Warrior Kings of Sweden

by Gary Dean Peterson

  By the end of June Fort Christina was finished. Minuit felt he should get back to Gothenburg and report. The Fågel Grip had not yet returned and he had only a partial hold of furs, but he still had a supply of liquors and wine that might be traded in the West Indies.

  Leaving Måns Kling in command of the twenty-four men at Fort Christina, now busy clearing fields and planting grain, Minuit sailed on the Kalmar Nyckel to St. Christopher in the Leeward Islands. There he was able to trade the wine and liquor for a cargo of tobacco.

  While in port, Minuit and Captain van de Water were invited to dine aboard another anchored ship, the Flying Deer out of Rotterdam. During the visit a hurricane struck the island and the Flying Deer was swept out to sea and lost. The Kalmar Nyckel survived the storm and sailed to Gothenburg under its first mate Michel Symonssen.

  The Fågel Grip, meanwhile, returned from its cruise in the West Indies without a Spanish prize, gold or otherwise. The crew acquired some tobacco and a black man originally from Angola named Anthony. He was the first African American to come to New Sweden. Loading additional furs, the Fågel Grip sailed for Gothenburg in April 1639.

  Gross proceeds from the two cargos came to 34,000 florins, but the expedition had cost 46,000. The Swedish investors were much encouraged and believed the enterprise off to a good start. The Dutch financers, however, had higher expectations. Surprisingly, the tobacco brought more than the furs. Sweden was just beginning to acquire a taste for the leaf, first for medicinal properties, poultices, inhalants and as an analgesic, then for recreation. It was smoked, chewed and sniffed. Peter Minuit realized its potential in the Swedish market and intended to use it to finance the building of a Swedish nation in the new world. His death was a severe blow to the dream of a fast growing, vibrant New Sweden.

  Minuit’s untimely death was also a blow to the New Sweden Company. Its director, Admiral Fleming, pushed for a larger second expedition and received the backing of Blommaert, Spiring and Oxenstierna, but the other Dutch investors refused to sink that much money into a second voyage. After her return, the Fågel Grip was wrecked by a gale while at anchor. The second expedition was reduced to just the Kalmar Nyckel. A Lieutenant Peter Holnder Ridder, also Dutch or German, but serving in the Swedish navy, would replace Minuit as commander at Fort Christina, superseding Måns Kling. The directors hired another Dutchman, Joost van Langdonk, to manage the commissary, replacing Hendrick Huygen. He would be assisted by Gregory van Dyck, a Swedish subject though born in The Hague. Van Dyck would stay with the colony, becoming prominent a few years later. Again, most of the crew was from the Netherlands while the colonists were Swedes. Life was good in Sweden at that time and the country had its own frontier to develop. Craftsmen and artisans were in demand and had no need to search for greener pastures an ocean away in New Sweden. To complete the enlistment of colonists, the crown agreed to draft army deserters and soldiers convicted of minor offenses. Families were allowed to join this expedition. The company included blacksmiths, soldiers, shoemakers, carpenters, coopers, bricklayers and a Lutheran minister, the Reverend Reorus Torkillus. Six horses were part of this cargo for the young colony.

  The Kalmar Nyckel sailed from Gothenburg in early September 1639 on what proved to be a difficult and contentious voyage. At sea the captain did not maintain tight discipline and crew members harassed Reverend Torkillus. The Swedish colonists, all Lutherans, sided with their pastor while the Dutch sailors and captain, Dutch Reformed Church members (Calvinists), banded together. The ship encountered several storms on the crossing, finally limping into Delaware Bay and landing at The Rock on April 17, 1640. All parties, Swedes and Dutch, aboard and on shore were much relieved at the ship’s arrival at Fort Christina.

  Kling had done an excellent job as chief of the little community. He had been able to control the animosity between the Dutchmen and Swedes. He had stayed on good terms with both the Lenape and Minquas, through they were enemies to one other, and he had accumulated a pile of pelts from trade with both. Thanks to Minuit’s stocks of trade goods he could outbid the traders at Fort Nassau, which caused threats to be issued from both the fort and New Amsterdam. Kling ignored the warnings, knowing the West India Company would be reluctant to start a conflict that might spread back to Europe and involve the Netherlands in a war with the most powerful military on the continent.

  The Kalmar Nyckel sailed for Sweden on May 14, 1640, bearing a cargo of furs and some tobacco acquired from independent Dutch and English growers who brought the bales of leaves to Fort Christina for trade. Hendrick Huygen and Måns Kling were also aboard. About forty to fifty people remained at New Sweden to hack out an existence on the edge of this untamed wilderness.

  Arriving at Gothenburg with a full hold pleased the Swedish investors, but made the Dutch uncomfortable. Though technically both New Netherlands and New Sweden were commercial enterprises only, nationalism was beginning to touch the Dutchmen’s consciences, and the Dutch West India Company was bringing pressure to bear on their countrymen and rivals.

  Ridder, meanwhile, was busy extending the perimeter of Fort Christina, moving the walls out and adding more log buildings. He was also developing a community of log cabins outside the fort. He “purchased” from the Lenape additional land to the north and south of Minuit’s original colony. Deeds now showed New Sweden extending from the Sankikans (site of present day Trenton, N.J.) to Cape Henlopen. The area included present day Philadelphia. The “deeded” area also included land on which several large Lenape villages were located. The Lenape certainly would not have sold this area had they understood the European concept of land ownership. This land grab and the dent the Swedes were making in the Dutch fur trade was about to bring the two rivals to a confrontation when a third and more dangerous competitor appeared.

  In the spring of 1641 a sloop with twelve Englishmen on board slipped into Delaware Bay. The newcomers were from the New Haven Colony on the Connecticut River, an extension of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The settlement had been established as a fur trading post, but found it slim pickings due to other New England competition and inroads made by New Amsterdam. Investors from the colony formed the Delaware Company to develop a fur trade on that river, which was much less exploited. The newcomers explored the river, did some trading with the Lenapes, bought land on the east bank of the river around the Varkens Kill and left a few men there when they sailed away. In 1642 George Lamberton and Nathaniel Turner, two leaders of the New Haven, Delaware, Company, returned with more colonists, including families. The colony, near present day Salem, was expanded and the English “purchased” land along the Schuylkill River on the west bank, land already deeded to New Sweden. Here they built a blockhouse and a few dwellings.

  The Schuylkill site was particularly advantageous for trade with the Lenape and it lay at a crossroads of the Minquas coming to trade at both Fort Nassau and Fort Christina. The English could intercept trading parties and they were offering more goods per pelt than either the Dutch or the Swedes. The English also discovered the Varkens Kill area was suitable for growing tobacco. It looked like the English were there to stay.

  At the same time the English first appeared, Ridder was negotiating with the Lenape on deeds to land on the east bank from Raccoon Creek, just below Fort Nassau, to Cape May. With deeds in hand he visited the Varkens Kill settlement and demanded Lamberton and Turner remove their people from Swedish territory. The English, of course, had purchased some of the same land and refused.

  The Dutch were in a stronger position than the Swedes in dealing with this new threat to the fur trade. Kief sent two armed sloops to Fort Nassau with orders for the commandant to remove the English from the Schuylkill site, by force if necessary. The settlers at Schuylkill were herded on board the sloops at gunpoint and taken back to New Haven. The blockhouse and other buildings were burned to the ground. The dozen families at Varkens Kill were left alone as they presented no threat to the fur trade. The English encroachment into the Delaware had been turned back.
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  While Ridder was expanding Swedish territory along the Delaware and the Dutch were expelling the English, the New Sweden Company was organizing a substantial expedition. The Kalmar Nyckel was readied at Gothenburg. It would be the warship and passenger carrier of the expedition. A second ship, the Charitas, was fitted out at Stockholm and would be strictly a cargo ship, lightly armed. On board were horses, goats, cattle, farm implements, seed, and trade goods.

  Måns Kling, promoted to lieutenant, was returning with his wife, a servant girl and a child, as was Henrick Huygen, who agreed to replace van Langdonk, who had proved to be incompetent, as a commissary officer. Perhaps as many as 50 to 60 people were recruited for the voyage including laborers, soldiers (some sent as punishment), a tailor with his wife and two teenage daughters, a millwright with his wife and two small children, a bookkeeper, an army deserter, a Lutheran preacher, a young nobleman, an adventurer, a constable for the settlement and his wife, and a prospective tobacco farmer.

  As enough volunteers were not available, additional colonists were found among Finnish immigrants to Sweden’s north country. These were Finns who had crossed the Bothnia to the dense forests of northern and central Sweden where they practiced a slash and burn agriculture or just roamed as hunters. The overt destruction of forest was appalling to the Swedish government and some of those Finns were rounded up and sent on the expedition.

  On November 7, 1641, the two ships arrived at Fort Christina after a three month voyage. By the summer of 1642, grain and vegetable fields were producing, the livestock flourished and New Sweden had its first windmill, used to grind their grain into flour.

  The colony was progressing toward self-sufficiency, but the investors wanted a return. The temporary intervention of the English had destroyed the fur trade for a couple of years. Gregory van Dyck sailed with the two ships returning to Sweden with almost empty holds.

  For the profit conscious Dutch this dismal showing was the last straw. In February 1641 the Swedish government returned the original Dutch capital investment with interest. The action made the enterprise totally Swedish and brought the government into direct involvement. The chief officers of the company, Oxenstierna, Fleming and Spiring were paid by the government, receiving no salary from the company. In addition to profit there was now much interest in establishing a Swedish presence in the Americas, with Swedish customs, traditions and the Lutheran religion.

  With this shift in motive and an administration firmly established, a new expedition was planned. Two ships were made ready, the Fama, about the size of the Kalmar Nyckel, and a larger ship, the Swan. Their cargo was tools, wine malt, grain, fish net, muskets, fabrics, horses, sheep and chickens. New colonists included Gregory van Dyck (returning) and two Lutheran pastors. Again, recruits were hard to acquire. In addition to volunteers, poachers, deserters, insolvent debtors, and more of the forest-burning Finns were pressed into service. The total complement was less than one hundred.

  A new governor was selected by the company, one Johan Printz from Bottnard, Småland, the former officer in the Thirty Years’ War. He was given orders that reflected the new emphasis—to organize government and administration in the name of her royal majesty, seventeen-year-old Queen Christina.

  Printz was a career military officer reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel and had been knighted. He was deeply religious, the son of a minister. Described as headstrong, overbearing, arrogant and unjust, he was also intelligent, resourceful, brave, shrewd and an able administrator. He was noted for being a big man, supposedly topping 400 pounds. At age fifty he was embarking with his second wife and six children from his first marriage. He brought with him Gustav, his son, and five daughters, Armegot, Catharina, Christina, Elsa and Gunilla.

  After an arduous three month voyage the Fama and the Swan arrived at Fort Christina on February 15, 1643. Two months later the two ships weighed anchor for Gothenburg with a load of beaver and other pelts. They picked up a consignment of salt in Portugal and sailed on to Sweden carrying the returning Peter Ridder who had performed his service as governor admirably.

  Upon its arrival at Gothenburg, the Fama was refitted and returned with a few colonists, but a cargo of mostly trade goods, copper kettles, axe heads and other metal tools the Indians now demanded. Cloth, linen, shoes, bricks, flour and wine for the colonists were included per Printz’s orders. The ship arrived on March 11, 1644, and was reloaded with beaver pelts and tobacco for the return voyage. The tobacco came from trade with the Virginia colony, Connecticut people at Varkens Kill, and a small quantity from the Swedes at Fort Christina.

  Printz wasted no time in establishing his authority and rearranging the colony according to his plan and the director’s instructions. He built a second fort across the river to the southeast just below the Connecticut settlement at Varkens Kill, which had grown to some sixty individuals. Fort Elfsborg was meant to command the river and be capable of stopping any ship coming upriver. He armed it with his heaviest guns, eight 12 pounders and a mortar. Thirteen soldiers were stationed there permanently with Lieutenant Sven Skute, Printz’s deputy, in command and Gregorius van Dyck as chief of the guard.

  Next, Printz moved the seat of government north to Tinicum Island near the Schuylkill River where he constructed another fort, Fort New Gothenburg, arming it with four small coppers pointed toward the river. He stationed two gunners and eight soldiers there. On the island he also built a storehouse, a badstu (for sweat baths), and his private mansion, Printzhoff (Printz Hall). This was a two story log structure complete with glass windows, an item previously unknown in New Sweden. The governor’s mansion was surrounded by a garden and orchard.

  Printz also renovated Fort Christina, strengthening the walls and bastions. He placed Lieutenant Johan Papegoja in command with only a few soldiers, Hendrick Huygen as commissary officer and his cousin Gottfried Harmer as interpreter.

  A blockhouse was built at McChopinackay, two miles south of Tinicum Island, an area that came to be known as Uppland for the number of families from that province settling there. To the south of Uppland was an area called Finland because of its Finnish settlement. Additional blockhouses were constructed at Hya Vasa on the Kingsessing and at New Korsholm on Cross Island at the mouth of the Schuylkill where Lieutenant Måns Kling was stationed. Settlements sprang up around all these defensive posts.

  Settlers also moved to Tinicum Island and built cabins. Printz applied for and received title to the island, becoming the first private landowner in New Sweden. Generally, the land of New Sweden was owned by the company although colonists farmed and ran livestock on it without paying rent or taxes.

  Printz had a water powered gristmill built at Cobbs Creek, today’s Woodland Avenue Bridge over Cobbs Creek in Philadelphia. Finally, he constructed a Lutheran church on the south end of Tinicum Island, the first in the colony. Worshipers traveled to the church from all over the colony to receive communion. Printz’s oldest daughter, Armegot, was married in this church to Lieutenant Papegoja. The newlyweds took up residence at one of the new cabins on the island. They would have five children. Though Papegoja would spend much of his time on family estates in Sweden, becoming a captain in the Swedish navy, Armegot preferred America, eventually moving back into Printzhoff and reigning as the grand dame of the colony.

  One of the interesting colonists was the Reverend Johan Campanius, preacher for five years at the log church on Tinicum Island. Not only did he serve Printz and the Lutheran community of New Sweden, but he worked hard to convert the native population to Christianity. Within two years of his arrival he had mastered both the Lenape and Minqua languages. He worked out a method of writing the tongues using the phonetic sounds of the Swedish alphabet. Finally, he began translating the Martin Luther Catechism into Lenape. By 1646 he had completed the work. He used his book to proselytize among the Indians for the reminder of his time in the Americas. He had some converts, but never achieved the wholesale acceptance he had envisioned. After five years Campanius returned to
Sweden where he could more easily feed his several children. Though his manuscript was published in 1696, he never received the recognition due him for his pioneering work in reducing the Indian languages to a written form or his missionary work among the American natives.

  Governor Printz had accomplished much during his administration in New Sweden, extending the occupied territory of the colony and constructing defensive works to protect the widely dispersed settlements, but such progress came at a cost. Some colonists moved from the colony to Maryland to escape Printz’s authoritarian rule. These desertions would not have been a serious problem, but at the same time support from the mother country waned. Between 1644 and 1648 only two ships arrived from Gothenburg, the Gyllene Haj (Golden Shark) in October 1646 and the Swan in early January 1648. Both ships brought supplies and trade goods, but few new colonists. They returned with cargoes of tobacco and the Swan had a large inventory of pelts as well, but even this did not stir new enthusiasm.

  Neglect of the colony was due to the changing circumstances in Europe. Already stretched thin because of the Thirty Years’ War in Germany, Sweden was pushed still harder by a new war with Denmark. Worse, Admiral Fleming, the colony’s chief supporter, was killed in action leaving Oxenstierna as the main advocate for New Sweden. In 1644 Christina became queen in fact, cutting into the chancellor’s political power. Though both the Danish and German wars were ended under the new queen, freeing resources that might have been used to build the colony, Christina showed little interest in her American possessions. Her main concern was in developing Stockholm into the “Athens of the North.” She spent lavishly in perusing this goal and little was left for New Sweden.

  On July 31, 1649, a single ship, the Kattan (Cat) sailed from Gothenburg with seventy passengers and supplies. At Puerto Rico it ran aground. The Spanish, who had been fighting Sweden in the Thirty Years’ War, confiscated the cargo, burned the ship and carried off the passengers and crew. Nearly all died. Only nineteen eventually made it back to Sweden. The disastrous voyage was a catastrophe for the colony. After the Swan’s arrival in early 1648, no ships were seen for six years, not even a communication. The little colony was all but forgotten, left to survive on its own.