Three Centuries ago in 1655
History records a number of stirring events of three centuries ago in New Netherlands. It was in 1655 that the Indians went on rampage killing scores of settlers at Pavonia and other places. The same year Governor Peter Stuyvesant led an invasion of New Sweden on the Delaware and the burghers of New Amsterdam protested the lack of voice in governing local affairs.
The start of the year found the colony without Governor Stuyvesant, who had left on Christmas Eve, for a trip to Barbadoes on a mission to try and establish trade with that island. He arrived at a time when the new British navigation laws placed an embargo on all foreign vessels in the port and it was four months before he was permitted to leave.
Governor Stuyvesant did not get back to New Amsterdam until July. During his absence, the council, which he had grudgingly named the previous year in response to widespread demand, went ahead and appointed successors to magistrates whose terms had expired. Oloff Stevesen was named Burgomaster in place of Martin Cregier, and Johannes de Peyster and Jan Vinje were appointed schepens.
Soon after Stuyvesant’s return, he received orders from the Dutch West India Company to proceed against the Swedes in the Delaware River. The move was a sequel to events in the previous year when Governor Rising, who had succeeded Governor Prinz in New Sweden, turned the Dutch garrison out of Fort Casimir and issued a proclamation that all Dutch inhabiting the territory must come under Swedish jurisdiction. News of this action created a sensation in New Amsterdam and a Swedish ship in the harbor was seized and confiscated. Stuyvesant, who was under instructions to be careful in his relations with New Sweden, wrote to the West India Company in Amsterdam for instructions just prior to leaving on his trip to Barbadoes.
The invading forces were in two companies, of which one was commanded by Stuyvesant and the other by Nicasius de Sille, Chief Councilor. They reached the Delaware Bay on September 6, and within a matter of hours, they had recaptured Fort Casimir and taken Fort Christina. The settlers acknowledged allegiance to Holland and a number of them were taken back to New Amsterdam. The expedition ended the last vestige of Swedish domination in North America.
While Stuyvesant was away from the fort on Manhattan Island with every able-bodied male in New Amsterdam, the Indians broke out on the warpath. Nineteen hundred of them had gathered on the North (Hudson) River, and over seven hundred had landed on the island. It was thought at first that they were on their way to Long Island, but many of them appeared along the streets of New Amsterdam.
Trouble started when an Indian wounded Hendrick van Dyck with an arrow. Under the leadership of Cornells van Tienhoven, the burghers killed a few of the Indians, who left Manhattan and crossed to Pavonia on the Jersey shore. Every house in that bouwery was burned. All the males in sight were killed, and women and children were taken captive.
The redskins next went to Staten Island, where they destroyed eleven bouweries or farms and killed twenty-three people out of the ninety in the settlement. Two bouweries near the Harlem River were raided, and the inhabitants killed, and several bouweries on Long Island were laid waste. It is estimated that within three days between fifty and one hundred colonists were killed, and one hundred and fifty were captured, among whom was Cornelis Melyn. Scores of other people were made homeless, recently gathered crops were destroyed, and damage to property was very great. New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island was not attacked.
When Stuyvesant returned from his invasion of New Sweden, he ordered that no vessel should leave the harbor and no able-bodied man depart from New Amsterdam except on orders. Guards were stationed in the outlying settlements, and negotiations were opened with the Indians, who exchanged seventy prisoners for some powder and shot. After that, no Indian was permitted to remain overnight in New Amsterdam.
During the early part of 1655 while Governor Stuyvesant was in the Barbados, George Baxter, who had for many years been secretary to Governor Kieft and also to Stuyvesant, sought to start a revolt at Gravesend. With James Hubbard, another Englishman, he hoisted the British flag and claimed the right of English subjects. The council of Schepens placed the two men under arrest, and they were imprisoned for a year. Hubbard was freed and caused no further trouble, but Baxter ignored a pledge that he would not try to escape after transfer from a dungeon at the fort to a room in the Stadt Huis on Pearl Street. He fled to Long Island and then to New England. His property was sold for debts, including a farm which embraces the site of Bellevue Hospital.