Correspondence 1654-1658 New Netherland Documents Series Volume XII Correspondence 1654-1658 Translated and Edited by CHARLES T. GEHRING sly SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 2003 by The Holland Society of New York ALL RIGHTS RESERVED First Edition 2003 03 04 05 06 07 08 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z 39.48-1984. @™ Produced with the support of The Holland Society of New York and the New Netherland Project of the New York State Library. The preparation of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the Division of Research Programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Correspondence, 1654-1658 / translated and edited by Charles T. Gehring. p. cm. — (New Netherland documents series) Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index. ISBN 0-8156-2959-1 (alk. paper) 1. Stuyvesant, Peter, 1592-1672—Correspondence. 2. Colonial administrators—New York (State)—Correspondence. 3. New York (State)—Politics and government—To 1775—Sources. 4. New York (State)—History—Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775— Sources. 5. Dutch—New York (State)—History—17th century—Sources. 6. New Netherland—Politics and government—Sources. 7. New Netherland—History—Sources. 8. Netherlands—Colonies—America—Administration—History—Sources. I. Gehring, Charles T, 1939- II. Stuyvesant, Peter, 1592-1672. III. New Netherland documents. F122.1.S78C68 2002 974.7'02'092—dc21 2002075849 Manufactured in the United States of America This volume is dedicated to Mary Van Orsdal a faithful friend of the New Netherland Project Charles T. Gehring was born in Fort Plain, an old Erie Canal town in New York State's Mohawk Valley. After completing his undergraduate and graduate studies at Virginia Military Institute and West Virginia University he continued with post graduate work at Albert-Ludwigs- Universitat in Freiburg, Germany. There he began his study of the Dutch language and first realized that his future research lay much closer to home. He eventually received a Ph.D. in Germanic Linguistics from Indiana University with a concentration in Netherlandic Studies. His dissertation (1973) was a linguistic investigation of the survival of the Dutch language in colonial New York. He is presently director of the New York State Library's New Netherland Project, which is responsible for translating the official records of the Dutch colony and promoting awareness of the Dutch role in American history. He has been a fellow of the Holland Society of New York since 1979. In September of 1994 Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred on him the distinction of Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. Committee on Publication Ralph L. DeGroff, Jr., Chairman Trustee, Holland Society of New York Walton Van Winkle III President, Holland Society of New York Charles T. Gehring Director, New Netherland Project John van Schaick President, Friends of New Netherland Martha Dickinson Shattuck Assistant Editor, New Netherland Project Jansje Venema Assistant Editor, New Netherland Project Contents Petrus Stuyvesant frontispiece Acknowledgments xi Map of New Netherland xii Introduction xiii Key to Abbreviations xxi Correspondence, 1654-1658 3 Appendix A 215 Appendix B 217 Bibliography 221 Index 225 Acknowledgments Iwish to express my gratitude to the staff of the New Netherland Project: Jansje Venema for producing the transcriptions from which the translations were made and Martha Dickinson Shattuck for editing and indexing the manuscript. Both contributed so much to every phase of production that it would be impossible to enumerate everything here without neglecting something. Special thanks goes to the Holland Society of New York for its steadfast support of the translation and publication of records relating to our Dutch heritage; to the New York State Library for treating the Project as one of its own programs and to the library staff for its highly professional assistance; to the Friends of New Netherland for their tireless efforts in promoting the work of the Project and maintaining its financial stability; to the Division of Research Programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities whose financial support through a matching grant made this publication possible; to the generous individ­ ual contributions of Mary Van Orsdal and William P. Steffee; to the Doris G. Quinn Foundation; and to all the other contributors to the Project, too numerous to list here. xi Introduction Volume XII of the Dutch Colonial Manuscripts contains the corre­ spondence of Petrus Stuyvesant, director general of New Nether­ land, from 1654-1658. By the end of 1653 Stuyvesant had resolved the long-festering dispute with Rensselaerswijck by establishing the juris­ diction of Fort Orange/Beverwijck; stabilized the border with New England at the treaty of Hartford; and outmaneuveredthe Swedes on the Delaware by erecting Fort Casimir. However, the New Year began with ominous clouds on the horizon. In January of 1654 the West India Company [WIC] suffered a severe disruption in its Atlantic commercial world. The fifteen-year Portuguese revolt against Dutch holdings in Brazil had culminated in the fall of Recife and the treaty of Taborda. The lucrative sugar and dyewood trade had been lost. Although the loss of Brazil was a major blow to the WIC's Atlantic trade, it proved to be a benefit to New Netherland. Instead of struggling on as a neglected corner of the WIC's Atlantic interests, New Netherland's potential as an integral link in New World commercial activities was realized. After 1654 New Netherland attracted more financial support and competent personnel from the WIC; most of which would have been previously directed to Brazil. Closer to home the Swedes were sending a relief ship to its struggling Delaware colony. The previous year Johan Printz, governor of New Sweden, had left the fledgling colony in frustration. A contributing factor must have been the loss the Swedish relief ship Kattan off the coast of Puerto Rico in 1650. It was a disasterous blow to the fledgling colony already starved for supplies and reinforcements. Printz learned of the loss in a letter from Stuyvesant, who was closely monitoring Swedish developments on the South River.* Although the Swedish colony was well positioned on the west bank of the Delaware it could not compete with the new Dutch trading post of Fort Casimir if it did not receive goods to trade with the Indians. When Printz decided to return to Sweden he was forced to travel overland to Manhattan. He set sail aboard a Dutch * See Delaware Papers, 1648-1664, NYHM, Appendix B, p. 362 for a translation of this letter. xm XIV INTRODUCTION ship in October of 1653 unaware that preparations were nearly complete in Sweden to send over his replacement and 350 new colonists. A bold decision by Johan Rising, the new governor, was about to change the balance of power in the Delaware. More serious for the future of New Netherland was the possibility of invasion from New England. Although the first Anglo-Dutch war was drawing to a close, Cromwell had commissioned Robert Sedgwick in 1654 to command four warships in an invasion of New Netherland. The previous year the New England colonies were unable to unify for an invasion of New Netherland during the height of the war. Stuyvesant had countered raids of Dutch settlements on Long Island from Connecticut by forming a mobile strike force. He also acted quickly to protect New Amsterdam from possible invasion by building the wall across the island north of the city and strengthening the city's defenses in general. In spite of these preparations a unified New England supported by Sedgwick's naval force would have probably brought an end to the WIC' s possession in North America. However, Sedgwick received news of the peace of Westminster before any of this could happen. New Netherland had a reprieve often years. Unfortunately, Stuyvesant's decision to defend the center of New Netherland against incursions from New England created vulnerabilities elsewhere. When Johan Rising, the new governor of the Swedish colony, arrived in the Delaware River on Trinity Sunday of 1654 he encountered a Dutch fort that had been stripped of its defenses. When Rising put twenty Swedish musketeers ashore to assess the situation at Fort Casimir, only eight Dutch soldiers could respond to muster. The defenders of the fort laid down their arms without firing a shot. Once again the Delaware was completely in control of the Swedes. Stuyvesant was in a difficult position. The West India Company directors in Amsterdam were already displeased that he had dismantled Fort Nassau on the east side of the river in favor of constructing Fort Casimir on the west side without their knowledge. They later admonished him to take good care of this new fort built without their permission. With the loss of Fort Casimir the Dutch no longer had a presence on the Delaware River. However, Stuyvesant's anger probably subsided when the Swedish ship Gyllene Haj was brought into the harbor at Manhattan. The Shark had been following Rising by almost four months because of delays in Sweden and a separate mission to investigate the circumstances of the loss of the relief ship Kattan near Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, the Swedish ship missed the entrance to Delaware. Instead it sailed in behind Staten Island where it was seized and brought to Stuyvesant's attention. Oblivious to INTRODUCTION XV protests from Rising, Stuyvesant retorted that he would release the ship as soon as the Delaware was returned to him. The directors in Amsterdam reacted quickly to the situation. They instructed Stuyvesant simply to drive the Swedes from the river and recover what belonged to the Company.