Chapter IX (2)

This complaint is evidently directed against the Hollanders, who now began to strengthen their position on the Delaware. Willem Kieft, so amiably pacific in his comportment towards the Swedes, was superseded in the government of New Netherland in May, 1647, by Peter Stuyvesant,—a man of arbitrary and warlike character, who declared it to be his intention to regard as Dutch territory not only New Sweden, but all land between Cape Henlopen and Cape Cod. Meanwhile, Governor Printz persisted in a haughty demeanor towards the Dutch, continuing to impede or prevent their navigation of the “South River,” and he is charged with inciting suspicion of his rivals among both Indians and Christians,—actions which were protested against by Stuyvesant, to whom the Swedish governor made a reply which was transmitted to Manhattan by Commissary Hudde in December. During the winter Printz collected a great quantity of logs for the purpose of erecting more buildings at the Schuylkill; and when in the spring Hudde, instigated by the natives, constructed a fort called Beversrede at Passajung, Lieutenant Kling opposed the work, and ordered his men, some twenty-four in number, to cut down the trees around the spot. On news of this, and in consequence of a complaint of the Directors of the Dutch West India Company that the limits between the Swedes, English, and Hollanders were still unsettled, Councillors Lubbertus van Dincklagen and Johannes la Montagne, despatched by Stuyvesant on that mission in June, procured from the natives confirmation of a grant of land on the Schuylkill made to Arendt Corssen on behalf of the Dutch in 1633, and, visiting New Gottenburg, protested before the Governor against the actions of the Swedes. No attention was paid to this, however, and houses which two Dutchmen immediately began to build upon the tract were destroyed by Printz’s son (Gustaf Printz) and Sergeant Van Dyck. In September the Governor caused a house to be built within a dozen feet of Fort Beversrede, and directly between it and the river, while Lieutenant Sven Schute prevented the construction of houses by the Hollanders in November. Another Dutchman obtained permission from Director-General Stuyvesant to settle on the east side of the Delaware, at Mantaes Hoeck (near the present Mantua Creek, New Jersey), and solicited the aid of Governor Printz in carrying out his purpose. This was promised him, provided he acknowledged the jurisdiction of that officer; but, fearing some advantage might be taken of the concession by the Hollanders, Printz immediately bought from the Indians the land between this place and Narraticons Kil, which constituted the northern boundary of the purchase of Governor Hollender, and erected the Swedish arms upon it. According to Hudde, the Governor of New Sweden likewise endeavored to acquire from the natives territory about Fort Nassau, more completely to isolate that place from intercourse with Manhattan, but was anticipated by the Dutch, who secured it for themselves in April, 1649.

Meanwhile, in the mother country an expedition was preparing, which but for its untimely fate would have furnished the colony with such ample means of security and self-defence as might very probably have postponed or even altogether prevented the ultimate subjugation of the latter by the Hollanders. On the 24th of March, 1649, Queen Christina issued orders to the College of the Admiralty to equip the “Kalmar Nyckel,” then lying at Gottenburg, for the projected voyage across the ocean; and finding it would take too long to get her ready, on the 13th of April her Majesty authorized the substitution of the ship “Kattan” (the Cat), under the command of Captain Cornelius Lucifer. A certain Hans Amundson Besk was appointed leader of this, the eighth, Swedish expedition to New Sweden, which comprised his wife and five children, and sixty-three other emigrants, including a clergyman, clerk, and barber-surgeon, many mechanics, and some soldiers, with sixteen unmarried women, designed no doubt as wives for the earlier settlers. The fact that three hundred Finns applied for the privilege of joining the party showed there was no lack of voluntary colonists. The cargo embraced implements of every sort, and a large quantity of the materials of war,—“two six-pounder brass cannon, two three-pounder, twelve six-pounder, and two four-pounder iron cannon, powder, lead, grenades, muskets, pistols,” and so forth, besides rigging for a ship to be built on the Delaware. The vessel sailed on the 3d of July from Gottenburg, and arrived in safety at the West Indies, where, through the carelessness of the captain, on the 26th of August she struck a rock near an island fourteen miles from Porto Rico. When ready to set out afresh, the emigrants were pillaged by the inhabitants, who were Spaniards, and were taken to the latter place, where certain of them permanently settled, while others contrived in the course of one or two years to get back to Sweden. Eighteen, only, determined to continue their voyage to the Delaware, leaving Porto Rico with that intention in a little bark which they were able to purchase, May 1, 1651. They were seized the very next day, however, by a frigate, which carried them to Santa Cruz, then in the possession of France, where they were most barbarously treated by the Governor and his people. In a few weeks all died but five, who were taken off by a Dutch vessel, of whom a single survivor finally reached Holland. Commander Amundson and his family were sent by the Governor of Porto Rico to Spain, where they arrived in July of the same year, and whence they afterward proceeded to Amsterdam, and at last returned to Sweden.

This expedition, therefore, effected nothing for the colonists on the Delaware, who must have been greatly depressed by the news of its calamities. This reached them, through a letter of Director-General Stuyvesant to Commissary Hudde, on the 6th of August, 1650 (N. S.).[930] Printz immediately wrote by a Dutch vessel to Peter Brahe, referring to the report, and giving some account of the settlement since the departure of “Svanen,” two years and three months before. “Most of the people,” says he, “are alive and well. They are generally supplied with oxen and cattle, and cultivate the land with assiduity, sowing rye and barley, and planting orchards of delicious fruit, and would do better if all had wives and servants. Last year the crops were particularly excellent, our freemen having a hundred tuns of grain to sell. In short, the governor who relieves me will find his position as good as any similar one in Sweden. I have taken possession of the best places, and still hold them. Notwithstanding repeated acts and protests of the Dutch, nothing whatever has been accomplished by them; and where, on several occasions, they attempted to build within our boundaries, I at once threw down their work: so that, if the new governor brings enough people with him, they will very soon grow weary and disgusted, like the Puritans, who were most violent at first, but now leave us entirely in peace. This year, however, they had all the trade, since we received no cargoes; and so long as this is the case we must entertain some fear of the savages, although as yet we have experienced no hostility from them.” Further details as to the condition of the colony were to be orally communicated to the authorities in Sweden by Lieutenant Sven Schute, who was sent home for that purpose. Printz earnestly renewed his appeal to be released, urging his age and great feebleness, and recalling the services he had rendered to his country during the past thirty years.

So determined had been the opposition of the Governor to the encroachments of the Hollanders, that the Directors of the Dutch West India Company now began to think of applying to Queen Christina for a settlement of limits between the rival jurisdictions,—a purpose they communicated to the Director-General of New Netherland in a letter of the 21st of March, 1651, meantime requiring him, however, to “endeavor to maintain the rights of the Company in all justice and equity.” In accordance with these instructions, and in consequence, it is likely, of Printz’s fresh interference in the spring with operations of the Dutch in the neighborhood of Fort Beversrede and on an island in the Schuylkill, the energetic Stuyvesant despatched “a ship, well manned and equipped with cannon,” from New Amsterdam, which made her appearance at the mouth of the Delaware on the 8th of the following May, and “dropping anchor half a (Swedish) mile below Fort Christina, closed the river to navigation of all vessels, large and small.”

This is an extract from Visscher’s map as given by Campanius, and the date is fixed from the presence on it of Fort Casimir (built that year) and Fort Elfsborg (abandoned that year). The name above the latter one is a manuscript addition in the copy used in the reproduction. It is also reproduced in Dr. Egle’s _Pennsylvania_, p. 43.]

She was, to be sure, soon forced to withdraw by an armed yacht made ready by Printz; but her captain sending tidings of his situation to Manhattan, on the 25th of June Stuyvesant himself came overland, with a hundred and twenty men, being joined at Fort Nassau by eleven sail (including four well-furnished ships), and after proceeding up and down the river several times, with demonstrations of hostility, finally landed two hundred of his soldiers at a place on the west bank between Forts Christina and Elfsborg, called Sandhoeck (near New Castle, Delaware), where he built a small fort, to which he gave the name of Casimir. He likewise cut down the Swedish boundary posts, and sought by threats to compel the freemen to acknowledge the rule of the Hollanders. Abandoning and razing Fort Nassau, because of its less convenient position (too far up the stream), he stationed two men-of-war at his new fort, and collected toll of foreign vessels, even plundering and detaining several Virginia barques on account of duty demanded on their traffic in New Sweden for the previous four years. Printz was not strong enough to resist these acts by force; but when the Dutch director-general found some Indians ready to deny the rights of the Swedes, and even to undertake to sell to him the territory which he had seized, the Governor held a meeting on the 3d of July at Elfsborg with the heirs of the sachem who had conveyed to Governor Minuit the land between Christina and Bomtiens Udden, embracing the site of Fort Casimir, and obtained a confirmation of that grant, with a denial of the title of the savages who disposed of it to Stuyvesant. A protest was addressed to the latter from New Gottenburg on the 8th, claiming this region as well as that above Christina to Sankikan, and appealing for observance of “the praiseworthy alliance between her Royal Majesty of Sweden and the High and Mighty States-General.” Similar conferences were likewise held at New Gottenburg on the 13th and the 16th of the same month, resulting in still more explicit recognition, on the part of the natives, of the right of the Swedes to the territory on the Delaware; but neither this action of the savages nor a personal visit of Printz produced any effect on the Dutch director-general, although, it is said, at his departure the rival governors mutually promised to maintain “neighborly friendship and correspondence,” and to “refrain from hostile or vexatious deeds against each other.” The Governor of New Sweden related these events in letters of the 1st of August to Chancellor Oxenstjerna and Councillor Brahe, saying that he had been obliged to abandon all save his three principal posts (New Gottenburg, Nya Korsholm, and Christina), which he had strengthened and reinforced. In other respects the colony had prospered, reaping “very fine harvests at all the settlements, besides obtaining delicious crops of several kinds of fruit” that year. “Nothing is needed,” he adds, “but a much larger emigration of people, both soldiers and farmers, whom the country is now amply able to sustain.”

Although the Director-General of New Netherland had informed Printz that his invasion of New Sweden was authorized by the States of Holland, this was not precisely true; and the Directors of the Dutch West India Company, in a letter of the 4th of April, 1652, expressed considerable surprise at the boldness of his action, fearing it might be resented by her Swedish Majesty. The subject was, in fact, discussed by the Royal Council of Sweden on the 18th of March, when “the Queen declared it to be her opinion that redress might fairly be required of the States-General, and the Chancellor of the Kingdom deemed the question well worthy of deliberation.” Two days before, also, a consultation was held on the condition of New Sweden, at which were present, by special summons, Postmaster-General Beier (who, since the death of Admiral Fleming, acted as superintendent of the enterprise in Sweden), the book-keeper Hans Kramer (a zealous co-operator in the work), Henrik Gerdtson (only known as having been a resident of New Netherland), the assessor in the College of Commerce, and finally Lieutenant Schute, who gave a good report of the colony and the resources of the country, and attested the need of a greater number of emigrants. Of these, it was stated, plenty could be found “willing to go forth and settle;” and, in accordance with the judgment of the Queen and the sentiments of her Chancellor, it was resolved to commit the undertaking for the future to the care of the College of Commerce, and to order the Admiralty to prepare a vessel for another expedition to the Delaware. A few days later a ship was designated by her Majesty, namely, “Svanen,” but more than a whole year elapsed before the final execution of the project.

The situation of the colony, meanwhile, awakened great anxiety in the mind of the Governor. Not since the arrival of “Svanen,” between four and five years before, had any message or letter been received from Sweden, and the emigrants naturally began to fear that they had been abandoned by their sovereign. Some of them, therefore, left the country, while others were disposed to do so on a more favorable opportunity. According to a letter from Printz to Chancellor Oxenstjerna, dated Aug. 30, 1652, forty Dutch families had settled on the east side of the Delaware, although, like the rest of their compatriots in New Sweden, they were miserably provided for the pursuit of agriculture, and could only sustain themselves by traffic with the savages. In the latter particular, however, both Hollanders and English had great advantages over the Swedes, who having no cargoes of their own were forced to buy merchandise for barter of their rivals at double prices, or entirely lose their trade. This year, unfortunately, “the water spoiled the grain;” still, says Printz, the country “was in tolerably good condition, the freemen, with their cattle and other possessions, doing well, and the principal places being occupied and fortified as usual.” A vessel also had been built, of ninety or a hundred läster,[931] and was only waiting for sails and rigging, and some cannon, which cost too dear to purchase there. On the 26th of April, 1653, the Governor again wrote to the Chancellor, saying,—

“The people yet living and remaining in New Sweden, men, women, and children, number altogether two hundred souls. The settled families do well, and are supplied with cattle. The country yields a fair revenue. Still the soldiers and others in the Company’s service enjoy but a very mean subsistence, and consequently seek opportunity every day to get away, whether with or without leave, having no expectation of any release, as it is now five years and a half since a letter was received from home. The English trade, from which we used to obtain a good support, is at an end, on account of the war with Holland; while the fur-trade yields no profit, particularly now that hostilities have broken out between the Arrigahaga and Susquehanna Indians, from whom the beavers were procured. The Hollanders have quit all their places on the river except Fort Casimir, where they have settled about twenty-six families. To attempt anything against them with our present resources, however, would be of no avail. More people must be sent over from Sweden, or all the money and labor hitherto expended on this undertaking, so well begun, is wasted. We have always been on peaceful terms with the natives so long as our cargoes lasted, but whenever these gave out their friendship has cooled; for which reason, as well as for the sustenance of our colonists, we have been compelled to purchase a small cargo, by drawing a bill to be paid in Holland, which we expect to discharge by bartering half of the goods for tobacco.”

Finally, on the 14th of July, Governor Printz wrote once more to Brahe concerning a speculation of the Dutch and English for supplying tobacco for Sweden, through the aid of a Virginia merchant sailing under a Swedish commission; and, to give further weight to his appeals on behalf of the colony, he sent home his son, Gustaf Printz, who had been a lieutenant in the settlement since 1648. The situation of the emigrants did not improve during the summer; and nothing yet being heard from Sweden, the Governor felt he could wait no longer, and determined to leave the country. When this resolution became known, some of the Swedes were inclined to remove to Manhattan and put themselves under the protection of Stuyvesant; but being refused permission by the Director-General until instructions should come from Holland, they seem to have abandoned the project. Before taking his departure, Printz promised the inhabitants that he would either himself return in ten months or send back a vessel and cargo, and appointed in his place, as Vice-Governor of the Colony, his son-in-law Johan Papegåja. In company with his wife and Hendrick Huygen, and some others of the settlers, he left the Delaware in the beginning of October, and, crossing the ocean in a Dutch vessel, by the 1st of December reached Rochelle, from whence he went to Holland early in 1654, and in April of that year at last arrived in Sweden.

The reiterated appeals of Governor Printz to his superiors had begun at length to produce their effect, and Aug. 13, 1653, Queen Christina ordered the Admiralty to equip the ship “Vismar” for the expedition to New Sweden which had been projected (and for which “Svanen” had been selected) the previous year. Three hundred persons were to take part in it, and rigging was to be procured for the vessel which had been built on the Delaware. The same day, also, the College of War was enjoined to supply ammunition for the defence of the settlement. The College of Commerce, which was now fully organized, had, by her Majesty’s desire, assumed the direction of the colony, and the honor of restoring and actively conducting its affairs belongs to the President of that College, Erik, son of Axel, Oxenstjerna.

On the 25th of August Sven Schute was commanded to enrol fifty soldiers as emigrants, preferring such as possessed mechanical skill, sending them to Stockholm, besides two hundred and fifty persons, including some women, to be obtained in the forests of Värmland and Dal. Instead of the “Vismar,” the ship “Örnen” (the Eagle) was supplied by the Admiralty, which was ready to receive her cargo by autumn, and was put under the command of Johan Bockhorn, the mate of the ill-fated “Kattan;” while the West India Company fitted out “Gyllene Hajen,” which had borne the sixth expedition to New Sweden, to be commanded by Hans Amundson, who, as Captain of the Navy, was to superintend the construction of vessels and have charge of the defences of the colony. Schute was to accompany the expedition as “Captain in the country, and particularly over the emigrants to be sent out on ‘Örnen,’” both he and Amundson having been granted patents for land on the Delaware.[932]

Not aware that Printz had already left New Sweden, the Queen wrote a letter, December 12, permitting him to come home, but deprecating his doing so until arrangements could be made in regard to his successor; and the same day Johan Claesson Rising, the Secretary of the College of Commerce, was appointed Commissary and Assistant-Councillor to the Governor, at an annual salary of twelve hundred daler-silfver, besides receiving fifteen hundred daler-silfver for the expenses of his voyage, with the privilege of resuming his position in the College if he returned to Sweden.

He was also granted as much land in New Sweden as he could cultivate with twenty or thirty peasants, and received a Memoir from his sovereign, as well as Instructions from the College of Commerce, in twenty-four articles, signed by Erik Oxenstjerna and Christer Bonde on the 15th, prescribing his duties in the colony. He was to aid Printz in the administration of justice and the promotion of agriculture, trade, fishing, and so forth; and to endeavor to extend the settlement, encouraging the immigration of worthy neighbors of other nations. The Dutch were to be peacefully removed from Fort Casimir and the vicinity, if possible, care being taken that the English did not obtain a foothold on the Delaware; and a fort might be built, if needed, at the mouth of the river. On the way to America another commission was to be executed by Captain Amundson, in obtaining from the Spaniards at Porto Rico compensation for “Kattan.”

The final preparations for the departure of the ninth expedition to New Sweden were made under the directions of the book-keeper Hans Kramer, in Stockholm, and Admiral Thijssen Anckerhelm at Gottenburg, where “Örnen” remained for several months awaiting the arrival of “Gyllene Hajen” from the capital. This did not occur, however, until the close of January, 1654; and the ship having met with such disasters at Öresund as necessitated her stopping for repairs before she could continue her journey, “Örnen” was forced to sail alone. On the 27th of that month the emigrants, numbering (with women and children) three hundred and fifty souls, swore allegiance to their sovereign and to the West India Company, and on February 2 weighed anchor for the Delaware. No fewer than a hundred families, who had sold all their property in expectation of uniting in the expedition, were obliged to stay behind for lack of room. Besides Commissary Rising and Captain Schute, Elias Gyllengren, who had accompanied Governor Printz to New Sweden, sailed on this vessel, with the commission of lieutenant.

Two Lutheran clergymen, Petrus Hjort and Matthias Nertunius, the latter of whom had embarked on the unfortunate “Kattan,” and Peter Lindström, a military engineer, from whose letters, journal, and maps we derive much information concerning the Swedish colony, likewise were of the company. After a very adventurous voyage, during which half of the travellers fell sick, and the ship was dismantled by a violent hurricane, and nearly captured by the Turks, “Örnen” arrived on the 18th of May in Delaware Bay, and two days afterward at Fort Elfsborg, now deserted and in ruins. On the 21st she cast anchor off Fort Casimir, then in charge of Gerrit Bikker and a dozen Dutch soldiers. Although in the general instructions of his superiors Rising was cautioned against engaging in hostilities with the Hollanders, such was not the personal counsel of Axel Oxenstjerna; and a letter of Erik Oxenstjerna, dated Jan. 18, 1654, expresses the opinion that the present was “an opportunity for action which it were culpable to neglect.” This probably accounts for the energy exhibited by the Commissary in inaugurating his administration of the affairs of the colony; for, immediately on reaching the Dutch post, he sent Captain Schute with twenty soldiers to demand the surrender of the garrison. Not receiving a satisfactory reply, the Captain ordered Lieutenant Gyllengren to enter the place, where the latter soon triumphantly displayed the Swedish flag. The stronghold was named anew from the day of its capture (Trinity Sunday), Trefaldighets Fort (Trinity Fort). The next day “Örnen” sailed up to Christina, and on the 23d the inhabitants of that region assembled to hear the commands of their sovereign, and the Dutch settlers who were permitted to remain on the Delaware took the oath of fealty to Sweden,—an act which, with the surrender of Fort Casimir, was at once reported in a letter from Rising to Stuyvesant.

This follows the sketch given in Campanius, p. 76, copied from Lindström.]

A meeting of the rest of the people for the same object was held at Tinicum on the 4th of June. Since the departure of Governor Printz the colonists had been greatly reduced in numbers through desertion and other causes, and Fort Nya Korsholm had been abandoned, and had afterwards been burned by the savages. Lieutenant Papegåja, therefore, cheerfully resigned the responsibility of the government to Commissary Rising, who retained him, however, as his counsellor, in conjunction with Captain Schute.

The new Governor spent several days in visiting the various settlements on the river, in company with Engineer Lindström, and on the 17th of June concluded a treaty of peace and friendship with the Indians, represented by ten of their sachems, at a council at Printzhof. The day after, “Lawrence Lloyd, the English commandant of Virginia,” took supper with Rising, and intimated the claim made by his nation to the Delaware, referring especially to the grant to Plowden, already spoken of. The Swedes defended their title to the territory by an appeal to the donations and concessions of the natives. The Virginians subsequently desiring to buy land and settle it with colonists, Rising, remembering the encroachments of the Puritans in New Netherland, felt constrained to deny their request until special instructions on the subject should be received from Sweden. On the other hand, an open letter was addressed by the Governor, July 3, to all Swedes who had gone to Virginia, inviting them to return to the Delaware, and promising that they should then be granted permission to betake themselves wherever they wished. On the 8th of the same month still further recognition of the Swedish dominion over the west shore of the river, from Fort Trinity to the Schuylkill, was obtained from two Indian chieftains, who met Rising for that purpose at Fort Christina. The relations with New England at this period were quite friendly, and a shallop was despatched thither, under the charge of Jacob Svenson, to procure a larger supply of food. At the same time an “Ordinance” was promulgated, determining many details “concerning the people, land, agriculture, woods, and cattle,” designed to promote the internal welfare of the colony. The progress made during the first two months of Governor Rising’s administration was very satisfactory; and hopeful letters were addressed by him, July 11 and 13, to Erik and Axel Oxenstjerna, respectively, and a full Report of measures recommended and adopted, bearing the latter date, was rendered to the College of Commerce. “For myself,” says the Governor, “thank God, I am very contented. There is four times more ground occupied at present than when we arrived, and the country is better peopled; for then we found only seventy persons, and now, including the Hollanders and others, there are three hundred and sixty-eight.” Some of the old freemen, induced by the immunity from taxation which had been accorded to persons who occupied new land, requested fresh allotments. These relinquished ground already cleared, which was purchased for the Company and settled with young freemen, who were supplied with seed and cattle, subject to an equal division with the Company of the offspring and of the crops. Rising also deemed it advisable to found a little town of artisans and mechanics, and for that purpose selected a field near Fort Christina, which Lindström laid out in lots, naming the place Christinahamn (Christina Haven), where he proposed “to build houses in the autumn;” and among sites for cities and villages he mentions Sandhoeck, or Trinity, where about twenty-two houses had been erected by the Hollanders. The Dutch fort at the latter spot, which he had captured, was reconstructed by Captain Schute, who armed it with four fourteen-pounder cannon taken from “Örnen.” In accordance with the permission granted, Rising selected for himself a piece of “uncleared land below Fort Trinity;” and since this was rather remote from his place of residence, Christina, he requested the privilege of cultivating “Timmerön (Timber Island), with the land to Skölpaddkilen (Tortoise-shell Creek).”

“Örnen” sailed from New Sweden in July, carrying home some of the older colonists, with Lieutenant Papegåja, who was deputed to give further information about the condition of the settlement. It was impossible to provide the vessel with a sufficient cargo, but Rising shipped some tobacco, which he had purchased in Virginia, to be sold on his private account in Sweden.

We now know that news of Printz’s departure from the Delaware was received soon after “Örnen” had left Gottenburg for America; and on the 28th of February, 1654, Queen Christina commissioned Rising as temporary Governor of New Sweden. By the same royal letter Hans Amundson was removed from the supervision of “the defence of the land and the forts,” and this duty was intrusted to Sven Schute, in unwitting anticipation of a request in Rising’s report of the following July. In consequence of incapacity exhibited on the voyage of “Gyllene Hajen” from Stockholm to Gottenburg, he was likewise replaced in the command of his vessel on the 4th of March, by Sven Höök, subject to the superior orders of Henrich von Elswich, of Lübeck, who was deputed to succeed Huygen as commissary in the colony, taking care of the cargoes and funds, and keeping the books of the Company.

In the hope of further developing the growth of the settlement, on the 16th of the same month Queen Christina granted a “_privilegium_ for those who buy land or traffic in New Sweden or the West Indies,” in accordance with which, whoever purchased ground of the Company or of the Indians, with recognition of the jurisdiction of her Majesty was assured allodial enfranchisement for himself and his heirs forever; while subjects who exported goods which had already paid duty in the kingdom or dependencies of Sweden, should be free from all imposts on the Delaware, and were required to pay only two per cent (and nothing in Sweden) on what they exported from that river. On the 15th of April “Gyllene Hajen” was at last able to leave Gottenburg, with a number of emigrants and a quantity of merchandise, and arrived at Porto Rico on the 30th of June. Commissary Elswich was kindly received by the Spanish governor of the island, Don Diego Aquilera, and on presenting letters from his Catholic Majesty and Antonio de Pimentelli, the Spanish ambassador to Sweden, with his claim for damages for “Kattan,” he was offered 14,030 Spanish dollars as compensation from the Governor, but not deeming that sum sufficient declined to accept it, in view of the good-will of the Spaniards and the prospect of more satisfactory negotiations on the subject in the future. Amundson, who had been permitted to accompany the expedition with his family, to press his personal demands at Porto Rico, and settle as a private individual upon the Delaware, died on the 2d of July, and was buried on the island. The ship continued her voyage in August, and arrived off the continent September 12, when, either through the rashness or the malice of the mate, she was conducted into a bay, believed to be the Delaware, which was in fact the present New York harbor,—an error not discovered till she had reached Manhattan. So favorable an opportunity to retaliate the seizure of Fort Casimir by the Swedish governor was not suffered to pass unimproved by the energetic Stuyvesant, who detained the vessel and cargo, and on the refusal of Rising to visit New Amsterdam, or restore or pay for the Dutch fort, the Dutch governor confiscated the goods, and equipped “Gyllene Hajen,” under the name of “Diemen,” for the Curaçoa trade, in the service of his West India Company. Most of the emigrants remained in New Netherland; and Commissary Elswich, who vainly protested against such hostile actions, did not arrive at the Delaware until the close of November.

On the occasion of the English Minister Whitelocke’s embassy to Sweden, in May, 1654, a convention was adopted for the observance of friendship between New Sweden and the English colonies in America, and for the adjustment of their boundaries. Probably in ignorance of this, during the ensuing summer the colonists of New Haven renewed their project of forming a settlement on the Delaware. By order of the General Court of July 5, Governor Theophilus Eaton addressed a letter on the subject to Governor Rising, to which the latter replied August 1, affirming the right of his sovereign to “all the lands on both sides Delaware Bay and River,” and referring to “a conference or treaty before Mr. Endicott, wherein New Haven’s right was silenced or suppressed.” This was deemed unsatisfactory by the Commissioners of the United Colonies, to whom the letters were submitted by Governor Eaton on the 23d of September, and the same day another letter was written by these gentlemen to the Governor of New Sweden, reciting their purchases of land from the Indians, and desiring explanations. These communications being read at a General Court at New Haven on the 2d of November, a committee was appointed to receive applications from persons willing to emigrate, a company of whom appealed to the Court for aid in their enterprise on the 30th of the following January. This was readily accorded, and one of the number visited the Delaware to ascertain the sentiment of the people residing there; but returning in March, announced “little encouragement in the Bay,” while “a report of three ships being come to the Swedes seemed to make the business more difficult.” Although the undertaking was favored by the town of New Haven both then and during April, no attempt appears to have been made to carry it on.

During the summer of 1654 occurred the abdication of Queen Christina and the death of her aged Chancellor, Axel Oxenstjerna; but these events entailed no diminution of interest on the part of Sweden in the welfare of her colony in America. Observing that the partners in the West India Company “had not entered into their work with proper zeal,” on the 23d of December King Charles X. (Gustavus) instructed the College of Commerce “to admonish them to do their duty, under penalty of forfeiting their share of future profits,” and for their encouragement renewed the privilege of the monopoly of the tobacco trade in Sweden and her dependencies, which had been withdrawn Oct. 25, 1649.

In April, 1655, members of the Company, including Johan Oxenstjerna, son of the late chancellor, and Jöran Fleming, son of the late admiral, were summoned before the College of Commerce, now presided over by Olof Andersson Strömsköld, who at the same time became Director of the Company, to decide “whether they would contribute the capital needed to carry on the enterprise, or relinquish their pretensions.” The associates not relishing the latter alternative, the resolution was taken to disburse the last of their funds, and to try to induce other persons to join them in their work.

It was even proposed to form a new company, enjoying proprietorship of the land subject to the Crown of Sweden, with increased privileges and immunities,—the scheme for this (dated in May) being still preserved in the Archives of the kingdom, although it does not seem to have been adopted, since it lacks the royal signature, and is not comprised in the registry. On the 30th of July Johan Rising was commissioned by the College of Commerce “Commandant” in New Sweden,—the budget for 1655 also embracing a captain, a lieutenant, an ensign, a sergeant, two gunners, a corporal, a drummer, and thirty-six soldiers, a provost, and an executioner, with three clergymen, a commissary, an assistant-commissary, a fiscal, a barber-surgeon, and an engineer, at an annual expense of 4,404 riksdaler for the colony. In addition, certain employés were occupied in Stockholm, at a charge of 834 riksdaler. The Company likewise succeeded in fitting out the tenth and last Swedish expedition to the Delaware, under the command of the former Commissary, Hendrick Huygen, including Johan Papegåja, a Lutheran minister called Herr Matthias, six Finnish families from Värmland, and other emigrants, numbering in all eighty-eight souls, a hundred more being turned away for want of room. The vessel selected on this occasion was the “Mercurius,” which was ready to receive her cargo, consisting chiefly of linen and woollen stuffs and salt, in July, but was obliged to wait for cannon and ammunition, and did not sail from Gottenburg until the 16th of October. She bore a letter to Rising promising that another ship should very soon follow.

The efforts of the last two years to strengthen the Swedish dominion on the Delaware were certainly sufficiently earnest to merit success; but they were made too late. Their inadequacy to the present extremity rather hastened the bursting of the storm which engulfed the political destiny of the settlement. The Dutch West India Company had never entirely abandoned their claim to jurisdiction over the shores of the “South River,” and in April, 1654, apparently apprehending danger from the expedition under Rising, determined to occupy Fort Casimir with a force of two hundred men, who had been enlisted for service in New Netherland against the English,—a duty for which they were not needed, in consequence of the recent conclusion of peace. The surrender of this fort by Bikker was severely censured by the Directors, who addressed letters to Stuyvesant, in November, authorizing and urging the immediate undertaking of an expedition projected by him, “to avenge this misfortune, not only by restoring matters to their former condition, but also by driving the Swedes at the same time from the river.” Documents were likewise called for, to be sent to Holland, confirmatory of the claim of the Dutch company to the territory on the Delaware, in anticipation, doubtless, of diplomatic controversies likely to arise between the governments of Sweden and the States-General. Before the receipt of these communications, however, Stuyvesant had gone on a voyage to the West Indies, whence he did not return to New Amsterdam until the middle of the following summer. Meanwhile the Dutch Directors wrote to him approving of his seizure of “Gyllene Hajen,” and informing him that they had chartered “one of the largest and best ships” of Amsterdam, carrying thirty-six guns and two hundred men, to unite in the enterprise against New Sweden, which was to be undertaken by the authorities of New Netherland immediately on her arrival, in view of the “great preparations making in Sweden to assist their countrymen on the South River.” At the same time the orders of November were modified, so that the Swedes might be permitted to retain the ground on which Fort Christina was built, “with a certain amount of garden-land for the cultivation of tobacco,” provided they considered themselves subjects of the Dutch “State and Company.”

The ship referred to, called “De Waag” (the Balance), reached New Amsterdam on the 4th of August, 1655, and Director-General Stuyvesant at once completed his preparations for the invasion of New Sweden. A small army of six or seven hundred men[933] was at length assembled, and distributed upon “De Waag,” commanded by the Director-General in person, and six other vessels, comprising a galiot, flyboat, and two yachts, each mounting four guns. The whole force sailed on the 26th of August, arriving off Delaware Bay the following afternoon, and casting anchor the day after before the old Fort Elfsborg. On the night of the 30th their presence was made known to the Swedes by a vigorous discharge of cannon, and by the capture of some colonists by a party who had landed at Sandhoeck. The next morning the Dutch appeared in front of Fort Trinity. In consequence of intimations received from the Indians, and confirmed by the testimony of two spies who had been sent by Rising to Manhattan, the advent of the Hollanders was not unexpected, and the garrison had been increased to forty-seven men, while orders had been issued by the Governor to Captain Schute, who still commanded at that post, to fire upon the Dutch in case they should attempt to pass. This fact was communicated by that officer to persons sent by Stuyvesant to demand the surrender of the fort; and in a personal interview with the Director-General, Schute solicited the privilege of transmitting an open letter to Rising asking for further instructions. This was peremptorily denied him, although a delay was afterward granted till the next morning, for a response to the summons. Nevertheless during the night Schute contrived to get word to Christina about his perilous situation, and nine or ten men were despatched to his relief. These were intercepted, however, by the Hollanders, two only escaping capture by retreating to their boat and returning to their fort. At the same time a mutiny occurred among the garrison of Fort Trinity, and fifteen or sixteen men were disarmed and put under arrest. Two others deserted and reported the condition of affairs to Stuyvesant. Resistance now seeming worse than useless, Schute met the Director-General on “De Waag,” on the 1st of September, and consented to capitulate, on promise of security for the persons and private property of the officers, and the restoration to Sweden of the four iron guns and five field-pieces constituting the armament of the redoubt. The captain accordingly marched forth, with a guard of twelve men and colors flying, and the place was occupied by the Dutch. In consequence of the omission to stipulate a point of retreat for the garrison, on the 7th most of these were sent by Stuyvesant, on his flyboat, to New Amsterdam. The day of the surrender of Fort Trinity Factor Elswich presented himself before the Director-General, on the part of Governor Rising, “to demand an explanation of his conduct, and dissuade him from further hostilities,” but was compelled to return without receiving satisfaction. Measures were therefore immediately taken for the defence of Fort Christina, all the people available being assembled at that place, where they “labored by night and by day, strengthening the ramparts and filling gabions.” On the 2d of September the Dutch appeared in force on the opposite bank of Christina Creek, and on the 3d seized a Swedish shallop, and threatened to occupy a neighboring house. Lieutenant Sven Höök was sent by Rising to inquire their purpose, but he was detained by Stuyvesant on “De Waag.” By the 4th the Hollanders had planted gabions about the house referred to, and under cover of these threw up a battery; and on the 5th landed on the north side of Christina Creek, and erected batteries on Timber Island, at Christinahamn, and on the west side of the fort. They completed their investment of the place by anchoring their ships at the mouth of the Fiske Kil, on the southeast. Some volleys of shot, fired over-head from either side, assured Rising that he was entirely surrounded; and on the 6th a letter was brought by an Indian from Stuyvesant, “arrogantly claiming the whole river,” and requiring all the Swedes to evacuate the country, except such as were willing to remain under the protection of the Dutch. A council of war was immediately held, at which it was determined not to begin hostilities, but to act on the defensive, and, if possible, to repel assaults.

This follows the rude plan given in Campanius, p. 81, extracted from Lindström’s manuscript account of the affair.

A. Fort Christina.
B. Christina Creek.
C. Town of Christina Hamn.
D. Tennekong Land.
E. Fiske Kil (now Brandywine Creek).
F. Snake Battery, of four guns.
G. Gnat Battery, of six guns.
H. Rat Battery, of five guns.
I. Fly Battery, of four guns.
K. Timmer Öland (Timber Island).
L. Kitchen.
M. Position of the besiegers.
N. Harbor.
O. Mine.
P. Reed flats.

Comp., Compagn.,—Companies of Dutch soldiers.]

The next morning Factor Elswich, Sergeant Van Dyck, and Peter Rambo were sent to reply to Stuyvesant, with an assertion of the right of Sweden to the Delaware, exhorting him to refrain from acts which might lead to a breach between their sovereign and the States-General, and protesting his responsibility for all shedding of blood at Fort Christina. The Dutchman did not yield to their arguments, and on the 9th despatched a letter to Rising of similar import to that of the 6th, which was answered with a proposal that their boundaries be settled by their sovereigns, or by commissioners authoritatively appointed for that purpose. No regard was paid to this, however, by Stuyvesant, and the peculiar _quasi_ siege was still continued, although no attempt was made to harm the garrison, notwithstanding, says Rising, there was not a spot upon the walls where they could have stood with safety. Meanwhile the Swedish force, which numbered only about thirty men, some of whom were sick and others ill-affected, noting the progress of the works of the enemy, and anticipating the speedy exhaustion of their supplies, began to entertain thoughts of surrender.

[This is a reduction from the map given in Campanius, which is in itself a reduction from an original draft of the Swedish engineer. It is likewise given in _Nouv. Annales des Voyages, Mars_, 1843; in Memoirs of _Pennsylvania Historical Society_, vol. iii. part i.; in Gay’s _Popular History of the United States_, ii. 154, etc. Armstrong, in establishing the position of Fort Nassau, examined the following maps, which include, he thinks, all early maps of the bay and river: De Laet’s “Nova Anglia, Novum Belgium et Virginia,” 1633; Blaeu’s _Theatre du Monde_, 1645, marked “Nova Belgica et Anglica Nova,” which apparently follows De Laet. Also, the map of Virginia by Virginia Farrer (in Vol. III.), dated at London in 1651, and bearing this legend: “This River the Lord Ployden hath a Patten of, and calls it new Albion, but the Sweeds are planted in it and have a great trade of Furrs.” Lindström’s manuscript map of 1654, twenty-seven inches long, in the Swedish Royal Archives, of which Armstrong saw a copy in the library of the American Philosophical Society (and another copy of which, made for the late Joseph J. Mickley, has been engraved in Reynolds’s translation of Acrelius). The map of Visscher, without date (? 1654), “Novi Belgii, Novæque Angliæ necnon partis Virginiæ tabula.” Vanderdonck’s 1654, given in the preceding chapter. The map in Ogilby’s _America_, and in Montanus’s _Nieuwe Onbekende Weereld_, 1671, both from the same plate, “Novi Belgii ... delineatio,” which follows Visscher and Vanderdonck. Dancker’s “Novi Belgii,” etc. Ottens’s “Totius Neobelgii ... tabula,” following Visscher. A map, “Edita Totius Novi Belgii cura Matthæi Seutteri.” Another, “Nova Anglia ... a Baptista Homerus (Homans?).” Again, “Pennsylvania, ... cum regionibus ad flumen Delaware sitis ... per M. Scutterum.” Arent Roggeveen’s chart, 1675, which Armstrong calls the “first comparatively correct map of the bay and river.” The three types in these maps are Lindström’s, Visscher’s, and Roggeveen’s; the others are copies more or less closely. Armstrong did not, however, quite thoroughly scan the field. De Laet’s map of 1633 appeared earlier in his 1630 edition, and is given in fac-simile in Vol. III, where will also be found the map accompanying _The Relation of Maryland_, 1635. Blaeu’s map appeared earlier in his Nieuwe _Atlas_, 1635. There is also the map of the Mercator-Hondius series, reproduced in Hexham’s English translation in 1636. Sanson’s map of 1656 is also sketched in Vol. III. A map entitled _Pascaerte van Nieu Nederland_ is in Van Loon’s Atlas of 1661. There are also two maps showing the bay in Speed’s _Prospect of the most famous Parts of the World_, London, 1676, which very blindly follow the Dutch maps; and we do not get any better work till we come to Gabriel Thomas’s map of 1698, which is given in fac-simile in Vol. III.—ED.]]