Jan Geraet came to trade in the vessel Siraen, and Printz confiscated some of his arms and powder.⁠47 Stuyvesant granted land on the "Mastermaecker's Hook" jointly to Symon Root, Peter Harmensen, and Cornelis Mauritsen; but the Swedes promptly destroyed a second house there that Root had started to build.⁠48 Johannes Marcus and Harman Jansen witnessed this incident in company with Adriaen van Tienhoven. Jacob Claesen and Antony Pietersen also complained of Swedish interference with their plans to build on the same island. ⁠49 Juriaen Planck came to trade in the sloop Zeepaert, and he ran into Swedish opposition.⁠50

Among the "Swedes" mentioned by name in the Dutch complaints were Gustaf Printz, son of the governor; Henry Huygen, the commissary; Gregory van Dyck, sergeant; Mans Kling, a lieutenant, then stationed at Fort Nya Korsholm; Sven Skute, another lieutenant; Carell Jenssen, a bookkeeper; and  p150 Johan Papegaya, Printz's son-in‑law. Huygen, a relative of Peter Minuit, and van Dyck were Dutchmen in Swedish employ, and Jenssen was a Finn. Not only were the Swedish forces made up of non-Swedish nationals, but some of the "Dutch" were of English and Scandinavian origin. A settler on the Delaware during this period would have benefited from knowledge of the Iroquoian tongue (spoken by the Minquas), the Algonkian (spoken by the Passayunks and other Delaware River Indians), as well as Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, and English, spoken by his associates or competitors.

On September 20, 1647, Hudde was reappointed commis on the Delaware, but in the fall of 1648 he was summoned to Manhattan to answer charges brought against him by van Dincklage of "Unfaithfulness toward the Company."⁠51 During his absence, Alexander (Sander) Boyer, serving as "deputy commissary," dispatched a letter complaining of Swedish encroachment and also of the need for more merchandise for use in the Indian trade. The Swedes, he related, had erected, on September 19, a building "right in front of our Fort Bevers reede."⁠52 He said that the Swedish building was thirty to thirty-five feet in length, twenty-five feet wide, and that the rear gable "comes within about 12 feet of the gate of the fort." This meant that Dutch sloops coming up the Schuylkill to trade with the Indians found a Swedish post at the anchoring place, blocking access to their own building.⁠53 To meet this emergency, Boyer stated he had only "six able-bodied men" in the two forts, Nassau and Beversreede, evidently referring to himself, David Davitsen,  p151 Adriaen van Tienhoven, Pieter Harmansen, Symon Root, and Andries Luycassen.

Hudde returned to Fort Nassau October 18, 1648, bringing with him several freemen, "to whom letter patents were issued to settle and build on the Schuylkill."⁠54 He had been cleared of the charges brought against him and resumed his position with Stuyvesant's full endorsement. He needed every ounce of moral and physical support that he could get to cope with the bold actions of the audacious warrior, Printz. Some of the Swedes cut down fruit trees on the Beversreede property — another one, Peter Joachim by name, broke down some of the palisades, "hacking with great violence the woodwork to pieces."⁠55 A garden behind Beversreede, planted by Cornelis Mourissen, Symon Root, and Philip Jansen, was destroyed and the fence around it burnt by Printz's soldiers.

Peter Cornelissen and Reynier Dominicus (both were house carpenters) prepared to build a dwelling on an island in the Schuylkill called Harommuny (or Aharommuny), but the Swedes destroyed the timbers. Sander Leendertsen, Abraham Stats, and Gerrit Hendricksen were granted land on the same island, and were also prevented from building by armed Swedes.⁠56

Thomas Broen was given permission by Stuyvesant to live at Mantas Hook (on the east side of the Delaware south of Fort Nassau), but Printz bought the identical land from the Indians and set up the Swedish coat of arms to block the Dutch.⁠57 Printz also tried to buy lands from the Indians immediately above Fort Nassau. This activity on the eastern side of the river added insult to the injuries already inflicted by the Swedes.

The incidents herein cited — as well as others — were enumerated  p152 in a formal letter of protest addressed to Stuyvesant by the principal residents and traders then in the Fort Beversreede environs. The signatories were "Symon Root, Cornelis Mourisen bont, Pieter Cornelissen, Juriaen Planck, Philip Jansen, Jan Gerardy⁠58 and Sander Govertsen." Witnesses to the letter were "Marten Cryger, A. Hudde, L. Jansen, Abraham Staets."⁠59 The letter makes reference to "our families," indicating the presence of women and children.

Stuyvesant now realized that Printz had effectively outflanked Fort Nassau with his three fortified posts on the Schuylkill; that the Swedes' Fort Elfsborgh could keep Nassau or Beversreede from being supplied or reinforced by water; that the Swedes now had the upper hand in the Indian trade on the Delaware; that it was much too late to expect to correct the situation by pla­cing a handful of Dutch settlers on the Schuylkill. It had now become a military problem of major proportions, and after poring over his maps and costs, the old soldier Stuyvesant prepared for action. After secret, but thorough, preparation, he marched overland from Manhattan to Fort Nassau with a force of one‑hundred-and-twenty armed men. There he had a prearranged rendezvous with eleven Dutch vessels that had sailed down the coast, into Delaware Bay, and up the river to meet him. This was the most power­ful attacking force that had ever been seen in the Delaware. The Swedes were not able to repel this pincer movement applied by land and sea; in fact, they offered no resistance.

Stuyvesant then proceeded to try to win the support and cooperation of the Indian owners of the lands on the Delaware  p153 by paying them off in return for clear title. The irony of the situation is apparent — almost thirty years earlier, when the Dutch were the only Europeans in the Delaware Valley, they could have negotiated with the Indians for right to occupy any place or places they desired, and at their own price. Now the Swedes claimed that the Dutch had defaulted in this obligation, and they had bought the western side of the Delaware from the rightful owners, the Indians. The territory belonged to them, not the Dutch! Printz stated categorically that the land the Swedes had purchased from the Indians included the whole west side of the Delaware River "from Cape Henlopen up to Sanchikans in which the adjacent Schuylkill was included."⁠60

Meeting with the three principal Lenape chiefs, Mattahorn, Pemenetta, and Sinques, at Fort Nassau, Stuyvesant asked them through Sander Boyer, his interpreter, "what and how much land the Swedes had bought from the Sachems or Chiefs of this river."⁠61 Wise old Mattahorn, acting as spokesman, evaded the question; all nations coming here were welcome, he said, and they had sold their land to the first who asked it; the Dutch, as everyone knew, had been the earliest comers and discoverers.

Stuyvesant persisted; he wanted a direct answer, because the plan of action he had designed depended upon it. After reflection, Mattahorn told the Dutchman exactly what he wanted to hear: the Indians had sold Minuit only a tiny plot of land on the Minquas Kill big enough to set "a house on, and a Plantation included between 6 trees." Mattahorn declared further that "neither the Swedes nor any other nation had bought lands of them as right owners, except the patch on which Fort Christina stood, and that all the other houses of the Swedes, built at Tinnecongh [Tinicum Island, where Printz had his mansion], Hingeesingh [Kinsessing], in the Schuylkill and at other places  p154 were set up there against the will and consent of the Indians, and that neither they, nor any other natives had received anything therefor."⁠62

But how about the plot on the Schuylkill sold to Arent Corssen and reconfirmed by Stuyvesant's emissaries three years before? Yes, Mattahorn admitted, that plot belonged to the Dutch. Then Stuyvesant came to the main issue, the key to his plan of retaliation against the Swedes, using their own legal weapon — Indian deeds of sale. How about the land south of the Minquas Kill to the mouth of the river? Had that that area been sold to the Swedes? To this Mattahorn replied, "Why do you ask that question so often? We told you the lands are not sold to any person." Stuyvesant then asked the final and critical question — if this land was not sold, would the Indians now sell it to him?

The three sachems deliberated over this request, because they did not want to be maneuvered into a position which would antagonize their Swedish neighbors. At the same time they saw the importance of maintaining friendly relations with the Dutch, whose show of strength had made a big impression on them. The reply they gave to Stuyvesant was a diplomatic classic. One wishes it had been preserved in their own Algonkian idiom. As it comes down to us in an English version of a Dutch translation of the Lenape words, it reads as follows:

Stuyvesant promptly had a document drawn up, sent down and sealed, to indicate that the native owners "have this 9 July given  p155 and voluntarily presented to Peter Stuyvesant" the land in which on the western side of the Delaware. It extended from the west point of the present Christina River, called Suppeckongh in the document ("at the muddy river"), south to Boompjes hook (Bompties: "little trees").⁠64 Although the document stated the land was received by Stuyvesant as a gift, he slyly paid off the Indians with "twelve coats of duffels, twelve kettles, twelve axes, 12 adzes, 24 knives, 12 bars of lead, and four guns with some powder." The goods were itemized in a second document marked "secret" which Stuyvesant and the Indian chief signed on July 19.⁠65

The European witnesses to the first paper give the following spellings of their names: "Wilhelmus Grasmeer, clergy­man, Cornelis de Potter, Isacck Alderton,⁠66 Bryan Neuton,⁠67 George Baxter [an ensign in Stuyvesant's forces], A. Hudde, Alexander Boyer, as Interpreter, R. de Haes, the mark of Jan Andriessen⁠68 . . . Marten Cregier, Lieutenant of New Amsterdam burghess company, Abraham Starters, Surgeon and elder of Renslaers Wyck."

The second and secret document was witnessed by: "Cornelis de Potter, Abraham Staes, Martin Kriegier, Gysbert Opdyck, Abraham Verplanck, Adriaen Dircksen Coen, Adriaen van Thienhoven, Egbert van Borsum [a skipper], Peter Caspersen, Joost  p156 Michelsen, Jacob Janssen huys [another skipper], Wilhelmus Grasmeer, clergy­man, Daniel Michielssen."⁠69

The above names, as well as those previously cited in this chapter, have been introduced to show exactly those individuals, either of Dutch birth or foreigners in the employ of the Company, who were present on the Delaware during this critical period. Some of them were residents — others were here as traders — still others were members of Stuyvesant's forces.

Stuyvesant dismantled Fort Nassau, salvaging the cannon and other military supplies; Fort Beversreede was evidently abandoned also. Then he sailed down the Delaware with his fleet, taking with him certain individuals who had previously been sent for the purpose of building homes. As the legal owner of the land south of the Christina, Stuyvesant landed at an unoccupied place on the west bank of the river below Fort Christina known as the santhoek ("sand hook"). There was then a sandy spit extending into the river, affording a good landing place.⁠70 On this site the final stages of his plan materialized; he built a strong fortress, larger than Nassau, having four bastions. He named it Fort Casimir, probably in honor of Count Ernest Casimir of Nassau, one of heroes of his native Friesland. He installed the cannon from Fort Nassau and other ordnance at the new fort and appointed Gerrit Bicker as commander, with the faithful Andries Hudde as the commis.⁠71

The whole movement — from the rendezvous of his fleet with the ground forces at Fort Nassau, the acquisition of land from the Indians, the building of the new fort — had been a master stroke. It was accomplished without the shedding of a drop of blood; it  p157 again brought the Dutch into full control of the Delaware. Fort Casimir could be of far greater logistic value than Fort Christina or any other Swedish post on the river. No ship could pass up the Delaware without being challenged by the Dutch. The Swedish colonists could be cut off from incoming vessels and their import and export trade with the Old World strangled if the Dutch so willed, provided they held and defended the new location. They were also in a position to dominate the profitable fur trade with the Minquas, now that they were established on the west side of the river. But, as history has revealed, the Dutch were not destined any more than the Swedes to remain masters of the Delaware. The period of their control at Fort Casimir would last only a few years until the English assumed authority. There were many factors contributing to the decline of the Dutch, not the least being the sharp differences of opinion among the merchant stockholders of the West India Company and the utter failure of the Company to give their Delaware settlements sufficient financial and moral support.

Some persons in Holland recognized the importance of furthering the colonization of the Delaware; but, failing to get the Company's support, they arranged to settle under Swedish auspices. On November 2, 1642, a party of Dutch settlers from Utrecht arrived at Fort Christina under the leader­ship of Joost van Bogaert, who had been in New Netherland earlier and had been a member of Verhulst's council.⁠72 Evidently these Bogaert followers settled a short distance from Fort Christina, which made the Swedish authorities feel a little uncomfortable; when Printz left Sweden to take charge of the colony, he was instructed to tell them "to leave that place and betake themselves further away from said fort." ⁠73 It is not certain where these Dutch ultimately settled, but their community did not survive and the members  p158 apparently scattered and settled among the Swedes and other Dutch.⁠74

Ten years later Governor Printz, in a letter written to Chancellor Oxenstierna from the Delaware, made reference to the fact that ". . . although the Hollanders have settled strongly here and there between us, as now this year [1652] a man from Holland, called Barkhofen, has settled on the eastern side of our [Delaware] River with forty families, still others are coming. But if aid would arrive with a considerable number of people and [with] a good administration, the Hollanders would be obliged to get out of here, for all those who have settled here have nothing in reserve, a miserable and indebted people; [they have] neither a cow nor any kind of cattle, and the West India Company cannot help them; neither do they sow nor plow, but suppose [that they] will live from the trade of the Savages which they they themselves have ruined."⁠75

Like Bogaert's people, those of Barkhofen are not mentioned in subsequent records, which would indicate that their settlement in New Jersey was of a temporary nature. It failed, as had Dutch colonization effort at four other places prior to the building of Fort Casimir (in the order named: (a) Burlington Island, (b) Swanendael, (c) Fort Nassau, and (d) Fort Beversreede and environs), even though the Company's occupancy of the Delaware antedated that of their rivals.

---

The Author's Notes:

1 NYCD, 1:588. A list of Dutch grants indicates the land on the Schuylkill was patented June 8, 1633 (E. B. O'Callaghan, History of New Netherland, vol. 2, appendix, p581). The Swedes later pulled down the structure and erected their own Fort Nya Korsholm on the site. Hudde was referring to the house Corssen built when he wrote in 1648 that ". . . the Swedes had destroyed the house heretofore which the Honorable Company had formerly in front of the Schuylkill, and built a fort there" (Inst. for Printz, p274).

2 The commission appears in Thomas Rymer's Foedora, 19:472‑474; Yong's Relation is in Narratives, Myers, pp37‑49.

3 Swedish Settlements, 1:179, fn. 60. In a thesis entitled "Sir Edmund Plowden's New Albion Charter 1632‑1785" submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M. A. degree, University of Pennsylvania, Edward C. Carter II discusses this letter (p129). He points out that Sir Edmund Plowden had petitioned Charles I asking relief for unauthorised settlements being made in New Albion. Charles I reaffirmed Plowden's owner­ship; in 1642 Plowden petitioned Parliament reciting his grievances, and Parliament wrote the governor and council of Virginia asking that assistance be given Sir Edmund. The above letter from Governor Berkeley to Printz, protesting the Swedish colony, was the result.

4 This account is in Narratives, Jameson, p195. One of the English party was Thomas Hall, an indentured servant, who ran away from his master and became a prominent citizen at Manhattan. "He came to the South River in 1635, in the employ of an Englishman named Mr. Homs, being the same who intended to take Fort Nassau at that time and rob us of the South River," (ibid., pp375‑376).

5 NYCD, 12:20; 14:9.

6 NYCD, 12:19.

7 NYCD, 12:19.

8 NYCD, 1:592.

9 NYCD, 1:593.

10 Swedish Settlements, 1:207.

11 NYCD, 12:23, 24; Swedish Settlements, 1:214‑215.

12 Inst. for Printz, p234.

13 Edward Hopkins' letter to Stuyvesant, Sept. 16, 1650, in Colls. N. Y. Hist. Soc., 1:224 (1811). In 1631, a company of fifty men from New Haven again started for Delaware Bay with a commission from Governor Eaton, but Stuyvesant prevented their going further than Manhattan (Edward E. Atwater, History of the Colony of New Haven, New Haven, 1881, p195).

14 Winthrop's Journal, 1630‑1649, ed. J. K. Hosmer, New York, 1908, 2:180‑181; ibid., p190. For additional details, see Inst. for Printz, pp222‑223; Swedish Settlements, 1:396.

15 Inst. for Printz, p255. Sir Edmund Plowden's attempt to found New Albion remains to be more fully told than in Keen's account (Winsor, 3:457‑468). There were also English trade efforts which were blocked by the Dutch and Swedes, e.g. Searburgh's sloop Sea Horse was seized by Hudde, taken to Fort Nassau, and her colors pulled down; see Susie M. Ames, Studies of the Virginian Eastern Shore in the 17th Century, Richmond, 1940, p48; cf. Eva L. Butler and C. A. Weslager, "Thomas Doxey's Letter from the Delaware, 1651," Del. History, 8, No. 1 (March, 1958), 51‑53.

16 Inst. for Printz, p257. Johnson says it was on Province Island (Swedish Settlements, p331, fn. 101). Another name for this place was Kievit's Hook (NYCD, 1:588). (There was also a Kievit's Hook in Connecticut [ibid., p287; Colls. N. Y. Hist. Soc., 2nd Series, 2: Part 1, 277, fn.; cf. Chapter 9 under "Kievit"].) Nya Korsholm was later torn down by the Indians (Lindeström, p126).

17 Inst. for Printz, p258. George P. Donehoo, Indian Villages and Place-Names, Harrisburg, 1928, p80, says Kinsessing was the name of the area between Cobbs Creek and the Schuylkill.

18 Inst. for Printz, p131.

19 Inst. for Printz, p258. Donehoo, op. cit., p19, says that Kakarikonk was the name of Carkoens Creek, also known as Amesland Creek or Cobbs Creek. He gives "place of wild geese" as the meaning in Algonkian. Dunlap, 1956, points out that Calcoen is a Dutch word for "turkey" and the Swedish cognate is kalkon. The place became known to the Swedes as Karraconks Hook and the Molndall mill came to be known as Karraconks Mill (New Castle County Land Surveys [1760‑1769], Memorial Library, University of Delaware, Microfilm No. 86, p31).

20 Inst. for Printz, p258.

21 Ibid., p132.

22 Ibid., p80. In 1647, "Mr. Thomas Pell of Newhauen afforesd traded in Delaware" (Colls. N. Y. Hist. Soc., 1:5 [1869]). The quotation above, however, refers more specifically to the English of Virginia characterized by Printz in one of his letters as "evil neighbors" (Inst. for Printz, p150).

23 NYCD, 12:25‑26. On March 23, 1647, Kieft granted Jansen a plantation on Long Island (NYCD, 14:137, 152).

24 VRB, p304. Hudde is also mentioned in 1632 (ibid., p228).

25 NYCD, 12:34.

26 Ibid., p35.

27 Ibid., 12:30, 33.

28 Ibid., p27. On April 16, 1649, Alexander Boyer, Simon Root, Peter Harmansen, David Davitsen, and Cornelisen Mouritsen bought a tract on the east side of the Delaware north of Rancocas Creek from the Indians. Witnesses were Thomas Broen, Jan Andriesen, Antony Petersen, Johannes Marckusen, Harmen Jansen, Jems Boecker, and Jan Duten (NYCD, 12:49). One of the reasons the Company permitted this purchase by individuals was to prevent the Swedes buying the land (ibid., 2:53).

29 The unpublished New Netherland (or Bontemantel) Papers, New York Public Library, translated by Paltsits. The document telling of the loss of the South River records appears under the title "Extract from the general letter from New Netherland dated October 30, 1655." The same document states that records were recently sent by the vessels Valconier and Waterhont, but they were badly written due to "the drunkard Johannes Dyckmans."

30 NYCD, 12:56, 57. The Bontemantel papers contain an entry as of 1650 of the salaries paid to the Company's executives in New Netherland, which includes this line: "Foreman of the Laborers at Fort Nassau 10 gl./80 gl. board money."

31 NYCD, 12:56.

32 Inst. for Printz, p272.

33 Ibid., p273.

34 Ibid., p273.

35 John P. Nicholson, "Fort Beversreede," Penna. Magazine, 15 (1891), 252‑253. Henry D. Paxson, Where Penna History Began, etc., Philadelphia, 1926, p65, says that Fort Beversreede stood between present Penrose Ferry Bridge and Passayunk Bank; see also p83 for his location of Fort Nya Korsholm.

36 Inst. for Printz, p274.

37 NYCD, 12‑58. Stuyvesant had with him one Cornelis Jansen, a colonist intending to settle at Fort Nassau. Whether he came on a later vessel is not known.

38 Ibid., p37.

39 NYCD, 1:593.

40 Augustine Herrman, a Bohemian by birth, was an early member of the Dutch colony and later became a large landholder in Maryland of "Bohemia Manor." Mention of his map was made in Chapter 5; see also Chapter 11.

41 Govert Loockerman came to New Netherland at the age of seventeen as cook's mate on the yacht St. Martin; was taken into the Company's service by Wouter van Twiller; later became a freeman, taking charge of the trade of Gillis Verbruggen & Company (NYCD, 1:432). His son Jacob settled on a plantation near Easton, Maryland, and Jacob's son Nicholas moved to Dover, Delaware; see Annie Jump Cannon, "The Lockerman Mansion House Near Dover, Del.," Del. History, 3, No. 2 (Sept., 1948), 97‑104.

42 NYCD, 1:593. Leendersteen in 1649 had delivered wheat from Stuyvesant to Hudde at Fort Nassau (NYCD, 12:62).

43 Ibid., 12:37.

44 Ibid.

45 Ibid., 1:594. Root was an Indian trader (ibid., 12:57).

46 Ibid., 12:37; Inst. for Printz, p276.

47 NYCD, 1:595.

48 Ibid., 1:594, 12:44‑45.

49 Ibid., 12:45‑49.

50 Ibid., 1:595, 12:30.

51 Ibid., 12:41‑42.

52 Ibid., 12:43, letter dated September 25, 1648.

53 Boyer said that a Minquas chief with four of his followers had recently visited Beversreede to learn whether any Dutch vessels had arrived with goods. The Swedes were also awaiting goods from Europe for the Indian trade. The Minquas chief was dissatisfied "that this River is not steadily provided with cargoes by our people" (ibid.).

54 Inst. for Printz, p276.

55 Ibid., p277.

56 Leendersten was a Dutch skipper. He and Jan Jansen were members of Printz's court that tried Lamberton in 1643 (Inst. for Printz, p230).

57 NYCD, 12:370.

58 Also called Johannes Gerardy, a merchant who went to the Delaware in 1649 in the yacht Swan (NYCD, 12:54).

59 Ibid., 1:595. Abraham Staets, whose name is given as Staes, Staas, Staats, etc., came to NewNew Netherland in 1642 at the age of twenty-four to practice surgery. He had a nineteen-year-old wife and a servant boy (VRB, pp609, 678, 828). On August 30, 1655, he chartered his yacht to Stuyvesant for 6 guilders per day for use in recapturing Fort Amstel (NYCD, 12:96).

60 Inst. for Printz, p233.

61 NYCD, 1:597.

62 NYCD, 1:598.

63 Ibid., 1:599.

64 Ibid.: Dunlap & Weslager, 1950.

65 NYCD, 1:599‑600.

66 Isaac Allerton came to America on the Mayflower and had been traveling to the Delaware as a trader as early as 1643 (Inst. for Printz, p206). See also Eva L. Butler and C. A. Welsager, "Thomas Doxey's Letter from the Delaware, 1651," Del. History 8, no. 1, (March, 1958), 51‑53.

67 A captain-lieutenant in Stuyvesant's forces, of English birth, but conversant in Dutch (NYCD, 1:426).

68 "Jan Andriesen of Beren-Bach" arrived in Manhattan on the Falconier in 1650 and Stuyvesant permitted him to go to the Delaware to settle (Ibid., 12:67, 68).

69 Ibid., 1:600.

70 Lindeström, p173; Dunlap, 1956, p50.

71 Stuyvesant independently planned and executed the movement in the Delaware, without a Company directive and without giving the directors advance notice. They later questioned whether the demolition of Fort Nassau was "a very prudent act" (NYCD, 12:72).

72 Van Laer, p262, note 14.

73 Inst. for Printz, pp76‑78.

74 Johnson gives further details about this colonization effort in Swedish Settlements 1:136, 137, 200‑203. See p203, fn. 21, to the effect that Bogaert was the individual called Bogot in Plantagenet's Description of the Province of New Albion.

75 Inst. for Printz, p186.

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