Outline History of the State of New York

• . : . OUTLINE HISTORY - .. OF THE j;j. • .. STATE OF NEW YORK CHAPTER I. Five Nations, and by the French the Iroquois, and by themselves called Hodenosaunee-people of the long house. The long house formed by this confederacy ex DISCOVERY OF NEW YORK-THE INDIANS OF THE FIVE tended east and west through the State, having at its NATIONS . eastern portal the Mohawks, and at its western the Sen ecas ; while between them dwelt the Oneidas , Ononda gas, and Cayugas ; and after 17 14 a sixth nation, the 1524 John de Verazzano, a Florentine navi Tuscaroras, southeast from Oneida Lake. Of these gator in the service of Francis the First of Indians Parkman says that at the comm encement of the France,made a voyage to the North American seventeenth century "in the region now forming the coast, and, as is believed from the account State of N e,;v York, a power was rising to a ferocious which he gave, entered the harbor of New vitality, which, but for the presence of Europe ans, would York. No colonies were planted, and no results probably have subjected, absorbed or exterminated every followed; and the voyage was almost forgotten. other Indian community east of the Mississippi and Though discoveries were made by the French, north north of the Ohio." from this point, and colonies planted by the English "The Iroquois was the Indian of Indians. A tho rough farther to the south, it is not known that New York was savage, yet a finished and developed savage, he is, per again visited by Europeans till 1609, when the Dutch haps, an example of the highest elevation which man East India Company sent Hendrick Hudson, an English can reach without emerging from his primitive condition man by birth, on a voyage of discovery in a vessel called of the hunter. A geographical position commanding on the "Half Moon." He reached the coast of Maine, sailed the one hand the portal of the great lakes, and on the thence to Cape Cod, then southwesterly to the mouth of other the sources of the streams flowing both to the Chesapeake Bay then, coasting northward, he entered Atlantic and the Mississippi, gave the ambitious and ag Delaware Bay on the 28th of August. From thence he gressive confederates advantages which they perfectly proceeded northward, and on the 3d of September, 1609, understood, _and by which they profited to the utmost . anchored in New York Bay. On the 12th he entered Patient and politic as they were ferocious, they were not the river that bears his name, and proceeded slowly up only the conquerors of their own race, but the powerful to a point just above the present site of the City of Hud allies and the dreaded foes of the French and English son; thence he sent a boat's crew to explore farther up, colonies, flattered and caressed by both, yet too sagacious and they passed above Albany. September 23d he set to give themselves without reserve to either. Their or sail down the river, and immediately returned to Europe. ganization and their history evince their intrinsic superi In 1607 Samuel Champlain, a French navigator, sailed ority. Even their traditionary lore, amid its wild pueril up the St. Lawrence, explored its tributaries, and on the ities, shows at times the stamp of an energy and force in 4th of July in that year discovered the lake which bears striking contrast with the flimsy creations of Algonquin his name. fancy. That the Iroquois, left under their own institu At the time of the discovery of New York by the tions, would ever have developed a civilization of their whites the southern and eastern portions were inhabited own, I do not believe ." by the Mahican or Mohegan Indians ; while that portion These institutions were not only characteristic and west from the Hudson River was occupied by five con curious, but almost unique. Without sharing the almost federate tribes, afterwards named by the English the fanatical admiration for them of Morgan, or echoing -- 2 • I • 8 OUTLJNE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. the praises which Parkman lav1snes on tnem, it may be expeditions, giving exclusive privileges of tr ade for four truly said that their wonderful and cohesive confederation years. The Hud son River had been ascended by Hen furnished a model worthy to be copied by many ci viii zed drick Christiansen, and a fort and trading house erected nations, while, so long as they were uncontaminated by near the present site of Albany, which was named Fort the vices of civilization, they possessed, with all their Orange. savagery, many noble traits of character, which would In 1621 the Dutch West India Company was chartered, adorn any people in their public, social, or domestic and in 1623 settlers were sent th ither. In 1626 Peter relations. Minuit, as director-general or governor of the province, They made themselves the dreaded masters of all arrived with ot her settlers, and purchased th e island of their neighbors east of the Mississippi, and carried their Manhattan from the Indians for trinket s of the value of victorious arms far to the north, the south, and the east. abo_ut $24. In 1629 the company offered grants to Their dominance is thus eloquently pictured in Street's patroons who should found settlements in the province "Frontenac": , (which had been named New Netherlands) of fifty or "The fierc e Adirondacs had fled from th eir wrath, more adults, and several availed themselves of this offer. The Huron s been swep t from their merciless path; In 1633 Minuit was recalled and Wouter Van Twil]er ap- Around, the Ottawa s, like leaves, had been strewn, And th e lake of the Eries struck silent and lone. pointed in his place. During his administration the con- The Lenape, lords once of valley and hill, troversy concerning jurisdiction was commenced between l\1ad c women, bent low at their conquerors' will. By the far Missi ssipp i the Ill ini shrank the Dutch and the English, who claimed the country on When the trail of th e ToRTorsE was seen on the bank; the ground of prior disco ve ry by Cabot and the grant of On th e hills of New England the Pequod turned pale James I. covering the territory. Wh en the howl of the WOLF swelled at night on the ga le; And the Ch erokee shook in his green , smiling bowers In 1638 Van Twiner was succeeded in the government Wh en the foot of the BEAR stamped hi s carpet of flowers." of the colony by Wil]iam Kieft. By reason of hostilities It will hereafter be seen that the Iroquois acted an im - which occurred with the Indians on Long Island in portant part in the early history of the State. 1643-44, for which Kieft was censured, he was recaUed, Space will not permit a description of their league, or and succeeded by Peter Stuyvesant in 1647. The con- confederation, a sketch of their tribal relations, and their troversy concerning jurisdictio n co ntinued during his religious, social and domestic customs, or a histor y of administration, till, in 1664 , Charles II. of England, re~ their warlike achievements. gardless of the claims of the Dutch to New Netherlands, Only an allusion may here be made to the many dim granted to his brother, the Duke of York and Albany, and shadowy records of a pre-existing people of whom afterwa rds James II., the whole country from the Con not even a faint tradition remains. These records con- necticut to th e Delaware, including the entire DLitch pos sist of stone, terra cotta, or bone weapons, implements sessions. A fleet was sent under Colonel Richard NicoUs or ornaments, that are occasional]y discovered, and of by the duke to enforce his claim, and on the 3d of Sep the remains of defensive works found here and there tember, 1664, the province was surrendered without through the State . Many similar works have been leveled bloodshed, and the government of the colony passed into by ihe plough, and those that remain are slowly the hand s of the English. crumbling and passing to oblivion. Some of them , Colonel Nicolls at once assumed the functions of gov though they would not be regarded as models of military ernor; the name New Amsterdam was changed to New engineering at the present day, give evidence of an York, and Fort Orange to Albany, laws for the govern adaptation to the circumstances that probably existed ment of the province were presc ·ribed, and courts for the when they were built, and of skill in construction, which administration of these laws established. In 1668 Gov are not discreditable to their builders. ernor Nicolls resigned, and was succeeded by Colonel Francis Lovelace. England at about this tim e became involved in a war with Holland, and thi s gove rnment sent a squadron to repossess its province in America. CHAPTER IT. This squadron arrived July 30th, 1673, and the fort at New York was surrendered without resistance by Captain NEW YORK · UNDER THE DUTCH-ENGLISH GOVERNORS John Manning, who was in command. Captain Anthony TO 1765. Colve b ecame governor; but bis reign was short, for on the co nclusion of peace between the two powers, Feb ru ary 9th , 1674, the province reverted to th e E ngli sh . A N 1610 another vessel was sent from Holland new patent was issued, confirming the first, and Sir Ed to trade with the natives and in 161 2 two mund Andros was commissioned gove rnor.

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