History of Delaware County - Ashmead, Ch. II, (Page 8)

Chapter II

disposed to settle under and submit to our government may be indulged in it."¹ In conformity with the spirit of these instructions, Stuyvesant silently but promptly made preparations for an aggressive movement on the Delaware. To that he gathered an armament and fleet, while the Swedes, unaware of the danger that lowered over them, made no unusual provision for defense. On Sunday, Sept. 4, 1655, the expedition under Stuyvesant, in seven vessels, with about six hundred men, set sail for the Delaware, and on the morning of the 9th of September anchored a short distance from Fort Cassimir, when Stuyvesant sent a lieutenant ashore to demand the restitution of the stronghold. Lieutenant Schute, the Swedish officer, desired time to communicate with his superior, which was refused. In the mean while the Dutch commander had landed a force which occupied all the approaches in rear of the fort, and, after some negotiation, the Swedish garrison capitulated on the morning of the 11th of September. After the reduction of Fort Cassimir the Dutch forces laid siege to Fort Christiana, and from Governor Rising's official report² we learn that the enemy made regular approaches until, having their guns in position in rear of the fort, Stuyvesant formally demanded the surrender of the post within twenty-four hours. The Swedish Governor, after a general consultation with the whole garrison, decided to accede to the demand he was powerless to resist. The articles of capitulation, among other matters, provided that the Swedish forces should march out of the fort with the honors of war, - drums and trumpet playing, flags flying, matches burning, and with hand and side arms. That they, as prisoners of war, were first to be conducted to Tinicum Island, and placed in the fort at that place until they could be taken to New Amsterdam.³ Campanius asserts that "The Dutch then proceeded to destroy New Gottenburg, laying waste all the houses and plantations without the fort, killing the cattle, and plundering the inhabitants of everything that they could lay their hands on; so that after a siege of fourteen days, and many fruitless propositions to obtain more humane treatment, the Swedes were obliged to surrender that fortress for want of men and ammunition."⁴
¹ Hazard's Annal's, p. 168.
² Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. v. p. 224
³ Acrelius, "Hist. of New Sweden," p. 76
⁴ Campanius, "New Sweden," pp. 85, 86. Smith, in his "History of New Jersey," page 34, says the Dutch "destroyed New Gottenburg, with such houses as are without the fort, plundering the inhabitants of what they had, and killing their cattle." From his account it also appears that the fort at Tinicum was defended fourteen days, and that the pillaging took place before the fort was surrendered. The statements of both Campanius and Smith were doubtless based on traditionary recitals, which, in descending from one generation to another, had confused two separate matters into one. Campanius' work was not published until 1702, nearly forty years after the circumstances narrated took place, while that of Smith was issued long subsequent to that date. To show how soon confusion may take place in matters connected with historical events it is only necessary to cite "An Account of the Seditious False Konigsmack in New Sweden" (Penn. Mag. of Hist., vol. vii. p. 219), where is given, by an unknown writer, in 1683, an account of the attempted insurrection of the Long Fin, which occurred in 1669. The writer states, "These are the particulars which I received from the oldest Swedes," and yet he relates that the conspirators "went to Philadelphia and bought powder, balls, shot, lead, and so forth," nearly fourteen years before that city had an existence.

From the fact that the articles of capitulation at Fort Christiana stipulated for the detention of the Swedish prisoners of war at the fort at Tinicum, and that there is, so far as known, an absence of all documentary evidence to support the assertion made by Campanius, the conclusion seems irresistible that that author has confused his account of the doings at New Gottenburg with those occurring on the siege of Fort Christiana. Vice-Governor Rising, in his report,⁵ already mentioned, when relating the pillaging of "the people without sconce of their property, and higher up the river they plundered many and stripped them to the skin," thus briefly narrated the outrages of the Dutch invaders at Tinicum. "At New Gottenburg they robbed Mr. Papegoija's wife of all she had, with many others who had collected their property there." Not a word has this man, who pictured the minutest incident of the siege of Fort Christiana, and the killing of Swedish "cattle, goats, swine, and poultry," to say about the investment of Fort Gottenburg, the resistance of its slender garrison for fourteen days, or the laying waste of all the houses and plantations without the forts. Certain it is, that the Swedish Church at Tinicum, Printz Hall, and other buildings stood uninjured long years after the Dutch power in North America had waned before the conquering standard of Great Britain. In 1680 "the remains of the large blockhouse, which served them (the Swedes) in place of a fortress," was on the island, together with "three or four houses built by the Swedes, a little Lutheran Church made of logs, and the ruins of some log huts."⁶ In Rising's reply to Stuyvesant,⁷ only thirty-four days after the capture of Fort Christiana, he does not mention the destruction of the post at New Gottenburg, but sets forth the following outrages committed by the Dutch in their conquest of New Sweden: "Your Honor's troops have behaved here as if they were in the country of their bitterest enemy, as the plundering of Tornaborg, Uplandt, Finland, Princedorp, and other places more clearly proves (not to speak of the deeds done about Fort Christiana), where the females have partly been dragged out of their houses by force; whole buildings torn down, even hauled away; oxen, cows, pigs, and other animals daily slaughtered in large numbers; even the horses were not spared, but shot wantonly, the plantations devastated, and everything thereabouts treated in such a way that our victuals have been mostly spoiled, carried away, or lost somehow." So, too, on Dec. 19, 1656,⁸ the directors instruct Stuyvesant to occupy the
⁵ Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. v. p. 227.
⁶ Journal of a Voyage to New York in 1679-80. Memoirs of the Long Island Hist. Soc., vol i. p. 177.
⁷ Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. vii. p. 487.
⁸ Ib., 496

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Chapter II

	disposed to settle under and submit to our government may be indulged in it."¹ In conformity with the spirit of these instructions, Stuyvesant silently but promptly made preparations for an aggressive movement on the Delaware. To that he gathered an armament and fleet, while the Swedes, unaware of the danger that lowered over them, made no unusual provision for defense. On Sunday, Sept. 4, 1655, the expedition under Stuyvesant, in seven vessels, with about six hundred men, set sail for the Delaware, and on the morning of the 9th of September anchored a short distance from Fort Cassimir, when Stuyvesant sent a lieutenant ashore to demand the restitution of the stronghold. Lieutenant Schute, the Swedish officer, desired time to communicate with his superior, which was refused. In the mean while the Dutch commander had landed a force which occupied all the approaches in rear of the fort, and, after some negotiation, the Swedish garrison capitulated on the morning of the 11th of September. After the reduction of Fort Cassimir the Dutch forces laid siege to Fort Christiana, and from Governor Rising's official report² we learn that the enemy made regular approaches until, having their guns in position in rear of the fort, Stuyvesant formally demanded the surrender of the post within twenty-four hours. The Swedish Governor, after a general consultation with the whole garrison, decided to accede to the demand he was powerless to resist. The articles of capitulation, among other matters, provided that the Swedish forces should march out of the fort with the honors of war, - drums and trumpet playing, flags flying, matches burning, and with hand and side arms. That they, as prisoners of war, were first to be conducted to Tinicum Island, and placed in the fort at that place until they could be taken to New Amsterdam.³ Campanius asserts that "The Dutch then proceeded to destroy New Gottenburg, laying waste all the houses and plantations without the fort, killing the cattle, and plundering the inhabitants of everything that they could lay their hands on; so that after a siege of fourteen days, and many fruitless propositions to obtain more humane treatment, the Swedes were obliged to surrender that fortress for want of men and ammunition."⁴	¹ Hazard's Annal's, p. 168. ² Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. v. p. 224 ³ Acrelius, "Hist. of New Sweden," p. 76 ⁴ Campanius, "New Sweden," pp. 85, 86. Smith, in his "History of New Jersey," page 34, says the Dutch "destroyed New Gottenburg, with such houses as are without the fort, plundering the inhabitants of what they had, and killing their cattle." From his account it also appears that the fort at Tinicum was defended fourteen days, and that the pillaging took place before the fort was surrendered. The statements of both Campanius and Smith were doubtless based on traditionary recitals, which, in descending from one generation to another, had confused two separate matters into one. Campanius' work was not published until 1702, nearly forty years after the circumstances narrated took place, while that of Smith was issued long subsequent to that date. To show how soon confusion may take place in matters connected with historical events it is only necessary to cite "An Account of the Seditious False Konigsmack in New Sweden" (Penn. Mag. of Hist., vol. vii. p. 219), where is given, by an unknown writer, in 1683, an account of the attempted insurrection of the Long Fin, which occurred in 1669. The writer states, "These are the particulars which I received from the oldest Swedes," and yet he relates that the conspirators "went to Philadelphia and bought powder, balls, shot, lead, and so forth," nearly fourteen years before that city had an existence.
	From the fact that the articles of capitulation at Fort Christiana stipulated for the detention of the Swedish prisoners of war at the fort at Tinicum, and that there is, so far as known, an absence of all documentary evidence to support the assertion made by Campanius, the conclusion seems irresistible that that author has confused his account of the doings at New Gottenburg with those occurring on the siege of Fort Christiana. Vice-Governor Rising, in his report,⁵ already mentioned, when relating the pillaging of "the people without sconce of their property, and higher up the river they plundered many and stripped them to the skin," thus briefly narrated the outrages of the Dutch invaders at Tinicum. "At New Gottenburg they robbed Mr. Papegoija's wife of all she had, with many others who had collected their property there." Not a word has this man, who pictured the minutest incident of the siege of Fort Christiana, and the killing of Swedish "cattle, goats, swine, and poultry," to say about the investment of Fort Gottenburg, the resistance of its slender garrison for fourteen days, or the laying waste of all the houses and plantations without the forts. Certain it is, that the Swedish Church at Tinicum, Printz Hall, and other buildings stood uninjured long years after the Dutch power in North America had waned before the conquering standard of Great Britain. In 1680 "the remains of the large blockhouse, which served them (the Swedes) in place of a fortress," was on the island, together with "three or four houses built by the Swedes, a little Lutheran Church made of logs, and the ruins of some log huts."⁶ In Rising's reply to Stuyvesant,⁷ only thirty-four days after the capture of Fort Christiana, he does not mention the destruction of the post at New Gottenburg, but sets forth the following outrages committed by the Dutch in their conquest of New Sweden: "Your Honor's troops have behaved here as if they were in the country of their bitterest enemy, as the plundering of Tornaborg, Uplandt, Finland, Princedorp, and other places more clearly proves (not to speak of the deeds done about Fort Christiana), where the females have partly been dragged out of their houses by force; whole buildings torn down, even hauled away; oxen, cows, pigs, and other animals daily slaughtered in large numbers; even the horses were not spared, but shot wantonly, the plantations devastated, and everything thereabouts treated in such a way that our victuals have been mostly spoiled, carried away, or lost somehow." So, too, on Dec. 19, 1656,⁸ the directors instruct Stuyvesant to occupy the	⁵ Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. v. p. 227. ⁶ Journal of a Voyage to New York in 1679-80. Memoirs of the Long Island Hist. Soc., vol i. p. 177. ⁷ Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. vii. p. 487. ⁸ Ib., 496

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