Peter of New Amsterdam: A Story of Old New York

by Harry Castlemon

  The embers of the Raritan village had hardly more than grown cold, whenit was discovered that some of our own people had taken the hogs fromStaten Island, thus showing that the terrible murders had been committedwithout any cause whatsoever, save Master Kieft's own suspicious, evilimaginings.

  Then it was that instead of the people of New Amsterdam going outpeacefully, earning money for the West India Company, as they were induty bound to do, all were the same as shut up on Manhattan Island withenemies on every hand; for, as may be supposed, such of the RaritanIndians as remained alive sought every opportunity to gain revenge,beginning by killing four planters on a farm at Staten Island, andburning the buildings.

  This caused Master Kieft to shut his eyes to his own crime, and at onceevery man was called upon to aid in killing the Raritans. Trade wasneglected, and our Director went so far as to offer such of the Indiansas remained friendly, ten long strings of wampum for the head of everyRaritan Indian which should be brought to him, and twenty strings foreach head of those who had been concerned in the murders on StatenIsland.

  As if blood did not flow in sufficient quantity, the people of the boywho had escaped when the negro slaves murdered his father, or, as somesay, his uncle, declared war against us by killing poor old ClausSchmidt, the wheelwright, who lived nearest the swamp; and we of NewAmsterdam had good reason to fear that all the savages roundabout mighttake part, either with the Raritans, or with these new enemies, and weshould be murdered at the very time when our town was becoming ofimportance.

  MASTER KIEFT'S WAR

  Master Kieft, taking no council save with his own evil thoughts,announced that he would declare war against every brown man in thecountry, and there is no question in my mind but that such might havebeen the case to our utter destruction, had not the chief men of NewAmsterdam, and among them those who had been in the Council duringMaster Van Twiller's reign, risen up against the Director, so far ascould be done without laying themselves open to a charge of mutiny.

  Our sensible men claimed, and with good reason, that war ought not to bedeclared because of the crops being still unharvested, and because ofour having to gather in the cattle, swine, and sheep still roaming thewoods. They declared also, that the farmers who had settled somedistance away, had a right to be given warning in time for them to savea portion of their property.

  To this Master Kieft agreed; but only for a certain time. He took itupon himself to make preparations for war, and when winter was fullycome did actually begin it, setting himself, with no more than twohundred and fifty Dutchmen, against two thousand savages who, because ofour greed for furs, as shown both by the people in their privatetrading, and by the West India Company, were armed with the same kind ofguns we were using, as well as supplied with an ample store of powderand ball.

  I would not, if I could, tell you all that followed. It is too cruel astory; it has more to do with murder and death by torture, and withkeenest suffering, than would be well for you to hear while we havegathered to listen to my poor tale of how the town of New Amsterdam wasbuilt, and how it grew.

  It was a time when the bravest man's cheeks might well grow pale; whenwomen and children shrieked with fear, or trembled in silent terror atthe slightest unusual sound; when it was as if all the countryroundabout had been stained the color of blood; when we could no longerlie down at night, or rise up in the morning, without fear; when weceased to live the lives of peaceful, honest traders, but were becomethe same as hunted beasts,--and all through the evil of one man.

  Master Kieft was sent for by the West India Company none too soon, andthe pity of it is that he ever came to New Amsterdam, with hishatchet-shaped face, to plunge us into a war with the savages, who hadall the right on their side.

  Hans Braun claimed because of Kieft's having built the great stonetavern, which was the largest and most beautiful in all America, that hehad left behind him a monument which would ever keep his memory green.But I question if any one, after Director Stuyvesant turned the buildinginto a town hall, ever cared to remember that it had been built byWilhelm Kieft.

  DIRECTOR PETRUS STUYVESANT

  On the eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord, 1647, a fleet offour large vessels sailed into the harbor of New Amsterdam, bringing thenew Director, Petrus Stuyvesant, his family, servants, soldiers, andmany laborers.

  A one-legged man was Master Stuyvesant, who had been a brave soldier,and, later, a governor of the island of Curacoa, wherever it may be.That he believed he was of considerable importance in the world, couldbe told by his manner of moving about and of holding speech with any whowas lower in station than himself.

  It was as if he were too high and mighty to concern himself with whatmight or might not be done in the storehouse, even though through thatbuilding came the greater portion of all the money the West IndiaCompany received from the New World.

  Do not understand me as saying that he gave no heed to such portion ofthe Company's business as was under my charge. He took note of it, butnot as Master Minuit would have done, by coming daily in person to seefor himself that I, and all under me, were doing full duty.

  Director Stuyvesant sent the secretary, Master Van Tienhoven, to learnwhat was being done, and that gentleman, as if believing I was notmaking the best bargains for the Company, spent a goodly portion of histime in the office of the storehouse, under the pretext of allowing meto go here or there as I pleased.

  While Master Kieft was in office, I had so much of labor to perform thattwo or three weeks, even a month on a certain time, would pass withoutmy having been outside the building.

  TIME FOR SIGHT-SEEING

  When the Secretary proposed that I take some time for pleasure, claimingto do so only for my good,--although, as a matter of fact, I believe itwas but his purpose to learn whether or no I had been doing my full dutyby the Company,--I took advantage of the offer.

  If any could do better for New Amsterdam than I, then it was time achange was made in the office of storekeeper and trader, this being mytitle at the time, as can be shown by the records in Holland. I hadnothing to conceal, having ever done my work to the best of my ability,and Master Van Tienhoven had free permission, so far as I was concerned,to search for flaws.

  I may as well say at once, that he never found anything in my conductdeserving of blame, although I did not hold my office quite so long asthe West India Company did business in America.

  However, Master Tienhoven was so far my friend that he gave me many anopportunity of wandering about the town, which was almost strange to me,after having been kept at work in the storehouse so long.

  The Indian village was no longer to be seen. When Master Kieft stirredup so much trouble with the savages, the last one of the Manhattans fledto the forest, there, most like, to join with our enemies against us,nor did we see any of them save when they came in with furs or wild fowlfor barter.

  Where the village of the Manhattans had stood were gardens and houses,many built of stone in the Dutch style, and in front of the fort, fromthe lower bastion to the water's edge, was the green, or the common,where the soldiers paraded on feast days that people might admire them.

  Inside the fort, and not far from my storehouse, was the church of stonebuilt by Master Kieft, the jail, the dwelling of the Director,concerning which I have already told you, and low stone barracks, orquarters for the soldiers, while on the northernmost bastion was awind-mill, made after the fashion of those in Holland.

  HOW THE FORT WAS ARMED

  It may interest you to know that our fort was well armed, having mountedand ready for service, eight bombards, by which I mean heavy cannon withwide, flaring mouths; six culverins, or exceedingly long, slim guns withhandles on either side for carrying; and seven serpentines, these lastbeing thin, long guns with grooves on the inside to throw the shot in awhirling manner. As missiles for the serpentines, two balls werechained together, being sent among the enemy in such way that they swunground and round, oftentimes inflicting much damage.

  The p
alisade, which had been built straight across the island while thesavages were thirsting for our blood, was to me a wonder in those dayswhen Master Tienhoven gave me an opportunity for strolling about thetown.

  It was made of cedar logs full twelve-feet high, and less than aquarter-mile back from the fort, stretching across the island for adistance of nearly twenty-five hundred feet. Here and there, say everythree hundred feet, was a small fort built of logs, where the soldierscould be protected while beating back an enemy, and at the water's edgeon the river to the eastward, was what is called a half-moon battery,set well out into the stream, where were mounted two guns.

  The same kind of fortification stood at the other end of the palisade,on the shore of that river discovered by Master Henry Hudson, and neareach battery was a gate giving entrance to the town, while an arch withheavy barriers, formed with much ornamentation of carving, stretchedacross the Broad Way.

  Following this palisade was a wide lane, along which were built the hutsof the slaves, servants, or people who were poor because of being lazy.

  VILLAGE LAWS

  It was on this palisade that I read the first of Director Stuyvesant'smessages, and during that stroll I saw so many of them that I can evennow repeat the words. They ran like this, and, to my mind, it would havebeen well if Master Kieft had given his attention to the same matter:

  "Whereas, we are informed of the great ravages the wolf commits on the small cattle; therefore to animate and encourage the proprietors who will go out and shoot the same, we have resolved to authorize the assistant Schout and Schepens to give public notice that whoever shall exhibit a wolf to them which hath been shot on this island, on this side Haarlem, shall be promptly paid therefor by them, for a wolf twenty florins, and for a she-wolf thirty florins in wampum, or the value thereof."

  When the farmer's bell tolled from the belfrey of the church within thefort, all the gates in the palisade were closed, and no person mightenter or leave the city from that time, which was nine of the clock inthe evening, until sunrise of the next morning.

  I have heard it said that there were many living beyond the palisade whoclaimed that this was all too early for them to leave the houses oftheir friends in the town, when there for a visit of pleasure; but Ihold to it that he who would remain out of his bed longer than that islittle better than a night-brawler, because of honest people being readyfor sleep when the day's work is at an end.

  OTHER THINGS ABOUT TOWN

  A thing which displeased me, though perhaps I was easily put out byanything Director Stuyvesant did, was that he should have set up thegallows in front of the stone tavern built by Master Kieft, after it hadbeen turned into the town hall.

  To me that instrument of justice was a blot on the fair building, eventhough it be something necessary in all towns; the whipping-post and thestocks seem to be there by right, and do not cast such a horror uponhim who passes them, but to have ever in sight that which had been builtfor the taking away of men's lives is, in a way, brutal.

  The hooft, or city dock, was ever a pleasant lounging place to me,particularly when there were many ships in the roadstead. It waspleasing to sit there idle, thinking Master Tienhoven was poring over myaccounts when the day was so fair that one enjoyed being in thesunshine, and to watch the ships or the small boats that flitted to andfro. It was enough to make one believe that in the days to come this NewAmsterdam of ours might grow to be even as large as Amsterdam inHolland.

  Then could I, and all others who had a part in the building of the town,look back with pride upon our life-work, save that in it should besomething of shame and crime, as in the case of Master Kieft, who, I maysay here, was drowned in a shipwreck on his way back to Holland toanswer to the Company for his misdeeds.

  But there was at times one matter which gave me pain at the city dock,and that was whenever there arrived a vessel laden with black men, whohad been stolen from Africa. With such a scene in view I had no desireto linger.

  It so chanced that I went there on a certain day when the _White Horse_,a slave ship that came more than once to our town, was sending ashore athrong of forlorn looking negroes to be exposed for sale, and there wasso much of suffering and heart-sickness in the scene that I went back tothe storehouse, glad to stay with Master Tienhoven rather than see themisery which I could not cure.

  A VISIT OF CEREMONY

  Before Master Stuyvesant had ruled over us many months, he went in greatstate to meet the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony at some placein the Connecticut Colony, and if all that was said regarding the matterbe true, he did what he might to persuade the Englishmen that he was ofvast importance in this New World.

  He journeyed on the ship _Black Eagle_, taking with him no less thaneight servants, four trumpeters, and twelve soldiers, and I wonder muchwhether those people who had built here in America such towns as Salem,Plymouth, and Boston, were greatly impressed because the chiefmagistrate of New Amsterdam, where were living no more than fifteenhundred persons, could not go abroad without a following of twenty-fourmen, to say nothing of the secretaries, the clerks, cooks, andjacks-of-all-trades whom I saw flocking on board the ship.

  I was told that Director Stuyvesant went to meet the chief men of theeastern colonies to talk with them about the threatenings of theIndians, and as to what should be done in regard to sending to theirowners runaway slaves, and concerning other such like matters; but howthe different affairs were settled, I never heard.

  At all events, Master Stuyvesant came back in the same high and mightystate as when he left us, after having been absent near to two weeks,and in the meantime had made many enemies in New Amsterdam, for therewere not lacking those who claimed he was trying to make friends withthe English for some purpose of his own, when all his time should havebeen spent in behalf of the West India Company.

  NEW AMSTERDAM BECOMES A CITY

  It was in the year 1652 that the town we had built was made a city, witha charter straight from Holland, and our people rejoiced because of itsbeing possible at last, after so much of misrule, for them to have somevoice in affairs.

  According to this charter, the freemen of our new city were to select aschout, four burgomasters, nine schepens, which last were what inEngland would be called magistrates--and a council of thirty-six menwhose duty it would be to advise with the Director on all affairsconcerning the public welfare.

  There was great rejoicing in New Amsterdam when Stoffel Mighielsen, thetown crier, made this announcement, and I dare venture to say that onthe night the news was made public, but little attention was paid to thefarmer's bell by those who lived outside the palisade.

  On every hand you could hear men giving joy to each other because of thetime's having come when the Director would no longer have absolute powerover all in the town, but must be guided by those who were to beelected by the ballots of the people, and following such rejoicings wasever the question as to when the election would be held.

  There was much talk as to who should be chosen to fill the offices, andall with whom I spoke declared that they were not to be influenced byanything Master Stuyvesant might say; but would pick out such men ascould stand up honestly for the rights of all, instead of bending likeslaves to the whims of the Director.

  MASTER STUYVESANT MAKES ENEMIES

  Because of our people's being so excited over this opportunity to have apart in the affairs of the city, you can well fancy what discontent,which swelled almost to open mutiny, was among us when Master Stuyvesantboldly announced that there would be no election. He had decided, so hesaid in that high and mighty voice of his, that he would appoint thecity officers himself, without vote of the people, and this he did,naming those men whom he knew would sneeze when he caught cold.

  Of course there were many vain threats made, and much whispering in darkcorners, the purport of which might have been construed into openmutiny, had Director Stuyvesant or any of his following overheard thestealthy conversation. The whipping-post, and even the
gallows, stoodtoo conveniently at hand, while Big Pieter, the negro executioner whohad charge of the public floggings, was ever ready to adjust a noose, orswing with vicious force the thongs of the whip.

  Many a time did I hear threats which would have sent him who made themstraight to the gallows, had they been repeated in the government house;but the people were cautious, not minded to risk their necks for thecommon good, and, so far as I can tell, Director Stuyvesant never knewhow near he was to a hornet's nest, when he took it upon himself tothrow aside one of the greatest privileges of New Amsterdam's charter.

  I doubt if it would have disturbed him much even had he known of thediscontent, for he ruled, as the saying is, with a rod of iron, andseemed to think that there was never one, or an hundred, of the commonpeople to whose mutterings he need take heed.

  But for that act of his, I question if our men of the city would havestood so calmly by when the English fleet came to capture New Amsterdam,turning out of office every Dutchman. Director Stuyvesant would havefound more by his side in that bitter hour, when he was the same asdriven from the land, if he had kept the promise made when he firstarrived, to govern the people of our town as a father governs hischildren.

  But it is not for me to speak of the English yet, for there is much totell concerning what was done by the Dutchmen, before Colonel RichardNicolls anchored off the battery with the guns of his fleet trained uponus.