/H
s /
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
A HISTORY
OF THE
CITY OF BROOKLYN
AND
KINGS COUNTY
BY
STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER, M. A.
LATE MEMBER OF THE HOLLAND SOCIETY, THE LONG ISLAND HISTORICAL
SOCIETY, AND THE SOCIETY OF OLD BROOKLYNITBS
EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, BY
ALEXANDER BLACK
AUTHOR OF " THE STORY OF OHIO," ETC.
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME I.
BROOKLYN
bp Subscription
1894
Copyright, 1894,
BY ANNIE A. OSTRANDER.
All rights reserved.
Chi? <$tntion is limitcb to ^ifac $unbreti
PREFACE
AT the time of his death, in 1885, Mr.
Ostrander had completed considerable MS. for
a history of the City of Brooklyn and Kings
County; had prepared many chronological
notes with a view to fuller writing, and had
accumulated a mass of material in the form of
transcripts, references, newspaper and other
reports. It was his own understanding that a
first volume of a proposed two-volume history
might be regarded as well in hand, and that
the wherewithal for the remaining chapters was
advanced toward completion.
At the outset of his undertaking the editor
met the embarrassment of not finding any
outline which might reveal the precise form in
which the author intended to cast his work.
Mr. Ostrander worked with a definite idea,
but did not formulate this idea in writing, and
only the completed expressions of this idea
remained for the guidance of the editor. It
became apparent that the author intended to
rearrange and extend the matter for the earlier
610266
GEOGRAPHY
iv PREFACE
chapters. This matter was preserved in the
form of a series of articles published in the
Brooklyn "Eagle," during 1879-80, covering
the period from the discovery by Hudson
to the beginning of the Revolution. The
degree of attention which these articles at
tracted induced Mr. Ostrander to extend the
series far beyond the range he originally in
tended to give to them. As a result these
articles were not precisely consecutive, nor
was the matter so ordered as to adapt itself
to book chapters without material changes.
Without knowing the author's design in de
tail, it was exceedingly difficult to effect these
changes save upon lines which the natural
symmetry of such a work seemed to suggest,
and the editor has had no hesitation in so
rearranging the material, and in changing
such features of the narrative as had been
temporarily essential to serial publication.
For the middle period, extending from the
opening of the Revolution to the time of the
consolidation of Brooklyn, Williamsburgh, and
Bushwick, the author left a full narrative, and
considerable collateral material. Beyond this
point the chapters were in an unfinished
sketch. In putting together the elements of
this part of the work, the editor has been actu-
PREFACE V
ated by a wish to follow, so far as it might be
apparent, the author's aim and plan. Possibly
there is no occasion to offer apology for those
passages in the body of the work, and partic
ularly in the last chapter on modern Brooklyn,
in which the editor has carried the narrative
beyond the date of Mr. Ostrander's death.
The few instances in which this occurs are
obviously justified by the exigencies of the
work. Nor should there be need for any de
fense on the part of the editor for the propor
tions of different elements of the work as now
presented. No two historical writers would
agree as to essential proportions in such a
matter, and, without consultation with the
author, no editor could hope to do more than
compromise between such intent as appeared
in unfinished work before him, and such ideal
as to himself seemed wise.
Both author and editor have incurred obli
gations to Stiles's histories of Brooklyn and
Kings County ; to the " Notes " of Furman ;
Field's " Historic Scenes " ; the Collections of
the Long Island Historical Society ; the his
tories of Thompson and Prime, and to other
authorities to whom acknowledgment is offered
in the notes and in the body of the work.
The editor is indebted to the excellent alma-
Vi PREFACE
nacs of the " Eagle " and of the " Citizen " ;
to the " Brooklyn Compendium," compiled by
John Dykeman, Jr., and published by order of
the Common Council in 1870; to the recent
compilation, " The Eagle and Brooklyn," ed
ited by Henry W. B. Howard and Arthur N.
Jervis ; and to various local reports and publi
cations which do not call for enumeration
here.
A. B.
BROOKLYN, N. Y., March 5, 1894.
CONTENTS
PACK
STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER xi
CHAPTER I
THE REGION OF BROOKLYN AT THE TIME OF THE DIS
COVERY
Geology and Conformation of Long Island. Evidences
of the Glacial Period. Theory of the Glacial Action.
"Back-Bone" of the Island. Earliest Historical De
scription. Trees. Animal Life. Indian Tribes : Their
Subjugation by the Iroquois ; Habits and Habitations . I
CHAPTER II
DISCOVERY AND FIRST SETTLEMENTS
Early Voyagers. Henry Hudson. Attitude of Holland
and Spain. Motives of Holland. Hudson's Reports.
West India Company. Dutch on Manhattan Island.
The Walloons and the Wallabout. Derivation of the
Name Wallabout. First authentically recorded Settle
ments on Long Island. The Van Corlaer Purchase.
Bennett and Bentyn's Purchase. Joris Jansen de
Rapalje. Van Twiller. West India Company's Pur
chases on Long Island. East River Lands .... 16
CHAPTER III
THE INDIANS AND THE EARLY SETTLERS
The Dutch Policy toward the Indians. Puritan and
Dutch Policy contrasted. Long Island Indians: Their
Relations with the Whites. Kieft's Attacks on Pavonia
and Corker's Hook. Uprising on Long Island. Over-
viii CONTENTS
tures for Peace. Mission to Rockaway of De Vries
and Olfertsen. Restoration of Friendly Relations . . 42
CHAPTER IV
THE BEGINNINGS OF BREUCKELEN
1643-1647
The Ferry and the Ferry Road. Settlement of Flatlands.
Flatbush. Lady Deborah Moody and the Settlement
of Gravesend. Early Settlements. The Name of
Breuckelen. Henry C. Murphy's Comments. First
Schepens and Schout. Commission from the Colonial
Council. The Removal of Kieft. Arrival of Stuyve-
sant 53
CHAPTER V
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE UNDER THE DUTCH
1647-1664
Beginning of Stuyvesant's Administration. Condition of
the Colony. Character of the Early Dutch Houses.
Household Arrangement. Dress. Funerals. Mar
riages. The Mixture of Races. Slavery. Religion.
Attitude of Stuyvesant toward Sects other than Dutch
Reformed. Triumph of Liberal Ideas. First Churches
in Kings County. Troubles over the Church Tax.
First Schools. The Dutch and Popular Education.
End of Dutch Rule 69
CHAPTER VI
KINGS COUNTY AFTER THE ENGLISH CONQUEST
1665-1700
Assembly at Hempstead. The " Duke's Laws." Love
lace. New York retaken by the Dutch. Colve be
comes Governor, return of English Rule under the
Treaty of 1674. Dongan and the Popular Assembly.
De Sille. Journal of Dankers and Sluyter. The Ferry.
A Dutch Dinner. The Schoolmaster and the Constable.
CONTENTS ix
William and Mary and the Leisler Revolution. Slough-
ter appointed Governor. Execution of Leisler, and
Subsequent Honors of a Public Reinterment. Long
Island receives the name of Nassau. Development of
Privateering. Captain Kidd visits and buries Treasure
on Long Island. Bellomont and the Suppression of
Piracy. First Trial for Treason 106
CHAPTER VII
BROOKLYN BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
I70I-I77S
Brooklyn becomes the Largest Long Island Settlement.
Division of the Common Lands. Regulations as to
the Cutting of Lumber. The King's Highway laid out.
Brooklyn Officials at the Opening of the Century.
Lord Cornbury's Proclamation to Long Island Justices.
Slavery. Encroachments on the Common Highway.
The Trial of Zenger. Population in 1738. Fortifying
Long Island. Newspaper Glimpses of pre-Revolution-
ary Life. Ferries. Kings County in the Assembly
and the Provincial Convention. Philip Livingston.
General Town Meeting in Brooklyn 157
CHAPTER VIII
KINGS COUNTY DURING THE REVOLUTION
1775-1783
Kings County at the Opening of the Revolution. Parti
cipation in Events leading to the Crisis. Military
Officers. Long Island Tories. The Continental and
Provincial Congresses. Fortifying. Declaration of
Independence. General Greene on Long Island. Draft
in Kings County. Landing of the British at Grave-
send. The Battle of Brooklyn. The Night Retreat.
British Occupation of the County. Temptations to
Disloyalty toward the American Cause, and Action of
the People under British Pressure. The County in
Congress. Losses in the Battle. Incidents. Prisoners
billeted on the Inhabitants of Kings County. Long
Island Refugees. Conspicuous Figures of the Period.
Peace . 211
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME I
PORTRAIT OF STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER . Frontispiece
THE FIRST BROOKLYN FERRY .... Facing page 38
THE FERRY IN 1746 102
BROOKLYN CHURCH AND DUFFIELD HOUSE IN 1776.
(Drawn from Illustrations in Stiles's History of
Brooklyn) 174
FIRST FIRE ENGINE USED IN BROOKLYN. (Drawn from
lithographic illustration in Manual of the Common
Council, 1863) 206
BROOKLYN DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. (From
the Map by Gen. Jeremiah Johnson) 260
STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER
THE name of Stephen M. Ostrander has
been honored in the city of Brooklyn as that
of a man whose career exemplified a stainless
citizenship. The honors have been not those
of public favor offered in a citizen's lifetime,
nor of memorials after he has passed away,
but the monuments of a cherished memory,
the recognition of a generous and wholesome
personality.
Stephen M. Ostrander was born February
3, 1832, in the city of Brooklyn. He was of
Dutch stock, his earliest ancestor in this
country being Pieter Ostrander, who came to
America in 1659. When Pieter Ostrander
reached America with his wife and three chil
dren a son, Pieter Pieterszen, 1 and two
daughters, Tryutje and Geertje Peter Stuy-
vesant was Governor of New Amsterdam, and
the settlement on Manhattan Island occupied
a small patch of land on the southern point
of the land now occupied by the vast metrop
olis of New York. Settlers had been living
on the Brooklyn side of the East River for a
1 See appendix in second volume for explanation of system
of Dutch family names.
xii STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER
little more than twenty years, and the Indians
were still a formidable obstacle to the peace of
the struggling young communities. Dutch
immigration had not yet been checked by that
bloodless conquest of the British, which five
years later transformed New Amsterdam from
a Dutch to an English colony, and changed
its name to New York.
We afterward find Pieter Pieterszen living
at Kingston. This second Pieter among the
American Ostranders was born at Amsterdam,
Holland, in 1650, and before coming to this
country with his father had been enrolled as a
cadet in the army of the Dutch king. In
1679 he married Rebecca, daughter of William
Janszen Traphagen and Joostje Willems Van
Northwyck. Among the children from this
marriage was Hendrick Ostrander, born at
New Hurley, N. Y., in 1693. Hendrick
acquired the ownership of two thousand acres
of land at Plattskill, which were evenly divided
among his ten children. He was " a staunch
adherent of the Reformed Dutch Church," 1
and served in the army previous to the Revo
lution. His marriage to Elizabeth Van Bom-
mel, of Kingston, took place in 1724. His
son Christoffer, born and died at Plattskill,
was the father of Stephen Ostrander, born at
Poughkeepsie in 1769, and afterwards of
Pompton Plains and Brunswick, N. J., who
1 American Ancestry, vol. v., 1890.
STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER xiii
was an eloquent minister of the Dutch Church.
An illustration of the conditions prevailing at
this period is offered by the fact that Stephen
Ostrander preached in both English and
Dutch.
The clerical Ostrander, who made an in
teresting reputation as a preacher in the early
part of the present century, married Maria
Duryea in 1796. His son, Abraham Duryea
Ostrander, born at Pompton Plains in the
following year, came to New York in his
twelfth year, and began an energetic business
career. From his earliest years he was of a
studious tendency, and his self-acquired learn
ing gave him an excellent mental equipment.
He became a ripe scholar and influential citi
zen. For many years he led the first Sunday
school in the Reformed Dutch Church of
Brooklyn (corner of William and Fulton
streets), walking to the meeting-place from
his home at Flatbush. In 1820, he married
Margaret T. Wilson, daughter of Peter Wil
son, LL. D., of Columbia College, the tutor of
Charles Anthon and other well-known scholars,
and distinguished for having drawn up the
constitution of the State of New Jersey.
Abraham Duryea Ostrander's three sons
were Peter Wilson, George A., and Stephen
M. Ostrander. George A. Ostrander, a grad
uate of Columbia College and of the College
of Physicians and Surgeons, was the first
xiv STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER
house surgeon of the Long Island College
Hospital. The other two brothers became
lawyers, and it is among the interesting tradi
tions of the Kings County bar that they were
frequently in opposition in the same case.
Under such circumstances their professional
steel clashed brilliantly, but the firm affection
between the brothers had no hint of strife or
rivalry.
Stephen M. Ostrander, born 1831, was edu
cated in this city and at Columbia College.
He was admitted to the bar and began the
practice of law while a decidedly young man,
but soon made his personality felt in the life
of the city. If his tastes led him to a studious
life at home, his gifts and ambitions drew him
into those features of political activity which
demand voice as well as counsel. He cham
pioned the Democratic party, and until the
close of his life he spoke his loyalty in no
uncertain tones. He became one of the " war
horses " of the party in campaign times, and
was a respected adviser in those political times
of peace when parties prepare for war. He
would have made an admirable public servant,
but party conditions did not bring him to the
front as a candidate, though they welcomed
his voice on the platform. He wished to be
surrogate, but the nomination he sought was
given to Jacob I. Bergen. He was not an
insistent candidate within his party, and the
STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER XV
rewards which might reasonably be considered
to have belonged to him had not been be
stowed at the time of his death.
As a lawyer, Mr. Ostrander was conscien
tious, painstaking, forcible. His genial per
sonality made him popular wherever he ap
peared. His strong figure fitted his character,
which was staunch and equable. By tempera
ment he was inclined to see the whimsical
side of things, while quick to exclude any ele
ment of this sort from matters commanding
his serious thought.
Stones concerning him reveal his quick
humor. One day a witty but not especially
well-versed Irish lawyer called upon him for
assistance in preparing a case. One point of
perplexity with the inquirer was as to the mo
tive power on the ferries before the use of
steam. Knowing Ostrander's familiarity with
early Brooklyn history, the inquiring lawyer
demanded information as to this point. " Be
fore the days of steam," said Ostrander, " they
used to have horse boats." " Horse boats ? "
queried the lawyer, with a look of continued
perplexity. " Yes." " Did the horses swim
ahead of them ? " " No," solemnly returned
Ostrander, " they had four holes cut in the
bottom of the boat; the horse's legs passed
through these holes, permitting him to walk
on the bottom, and thus propel the boat."
" Good ! " said the listener, " I '11 win the case."
And he did.
STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER
Mr. Ostrander's interest in American his
tory was perhaps a natural result of his an
cestry and his tendencies as a student. He
early began the accumulation of historical ma
terial, and finally formed a definite plan for
writing a history of the city of Brooklyn and
Kings County. He was an active member of
the Society of Old Brooklynites, frequently ad
dressing that body, and as a member of the
Long Island Historical Society, in whose
handsome hall, on Pierrepont Street, he was
the first to lecture under the auspices of the
society, he found many opportunities to
further his hobby of historical investigation.
He also entered that fraternity of descendants
of Dutch stock, the Holland Society of New
York.
During the later years of his life he was a
frequent contributor to the newspapers and
local magazines, generally upon topics directly
related to local history. Debated questions
as to historical matters always interested him,
and his pen was ever ready with a casual com
ment. He was a good debater, though not
pugnacious, and never an ungenerous opponent.
In his profession, in his political associations,
in his relations with his fellow-citizens and
with fellow-members of the different socie
ties to which he was attracted, he was always
well poised, highly respected, uniformly wel
comed. His catholic tastes and sympathies
STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER xvii
gave him many interests, as they gave him
many friends. It was as natural that he should
be prominent in the Presbyterian Church,
which he attended, as that he should be a lead
ing figure in the Masonic fraternity, to which
he was proud to own allegiance. His com
manding figure, good voice, and easy manner
made him a popular speaker on social as well
as public occasions.
Mr. Ostrander married Annie A. Hammond
on August 7, 1866. His domestic relations
were in keeping with the fine symmetry of his
character. No marriage could have been
happier. In the preparation of the historical
work which was incomplete when his short
illness closed his life, he had the loyal appre
ciation and assistance of his wife.
He died on November 19, 1885. The ex
tent of his practice and income might have
indicated the probability of a considerable
fortune, but he was too open-handed to have
become a rich man. He died worth a good
name.
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
CHAPTER I
THE REGION OF BROOKLYN AT THE TIME OF
THE DISCOVERY
Geology and Conformation of Long Island. Evidences
of the Glacial Period. Theory of the Glacial Action.
" Back-Bone " of the Island. Earliest Historical De
scription. Trees. Animal Life. Indian Tribes :
Their Subjugation by the Iroquois ; Habits and Habi
tations.
THE geology of Long Island has always
been regarded as a particularly interesting
theme for those concerned in the study of such
matters, since the examination of its phases
brings into view so many and such various
points of speculative interest. Prime in his
" History of Long Island " 1 remarks that
"when we consider the retired situation of
Long Island, and how little it has excited the
notice of travelers, it is not surprising that its
1 A History of Long Island, from its First Settlement by
Europeans, to the year 1845, "with Special Reference to its
Ecclesiastical Concerns. By Nathaniel S. Prime. 1845.
2 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
geological character as well as other peculiari
ties should have remained so long unexplored.
Until quite recently very few scientific men
have even deigned to give it a passing notice,
though the assertion may be safely hazarded
that scarcely any other tract of land of equal
extent on the American Continent furnishes
more abundant room for the imagination of
geologists to play upon, or that imposes a
stronger necessity for conjecturing the opera
tion of some tremendous agency, which in its
freaks had invaded the domains of both the
land and the ocean, and after completing its
sport had silently retired without leaving a
track to determine its origin or identify its
form."
The geologist of the present day does not
seem to regard the field as one calling in the
same degree for the exercise of the imagina
tion, though the more definite knowledge
acquired and made familiar since the time of
the publication just quoted has in one sense
vastly extended the opportunity for specula
tion. Certainly it no longer can be said that
scientific men have neglected the investiga
tion of the subject.
Commenting on the investigations of Dr.
Dwight, Prime says :
ABORIGINAL LONG ISLAND 3
" From all these considerations, the inference
has been regarded as legitimate that Long
Island was once through its whole extent
attached to the main ; and some powerful
agency, the form of which is now left entirely
to conjecture, forced the separation which is
now marked by the intervening Sound. One
of the most plausible suppositions is that the
separation has been effected by some resistless
torrent of water, which, under peculiar circum
stances that it is impossible now to determine,
has swept out the intervening land, and left its
channel to be occupied by the waters of the
ocean."
Thus vaguely were the early speculations
set forth. With a well developed glacial
theory to aid him the modern geologist is able
to present a fairly circumstantial picture of
probable conditions in the past. We now
know with reasonable certainty that Brooklyn
rests on soil that is a monument to a vast
force quite different from any that were
included in the hesitating speculations of the
early writers.
In an admirable review of the subject
written by Charles M. Skinner we are pre
sented with a picturesque outline of the glacial
theory. We are reminded that Brooklyn
stands on rubble that was rolled down from
4 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
the New England mountains to the northward
by a glacier larger than the combined areas of
all the glaciers now existing on the earth.
How many thousands of years ago this great
glacier began its work we may only guess
within somewhat liberal margins. This conti
nent of ice covered the whole of the northern
part of North America, burying mountains
beneath its bulk and hollowing the beds of the
great fresh-water seas that Chicago and its
sister cities front upon to-day, burying, too, for
aught we know, the remains of civilizations,
though nothing at present has been taken out
of the glacial drift, except rude stone imple
ments, to show what the probable condition of
man was at that time.
This ice lay so deep that not even Mount
Washington barred its advance, and to-day
geologists find the summit of this mountain
heaped with blocks of stone that were dragged
from other points and left there when the ice
melted ; for glaciers are not stationary, like ice
on ponds and marshes, but have an onward
movement toward their point of melting that
varies, with the slope of their beds, from six to
thirty-six inches a day. In Greenland the
whole interior is covered with ice thousands of
feet thick, the movement of which is hindered
ABORIGINAL LONG ISLAND 5
by a wall of mountains that nearly surrounds
that island, but wherever a valley opens a way
for it the ice sends down a tongue to the sea,
and from these tongues the ocean currents
break off the icebergs that float down the
Atlantic. In their descent these glaciers act
as plows, wearing off so much earth and rock
from the hills that the icebergs are freighted
with them, and where they melt their stony
burdens sink to the bottom of the sea, forming
the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
The ice that buried upper North America
acted in the same manner as the Greenland
ice to-day : it eroded the mountains, it sent off
bergs, and the rocks and gravel that it tore
from the hills by a pressure of a thousand tons
to the square yard were dropped at its foot,
where they formed a moraine, as it is called.
These moraines, which may be seen at the
feet of the glaciers in Switzerland and British
Columbia, and that sometimes make heaps and
hills of rock, like rude forts, forty and fifty
feet high, are trifling affairs to the shoals left
by the great glacier of the ice age, for that
can be traced from the Atlantic coast nearly to
the Mississippi River. Long Island, measuring
approximately 120 miles in length, is a small
part of the dump of this glacier, and it is
6 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
sometimes possible to tell where the stones
came from that are found on the surface. For
example, there are in Brooklyn anthophyllite
from Westchester county, feldspar and green
mica from Fort George, basalt from the Pali
sades of the Hudson, and a block of labrador-
ite was found on Myrtle Avenue that had been
carried down from the Adirondacks, three hun
dred miles.
The members of the United States geolo
gical survey, supported by the New York and
other state surveys, have studied into the
course and volume of the glacier and mapped
its moraine from Montauk Point westward
nearly half across the continent. By this sur
vey we learn that the gneiss that crosses under
the East River and approaches the surface at
Astoria, is the only bed rock to be found on
Long Island, Brooklyn resting on a cushion
of glacial drift that in some places is three
hundred feet deep. Originally there were
cliffs of gneiss edging the Atlantic, but the
great glacier shaved these down to mere
ledges. Central Park, New York, preserves
a number of these ledges, rounded off into
" sheep backs " and scratched by the pieces of
stone that formed a grinding surface to the
under side of the ice, while every now and
ABORIGINAL LONG ISLAND 7
then a boulder comes to the top of the ground
in Brooklyn that is scored and almost polished
by rubbing against those ledges. Pieces from
that very outcrop in Hell Gate are found in
Brooklyn streets.
We are also reminded in Mr. Skinner's
review that manufacturers of brick, tile, terra
cotta, pottery, and porcelain in other states
have to rely in part on the clay beds that
environ Brooklyn for their material, and, in
fact, that clay and sand are the only economic
mineral products of Long Island. The expla
nation of this is that Brooklyn clays are rich
in silica, which is apt to be deficient in the
clays of New Jersey. Without silica the clays
are weak, and bricks and utensils made from
them readily crack and crumble ; but by
mixing properly the best results are obtained.
Excellent sand for glass-making is also found
in and near Brooklyn.
There are many evidences in support of the
theory that since the completion of the great
glacier's work the surface of Long Island has
subsided considerably. A recent writer 1 on
the geology of Long Island says :
" The shore at the west end of the island
1 Richard M. Bayles, in Long Island Magazine, Septem
ber, 1893.
8 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
has also undergone decided changes even
within the memory of persons now living. Per
sonal witnesses have testified that about the
first of this century Coney Island was com
posed of high and extensive sand hills, which
have since been flattened down to a low beach,
sometimes covered by the tides. About the
same time salt meadow-grass was annually cut
on a part of the beach now far out into the
ocean. We are also informed that cedar-trees
were cut for fence-posts, and other timber for
firewood, about 150 years ago, on land which
is now submerged by the ocean a mile and a
half or two miles from the shore. There was
also a house standing upon what was known
as Pine Island, the site of which is now beneath
the breakers, at a considerable distance from
the present shore."
Within the range of Kings County a stratum
of salt meadow has been found at a depth of
one hundred and twenty feet, and at other
points within the county shells have been
found fifty and sixty feet below the surface.
What is generally called the " back-bone of
Long Island " is a ridge of low hills beginning
at the western end within the limits of Kings
County and running almost the whole length
of the Island. Of the boulders or erratic
blocks found on the Island in this central
ABORIGINAL LONG ISLAND 9
range of hills and between them and the north
shore, Mr. Bayles writes :
" The boulders or erratic blocks found upon
the Island are mostly met with on the central
range of hills and between them and the north
shore. They are often contained in a stratum
which is interstratified with deposits of sand,
clay, and gravel, and is often exposed along
the coast. Some of the blocks, when first dis
interred, exhibit scratches upon one or more
of their sides. Rocks of the same constituent
formation are found in Rhode Island, Con
necticut, and along the Hudson River. And
those of the Island, in their variations, corre
spond so accurately with the rocks of the local
ities mentioned that it seems probable that
they came from those localities. For example,
the boulders on the east end are like the
granite, gneiss, mica slate, green-stone, and
sienite of Rhode Island and the east part of
Connecticut ; opposite New London and the
mouth of the Connecticut River are boulders
like the granites, gneiss, and hornblende rock
of those localities ; opposite New Haven are
found the red sandstone and conglomerate,
fissile and micaceous red sandstone, trap con
glomerate, compact trap, amygdaloid and verd
antique ; opposite Black Rock are the granites,
gneiss, hornblende, quartz, and white lime
stone, like those in Fairfield County ; and from
IO HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Huntington to Brooklyn, hornblende, crystal
line lime-stone, trap, red sandstone, gneiss, and
granite, are the same in appearance as those
found in the vicinity of the Hudson River."
The earliest historical description of Long
Island, in Daniel Denton's " A Brief Descrip
tion of New York, formerly called New Am
sterdam," published in London in 1670, re
marks that " the greatest part of the Island is
very full of timber, as Oaks, white and
red, Walnut-trees, Chestnut-trees, which yield
stores of Mast, etc." The same record says :
" For wild beast there is Deer, Bear, Wolves,
Foxes, Raccoons, Otters, Musquashes, and
Skunks. Wild fowl there is a great store of,
as Turkeys, Heath-hens, Quails, Partridges,
Pigeons, Cranes, Geese of several sorts, Brants,
Widgeons, Teal, and divers others. Upon the
south side of Long Island in the winter lie
store of Whales and Grampusses, which the
inhabitants begin with small boats to make a
trade, catching to their no small benefit. Also,
an innumerable multitude of seals, which make
an excellent oyle ; they lie all the winter upon
some broken Marshes and Beaches or bars of
sand before mentioned, and might be easily
got were there some skilful men would under
take it."
Prime (1845) mentions the " remarkable fact
ABORIGINAL LONG ISLAND n
in the natural history of this small territory,
that of all the land-birds belonging to the
United States, either as resident or migratory,
two thirds of them are to be found on Long
Island ; of the water-birds a still larger propor
tion."
It is estimated that at the time of its discov
ery representatives of thirteen different Indian
tribes occupied Long Island. The region of
Kings County was occupied by the Canarsie
tribe, which included the Nyacks at New
Utrecht, the Marechawicks at Brooklyn, and
the Jamecos at Jamaica. The headquarters
of the tribe was in the vicinity of modern Ca
narsie. From the names of the other tribes
scattered over the Island the Rockaways,
Montauks, Merricks, Manhassets, Patchogues,
Shinnecocks, etc. many of the town and
village names of the Island are drawn. The
names Paumanacke and Seawanhacka have
been applied both to the grand sachems
elected by all the Indian tribes and to the
Island itself, which has also been given the
title of Wamponomon.
The last mentioned name was evidently
suggested by the fact that the chief business
of the tribes in this region was the making of
wampum^ the shell-money of the Indians, and
12 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
an article of manufacture for ornamental pur
poses also. The Island was rich in shells,
and these were ground, polished, pierced for
stringing. In the earlier tradings for land the
red men were eager to get runxes, a brad awl
with which they pierced the shell. They
made various forms of earthenware for domes
tic purposes ; their war implements were often
of admirable workmanship; and their canoes
were of a size and strength demanded by the
hazards of the journeys they undertook upon
sea and Sound.
" In regard to their religion," says Prime,
" the Long Island Indians were polytheists
and idolaters. Besides the good and the evil
spirit, to each of which they seemed to ascribe
supreme power, they had a god for each of
the four corners of the earth, the four seasons
of the year, the others of the elements of nature,
the productions of the earth, the vicissitudes
of day and night, besides a number of domestic
deities. The good deity they called Cauh-
lantoowut, and the evil spirit was named
Mutcheshesumetook ; to both of which they
paid homage and offered sacrifices. They had
small idols or images which, they supposed,
were acquainted with the will of the gods, and
made it known to the pawwaws, or priests.
These possessed unbounded influence, from
ABORIGINAL LONG ISLAND 13
their supposed intercourse with the gods and
knowledge of their will. Their religious festi
vals were attended with the most violent ges
ticulations and horrible yells, as well as other
disorders. They firmly believed in a future
state of existence, in a far distant country to
the west, where the brave and good would
enjoy themselves eternally in singing, feasting,
hunting, and dancing ; while the coward and
traitor, the thief and liar, would be eternally
condemned to servile labor so much despised
by the Indian which in its results should be
attended with endless disappointment. The
dead were buried in all their personal attire,
and, if warriors, in their arms. The body was
placed in a sitting posture, and after being
covered up, a bowl of scaump (pounded corn)
was placed on the grave to support the occu
pant on his imagined journey. The period of
mourning continued a full year, the close of
which was celebrated with a feast, accompanied
with dancing that continued from the setting
to the rising of the sun. It was a peculiar
custom of this singular people never to men
tion the names of their departed friends after
their remains were deposited in tombs, and it
was regarded as an insult if repeated by others.
Every wigwam in which death occurred was
immediately demolished, and a new one, if
needed, erected in its stead."
The wigwams of the Indians were designed
14 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
each to accommodate a number of families,
the bark-covered frame being of eighteen to
twenty feet in width, and a length of one
hundred and fifty feet or more, as might be
required by the number of the families that
were to occupy it. An opening at the ridge
gave escape to the smoke from the family fires.
The Long Island Indians, notwithstanding
the strength which might be presumed to have
resulted from their insular position, were under
the rule of the masters on the continent. The
tribes to the east yielded to the New Eng
land Pequods. The Canarsies bowed to the
majestic despotism of the Iroquois. 1
Under the species of "protection " enforced
by the Iroquois, the Canarsies were obliged to
pay regular tribute for the privilege of being
unmolested, and much of this tax was doubt
less paid in wampum. The collection of this
tax seems at the time of the first white settle
ments to have been intrusted to the Mohawks,
who were members of the confederacy. When
the tax was due it had to be delivered, or the
1 At the time of the discovery the Iroquois, or League of the
Five Nations, claimed to have subdued and mastered all the
Indian tribes from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. The Iro
quois occupied in particular the middle and upper region of
New York State. The earliest of the general histories of this
remarkable confederacy was written by Cadwallader Golden,
who died on Long Island in 1776.
ABORIGINAL LONG ISLAND 15
debtors were likely to hear from headquarters.
Samuel Jones, writing in 1817, says 1 that
there is no evidence that the Indians on Long
Island, eastward of about thirty miles from
New York, were tributary to the Five Nations ;
and adds that " we have no reason to believe
that the Five Nations had any war with the
Indians on Long Island after it was settled by
Europeans." Furman 2 regards this statement
as extraordinary, and offers evidence of the
fact that farmers coming to New York city in
the fall of the year from the east end of Long
Island, during the early period of settlement,
brought with them quantities of wampum to
be forwarded as tribute to the Iroquois mas
ters at Albany. It has frequently been claimed
by historical writers that the consistory of the
Dutch Church at Albany were for many years
the agents for the receipt of tribute from the
Montauks and other Indians on the eastern
end of Long Island, which, if a fact, was, as we
shall see, entirely consistent with the conser
vative attitude of the Dutch pioneers.
1 New York Historical Society's Collections, vol. iii. p. 324.
2 Antiquities of Long Island, p. 29.
CHAPTER II
DISCOVERY AND FIRST SETTLEMENTS
Early Voyagers. Henry Hudson. Attitude of Holland
and Spain. Motives of Holland. Hudson's Reports.
West India Company. Dutch on Manhattan Island.
The Walloons and the Wallabout. Derivation of the
Name Wallabout. First authentically recorded Settle
ments on Long Island. The Van Corlaer Purchase.
Bennett and Bentyn's Purchase. Joris Jansen de
Rapalje. Van Twiller. West India Company's Pur
chases on Long Island. East River Lands.
IT is possible that in the voyages of the
Cabots, Long Island was sighted if not touched;
and the voyage of Esteben Gomez in 1524,
" to find a way to Cathay," may leave the
same possibility. There is every probability
that the Spaniard, Giovanni da Verrazano, who
in 1524 made a voyage to this country in the
interest of France, the first official French
exploration in this direction, entered New
York harbor. From the account of this mar
iner it appears likely that he skirted the coast
of Long Island, saw Block Island, giving to
it the name of Louisa, mother of Francis I.,
and anchored in the harbor of Newport.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 17
Those who care to speculate as to possible
visitors early in the sixteenth century, may
take account also of the voyage of Lucas Vas-
quez de Aillon and Matienzo, made in 1526.
That one at least of the early Spanish voy
agers, all of whom were looking for a passage
to India, had seen the region of the coast on
which Long Island lies, is indicated by the
presence in England of a map which was in
existence before Henry Hudson made his first
voyage. In this map the name Rio de San
Antonio is given to the river afterward named
after Hudson.
This being the case it is not to be consid
ered as certain, if it is to be considered as
likely, that Henry Hudson really sailed across
the Atlantic with any idea of finding either a
northwest passage to India, or in hope of find
ing somewhere under 40 north latitude any
passage to the western ocean.
Why Henry Hudson should formally have
pretended to seek such a passage will appear
from a glance at the political situation at the
time of his voyage.
When Hudson left Europe, Holland and
Spain were at swords' points. Carlyle has
pithily summed up the case : " Those Dutch
are a stirring people. They raised their land
1 8 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
out of a marsh, and went on for a long period
of time herding cows and making cheese, and
might have gone on with their cows and
cheese till doomsday. But Spain comes and
says, ' We want you to believe in St. Ignatius.'
' Very sorry,' replied the Dutch, * but we can't.'
4 God ! but you must] says Spain ; and they
went about with guns and swords to make the
Dutch believe in St. Ignatius. Never made
them believe in him, but did succeed in break
ing their own vertebral column forever, and
raising the Dutch into a great nation."
The Dutch were well acquainted with the
work of the Spanish explorers, and the idea
of contesting with Spain for a share in the
profits and advantages of transatlantic dis
covery grew out of the war with Spain. At
this time international law gave to a sovereign
any new land discovered in his name, and not
already laid hold upon by any Christian prince.
If Holland was to fight Spain in America it
would be useful to have at least the shadow of
a tenable international claim ; and so Hudson
ignored the earlier Spanish voyages in assum
ing to discover the river to which his name
was given, and the land thereabouts which the
Dutch, with beautiful political audacity, first
claimed to own by right of discovery, and
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 19
afterward claimed to own through Spain as
" first discoverer and founder of that New
World."
The first proposition to make a Dutch
expedition to America came from an English
man, a sea captain named Beets. The States-
General refused this offer, but jealousy of
Spain's resources in the New World kept alive
the ambitions of the Dutch and finally resulted
in the formation of the West India Company.
The theory of this company was both com
mercial and political. The scheme was first
broached by an exiled Antwerp merchant,
William Usselinx, in 1592. Before it came
to completion a Greenland Company came
into existence, and, while feigning to hunt up
a northwest passage, its ships are said to have
sailed into the North River, and to have
landed on these shores in 1598. It was not
until 1606 that Usselinx's ideas were formu
lated in a working plan. The company might
then have been fully formed had not talk of a
peace with Spain made it politically unwise to
risk the adventure.
When in 1609 Henry Hudson, the English
sailor, who already had made several voyages
across the Atlantic, offered his services to the
West India Company, it was ostensibly to
20 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
seek a passage to India. The Amsterdam
chamber of the company fitted out Hudson
in the " Half Moon," which sailed out of the
Texel on April 4, 1609.
Whatever may have been Hudson's inten
tions as to any search for a northwest pas
sage, he abandoned such a search in favor of
one for a more southerly passage, having, it
is said, been told by Captain John Smith " that
there was a sea leading into the Western
Ocean by the north of Virginia."
After landing at Newfoundland, at Penob-
scot Bay, and at Cape Cod, Hudson found
Delaware Bay ; but a week later, realizing that
he was too far south, he steered the Half
Moon into the " Great North River of New
Netherland." It is the tradition that during
the exploration of the great bay and river a
boat's crew from the Half Moon made its
first landing on Long Island, at the sandy
shore of Coney Island ; but there might seem
to be a likelihood that a landing would be
made further to the north.
The Long Island Indians whom Hudson
met were representatives of the Canarsie tribe.
These Indians visited the Half Moon with
out fear, and gladly welcomed the strangers,
doubtless looking upon them with much awe.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 21
Hudson says " they brought with them green
tobacco to exchange for knives and other
implements. They were clad in deerskins
and expressed a wish to obtain a supply of
European clothing." Some of them were
decked in gay feathers and others in furs.
Hudson refers to the stock of maize or Indian
corn, " whereof they make good bread." It
thus would appear that the Island had a good
reputation two hundred and seventy years ago
for corn, which it still maintains. They also
had a good supply of hemp which they offered
in trade, and must have understood its manu
facture in a rude way. 1
Hudson remarks, " that upon landing he
saw a great store of men, women, and chil
dren, who gave them tobacco." In his ac
count he describes the country " as being full
of great tall oaks." He says " the lands were
as pleasant with grass and flowers and goodly
trees as ever they had seen, and very sweet
smells came from them."
The pleasant relations between Hudson and
the Indians did not continue very long. Hud
son does not state how the difficulty arose,
but one of his men was killed with an arrow
1 Among Brooklyn's manufactures in recent years rope-
making has taken a prominent place.
22 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
and two others wounded. The unfortunate
man was buried on the point of Coney Island,
which Hudson named Colman's Point, in
honor of the dead seaman.
Hudson remained for a month, pursuing his
explorations of the river which has since car
ried his name, and then set sail for Holland.
The news which the explorer brought home
was of a sort to arouse the interest of the
Dutch people.
Hudson told of a rich region alive with fur-
bearing animals, an important circumstance
to speculators in a cold country like that of
Holland, where the question of warm clothing
was always to the fore. The immediate result
of Hudson's reports was the launching of
many private ventures and an urgent move
ment to complete the organization of the West
India Company. It was not until 1621 that
the States-General at last signed the charter,
and meanwhile traders had established them
selves on Manhattan Island.
Although the English in Virginia were
beginning to express their theories of claim to
the Hudson region, the West India Company
went into possession in 1623, sending as di
rector, Adrien Jorissen Tienpont, who made
stronger the fortification at Manhattan Island,
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 23
and built a new fortification near that placed
by the advance guard of Dutch traders (in
1618) near Albany. This* post was called
Fort Orange.
Tienpont was succeeded in 1626 by Peter
Minuit, who was not long in making a bargain
with the Indians for the whole of Manhattan
Island. The price paid was about twenty-four
dollars.
In making this significant purchase Minuit
and those whom he represented had in mind
to make the Manhattan Island settlement the
principal centre of trade and colonization, if
anything like colonization may be said to have
occupied the attention of the Dutch at the
time. There was, indeed, a passage in the
charter of 1621, by which the company was
required "to advance the peopling of these
fruitful and unsettled parts," but actual coloni
zation was not a matter of much thought until
the later exigencies of trade made the subject
important. Followed as it was by the organ
ization under a charter of a council with
supreme executive, legislative, and judicial
authority, the movement under Minuit is to
be regarded as the foundation of the present
state of New York.
It was shortly before the appointment of
24 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Minuit as Director of New Netherland that a
number of Walloons applied to Sir Dudley
Carleton, principal Secretary of State to King
Charles I., for permission to settle in Virginia.
" These Walloons," says Brodhead, " whose
name was derived from their original ' Waal-
sche ' or French extraction, had passed through
the fire of persecution. They inhabited the
southern Belgic provinces of Hainault, Namur,
Luxemburg, Limburg, and part of the ancient
bishopric of Liege, and spoke the old French
language. When the northern provinces of
the Netherlands formed their political union
at Utrecht, in 1579, the southern provinces,
which were generally attached to the Romish
Church, declined joining the confederation.
Many of their inhabitants, nevertheless, pro
fessed the principles of the Reformation.
Against these Protestant Walloons the Span
ish government exercised the most rigid meas
ures of inquisitorial vengeance, and the sub
jects of an unrelenting persecution emigrated
by thousands into Holland, where they knew
that strangers of every race and creed were
sure of an asylum and a welcome. Carrying
with them a knowledge of the arts, in which
they were great proficients, they were distin
guished in their new home for their tasteful
and persevering industry. To the Walloons
the Dutch were probably indebted for much
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 25
of the repute which they gained as a nation in
many branches of manufactures. Finding in
Holland a free scope for their religious opin
ions, the Walloons soon introduced the public
use of their church service, which to this day
bears witness to the characteristic toleration
and liberality of the Fatherland."
The Virginia company, whether for want of
cordiality or other reason, did not attract the
colonizing ardor of the Walloons, who turned
to New Netherland, and a party of them
came over with Minuit.
The lands first allotted to the Walloons
were on Staten Island. It is possible that
this situation seemed to the French exiles too
remote from the protection of the Manhattan
Island fort. However they may have been
influenced, certain of the new-comers chose
rather to settle at Fort Orange and others at
that bend in the East River which has since
been known as the Wallabout.
Various explanations of the name Walla-
bout have been offered. That of a derivation
from wahlebocht, bay of the foreigners, has
been favorably received ; but Stiles * quotes
1 A History of the City of Brooklyn, including the Old
Town and Village of Brooklyn, the Town of Bushwick, and
the Village and City of Williamsburgh. By Henry R. Stiles.
1867.
26 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Samuel Alofsen [from the " Literary World,"
No. 68, May 20, 1848] as maintaining that the
locality was named by the early Dutch settlers
prior to the arrival of the Walloons ; that the
name is derived from een waal, basin of a har
bor or inner harbor, and een bogt, a bend, and
that, like its European namesake in the city
of Amsterdam, it signifies " The Bend of the
Inner Harbor."
Notwithstanding the indications which sev
eral writers have assumed to find of settlement
at the Wallabout during or shortly after the
year 1623, there is an absence of definite evi
dence of any actual settlement at any date so
early, and probabilities are entirely against a
settlement at that time so far from the fort.
There were early hunting-lodges and tempo
rary trading-houses incidental to the shooting
and trading trips of those occupying the Man
hattan Island settlement, and there is the
possibility that unrecorded residence by the
Walloons or others may have been established
at the Wallabout before the recorded grants.
But for definite evidence of a first settlement
in the shape of an authoritative taking of land
we must turn to the purchase by Jacob Van
Corlaer in 1636.
Van Corlaer was an official under the
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 27
administration of the new Director of New
Amsterdam, Van Twiller. The Director him
self, who had been a clerk in the West India
Company's office, had great eagerness for
acquiring territory. He bought from the In
dians a part of Connecticut, and planted near
the present site of Hartford a fort, which he
could not but understand would be a thorn in
the side of the English. Not only did he
freely spend the government's money in buy
ing land and strengthening fortifications on a
most ambitious plan, but he granted to him
self and favored officials associated with him
choice pieces of land on Manhattan Island,
and across the river on Long Island. The
year following the Van Corlaer grant, Van
Twiller's conduct, which all but ruined the
company, resulted in his recall, and the ap
pointment of William Kieft as his successor.
At this time the settlement on Manhattan
Island occupied only a very small region
below the present Battery Place. Its main
feature was the fort, whose protecting presence
was one of the inducements which the Com
pany extended to colonists. A decree issued
in 1629 declared that any member of the West
India Company who, under certain easy con
ditions, should form a settlement of not less
28 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
than fifty persons, none of whom should be
under fifteen years of age, should be granted
a tract of land fronting sixteen miles upon the
sea or upon any navigable river (or eight
miles when both shores of the river were occu
pied), and extending thence inland indefinitely ;
and that the patroons to whom such grants of
land should be made should exercise manorial
rights over their estates.
The provisions were sufficiently liberal to
assure the making of many minor settlements,
and it was natural that many eyes should be
turned toward the softly undulating country
on the southeast of the East River. The offi
cial land-grabbing under Van Twiller retarded
rather than advanced colonization. Indeed,
the company scarcely fulfilled the obligations
of the charter in sending colonists to the new
region.
The grant to Van Corlaer appears as a pur
chase from the Indians of a " flat " of land
called " Casteteeuw, on Sewan-hackey, or Long
Island." The same date is given to grants to
Andries Hudde and Wolfert Gerritsen of flats
to the west of Van Corlaer's, Van Twiller him
self getting the desirable land to the east.
These purchases, amounting to 15,000 acres,
were in a level region, reported already to
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 29
have been cultivated to some extent by the
Indians, and appealing to men broughf up in
a flat country, and unaccustomed to wood-
clearing, as superior to the regions having a
heavy tree growth. Plows were soon at work,
and from the settlement thus begun grew the
village of " New Amersfoort," now the town
of Flatlands.
In the same year (1636) the Indians sold to
William Adriaense Bennett and Jacques Ben-
tyn a tract of 930 acres at Gowanus, a region
so named by the Indians. The tract extended
from the vicinity of Twenty-eighth Street,
along Gowanus Cove and the bay, to the New
Utrecht line. The transaction is described in
the following record :
" On this 4th day of April (English style),
1677, appeared before me Michil Hainelle,
acknowledged as duly installed Clerk and
Secretary, certain persons, to wit: Zeuw Ka-
mingh, otherwise known in his walks (or
travels) as Kaus Hansen, and Keurom, both
Indians, who, in presence of the undersigned
witnesses, deposed and declared, that the limits
or widest bounds of the land of Mr. Paulus
Vanderbeeck, in the rear, has been or is a cer
tain tree or stump on the Long Hill, on the
one side, and on the other the end of the In
dian foot-path, and that it extends to the creek
30 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
of the third meadows, which land and ground,
they further depose and declare, previous to
the present time, was sold by a certain Indian,
known as Chief or Sachem Ka, to Jacques
Bentyn and William Adriaense (Bennett), the
latter formerly the husband of Marie Thomas,
now the wife of Mr. Paulus Vanderbeeck;
which account they both maintain to be the
truth, and truly set forth in this deposition.
" In witness of the truth is the original of this
with the said Indians' own hands subscribed,
to wit : By Zeuw Kamingh or Kaus Hansen,
with this mark ( ) and by Keurom with this
mark ( ) in the presence of Lambert Dorlant,
who by request signed his name hereto as a
witness. Took place at Brookland on the
day and date above written.
" Compared with the original and attested
to be correct.
" MICHIL HAINELLE, Clerk."
Three years afterward Bentyn sold to Ben
nett all or nearly all of his share of the land
acquired in this early sale.
The purchase by Bentyn and Bennett is to
be regarded as the first exchange of property
looking to a settlement within the limits of the
present city of Brooklyn. It was in the fol
lowing year that a second purchase was made
by Joris Jansen de Rapalje, who was one of
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 31
the Walloon emigrants who came over with
Minuit in 1623. Rapalje's first residence after
reaching this country was at Fort Orange
(Albany). In 1626 he removed to New Am
sterdam. In June, 1637, he bought a tract
adjoining the Rennegackonk, a little Long
Island stream entering the East River at " the
bend of Marechkawieck," at the Wahlebocht
or the present Wallabout. There were about
335 acres in the purchase, part of the land now
being represented by the grounds of the
Marine Hospital.
At this time Rapalje lived on the north side
of the river road, now Pearl Street, and on the
south side of the fort. Writing of this period
Thomas A. Janvier says :
" Actually, only two roads were established
when the town of New Amsterdam was
founded, and these so obviously were necessary
that, practically, they established themselves.
One of them, on the line of the present Stone
and Pearl Streets, the latter then the water
front, led from the Fort to the Brooklyn
Ferry at about the present Peck Slip. The
other, on the line of the present Broadway, led
northward from the Fort, past farms and gar
dens falling away toward the North River, as
far as the present Park Row; and along the
line of that street, and of Chatham Street, and
32 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
of the Bowery, went on into the wilderness.
After the Palisade was erected, this road was
known as far as the city gate (at Wall Street)
as the Heere Straat, or High Street ; and
beyond the wall as the Heere Wegh for
more than a century the only highway that
traversed the Island from end to end."
Rapalje followed the example of the colo
nists in general in snuggling close to the Fort.
The writer just quoted remarks:
" Upon the town rested continually the
dread of an Indian assault. At any moment
the hot-headed act of some angry colonist
might easily bring on a war. In the early
autumn of 1655, when peaches were ripe, an
assault actually was made : being a vengeance
against the whites because Hendrick Van
Dyke had shot to death an Indian woman
whom he found stealing peaches in his orchard
(lying just south of the present Rector Street)
on the North River shore. Fortunately, warn
ing came to the townsfolk, and, crowding their
women and children into the Fort, they were
able to beat off the savages ; whereupon the
savages, being the more eager for revenge, fell
upon the settlements about Pavonia and on
Staten Island : where the price paid for Hen
drick Van Dyke's peaches was the wasting of
twenty-eight farms, the bearing away of one
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 33
hundred and fifty Christians into captivity, and
one hundred Christians outright slain."
During a part of the time that he lived in
New Amsterdam Rapalje was an innkeeper.
He appears to have been a man of the people,
for in August, 1641, he was one of twelve men
to represent Manhattan, Breuckelen, and Pavo-
nia in considering measures necessary in deal
ing with the Indians. It was at about 1654
that he began living at the Wallabout. Cer
tainly he lived on Long Island in 1655, for in
that year he began serving as a magistrate in
Breuckelen.
It once was customary to assert that Ra-
palje's daughter Sarah was the first white child
born on Long 1 Island. The fact is that Sarah
Rapalje was born during the residence of her
parents at Fort Orange. The error arose
from the supposition that Rapalje settled at
the Wallabout upon his arrival in this country
in 1623. Of Sarah Rapalje, who may probably
be said to have been the first white female
child born in the New Netherland Colony, one
of her descendants, the author of the History
of the Bergen Family, says :
" The early historians of this State and
locality, led astray by a petition presented
34 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
by her, April 4th, 1656, (when she resided
at the Walle-boght,) to the Governor and
Council, for some meadows, in which she
states that she is the 'first-born Christian
child in New Netherlands,' assert that she
was born at the Walle-boght. Judge Ben
son, in his writings, even ventures to de
scribe the house where this took place. He
says : ' On the point of land formed by the
cove in Brooklyn, known as the Walle-boght,
lying on its westerly side (it should have been
easterly], was built the first house on Long
Island, and inhabited by Joris Jansen de
Rapalje, one of the first white settlers on the
Island, and in which was born Sarah Rapalje,
the first white child of European parentage
born in the State.' In this, if there is any
truth in the depositions of Catalyn or Catalyn-
tie Trico (daughter of Jeremiah Trico of Paris),
Sarah's mother, . . . they are clearly mistaken.
According to these depositions, she and her
husband, Joris Jansen de Rapalje, came to this
country in 1623; settled at Fort Orange, now
Albany ; lived there three years ; came, in
1626, to New Amsterdam, ' where she lived
afterward for many years ; and then came to
Long Island, where she now (1688) lives.'
Sarah, therefore, was undoubtedly born at
Albany, instead of the Walle-boght, and was
probably married before she removed to Long
Island, there being no reason to suppose that
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 35
she resided there when a single woman with
out her husband."
The family record gives the time of her
arriage as between her fourteei
teenth year. Mr. Stiles remarks :
marriage as between her fourteenth and fif-
" While, therefore, Albany claims the honor
of being her birthplace, and New Amsterdam
of having seen her childhood, Brooklyn surely
received most profit from her ; for here in the
Wallabout, she was twice married, and gave
birth to fourteen children, from whom are
descended the Polhemuses, the Bergens, the
Bogarts, and many other of the most notable
families of Kings County."
At the time of Rapalje's purchase at the
Wallabout it began to appear to the land
speculators that Long Island was a desirable
field. The Director 1 himself made haste to
secure the island called " Pagganck," lying
close to the Long Island shore south of Fort
Amsterdam. The island was thickly covered
with nut-trees, which brought it the title of
" Nooten " or Nutten Island. In due time this
became known as " the Governor's island," and
this name has become permanent.
Van Twiller's successor was not less appre-
1 Van Twiller.
36 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
ciative of the value of land on Long Island,
but his purchases seem to have been made in
the interest of the company. In August, 1638,
he bought for the West India Company land
adjoining Rapalje's farm and extending be
tween Rennegackonck Creek (at the Walla-
bout) to Newtown Creek, and inland to " the
Swamps of Mespaetches " (Maspeth).
This important sale to Kieft, representing
approximately the area of the present East
ern District of Brooklyn, was made by " Ka-
kapoteyuo, Manquenw, and Suwvian, Chiefs
of Keskaechquerem," who received " eight
fathoms of duffels, eight fathoms of wampum,
twelve kettles, eight adzes, and eight axes, with
some knives, beads, and awl blades."
By other purchases, at Jersey City and else
where, the West India Company sought to
extend its dominions and increase the popula
tion of the colony. The States-General gave
some attention to the colony, and by a procla
mation in September, 1638, the Amsterdam
Chamber threw open New Netherland to trade
by all inhabitants of the United Provinces and
of friendly nations, " in the company's ships,"
with an import duty of fifteen per cent, and
an export duty of ten per cent. Every immi
grant was to receive from the Director and
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 37
Council " according to his condition and
means, with as much land as he and his family
can properly cultivate," the company reserv
ing a quit-rent of a tenth. To these induce
ments was added that of free passage over the
Atlantic.
The favorable result of these offers soon
appeared in the increased rate of immigration
and in demand for land. The Director and
Council soon found it to be desirable to buy
more Long Island land, which they did in
January, 1639. By this purchase the company
secured the tract extending from Rockaway
eastward to " Sicktew-hackey," or Fire Island
Bay ; thence northward to Martin Gerritsen's,
or Cow Bay, and westward along the East
River to " Vlaack's Kill " in other words
nearly all the land comprised in the present
County of Queens.
In August of the same year (1639) Antony
Jansen van Vaas of Salee received two hundred
acres resting within the present towns of New
Utrecht and Gravesend. In November a pat
ent was granted for " a tobacco plantation "
on the beach, " hard by Saphorakan " (pre
sumably at Gowanus) adjoining the land of
Bennett. Another neighbor to Bennett came
in the person of Frederick Lubbertsen, who,
38 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
in May of the following year ( 1 640), received
a patent for land extending northerly from
Gowanus Cove, and representing a large part
of what is now known as South Brooklyn.
Lubbertsen, who had been chief boatswain
to Kieft in 1638, was an ambitious and politi
cally disposed man. Two years after this big
purchase he was one of twelve men chosen by
the commonalty of New Amsterdam. He did
not remove to Long Island until 1653, in
which year he was chosen to represent the
young town of Breuckelen at the New Am
sterdam convention. He became a local magis
trate in 1653, served several terms thereafter,
and filled other political posts.
As the lands of western Long Island repre
sented by the present area of Kings County
began to increase in value by increase of set
tlement and competition in purchase, persons
who had merely availed themselves of " squat
ter " privileges began to see the advisability
of taking out formal patents. There had been
particularly numerous instances of " squat
ting " in the region of the Eastern District in
a radius from the Wallabout inlet. Among
the patents issued in 1640 was one to Abra
ham Rycken, for a plantation of considerable
extent in this region, and in 1641 a piece of
THE FIRST BROOKLYN FERRY
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 39
land on the East River legally passed into the
possession of Lambert Huybertsen.
Adjoining the land of Joris Rapalje at the
Wallabout was an extensive piece of farm land
occupied by Rapalje's son-in-law, Hans Han-
sen Bergen. On Wallabout Bay lay the
tobacco plantations of Jan and Peter Mont-
fort, Peter Caesar, and other farmers. Between
the Bay and the East River end of the Lub-
bertsen purchase came the land sold to Claes
Jansen van Naerden (Ruyter), Jan Mauje, and
Andries Hudde, all of which was afterward
sold to Dirck Janse Waertman, who held it
until the sale to his son-in-law, Joris Remsen,
in 1706.
Meanwhile (in 1640) the first permanent
English settlement on eastern Long Island
had been made by Lyon Gardiner on the island
which afterward received his name. This set
tlement, and others which followed it, were
distasteful to the West India Company, which,
having secured control of the entire western
end of the Island, from Cow Bay on the Sound
to Canarsie Bay on the ocean side, began to
regard itself as entitled to claim jurisdiction
over the entire area. When in 1641 emi
grants from Lynn, Mass., undertook to settle
at Schout's Bay, within Queens County, they
40 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
were driven off by soldiers who had been sent
out by Kieft for the purpose.
The English colonists did not leave the
Island, but settled at Southampton, in Suffolk
County. The fact that other New England
settlers, who planted Southold, were not at
tacked seems to show either that Kieft scarcely
regarded the territory beyond the Queens
County line as worth fighting for at this time,
or that he came to regard the newcomers as
accepting his authority.
The settlement at Southold by emigrants
from New Haven was indicative of conditions
within New England to which later settle
ments on Long Island may be attributed.
The extreme severity of the Puritan religious
temper found expression in distressing exac
tions and persecutions. Driven from Eng
land by intolerance, the Puritans, when placed
in control of social and political conditions,
exhibited a degree of paternalism not less
despotic than that from which they themselves
had suffered. And as the Puritans of Eng
land had found shelter and liberty in Hol
land, the victims of Puritanical intolerance in
America fled to the friendly support of Dutch
authority within the New Netherland juris
diction.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS 41
In fact, shortly after 1 640 the Dutch govern
ment granted favoring patents to emigrants
from New England. The Rev. John Doughty
and his followers were welcomed at Maspeth,
and provision for other comers (among them
Anne Hutchinson and her family) was made
at Throg's Neck and New Rochelle.
CHAPTER III
THE INDIANS AND THE EARLY SETTLERS
The Dutch Policy toward the Indians. Puritan and
Dutch Policy Contrasted. Long Island Indians :
Their Relations with the Whites. Kieft's Attacks on
Pavonia and Corlaer's Hook. Uprising on Long
Island. Overtures for Peace. Mission to Rockaway
of De Vries and Olfertsen. Restoration of Friendly
Relations.
THESE numerous settlements had not been
accomplished without the encountering of In
dian difficulties. In general the Dutch policy
toward the Indians was business-like and rea
sonable, contrasting favorably with policies
prevailing elsewhere among American new
comers. The Dutch were not so social as the
French, but their attitude was more fraternal
than that usually observed among the English
colonists. Douglass Campbell, who is to be
regarded as a strong partisan of the Dutch as
opposed to the Puritan system, but whose
exhaustive studies both of the Puritan and of
the Dutch people gave him an unusual grasp
of the situation, thus contrasts the policy of
the two peoples :
THE DUTCH AND THE INDIANS 43
" Why the Puritans were involved in cease
less wars can be read in every line of their
history. As they could not make of the In
dian a red Puritan, he was a spiritual outcast,
whom it was their duty to exterminate. Three
years after the landing of the Mayflower Miles
Standish and seven of his companions mur
dered three native chiefs in cold blood. It
was this event which led the devout John
Robinson to say, ' How happy a thing it would
have been if you had converted some before
you killed any.' In 1637 the white settlers of
Connecticut put a red captive to death by
dragging him limb from limb by ropes fastened
to his arms and legs. Bancroft tells us that
the Puritans bought the Indians' land, except
that of the Pequots. Look at their laws and
see. In 1633 Massachusetts passed a statute
in relation to land titles. It confirmed to the
Indians the little patches around their wig
wams on which they raised their corn, but
declared that the rest belonged to the whites
on the authority of the first chapter of Genesis
' and the invitation of the Indians.' But mur
der and robbery of their land all pale before
the crowning infamy which drove the red
man to despair. Above all things he prized
personal liberty; slavery to him was a thou
sand fold worse than death. And yet to this
fate the settlers consigned thousands of the
natives, sending them to the West Indies to
44 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
work on the sugar plantations. Among these
victims was the little grandson of the good
king Massasoit, who had welcomed the Pil
grims and been their life-long friend. Look
at the records of Massachusetts, and there you
will find statute after statute offering bounties
for Indian scalps, the prices fixed being from
twenty-five to one hundred pounds for males,
from twenty to sixty for women, and from ten
to twenty for children under ten years of age.
These same statutes provided that females
and children taken prisoners should belong to
the captors, ' to be sold out of the province.'
I mention these facts in no invidious spirit,
but in justice to the red man, who has been
called treacherous and cruel. He resented
such conduct ; and can you wonder at it ? He
had no redress except by arms, and he has
written the story of his vengeance all over the
face of New England. What could the In
dians think of the gospel of Jesus Christ and
the white man's God ? What was true of the
New England colonies was true of the south
ern colonies as well. The course pursued by
Penn can hardly be taken as a criterion, for
he dealt with the Delaware Indians, who had
been conquered by the Iroquois, deprived of
the use of arms, and forced to accept the
opprobrious epithet of ' women ; ' and Penn, in
purchasing their lands, only followed out the
example which had been set by the Dutch.
THE DUTCH AND THE INDIANS 45
" Turn now to New York, and see what the
Indian was under different conditions. The
upper Hudson and the valley of the Mohawk
were first settled by the Dutch. They simply
treated the Indian as a man. Tolerant in
religion, they respected his rude faith ; truthful
among themselves, to him they never broke
their word ; honest in all their dealings with
him, they kept good faith. They suffered
from no thefts, because they took nothing
except by purchase. Their land titles were
respected, because for every tract they had
an Indian deed. They were scourged by no
massacres, save from the enemy across the
border, because they committed no robbery or
murder. This was the whole secret of their
policy. It is easy to belittle it, as historians
have done, by saying that upon no other con
ditions could they have lived among the na
tives. Of course it was politic, but the world
has discovered that honesty is the best policy,
without concluding that it is any the less a
Christian virtue. These early settlers in New
York were traders, offshoots from what was
the greatest commercial nation of the world.
They made no pretense of doing missionary
work. They were simply in pursuit of gain.
But they had learned that the only permanent
success in life rests on honesty and justice.
This is the lesson that commerce teaches, and
because it does so it has been the civilizer of
46 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
the world. After the English conquest in
1664 the same policy was continued, thanks
to the presence of the Dutch, who still formed
the majority of the population. The Six Na
tions then placed their lands under protection
of the crown and were recognized as append-
ant to New York. The burden thus cast
upon the province was very heavy. For more
than a century New York kept their alliance
by heavy subsidies and by contributions of
men and money for their defense against the
French." 1
The Indian policy of the Dutch has, indeed,
been credited with a most important influence
upon American history. But sagacious as it
may have been as a broad plan of action, there
was no way of obviating the difficulties arising
from local and individual blunders. Consider
ing the number of special provocations to
revolt, it is remarkable that Indian troubles
were not more frequent and more serious, and
that the storm did not break sooner and more
fiercely than it did. Prime remarks that the
conduct of the Long Island Indians toward
the whites is "without a parallel in the his
tory of the country."
" The Indians on Long Island," says Silas
Wood, " seem to have been less troublesome
1 Address before Long Island Historical Society, 1880.
THE DUTCH AND THE INDIANS 47
to the whites than those north of the Sound.
. . . [They] sometimes committed depreda
tions on the property of the whites. ... It
does not appear that they ever formed any
combination against the first settlers, or mate
rially interrupted the progress of their im
provements. . . . The security of the whites
must be ascribed to the means they employed
to preserve peace with the Indians."
When the storm of Indian anger and re
venge broke over New England in 1643, New
Netherland did not escape a similar if not
equally terrible visitation. If the settlers in
New Amsterdam began to experience anxiety,
something like a panic seized upon the settlers
of outlying regions. The Long Island settlers
were perhaps less ill at ease than others at an
equal distance from the Fort, so friendly had
been their relations with the Indians ; but
individual offenses of the settlers and individ
ual offenses by the Indians produced a strained
relation in certain quarters, and when the ex
cuse came the hot-heads among the Long
Island settlers made trouble.
At New Amsterdam the trouble began when
the Mohawks descended upon the river tribes
in retaliation for local offenses, and the river
Indians flocked to the vicinity of the Fort for
48 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
protection. At " Corlaer's Bouwery," on Man
hattan Island, a group of Long Island Indians,
under the chief, Nainde Nummerius, had
encamped. An ill-advised appeal to Kieft
resulted in an impulsive decision on the part of
the Governor, who, in spite of wiser counsel,
sent out two secret expeditions on the night
of February 25, 1643, one against the refugees
at Pavonia, the other against the encampment
at Corlaer's Hook. The attacks were merci
less. Eighty Indians were slaughtered at Pa
vonia, and forty at the Hook.
This unfortunate blunder resulted in acts
which still further excited the anger of the
Indians. Long Island settlers asked Kieft for
permission to attack the Marechawieck tribe ;
but Kieft, possibly because he had already
begun to realize the influence of the outrage
he had committed, denied permission on the
ground that the Long Island red men had
given no sufficient cause for offensive action.
Nevertheless, the Governor did not deny to the
Long Island settlers any retaliatory steps that
might at any time seem necessary. Shortly
after this communication, two wagon-loads of
corn in charge of a party of Indians were
seized, and when the Indians resisted the act
of plundering, three of them were killed.
THE DUTCH AND THE INDIANS 49
If the massacre on Manhattan Island had
caused among the Long Island Indians a gen
eral resentment against the white men, the
murders on the Island itself made their hostil
ity specific and local ; and it is not surprising
that many of the Long Island tribes joined
hands with the river Indians. The tragedies
which followed belong to the annals of a " year
of blood."
Terror seized the Long Island settlers in
common with all outlying colonists, many of
whom lost no time in seeking the shelter of
the Fort. Kieft was bewildered by the conse
quences of his act. Realizing that the chief
offenses had been against Long Island tribes,
he sent to these a propitiatory message, which
was met by shouts of " corn thieves ! " by the
Indians. Those settlers who held their posts
on Long Island were forced to adopt measures
of fortifying their homes, which they did after
the methods of inclosure peculiar to the time,
and to preserve the utmost vigilance to save
their lives. From a number of families women
and children were sent to the ^Fort, the men
remaining to guard the property.
The advent of spring, bringing to the home-
staying Indians of this region, as well as to the
white men, the necessity for planting corn,
50 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
suggested an effort toward permanent peace.
Brodhead's narrative says :
" Three delegates from the wigwam of Pen-
hawity, their 'great chief,' approached Fort
Amsterdam, bearing a white flag. ' Who will
go to meet them ? ' demanded Kieft. None
were willing but De Vries and Jacob Olfert-
sen. ' Our chief has sent us,' said the savages,
' to know why you have killed his people, who
have never laid a straw in your way, when none
has done you aught but good ? Come and
speak to our chief upon the sea-coast.' Set
ting out with the Indian messengers, De Vries
and Olfertsen, in the evening, came to ' Rech-
quaaike,' or Rockaway, where they found about
three hundred savages and about thirty wig
wams. The chief, ' who had but one eye,'
invited them to pass the night in his cabin,
and regaled them with oysters and fish. At
break of day the envoys from Manhattan were
conducted into the woods about four hundred
yards off, where they found sixteen chiefs of
Long Island waiting for their coming. Placing
the two Europeans in the centre, the chiefs
seated themselves around in a ring, and their
' best speaker ' arose, holding in his hand a
bundle of small sticks. ' When you first came
to our coasts,' slowly began the orator, ' you
sometimes had no food ; we gave you our
beans and corn, and relieved you with our
THE DUTCH AND THE INDIANS 51
oysters and fish ; and now, for recompense,
you murder our people ; ' and he laid down a
little stick. ' In the beginning of your voy
ages, you left your people here with their
goods ; we traded with them while your ships
were away, and cherished them as the apple
of our eye ; we gave them our daughters for
companions, who have borne children, and
many Indians have sprung from the Swanne-
kens ; and now you villainously massacre your
own blood.' The chief laid down another
stick ; many more remained in his hand ; but
De Vries, cutting short the reproachful cata
logue, invited the chiefs to accompany him to
Fort Amsterdam, where the Director 'would
give them presents to make a peace.'
" The chiefs, assenting, ended their orations,
and presenting De Vries and his colleague
each with ten fathoms of wampum, the party
set out for their canoes, to shorten the return
of the Dutch envoys. While waiting for the
tide to rise, an armed Indian, who had been
dispatched by a sachem twenty miles off, came
running to warn the chiefs against going to
Manhattan. ' Are you all crazy, to go to the
Fort,' said he, ' where that scoundrel lives who
has so often murdered your friends ? ' But De
Vries assured them that ' they would find it
otherwise, and come home again with large
presents.' One of the chiefs replied at once :
' Upon your words we will go; for the Indians
52 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
have never heard lies from you, as they have
other Swannekens.' Embarking in a large
canoe the Dutch envoys, accompanied by eigh
teen Indian delegates, set out from Rockaway,
and reached Fort Amsterdam about three
o'clock in the afternoon."
The result of this conference was the rees-
tablishment of peaceful relations, the Long
Island red men aiding in the making of terms
with the river Indians. When, in the follow
ing September, trouble broke out again, Kieft
sought to keep the Long Island tribes as allies,
but, before terms could be made, attacks were
made at Maspeth and Gravesend, as well as at
Westchester ; and the ensuing winter was full
of distress, most of the settlements becoming
almost wholly deserted.
The Government, at its wits' end, appealed
to New Haven, and finally to the States-Gen
eral in Holland itself. In the spring (of 1644)
the Long Island Indians were placated; but
with the remainder of the hostiles Kieft showed
no ability to treat, and the wars lasted until
the following year, when the long strain upon
Fort Amsterdam was agreeably broken.
CHAPTER IV
THE BEGINNINGS OF BREUCKELEN
1643-1647
The Ferry and the Ferry Road. Settlement of Flatlands.
Flatbush. Lady Deborah Moody and the Settlement
of Gravesend. Early Settlements. The Name of
Breuckelen. Henry C. Murphy's Comments. First
Schepens and Schout. Commission from the Colonial
Council. The Removal of Kieft. Arrival of Stuy-
vesant.
NEAR the site of the present Peck Slip,
New York, there lay, in 1642, a farm owned by
Cornelis Dircksen, who kept an inn, and con
ducted a ferry between a point of land at Peck
Slip and a point on the Long Island shore
represented by the present location of Fulton
Ferry. Dircksen owned land on the Long
Island side also, close to the ferry. When
he sold this tract in 1643 t William Thoma-
sen, he sold with it the right to run the ferry.
Clustered about the ferry on the Long
Island shore were a number of cabins, and the
little settlement which grew up there became
known in popular parlance as " the Ferry."
Crossing the river in the small and rudely
54 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
built boats of the period was no easy matter,
particularly when the tide was in full motion;
and the place of crossing was naturally chosen,
as at a later time in the building of the great
bridge, at the narrowest part.
The irregular road, which wound its way
from the ferry on the Long Island side, strag
gled to the east of the rising ground called
by the Indians " Iphetanga," and now known
as the Heights, and reached the little settle
ment of Breuckelen lying at a point closely
corresponding to the present City Hall. In
fact, the old road followed the general direction
of busy Fulton Street of later days.
Before the Indian war of 1643 there were
only one or two cabins in this region. To
the south lay the first settlement within the
limits of Kings County Amersfoort, or Flat-
lands. The first recorded purchase of land in
this region was by Andries Hudde and Wol-
phert Gerretsen in 1636. The first planta
tion here was called Achtervelt, and the house
which marked the first settlement is described
by Teunis G. Bergen as being twenty-six feet
long, twenty-two feet wide, and forty feet high,
with a roof " covered above and around with
plank; two lofts, one above another, and a
small chamber on their side ; " while adjoining
BEGINNINGS OF BREUCKELEN 55
was " one barn forty feet long, eighteen feet
wide, and twenty-four feet deep ; and one bergh
with five posts, forty feet long," the whole sur
rounded with " long, round palisades."
The road running to Amersfoort turned off
at an angle corresponding to the present line
of Flatbush Avenue. The road made another
turn a short time later, and reached the settle
ment of Midwout or Flatbush (called by the
Dutch V Vlaacke Bos}. The actual first settle
ment of Flatbush, as of the other towns within
Kings County, is frequently estimated to have
been as early as 1624; but as in the other
cases we are obliged to depend for definite
knowledge upon records of purchase, which,
although they undoubtedly follow, sometimes
by a period of several years, the planting of
the first habitation, give indication of the time
when permanent settlement had begun to be a
fact. The town patent from the Director was
not secured until 1651.
The ferry road ultimately found its way to
the then far town of Jamaica.
Meanwhile, upon that part of Long Island
first trodden by the feet of white men had
begun the town of Gravesend. The region of
Gravesend, including Coney Island (called by
the Dutch V Conijnen Eylanf] and much of
56 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
the Bay coast, differed from other regions of
the county in being first settled by English
people.
Among those who were driven from Con
necticut by Puritan intolerance was Lady
Deborah Moody. Lady Moody was a daugh
ter of Walter Dunch, a member of the Eng
lish Parliament in the time of Elizabeth, and
widow of Sir Henry Moody of Garsden, in
Wiltshire, who had been knighted by King
James in 1622. She emigrated to America in
1640, and settled at Swampscott, near Lynn.
In her expectation of religious liberty she was
disappointed, for the authorities were not long
in discovering that she did not regard infant
baptism as an ordinance of Divine origin. In
those days children a few days old were bap
tized at church fonts in which the ice had
sometimes to be broken before the function
could proceed, and the ceremony was regarded
as absolutely essential to salvation. Lady
Moody was first " admonished," and afterward
" presented " to the Quarterly Court for sin
fully doubting the wisdom of infant baptism.
Excommunicated from the church, and thereby
placed in an ostracized position, the distressed
English gentlewoman, accompanied by her
son, Sir Henry, John Tilton and his wife, and
BEGINNINGS OF BREUCKELEN 57
by a few other friends, came to New Amster
dam. 1
Here she was agreeably surprised to find a
few English people who had been living some
distance above the Fort, opposite the lower
end of Blackwell's Island, but who were at the
time of her coming huddled under the walls of
the Fort under the terror of the prevailing
Indian wars.
A consultation between the Moody party
and the Manhattan Island wanderers from
New England resulted in the appointment of
a committee to select a new site for a settle
ment. The choice fell upon the Gravesend
region, for which Kieft gave a patent in the
summer of 1643.
The circumstances under which Gravesend
was settled were thus of a promising charac
ter, for the party was made up of people who,
like Lady Moody, were seeking permanent
homes, and were likely to make temperate and
energetic citizens. The leader in this band of
pioneers was a woman of exceptional force
and refinement.
1 " The Ladye Moodye, a wise and anciently religious
woman, being taken with the error of denying baptism to in
fants, was dealt with by many of the elders and others, and
admonished by the church of Salem (whereof she was a mem
ber) ; but persisting still, and to avoid further trouble, etc.,
she removed to the Dutch against the advice of her friends."
Governor Winthrop's Journal.
58 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
" For sixteen years," says Stiles, " she went
in and out among the people, prominent in
their councils, and often intrusted with im
portant public responsibilities, which prove
the respect and confidence of her associates.
She seems also to have enjoyed the friend
ship of Governor Stuyvesant, who several
times sought her advice in matters of great
public importance. Even the nomination of
the three town magistrates was, on one or two
occasions, intrusted by the Director-General
to her good judgment. He also availed him
self of her kind offices, on another occasion,
in quelling an incipient rebellion, raised by
some of her English associates against the
Dutch authority."
Whether the name Gravesend was derived
from the town of the same name on the
Thames, or from the Dutch town Graven-
sande, is not known, but the stronger reasons
are offered for the latter supposition.
Thus, at the close of the Indian wars the
meagre settlement of Breuckelen had for com
pany within the area of the present county
the hamlets at Flatlands and Gravesend, the
farms at the Wallabout, possibly a habitation
at Flatbush, and some trading quarters and
modest houses at the Ferry. New Utrecht,
BEGINNINGS OF BREUCKELEN 59
Bushwick, Williamsburgh, and New Lots had
yet to be settled formally, though squatters,
the date of whose coming is impossible to set,
began, as soon as the Indian hostilities ceased,
to enter upon desirable pieces of land wherever
this could be done without local opposition.
The settlement which received the name of
Breuckelen was made in the maize region
lying between the Wallabout and Gowanus
the latter the place of the first purchase (by
Bennett and Bentyn) within the present limits
of the city. Portions of this tract were taken
by settlers under the Dutch patents from the
West India Company. In July, 1645, Jan
Evertsen Bout settled here. He was followed
a few months later by Huyck Aertsen, Jacob
Stoffelsen, Peter Cornielessen, Joris Dircksen,
Gerritt Wolfertsen, Cowenhoven, and many
others. They located themselves on the road
leading from the Ferry to Flatbush, which was
then the most important place. A village was
formed, which had for its central point the
present location of Smith Street and Fulton
Avenue.
Henry C. Murphy, writing from Holland at
the time of his sojourn as American Minister
to that country, describes the Breukelen of
Holland as a very old place, containing about
60 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
1,500 inhabitants. The houses were old fash
ioned, and the streets irregular. The people
seem to lack thrift and enterprise. The
Dutch church was an imposing edifice. Mr.
Murphy's impression of the place was not
pleasing. Outside of the village he found
comfortable dwellings, surrounded with flowers
and duck ponds, and everything in perfect
neatness and order. On one side of the vil
lage was the park, a place laid out with walks
and shrubbery, and containing about half an
acre of land. He crossed the bridge which
spans the Vecht, which connects the two com
munities, Breukelen Nijenrodes and Breuke-
len St. Pieters. He speaks of the view as
charming. The Vecht is about 100 yards
wide, and its waters flow lazily along. " The
name Breuckelin," he says, " means marsh
land." This is the meaning given by the
Dutch authorities. Mr. Murphy quotes from
one author who says the name has the same
origin " as maarssen, merely from its marshy
and watery turf lands ; " and although the name
is spelled on ancient documents and letters
Bracola, Broecke, Broeckede, Broicklede, and
Broeklundia, they all indicate the same origin.
Mr. Murphy draws a striking comparison
between the character and situation of the two
BEGINNINGS OF BREUCKELEN 6 1
places, showing a wonderful similarity and ap
propriateness of name, arriving at the conclu
sion that it was selected on account of the
corresponding conditions of the two places.
As the Holland Brooklyn was spelled in a
variety of ways, so, too, Mr. Murphy says, it has
been with our own fair city. He states that
the record shows it to have been called
Breucklyn, Breuckland, Brucklyn, Broucklyn,
Brookland, and Brookline. It was during the
close of the last century that its orthography
became fixed as Brooklyn.
The circumstances attending the settlement
of Breuckelen as a town were associated with
a critical turn in the affairs of Kieft's admin
istration.
Kieft's tyrannical methods of government, a
form of self-willed procedure absolutely gro
tesque in many respects, had been sufficiently
recognized before the Indian war. After
his infamous blunder at Corlaer's Hook his
unpopularity increased. Before the war began,
Kieft had been compelled to call a Council
of Twelve 1 from the people. The Twelve,
being chosen by the people, constituted the
first illustration offered in New Netherland of
representative government. This board, soon
1 Also described as a Council of Eight.
62 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
after the war began, was abolished in a per
emptory way; and not long afterward Kieft
undertook once more to call upon its advisory
aid. When the board objected to certain taxes
(on wine, beer, brandy, and beaver skins), he
remarked that he still was master, and pub
lished his proclamation levying the tax, with
the statement that this was done by advice of
the council chosen by the commonalty.
To these elected representatives of the
people such acts naturally were intolerable, and
it was not surprising that they should set them
selves to secure the removal of Kieft. A
memorial sent to the West India Company
asked for his recall and for the introduction
of the system of government prevailing in
Holland. The College of Nineteen made a
report upon the case to the States-General,
mentioning incidentally that the colony, started
as a commercial enterprise, had cost the West
India Company, over all profits, more than
550,000 guilders. The resulting reform con
siderably modified the theory if not the prac
tice of government in New Netherland. The
College of Nineteen decreed a " Supreme
Council " for New Netherland. Government
was placed in the hands of a council consist
ing of the Director, a Vice-Director, and a
BEGINNINGS OF BREUCKELEN 63
Fiscal. The people were to have a right to
representation in the council, such being desir
able " for mutual good understanding, and the
common advancement and welfare of the in
habitants."
In the code of general instructions which
the West India Company had sent for the
guidance of the Provincial Council, those in
authority were urged " to do all in their power
to induce the colonists to establish themselves
in some of the most suitable places, with a
certain number of inhabitants, in the manner
of towns, villages, and hamlets, as the English
are in the habit of doing." It was pursuant
to the policy of this code that Bout and his
associates declared their intention to "found
a town at their own expense."
It fell to the people who were to organize
the town of Brooklyn to choose schepens ; l
and at this first election they selected as their
representatives Jan Evertsen Bout and Huyck
Aertsen. Bout was a well-to-do farmer and
one of the original settlers. In 1646, he was
chosen a schepen to decide questions which
might arise in Breuckelen. He took a patent
1 The function of the schepen resembled that of the squire
or petty justice, particularly in communities so small as not to
have a burgomaster.
64 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
from Governor Kieft "of land at Marechka-
weick, on the kill of the Gowanus, as well the
maize land as the wood land, bounded by the
land of Huyck Aertsen." It adjoined the land
of Van Cowenhoven, and embraced within
its limits the mills which were designated as
Frecke's and Denton's. Those mills, situated
near each other, are vividly remembered by
many Brooklyn citizens. They were reached
by a bridge from Butler street. Crossing over
the bridge and passing the first mill the road
wound around the water's edge.
The commission from the Colonial Council
read, as follows :
" We, William Kieft, Director General, and
the Council residing in New Netherland, on
behalf of the High and Mighty Lords, States-
General of the United Netherlands, His High
ness of Orange, and the Honourable Directors
of the General Incorporated West India Com
pany. To all those who shall see these pre
sents or hear them read, Greeting :
"Whereas, Jan Evertsen Bout and Huyck
Aertsen, from Rossum, were on the 2ist May
last unanimously chosen by those interested of
Breuckelen, situate on Long Island, as Sche-
pens to decide all questions which may arise, as
they shall deem proper, according to the Ex
emptions of New Netherland granted to Par-
BEGINNINGS OF BREUCKELEN 65
ticular Colonies, which election is subscribed
by them, with express stipulation that if any
one refuse to submit in the premises aforesaid
to the above mentioned Jan Evertsen [Bout]
and Huyck Aertsen, he shall forfeit the right
he claims to land in the allotment of Breuck-
elen, and in order that everything may be done
with more authority, We, the Director and
Council aforesaid, have therefore authorized
and appointed and do hereby authorize the
said Jan Evertsen and Huyck Aertsen to be
Schepens of Breuckelen ; and in case Jan
Evertsen and Huyck Aertsen do hereafter
find the labor too onerous, they shall be at
liberty to select two more from among the
inhabitants of Breuckelen to adjoin them to
themselves. We charge and command every
inhabitant of Breuckelen to acknowledge and
respect the above mentioned Jan Evertsen and
Huyck Aertsen as their Schepens, and if any
one shall be found to exhibit contumacious-
ness toward them, he shall forfeit his share as
above stated. This done in Council in Fort
Amsterdam in New Netherland."
Before the ensuing winter had passed, the
schepens found their labors sufficiently ardu
ous to justify an appeal to the Director, which
resulted in the appointment of a schout, or
constable. The new commission said :
" Having seen the petition of the Schepens
66 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
of Breuckelen, that it is impossible for them
to tell cases occurring there, especially crim
inal assaults, impounding of cattle, and other
incidents which frequently attend agriculture ;
and in order to prevent all disorder, it would
be necessary to appoint a Schout there, for
which office they propose the person of Jan
Teunissen. Therefore we grant their request
therein, and authorize, as we do hereby au
thorize, Jan Teunissen to act as Schout, to
imprison delinquents by advice of the Sche-
pens, to establish the pound, to impound cat
tle, to collect fines, and to perform all things
that a trusty Schout is bound to perform.
Whereupon he has taken his oath at the hands
of us and the Fiscal, on whom he shall espe
cially depend, as in Holland substitutes are
bound to be dependent on the Upper Schouts
or the Bailiff or Marshal. We command and
charge all who are included under the juris
diction of Breuckelen to acknowledge him,
Jan Teunissen, for Schout. Thus done in
our council in Fort Amsterdam, in New
Netherland, the first December, Anno, 1646." *
Thus began the official existence of Breuck
elen, which at this time was distinct from the
hamlets of Gowanus, the Ferry, and the Wall-
about. Governor Kieft saw on the Breuck-
1 By the wording of contracts dated November 22, 1646
(New York Col. MSS. ii. 152), it appears that Teunissen was
called " Schout of Breuckelen " before this date.
BEGINNINGS OF BREUCKELEN 67
elen shore signs of agricultural activity at
various points from Gravesend to beyond the
Wallabout. In March, 1647, Hans Hansen
Bergen bought a large tract of land adjoin
ing the farm of his father-in-law, Joris Jan-
sen de Rapalje. The water frontage of this
tract was from the Wallabout Creek to the
line of the present Division Avenue. Other
purchases on the shore probably completed
the chain of private ownership along the river
and bay fronts between the points above
named. A second tier of patents represented
land back of the river parcels, and sometimes
running in very eccentric lines.
Although these patents antedated in many
instances by several years the actual settle
ment by the owners, 1 the increasing number
gave indication of the stimulus that came
with the end of organized Indian hostilities.
The cessation of these hostilities brought new
life to the people of New Netherland, and
induced them to look more critically at the
urgencies of their political as well as their
domestic situation.
The movement looking to the removal of
1 As we have seen, Rapalje, who made one of the earliest
purchases (1636), did not begin living on his Wallabout farm
until probably 1655.
68 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Kieft, which first resulted in modifications in
the form of government, and which had never
slumbered, at last succeeded, and in May,
1647, Kieft was succeeded by Peter Stuy-
vesant.
CHAPTER V
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE UNDER THE DUTCH
1647-1664
Beginning of Stuyvesant's Administration. Condition of
the Colony. Character of the Early Dutch Houses.
Household Arrangement. Dress. Funerals. Mar
riages. The Mixture of Races. Slavery. Religion.
Attitude of Stuyvesant toward Sects other than Dutch
Reformed. Triumph of Liberal Ideas. First Churches
in Kings County. Troubles over the Church Tax.
First Schools. The Dutch and Popular Education.
End of Dutch Rule.
WHEN Stuyvesant, followed by the principal
burghers, made his first public appearance in
New Amsterdam, the people saw that the new
Director had but one leg, the other, which he
had lost in the wars, having been replaced by
a wooden affair, laced with silver bands. His
manner was soldierly, and excited from those
who looked askance at him the remark that
his stride was " like a peacock's, with great
pomp and state." Moreover he was accused
of keeping the burghers bareheaded for several
hours, though he was covered, " as if he were
the Czar of Muscovy."
70 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Peter Stuyvesant l was the son of a clergy
man of the Reformed Church. He was a
" self-made " man, having had a hard struggle
from his boyhood. He had fought in the ser
vice of the West India Company against the
Spaniards and Portuguese in South America.
For a time he was Governor of the Island of
Cura9oa, and it was while making an attack,
during this command, on the Island of St.
Thomas that he lost his leg. He had mar
ried, at Amsterdam, Judith, the daughter of
Balthazzar Bayard, a French Protestant who,
like so many others who came to America,
had fled to Holland to escape persecution.
When Stuyvesant declared in his first
speech at the Fort that he would govern the
colony " as a father does his children," he gave
some hint of the view of the situation which
he was inclined to take. However fatherly
and generous were his feelings toward the peo
ple whom he was to preside over, he intended
to be master of the situation.
The people who greeted the new Director
1 " No other figure of Dutch, nor indeed of Colonial days is
so well remembered ; none other has left so deep an impress
on Manhattan history and tradition as this whimsical and
obstinate, but brave and gallant old fellow, the kindly tyrant
of the little colony. To this day he stands in a certain sense
as the typical father of the city." Theodore Roosevelt, New
York, p. 26.
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 71
with much cordiality, and who in this demon
stration were influenced as greatly by the feel
ing that any change must be for the better as
by any definite expectation that Stuyvesant
would be better than Kieft, had suffered from
so many influences that tended to disorganize
and disconcert them that the new Director
found them in no very promising state. In
deed, he found New Netherland in a " low
condition."
Breuckelen and her sister settlements were
as yet merely farming communities. New
Amsterdam itself had begun to present some
of the characteristics of a town. Extending
as far as the present line of Wall Street (from
which fact the street gets its name), it was
thickly settled within a narrow area toward
the point. The houses were rough, the streets
unkempt. " Pig-pens and out-houses were set
directly on the street, diffusing unpleasant
odors. The hogs ran at will, kept out of the
vegetable gardens only by rough stockades." l
If the physical condition of the town offended
Stuyvesant, so, also, did the moral condition.
The new Director called for a " thorough
reformation." There must be an end of drunk
enness, Sabbath-breaking, and the selling of
1 Bayard Tuckerman, Peter Stuyvesant^ p. 62.
72 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
liquors to the Indians. Stuyvesant saw the
necessity of conciliating the Indians, and the
efforts which he made to this end were gratify
ing to the Long Island settlers.
To protect the outlying settlements from
the incursions of the savages, and to provide
means for the payment of the annual presents
and perquisites to the Indians, Stuyvesant
consented to give the various towns repre
sentation in the government. The grand old
democratic principle of taxation and represen
tation going hand in hand was thus recog
nized. It was these sentiments, which early
took root in Breuckelen, that resulted in the
Revolutionary War, and established the fact
that taxation without representation was unjus
tifiable. As a result of this consent, an elec
tion was held in Breuckelen and the other
towns, and eighteen of the most respectable
and honored men in the community were
chosen, from whom nine were selected by the
Director and Council as an advisory board.
They were to confer with the Director and
Council and to promote the welfare of the peo
ple. They were also to consult upon all meas
ures proposed by the Director and Council,
and to give their advice. The Director was
empowered to preside at all meetings of this
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 73
board. The members held seats in the Coun
cil, taking turns weekly, three sitting at a time ;
on court days acting in a judicial capacity to
try cases and render judgment.
The administration, at least in its earlier
years, saw an increase in the rate of immi
gration. During Stuyvesant's administration
many stone houses appeared in New Amster
dam, and on Long Island came an improved
class of habitations.
The houses of the Dutch period, and of the
later period that imitated the primitive archi
tecture of that time, are among the most inter
esting objects of study that remain on Long
Island. The first Long Island houses had re
sembled those of the Indians. Very soon after
ward the character of the dwellings became
more solid and permanent, and after the In
dian war came comfortable one-story houses,
thatched with straw, and with big stone chim
neys. Most of the Dutch houses on Long
Island, even in later times, were of wood. A
brickyard was established at New Amsterdam
in 1660; but in those days it was thought that
the baking of brick of greater thickness than
two inches could not be effectual, and building
with such small brick as then came from the
maker was very expensive.
74 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
The one-story Dutch houses generally had
an " overshoot " roof, which formed now one
and now two piazzas. Very often a seat was
placed at each end of the porch ; and when
the weather permitted, this sheltered place
was generally occupied by the family and vis
itors of an evening. There are a number of
these fine old Dutch houses still standing
within the limits of the county and city.
The interior of the Dutch houses was gen
erally as solid and simple as the exterior. The
big fireplace was one of the most important
features of the house. Those who could afford
it often had the mantel front set about with
glazed Holland tiles. These tiles had pictures
moulded on them, and very often the whole
series of pictures around the fireplace opening
would tell stories from the Bible. " The chil
dren grew to know these pictures, and the
stories they told, by heart; and when they
gathered about the hearth of an evening, and
the tile pictures glimmered faintly in the light
of the big wood fire, grandfather would open
the great family Bible on his knees and read
some of the stories over again for the hun
dredth time."
In the best room of the house stood the
mountainous bedstead, as grand as the owner
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 75
could afford to make it. Underneath was the
trundle-bed, which was pulled out at night for
the children to sleep on.
" The pillow-cases were generally of check
patterns; and the curtains and valance were
of as expensive materials as their owner could
afford; while in front of the bed a rug was
laid, for carpets were not then in common use.
Among the Dutch the only article of that sort,
even up to the time of the Revolution, was a
drugget of cloth, which was spread under the
table during meal-time when, upon ' extra occa
sions,' the table was set in the parlor. But
even these were unknown among the inhabit
ants of Breuckelen and the neighboring towns.
The uniform practice, after scrubbing the floor
well on certain days, was to place upon the
damp boards the fine white beach sand (of
which every family kept a supply on hand,
renewing it by trips to the seashore twice
a year), arranged in small heaps, which the
members of the family were careful not to dis
turb by treading upon ; and on the following
day, when it had become dry, it was swept, by
the light and skillful touch of the housewife's
broom, into waves or other more fanciful fig
ures. Rag carpets did not make their appear
ance in this country until about the beginning
of the present century." 1
1 Stiles, History of Brooklyn, vol. i. p. 229.
76 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
The Dutch did not use tables save for the
kitchen or for the service of meals. The table
dishes were of wood and pewter, though a few
people kept some china on the sideboard for
" company." As tea was a luxury which very
few had much of, the tea cups were very small.
For display, silver tankards, beakers, porrin
gers, spoons, snuffers, and candlesticks were
in favor. Clocks were extremely rare, the
primitive hour-glass doing service in most
houses. " Of books," says Stiles, " our ances
tors had but few, and these were mostly Bibles,
Testaments, and Psalm-Books. The former,
many of which still exist among the old fami
lies, were quaint specimens of early Dutch
printing, with thick covers, and massive brass,
and sometimes silver, corner-pieces and clasps.
The Psalm-Books were also adorned with sil
ver edgings and clasps, and, when hung by
chains of the same material to the girdle of
matrons and maidens fair, were undoubtedly
valued by their owners quite as much for the
display which they made as for their intrinsic
value."
In every family was a spinning-wheel,
sometimes four or five. The dress of the peo
ple, like so many other Dutch things, closely
resembled that of Hollanders at home. The
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 77
ordinary dress for men was a blouse or jacket,
and wide, baggy trousers. Justices and other
officials wore black gowns. The Sunday
clothes of men as well as women were often
gorgeous in color and effect. The ladies
frizzed and powdered their hair, wore silk
hoods in place of hats, and squeezed their feet
into very high-heeled shoes. The dandies of
the day wore long coats with silver lace and
silver buttons, bright vests or waistcoats, vel
vet knee-breeches, black silk stockings, and
low shoes with silver buckles.
On holidays the people made a gay-looking
company. Christmas was a happy festival
with them always. In those early days people
had to depend upon such family festivities
even more than do later generations having
many sources of amusement away from home.
It was from the Dutch that American children
learned to say Santa Claus, and it was from
them that Americans learned that fashion,
which has still not entirely died out, of making
calls on New Year's Day.
One of the prudent customs of the Dutch
settlers was to begin, so soon as they came of
age, to lay by money for their funeral expenses.
No Dutchman wanted to be a burden upon
any one if he could help it, even when he died,
78 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
and this practice of laying by gold or silver
pieces to pay the expenses of proper burial
became very general. A Dutch funeral was
one of the most singular features of life among
the people. After the minister had seated
himself beside the coffin and the company
was duly assembled, the sexton or servants
would appear with glasses and decanters, and
wine would be given to such of the guests
as cared to drink. Funeral cakes and other
victuals were handed about in the same way,
and then pipes and tobacco were brought in.
The eating, drinking, and smoking being fin
ished, the minister would rise and make his
address and prayer, and then the sexton and
minister would lead the procession to the
burying-ground. 1
1 " Among the Dutch settlers the art of stone-cutting does
not appear to have been used until within comparatively a few
years, with but few exceptions, and their old burying-grounds
are strewn with rough head-stones which bear no inscriptions ;
whereas the English people, immediately on their settlement,
introduced the practice of perpetuating the memories of their
friends by inscribed stones. Another reason for not finding
any very old tombstones in the Dutch settlements is that they
early adopted the practice of having family burying-places on
their farms, without monuments, and not unfrequently private
burials, both of which the Governor and Colonial Legislature,
in 1664 and 1684, deemed of sufficient importance to merit
legislative interference, and declared that all persons should
be publicly buried in some parish burial-place." Furman,
Antiquities of Long Island, p. 155.
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 79
A people so prudent about matters of fun
eral expenses were likely to be prudent about
other affairs of life coming earlier in the list.
Young men were generally careful about sav
ing money with which to get married, and
the young women spun and sewed for many
months getting ready the linen which they
were in the habit of providing for the house
keeping.
Furman instances this inventory of the
goods a Breuckelen bride brought to her hus
band : " A half-worn bed, two cushions of
ticking with feathers, one rug, four sheets, four
cushion covers, two iron pots, three pewter
dishes, one pewter basin, one iron roaster, one
schuyrn spoon, two cowes about five years old,
one case or cupboard, one table."
That the course of true love, as it is ob
served after marriage, did not always run
smooth, is shown by the early appointment in
New Amsterdam of a " First Commissary of
Marriage Affairs."
In this era marriage was surrounded with
many difficulties, and required both time and
patience to secure its accomplishment. The
following curious document is the form
which was used in 1654 to secure a marriage
license :
8o HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
To the right Honourable the Lordships the
Magistrates of Gravesend :
DEAR FRIENDS Whereas, on the date of
this loth day of February, 1654, a peticion is
presented to the cort hereby, Johannes Van
Beeck, that the banns (of matrimonie) between
him and Maria Varleth, may bee hear regis
tered and bee properly proclaimed, and wee
hav understoode that the same Johannes Van
Beeck ande Maria Varleth had prevusly too
this maide procklemation of thare banns
throgh youre cort att Gravesende wich (under
Koncison) is contrarie too the stile and cus-
tomes of oure Faderland. Itt is cure requeste
to youre honourable cort in case such an oc-
kacion should ockur in futur, that wee mai
bee inn formed kincerneing the same, inn
order on ether sydde to preventee all impro-
priertys, which allso wee engaige too doo on
our parte spechally iz the praktize and cus-
tome off our Faderland that any one shal
maike three proclamations inn the plaice
ware his domercile is, ande then he maye bee
maryed werever hee pleases, wherein wee ar
ande remaine your right Honourable Lord
ships' affectionate friend.
ARENT VAN H ATT AN.
Bye order of thee Burgomasters and She-
pens of New Amsterdam. Attest
JACOB KIPP, Sec'ty.
AMSTERDAM IN NIEW NETHERLANDS, this xoth day of
February, 1654.
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 8 1
The next step taken by the candidates for
matrimony was their appearance before the
Court. This event in the old manuscripts is
recorded as follows :
" Casper Varleth and Johannes Van Beeck
appeared inn cort and praed most ernestly
thatt onn thee perticion and remonstrance
konserning the marriage between Johannes
Van Beeck and Maria Varleth presented too
the Burgomasters and Schepens may be dis
posed off, and in konsequence of the Bench
note being kompleate itt iz posponed untill
Thursda next, soe az inn thee meantime too
notifie the other Lordships.
" Johannes Van Beeck appeared in cort and
requested az before thatt acion maye bee had
onn his peticion, offering furthermore iff thort
nesary att thee time ande the okeacion too bee
readie to affirme under oathe whatt he stated
inn his peticion, repeating especially three con-
versacions hadd with his Excellencie Petrus
Stuyvesant."
The subject-matter of the petition was im
portant, and could not be hastily passed upon.
The Burgomasters deliberated for three days,
and doubtless viewed the subject in every
phase and light imaginable. At last they
reached a conclusion which cannot be better
presented than in the precise language of the
decision rendered :
82 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
" Bye the Burgomasters and Shepens of
niew amsterdam having been seen and ex
amined the peticion as presentede too our cort,
onn the zoth ande i6th days of this month,
tochinge the bonds off matrimonie between
Joh Van Beeck and Maria Varleth. Thare-
fore wee inquire into,
" First Who frome the beginning was the
institutor of marriage, ande also whot the
apostels off thee Gentiles teaches thareon.
" Secondly The proper and attaned age
of Johannes Van Beeck ande Maria Varleth.
" Thirdlie Thee consente off the Fathure
ande Mothure off the Dauter.
" Forthly The distance and remoutnes
beetweene this and cure Faderland, together
withe thee calamiters relacion betweene Hol
land and England.
" Fifthly Thee danegur in such case aris-
ienge ffrom long retardacion, betweene these
too younge persons beecominge publick blame
being attachede to the fammelys onn either
sidde.
"Our Shurlogans ande wise Jurists doo saye
korectly onn such mattus, that wee must nott
commit any lesser sinns too avoyde grater
ones ; tharefore wee thinke (with due submis
sion) thatt bye suteable marrage (the apostel
inn his epistel to the Heebrues calls the bedd
undefiled honurable) both thee lesser ande
thee grater crimes are preevented. Tharefor
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 83
thee Burgomasters and Shepens off the city
of Niew Amsterdam doe judge thatt thee
afforeseyde younge persons haveing mayde
thare proper Ecklisiastical proclamations with
the earlyst opportunitie, and that they folloe
it upp with thee bonds of matrimonie immedi-
atelie tharafter.
" Done at the Stadt House inn Niew Am
sterdam in Niew Netherlands this iQth Feb-
erary, 1654.
"ARENT VAN HATTAN, MARTIN KRIGIER,
P. L. VANDUGRIST, WILH. BEECKMAN,
PlETER WOLFERSON, JOSH. P. R. RUYTER,
OLOFF STEVENSEN."
The social life of the New Netherlands was
in many respects characteristic of the hard
conditions of life in any new country, but in
many respects it was peculiarly different from
that of New England. " The sharp and strong
contrasts in social position," says Mr. Roose
velt, 1 " the great differences in moral and ma
terial well-being, and the variety in race, lan
guage, and religion, all combined to make a
deep chasm between life in New Amsterdam
and life in the cities of New England, with
their orderly uniformity of condition and their
theocratic democracy." In fact, democratic as
the Dutch theory was, the actual condition of
York, p. 29.
84 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
the Dutch colony was aristocratic in its char
acteristics. " The highest rank was composed
of the great patroons, with their feudal privi
leges and vast landed estates; next in order
came the well-to-do merchant burghers of the
town, whose ships went to Europe and Africa,
carrying in their holds now furs or rum, now
ivory or slaves ; then came the great bulk of
the population, thrifty souls of small means,
who worked hard, and strove more or less suc
cessfully to live up to the law ; while last of
all came the shifting and intermingled strata
of the evil and the weak, the men of incur
ably immoral propensities, and the poor whose
poverty was chronic."
The picturesqueness of the population was
accentuated by the presence of a growing num
ber of negro slaves which a Dutch vessel had
been the first to bring to America. 1 But, as
we shall see later, slavery never was welcomed
as an institution in this region, and never
gained a firm foothold. Tobacco culture and
other causes, which operated to the encourage
ment of slavery in Virginia and Maryland, did
not appear in the northern colonies ; where,
moreover, the temper and taste of the people
1 A Dutch war-ship sold twenty negroes into the colony of
Virginia in August, 1619.
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 85
were not such as to make easy the develop
ment of slavery.
As in early New England, the domestic
and social affairs of the Dutch colony were
always intimately associated with religious tra
ditions, and, as in New England, the theory of
religious liberty found a varying and often a
grotesque application.
The early theory of the colony was that
of complete religious liberty, and at no time
was there an intolerance comparable to that
which prevailed among the Puritans, who
sought liberty but yielded little ; but the laws
of the colony favored the Protestant Reformed
Church, and it alone. To be sure, the West
India Company commended freedom of belief,
and the early Governors, partly, doubtless, be
cause they were too busy with other matters,
and partly because occasion had not yet arisen,
caused little trouble by any attitude toward
questions of faith or worship. But when the
colony grew to considerable proportions, and
the mixture of races brought about by the
advertised liberality of the Dutch settlements
began to bring up the social and religious
questions inevitable in such a community,
there were many clashings and disputes and
bitternesses.
86 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Stuyvesant was as definite and immovable in
his ideas about church-going as about every
thing else. He believed in established author
ity, and personally resented the impertinence
of people who saw fit to take a position at vari
ance with what seemed to be set forth and
settled by the established power. When the
Lutherans, in 1654, sought to hold meetings
of their own, Stuyvesant reminded them of the
duty of attending the good Dutch church, and
refused them premises for their meetings.
Appeal to Holland, whose position Stuy-
vesant's mental methods certainly did not rep
resent in this instance, forced the Director
to let the Lutherans alone ; and possibly the
rebuke was responsible for the fact that the
Anabaptists on Long Island escaped serious
trouble shortly afterward. But Stuyvesant
hated the " cursed Quakers," with whom he
had many bitter differences, going so far as to
hang up one preacher by the arms and lash
him for defying his authority.
Of Catholics Stuyvesant had an even greater
horror. In 1654, he passed an ordinance for
bidding the keeping of Ash Wednesday and
all other holy days, as " heathenish and popish
institutions, and as dangerous to the public
peace."
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 87
To the intermittent religious squabbles
brought on by the determination of Stuyvesant
to stick to the letter of the law rather than
to take the popular Dutch view of moderate
leniency, the West India Company finally put
a stop by ordering Stuyvesant to " let every one
remain free so long as he is modest, moderate,
his political conduct irreproachable, and as
long as he does not offend others or oppose
the Government." These terms, rather than
any ever offered by Stuyvesant, represent the
real sentiment prevalent among the Dutch
people.
In the ship which brought over Governor
Minuit, in 1626, came two ziekentroosters, or
" comforters of the sick," who were frequently
found filling positions as assistants to ordained
clergymen. By these two men the early reli
gious services of the New Amsterdam colony
were conducted until 1628, when another ship
from Holland brought out Jonas Michaelius,
who was sent by the North Synod of the
Netherlands. It was Michaelius who "first
established the form of a church " at Man
hattan. He was succeeded five years later by
Everardus Bogardus, whose congregation left
the upper loft of the horse-mill for a small
building dedicated to church service. In
88 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
1642, a new stone church was built within the
Fort, and in the year of Stuyvesant's coming
Bogardus was succeeded by Dominie Johan
nes Megapolensis, who led the church for
twenty-two years.
Meanwhile the Long Island settlers who
wished to attend divine service were obliged to
cross the river to New Amsterdam. In 1654,
however, Midwout (Flatbush), which had begun
to assume an importance as a settlement that
promised to give it the position that Breuck-
elen afterward assumed, established a church.
An order was issued in February, 1655, re
quiring the inhabitants of Breuckelen and
Amersfoort (Flatlands) to assist Midwout " in
cutting and hauling wood " for the church.
The Breuckelen people objected to working
on the minister's house, but were forced, under
the Governor's order, to assist throughout the
work.
This first church in Kings County, built un
der the supervision of Dominie Megapolensis,
John Snedicor, and John Stryker, occupied sev
eral years in the building; but that it was used
before its completion is indicated by the fact
that in August, 1655, Stuyvesant convened the
inhabitants to give their opinion as to the
qualifications of the Rev. Johannes Theodorus
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 89
Polhemus as a " provisional minister," and to
decide what salary they would pay him. The
report of the Schout was that the people ap
proved of Mr. Polhemus, and that they would
pay him 1,040 guilders (about $416) a year.
Polhemus belonged to " an ancient and
highly respectable family " in the Netherlands,
had been a missionary in Brazil, and had come
from . that country to New Amsterdam. He
was a devout Christian, and his faithfulness
does not seem to have been questioned, but
when, in 1656, the magistracy of Midwout and
Amersfoort sought permission to request vol
untary contributions from the three Dutch
towns, Breuckelen protested, declaring that
" as the Rev. John Polhemus only acts as a
minister of the Gospel in the village of Mid
wout, therefore the inhabitants of the village
of Breuckelen and adjacent districts are disin
clined to subscribe or promise anything for the
maintenance of a Gospel minister who is of no
use to them." By way of showing their good
will to Mr. Polhemus personally, they urged
that the minister might be permitted to preach
alternately in Breuckelen and Midwout. If
this were done they were " very willing to con
tribute cheerfully to his support, agreeable to
their abilities."
90 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
The Director and Council replied that they
had " no objection that the Reverend Polhe-
mus, when the weather permits, shall preach
alternately in both places ; " but although Mid-
wout consented, Gravesend and Amersfoort ob
jected, these villages having contributed to the
support of the Midwout church, and Breuck-
elen being "quite two hours' walking from
Amersfoort and Gravesend, whereas the village
of Midwout is not half so far and the road
much better." To this was added : " So they
considered it a hardship to choose either to
hear the gospel but once a day, or to be com
pelled to travel four hours, in going and re
turning, all for one single sermon, which would
be to some very troublesome, and to some
utterly impossible."
As a way out of this difficulty the Director
and Council decided that the morning sermon
should be at Midwout, which was about the
same distance from each of the three other
towns, and that the afternoon service should
be changed to an evening service to be held
alternately in Breuckelen and Amersfoort. In
recognition of the situation of Midwout, that
village was to give annually 400 guilders, and
Breuckelen and Amersfoort each 300 guilders
for the support of the minister.
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 91
This seemed like an amicable settlement,
and might have remained such had not
Breuckelen been dissatisfied with the preach
ing of Mr. Polhemus. The dissatisfaction ex
pressed itself in a protest sent to the Director
and Council, in which the people of Breuck
elen reminded the Director that they had
never called the Reverend Polhemus, and had
never accepted him as their minister. " He in
truded himself upon us against our will," said
the protest, " and voluntarily preached in the
open street, under the blue sky; when to
avoid offense, the house of Joris Dircksen was
temporarily offered him." Moreover, Mr. Pol
hemus was accused of offering " a poor and
meagre service," giving, every fortnight, " a
prayer in lieu of a sermon," by which they
could receive " very little instruction." Often,
when they supposed this prayer was begin
ning, it was " actually at an end." This they
experienced on the Sunday preceding Christ
mas, when, expecting an appropriate sermon,
they heard " nothing but a prayer." " Where
fore," continues the protest, " it is our opinion
that we shall enjoy as much and more edifica
tion by appointing one among ourselves, who
may read to us on Sundays, a sermon from the
' Apostles' Book,' as we ever have until now
92 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
from any of the prayers or sermons of the
Reverend Polhemus." All this, the protest
hastened to say, was intended in no offense to
the preacher, whose inabilities were recognized
as resulting naturally from the fact that in his
advanced years "his talents did not accom
pany him as steadily as in the days of yore."
To this protest Stuyvesant responded
merely by directing the sheriff to "remind
those of Breuckelen, once more, to fulfil their
engagement, and to execute their promise rela
tive to the salary of Mr. Polhemus." Amid
their discontent, and in consequence also of
the poverty of many of his parishioners, the
poor preacher suffered not a little for want of
the ordinary necessities of life. In the winter
of 1656, his house ting not yet completed,
he and wife and children were forced to sleep
on the floor. When Sheriff Tonneman com
plained to the Council of having been abused
while attempting to collect the odious tax,
Lodewyck Jong, Jan Martyn, " Nicholas the
Frenchman, Abraham Janesen the mulatto,
and Gerrit the wheelwright," were each fined
twelve guilders ($4.80) ; and when Jan Martyn
sought to hire the public bellman to defame
Tonneman, he was " obliged to beg pardon, on
bended knees, of the Lord and of the court,
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 93
and was fined twenty-five guilders ($10) and
costs."
Wearied of his efforts to coax and threaten
the Breuckelen opposition into paying the tax,
Stuyvesant at last (in July, 1658) forbade all
inhabitants of the three towns to remove grain
from their fields until all tithes were taken or
commuted. There was no escape from this,
and the tax was paid.
Two years later Breuckelen secured a
preacher of her own in the person of the Rev.
Henricus Selyns, 1 a preacher whose ancestors
had been prominent in the earliest days of
the Dutch Reformed Church, and who had
been reared in the traditions of this flourishing
denomination. He engaged to serve Breuck
elen for four years.
When, in September, 1660, Dominie Selyns
preached his first sermon in the Breuckelen
barn which served as a house of worship, the
population of the village was one hundred and
thirty-four persons, representing thirty-one
families. The preacher had been promised a
salary of one hundred florins, but when an
effort was made to raise funds the magistrates
1 The call of the Breuckelen Church to Dominie Selyns was
by him accepted, and approved by the Classis of Amsterdam,
February 16, i66o(-6i). Brooklyn Church Records.
94 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
found themselves under the necessity of appeal
ing to the Director for aid. Stuyvesant
offered to pay one hundred and fifty guilders,
provided Mr. Selyns would also preach every
afternoon at his "bouwery" on Manhattan
Island. This arrangement was duly made. In
1 66 1, when Breuckelen received from the
West India Company, by request of Dominie
Selyns, a bell for the church, there were fifty-
two communicants. Meanwhile, Mr. Selyns
was living at New Amsterdam, and in 1662
an effort was made to induce the preacher to
live in Breuckelen, on the theory of the sche-
pens that, if he did so bring himself among
them, " the community would be more willing
and ready to bring in their respective quotas."
It does not appear that the Dominie found it
convenient to live in Breuckelen, but there is
no doubt of his zeal nor of his popularity.
When, in 1664, the Dominie returned to Hol
land, it was with the regrets and good wishes
of the little band of Breuckelen parishioners.
The Dutch attitude toward education was
in many respects very different from that
which prevailed among the English. At the
time of the settlement of New England and
New Amsterdam, Holland was far in advance
of other European states in ideas of popular
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 95
education. Mr. Campbell 1 places Holland
two hundred years in advance of any other
country in Europe at the time of the Puritan
emigration. There was, indeed, an extraordi
nary contrast between " the free cities " of the
Netherlands and their neighbors at this time.
" The whole population," says May, 2 " was edu
cated. The higher classes were singularly
accomplished. The University of Leyden was
founded for the learned education of the rich,
and free schools were established for the gen
eral education." Common schools had, in
deed, been founded in the sixteenth century,
and in the seventeenth the children of all
classes were taught at the public expense.
Such ideas of educational democracy had
1 Mr. Campbell and other recent writers, actuated doubtless
by some resentment toward the complacency of New England,
have unquestionably exaggerated in certain respects the essen
tial position of Holland in educational advancement, and
offered a somewhat stronger plea for the leadership of the
Dutch in popular education on this continent than a strictly
judicial examination of the case seems to justify ; but there
can be no reasonable doubt in the minds of impartial students
that serious misconceptions have existed, and that these jus
tify the championship of the Dutch, of which Mr. Campbell's
The Puritan in Holland, England, and A merica is so brilliant
an example. The early claims for English and for Puritan
educational traditions not only ignored but excluded the Dutch,
and it was inevitable that the effort to do justice to Holland's
remarkable services for popular education should result in
occasional overstatement.
a Democracy in Europe, vol. ii. pp. 67-72.
96 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
not appeared in England at the time when
education first began to be considered in this
country. Mr. Draper 1 notes that there was
no school but the Latin school in Boston
for thirty-five years after the passage of the
so-called compulsory education law of 1647.
Nor did the early Massachusetts schools
receive all the children of the people. " No
boys were received under seven years of age
till 1818. No girls of any age were admitted
prior to 1789. It was one hundred and forty-
two years after the passage of the so-called
compulsory school law of 1647 before Bos
ton admitted one girl to her so-called 'free
schools,' and it was one hundred and eighty-
one years thereafter before girls had facilities
equal to those enjoyed by their brothers."
On the other hand, New Amsterdam had a
professional schoolmaster as early as 1633, and
with him popular common school education
began in this country. Prior to 1662, there
were as many as ten persons licensed to keep
private schools or to teach on their own ac
count, and Furman states that young men
from both the New England and the Virginia
colonies came to New Amsterdam to be edu-
1 Public School Pioneering in New York and Massachu
setts.
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 97
cated. Speaking of the movement of 1658,
looking to the establishment of a Latin school
at New Amsterdam, and of the comment
thereon by Mr. George H. Martin, represent
ing the State Board of Education of Massa
chusetts, Mr. Draper says:
" Mr. Martin seems to make much of the
fact that the petition for the sending over of a
Latin master stated that there was no Latin
school nearer than Boston, but overlooks the
fact that there had previously been a Latin
school at New Amsterdam, and also the other
fact that there was no school at Plymouth, and
none but a Latin school at Boston, and that it
received only a few of the brighter boys of the
wealthier families, to prepare them for college
and the ministry."
The earliest laws of the colony show that
for the support of schools " each householder
and inhabitant should bear such tax and public
charge as should be considered proper for their
maintenance." l
The first schoolmaster in Breuckelen made
his appearance in 1661, on the 4th day of July,
in which year the following petition was pre
sented :
1 New York Colonial Documents, vol. i. p. 112.
98 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
To the Right Hon. Director- General and
Council of New Netherland:
The Schout and Schepens of the Court of
Breuckelin respectfully represent: That they
found it necessary, that a court messenger was
required for the Schepens Chamber, to be occa
sionally employed in the Village of Breuckelin,
and all around, where he may be needed, as
well to serve summons, as also to conduct the
service of the church, and to sing on Sunday;
to take charge of the school, dig graves, etc. ;
ring the bell and perform what ever else may be
required. Therefore, the petitioners, with your
Honours' approbation, have thought proper
to accept for so highly necessary office a suita
ble person who is now come before them, one
Carel Van Beauvois, to whom they have appro
priated the sum of fl. 1 50, beside a fine dwell
ing; and whereas the petitioners are appre
hensive that the aforesaid C. V. Beauvois
would not and cannot do the work for the sum
aforesaid, and the petitioners are not able to
promise him any more ; therefore the peti
tioners, with all humble and proper reverence,
request your Honours to be pleased to lend
them a helping hand, in order thus to receive
the needful assistance. Herewith awaiting
your Honours' kind and favorable answer, and
commending ourselves, Honorable, wise, pru
dent and most discreet gentlemen, to your
favor, we pray for your Honours God's protec-
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 99
tion, together with a happy and prosperous
administration, unto salvation. Your Honors'
servants and subjects, the Schout and Sche-
pens of the village aforesaid. By order of the
same,
[Signed] ADRIAEN HEGEMAN, Secretary.
The Directors granted the petition and
agreed to pay fifty guilders annually in wam
pum for the support of the precentor and
schoolmaster.
The first school was set up in the little
church, which stood near the present junction
of Fulton and Bridge Streets. The second
public school within the county was opened in
the new village of Bushwick.
The area of the county represented by the
town of Bushwick had, as we have seen, been
purchased by the West India Company in
1638. In 1660 the Wallabout residents had
built a block-house on the high point of land
overlooking the East River, known as the
"Kiekout," 1 or "Lookout." At about the
same time (in the month of February), " four
teen Frenchmen, with a Dutchman named
1 The river farm, which included the " Kiekout" bluff, is first
found in the possession of Jean Meserole, who came from
Picardy, France, in 1663, and from whom is descended Gen.
Jeremiah V. Meserole, President of the Williamsburgh Sav
ings Bank, first colonel of the Forty-seventh Regiment, N. G.
S. N. Y.
100 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Peter Janse Wit " and an interpreter, called
upon the Director to lay out a town plot east
of the Wallabout settlement. On February
19 the Director, with the Fiscal, Nicasius
de Sille, Secretary Van Ruyven, and the
sworn surveyor, Jaques Corteleau, came to a
spot between " Mispat (Maspeth) Kill," New-
town Creek, and " Norman's Kill," l Bushwick
Creek, to "establish a village." Here a sur
vey was made, and twenty house lots laid out.
The first house was at once erected by Evert
Hedeman, and others soon appeared.
In March of the following year " the Direc
tor-General visited the new village, when the
inhabitants requested His Honour to give the
place a name ; whereupon he named the town
Boswijck," the Town of the Woods. The
people of the new village then selected six of
their men, from which the governor chose
three, to be magistrates, the town remaining
subject to the schout of Breuckelen, Amers-
foort, and Midwout.
Thus when the first public school was
1 So named from Dirck Volckertsen, surnamed " the Nor
man," to whom was granted in 1645 land on the East River
between Bushwick Creek and Newtown Creek, now within the
seventeenth ward of the city of Brooklyn, and still known as
Greenpoint. Volckertsen lived in a stone house on the north
erly side of Bushwick Creek near the East River. The house
was standing until after the middle of the present century.
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
opened in Bushwick, the hamlet scarcely con
tained twenty houses, a fact which may illus
trate the attitude of the Dutch and French in
this part of the country toward the question
of popular education. The first schoolmaster
in Bushwick was Boudwyn Manout, who took
charge on December 28, 1662.
The setting up of the third school within
the county was effected in a new village called
Bedford, lying southeast of the Wallabout and
east of Breuckelen. The settlement of this
village dates from 1662, in which year, in the
month of March, Joris Jan. Rapalje, Teunis
Gysbert (Bogaert), Cornelis Jacobsen, Hen-
drick Sweers, Michael Hans (Bergen), and Jan
Hans (Bergen) asked the Director for a grant
of unoccupied woodland " situated in the rear
of Joris Rapalje, next to the old Bay Road."
The Director made the grant, with the stipula
tion that the petitioners should not make " a
new hamlet."
The little settlement thus formed was ad
jacent on the south to another known as
Cripplebush 1 (variously spelt in the Dutch
orthography of the early days), and lay at the
1 Early section names within the township of Breuckelen
were Gowanus, Red Hook (lying west of the Ferry), the Ferry,
Wallabout, Bedford, Cripplebush. All of these, save the last,
have survived as designations of regions in the present city.
102 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
intersection of the Jamaica highway, the Clove
Road running to Flatbush, and the Cripple-
bush Road running to Newtown.
The Bedford school-house was placed in the
heart of the village, at the cross-roads. This
school, beginning in the year 1663, afterward,
according to the records of Teunis G. Bergen,
became the present Public School No. 3, and
had an interesting history.
Throughout the whole of Stuyvesant's direc
torship, the quarrels between him and the peo
ple were of frequent occurrence, and gained
rather than diminished in violence. As we
have seen, the tendency observable in the col
ony was aristocratic, and Stuyvesant fostered
such a tendency to the utmost. At one time
he sought to institute a division of the burgh
ers into two classes, major and minor, the
rights of the major burghers to be hereditary,
and to include the sole right to hold office.
He had an honorable sense of justice ; but his
method of exercising justice was eminently
paternal. He regarded complaint against a
magistrate as nothing less than treason. With
his Council, the " Nine Men," he had one
wrangle after another. Both the Nine Men
and himself repeatedly sent protests to Hol
land, and the West India Company chose to
THE FERRY IN 1746
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 103
let the pugnacious Director and his people
fight the thing out among themselves.
This indifference on the part of Holland,
which plainly took nothing more than a com
mercial interest in the colony, naturally in
spired little loyalty toward the home govern
ment. The nation that ignored their protests,
let their fortifications crumble from lack of
repair, and refused to guard them by proper
numbers of soldiery, could expect no ardor of
patriotism from those who were so treated.
Meanwhile trouble began to show itself be
tween the Dutch and the Connecticut colony.
The latter claimed authority over the English
towns on Long Island, and threatened also
to take possession of the Dutch settlements.
The English were jealous of the rich territory
of the Dutch. They beheld the valuable trade
which had sprung up through the instrumen
tality of the Dutch West India Company.
They were inclined to consider the Hollanders
intruders. The English claimed the entire
continent as their domain by virtue of the
discovery made by their navigator, Cabot.
Efforts were made to settle the disputes and
differences, without success. All negotiations
proved futile. With the Indians on one side
and the English on the other the situation for
104 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
the New Netherlands was perilous indeed.
At last the Long Island towns, with Haar
lem, New Amsterdam, and Bergen, assembled
in convention and prepared a remonstrance to
the home government, charging all their dis
asters to the lack of interest manifested by the
mother country in their welfare. The colo
nists divided into two parties, one favoring
adherence to Holland, the other favoring the
acceptance of English rule.
In 1664 Charles II. granted to his brother
James, the Duke of York and Albany, a patent
of all the territory lying between the Connect
icut River and Delaware Bay, in which was
included the whole of the Dutch possessions.
The Duke immediately dispatched four ships,
with 450 soldiers, under command of his Dep
uty Governor, Colonel Richard Nicolls, to take
possession of the territory. The squadron
anchored at Nyack Bay, between New Utrecht
and Coney Island, in August, 1664. The
block house on Staten Island was captured,
and all communication between Manhattan
and the neighboring colonies was effectually
intercepted.
The people were not prepared for this inva
sion. The very liberality the Dutch loyalists
had exercised toward other nations was to seal
DUTCH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 105
their doom. The English settlers whom they
had welcomed with open arms were anxious
for a change of government, and the arbitrary
conduct of the Dutch officials induced many
of the Hollanders to coincide with the wishes
of the English. Stuyvesant was powerless ;
the Fates were against him, and resistance was
useless. Yet he would have refused to surren
der, and was for making the best possible
fight. But the people refused to rally under
his leadership, and without the striking of a
blow the Dutch colony fell under English
rule.
CHAPTER VI
KINGS COUNTY AFTER THE ENGLISH CONQUEST
1665- 1700
Assembly at Hempstead. The " Duke's Laws." Love
lace. New York Retaken by the Dutch. Colve be
comes Governor. Return of English Rule under the
Treaty of 1674. Dongan and the Popular Assembly.
De Sille. Journal of Dankers and Sluyter. The
Ferry. A Dutch Dinner. The Schoolmaster and the
Constable. William and Mary and the Leisler Revolu
tion. Sloughter appointed Governor. Execution of
Leisler, and Subsequent Honors of a Public Reinter
ment. Long Island receives the name of Nassau.
Development of Privateering. Captain Kidd visits
and buries Treasure on Long Island. Bellomont and
the Suppression of Piracy. First Trial for Treason.
WHEN Nicolls assumed control as Governor
of New Amsterdam, under the patent to the
Duke of York, he considered it best to act in
a liberal spirit toward the Dutch, and endeav
ored to gain their good will and esteem. In
deed, this was the wise English policy which
he represented. So conciliatory was his ad
ministration that the Dutch element did not
appear to be affected by the change. The
trade with Holland was continued without in-
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 107
terruption. The Dutch were permitted to
elect all minor officials and to observe the cus
toms of the fatherland. New York received
a new charter, and the government was placed
in the hands of a Mayor, Aldermen, and
Sheriff, appointed by the Governor. The leg
islative power was vested in the Governor and
Council, who alone possessed the power to
impose taxes.
The titles to property in the province were
not in any way disturbed. The Council was
careful to confirm and declare legal all grants,
patents, and other evidences of title which had
been derived through the Dutch government.
New grants in confirmation were given, and
additional expense in consequence was im
posed upon the owners. Large sums were
also expended in repairing the forts in and
about the harbor to resist any attempt which
might be made to retake the city.
Measures were also adopted to provide a
more perfect and uniform system for the gov
ernment of the towns on Long Island. In
order to reconcile differences, and establish
laws which should control in each town, Ni-
colls organized an Assembly of delegates,
composed of representatives from each town.
The Assembly thus formed, met in Hemp-
IO8 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
stead in 1665. Breuckelen was represented
in that body by two of her well-known citizens,
in the persons of Frederick Lubbertsen and
Evertsen Bout. The Assembly adopted a
code of laws which were called the " Duke's
Laws." Considering the state of the times and
the varied conditions of the people, the code
thus adopted was reasonable and just to all.
These laws continued in operation with slight
amendments until 1683, when Governor Don-
gan convened his provincial Assembly. The
actions of Governor Nicolls gave the delegates
satisfaction and pleasure, and they became his
fast friends. They expressed their admiration
of his actions by an address of congratulation
to the Duke of York, which was characterized
by an exceedingly deferential tone toward the
new authority. Many of the people objected
to the tone of this address, and gave vent to
their feelings in outspoken language against
the delegates. So fearless and indiscreet was
the language used, and so imminent did the
violence threatened by the anti-English ele
ment appear, that the Government was con
strained to take notice of the same. At a
court held in 1666, a stringent act was passed
to prevent a repetition of the slanders against
the delegates.
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 109
In 1665, Long Island, with Staten Island,
was created a shire, and called Yorkshire, as a
token of respect to the proprietor, the Duke
of York. The shire thus formed was divided
into districts, which were denominated ridings.
The towns included in Kings County, Staten
Island, and Newtown, were called the West
Riding. Nicolls displayed much wisdom in
the management of the colony, and thereby
won the respect of the people. He did not,
however, remain long in service. Being anx
ious to return to Europe, in 1668 he bade
farewell to the New World, and set his face
eastward. Upon his return to his native land
he engaged in his country's service in the war
with Holland, and gave his life in defending
the flag in a naval engagement in 1692.
Nicolls was succeeded by Governor Francis
Lovelace, whose administration was a striking
contrast to that of his predecessor. Despotic,
arrogant, and self-willed, Lovelace was born to
be a " paternal " ruler, and ever manifested a
domineering spirit. The inhabitants had al
ways claimed the right to levy and impose
their own taxes, and protested against taxation
without representation. To all protests he
paid no attention except to " pronounce their
complaints as scandalous and seditious." His
IIO HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
frequent remark was, "the people should
have liberty for no thought but how to pay
their taxes." In order to carry out his views,
and to display his power, he imposed a duty
of ten per cent, upon all imports and exports
arriving at or going from the province.
In 1672, Charles II., instigated by the
French, proclaimed war against Holland.
This rupture led the Dutch to conceive the
idea of regaining their lost possessions. A
squadron consisting of five vessels was fitted
out, and placed under the command of Ad
mirals Beuckes and Evertson. The fleet thus
prepared sailed from Holland and appeared
off Sandy Hook on the 2Qth of July, 1673.
The news of the expedition reached the city
long before the arrival of the fleet. Governor
Lovelace had no adequate idea of the impor
tance and necessity of preparation to resist the
attack. He left the city and proceeded to
Albany to regulate the difficulties with the
Indians, and placed the fort in charge of Cap
tain Manning. When the news reached the
city that the Dutch fleet was approaching,
Manning sent messengers to Governor Love
lace, requesting him to return speedily. He
came, and at once commenced active defen
sive preparations. The fort was manned, and
UNDER ENGLISH RULE \ \ \
soldiers were mustered into service and drilled.
The enemy not appearing, the Governor dis
banded his forces and went to Connecticut.
When the fleet reached Sandy Hook, Man
ning again informed the Governor and re
quested him to return, and in the mean time
employed himself in collecting recruits. He
was not successful. The love of fatherland
could not be obliterated from the hearts of
Dutchmen. They refused to volunteer against
their own flesh and blood, and instead spiked
the guns of the fort to prevent any resistance
to the fleet. The soldiers in the fort were but
amateurs, and having had no experience were
of but little service. The fleet anchored in
New York Bay, July 30, 1673.
Manning lacked courage, and did not pos
sess any attribute fitting him to properly de
fend the city. In his dilemma, and not having
the aid and assistance of the Governor, he
found himself powerless to act as the occasion
demanded. He sent a messenger to the fleet
to inquire their object in disturbing the peace
of the colony. In the morning, the admirals
dispatched an officer to demand the immedi
ate surrender of the fort. Manning, anxious
to gain time, requested that he might have
until the following day to give his answer.
112 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
This was refused, and he was notified that
unless the city was surrendered in half an
hour the fort would be bombarded. To this
notification no reply was received. The Dutch,
true to their word, commenced a cannonade
which resulted in killing and wounding a num
ber of men. The salute of hot shot was not
returned. Captain Colve, with a band of six
hundred men, landed, and the attacking force
was ranged in line of battle in front of the
fort, and prepared to make a triumphal march
through the city. Manning became agitated
and frightened. He commenced negotiations,
but, as he had no power to enter into any
agreement, he was compelled to surrender.
The city, again in the possession of its ori
ginal settlers, was called New Orange, and the
fort was named Fort Hendrick. Some of
the English soldiers taken as hostages of war
were sent to Holland.
It may well be supposed that this success
ful capture produced a deep sense of morti
fication to the English Government and the
New England colonies. Manning was sub
sequently court-martialed and tried for cow
ardice and treachery. His defense was mainly
that he had no time to put the fort in a
proper condition of defense that the enemy
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 113
were eight hundred strong, while he had but
eighty men in the fort, and that he sought
to delay capitulation, hoping that help might
arrive. He was found guilty by the court.
Through the influence of friends his life was
spared, but he was compelled to suffer the
ignominy of having his sword broken over his
head by the executioner in front of the City
Hall, and he was declared incapable of ever
holding any office, either civil or military, in
the gift of the Crown. Governor Lovelace
also was severely reprimanded, and all his
property was confiscated to the Duke of York.
It would appear that the conduct of the Gov
ernor was more reprehensible than that of
Manning. Manning was merely a subaltern,
and Lovelace being Governor, it was his
duty to exercise proper care in defending the
territory committed to his control. He was
twice notified by Manning of the intended
attack, and seemed by his actions either to
manifest but little interest, or not to realize
the importance of defensive measures.
Captain Colve now assumed control of pub
lic affairs. Fearing that the English might
endeavor to regain the territory, he repaired
and strengthened the fort, and put the city
under military protection. A new charter was
114 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
given to the city, and the old forms of govern
ment readopted. Courts were established at
various points, and all the magistrates were
required to appear at New Orange, and swear
allegiance to the Dutch Government.
Colve received his commission as Governor
of the New Netherlands from the admiral of
the fleet. He was very energetic, fortifying
weak points, and asserting the claim of the
Dutch to all the territory which Governor
Stuyvesant had controlled. The fort was re
paired in a substantial manner, and every pre
caution taken to effectually resist any attack
which might be made. Colve directed that
the provisions of the city should be securely
kept, and prohibited the exportation of wheat
and grain. In order to prepare the people
for active service, he organized companies and
had them drilled daily by competent officers
in the manual of arms. The city under his
administration assumed a military appearance.
Parades and drills were of daily occurrence.
The city was carefully guarded by watchmen
ever on the alert.
While Governor Colve exercised authority
in the province, he took occasion to visit Flat-
bush with his officials, where by his direction
the magistrates of the various towns on Long
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 1 1 5
Island had assembled. He conveyed to them
the intelligence that troops were on the way
from New England to assail the town, and
that it was necessary to make preparations
for resistance. He commanded them to hold
themselves in readiness to proceed to the city
whenever he should require their presence.
Many of the people considering it prudent to
move to the city for safety, obtained permission
to do so, and the Governor appointed a com
mittee to secure proper accommodations for
them.
A general exodus from Breuckelen and the
other towns was the result. The inhabitants
of the west end of the Island were eager to
move, and in order to prevent depopulation,
Governor Colve issued another order, stating
that it was necessary for a portion of the males
to remain in the towns to protect property and
prevent invasion, and he directed that one
third of the military force should remain.
The Dutch during their control of -New
York won for themselves the respect of all
onlookers. In their management of the colony,
notwithstanding many defects, they were more
liberal than any of their neighbors. They were
a hard-working, painstaking, thrifty class of
people, whose sterling virtues have left upon
1 1 6 HIS TOR Y OF BROOKL YN
the character of New York an impress that
can never be obliterated. The character and
principles of the Dutch, handed down from
one generation to another, have done much to
mould the great western commercial centre
into the cosmopolitan metropolis it is to-day.
The Knickerbocker patience and perseverance
under trials, the honesty and integrity of the
Dutch, their love of education and independ
ence have been of incalculable value to the
State and nation.
The Dutch were not to be surprised by any
English force. The difficulty was settled by
the treaty of peace between the States-General
and England, signed at Westminster on the
9th of February, 1674. The terms of the
treaty provided for the restoration of New
York to the English. This was accomplished
on the loth of November, 1674, when the fort
was surrendered to Major Edward Andros, the
Governor appointed by the Duke of York.
Thus New York again passed from the con
trol of the original settlers into the hands of
their conquerors. The fort again assumed
the name of Fort James, and the city resumed
the name of New York. The inhabitants
were required to swear allegiance to the King
of England, and the form of government
established by the English was restored.
UNDER ENGLISH RULE I 1 7
Governor Andros also restored the titles,
grants, and privileges which the towns had
enjoyed under the English Government, and
furthermore declared all legal proceedings
which had been taken during the reoccupation
by the Dutch to be legal and valid.
Andros was arbitrary and oppressive in his
conduct, and did all in his power to prevent
efforts on the part of the inhabitants to obtain
representation in the councils of the govern
ment. In 1680, charges were preferred against
him in which he was accused of interfering
with the privileges of New Jersey, and he was
summoned to England to answer. He was
acquitted, and returned to be still more oppres
sive. In 1683, he was removed, and Colonel
Thomas Dongan was appointed his successor,
with directions to convene a popular assembly.
This Assembly was composed of the Gov
ernor, Council, and seventeen members elected
by the people, and held a session commencing
October 17, 1683, which lasted seventeen days.
The Assembly adopted wise measures, which
were called "the charter of liberties." This
charter provided that the supreme authority
should be vested in the Governor, Council, and
Legislature elected triennially by the people.
The right of trial by a jury of twelve men was
Il8 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
guaranteed, and the liberty of the citizens was
secured. Protection and freedom of religious
belief were also assured.
The County of Kings was organized, and
comprised the five towns of Breuckelen, Bush-
wick, Flatlands, Flatbush, and New Utrecht.
Queens County was also organized. The
province was divided into counties. These
counties were: New York, Kings, Queens,
Suffolk, Richmond, Westchester, Dutchess,
Orange, Ulster, and Albany. In each county
a court of sessions was to meet twice a year,
and the Court of Oyer and Terminer annually.
The offices of assessor and supervisor were
also created.
The first town clarke (as it was then spelt)
of which there is any record was Heer Nica-
sius De Sille. 1 He was appointed in 1671, and
l When, in 1660, it was deemed necessary to prepare defenses
for Breuckelen and New Utrecht against attacks from the Indi
ans, De Sille was directed to make the necessary surveys. Under
Stuyvesant De Sille held the important position of attorney-
general. He was a man of ability and influence. The posi
tion he held under Stuyvesant demonstrated the fact that his
attainments were appreciated. He was born in Arnheim. His
ancestors were natives of Belgium, who fled to Holland to
escape religions persecution, and whose devotion to the inter
ests of their adopted country was manifested on many occa
sions in the noble stand taken by the Dutch Republic to main
tain its independence against the Spanish invasion. He came
to New Netherland in 1653, commissioned by the West India
Company to reside at New Amsterdam, and by his counsel
aid and assist the Governor in his duties. He was directed
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 119
acted in that capacity for four years. Michil
Hainelle succeeded him in 1675, and held
office until 1690. During the administration
of De Sille, Frederick Lubbertsen and Peter
Perniedeau were trustees and overseers. In
1676 we find Teunis G. Bergen and Thomas
Lambertsen filling the offices of trustee and
overseer.
Of New York and Brooklyn immediately
after the establishment of English rule we find
some interesting glimpses in the journal of
Jasper Bankers and Peter Sluyter, published
in the collections of the Long Island Historical
Society. 1 These two Dutch travelers were
members of the sect founded by Jean de La-
badie, and known as Labadists. The Laba-
dists had found shelter in tolerant and enlight
ened Amsterdam when persecuted in France.
The new faith was embraced by many of the
Walloons at Rotterdam and elsewhere. A
to give his advice on all subjects relating to the interests of
the colony. It is said that he built the first house in New
Utrecht. It was at his house that the brave General Wood-
hull, the hero of Long Island, who gave his life for his coun
try, breathed his last. S. M. O.
1 Journal of a Voyage to New York and a Tour in Several
of the American Colonies in 1679-80. By Jasper Bankers
and Peter Sluyter of Wiewerd, in Friesland. Translated from
the original manuscript in Dutch for the Long Island Histor
ical Society, and edited by Henry C. Murphy, Foreign Corre
sponding Secretary of the Society. Brooklyn, 1867.
I2O HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
community, resembling in many respects those
of the Quakers, was established at Wiewerd,
and the promoters resolving upon coloniza
tion in America, Bankers and Sluyter were
sent to New York on a tour of investigation.
After their first tour, of which their journal
speaks, they were again sent to New York in
1683, to establish a colony.
The Labadists give a detailed account of
their experiences in New York and on Long
Island. They make a natural comment on the
name " river " for the strait separating Long
Island and Manhattan Island. " There is a
ferry, . . . for the purpose of crossing over it,
which is farmed out by the year, and yields a
good income, as it is a considerable thorough
fare, this island being one of the most popu
lous places in this vicinity."
The ferry at this time was patronized by
both white men and Indians, though the Indi
ans usually economized by using their own
boats in carrying to New York their fish, fowl,
or furs. The fare on the ferry was " three
stuivers in zeewan for each person." A " stui-
ver in zeewan " was equivalent to less than
half a cent of our money.
Going up the hill from the ferry the travel
ers passed through the "first village called
UNDER ENGLISH RULE \ 2 1
Breuckelen," in which they saw " a small and
ugly little church standing in the middle of
the road." Here they turned off to the right
and reached Gowanus, where they were enter
tained by Simon Aertsen De Hart. After
speaking of the large and remarkable oysters,
" fully as good as those in England, and better
than those we eat at Falmouth," the travel
ers give this description of the Dutch dinner:
" We had for supper a roasted haunch of ven
ison, which he had bought of the Indians for
three guilders and a half of seewant, that is,
fifteen stuivers of Dutch money [fifteen cents],
and which weighed thirty pounds. The meat
was exceedingly tender and good, and also
quite fat. It had a slight spicy flavor. We
were also served with wild turkey, which was
also fat and of a good flavor; and a wild
goose that was rather dry. Everything we had
was the natural production of the country."
The guest adds : " We saw here, lying in a
heap, a whole hill of watermelons, which were
as large as pumpkins, and which Symon was
going to take to the city to sell. ... It was
very late at night when we went to rest in a
Kermis bed, as it is called, in the corner of the
hearth, alongside of a good fire."
These visitors did not entertain a very warm
122 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
appreciation for what the journal describes as
" a miserable rum or brandy which had been
brought from Barbadoes and other islands, and
which is called by the Dutch kill-devil. All
these people," continues the same narrator,
" are very fond of it, and most of them ex
travagantly so, although it is very dear and has
a bad taste." At New Utrecht, however, they
drank " some good beer a year old."
The writers comment upon Coney Island in
these words : " It is oblong in shape, and is
grown over with bushes. Nobody lives upon
it, but it is used in winter for keeping cattle,
horses, oxen, hogs, and others, which are able
to obtain there sufficient to eat the whole win
ter, and to shelter themselves from the cold in
the thickets."
The Fort Hamilton region, called Najack
(Nyack), after the Indian tribe of this name
living in the vicinity, is spoken of as an island,
it being surrounded by a marsh.
These and other records of the period indi
cate how little the early influence of the Eng
lish rule affected the Dutch manners and cus
toms, particularly on Long Island. The new
rulers might introduce the English system
of weights and measures, and adopt a new
nomenclature for officials and civic systems,
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 123
but for a long time, and far into the eigh
teenth century, Dutch life on Long Island
remained singularly like all that it had been
in the fatherland and in the pioneer homes.
An annual fair was established in Breuckelen
in 1675. It was provided that there shall be
kept " a ffayre and market at Breucklin, near
the ffery, for all grain, cattle, or other products
of the country, too be held on the ffirst Mun-
day, Tusday, and Wenesday inn November,
and in the City off New York the Thursday,
Ffriday, and Saturday following."
To meet the necessary expenses of possible
war, it was ordered that in case there should
happen a war with the Indians, for the better
carrying on of the same, one or more rates
should be levied as there shall be occasion, an
account whereof to be given to the following
Court of Assizes.
At the same time it was ordered " that in
all cases the magistrates through the whole
government are required to do justice to the
Indians as well as to the Christians."
In 1675, by reason of the fact that Long
Island and Staten Island were separated by
water, it was provided that Staten Island should
have jurisdiction of itself, and be no longer
dependent on the courts of Long Island, nor
on the " Milishay."
124 HIS TOR Y OF BROOKL YN
The overseers and trustees were required to
take an oath to administer the laws, without
favor, affection or partiality to any person or
cause, and, when required, to attend to the pri
vate differences of neighbors and endeavor to
effect a reconciliation.
Slight allusion has heretofore been made to
the schoolmaster. He was an important ele
ment in the community. As his labors were
various, and much more irksome than at the
present time, the following agreement, exe
cuted by the schoolmaster at Flatbush, in 1682,
will be read with interest :
Article i. The school shall begin at 8 o'clock,
and goe out att 1 1 ; shall begin again att i
o'clock and ende at 4. The bell shall be rung
before the school begins.
2. When school opens one of the children
shall reade the morning prayer as it stands in
the catachism, and close with the prayer before
dinner ; and in the afternoon the same. The
evening school shall begin with the Lord's
prayer, and close by singing a Psalm.
3. He shall instruct the children inn the
common prayers, and the questions and an
swers off the catachism, on Wednesdays and
Saturdays, too enable them to saye them better
on Sunday in the church.
4. He shall be bound to keepe his school
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 125
nine months in succession from September to
June, one year with another, and shall always
be present himself.
5. Hee shall bee chorister of the church,
ring the bell three times before service, and
reade a chapter of the Bible in the church, be
tween the second and third ringinge of the
bell; after the third ringinge, hee shall reade
the ten commandments, and the twelve articles
of ffaith, and then sett the Psalm. In the after
noon, after the third ringinge of the bell, hee
shall reade a short chapter or one of the
Psalms of David, as the congregation are
assemblinge ; afterward he shall again sett the
Psalm.
6. When the minister shall preach at Broock-
land or Utrecht, hee shall bee bounde to reade
from the booke used for the purpose. He
shall heare the children recite the questions
and answers off the catachism on Sunday and
instruct them.
7. He shall provide a basin of water for the
baptisme, ffor which he shall receive 1 2 stuy-
vers in wampum for every baptisme ffrom par
ents or sponsors. Hee shall furnish bread and
wine ffor the communion att the charge of the
church. He shall also serve as messenger for
the consistorie.
8. Hee shall give the funerale invitations
and toll the bell, and ffor which he shall re
ceive ffor persons of 15 years of age and up-
126 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
wards, 12 guilders, and ffor persons under 15,
8 guilders ; and iff he shall cross the river to
New York, he shall have four guilders more.
The school money was paid as follows :
1. Hee shall receive ffor a speller or reader
3 guilders a quarter, and ffor a writer 4 guild
ers ffor the daye school. In the evening, 4
guilders ffor a speller and reader, and 5 guild
ers ffor a writer per quarter.
2. The residue of his salary shall bee 400
guilders in wheat (off wampum value), deliver
able at Brookland ffery, with the dwellinge,
pasturage, and meadowe appertaining to the
school.
Done and agreede on inn consistorie inn the
presence of the Honourable Constable and
Overseers this 8th day of October, 1682.
Constable and The Consis-
Overseers. torie.
CORNELIUS BERRIAN, CASPARUS VANZUREN,
RYNIERE AERTSEN, Minister,
JAN REMSEN, ADRIAEN RYERSE,
CORNELIS BAREN VAN-
DERWYCK.
I agree to the above articles and promise to
observe them.
JOHANNES VAN ECKKELLEN.
In those days the duties of a constable in
Brooklyn were not confined to the present
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 127
requirements. In 1670, a law was enacted,
whereby his duties were defined. As the
order is peculiar, it is here inserted :
" Ordered that the constable of the towne
of Breucklyne doe admonish the inhabitants
too instruct theire children and servants, in
matters of religione and the laws of the
country.
" Ordered that the constable doe appoynte a
suytable person too recorde every man's par
ticular marke, and see such man's horse and
colt branded.
" Ordered that the overseers and the con
stable doe paye the value off an Indyan coat
ffor each woolf killed, and they cause the
woolf's heade to be nayled over the doore of
the constable, theire to remayne, and alsoe to
pull off both eayres inn token that the heade
is boughte and payed ffor."
In 1695 the Court of Sessions of Kings
County " ordered that the constables of this
towne shall on Sundaye or Sabbath daye tayke
lawe ffor the apprehending off all Sabbath
breakers, searche all ale houses, taverns, and
other suspectede places ffor all prophaners
and breakers off the Sabbath daye, and bringe
them before the justice too bee dealt with ac-
cordinge to lawe."
As a penalty for refusing so to do, it was
128 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
further " ordered thatt ffor every neglect or dee-
fault the constable shall paye a fine of six
shillings."
At the same session it was " ordered that
mad James bee kepte by Kings County in
general and thatt the deacons of each towne
within the sayde county doe fforthwith meete
together and consider about theire proportions
ffor the maintenance of sayde James."
Disputes having occurring between Brook
lyn and Flatbush relative to their boundary
or town lines, reference was had to the Court
of Sessions and action was had thereon, as
will appear by the record of its proceedings :
" Att a Cort of Sessions held ffor the West
Riddinge of Yorkshire, uppon Long Island,
the 1 8th day of December, 1677, the following
order was mayde: There being some differ
ence between the towns of Fflackbush and
Brucklyne conserninge theire boundes, the
which they are both willing to reffer to Cap
tain Jacques Cortelyou and Captain Richard
Stilwell too decyde, the Cort doe approve
thereoff, and order theire report too bee de
terminative."
These Commissioners took five years and a
half to perform their labors, and then reported
the result of their deliberations, as follows :
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 129
To the Worshippful Cort of Sessions nowe
sitting at Gravesende, June 21, 1683 :
These maye certiffie thatt inn obedience too
an order ffrom sayde Cort and bye consente
of bothe townes of Breucklyn and Ffackbush,
too run the lyne twixt the sayde townes, which
are wee underwritten, have done and markt
the trees twixt towne and towne, as witness
our hands the daye and yeare above written.
JACQUES CORTELYOU,
RICHARD STILLWELL.
The surveyor, Philip Wells, gave his certifi
cate that he found the line run by the Com
missioners to be just and right. These certifi
cates were recorded by order of the court.
In 1671 one Thomas Lambertsen and wife
sued John Lowe for defamation of character.
The defendant confessed that he was drunk,
" and was verry sorry for defaminge the plain
tiff's wife," and begged his pardon in open
court. They " ordered him to paye the costs
off the plaintiff's attendance, and keepe a civill
tongue in his heade."
Some of the orders made by the Court of
Sessions, as contained in the ancient records,
are very interesting at this period, and express
in a great measure the character of the early
settlers :
130 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
" At a Court of Sessions held at Gravesend
the 1 6th day of June by His Majesty's au
thority in the twenty-first year of the reign of
our Sovereign Lord Charles the second, by the
Grace of God of Great Britaine, Ffrance and
Ireland, King, Defender of the ffaith, in the
year of our Lord, 1662. Present: Mathias
Nichols, Esquire, President; Mr. Cornelis Van
Ruyter, Captain ; John Manning, Mr. James
Huddard, and Mr. Richard Betts, Justices.
" Weras during this Court of Sessions their
have been several misdemeanors committed in
contempt of authority in the towne of Grave-
sende, by one throwing down the stocks, pull
ing down of fences and such like crimes ; the
court also find that there was noe watch in
the town which might have prevented itt, and
being the offenders cannot be discovered, itt
is ordered that the towne stand fined five
pounds till they have made discovery of the
offenders."
The penalty in slander cases was very light,
as appears by a verdict rendered in an action
for defamation in 1699. The verdict was as
follows : " At a cort of General sessions, held
att Gravesende, December i, 1669, John Ffur-
man, plf., vs. Adraiaen Ffrost, deft. The
Plaintiff declared in an action of defamacon,
how that the defendant reported him to be a
purjured person, and common Iyer, which was
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 131
sufficiently proved, and also confessed by the
defendant. The Jury brought in the verdict
for the plaintiff, with five pounds damages and
costs."
Among the measures marking the progress
of the county was a provision by which all
the highways in the region were to be laid out
four rods wide.
When, in 1685, the Duke of York succeeded
to the throne of England under the title of
James II., he instructed Governor Dongan to
assert the prerogative of the Crown as a natu
ral right, to impose taxes, and also prohibited
the establishment of printing presses in the
colony. He was opposed to the diffusion of
information, and evidently thought that edu
cation and knowledge would weaken and de
stroy his power over the people. Thus, self
ishness marked his whole course. In August,
1685, the provincial council was dissolved by
order of the Governor, and no other was chosen
or summoned. This course was adopted to
lessen the influence of the people, and concen
trate the entire management and control in
the hands of the Governor.
On the 3d of May, 1686, an important event
occurred for Brooklyn. It was the issuance
of a patent whereby all the rights and privi-
132 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
leges granted by Governor Nichols in 1667
were fully confirmed and ratified. Dongan,
in the same year, also granted a charter to the
city of New York, confirming the franchises
previously granted to the corporation, and
placed the government upon a solid founda
tion. The Governor, however, still retained
the appointment of mayor, under-sheriff, clerk,
and all other important officials, merely giving
the people the right to choose their aldermen,
assistant aldermen, and minor officials, at an
annual election to be held on St. Michael's
day. This patent of 1686 was a very impor
tant document for New York City. Upon
this document New York based its claims to
ownership in the Brooklyn shore. It was this
charter which made sailors on board of United
States vessels at the Brooklyn Navy Yard citi
zens of New York City, and gave them the
right to vote in the seventh ward of New
York.
Dongan was a fast friend of the Indians,
and during his administration secured their
good will by counsel and assistance. He had
their confidence, and in various ways they
manifested gratitude. They called him the
"white father," and he was long held in re
membrance by the savage tribes, who appreci-
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 133
ated his many kind acts to them. He suc
ceeded better with the Indians than he did
with the whites.
The King was anxious to introduce the
Catholic religion, in opposition to the wishes
of the colonists. The feeling between the
two parties formed as a result of this threat
became very bitter. Dongan quickly saw that
the policy of intolerance would jeopardize the
perpetuity and peace of the English posses
sions, and opposed the measure. The Crown
officers appointed by the home government
were all Catholics, and in order to appease
popular prejudices, Dongan selected his coun
cilors from among the best known and fore
most Protestants/ This judicious policy was
not approved by the King, and in 1688 Don
gan was recalled, and Francis Nicholson as
sumed the management of affairs.
In the mean time, Sir Edward Andros had
been appointed royal governor of New Eng
land and New York. Nicholson, as his dep
uty, acted during his absence. The troubles
which assailed the people in consequence of
the arbitrary acts of the King were not to last
long. The hour of deliverance was at hand.
The dismal forebodings of the people were
removed when the intelligence was received
134 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
that the King had abdicated his throne, and
that the reign of William and Mary had be
gun. This was in 1689. The citizens of New
York thereupon assumed the power to remove
and depose all the officials who had been ap
pointed through the instrumentality of the
late king. .The authority of Deputy Nichol
son was questioned. Each sovereign had ad
herents. Parties were formed among the peo
ple. One sustained the late sovereign, while
another supported the new potentates. Polit
ical and religious discussion waxed warm, and
the two parties became known as the demo
cratic and aristocratic classes. Some main
tained that the change of sovereigns in no
way affected the colonial government, and that
the commissions granted by James were valid
until set aside and declared illegal by the new
power. Others considered the change in
England as a complete revolution, which ex
tended to every province belonging to the
kingdom. They held that all things were in
a state of anarchy, and that no one possessed
the power to control ; that all officials were
functus officio, and consequently the power
rested with the people, and that they alone
could devise measures or means of govern
ment, until the sovereign will should be ex
pressed.
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 135
As a result of this condition of affairs the
inhabitants of Long Island deposed their
magistrates and elected others to fill the places
of those they had removed. They also took
occasion to send a large body of militia to
New York to aid the popular party in that
city, which was led by Jacob Leisler. He held
the position of captain, was an old, wealthy,
and respected citizen, a firm Protestant, and
an opponent of the Catholics. The public
money was deposited in the Fort, and the peo
ple were anxious to secure its control. A de
tachment of forty-seven men repaired to the
Fort, obtained possession without resistance,
and Captain Leisler became the acknowledged
and recognized leader of the revolutionary
movement. He assumed control in behalf of
the new sovereigns, and at once took measures
to protect the public property. The defenses
were strengthened, and a battery of six guns
erected. The erection of this battery was the
beginning of the public park long known as
the Battery.
As everything was in a chaotic state, it was
deemed advisable to organize a Committee of
Safety, whose first act was to place the city
under the command of Leisler. Subsequently
the authority of Leisler was confirmed by a
136 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
dispatch directed to the late Governor, or to
such other persons as might be in command,
requiring such person to assume the entire
control of governmental affairs. Thereupon
Leisler took the title of Lieutenant-Governor,
and appointed his advisory council, consisting
of eight well-known citizens, to aid him in the
discharge of his trust. Having entire and
complete supremacy, he resolved to place the
city in an orderly condition, and to accomplish
this purpose took active measures. His con
duct did not please the people. Some were
jealous of his power, and began to stir the
people into rebellion. This was accomplished
with but little effort, and resulted in a street
riot, from which the Governor barely escaped
with his life. The services of the militia were
called in requisition, and for a short time the
result was uncertain. The riot, however, was
subdued. Several of the ringleaders were cap
tured, thrown into prison, and a court sum
moned to try them for treason. The chief
leader, Nicholas Bayard, was kept in the cells
of the City Hall for a period of fourteen
months, until released by Governor Sloughter.
In 1691, General Henry Sloughter was ap
pointed Governor by the sovereign authority.
Upon his arrival he demanded the surrender
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 137
of the Fort, which at first was refused. Major
Ingolsby, who had been appointed by him
Lieutenant-Governor, at once landed his forces
and blockaded the Fort. In this work Ingolsby
was aided and urged on by the enemies of
Leisler. For seven weeks the city was kept in
this state. Leisler refused to surrender his
authority until the commission of the new
governor was produced. At the same time,
however, he declared himself willing to sur
render possession to any one duly authorized
and deputed to take his place. Ingolsby, still
urged on by Leisler's foes, did all he could to
irritate and annoy him.
On the i Qth of March, 1691, Sloughter was
met by a delegation consisting of Philipse
Van Courtland and others, representing the
anti-Leislerian party, which expressed to him
a cordial greeting and loyalty. With his es
cort from the city he proceeded to the City
Hall, exhibited his commission, and took the
oath of office. It was late at night when he
reached the Hall, and although it was near
midnight he dispatched Ingolsby and a party
of soldiers, at the instigation of Van Court-
land and his friends, to demand a surrender of
the Fort. Leisler was suspicious, and thinking
that all was not right, refused to surrender,
138 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
and sent a letter by one of his men who had
known Sloughter, with directions to ascertain
if he was really present and had issued the
order, or whether it had been prepared by
some one who had assumed the role of author
ity. This act angered Sloughter, and he at
once told the messenger that he intended to
make himself known in New York. Major
Ingolsby was again directed to return and take
possession of the Fort, and to release Bayard
and the other prisoners who had been com
mitted by Leisler for treason. 'Upon their re
lease and restoration to freedom they were
elevated to the position of members of the
Council. This augured ill for Leisler. The
new Governor summoned Leisler and his son-
in-law, Milburne, to appear before him with
out delay. Leisler refused to give up posses
sion and still held the Fort. He, however,
sent Milburne and Delanoy to the Governor to
obtain the assurance that his life would be
spared. The messengers sent to make terms
were imprisoned, and another demand was
made to surrender. Leisler became fright
ened ; matters were becoming exceedingly hot
and disagreeable. Resistance could not be
kept up much longer, and he feared his life
would be forfeited in consequence of his dis-
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 139
obedience to the lawfully constituted author
ity. He deeply felt the necessity of recon
ciliation, and sent a letter of apology to the
Governor for holding the Fort. He admitted
that his action had been unwise, and excused
himself on the ground that he feared the peo
ple would take his life if he gave up control to
Ingolsby. This letter was treated with con
tempt, receiving no consideration at the hands
of the Governor or his Council. Sloughter
convened his Council at the City Hall. All of
its members w'ere enemies of Leisler. Leis-
ler, deserted by the soldiers of the Fort, was
brought a prisoner before Sloughter, and im
prisoned with several others in the guard
house.
At this meeting of the Council the Gov
ernor appointed John Lawrence Mayor of
New York.
Leisler with his fellow prisoners remained
in the guard-house four days, when the Gov
ernor and Council again met to consider the
propriety of his removal to prison. On the
following day a court was organized to try
the prisoners for murder and rebellion. The
court met on the 3Oth day of March. Leisler
refused to put in any plea, maintaining that
the court had no jurisdiction of the case ; that
140 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
the sovereigns alone had the right to decide
whether he had acted without legal authority.
The judges were unwilling to assume the
power to decide the question, and submitted it
to the Governor and Council, who held that
the point was not well taken. Thereupon
Leisler was found guilty on the I3th day of
April, declared to be a usurper, and with Mil-
burne was condemned to death.
The Governor did not at once sign the
death warrant. He was not satisfied with the
situation, and feared to incur the displeasure
of the King. The enemies of Leisler urged
him to the act, without success. At last, after
a month had passed away, they adopted a new
method to gain their desire. A feast was pre
pared, to which the Governor was invited.
They again urged upon him his duty in the
matter, and at last by the use of flattery, and
while the Governor was under the influence of
the good wine which had been provided for
the occasion, succeeded in their endeavor.
The anti-Leislerian party, having accom
plished the desire of their hearts, could not
rest until the warrant was put into execution.
They feared that the Governor might relent
and revoke his order. Nicolls, Van Court-
land, Bayard, and those of their adherents who
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 141
had been imprisoned by the direction of Leis-
ler, were burning for vengeance, and nothing
but his ignominious death would allay their
fury.
The warrant having been signed, the festal
board lost its attractions. An officer took pos
session of the document and carried it to the
City Hall. Orders were issued to lead out the
prisoners to instant execution. In order to
keep the matter from the ears of Sloughter,
some remained at the entertainment and kept
the Governor in good humor and forgetfulness
with wine. The day of execution was cold and
dismal. In the drizzling rain the prisoners
were led out to meet their fate. The scaffold
was erected in the park opposite the City
Hall. Friends of Leisler gathered round him
in the trying hour, bewailing the doom of
their leader, and in bitter words execrated
those who had sought and obtained the death
warrant. Leisler lamented the fate of his son-
in-law, and with his dying breath addressed
his son and friend in words of tenderness.
Turning to Milburne he said : " Why must
you die ? You have been but a servant doing
my will. What I have done has been in the
service of my King and Queen, for the Pro
testant cause and for the good of my country ;
142 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
for this I must die. Some errors I have com
mitted ; for these I ask forgiveness, and I en-
treat my children to do the same."
Thus perished the last Dutch Governor of
New York. 1 His remains were interred in his
own ground near the location of old Tam
many Hall. The treatment he received was
unjust. He had assumed the reins of govern
ment at the behest of the people, when they
had no ruler, and continued to act in that
capacity, considering the open letter of the
new sovereigns as a sufficient authorization.
He was condemned unheard, receiving the
l " No man has been more maligned or misunderstood than
Jacob Leisler. Historians have deliberately misjudged him,
drawing their conclusions from the biased reports of the few
aristocrats who hated or the English officials who despised
him. Jacob Leisler was one of the earliest of American patri
ots. His brief and stormy career as Provincial Governor of
New York was marked by mistakes of judgment, but his mis
takes were more than overbalanced by his foresight and states
manship. He acted as one of the people for the people. He
summoned a popular convention, arranged the first mayoralty
election by the people, attempted the first step toward colonial
union by endeavoring to interest the several provinces in a
continental congress, and sought to cripple the chief adversary
of the English in America, France, by the masterly stroke of
an invasion of Canada. That he failed is due to the jealousy,
the timidity, and the short-sightedness of his fellow colonists.
But he builded wiser than he knew; for, though he died a
martyr to colonial jealousy and English injustice, his bold and
patriotic measures awoke the people to a knowledge of their
real power, and prepared them for that spirit of resistance to
tyranny which a century later made them a free republic."
Elbridge S. Brooks, The Story of New York, p. 74.
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 143
treatment of a common malefactor. It is but
just to say of him that he resigned his authority
to the new government as soon as the Council
had been sworn in, and as soon as he was
properly apprised of his supersedure. He was
prejudged by a court composed of his ene
mies, some of whom, on account of malice,
were not qualified to try him. In 1695 his
estate, which had been confiscated, was re
stored to his family. Subsequently Parlia
ment declared that Leisler had held under
proper authority, set aside all acts of attainder
and judgments which had been passed against
him and his associates, and the bodies of Leis
ler and Milburne received the honor of a pub
lic reinterment. It was but tardy justice.
During Sloughter's administration many
important changes were made. The govern
ment was placed upon a firm basis, and various
courts were organized. Courts of Common
Pleas and General Pleas were organized in
every county, and the town governments as
sumed in a measure their present form. The
number of supervisors was reduced to one
from each town, with three surveyors of high
ways.
In May, 1691, the General Assembly con
firmed all previous grants and patents. The
144 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
grants to Breuckelen were thus again con
firmed.
Governor Slough ter died suddenly July 23,
1691. Some supposed that he was poisoned
by the friends of Leisler, whose bitterness was
ever manifested toward him. The theory of
poisoning, however, was not supported by the
post mortem examination.
If religious questions had been at the bot
tom of the democratic revolt led by Leisler,
the triumph of the aristocratic class did not
close the religious differences. 1 Benjamin
Fletcher, who succeeded Sloughter as Gover
nor, was a man of limited education, narrow
views, self-opinionated obstinacy, and always
questionable personal sincerity. It was a dar
ling project with him to introduce the English
language and the Episcopalian forms of wor
ship. To accomplish this purpose he made
1 " The government of the colony was at once put on the
basis on which it stood until the outbreak of the Revolution.
There was a governor appointed by the king, and a council
likewise appointed ; while the assembly was elected by the
freeholders. The suffrage was thus limited by a strict prop
erty qualification. Liberty of conscience was granted to all
Protestant sects, but not to Catholics ; and the Church of Eng
land was practically made the state church, though the Dutch
and French congregations were secured in the rights guaran
teed them by treaty. It was, then, essentially a class or aristo
cratic government, none the less so because to European
eyes the little American colony seemed both poor and rude."
Theodore Roosevelt, New York, p. 71.
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 145
strenuous efforts, bringing to bear every in
fluence within his power. The Hollanders
were wedded to their own peculiar forms of
church government, and regarded their church
as best entitled to be considered the estab
lished form of religious worship. Vigorous
efforts were consequently made to retain its
supremacy, and great opposition was mani
fested toward the proposed change. The
Dutch language was long successfully retained
in the Dutch churches. It was not until 1767
that the English language was introduced,
causing great dissatisfaction among the old
Knickerbocker stock. The tenacity displayed
in retaining the language of the fatherland,
and the refusal to provide English services,
drove many young people into the Episco
palian fold. To this circumstance may be
ascribed the reason why to-day so many Dutch
families are found connected with that denom
ination. Had the fathers gratified the wishes
of their children by providing services in the
English language, the Reformed Dutch Church
would have retained many families that found
their way into the Episcopalian Church.
William Bradford, of Philadelphia, in 1693,
established the first printing-press in New
York City, and had the exclusive contract
146 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
from the city government to print the laws,
ordinances, and corporation advertising. He
had no competitor, and must have enjoyed a
rich harvest. To Bradford belongs the credit
of establishing the first newspaper ever printed
in the province. His effort in this direction
proved eminently successful. The paper was
first given to the public in 1725, and was called
the " New York Gazette." At first it was
merely a weekly paper, printed on a small half
sheet, containing only two pages. As his
business increased it was enlarged to four
pages.
In 1693 Long Island received a new name,
being designated as Nassau Island. The
change met with but little favor, and although
the name Nassau is intimately associated with
the history of the island and with local institu
tions, it failed to become permanent.
During this period a system of privateering
came into vogue, which in a great measure
received encouragement from the authorities.
The entire coast was infested by daring buc
caneers and pirates, who plundered the ship
ping, making serious depredations upon the
commerce of the country. The province
suffered greatly from these freebooters, and,
although complaint was made from time to
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 147
time to the constituted authorities, no redress
or protection was received. The officials
themselves were corrupt, and participated in
the profits derived from the nefarious and
infamous business. Governor Fletcher fell
under strong suspicion of complicity. Legiti
mate trade was destroyed, and many embarked
in the new calling who under other circum
stances could not have been induced to pollute
themselves by engaging in so vile a traffic.
The English government at last became
alarmed. Trade was suspended and merchants
were afraid to send their vessels and wares
over the ocean. They were unwilling to risk
their property in so dangerous and hazardous
an enterprise. It became necessary to adopt
active means to suppress piracy. The Gov
ernor could not be trusted, and, in order to
break up this evil, Governor Fletcher was re
called in 1695, and Lord Bellomont appointed
in his stead.
Lord Bellomont did not enter upon the dis
charge of his duties until 1698. He was a
man of quick perception, and was convinced
that active measures were necessary. To
carry out his views he urged the Government
to equip an armed naval force to cruise in the
western waters and capture the human sharks
148 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
who were pillaging vessels and destroying the
commerce of the nation. England at that
time was engaged in a war with France, and
had not the means or equipments to respond
to the appeal. She required all her naval ves
sels to defend herself against her neighbor.
Bellomont was determined to accomplish his
laudable undertaking to destroy piracy in
American waters, and, as he could receive no
aid from the Crown, resolved to organize a
stock company for the purpose. He was
encouraged in his effort by the King, who
approved the plan, and, with the Duke of
Shrewsbury and others of the nobility, became
a shareholder in the company thus formed.
The object of the company was to build and
man vessels to capture the pirates. A sum
of money amounting to about $30,000 was
raised. A fine and strong vessel called the
Adventure Galley was placed in commission.
She carried sixty sailors and mounted thirty
guns.
Captain William Kidd, a bold and adven
turous officer, was placed in command of the
ship thus equipped. In order to encourage
him in his labor, it was provided that his share
in the enterprise should be one fifth of the
proceeds. He was a man of large experience,
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 149
having been engaged in the West Indian and
New York trade for many years, and having
at various times been employed as captain of
packet ships. His experience and knowledge
of the coast preeminently fitted him for the
undertaking. He had lived in New York a
long time, owned considerable property, and
was looked upon as a man in every way worthy
to discharge the duties assigned him. Bello-
mont and Robert Livingston had the utmost
confidence in him, and gave him a warm rec
ommendation for the position. He married
a lady of high social rank in New York, and
was privileged to move in the best circles of
the city.
The vessel sailed under flattering auspices
in April, 1699, from Plymouth, England, for
New York. Arriving at the latter port, Cap
tain Kidd shipped ninety additional men, and
proceeded to the Indian seas in search of
pirates. Kidd soon found that his own sea
men sympathized with the buccaneers, and
were far from unwilling to assume the role of
pirates. It will never be known what argu
ments induced him to turn aside from the path
of duty, and join the band of pirates he was
sent to destroy. The fact is that he was led
to abandon his enterprise, and became the
150 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
most daring and bold robber on the sea that
ever trod the quarter deck. Reckless and
energetic, he soon enriched himself with booty
taken from merchantmen upon the high seas.
It is said that he would often return to the
shores of New York and Long Island, and
bury his ill-gotten gains for future use.
Kidd not only buried treasure on Long
Island, but, if romantic traditions are to be
believed, visited the island under certain sen
timental conditions. He is credited with hav
ing made early visits to Bushwick in attend
ance upon a pretty young woman whose family
resided in that region, and with having sought
hospitality at the " Kiekout," on the way to
and from the home of the lady.
Even after the character of his undertakings
became known, Kidd ventured to return to
Long Island. After capturing a large frigate
he landed at Gardiner's Island, and buried a
quantity of treasure. After dividing some of
the ill-gotten gains with his crew, he discharged
them, and went to Boston to reside, under
an assumed name, hoping that he would not
be discovered. In this expectation he made
a great mistake. A man like him could not
pass long unnoticed. His past career rendered
his detection sure. Bellomont was in Boston
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 151
attending to certain affairs of state, and, meet
ing Kidd in the street, at once recognized him,
and speedily caused his arrest. It was a proud
and happy day for Bellomont, and proved to
be a crowning effort in his life. His wish was
accomplished ! He had found and with his
own hand arrested the notorious pirate. The
prisoner was at once sent to England on a
charge of murder and piracy, was tried, found
guilty, and sentenced to death, and executed
on the 1 2th of May, 1701. Kidd's family con
tinued to reside in New York, feeling keenly
the disgrace which had been brought upon
them. 1
Diligent search was now made for his buried
treasures. A large quantity of valuable jewels
and gold and silver was found at Gardiner's
Island. The excitement on the subject be
came intense. Bellomont and Livingston,
having recommended Kidd for appointment
as commander of the expedition against the
pirates, and in consequence of their former
friendliness for Kidd, were accused unjustly
of having connived at and participated in his
1 There are varying views of Kidd's character and career.
Thus Berthold Fernow writes in the Narrative and Critical
History of America (vol. v. p. 195): "To-day that which was
meted out to Kidd might hardly be called justice; for it seems
questionable if he had ever been guilty of piracy."
152 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
spoils. Had this charge been true, Bellomont
would hardly have been so ungrateful or im
prudent as to arrest him in the streets of Bos
ton and transport him to England for trial and
execution.
Bellomont, in the administration of the af
fairs of state, allied himself with the demo
cratic faction. Bayard, Van Courtlandt, and
the other members of the Council who had
opposed Leisler, were removed, and their
places filled by the former adherents of Leis
ler. A new Assembly was called in May,
1699. Bellomont opened it with a speech cal
culated to please and encourage the people.
He told them that he came with a firm deter
mination to be just to all interests ; that the
public money should not be squandered by
any one, and that all officials should be held
to a strict accountability. The address gave
satisfaction to the Assembly. Acts were
passed for the suppression of piracy, regulat
ing elections, and for the indemnification of
those who had been excluded from the general
pardon which had been previously granted.
Bellomont instituted and initiated many re
forms. Markets were erected at Coenties Slip,
and at the foot of Broad Street. Streets were
opened and paved, and provision was made for
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 153
keeping them clean. A house was secured and
used as a hospital for the sick poor of the city.
The ferry between Breuckelen and New
York was leased for a period of seven years,
and the rates of fare fixed. The fare for a
single person was eight stuyvers in wampum,
or a silver twopence; a shilling for a horse,
twopence for a hog, and a penny for a sheep.
By the terms of the lease the city of New
York was to build a commodious ferry-house
on the Breuckelen side, which was to be kept
in repair by the ferryman.
The jurisdiction of Bellomont was enlarged
by his appointment as Governor of Massachu
setts as well as of New York. He was greatly
interested in the Navigation Acts; but his
efforts to enforce them were resisted by the
residents and merchants of New England, and
met with opposition in New York. The mer
chants of New York were incensed at his con
duct, and made a vigorous complaint to the
Board of Trade and Parliament. The matter,
however, was never investigated, as he was
released from trial, by the hand of death, in
1701.
In 1697, a mob of Kings County people,
who resented the spirit of the English Govern
ment, assembled, " armed, at the Court House
154 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
of Kings County, where they destroyed and
defaced the King's arms which were hanging
up there." Among those who so convened
were the familiar names of John Rapalje, Ja
cob Ryerse, Garrett Cowenhoven, Jacob Ben
nett, and John Meserole, Jr.
In November, 1697, negroes were not al
lowed to be brought from New York on the
Sabbath unless they were provided with passes.
During the succeeding years similar legisla
tion was enacted, and the liberty and freedom
of the negro were still more restricted. He
was " forbidden to run about on the Sabbath."
The regulations with regard to the observance
of the Sabbath were very stringent. One
of the legislative enactments provided " that
no people should pass on the Sabbath day
unless it be to go to or from church, or other
urgent and lawful occasions according to act
of Assembly upon penalty of fine and impris
onment."
In 1693 one f the fi rs t trials for treason in
the New World was held in Kings County.
In those days petit magistrates, clothed with
a little brief authority, became arbitrary, and
often imagined that criticism and words ut
tered concerning the way they discharged
their duties had a tendency to exasperate the
UNDER ENGLISH RULE 155
people against the constituted authorities.
They would often cause the arrest and con
finement of citizens on frivolous and baseless
charges, and denounce them as guilty of trea
son. Such a case was the trial of John Bibaut
for "treason." The action taken by the jus
tices clearly shows that it was a matter of but
little moment, and fraught with no danger to
the community. The following order shows
the nature of the case :
"October n, 1693. Att a meeting of the
Justices off Kings County, held att the County
Hall.
" Present, Roetiff Martense, Nicholaus Still-
well, Joseph Hagerman, and Henry Ffilkin,
Esquires, Justices.
" John Bibaut, off Brookland, inn the county
aforesayde, wee aver being committed bye the
said justices too the common jail of Kings
County, ffor divers scandalous and abusive
words spoken by the sayde John against theire
majesties authority, and breache of the peace ;
the said John having now humbly submitted
himself and craves pardon and mercy off the
sayde justices ffor his misdemeanor, is dis
charged, paying the officers ffees, and being
on his good behaviour, till the next cort of
sessions inn November next ensuing the dayte
thereoff."
156 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Several others were arrested and imprisoned
on similar charges made by the justices. Al
though the fines imposed were heavy, it is
not to be presumed that the offenses com
mitted were of a serious nature, as the accused
were all discharged on payment of the fine
exacted.
CHAPTER VII
BROOKLYN BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
1701-1775
Brooklyn becomes the Largest Long Island Settlement.
Division of the Common Lands. Regulations as to
the Cutting of Lumber. The King's Highway laid out.
Brooklyn Officials at the Opening of the Century.
Lord Cornbury's Proclamation to Long Island Justices.
Slavery. Encroachments on the Common Highway.
The trial of Zenger. Population in 1738. Fortifying
Long Island. Newspaper Glimpses of pre- Revolution
ary Life. Ferries. Kings County in the Assembly
and the Provincial Convention. Philip Livingston.
General Town Meeting in Brooklyn.
BEFORE the close of the seventeenth cen
tury Brooklyn had assumed a leading place
among the Long Island towns. Indeed, in
the number of assessed persons the village
with the " ugly little church " began to exceed
Midwout as early as 1675,* when it had sixty
property owners who paid taxes.
At the beginning of the new century we
1 The assessment rolls of the five Dutch towns in 1675
showed the following proportions in the number of persons
assessed : Breuckelen, 60 ; Midwout, 54 ; Boswyck (Bush-
wick) 36 ; Amersfoort, 35 ; New Utrecht, 29.
158 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
find Breuckelen, if not growing rapidly as we
now understand the term, at least treading
steadily forward and assuming the traits of an
organized community.
At a town meeting held in 1693, the com
mon lands of Brooklyn had been divided as
follows :
" All lands and woods, after Bedford and
Cripplebush over the hills to the path of New
Lotts, shall belong to the inhabitants of the
Gowanis, beginning from Jacob Brower and
soe to the uttermost bounds of the limitts of
New Utrecht.
" And all the lands and woods that lyes be
twixt the aforesaid path and the highway from
the ferry toward Flattbush shall belong to the
freeholders and inhabitants of Bedfford and
Cripplebush.
" And all the lands that lyes in common
after the Gowanis betwixt the limitts and
bounds of Flattbush and New Utrecht shall
belong to the freeholders and inhabitants of
Breucklin, fred neck, the ferry and the Walla-
bout."
Among the commissioners appointed to lay
out the common lands was Captain Henry
Ffilkin, an influential resident of the town and
an elder in the Reformed Church. The ordi
nance provided specifically as follows : "It is
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 159
likewise ordered and agreed that Capt. Henry
Falkin shall have a full share with any or all
the freeholders aforesaid, in all the common
lands or woods, in the whole patent of the
Town of Broockland aforesaid beside a half
share for his home lott. To have and to hold
to him, his heirs and assigns forever. It is
likewise ordered that no person whatsoever
within the common woods, of the jurisdiction
of Broockland aforesaid, shall cutt or fall any
oak or chesnut saplings, for firewood during
the space of four years from the date hereof,
upon any of the said common lands or woods
within the jurisdiction of Broockland patent,
upon the penaltie of six shillings in money for
every waggon load abovesaid soe cutt, beside
the forfeiture of the wood soe cutt as above-
said, the one half thereof to the informer, and
the other half for the use of the poor of the
Towne of Broockland aforesaid."
At a later town meeting 1 trustees were
1 The peculiar methods employed by the citizens of Brook
lyn at that time in electing their officials cannot be better
illustrated than by the presentation of a report of one of those
town meetings as follows :
Alt a towne meeting held this 2pth day of April, 1699, at
Breucklyn, by order of Justice Michael Hanssen ffor to chose
town officers ffor to order all townes business and to deffend
theire limits and bounds, and to lay out some part thereoff in
lotts, to make lawes and orders ffor the best off the inhabitants,
160 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
appointed for the common lands, and regula
tions adopted respecting the cutting of timber
in the public woods. These rules were
adopted to prevent the unnecessary cutting of
timber and consequent waste. Among other
things it was ordered " that no shoemaker or
others shall cutt or ffall any trees to barke in
the common woods, upon the penaltie of the
payment of ffive pounds ffor every tree so
cutt." It will be noticed that the orthography
of that period was quite different from that in
use in the present age.
The common woodlands, amounting to
about 1550 acres, 1 were surveyed and appor
tioned, each house in town receiving an inter
est in the wood, and being provided with
means of ingress and egress from the region
so apportioned. A conveyance dated in 1 705
gives " alsoe all the rights and privileges of
the common woodlands of the town of Broock-
land aforesaid to said house belonging as per
record of said town may appear."
and to raise a small tax ffor to defray the towne charges, now
being or hereafter to come, to receive the townes revenues, and
to pay the townes debts, and that with the advice off the
justices off the said towne standing the space or time off two
years. Chosen ffor that purpose by pluralitie of votes. Ben
jamin Vande Water, Joras Hanssen, Jan Garritse Dorlant.
By order off inhabitants aforesaid,
J. VANDE WATER, Clarke.
i Furman's Notes, p. 45.
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION i6l
When, in 1703, the improved fenced lands
of Breuckelin were surveyed, it was found that
Simon Aertson was the largest real estate
owner, being the happy possessor of 200 acres.
On the 28th of March, 1704, Fulton Street,
then called the King's Highway, was laid out
by commissioners appointed by the General
Assembly of the Province of New York. The
commissioners to whom this duty was assigned
were Joseph Hegeman, Peter Cortelyou, and
Benjamin Vande Water.
The original plan or description of the road,
being interesting and peculiar, is here in
serted. It was as follows :
" One publique, common and general high
way, to begin from low water marke at the
ferry in the township of Broockland, in Kings
County, and from thence to run ffour rod wide
up between the houses and land of John Aer-
son, John Coe and George Jacobs, and soe all
along Broockland towne aforesaid, through the
lane that now is, and ffrom thence straight
along a certain lane to the southward corner
of John Van Couwenhoven's land, and ffrom
thence straight to Bedfford as it is now staked
out, to the lane where the house of Benjamin
Vandewater stands, and ffrom thence straight
along through Bedfford towne to Bedfford
lane, running between the lands of John Gar-
1 62 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
retse Dorlant and Claes Burnse to the rear of
the lands of the said Cloyse, and ffrom thence
southerly to the old path now in use, and soe
along said path to Philip Volkertses land,
taking in a little slip of said Philip's land on
the south corner, soe all along said road by
Isaac Greg's house to the Fflackbush New
Lotts ffence, and soe all along said ffence to
the eastward, to the northeast corner of El-
dert Lucas's land, lying within the New Lotts
of Fflackbush aforesaid, being ffour rod wide,
all along, to be and continue forever."
Jacob Vande Water, who became town clerk
of Breuckelen in 1691, held the position until
1 705, when he was succeeded by Henry Ffil-
kin. Ffilkin held office until 1714. From
1691 to 1699, Joris Hanssen, Hendrick Clau
sen, and Jan Gerbritse acted as trustees and
commissioners of the town. In 1699, the
trustees and commissioners were Benjamin
Vande Water, Joris Hanssen, and John Gar-
retse Dorlant. From 1 700 to 1 709, the trus
tees were Hendrick Vechte, Jacob Hanssen,
and Cornelius Vanduyk.
The first supervisor of the town was Joris
Hanssen, and he held the position from 1 703
until 1714.
Jacob Vande Water, the clerk, owned pro
perty in the neighborhood of Tillary and Ray-
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 163
mond streets. His tract was mentioned in the
patent issued by Governor Dongan in 1686,
ratifying previous grants. He took the oath
of allegiance to the Government at the time
his patent was ratified, having then resided in
the colony twenty-nine years. In 1697, he was
appointed one of the freeholders to lay out and
divide the common lands, and acted in that
capacity with Joris Hanssen and Jan Garretse
Dorlant, heretofore referred to as trustees.
Vande Water was a man of great importance in
the little hamlet, and enjoyed the confidence
of the community.
The officials of Brooklyn * who acted from
1 700 were as follows :
Hendrick Vechte was trustee from 1 700 to
1726.
Jacob Hanssen was trustee from 1700 to
1708.
Cornelius Vanduyk was trustee from 1700
to 1726.
John Staats was trustee from 1709 to 1726.
Samuel Garritson (or Gerritse) was town
clerk in 1714 and 1715.
1 The total assessment value of real and personal estate in
Brooklyn in 1706 was ^3,122 I2d, or about $15,610, and the
tax on the same was ^41 35 7^d, or about $205. The tax
levied in the County of Kings was ^201 i6s i^d, or about
$1,005.
1 64 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Adrian Hegeman became town clerk in
1727, and served in that capacity until 1752.
Joramus Rapelye (Rapalje), Jacobus Lef-
fertse, and Rem Remsen, acted as trustees
from 1727 to 1752, a continuous and unbroken
board.
Adrian Hegeman came from an old family,
and was doubtless a son of Adriaen Hegeman,
who, as schepen or schout in 1661, signed the
petition to the Director-General of the Council
of the New Netherlands, praying that assist
ance might be given to pay Carol Van Beau-
vois for teaching school, digging graves, run
ning on errands as messenger, etc., referred
to in a previous chapter. His salary as clerk
was thirty-three and one third pounds per
annum, or about $160 in our money.
On the death of Bellomont (in 1701) the
administration devolved upon Lieutenant-
Governor Nanfan, until the appointment of a
new Governor. Nanfan at the time was tem
porarily absent in Barbadoes, and in conse
quence a sharp and bitter contest took place
as to the management and control of the
province. The anti-Leislerian party claimed
that Colonel William Smith, being senior
member of the Council, should exercise au
thority. The Leislerian or democratic party
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 165
asserted that the same course should be pur
sued as at the time Sloughter died, which con
sisted in the election of a temporary chair
man. The discussion waxed warm, and would
have led to disastrous results, had not Lieu-
tenant-Governor Nanfan opportunely arrived
to quell the disturbance.
Nanfan was a strong exponent of the Leis-
lerian policy, and warmly espoused that party's
cause. The Assembly convened by him pos
sessed his spirit, was actuated by the same
motives, and enjoyed the confidence and sup
port of Leisler's friends.
During the absence of Nanfan and while
the Government was without a head, Peter
Schuyler and Robert Livingston supported
and sustained the pretensions of Colonel
Smith, senior councillor, to be considered the
temporary ruler of affairs. Livingston was
one of Leisler's most determined enemies, and
had been execrated as such by Milburne in
his dying words. At this time Livingston
held the very important office of Secretary of
Indian Affairs and Collector of Customs. The
new Assembly caused his removal, and re
quired him to furnish his accounts for exam
ination. Not being able to produce them, he
was denounced and charged with being a
1 66 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
defaulter. His expulsion from the Council
followed, together with confiscation of his prop
erty and effects for the benefit of the province.
It seemed as if the enemies of Leisler were
to be brought quickly to punishment, and that
the martyr's friends were to enjoy the sweets
of revenge. The feuds which existed between
the two parties in the affairs of the colony pro
duced the same confusion in the municipal
affairs of the city. In the Board of Aldermen
each party had its adherents, and the conten
tions between the two equaled in intensity of
hate the feeling manifested between the con
tending parties in the war of the Rebellion.
Some of the aldermen refused to take the
oath of office at the hands of Mayor Noell,
and he appointed others in their place. The
friends of Leisler refused to act or to recog
nize the power of the Mayor to make new ap
pointments. To enable an appeal to be taken
to decide the question, the Aldermen took a
recess, and the city was virtually without a
government for a month. The court to whom
the matter was referred held that the Mayor
possessed the authority to act in the premises
by filling vacancies, and thereupon the new
officials took their seats. The Board thus be
came equally divided between the two parties.
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 167
The Mayor belonged to the aristocratic or
anti-Leislerian party, and had the casting vote.
This proceeding on the part of the Mayor
created intense excitement, and threatened the
peace of the city.
Lord Cornbury, a nephew of Queen Anne,
who had just ascended the throne, was ap
pointed to succeed Lord Bellomont. Bayard,
who had labored to secure the conviction and
execution of Leisler and Milburne, having pre
pared the act under which they were executed,
upon hearing of the appointment of Cornbury,
transmitted papers to him and to Parliament,
strongly condemning the Leislerians and abus
ing Nanfan and his administration. Nanfan,
learning of the action of Bayard, immediately
arrested him and his associate, John Hutchins,
for treasonable acts in vilifying the administra
tion. Bayard had the misfortune to be tried
under' the same act which he had prepared
for the benefit of Leisler. The act provided
" that any person who should endeavor by any
manner or way, or upon any pretense, by force
of arms or otherwise, to disturb the peace,
good, and quiet, of the province, should be
esteemed rebels and traitors, and should incur
the pains and penalties which the laws of Eng
land had provided for such offenses."
1 68 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Bayard had enforced this law without sem
blance of pity, but with rancor and hatred in
his heart toward Leisler and Milburne. His
own hour had come ! As he had meted out
to others, so he himself was to receive. He
could expect no clemency. Bayard was in
dicted for treason and rebellion, for inciting
the soldiers in the fort against the constituted
authorities, and for inducing his friends to
sign libelous petitions and addresses. Great
exertions were made to secure his acquittal,
without avail. He was tried, found guilty of
the offense, and sentenced to death. Hutch-
ins met with a similar fate. Leisler was not
allowed opportunity to appeal for a reprieve,
but Bayard and Hutchins received more merci
ful treatment. Governor Nanfan gave them a
reprieve until the matter could be presented
to the King and his wishes ascertained. In
the mean time Lord Cornbury arrived, and ex
ercised executive clemency by their release.
Bayard was again taken in favor by Cornbury,
who denounced the Leislerians and identified
himself with the party in opposition. The
judge who passed sentence on Bayard was
obliged to leave the country, having by his
conduct incurred the displeasure of the Gov
ernor and Council.
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 169
Cornbury's administration was intolerant to
ward every religious and educational advance
ment. He embraced every opportunity which
presented itself to rob and plunder the treas
ury, and enrich himself thereby. Although
his opportunities for enrichment were great,
yet he possessed no capacity for saving that
which he secured. His recklessness and licen
tiousness caused him to become deeply in
volved in debt, and rendered him unpopular
with the people ; public sentiment was, indeed,
strongly against him. This fact, in connec
tion with his general and reckless disobedi
ence of orders, caused his recall in 1708. His
creditors, who had looked upon his advance
ment to the position of Governor as a golden
opportunity to secure their claims, feeling
keenly the disappointment of not receiving
their just dues, and becoming greatly incensed
against him, on his return to England had
him arrested and cast into prison, where he
remained until the death of his father, whom
he succeeded in the peerage.
The condition of the negro slave at this
time was one of degradation. The negro's
privileges were circumscribed, and strict laws
were enforced concerning his habits and move
ments. In order to pass the gates the slaves
I 70 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
were obliged to obtain permission of their
masters, and were not allowed to meet to
gether. They could not own property, and
there were no means provided whereby they
could obtain their freedom. If an owner de
sired to give his slave his freedom, he was
liable to pay a heavy fine for transgressing
the law. These burdens daily increased. The
traffic in slaves became more and more popu
lar as a business.
In order to supply the demand, a public
market for slaves was opened in New York
in 1711. It was located at the foot of Wall
Street, and it was the practice to bring all the
slaves who were to be sold or hired to this
market, where they could be inspected as so
many cattle by parties desiring to bid. So
strict were the ordinances passed concerning
negroes that they were not allowed to appear
in the streets at night unless they had a lighted
lantern. All who violated this regulation were
committed to jail, and kept in confinement
until a fine of eight shillings was paid. The
master or owner of the slave on paying this
fine enjoyed the privilege of requiring the
authorities to give the offending slave thirty-
nine lashes at the public whipping-post. It
was not unnatural that these regulations should
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 171
breed among the negroes at times a spirit of
rebellion. They committed many murders in
retaliation for injuries received.
At Newtown, in 1 707, an entire family was
murdered by the slaves. On being appre
hended, the murderers acknowledged their
offense, and gave as a reason for committing
the crime that they had been prevented from
going out on Sunday. The punishment in
stituted for the murderous acts of slaves was
calculated to fill them with fear and dread.
They were even " tied to stakes and burned
alive, broken on wheels, or suspended to the
limbs of trees and left to perish." Seldom in
the world's history has so much inhumanity
been manifested towards slaves as in the early
days of the colonies.
In 1706, Lord Cornbury issued the follow
ing proclamation to the justices of the peace
in Kings County :
By his Excellency, Edward, Lord Viscount
Cornbury, Captain General and Governor in
Chief of the provinces of New York and New
Jersey, and the territories depending thereon
in America, and Vice Admiral of the same,
etc.: Whereas, I am informed that several
negroes in Kings County have assembled them
selves in a riotous manner, which if not pre-
172
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
vented may prove of ill consequence ; you and
every one of you are therefore hereby required
and commanded to take all proper methods
for seizing and apprehending all such negroes
in the said county, as shall be found to be
assembled in such manner as aforesaid, or have
run away or absconded from their masters or
owners, whereby there may be reason to sus
pect them of ill practices or designs, and to
secure them in safe custody, that their crimes
and actions may be inquired into ; and if any
of them refuse to submit themselves, then to
fire on them, kill, or destroy them, if they can
not otherwise be taken ; and for so doing this
shall be your sufficient warrant. Given under
my hand at Fort Anne, in New York, the 22d
day of July, 1706.
CORNBURY.
Furman, in his " Antiquities," refers to the
condition of slaves on Long Island, and bears
testimony that as a general rule they were
peaceable and well behaved. He says that
they were much attached to the families to
which they belonged. Many now living can
bear testimony to this fact. When slavery
was abolished in New York it was provided
that all who had reached a certain age should
remain with their owners and be provided dur
ing life with proper support and care. The
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 173
writer can now call to mind many old negroes
who never obtained their freedom. They
loved to talk of " massa " and the boys. They
considered themselves a part of the family,
and often idolized their owners. The master
had in them true, warm friends, ever ready to
fight his battles and take his part.
The aged negroes loved to sit in the chim
ney corner and tell to the children the history
of the family. They would narrate in glowing
language the incidents of the past, and always
had eager listeners. They were rarely sold or
separated from the family. When a son or
daughter was married, a slave became a por
tion of the dowry or outfit. At times when
estates were divided it became necessary to
dispose of them. Furman says " that in an
inventory taken on the i6th of December,
1719, in Kings County, of the estate of a de
ceased person, a negro wench and child were
valued at ,60, while five milk cows, five calves,
three young bulls, and two heifers were col
lectively valued at ^20."
New York was visited during the time of
Lord Cornbury with that terrible scourge of
the human race, yellow fever. It was brought
from St. Thomas and spread rapidly. Physi
cians seemed powerless to prevent its ravages.
174 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
It was an epidemic long remembered and
dreaded by the citizens of New York. All
who could get away fled either to Jersey or
Long Island. Lord Cornbury, with his reti
nue, took up his residence in Jamaica, Long
Island. In order to afford suitable accommo
dations for so high a dignitary as the Gov
ernor, the Presbyterian minister of the village
cheerfully gave up his parsonage to his use,
removing himself to a smaller and less preten
tious house.
In return for this act of kindness, Cornbury
was guilty of a very contemptible trick toward
the Presbyterian minister and church. The
Governor was an uncompromising supporter
of the Established Church of England, and
was ready at all times to advance her interests.
The Presbyterian church of Jamaica was
strong and prosperous. Its popularity made
the few Episcopalians in the village jealous
and anxious to secure the property. The
presence of Cornbury induced them to take
possession of the building on a Sunday after
noon between services. This act resulted in
violence between the parties, each of which
claimed title. The pews were torn out, and
the turmoil was only quelled by the appear
ance of the Governor, who decided that the
Episcopalians were entitled to possession.
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 175
A law suit followed, and the Episcopalians
kept possession until 1728. The sheriff also
seized the parsonage and land, and leased it
for the benefit of the Episcopal Church. Corn-
bury, having been kindly treated by the minis
ter, rewarded the act of courtesy by surrender
ing the house into the hands of the Episcopal
rector, who took possession and occupied the
house when Cornbury returned to New York.
Cornbury was succeeded in 1710 by Robert
Hunter, who was a man of fine abilities, good
character, possessed of excellent business quali
ties, and of a varied experience. He was one
who in our day would pass for a very good
Yankee. He was born of humble Scotch par
ents, who had not the means to supply him
with an education. He was in a great mea
sure a " self-made " man. When very young
he was apprenticed to an apothecary. This
employment not suiting his taste, he ran away
and enlisted in the army as a private. Possess
ing honesty and perseverance, and withal hav
ing a desire to please his superior officers, he
soon gained their affection and good will, and
was placed in the line of promotion. His
manliness gained him friends everywhere, and
in a short time the poor Scotch lad rose to the
rank of a brigadier general. He was now
176 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
thrown into the society of the cultivated and
refined.
Hunter married an heiress, through whose
instrumentality he was appointed Lieutenant-
Governor of Virginia. He started for his new
field of labor in 1707, was captured by a
French cruiser and taken back to Europe as a
prisoner. He was exchanged after having
been a prisoner only a short time. What at
first seemed to be a hardship in his case
proved a blessing, and the precursor of higher
honors. Upon being released the Queen re
moved the gall from the bitterness he had en
dured by bestowing upon him the position of
governor of the provinces of New York and
New Jersey.
Hunter considered it a paramount duty on
his part to enforce the requirements of the
Crown. In acting in accordance with their
wishes he was compelled to oppose every man
ifestation of republican feeling on the part of
the people, and to ally himself with the aris
tocratic party. He chose his councillors from
this party, but was careful to select men of in
telligence and power. Among his first advisers
might be mentioned Gerardus Beekman, Rip
Van Dam, an honest and successful Dutch
merchant ; Killian Van Rensselaer, whose
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 177
family were patroons on the Hudson. The
Huguenots were represented in his Cabinet by
John Barbaric and Frederic Philipse. Hunter
was deeply interested in the Huguenot ele
ment of the population.
Governor Hunter had a fixed desire to
acquire additional territory for his Queen. He
projected an expedition to conquer Canada,
and used his influence to induce New Eng
land to join in the enterprise. This was in
1711. It was a measure which met with hearty
acquiescence in New York. The attention of
the Assembly was brought to the subject, and
at once an appropriation of ten thousand
pounds was made to defray the necessary ex
penses. The Assembly issued bills of credit,
and they may be said to be the beginnings of
paper money in our country, as such notes
had never before been used in the colony.
In 1712, after the failure of the expedition
for conquest, rumors of an intended negro
rebellion were heard on every side. It was
noticed that the movements of the slaves were
mysterious, and the general opinion was that
the slaves intended to cause a riot ; and a nat
ural alarm spread through the communities
on Manhattan Island and on the Brooklyn side
of the river. These fears were not unfounded.
178 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
The smouldering fire burst out into a flame.
Property was destroyed, one house was burned,
and several white men were killed. It was re
solved to make a general arrest of the negroes.
Nineteen were taken, tried, and executed for
their connection with the disturbance.
In 1713, the war between England and
France terminated by the treaty of Utrecht,
which put an end to the effort to conquer
Canada.
Hunter's health failing, in 1719, after a term
of nine years, he was obliged to seek a change
of climate, and returned to England, leaving
the administration of affairs in the hands of his
trusty friend, Peter Schuyler. He bade adieu
to New York in July, 1719, bearing with him
the good wishes of the people.
Schuyler's official career was short, lasting
but one year. His long residence and connec
tion with public matters proved of service to
himself and the people he governed, and ren
dered his short administration eminently suc
cessful. He exercised great influence with the
Indians, having ever shown himself to be their
friend and protector, and having on many occa
sions interceded with them, and thereby saved
the settlement from invasion and destruction.
One of his principal and most worthy acts was
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 179
the restoration of friendship between the
whites and Iroquois Indians, which gave him
deserved popularity.
The next governor was William Burnet, a
son of the celebrated Bishop Burnet. He
arrived on the iyth of September, 1720, imme
diately assumed control and entered upon his
duties as governor of the combined provinces
of New York and New Jersey. He was a man
of education and ability, and above all things
else was thoroughly honest. He readily saw
that the wisdom and prudence of Hunter had
been beneficial to the colony, and he resolved
to follow the same course his predecessor had
pursued. One of his first acts was to con
tinue the Assembly which had been convened
by Hunter, and he kept it in existence for
eleven years. The Assembly manifested its
confidence and gratification by voting him a
revenue for the succeeding five years.
It was soon after the opening of Burnet's ad
ministration that the people of Brooklyn and
Kings County began to give signs of annoy
ance and agitation over encroachments made
by private owners upon the king's highway
leading from the ferry, and now represented
by Fulton Street. This highway, as we have
seen, had been laid out in 1704, by the duly
l8o HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
constituted commissioners, and it was pro
vided " that it was to be ffour rod wide and to
continue forever."
In April, 1721, the General Sessions of the
Peace for Kings County held its term, and,
after a due consideration of the question, in
dictments for encroaching on the " common
highway of the King leading from the ferry to
the church," were found against John Rapalje,
Hans Bergen, and others. It appears very
singular that these indictments were obtained
at the instance and upon the complaint of two
of the indicted parties.
The complaint on which this indictment
was obtained was as follows :
Flatbush, April 19, 1721. John Rapalje
and Hans Bergen of the fferry desires of the
Grand Jury that the Commissioners own being
should be presented for not doing there duty
in laying the King's highway according to ye
law, being the King's highway is too narrow
from the ferry to one Nicolus Cowenhoven
living at Brooklyn, and if all our neighbours
will make ye road according to law, then ye
said John Rapalje and Hans Bergen is willing
to do the same as aforesaid, being they are not
willing to suffer more than their neighbors.
As witness our hands the day and year first
above written. JAN RAPALJE.
HANS BERGEN.
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION l8l
These men were governed by a desire that
all should fare alike, demanding that the law
should be enforced without fear, favor, or par
tiality.
Some of the persons indicted, in connection
with others who felt aggrieved and feared that
they also might be placed in a similar un
pleasant position, applied to the Colonial Leg
islature, and secured the passage of a law on
the 2 /th of July, 1721, "to continue the com
mon road or King's highway from the ferry
toward the Town of Breuckland, on the Island
of Nassau, in the Province of New York."
The preamble was as follows: " Whereas, Sev
eral of the inhabitants on the ferry on the
Island of Nassau, by their petition, preferred
to the General Assembly, by setting forth that
they have been molested by persecutions, occa
sioned by the contrivance and instigations of
ill and disaffected persons, to the neighbor
hood, who would encroach upon the buildings
and fences that have been made many years,
alledging the road was not wide enough, to
the great damage of several of the old inhabit
ants, on the said ferry, the said road as it now
is, has been so for sixty years past without any
complaint either of the inhabitants or travel
lers."
1 82 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
The remaining sections of the law estab
lished the road "forever," as it then existed,
from the ferry upward to the town of Breuck-
land, as far as the swinging gate of John
Rapalje, just above the property belonging to
James Harding. The unwillingness of the
early settlers to part with their land, when
land was so cheap, accounts in a great meas
ure for our present narrow and crooked street.
These early settlers, in their opposition to the
widening of the street, might have desired to
preserve some favorite fruit or shade tree. It
has been given as a reason why Broadway,
New York, makes a turn or diverges at Grace
Church, that a Dutchman had a favorite cherry
tree on the line of the thoroughfare as pro
posed, and, if the street was continued in a
direct line, the tree would have felt the wood
man's axe.
Another provision of this enactment was the
privilege it gave that, if a majority of the in
habitants of the town should " adjudge that
part of the road near to the ferry to be too
narrow and inconvenient," they could take
proceedings to have it widened. In order to
secure this improvement, " they might cause
the sheriff to summon a jury of twelve men to
appraise the value of land to be taken, and the
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 183
amount of value so ascertained should be levied
upon the towne, and collected and paid to the
owners of the land so appropriated to street
purpose."
This provision of the law was never en
forced. The people seemed to rest content
with their narrow, winding, crooked lane, which
in those days resembled a cow-path. The
" swinging gate " referred to, is said to have
been located on the rise of the hill at or near
the junction of Sands and Fulton streets.
The commissioners of highways laid out
another important highway or road on the
28th of March, 1704. It led to the public
landing place at the mills of Nehemiah Den-
ton at Gowanus. The record of this road is
as follows :
" One common highway to Gowanus Mill,
to begin from the northeast corner of Leffert
Peterses ffence, and soe along the road west
erly as it is now in use, to the lane yt parts
the lands of Hendrick Vechte, and Abraham
Brower and Nicholas Brower, and soe all along
said lane, as it is now in ffence to the house
of Jurian Collier, and from thence all along the
roade, now in use to the said Gowanus Mill,
being in all four rod wide to the said lane, and
that there be a convenient landing place for
all persons whatsoever, to begin ffrom said
1 84 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
southermost side of said Gowanus Mill house,
and ffrom said house to run ffour rod to the
southward, for the transportation of goods, and
the commodious passage of travellers ; and
that said highway to the said Gowanus Mill
ffrom said house of said Jurian Collier, shall
be but two rod only, and where it is now in
use said common highway to be and continue
forever ; and ff urther that the ffence and gate
that now stands upon the entrance into said
mill neck, shall soe remain and be alwayes
kept soe enclosed with a ffence and hanging
gate ; and the way to said mill to be thorou
that gate only, and to be alwayes shutt or put
to, by all persons that passes thorou."
In 1 709 another road l and landing place
had been laid out at or near the mill of John
C. Friecke.
Brooklyn's political fortunes were at this
period so intimately connected with those of
New York city that the political history of one
is, in general, the political history of the other;
yet Brooklyn and Kings County held suffi-
1 The description of this road in the records is as follows :
" One common highway to begin ffrom the house of Jurian
Collier to the new mill of Nicholas Brower, now sett upon
Gowanus Mill neck soe called, as the way is now in use, along
said neck to said mill to be of two rods wide, and that there
shall be a landing place by said mill in the most convenient
place ffor the transportation of goods, and the commodious
passing of travellers ; and said highway and landing place to
be, remaine and continue forever."
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 185
ciently aloof to justify the omission of any
particular chronicle of the administration of
Burnet and its quarrels with the French, or
the circumstances attending the Governor's
transfer to Massachusetts by George II.
The next Governor, John Montgomerie, was
instructed to continue the policy of Hunter,
but he had not the firmness to do so.
The principal event in Montgomerie's ad
ministration, and one which is held in lasting
remembrance in New York, was the grant of
an amended charter to the city in 1730. This
charter, as well as the Dongan charter, of
which it was an amendment, is one which has
always been of interest to Brooklyn, as it
claimed to fix the limits of the city of New
York. The limits thus embraced in the char
ter extended to low-water mark on the Long
Island shore. 1
On the death of Montgomerie, in 1731, the
Governorship passed temporarily to Rip Van
Dam, senior member of the Council, in whose
accession the Dutch elements in New York
and Kings County rejoiced greatly.
Colonel William Crosby, who became Gov
ernor in 1732, was guilty of infamous tyrannies
and usurpations, as in the Van Dam trial, and
1 For comment on Brooklyn's claims, see appendix.
1 86 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
later in the persecution of John Peter Zenger,
publisher of the " Weekly Journal," a news
paper started in opposition to the adminis
tration " Gazette " and to voice the popular
opposition.
Under Crosby's instigation the Council pro
mulgated an order directing that the papers
containing the obnoxious articles should be
burnt by the hangman at the pillory. When
this order was presented to the Quarter Ses
sions the Aldermen protested strongly against
it, and the court thereupon refused to allow
it to be entered on the records. The Re
corder, Francis Harrison, was the only one who
attempted to defend it, and he based its regu
larity upon former English precedents. The
court also refused to allow the hangman to
execute the order, and it was carried into effect
by a negro slave, hired for the purpose. The
negro did his work in the presence of the Re
corder and other partisans of the government.
The magistrates, with great and commendable
unanimity, refused to attend, and evidently con
sidered that the whole proceeding was but on
a par with the former actions of the adherents
of the Crown.
The burning of the papers did not satisfy
the aristocratic party. They desired to be
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 187
avenged, and, thirsting for a victim, shortly after
caused the arrest of Zenger on the charge that
he had been guilty of publishing treasonable
and seditious libels against the Government
and her representatives. He was imprisoned
on this complaint, and, while in jail awaiting
the action of the grand jury, was treated in a
cruel and inhuman manner by his jailers. The
ordinary courtesies usually granted to uncon-
victed men were denied him. He was even
refused the use of pen, ink, and paper. The
jail of the city at that time was in the City
Hall, in Wall Street. Here Zenger was im
prisoned.
Application was made by his friends to have
him submitted to bail, and for the purpose of
having the amount fixed, he was brought be
fore the court on a writ of habeas corpus. The
court required him to give bail in the sum of
^400, with two additional sureties in the sum
of ^200 each. This was virtually a denial of
bail, as he could not procure the requisite
amount. In his endeavor to get his bail re
duced, he swore that he was not worth, exclu
sive of his trade tools, the sum of ^40. On
this affidavit he was remanded to his place of
confinement.
The trial of Zenger occasioned great excite-
1 88 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
ment on both sides of the East River. The
acquittal brought immense enthusiasm and
lavish honors on Andrew Hamilton, who bril
liantly defended the popular publisher.
In the Assembly called in 1737, under Gov
ernor Clarke, Kings County was represented
by Samuel Garretson, Abraham Lott, and
Johannis Lott.
Brooklyn's population in 1738 was 721. In
the same year the population of the other set
tlements was as follows : Flatbush, 540 ;
Bushwick, 302 ; New Utrecht, 282 ; Flat-
lands, 268; Gravesend, 235.
The breaking out of virulent smallpox in
New York brought the Assembly of 1 745-46
to Brooklyn, a matter of momentous interest
to the little hamlet. The house of "Widow
Sickle " was honored by the Assembly as a
place of meeting, and its great room was so
occupied for several months.
During Governor Clinton's term smallpox
appeared a second time in New York (in 1752),
and the Colonial Assembly again sought quar
ters in Brooklyn in which to hold their delib
erations. The Legislature chose a house on
Fulton Street near Nassau. It was at this im
portant session that, on the 4th of June, 1752,
the Colonial Commissioners canceled bills of
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 189
credit, issued by the Colony of New York,
amounting to the sum of ,3,602 i8s. 3d.
The Assembly manifested no little acrimony
toward the Governor and displayed a grow
ing feeling of independence.
This independence of the representatives of
the people appeared with increasing frequency,
and signs of it so preyed upon gloomy Sir
Danvers Osborne, who succeeded Clinton, that
he hanged himself with a handkerchief in his
garden, shortly after his inauguration, leaving
Lieutenant-Governor DeLancey 1 to assume
control of the government.
1 To DeLancey belongs the honor of signing the charter of
Columbia College in New York, first known as Kings College,
an institution in which Brooklynites have always taken a deep
interest. Among her graduates from Brooklyn may be men
tioned the ex-mayor, ex-senator, and ex-minister to the Hague,
Henry C. Murphy, who graduated in 1830. The Hon. Alex
ander McCue, of the City Court, was the valedictorian of the
class of 1845. Ex-supervisor William J. Osborne, Henry C.
Murphy, Jr., George I. Murphy, Richard M. De Mille, John
Lockwood, of Lockwood's Academy ; George W. Collard, the
erudite professor of languages in the Polytechnic ; Stewart L.
Woodford, and Edgar M. Cullen all graduated from Columbia.
Beside these might be mentioned John L. Lefferts, Van Brunt
Wyckoff, ex-mayor Edward Copeland, who graduated in
1809; the late Samuel E. Johnson, ex-county judge, who
graduated in 1834, and the late Rev. Stephen H. Meeker, who
for fifty years was pastor of the old Bushwick Church. Among
the clergy who enjoyed her academic shades might be men
tioned the late Rev. Dr. Dwight, who for many years was pas
tor of the Joralemon Street Dutch Church ; the Right Rev.
Henry Ustick Onderdonk, at one time rector of St. Ann's
Church and subsequently bishop of Pennsylvania ; Rev. Dr.
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Meanwhile one phase of Long Island's re
lations to New York should not escape notice.
The position of Long Island made it natural
that New York should look to it as in a mea
sure a bulwark against attack from the sea,
and various governors displayed an interest in
repairing those harbor fortifications which
rested on the Island.
Governor Clarke addressed the Legislature,
in 1741, in the following terms: "There is
great reason to apprehend a speedy rupture
with France ; your situation ought therefore
to awaken you to a speedy provision against
that event, in fortifying the town in a better
manner than it is at present by erecting bat
teries in proper places upon some of the
wharves facing the harbor, others upon the
side of the Hudson River adjoining the town,
and one at Red Hook, upon Long Island, to
Samuel Roosevelt Johnson, formerly rector of St. John's
Church ; the Right Rev. Dr. George F. Seymour, formerly
rector of St. John's Church and now bishop of Springfield.
Of the legal profession who have graduated from her law
school might be mentioned William H. Ingersoll, Edward B.
Barnum, Henry Broadhead, Abel Crook, William Leggett
Whiting, Philip L. Wilson, Henry S. Bellows, Merwin Rush-
more, F. A. Ward, D. D. Terry, L. Bradford Prince, Daniel
W. Northup, and a host of other well known members of the
bar. Of the medical profession the number from Brooklyn is
legion. S. M. O.
We may now add to the roll a conspicuous name, that of
ex-mayor Seth Low, now president of Columbia.
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 191
prevent the enemy from landing at Nutten
Island."
Governor Clinton, on April 30, 1 744, assured
the Legislature in a special message that " it
was absolutely necessary there should be a bat
tery of six guns at Red Hook, on Nassau
Island, which would effectually prevent the
enemy's lying there, to bombard the city, or
their landing any force or artillery on Nutten
Island. In case of any such attack upon us,
this battery might be easily supplied and main
tained by the force of the country."
Of life on Long Island and throughout the
Colony during the period immediately prece
ding the Revolution we find many interesting
glimpses through the medium of newspapers
of the time.
The "Weekly Post Boy" of June 18, 1753,
contained an advertisement which was of inter
est to the citizens of Long Island :
Notice is hereby given that the Ferry House
from Long Island to Staten Island, com
monly known by the name of the Upper Ferry,
otherwise Stillwell's Ferry, is now kept by
Nicholas Stillwell, who formerly occupy'd the
same ; he has two good Boats well accommo
dated for the safe Conveyance of Man or
Horse across the Narrows. He also proposes
1 92 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
to carry, if required, travellers either to Staten
Island, Elizabethtown Point, Amboy, or New
York, and that at the most reasonable terms.
He continues to keep good entertainment for
travellers. NICHOLAS STILLWELL.
John Lane advertised in the " Mercury" June
J 8> i?53> as follows:
This is to inform the Publick that John
Lane now keeps the ferry at Yellow Hook, 6
miles below New York ferry on Long Island,
and has provided good boats, well fitted, with
proper hands, and will be ready at all times
(wind and weather permitting) to go to Smith's
Ferry on Staten Island, with a single man
only. There will be good entertainment at
said house, where all gentlemen travellers and
others may expect the best of usage, for them
selves and horses, from their very humble ser
vant, JOHN LANE.
N. B. Travellers are desired to observe in
going from Flat Bush to said ferry to keep the
mark'd trees on the right hand.
The Free and Accepted Masons are referred
to by the " Mercury " as having observed in
due form the anniversary of St. John. Its
account of the proceedings is as follows :
" Sunday the 24th ult, being the Anniversary
of the Festival of St. John the Baptist, the
Ancient and Right Worshipful Society of
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 193
Free and Accepted Masons, of this City, as
sembled at Spring Garden, the next Day, and
being properly cloathed, made a regular Pro
cession in due Form, to the Kings Arms Tav
ern in Broad Street, near the Long Bridge,
where an elegant Entertainment was provided ;
and after drinking his Majesty's and several
other loyal Healths, the Day was concluded
in the most social manner, and to the entire
satisfaction of all the Company."
The following peculiar advertisement ap
peared in the " Post Boy "in 1753 :
" By a person lately arrived in this Town,
Painting upon Glass (commonly call'd burning
upon Glass) is performed in a neat and curi
ous Manner so as to never change its Colour;
Perspective Views neatly colour'd for the
Camera Obscura.
"N. B. Young gentlemen and ladies are
instructed in either of the above, so as to be
capable to perform it themselves in a little
Time, at a reasonable Rate. By the same per
son, Land Surveyed, Designs for Buildings,
Plans and Maps neatly drawn. Enquire at
Mr. John Ditcher's Tallow Chandler and Soap
Boiler in the Sloat."
It would appear that Bedloe's Island at that
time was private property, and was considered
by the owner to be very valuable. He adver
tised :
194 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
" To be Let, Bedloe's Island, alias Love Is
land, together with the Dwelling House and
Light House, being finely situated for a tav
ern where all kinds of Garden Stuff, Poultry,
&c., may be easily raised for the shipping out
ward bound, and from where any Quantity
of pickled Oysters may be transported ; it
abounds with English Rabbits."
The " New York Gazette " of July 23, 1753,
made an announcement, of interest to Presby
terians, that
" Inasmuch as it was yesterday the declared
Intention of the Presbyterian Church in this
City to make use of the Version of Psalms
Known by the Name of Mr. Watt's in their
publick Worship, this may serve to acquaint
all concerned, that an Impression of these
Psalms was done here in the year 1750, in
order to supply two or three neighboring con
gregations, which are now almost all sold off,
and a new Impression begun, which would have
been finished as Leisure Time permitted; but
as there is likely to be a small Demand quickly
for them, the Impression will be now pro
ceeded in immediately, and finished with all
Dispatch ; so that in a very few Weeks they
will be ready. And all such Families of this
City, as shall take three or more of them at
once, shall at any time before the ist of No
vember next, have them at the wholesale price
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 195
of 2S. per Book, and singly 2s. 4<i., plain bound,
and others who incline to have them neatly
bound will have them at the Difference for the
Binding. On Notification some time ago,
that the new Version of Psalms by Tate and
Brady was to be introduced into that Church,
an Impression was immediately made of them,
which fell upon the Printer's Hands; he pre
sumes, therefore, that all such as occasioned
his Damage in these, will prefer the Purchas
ing of these of him to any other. N. B.
The above Impression of Tate and Brady's
Psalms is a pretty good one, and to be sold
bound very cheap."
In these days the Scottish settlers kept alive
the remembrance of home. Their quarterly
meeting received the following notice :
" The members of the Scots Society, in this
City, are desired to take Notice, that their
Quarterly Meeting is on Wednesday evening,
the ist of August next, at the House of Mr.
Malcolm McEwen, near the City Hall."
On the 4th of June, 1753, we have seen that
notice was given of the drawing of a lottery
for the benefit of the Presbyterians. On the
23d of July following, notice was published
that, " By a law passed the last sessions, a
publick Lottery is directed for a further pro
vision toward founding a College for the Ad-
196 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
vancement of Learning within this Colony, to
consist of 5,000 tickets at Thirty shillings
each, 1,094 f which are to be fortunate."
There was to be one prize of .500, and the
lowest was ,5. The notice continued: "Fif
teen per cent, to be deducted from the Prizes:
As such a laudable Design will greatly tend
to the welfare and Reputation of this Colony,
it is expected the Inhabitants will readily be
excited to become Adventurers. Publick no
tice will be given of the precise Time of put
ting the Tickets in the Boxes, that such Ad
venturers as shall be minded to see the same
done, may be present at the doing thereof.
The Drawing to commence on the first Tues
day in November next, or sooner if full, at the
City Hall of New York under the Inspection
of the Corporation, who are impowered to ap
point two or more of their Body to inspect all
and every Transaction of the said Lottery;
and two Justices of the Peace, or other reputa
ble Freeholders of every county in this Col
ony, if they see cause to dispute the same at
their next general Sessions of the Peace.
Publick notice will be given fourteen Days
before the Drawing. The managers are sworn
faithfully to execute the Trust reposed in
them, and have given Security for the faithful
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 197
Discharge of the same. Such as forge or
counterfeit any Ticket or alter the Number,
and are thereof convicted, are by the Acts to
suffer Death as in the cases of Felony. The
Prizes will be published in this paper, and the
Money will be paid to the Possessors of the
Benefit Tickets as soon as the Drawing is
finished. Tickets are to be had at the Dwell
ing House of Messieurs Jacobus Roosevelt
and Peter Van Burgh Livingston, who are
appointed managers. The managers would
acquaint the Publick, that upwards of one
thousand Tickets are already engaged to the
Hand in Hand and American Fire Compa
nies in this City, to whom the Tickets are
already delivered. The Prosperity of the
Community greatly depending upon the regu
lar Education of Youth, it is not doubted but
that the Lottery will soon fill; Those there
fore that Design to become Adventurers are
desired speedily to apply for Tickets or they
may be disappointed."
An advertisement announces the sale of
"Joyce's great wound balsam," a "corrector
for coughs and colds," and other things, at
Edward Joyce's shop "near the Brooklyn
ferry." Israel Horsfield offers "two negro
men, one of which has served with a ship car-
198 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
penter, and is a good caulker, and has lately
served with a brewer and maltster, and is very
handy." The widow Rapalje at the Brook
lyn ferry was robbed, in 1768, of "a gold ring,
seven silver spoons, one pair of gold sleeve-
buttons, two Johannesses, two doubloons, two
New York 5 bills, and about ^40 in Jersey
bills and dollars." A negro named Caesar was
the thief, and, being found guilty, he was exe
cuted.
In August, 1771, Ares Remsen, at the Wal-
labout, offered 20 shillings reward for a " negro
man, Newport, Guinea-born, and branded on
the breast with three letters." On Sunday,
February 24, 1773, "the coldest day for more
than half a century," the harbor and river were
so full of ice " that many people walked over
to Brooklyn and back again." By a notice in
the "Mercury" of February 21, 1774, it ap
pears that a ferry was established from Coen-
ties Market, New York, to the landing-place
of P. Livingston, Esq., and Henry Remsen,
on Long Island, and another from Fly Market,
and a third from Peck Slip "to the present
ferry-house at Brooklyn." The Livingston
landing was near the foot of the present Joral-
emon Street. " St. George's Ferry," as this
was called, was operated for not more than
two years.
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 199
Speaking of Brooklyn affairs " Rivington's
Gazette " (March 31, 1774), says: " Many per
sons have been misled by an opinion that the
church proposed to be erected by lottery, at
Brooklyn, is to be under the ministry of the
Rev. Mr. Bernard Page. It will be a truly
orthodox church, strictly conformable to the
doctrine and discipline of the Constitutional
Church of England as by law established, and
under the patronage of the Rev. Rector and
Vestry of Trinity Church."
It was at Tower Hill, on the Heights, near
St. George's Ferry, that a tavern was opened
in May, 1774, and according to an advertise
ment, in August following, there was to be " a
bull baited on Tower Hill, at three o'clock in
the afternoon, every Thursday during the
season."
Meanwhile the relations of the American
colonists with Great Britain had begun to
show more than a slight strain. George III.
ascended the throne in 1760. In 1765 Gren-
ville became the Prime Minister of England.
Grenville held that England had a right to
impose taxes and regulate the affairs of the
colonies without consulting their wishes in
the premises. As a result of his efforts in
this direction, an act was passed providing for
20O HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
a tax on articles which had previously been
entered free of duty. To enforce the same
the powers and jurisdiction of the courts in
admiralty were enlarged. These acts were
looked upon by the colonists as tyrannical.
At first, the people could not believe the re
port. When they came to realize the facts,
their indignation knew no bounds. Meetings
were held nightly, and the measures were de
nounced in severe terms as unjust and tyran
nical. This feeling was not confined to the
city of New York alone, but was manifest in
all the settlements of the colony. Protests
were prepared and freely signed against the
proposed Stamp Act, and urging the immedi
ate repeal of the Sugar Act, which had re
cently become a law.
The Assembly in its session in March, 1 764,
passed stringent resolutions in opposition to
the invasion of their vested rights, and for
warded a forcible memorial to the ministry in
opposition to the enforcement of the obnoxious
acts. It should be borne in mind that the
Assembly was composed of delegates or mem
bers from the twelve counties included in the
province of New York, three of which counties
were on Long Island. 1 The County of Kings
1 Kings, Queens, and part of Suffolk.
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 2OI
was represented by Simon Boerum and Abra
ham Schenck. At this time Abraham Lott,
Jr., of Kings County, was Clerk of the As
sembly. The members from Kings County
received seventy-five cents per diem, and were
paid by their constituents, and the same sum
per day for the time consumed in their jour
ney to New York, also paid by their consti
tuents. The language used in the remon
strance of the Assembly was bold and decided.
It did not beg the question, but was spirited,
severe, and just in its condemnation of the
overt acts of Parliament. The Assembly and
the citizens were destined to be severely pun
ished for the bravery they displayed in the
defense of their rights. The action of the
Assembly resulted in the total suspension of
legislative prerogatives, and deprived the peo
ple of their representation in the government
of the colony. The neighboring colonies also
sent petitions on the subject to Parliament.
These were received because they were
couched in feebler language, and after con
sideration were rejected. To the credit of
New York it must be said that she presented
her objections in a bold and fearless manner.
Her Assembly spoke in trumpet tones that
gave no uncertain sound. The import and
202 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
meaning of her protest could not be misunder
stood, and showed her people to possess some
thing of Roman fortitude and firmness. Had
the sister colonies at the outset manifested the
same vigorous spirit as was displayed by the
descendants of the defenders of Leyden, Par
liament would not have dared to pass the re
prehensible acts. The inhabitants of New
Amsterdam kindled the fire which was to pro
duce a revolutionary flame of glory. It was
well for the country that the citizens of New
York so early manifested patriotic feeling, and
the spirit which was inwrought in them fur
nished the leaven which was destined to in
fuse itself into the New England and other
colonies, and to ultimately bear fruit in inde
pendence.
In March, 1765, Parliament set further
torch to the colonial spirit by passing the cele
brated Stamp Act. When the time came for
the enforcement of this act the country gave
unmistakable signs of its resentment, and New
York was conspicuously rebellious in mood.
At last the eyes of Parliament were opened.
They saw that it was useless to attempt to
force the colonists to submit to the outrageous
measure, and reluctantly repealed the act on
February 20, 1766. The news of the repeal
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 203
was received in New York May 20, 1 766,
three months after the action of Parliament.
Its reception rilled the community with joy.
The bells of the city rang forth joyful peals of
praise and thanksgiving. In honor of the event,
bonfires were kindled in prominent places, and
a public dinner was given by the corporation.
Again, on June 4, 1766, being the anniversary
of the King's birthday, another celebration was
had by the patriots on the commons, near
where the City Hall now stands. A barbecue
was held, whereat roast ox, beer, and punch
were provided in sufficient quantities to supply
the wants of all. The greatest enthusiasm pre
vailed. A liberty pole was erected, amid the
cheers of the people, which bore the inscrip
tion, " The King, Pitt, and Liberty." Every
citizen felt proud that he had asserted his
manhood, and had secured a recognition of
his rights. This standard of liberty was des
tined to have an eventful history and to figure
conspicuously at a later day.
During these trying times the Kings County
officials were : Jeremiah Vanderbilt, Sheriff,
who held office from 1 763 to 1 766 ; Samuel
Garritson, Common Pleas Judge, who served
in that capacity from 1749 to 1767 ; Abraham
Lott, Jr., of Kings County, who was Clerk of
204 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
the Assembly from 1751 to 1767; William
Nicoll, of Suffolk County, who was Speaker of
the Assembly, holding that office from 1761 to
1768. Kings County was represented in the
Assembly by the following sterling men :
Abraham Lott, from 1737 to 1750.
D. Vanderveer, from 1750 to 1759.
Abraham Schenck, from 1759 to 1768.
Simon Boerum, from 1761 to 1775.
Simon Boerum was also Clerk of Kings
County from 1750 to 1775.
Governor Moore, having failed to control
the Assembly, manifested his spite toward that
body by formally dissolving them on the nth
of February, 1768, and directing a new elec
tion for members. His instructions were to
secure the return of more pliable men than
those composing the previous legislature. The
people were not subservient to dictation, and,
daring to maintain their principles, took good
care to assert their manhood by electing men
of firmness and decision.
In the new body Kings County was repre
sented by Simon Boerum, John Rapalje, and
Abraham Schenck. Queens County sent
Daniel Kissam and Zebulon Seaman. Suffolk
County elected Eleazor Miller and William
Nicoll, second. Of these members so returned,
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 205
all but John Rapalje were members of the
recently dissolved Assembly. It may be sup
posed that such material would not readily
submit to the exactions of the Crown. Philip
Livingston, of New York, was chosen Speaker.
The new Assembly met in October, 1768,
and at once proclaimed its independence and
its contempt for royal dictation by opening a
correspondence with the Assembly of Massa
chusetts. This was a direct and open viola
tion of the commands which had been issued
by his Majesty the King, which was that the
colony should hold no correspondence with
other provinces. A circular had been sent to
the Assembly in New York from Massachu
setts, in which the aid and assistance of New
York was earnestly besought for cooperation
in securing the removal of grievances which
were common to all the colonies.
In the next Assembly the tone was so dif
ferent as to excite the resentment of the
patriots. Shortly afterward the soldiery and
the people came into collision in trifling
but significant ways. The so-called battle of
Golden Hill was prophetic of the approaching
revolution.
When Dunmore apprised the English gov
ernment of the events which had taken place,
206 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
he was careful to attribute them to party vio
lence, encouraged by factious opposition to the
Crown and the Established Church of Eng
land. He endeavored to make it appear that
the contentions arose from the objections of
the popular leaders to the enforcement of the
laws passed by Parliament. Judging from
the tenor of his report, one would be led to
suppose that the soldiers were actuated solely
by a desire to maintain and uphold the dignity
of the government. They were specially com
mended for their exertions in subduing the
rebellion.
Lord Dunmore, after a brief term in office,
was succeeded in the office of Governor by
William Tryon.
The "tea party" of April 23, 1774, illus
trated the temper of the people. Other inci
dents of a less picturesque kind indicated not
less clearly the determination to shake off the
yoke of foreign control.
The General Assembly of New York, having
at the time of its adjournment refused to com
ply with the recommendation of the Colonial
Congress to elect delegates to attend another
meeting of that body, to be held in the city of
Philadelphia, May 10, 1775, a call was issued
by the Committee of Sixty, in March, addressed
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 207
to the several counties throughout the colony,
directing them to elect deputies to a provincial
convention, to be held in the city of New
York, on the 2oth of April, for the purpose of
choosing delegates to represent the colony in
the Continental Congress. This convention,
on the day appointed, met at the Exchange, in
New York. Philip Livingston, one of the
Committee of Sixty, was chosen president.
Livingston, at this time, owned a very large
tract of land in the neighborhood of Hicks and
Joralemon streets, on which he had erected
a handsome residence. In that body Kings
County was represented by Simon Boerum,
Denys Denice, Theodorus Polhemus, Richard
Stillwell, and J. Vanderbilt. All of these men
were well known, and enjoyed the confidence
of their constituents.
At a meeting held on the 5th of May, a
committee of one hundred of the first and
foremost citizens of New York and Kings
County was chosen to administer affairs dur
ing the political crisis. This committee was
composed of such men as John Jay, the brave
Welshman Francis Lewis, whose bold signa
ture was appended to the Declaration of Inde
pendence, and who for many years resided and
owned property in Brooklyn; Philip Living-
208 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
ston, the fearless ; James Duane and John
Alsop, who were members of the Colonial
Congress of September, 1774, which met in
Philadelphia ; William Walton, whose house
in Pearl Street was rendered famous as an an
cient landmark; Augustus Van Home, a stal
wart Dutchman ; Abraham Duryea, Samuel
Verplanck, Abraham Brasher, Leonard Lis-
penard, Nicholas Hoffman, Lewis Pintard,
Nicholas Bogart, Isaac Roosevelt, Gabriel H.
Ludlow, Abraham Brinkerhoff, Henry Rem-
sen, Benjamin Kissam, Jacob Lefferts, James
Beekman, John Berrien, John Lamb, the
daring and intrepid Richard Sharp, Jacob
Van Voorhis, Comfort Sands, who afterward
lived in Brooklyn; Peter Goelet, and James
Desbrosses.
Just previous to the assembling of the Pro
vincial Congress in New York, a general town
meeting was held in Brooklyn. The official
record of that meeting is as follows :
At a general town meeting, regularly warned
at Brooklyn, May 20, '75, the magistrates and
freeholders met and voted Jer. Remsen, Esq.,
into the chair, and Leffert Lefferts, Esq.,
clerk.
Taking into our serious consideration the
expediency and propriety of concurring with
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 2OQ
the freeholders and freemen of the City and
County of New York, and the other colonies,
townships and precincts within this province,
for holding a Provincial Congress to advise,
consult, watch over and defend, at this very
alarming crisis, all our civil and religious rights,
liberties and privileges, according to their col
lective prudence:
After duly considering the unjust plunder
and inhuman carnage committed on the pro
perty and persons of our brethren in the Massa
chusetts colony, who, with the other New Eng
land colonies, are now deemed by the mother
country to be in a state of actual rebellion, by
which declaration England hath put it beyond
her own power to treat with New England, or
to propose or receive any terms of reconcilia
tion until those colonies shall submit as a con
quered country the first effort to effect
which was by military and naval force ; the
next attempt is, to bring a famine among them
by depriving them both of their natural and
acquired right of fishing. Further, contempla
ting the very unhappy situation to which the
powers at home, by oppressive measures, have
driven all the other provinces, we have all evils
in their power to fear, as they have already de
clared all the provinces aiders and abettors of
rebellion ; therefore, first,
Resolved, That Henry Williams and Jer.
Remsen, Esq., be now elected deputies for this
2IO HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
township, to meet, May 22, with other deputies
in Provincial Convention in New York, and
there to consider, determine and do, all pru
dential and necessary business. Second,
Resolved, That we, confiding in the wisdom
and equity of said convention, do agree to
observe all warrantable acts, associations and
orders, as said Congress shall direct.
Signed, by order of the town meeting.
LEFFERT LEFFERTS, Clerk.
Lieutenant-Governor Colden, who occupied
the post of Governor during Tryon's absence
in England, died in September, 1776, at his
home at Spring Hill, Flushing, Long Island,
aged 88 years.
CHAPTER VIII
KINGS COUNTY DURING THE REVOLUTION
1775-1783
Kings County at the Opening of the Revolution. Parti
cipation in Events leading to the Crisis. Military
Officers. Long Island Tories. The Continental and
Provincial Congresses. Fortifying. Declaration of
Independence. General Greene on Long Island. Draft
in Kings County. Landing of the British at Grave-
send. The Battle of Brooklyn. The Night Retreat.
British Occupation of the County. Temptations to
Disloyalty toward the American Cause, and Action of
the People under British Pressure. The County in
Congress. Losses in the Battle. Incidents. Prison
ers billeted on the Inhabitants of Kings County.
Long Island Refugees. Conspicuous Figures of the
Period. Peace.
THE position of Kings County, while actu
ally close to the rapidly growing city on
Manhattan Island, was relatively so much
aloof in many of its interests from that storm
centre of colonial activity in the middle col
onies, that it was natural, perhaps, that there
should be less enthusiasm over the independ
ent cause than in New York itself, or than in
certain other regions less sequestered geo
graphically and by local condition.
2 I 2 HISTOR Y OF BROOKL YN
But the quiet Dutch towns, if slow to anger
under British rule, nevertheless acquired a
definite patriotic energy as time advanced, in
spite of peculiarly discouraging conditions in
troduced by British occupations. There may
have been the appearance of lethargy, but
Kings County's quietude in the face of excite
ment elsewhere did not mean a want of sym
pathy, but resulted from a special strain of
suppression. " Many fowling-pieces," writes
Stiles, " were cut down and fitted with bayo
nets, and those who had two guns loaned to
those who had none." 1 The MS. of Gen
eral Jeremiah Johnson, whose name is indeli
bly associated with the history of the Walla-
bout, tells us that Elijah Freeman Payne, the
teacher of the Wallabout School, left his
pupils to join the American forces at Boston. 2
The incident was typical.
Kings County watched, and also, as we
have seen, participated in the events which
led up to the crisis of active war.
When movements on the part of the British
troops led the Continental Congress to con
sider the raising of men for common defense,
the quota of the colony of New York was
1 History of the City of Brooklyn, vol. i. p. 243.
2 The school remained closed until 1777.
DURING THE REVOLUTION 213
fixed at 3000, which number the Continental
Congress directed them to raise. In obedi
ence to this direction four regiments were
raised, the Provincial Congress placing them
under the command of Colonels Alexander
McDougall, Gozen Van Schaick, James Clin
ton, and Holmes. The veteran Lamb received
an appointment to command a company of
artillery.
In Brooklyn an association was formed for
mutual protection, and meetings were held
weekly for the purpose of drilling, under the
supervision of competent officers. Enthusiasm
began to manifest itself. Every gun and bayo
net was brought into requisition, and put in
order and burnished for the coming fray. The
meetings for drilling and instruction in the
manual of arms, which were held at the Wal-
labout and other parts of Brooklyn, created
much interest among the young men who op
posed the Tory party, and prepared them for
the service which they were soon after called
upon to render.
In March, 1776, the following Brooklyn offi
cers had taken commissions : Half of Brook
lyn : Barent Johnson, captain ; Barent Lefferts,
first lieutenant ; Jost Debevoise, second lieu
tenant; Martin Schenck, ensign. Half of
2 1 4 HIST OR Y OF BROOK L YN
Brooklyn: Fer'd Suydam, captain; John T.
Bergen, first lieutenant; William Brower, sec
ond lieutenant ; Jacob Stellenwerth, ensign.
Kings County was further represented by
Rutgert Van Brunt, colonel ; Nich. Cowen-
hoven, lieutenant-colonel ; Johannes Titus, first
major; John Vanderbilt, second major; Geo.
Carpenter, adjutant. 1
The names of the military officers of this
period were and have remained familiar in the
history of Brooklyn. The Johnson estate was
in the present seventh and nineteenth wards,
being in the neighborhood of Kent Avenue,
Hewes Street, and Bedford Avenue, a narrow
strip also extending along Graham Street to
Myrtle Avenue. The Lefferts property was
in Flatbush and Bedford. The Schenck farm
was situated on the site of the Wallabout Bay,
and a portion of it is now occupied as the site
of the United States Marine Hospital. The
Suydam tract was situated in what was then
known as Bushwick, and the Debevoise estate
was also in the same section of the city. The
Cowenhoven property was situated in what is
now the heart of the city. The old house
stood in a hollow near where the Atlantic
1 Onderdonk, Kings County, p. 120.
DURING THE REVOLUTION 215
avenue railroad depot now stands. It was
an old-fashioned Dutch house, whose massive
beams and quaint mantelpieces attracted con
siderable attention some twenty years ago
when it was taken down. The history of this
mansion and its occupants would form a very
interesting chapter in the history of Brook
lyn. The Bergen property was situated at
Gowanus. The Vanderbilt farm was in the
twentieth ward, between Clermont Avenue and
Hamilton Street.
In consequence of the requisition made for
troops, the colony of New York presented the
appearance of military activity. Steps were
taken to erect fortifications. The colony at
this time had two governments, each of which
was antagonistic to the other, and each one
proclaimed the acts and resolutions of the
other void and of no effect. Tryon repre
sented the Crown as colonial governor, and
the brave General Nathaniel Woodhull, of
Long Island, as president pro tern, of the Pro
vincial Congress, also acted as governor, and
was so recognized by the party of patriots.
Between these claimants for power, a collision
soon occurred. The Provincial Congress de
sired to obtain the removal of the guns on the
Battery to the fortifications on the Highlands.
2 1 6 HISTOR Y OF BROOKL YN
Captain John Lamb, the invincible, was di
rected by the Provincial Congress to secure
their removal, and on the 23d of August pro
ceeded, with some of his faithful liberty boys
and other citizens, to execute the order. With
his band was Alexander Hamilton, then a lad
of eighteen, whose life was dedicated to the
sacred cause of freedom.
During the early part of the campaign the
Tory party had many friends on Long Island.
When the British evacuated Boston through
the instrumentality of Washington, who suc
ceeded in compelling them to leave, and occu
pied their deserted quarters, it was supposed
that the defeated Royalists would endeavor to
retrieve their fortunes by an effort to gain pos
session of New York. The policy and actions
of the troops were closely watched by Wash
ington, who readily saw that the object was to
make New York the seat of government, to
surround it with a large force, and thereby cut
off all communication with the southern colo
nies. Thus they expected to divide the coun
try and prevent assistance being sent from one
section to another. Had this plan been suc
cessfully accomplished a continual fire could
have been kept up both north and south.
Scouts and rangers would have been used to
DURING THE REVOLUTION 21 7
prey upon the people, doing great damage,
and intercourse between the different colonies
would have been effectually prevented. In
order to avoid this calamity, Washington ac
cepted the offer made by General Lee, who
proposed to raise a force for the defense of
New York. General Lee immediately col
lected 1 200 efficient men, and proceeded to
New York, where he arrived in January, 1776,
to the great gratification of the patriots, who
did not expect to receive so valuable an addi
tion to their population.
Lee was no novice. A man of executive
ability and military skill, he saw at once that
energetic measures were necessary in order to
tread under foot the existing latent love of
royalty, which only needed a little encourage
ment to burst forth into living activity. It is
a singular coincidence that on the very day
General Lee entered New York with his forces,
the British fleet which had been expected ar
rived at Sandy Hook, under command of Sir
Henry Clinton. The British officer did not
seem to like the appearance of things in New
York, and for some inexplicable reason changed
his course somewhat toward the coast of Vir
ginia.
General Lee had realized the height of his
2l8 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
ambition in being in command of so important
a station. At once steps were taken to garri
son and fortify the city and its suburbs.
Long Island and Staten Island were justly
looked upon as the natural protectors of the
harbor of New York, and prudence dictated
the advisability of erecting fortifications and
posting troops in these localities to watch the
approach of belligerent vessels. The patriots
were actuated by one spirit, and widely ren
dered aid and assistance to the heroic com
mander. Scouts were placed at prominent
points at the Narrows, and fortifications erected
at Red Hook Point and elsewhere. Some
400 troops were sent to Brooklyn, and per
formed patrol duty from the settlement at the
Wallabout to Gowanus.
Lee was not permitted to remain very long
in command in New York, being transferred,
March 6, 1776, to the command of the Depart
ment of the South. The transfer did not
please him. He was possessed of the egotis
tical idea that the people of New York desired
his presence, and believed him to be the only
man who could successfully cope with the
forces of the enemy. In this he was greatly
mistaken. The people were ready to follow
any leader who would inspire confidence.
DURING THE REVOLUTION 219
Lee was succeeded by General Lord Stir
ling, who vigilantly carried on the work ini
tiated by his predecessor. He, too, saw and
appreciated the fact that, if New York was to
be successfully defended, the approaches on
Long Island should be properly garrisoned.
To accomplish this desirable end, he appointed
Colonel Ward to erect suitable fortifications
on Long Island, and placed him in command
of a regiment of 519 men.
The second Provincial Congress, which at
this time was holding its second session, with
Nathaniel Woodhull as president, issued an
order to the authorities in Kings County, di
recting them to give Colonel Ward assistance
in the work, and " to turn out for service at
least one half the males (negroes included)
every day, with spades, hoes, and pickaxes."
The inhabitants of Kings County were also
required to furnish all the necessary lumber
and wood for the barricades and fortifications.
The directions given to Colonel Ward were
full and explicit. Beside erecting fortifications
and providing defenses, he was also required
to detail men for the particular duty of pre
venting communications between the British
ships in the harbor and the shore. To make
this effectual they either destroyed the small
220 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
rowboats or rendered them unseaworthy, and
seized all suspected pilots who were supposed
to be identified with the Royalists by senti
ment or self-interest.
Kings County horsemen were honored with
the important office of a corps of observa
tion. It became their duty to observe the
approach of the British fleet at Sandy Hook
from prominent points on Long Island, and to
give information of the appearance of suspi
cious vessels. The Kings County horsemen
occupied the west end of the county, and the
Brooklyn light horse, under the command of
Captain Waldron, were employed on the south
ern coast of the county, in which service they
were employed about a month, when they were
relieved by Colonel Hand, April 10, 1776,
with a regiment of riflemen. These riflemen
took their station at New Utrecht. A battery
of eight guns was also erected on Brooklyn
Heights.
Onderdonk, referring to Captain Waldron's
company, gives the following names of mem
bers as being connected with it : Adolph Wal
dron, captain ; William Boerum, first lieu
tenant ; Thomas Everitt, second lieutenant ;
Jacob Sebring, Jr., cornet ; Isaac Sebring,
quartermaster ; Samuel Etherington, John
DURING THE REVOLUTION 221
Reade, Rob. Galbraithe, Rem. A. Remsen,
Daniel Titus, Jos. Smith, Jacob Kempor, Nich.
Van Dam, Geo. Powers, William Everitt, John
Hicks, William Chardavogne, and Thomas
Hazard.
Waldron, the captain of the little company,
was a very popular man, and for a long time
kept a famous hostelry at the Brooklyn Ferry.
During many years he was the proprietor of
the ferry between Brooklyn and New York.
William Boerum was a well-known citizen,
and has left behind him a host of descendants.
After the war he served in the Legislature.
George Powers was a butcher, and had a stand
at one time in the famous old Fly Market.
He owned considerable property in the neigh
borhood of State and Powers streets. The
latter street was named in his honor.
The name of George Powers appears as
secretary of the first independent meeting
house erected in Brooklyn in 1785. He was
a warm-hearted, generous man, donating large
sums to the cause of religion and charity. He
retired from business in 1790, and thereafter
devoted his time to raising stock on his lands
in Brooklyn. It is reported in one of the old
journals that in the month of February, 1793,
"a calf was brought to the Oswego market
222 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
(on Broadway and Maiden Lane), yesterday,
raised by Mr. George Powers, of Brooklyn,
but twenty-two months old, the four quarters
of which weighed 744 pounds ; hide, 100
pounds ; tallow (rough fat), 87 pounds ; total,
931 pounds." In March, 1812, the following
notice appeared : " Fat Beef for St. Patrick's
Day. The three year old steer exhibited at
the Coffee House (corner of Wall and Pearl
streets), this day, supposed to be one of the
best ever seen of his age, and fatted by George
Powers, at Brooklyn, will be offered for sale
by (one of his apprentices) David Marsh, at
No. 38 Fly Market, on Saturday next."
Powers, who was a warm friend of George
Hall, the first mayor of Brooklyn, died full of
years, honored and respected by all who knew
him. The estate he left behind him was esti
mated to be worth half a million.
John Hicks lived near the ferry, on Fulton
Street. He was a large landed proprietor.
Hicks Street derives its name from his family.
He subsequently was one of the proprietors of
the old ferry to New York. The Remsen
family were well known in the community. It
is a remarkable fact that during the entire time
from 1727 to 1776, the Board of Trustees of
Kings County had a Rem Remsen for one of
DURING THE REVOLUTION 223
its members. A period of fifty years presents
a remarkable instance of family succession in
one office.
Waldron's troop was first enlisted in the
service of General Greene, who ordered them
to seize and take possession of all the fat stock
of the disaffected inhabitants who sympathized
with the Tories, and to deliver the stock so
taken to Commissary Brown, on Long Island.
The troop was subsequently employed under
General Woodhull in the same capacity.
Early in January, 1776, the Continental
Congress had passed a resolution, " that it be
recommended to the Committee of Safety of
the Province of New York to appoint proper
persons to inquire into the propriety and prac
ticability of obstructing or lessening the depth
of the water in the Narrows, or at any other
place at the entrance of New York, or of any
way of fortifying that pass so as to prevent the
entrance of the enemy."
On the 26th January, 1776, a committee
was appointed by the Continental Congress to
consult with General Lee and the Committee
of Safety in reference to the immediate defense
of the province.
The importance of defending and protecting
the approaches to the harbor of New York
224 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
was fully attested by Congress on March 14,
1776, when 8000 men were voted for its de
fense. On the following day the Governors of
Connecticut and New Jersey were requested
to hold their militia in readiness for that ser
vice, to be paid, when on duty, as Continental
troops. Congress went still further, and on
the Qth of April directed $200,000 to be sent
to New York for the use of the Continental
troops in the province.
Previous to its dissolution the second Pro
vincial Congress made provision for the elec
tion of delegates to serve in the third Con
gress of the colony, to meet in the city of New
York, May 14, 1776. This election was held
in April. At the election so held, Nicholas
Cowenhoven, John Lefferts, Lefferts Lefferts,
Theodorus Polhemus, Jeremiah Remsen,
Rutger Van Brunt, John Vanderbilt, and Jere
miah Vanderbilt were chosen to represent
Kings County. Nearly all of these men repre
sented the county in previous assemblies, and
were able and experienced legislators.
Prior to the election, and on the loth of
March, a regiment of Continental troops num
bering 1000 men took possession of and occu
pied Governor's Island. They at once con
structed a redoubt on the west side of the
DURING THE REVOLUTION 22$
island, and erected fortifications with a view to
holding in check any vessel which might seek
an entrance into the harbor. Another regi
ment was stationed on the shores of Brooklyn,
and rendered Red Hook Point, on the north
shore of Gowanus Bay, famous as a Revolu
tionary landmark. At this place a redoubt
was also constructed, on which were placed sev
eral guns of eighteen-pound calibre. Thus
was the entrance to the harbor at two impor
tant points effectually protected. This latter
fort was appropriately named Fort Defiance.
The regiment which was placed here was in
command of Captain Foster. The location
was not as good as the one on Governor's
Island, as vessels were able to make a detour
and escape injury from the former, whilst the
latter, being so much nearer the city and in the
direct sailing course, could more effectually
prevent approach.
Shortly afterward (on April 14), Washing
ton, as Commander-in-Chief of the Continen
tal army, arrived in New York and made his
headquarters at Richmond Hill, in the neigh
borhood of Varick Street. His appearance in
the city encouraged the patriots to new efforts,
quickened their zeal, and led to the completion
of the plans so ably instituted by Generals Lee
226 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
and Stirling. Washington inspired the con
fidence of the masses, increasing their faith by
his earnestness and determination. The strong
and confident were rendered more fearless, and
the weak and faint-hearted were encouraged
to activity.
The people, from a lukewarm and indifferent
state, rapidly changed their opinions and be
came enthusiastic in the cause of independ
ence. These feelings were intensified by
numerous newspaper articles and pamphlets
which appeared from time to time, denouncing
Great Britain and demanding recognition as
an independent confederacy. Among these
was a paper entitled "Common Sense," by
Thomas Paine, then a citizen of Philadelphia.
Its author was at the time unknown, but the
sentiments of the pamphlet met an approving
response in every patriotic heart. Forcible
and pointed in expression, its truths left a last
ing impression, sending a thrill of pleasure
through the community, who heartily approved
of its bold and daring utterances. So popular
did it become that several of the colonies
adopted it as their watchword, and recognizing
the force of its. reasoning, petitioned the Con
tinental Congress to take immediate steps to
secure its ratification by at once declaring
DURING THE REVOLUTION 227
themselves free and independent. It was a
suitable precursor of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, paving the way for the indorsement
of that document.
The third Provincial Congress, elected in
April, was directed to meet in New York on
the 1 4th of May, but, in consequence of a
quorum not being in attendance, the members
present adjourned from day to day until the
1 8th of May, when a quorum having been
secured, the body organized and proceeded to
business. The session was a short one, con
tinuing only until June 30, when it adjourned
by reason of a fear which was entertained that
the city would be attacked. Nathaniel Wood-
hull was elected President of the Congress.
While this body was in session the Conti
nental Congress at Philadelphia was consid
ering important subjects. In the latter body
the keynote of independence was struck on
the yth of June, 1776, when General Richard
Henry Lee rose in his seat and introduced a
resolution declaring " that the united colonies
are and ought to be free and independent
States, that they are absolved from all alle
giance to the British Crown, and that their
political connection with Great Britain is and
ought to be totally dissolved." The resolution
228 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
was a surprise to many of the members, and
led to an earnest debate which lasted for sev
eral weeks. At that time some of the dele
gates supposed that they were merely banded
together for mutual protection, and were not
authorized to take so advanced a step without
having received instructions from their con
stituents. In the existing state of affairs many
lacked the courage to act, thinking that if they
voted in favor of the resolution their action
might not meet with the approval of those
they represented. They feared also that if the
measure were adopted, and in the end proved
a failure, they would be called upon to meet
a traitor's doom. They were but human.
Such men are always to be found in political
life. When the prospect of accomplishment
looks bright, they are fearless and bold, but
when a shadow of disappointment falls, and
success is not certain, their courage is weak
ened, and they are unwilling to lend their aid
to what they consider a forlorn hope. The
resolution passed by a bare majority. The
Congress contained representatives from thir
teen colonies, and the vote stood seven in favor
to six opposed. This vote, however, did not
indicate the exact feeling which existed
amongst the members, as those who voted
DURING THE REVOLUTION 229
in opposition did so in most if not in all
cases because they had received no instruc
tions or directions from their constituents.
The resolution having been passed, a com
mittee, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John
Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman,
and Robert R. Livingston, was appointed to
prepare and draft a declaration of independ
ence.
Washington was in command in New York
about a month, and in the early part of May,
1776, left for Philadelphia. General Putnam
was placed in command at New York, and
General Greene was assigned to Brooklyn to
take charge of the fortifications. Washington
was led to visit Philadelphia to consult with
the Continental Congress upon the necessary
measures to be adopted in order to carry on
the campaign. This conference led to the
issuance of an order authorizing the com-
mander-in-chief to direct the building of as
many fire rafts, galleys, boats, and batteries as
might be required for the immediate defense
of the port of New York, the Hudson River,
and the Sound.
The Provincial Congress of New York, at
its session in May, declared the province to
be independent of Great Britain, but did not
230 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
adopt a formal constitution until the following
year.
Meanwhile the Continental Congress was
not inactive. The committee to which was
referred the important duty of drafting the
Declaration of Independence worked faith
fully, and on the 28th of June, 1776, the paper
prepared by Thomas Jefferson was presented
for the consideration of the body.
The document was finally adopted on the
4th of July. It was not signed, however, until
August. The representatives from New York
who signed it were William Floyd of Suf
folk County, Philip Livingston of New York,
Francis Lewis, who, as we have seen, at one
time lived in Brooklyn and owned a large
estate there, and Lewis Morris of Westchester.
Robert R. Livingston's name should have been
appended, but he was called to New York to
attend the Provincial Congress before it was
engrossed and ready to receive the signatures
of the members, and thus his name does not
appear on the immortal document. However,
as one of its framers he will be forever identi
fied with this glorious manifesto.
Just prior to the adoption of the Declara
tion, New York was placed in a critical posi
tion. On the 23d of June, General Howe with
DURING THE REVOLUTION 231
a large fleet appeared before the city, and on
the 2d of July took possession of a portion of
Staten Island, where he found many adher
ents of the cause of royalty. Soon after he
was joined by his brother, Admiral Lord
Howe, with a large fleet from England, and
also by Sir Henry Clinton, with the troops
under his command. He was thus placed in
command of an army consisting of 24,000 well-
disciplined men from England. This was
not all. The Tory inhabitants flocked to. his
standard, and although not in many respects
as efficient soldiers as the troops from Eng
land, still their knowledge of the country ren
dered them invaluable as aids in prospecting
and giving information.
Washington had no such force. To cope
with this army he had only 20,000 volunteer
recruits, whose knowledge of military tactics
was but limited, and many of whom were in
capacitated for service. Moreover, had they
been disciplined, he had neither the arms nor
the ammunition necessary to properly equip
them.
Meanwhile provision had been made for
the election of delegates to the fourth Provin
cial Congress of New York. As New York
was in a state of siege, it was deemed best to
232 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
assemble at the court house in White Plains,
twenty-six miles from New York. The body
met on the gth of July. Kings County was
represented by Theodorus Polhemus. On the
first day of the session the Declaration of In
dependence was read and unanimously adopted.
On the following day the title of the body was
changed from that of the Provincial Congress
of the Colony of New York to that of the
Convention of the Representatives of the State
of New York. It continued to sit at White
Plains until the 27th day of July, when it ad
journed to meet at Harlem on the 29th.
It is needless to say that the news of the
adoption of the Declaration of Independence
occasioned much excitement and enthusiasm
in New York and Brooklyn.
Steps were taken to fortify New York and
prevent the entry of the enemy. Guns were
placed on the Battery, and barricades erected
at prominent points on the East and North
rivers. The authorities were not content
with erecting and planting guns on the water
sides, but also appropriated the various hil
locks for fortifications. One of these was
known as Rutger's, and stood at the brow of
the New Bowery, at or near its present junc
tion with Chatham Street. Fortifications and
DURING THE REVOLUTION 233
barricades were also constructed at Jersey
City and on Brooklyn Heights. The site of
Fort Greene, now a beautiful park, was con
sidered a very important position, and a line
of works was hastily constructed which ex
tended from the Wallabout to Gowanus Bay,
thereby securing a complete chain of defense
to the rest of the island.
Within these fortifications 9,000 men were
encamped ready to obstruct the approach and
forward movements of the English troops.
The fortifications on Long Island were erected
under the direction of General Greene, who
had been assigned to the command of the
American forces in this section. General
Sullivan, his assistant in the work, rendered
valuable aid to his superior officer.
At this time, General Woodhull, who was
President of the Representative Convention of
New York, feeling that his place was in the
saddle, and that he could render better service
in the field at the head of troops than in the
Legislature, donned his military equipments,
and repaired to Long Island to engage in the
service.
While the Convention of Representatives
was in session at White Plains, a resolution
was passed on the iQth of July, requiring that
234 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
every fourth man in Kings County should be
drafted into service. Thereupon the militia
of the county sent a letter to the convention
urging that body to excuse a draft, and stating
that the entire militia would turn out to drive
stock into the interior, and also guard the
coast line. The letter was signed by the fol
lowing well-known citizens: John Vanderbilt,
Lambert Suydam, Barnet Johnson, John Titus,
John Vanderveer, Rem Williamson, Bernardus
Suydam, and Adrian Van Brunt, captains.
This request was not granted. The refusal
was based upon the fact that, while many of
the leading men in the county warmly es
poused the patriotic cause, many were dis
affected and inclined to the side of royalty.
These latter looked upon the war as calculated
to unsettle the country and injure their pros
pects. They thought that under the dominion
of the Crown they would have peace, and be
enabled to pursue the even tenor of their way
undisturbed. The object of the militia in
offering their services was to prevent a con
scription. It will be noticed that they pro
posed simply to act as a home guard, -and
made no pretense of willingness to render
general service for the good of the infant
nation. Though at the commencement of the
DURING THE REVOLUTION ' 235
war they manifested great lukewarmness, yet
this state of feeling was not destined to last
very long. The scales were to drop from their
eyes, they were to be impressed with a sense
of duty, and in the near future make ample
amends by courage and fearlessness for the
lack of spirit manifested at the commence
ment.
Among those connected with the Kings
County troop of horse, on duty in August,
were : Daniel Rapalje, first lieutenant ; Jacob
Bloom, second lieutenant ; Peter Vandervoort,
ensign ; Honbeck Johnson, sergeant ; John
Blanco, trumpeter ; Roger Suydam and John
Vanderveer, privates.
These men went over from Long Island
and performed duty in the neighborhood of
Harlem. A portion of the troop of horse were
stationed on Long Island, being officered as
follows : Lambert Suydam, captain ; Peter
Wyckoff, quartermaster; Hendrick Suydam,
clerk; with John Nostrand, Jacob Suydam,
Isaac Snedeker, Isaac Boerum, John Ryer-
son, Rutgert Van Brunt, Charles De Bevoise,
Benjamin Seaman, Roelof Terhune, Andrew
Casper, Thomas Billing, Martin Kershaw,
Peter Miller, and Hendrick Wyckoff, privates.
Amongst these names will be recognized the
236 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
ancestors of many of the prominent Walla-
bout, Bushwick, and Brooklyn families. The
Rapaljes, Vandervoorts, Nostrands, Boerums,
and Ryersons resided at the Wallabout, and
early manifested an interest in the cause of
liberty.
The feeling of disaffection on the part of
many of the citizens of Long Island was so
apparent to the Convention of Representa
tives that, in refusing the request to exempt
them from a draft, that body considered it
necessary to appoint a committee to visit
Kings County for the purpose of ascertaining
the true state of public feeling in the county,
with power to take from all disaffected citi
zens such arms as they might possess, to
secure their persons, and, if deemed necessary,
" to destroy the crops and lay the whole
country waste," and thus prevent them from
affording aid and comfort to the enemy. The
committee entered upon their labors with
energy and dispatch. They ascertained that
the reports were in a great measure true. By
their direction Tories were arrested and dis
armed. The action of the committee pro
duced a beneficial effect amongst the people,
and, had they not taken the forcible measures
they did, the first battle of the Revolution
DURING THE REVOLUTION 237
after the Declaration of Independence, which
was fought on Long Island soon after, to wit,
on the 27th day of August, would in its results
have proved still more disastrous.
General Greene made ample provision to
protect and defend Long Island against the
enemy. As we have already seen, he caused a
line of fortifications to be constructed through
the centre of the present city of Brooklyn, ex
tending from Wallabout Bay on the north to
Gowanus Bay on the south.
Conspicuous among the fortifications so con
structed was the redoubt on Fort Greene,
which was called Fort Putnam in honor of
that brave officer General Israel Putnam, who
figured with distinction not only in Brooklyn
but elsewhere, and subsequently gained for
himself the name of Breakneck Putnam for his
daring exploit in Connecticut when he dashed
down the celebrated defile, and thereby escaped
capture.
At this time Fort Putnam, now Washington
Park (Fort Greene), was covered with large
trees, and belonged to the Cowenhoven estate.
The old Bedford Road skirted its northeast
erly line, and its prominence was a valuable
position for placing guns. It is worthy of
note in this connection that Edward T. Back-
238 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
house, a descendant by marriage of the ori
ginal owner, when representing the old eleventh
ward of Brooklyn in the Common Council,
in the middle of the present century, took an
active interest in securing the preservation of
this historic spot and its conversion into a
place of public resort. He aided materially,
with Francis B. Stryker, late Mayor, Silas Lud-
low, John W. Hunter, John H. Baker, and
others, in having it set apart for a park, and
properly embellished.
Another means of protection was the con
struction of intrenchments extending from
Fort Putnam to the old Wallabout Road, at
a point about where Hampden Street inter
sects the present line of Flushing Avenue.
Before Flushing Avenue was opened, at this
point, the easterly end of the Navy Yard
property, the old Wallabout Road diverged
from its course, describing a half circle.
General Greene was not content with pro
viding against invasion from the northeast,
but also turned his attention to the section
lying to the south of Fort Greene. He saw
the necessity of erecting intrenchments along
the high land extending from Fulton Avenue
southerly to the old Gowanus Road, at the
creek which made up from the bay where
DURING THE REVOLUTION 239
Freeck's mill stood. This spot can be easily
fixed. Many remember the old mill pond and
the bridge across the creek at Butler Street,
near where Bond Street has been extended.
Another small redoubt, which stood like a
warning sentinel, was erected a short distance
west of the fort, about where DeKalb Avenue
now intersects Hudson Avenue. South Brook
lyn was not forgotten. At that time the sec
tion bounded by Smith and Clinton streets
on the east, and Degraw and Third Place on
the north, was high ground, and from its own
er's name was called Bergen Hill. This
prominence commanded a view of the East
River and Gowanus Bay. Here Greene
erected a redoubt, on which he mounted sev
eral guns. In later times, when the hill was
removed, to give place to streets and palatial
residences, the remains of soldiers buried dur
ing the Revolutionary War were taken up.
A fort was also built on Cobble Hill, which
was nick-named " Corkscrew Fort." This hill
was on the spot where since has been erected
the Athenaeum, corner of Clinton and Atlantic
streets.
All these works were effectively built and
evinced great military and engineering skill.
English officers at the time of the evacuation
240 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
referred to their strength of material and
advantageous location. It would appear that
Greene and his assistants thoroughly famil
iarized themselves with the topography of the
country, and made military provision accord
ingly. A British officer, in his experiences
published during the war, expressed in strong
terms his surprise that the Americans should
retreat from bastions so impregnable.
Hitherto all had been preparation. The
storm clouds had been gathering, and were
soon to break with unwonted fury. A great
Revolutionary battle was to be fought on the
virgin soil of Long Island, and was to result
disastrously.
At the outset, Great Britain, having compli
cations on the European continent, was very
anxious to conciliate and secure peace. When
Admiral Howe was sent with his fleet to New
York he was directed by his government to
treat for peace with the rebellious subjects.
Acting upon his instructions, after landing at
Staten Island, and placing his fleet in close
proximity to the city, he opened negotiations
to this end. At the start he made a great
blunder, by mistaking the character of the
general-in-chief with whom he had to deal.
An autocrat in temper and disposition, and
DURING THE REVOLUTION 241
infused with the traditional pride of a British
commander, he neglected to address Washing
ton by his military title. He looked upon the
people as rebels, and not as an independent
nation, and addressed the commander of the
American forces as George Washington, Esq.
The letter was returned unanswered. An
other missive directed to George Washington,
Esq., met the same fate. The spirit thus
manifested by Washington in refusing to re
ceive or reply to any letters, unless addressed
to him as the head of an independent army,
representing a nation seeking to throw off
the yoke of despotism and break its chains,
proved to Admiral Howe that his mission
of peace was too late, and that if England
desired to retain her possessions in the new
world she would have to do so at the point
of the bayonet.
Howe made his last effort to secure peace
on the 1 7th day of August. Failing, he at
once commenced warlike preparations. Wash
ington realized the necessity of careful and
energetic action. He anticipated that the re
buff he had administered to the admiral's
overtures would lead to an immediate attack
upon New York. In order to circumvent the
attack, and prevent aid and assistance to the
242 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
enemy from the Tories in the city, he at once
caused the removal of the adherents of the
Crown to Connecticut, where they were placed
under the surveillance of that sturdy patriot,
Governor Trumbull. Measures were adopted
to weaken and destroy existing Tory senti
ments in New Jersey and Long Island. The
legislative committee, assisted by a committee
from the Continental Congress, went to work to
disarm all suspected persons on Long Island,
and to suppress every exhibition of Tory spirit.
The public records were placed in the care
of Congress, then in session in Philadelphia ;
and women and children, and all persons not
needed for the defense of the city, were quickly
removed to safe quarters. A corps of rifle
men was stationed at Fort Hamilton to pre
vent the landing of the enemy in that quarter,
to watch the approach of their fleet, and to
give information as to their movements.
Washington, however, was mistaken as to
the intentions of the enemy. Howe, instead
of making a bold attack upon New York, re
solved upon another course. He well knew
that Long Island was filled with Tory sympa
thizers, and he thought that he might reach
New York across Long Island, and be able to
take with him many recruits gathered on his
DURING THE REVOLUTION 243
way from among the disloyal inhabitants.
Within five days after the refusal of Washing
ton to reply to his insulting letter, Howe
prepared his fleet for action, and with it set
sail for Gravesend Bay, where he landed on
AugUSt 22.
The fleet arrived early in the morning.
General Sir William Howe led an army of
30,000 well-disciplined soldiers. The landing
was effected without opposition. A part of
the forces was under the command of Earls
Cornwallis and Percy, Sir William Erskine,
Count Duness, and Generals Grant, De Heis-
ter, and Knyphausen, and was composed of
many Hessians who had been hired at a set
price per head to do military service against
the American rebels.
Howe held possession of the southwestern
part of the Island. His presence caused con
sternation among the patriots, who sought the
American lines for protection, while those who
were weak in the faith, or favored the cause
of royalty, joined his standard.
The small body of riflemen who had been
stationed at Fort Hamilton could not prevent
the landing of the invaders. They, however,
destroyed the growing crops so that the enemy
would derive no benefit from the cereals, and,
244 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
having done this, sought safe quarters between
Brooklyn and Flatbush. Meanwhile Howe
was not idle. Establishing his headquarters
at New Utrecht, he employed his men in
reconnoitring. Skirmishers were sent out
from time to time, who succeeded in capturing
many straggling soldiers, and withal securing
much plunder. General Sullivan, who was in
command of the American forces, had but
5000 men. These lacked the ability to con
tend against the numbers opposed to them.
Most of Sullivan's men were volunteers, un
used to the hardships of camp life, and with
out experience in military tactics. Notwith
standing the disparity of numbers, Sullivan
made diligent preparation to resist the onward
progress of the enemy should they attempt to
press forward to New York. Washington at
this time was with the main body in New
York, laboring earnestly to defend the lines of
that city, and obstruct the progress of the
enemy should they attempt to lay siege to
the town.
On the 25th of August Washington sent
large reinforcements to Brooklyn. At the
same time General Sullivan was removed from
the command of the army, and General Put
nam dispatched to take his place. Washing-
DURING THE REVOLUTION 245
ton supposed that the enemy would attack
Long Island and New York at the same time.
Putnam on assuming command received strict
injunctions to guard all the passes, and there
by prevent advance movements on the part of
Howe. Sullivan had planned the intrench-
ments, and having studied the ground in
conjunction with General Greene, he knew
where to station his sentinels. The country
was thickly covered with wood from the Nar
rows to Jamaica. The American camp could
be reached only by three accessible passes.
One of these wound round the western edge
of the Narrows ; another crossed the range to
Flatbush ; and the other passed through Flat-
lands, crossing the Bedford and Jamaica roads.
Sullivan had erected breastworks near these
passes, and at each stationed several regiments.
Scouts were also employed to watch the roads
leading to the passes, and give the alarm in
case the enemy approached. Putnam did not
manifest much ability upon taking command
of the army. Instead of strengthening the
outposts, which were a sure protection against
the progress of the enemy and the annihilation
of his camp, and which had been wisely chosen
by his predecessor, he saw fit to remove the
patrol, and thereby weakened his own posi-
346 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
tion, gave the enemy an unobstructed road to
the American camp, and insured the disaster
which attended the battle that followed, caus
ing demoralization not only in his own ranks,
but also throughout the entire army, which in
a great measure became disheartened by the
terrible defeat on Long Island. Had General
Greene, who had served as the superior officer
to Sullivan, not been prostrated by sickness,
and been enabled to remain in command, in
stead of being replaced by Putnam, no such
disaster would have occurred. He knew the
character of the country, and the importance
of holding the passes, and would not have
readily yielded up their possession.
Meanwhile General Howe, the commander
of the British forces, issued a proclamation,
wherein he gave notice, on behalf of his
Majesty's government, to all persons who had
been forced into rebellion, that, on delivering
themselves up at the headquarters of the army,
they would be received as faithful subjects,
and be given permission to return to their
dwellings, and be protected in person and
property. And further, that "all those who
choose to take up arms for the restoration of
order and good government within this Island
shall be disposed of in the best manner, and
DURING THE REVOLUTION 247
have every encouragement that can be ex
pected." This offer was accepted by some
lukewarm people ; but to the honor of the
majority be it said, its terms and conditions
were, in general, indignantly refused.
General Clinton, whose forces had joined
those of Howe, soon saw the unprotected state
of the passes. The information he acquired
as to their unguarded condition he at once
communicated to Howe, who thereupon held
a consultation with him, and planned measures
to entrap the patriots. They arranged a plan
of attack. On the 26th the Hessian troops,
under command of General De Heister, took
the road leading to Flatbush through the hills,
while General Grant, with another division,
took the shore road. These movements were
intended to deceive Putnam, and enable Gen
eral Clinton, with the main body, to direct his
efforts to gain possession of the pass at Bed
ford, and thereby flank the American lines.
The manoeuvre was successful. Putnam, learn
ing of the advance of Generals De Heister
and Grant, dispatched a strong force under
Lord Stirling to guard the river road, and
another under General Sullivan to impede the
progress of De Heister at Flatbush. Putnam
did not comprehend the movements of the
248 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
enemy, and did not learn the advantage they
had gained by their military skill until General
Clinton had accomplished his purpose, by gain
ing the position he desired, and had opened a
heavy fire upon Sullivan's rear. Sullivan saw
that he was surrounded. After vainly attempt
ing to break through the lines of the enemy
and secure the lost ground, his troops became
confused and broke ranks, taking refuge in the
neighboring hills. They could not escape,
and the greater part, with their faithful officer,
were soon discovered and secured as prisoners
of war.
The contest with General Grant on the
shore road was far more animated and vigor
ous. Lord Stirling, who had command of the
American troops, was posted on the slope of
the hills just north of Greenwood Cemetery,
and firmly maintained his ground against
Grant, until the latter received reinforcements.
Early on the morning of the 27th, General
Grant reached the lower pass, and encounter
ing a regiment under command of Major Bird,
was compelled to retreat. General Putnam,
who had been apprised of the retreat, directed
Lord Stirling to hold the invaders in check.
Stirling, in obedience to the order, started
with two regiments for the Narrows. A Con-
DURING THE REVOLUTION 249
necticut regiment was also placed under march
ing orders, and followed to render him support
and assistance.
Stirling soon met Major Bird retreating be
fore the fire of the enemy. He formed his
brigade in line of battle, judiciously placing
some of his men on the brow of the hills in
order to rake the enemy with hot shot. An
other body was stationed near " Battle Hill,"
now a portion of Greenwood. It is said that
some riflemen were stationed on this emi
nence, and, when Earl Cornwallis approached
with his command, these riflemen commenced
a deadly fire, each shot proving the death-blow
of an officer. Their aim was so effective and
disastrous that they could not long escape.
The bravery manifested by these men cost
each one his life, as the hill was quickly sur
rounded, and the sure marksmen dispatched.
Furman has graphically pictured this event.
He says : " In this battle part of the British
army marched down a lane or road, leading
from the British tavern (at Valley Forge) to
Gowanus, pursuing the Americans. Several
of the American riflemen, in order to be more
secure, and at the same time more effectually
to succeed in their designs, had posted them
selves in the high trees near the road ; one of
250 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
them, whose name is now partially forgotten,
shot the English Major Grant; in this he
passed unobserved. Again he leveled his
deadly rifle and fired ; another English officer
fell. He was then marked, and a platoon or
dered to advance and fire into the tree, which
order was immediately carried into execution,
and the rifleman fell to the ground dead. After
the battle was over, the two British officers
were buried in a field near where they fell, and
their graves fenced in with some posts and
rails, where their remains still rest. But 'for
an example to the rebels,' they refused to the
American rifleman the rites of sepulchre ; and
his remains were exposed on the ground till
the flesh was rotted and torn off his bones by
the fowls of the air. After a considerable
length of time, in a heavy gale of wind, a large
tree was uprooted; in the cavity formed by
which some friends to the Americans, notwith
standing the prohibition of the English, placed
the brave soldier's bones to mingle in peace
with their kindred earth."
Before the beginning of this attack, General
Stirling addressed his men, urging them to be
courageous, and told them : " Grant may have
his 5000 men with him now ; we are not so
many ; but I think we are enough to prevent
DURING THE REVOLUTION 251
his advance further on his march than that
mill-pond."
The battle soon started in earnest. As the
golden sun on that August day slowly uplifted
itself above the horizon, and began its move
ment towards the west, the armies were en
gaged in deadly conflict. Skirmishing contin
ued for two hours. The fire from Kichline's
riflemen, who were stationed behind a hedge,
proved disastrous to the British, who were
compelled in consequence to relinquish their
position. No sooner did they retire than a
Pennsylvania regiment under Atlee retook the
lost ground.
Stirling was now closely pressed by General
Grant, whose brigade had formed in two lines
opposite Stirling's right. Stirling soon saw
that Grant had been reinforced, and felt that
further resistance would be in vain. He had
but two courses to adopt : one was to surren
der at once, or attempt to escape across the
creek, which was spanned by the remains of a
burnt mill-dam. Preferring to make an effort
to escape, he selected a portion of the Mary
land brigade to cover his flight, and directed
the balance to retreat. With great courage
he then charged with fixed bayonets upon the
regiments commanded by Cornwallis. The
252 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
charge was repeated four times. Again they
charged, and as the enemy was on the point of
yielding, General De Heister came up, flushed
with his victory over Sullivan, and commenced
an assault on his rear. With such a force
against him Stirling was compelled to surren
der. Some attempted to escape by cutting
their way through the ranks of the enemy, and
perished in the effort. The Americans lost
in this battle 1200 men, 1000 of whom, includ
ing Lord Stirling and General Sullivan, were
taken prisoners. About 400 of the British
were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners.
Historians have always differed as to the
loss of the Americans in the battle of Brooklyn.
Colonel Trumbull was commissary - general
during the engagement, and was employed,
when the retreat was determined upon, in pro
curing vessels in which to remove the army.
By virtue of his position he possessed peculiar
facilities for knowing the true state of affairs.
Two days after the retreat he wrote the fol
lowing letter to his father, giving an account
of Washington's masterly effort :
NEW YORK, September r, 1776.
HONORED SIR, We have been obliged
to retreat from Long Island and Governor's
Island, from both of which we got off without
DURING THE REVOLUTION 253
loss of men. We left a great part of our heavy
artillery behind. The field train is off. We
are in hourly expectation that the town will
be bombarded and cannonaded, and the
enemy are drawing their men to the eastward
of Long Island, as if they intended to throw
a strong party over on this island, near Hell
Gate, so as to get on the back of the city. We
are preparing to meet them. Matters appear
to be drawing near a decisive engagement.
General Sullivan is allowed to come on shore,
upon his parole, and go to Congress, on the
subject of exchange of himself, Lord Stirling,
and a large number who are prisoners ; by the
best accounts we yet have, we have lost in
last week's defeat about 800 men killed and
missing ; how many of each is not yet known.
I rather expect that they will push in a body
of troops between the town and our party at
and near Kingsbridge. If they do, we shall
have them between two fires, and must push
them to the last extremity, or be killed or
taken prisoners. The result is in the hands
of the Almighty Disposer of all events.
I am, honored sir, your dutiful son,
JOSEPH TRUMBULL.
While the battle was raging with so much
fury, Washington was in New York, watching
the movements of the British fleet. He was
filled with anxiety and alarm, as he considered
254 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
that an important crisis had arrived. Becom
ing satisfied during the day that there was no
intention on the part of the fleet to attack the
city, he passed over to Brooklyn and took his
station at Fort Putnam.
Here he witnessed the terrible rout and
slaughter which befell Sullivan, with no means
at his command to send succor or assistance.
He also beheld the heroic conduct of the men
under Stirling, and was convinced that resist
ance on their part was in vain. As Wash
ington noticed the bravery of the Maryland
troops in the bayonet charge, he exclaimed,
" Good God, what brave fellows I must this
day lose."
Thus terminated the battle on the 27th.
The slaughter had been terrible on both sides.
The flower of the American army was de
stroyed, and many valuable and efficient offi
cers were taken prisoners. General Howe
felt jubilant over his success, and made prepa
rations to advance upon the American lines.
Within those lines were 3000 brave men who
were encouraged by the presence of Washing
ton. Had an attempt been made to take their
fortifications, they would not have been yielded
without the destruction of hosts of the invaders.
As Howe did not know the strength of the
DURING THE REVOLUTION 255
Americans, he deemed it prudent not to make
the attempt, and encamped for the night. It
was not singular, under the circumstances,
that Washington should feel alarmed. He
was satisfied that resistance would be useless,
and that something must be done to save the
remnant of his army.
The Hessians, who had been hired by the
British Government, were trained soldiers. Of
the men so procured the Landgrave of Hesse
Cassel furnished 12,000 infantry, the Duke of
Brunswick 3900, and the Count of Hanau
360. War was their profession, and in its
destructive work they seemed to take great
delight. In the engagements on Long Island
they took an active part, and manifested their
disposition by showing no quarter. The sight
of blood served to madden them, and led them
on to renewed acts of diabolism and ferocity.
Nothing satisfied their rapacity. After the
retreat of the Americans from Long Island,
and its occupation by the British, many of
these Hessians took possession of and were
quartered in the large old-fashioned Dutch
houses, and made themselves free with every
thing on which they could lay their hands.
The morning of the 28th of August arrived.
A thick mist enshrouded the earth with gloom.
256 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Washington did not manifest any despondency,
and as he inspected the works and defenses
had a cheerful word of encouragement for the
men. Early in the morning several regiments
of Massachusetts soldiers crossed to the is
land, and were received with manifestations of
joy by the weary toilers of the day and night
past. With this addition the force of the Amer
icans numbered 9000 men. The battle was
now renewed by the British, who commenced
a heavy cannonade on the American works.
Providence seemed to smile upon the Ameri
can cause. The clouds poured forth rain in
torrents, which, while it produced much phy
sical discomfort to the patriots, who were com
pelled to stand knee deep in water, served also
to restrain and prevent the enemy from enga
ging in the conflict.
Washington realized the necessity of imme
diate action. A council of officers was sum
moned, and by his advice the conclusion was
reached to evacuate the island. The coun
cil convened by Washington to . deliberate
upon this important subject was composed of
the commander-in-chief, General Washington;
major generals Putnam and Spencer, brigadier
generals Mifflin, McDougall, Parsons, Scott,
Wads worth, and Fellows. In Stiles's account
DURING THE REVOLUTION 257
of the battle of Long Island, he says that
" the old Cornell House, afterwards known as
the Pierrepont Mansion, which formerly stood
on the line of the present Montague Street,
near the little iron footbridge which spans
the carriageway, was the headquarters of
Washington during this important contest.
It was a spacious and costly house having
large chimneys, from which it was known as
the ' Four Chimneys ; ' and upon its roof a
telegraph was arranged by which communica
tion was held with New York."
Stiles maintains that both Lossing and
Onderdonk erred in stating that the council
met in the Dutch church on Fulton Street,
but that they met in this old house. In sup
porting his opinion he quotes the authority of
Colonel Fish, the father of Governor Hamil
ton Fish, and one of Washington's military
family, who in 1824, during Lafayette's visit to
Brooklyn, called the attention of the distin
guished visitor to the fact, and designated the
very positions in the room occupied by the
members of that council.
The business brought before the council
was very important, and the execution of the
scheme adopted required military skill and
strategy to insure success. It would not have
258 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
answered to retreat during the day, as their
movements would have been noticed and
checkmated by the enemy. It was resolved
to effect the withdrawal of the troops that
night. Every move required the utmost cau
tion and secrecy. As boats were needed to
transport the troops, and the collecting to
gether of them might excite the suspicion of
the British, it was reported that the Ameri
cans intended to attack the enemy in the rear,
and to accomplish this end had determined to
transport troops to the line of Queens County
at Hell Gate. This plan was adopted to de
ceive the enemy. In pursuance of the resolu
tion of the council, orders were issued to
move every available boat to Brooklyn, and
have them in readiness for embarkation at
midnight. So cautious were the officers con
ducting this retreat that all orders were given
in whispers, and communicated to the men in
the same manner. The state of the weather
favored the movements of Washington. Dur
ing the day rain had fallen in copious showers.
As the mantle of night covered the earth, a
heavy fog appeared, which, with the drizzling
mist, served to deceive the enemy, and render
them less vigilant. In order to mislead the
British officers and soldiers, Washington kept
DURING THE REVOLUTION 259
several companies marching to and from the
ferry landing, while their associates were em
barking. Washington himself superintended
the embarkation of the troops, who began to
move about ten o'clock. The darkness of the
night aided materially in the accomplishment
of the work. To add to the deception, fires were
kept burning until the last moment. All the
troops were safely embarked. The boatmen
labored cheerfully during the night watches,
and when at last the fog passed away, and they
beheld the clear cerulean sky above them,
they also rejoiced that a kind Providence had
directed their boats to a safe harbor on the
shores of the upper part of the city of New
York.
The elements, time, and circumstances, fav
ored Washington in his masterly retreat. On
one side he had to fear the forces of Howe,
who might pursue and cut off his retreat, and
on the other hand, if he succeeded in putting
off from the land, he stood in imminent dan
ger from the British fleet, which, if his move
ments were discovered, would soon send him
and his faithful band to a watery grave.
Again, he was liable to be exposed by some
stray British soldier or spy.
A woman Tory, Mrs. Rapalje, living near
260 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
the ferry, noticing the collection of boats and
the movements of the troops, suspected that a
retreat had been determined. Anxious to ap
prise her friends, the Tories, of the undertak
ing, she at once sent her negro slave to give
General Clinton the information. Fortunately
for Washington, the slave was captured by a
Hessian soldier, who, not understanding the
English language, could not comprehend the
importance of the message, and kept the slave
in the guard-house until morning, when he sent
him to Clinton's headquarters. When Clin
ton received the message the birds had flown.
The story was communicated to Howe, who
received it with blank astonishment. At first
he could not accept it as true. The scouts
reported that a dead silence rested upon the
American camp. Howe now feared that the
story might be too true, and that, " while he
slumbered and slept," Washington had es
caped. At last one of the guard crept close
to the works, and found that they had been
abandoned. The alarm was given, the crest
fallen British took possession, and, like Pha
raoh of old, pursued, to find that those they
sought had landed safely on the other side. 1
1 The wife of John Rapalje was a well-known Tory. So
far did she manifest her predilections in favor of the Tory
DURING THE REVOLUTION 261
Howe now took possession of the deserted
works. All the towns of Kings County were
in possession of the army, who had strong
garrisons in each. Meantime Howe made his
headquarters at Newtown. During the con
tinuance of the war thereafter, and for a period
of over seven years, Kings County remained
under the absolute control and domination of
the British.
Howe now made another effort to restore
the colonies to the mother country. The dis
aster and repulse which the Americans re
ceived in Brooklyn led him to suppose it a
favorable opportunity to accomplish his mis
sion of peace. He communicated with the
Continental Congress, and opened negotia
tions with a promise of pardon to all who
cause as at all times to boldly proclaim her sympathies for the
King. At the time the act was passed prohibiting the use of
tea, she, with her proverbial pertinacity and obstinacy, persisted
in its use, and so continued while the American army was in
the occupation of Brooklyn. On this account she became a
marked woman. Her conduct caused much discussion, and
drew down upon her the umbrage of the Whig militia, who
fired a cannon ball into her home while she was drinking her
favorite beverage. The ball passed close to her head and
lodged in the wall. This action not only seriously annoyed
the lady, but served to stir within her bosom the spirit of
revenge, and she eagerly awaited an opportunity to gratify her
spite. When she saw the preparations for the retreat of the
army her heart rejoiced, for she fancied that the moment had
arrived when she could mete out punishment to her enemies.
S. M. O.
262 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
would lay down their arms. He also added a
promise that the obnoxious laws which had
led to the struggle should be repealed.
The proposition came too late. No conces
sion but acknowledgment of independence
would satisfy the people. A conference was
held at Staten Island, whereat Benjamin
Franklin, John Adams, and Francis Rutledge,
the commissioners appointed by Congress to
attend the negotiations, refused to listen to
any terms of peace, except such as should
recognize the full and complete independence
of the colonies. Howe, having failed in his
effort, issued another proclamation to the peo
ple, and resolved to proceed and take the city
of New York.
The battle of Brooklyn cost the Americans
the loss of that brave general, Nathaniel Wood-
hull, who for nearly a year had acted as the
President of the Provincial Congress of New
York. He was in command of a part of
the forces, and was captured on the 28th of
August by a party of Tories under command
of Captain De Lancey, near the village of
Jamaica. Notwithstanding the fact that he
was a prisoner, and entitled to respectful treat
ment, he suffered great indignities at the hands
of his captors, who inflicted numerous sabre
DURING THE REVOLUTION 263
wounds, which resulted in his death. He was
at first taken to the Presbyterian Church in
Jamaica, where for the night he was confined
with other patriots. In the morning he was
placed on a hay-boat, and taken down Jamaica
Bay to New York Bay, and landed at New
Utrecht. Reaching the latter place he began
to fail very rapidly, and the officers, seeing his
days were numbered, allowed him to be car
ried to the house of Nicasius De Sille, where
he died as a true soldier, breathing blessings
on his countrymen, and willingly giving his
life in the cause he loved so well.
Woodhull was the hero of Long Island.
He rendered important service in the forma
tion of the state government, and was always
a leader who secured and retained the respect
and confidence of his constituents.
The occupation of Long Island by the Brit
ish did not accomplish the results anticipated.
The victory gained was barren. The authori
ties at home did not see in it anything to com
mend. In the light of present knowledge it
was passing strange that Generals Howe and
Clinton and Admiral Howe should have com
mitted so fatal a blunder as to attempt the
subjugation of the city of New York by a pas
sage of the army across Long Island. The
264 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
situation of Manhattan Island, extending into
the bay, with a wide expanse of water on each
side, presented an inviting field for an attack
upon the city. Admiral Howe, with his large
and well-equipped fleet, could have readily be
sieged New York, and forced Washington
with his little band of patriots to evacuate the
place. As it was he weakened his force, and
enabled Washington to concentrate his army.
Long Island being isolated from the main
land was of but little consequence to either
side. Had Howe with his fleet besieged the
city, and landed the military forces, their suc
cess would have been complete, as the Ameri
cans were not prepared to resist the invasion.
Such a policy would have resulted disastrously
to the patriotic cause. As we have already
stated, the battle of Brooklyn was never looked
upon by British authorities as at all creditable.
Whatever glory gathers round the engage
ment centres in the exhibition of military skill
displayed by Washington in the management
of the masterly retreat of the American army
from Long Island, and its safe arrival in the
city of New York.
Yet Washington was greatly distressed and
disheartened by the defeat at Brooklyn. In
referring to the battle in one of his letters
DURING THE REVOLUTION 265
written shortly after the disaster, he expressed
his feelings in unmistakable terms. He says :
" The check our detachment sustained on the
27th has disappointed too great a proportion
of our troops and filled their minds with appre
hension and despair. The militia, instead of
calling forth their utmost efforts to a brave
and manly opposition, in order to repair our
losses, are dismayed, intractable, and impatient
to return. Great numbers of them have gone
off ! in some instances by whole regiments,
by half ones, and by companies, at a time."
Washington was well-nigh discouraged by the
state of affairs. He had enlisted with the
purest motives, and ever manifested a spirit
of self-sacrifice. He regretted that the same
spirit did not abide with those who had with
him enlisted in the service.
Howe, having full possession of the Ameri
can fortifications on Long Island, determined
to use the fleet under command of his brother,
Admiral Howe. The vessels were brought
within gunshot of the city. The Rose, carry
ing forty guns, passed through Buttermilk
Channel and anchored in Turtle Bay, in the
neighborhood of Forty-second Street and East
River, to aid the other vessels then in the
Sound by a concert of action against the city.
266 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Washington, noticing the movements of the
ships of war, and foreseeing that the condition
of his army would not permit a defense, re
solved to leave the city. Before doing so he
summoned a council of his officers, who coin
cided with him in his views of the situation.
This was on the i2th of September. An or
der was issued at once for the removal of the
military stores across the Harlem River, and
a force was stationed at Kingsbridge.
General Putnam was left in command of
the city with about 4000 men. The main
body under Washington was stationed at Har
lem Heights. Washington was now sur
rounded with difficulties which required great
ability to overcome. The enemy had the men
and means to move on his works, and against
their attack he could offer but feeble resist
ance. It was a dark and doleful hour in our
history. In order to make no mistake it be
came necessary to adopt a decisive policy, and
to arrange plans whereby the advance move
ments of the enemy might be circumvented.
He considered it of the utmost importance to
ascertain the intentions of Howe and Clinton.
A council of war was called, and it was re
solved to send a man who could be trusted
into the enemy's ranks to gain the desired
information.
DURING THE REVOLUTION 267
In this emergency Nathan Hale, a young
and brilliant officer, volunteered his services.
Procuring the necessary disguise, Hale started
on the mission fraught with so much danger.
Passing over to Long Island, he entered unno
ticed and unobserved the enemy's line, suc
ceeded in making drawings of their works, and
gained full and complete information as to all
their intended movements.
As he was returning, he was recognized as
belonging to the rebel army, and was arrested,
and conveyed to the Beekman house, on the
corner of Fifty-first Street and First Avenue,
where General Howe had his headquarters.
He was at once tried, convicted as a spy, and
sentenced to be hung on the following day at
daybreak. It was a mercy to him that his exe
cution was fixed so speedily, as in the mean
time he was placed in the keeping of that
heartless scoundrel, Cunningham, whose after
deeds as provost marshal of New York have
rendered his name forever infamous. Hale was
kept in confinement during the night by the
marshal, who refused to give him a light and
writing materials to enable him to send a last
message of love to his aged parents and friends.
A kindly disposed lieutenant afterwards fur
nished him with pen and paper. Cunning-
268 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
ham, however, in the morning manifested the
natural atrocity of his disposition by rudely
tearing into pieces before his eyes the letters
which he had written, and at the same time
declaring " that the rebels should never know
that they had a man in their army who could
die with so much firmness."
On the morning of September 22, 1776,
Cunningham ordered the execution to pro
ceed, and at the same time required Hale to
make a dying confession. In the nobility of
his liberty-loving nature, Hale said: "I only
regret that I have but one life to lose for my
country." These brave words were his last
He was suspended on an apple-tree, and his
remains were committed to the grave without
any ceremony. He did not perish ; his name
will live as that of one of the heroes of the
Revolution. In the American army he was
universally beloved, and his untimely end filled
the hearts of his friends with deep-seated
hatred to their foes, and a renewed determina
tion to be avenged.
In this connection the following may not be
uninteresting. It is an extract from a letter
from New York, dated September i, I776: 1
" Last Monday we went over to Long Island,
1 Force's 5th series, vol. ii. p. 107.
DURING THE REVOLUTION 269
and about midnight we were alarmed by the
return of some of our scouting parties, who
advised us that the English were in motion,
and coming up the island with several field
pieces ; it was generally thought not to be the
main body, but only a detachment, with a
view to possess themselves of some advan
tageous heights, upon which near three thou
sand men were ordered out, consisting chiefly
of the Pennsylvania and Maryland troops, to
attack them on their march. The Delaware
and Maryland battalions made one party.
Colonel Atlee with his battalion, a little before
us, had taken post in an orchard, and behind
a barn, and on the approach of the enemy he
gave them a very severe fire, which he bravely
kept up for a considerable time, until they
were near surrounding him, when he retreated
to the woods. The enemy then advanced
towards us, upon which Lord Stirling, who
commanded, immediately drew us up in line,
and offered them battle in the true English
taste. The British army then advanced within
three hundred yards of us, and began a heavy
fire from their cannon and mortars, for both
the balls and shells flew very fast, now and
then taking off a head. Our men stood it
amazing well ; not even one of them showed a
disposition to shrink.
270 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
" Our orders were not to fire until the enemy
came within fifty yards of us ; but when they
perceived we stood their fire so coolly and
resolutely, they declined coming any nearer,
though treble our number. In this situation
we stood from sunrise to twelve o'clock, the
enemy firing upon us the chief part of the
time, when the main body of their army, by a
route we never dreamed of, had utterly sur
rounded us, and drove within the lines or scat
tered in the woods all our men except the
Delaware and Maryland battalions, who were
standing at bay with double their number.
Thus situated, we were ordered to attempt a
retreat by fighting our way through the enemy,
who had posted themselves and nearly filled
every field and road between us and our lines.
We had not retreated a quarter of a mile before
we were fired upon by an advanced party of the
enemy, and those upon our rear were playing
upon us with their artillery. Our men fought
with more than Roman courage, and I am
convinced would have stood until they were
shot down to a man. We forced the advanced
party which first attacked us to give way,
through which opening we got a passage down
to the side of a marsh, seldom before waded
over, which we passed, and then swam a nar-
DURING THE REVOLUTION 271
row river, all the time exposed to the fire of
the enemy. The companies commanded by
Captains Ramsey and Scott were in the front,
and sustained the first fire of the enemy, when
hardly a man fell.
" The whole right wing of our battalion,
thinking it impossible to pass through the
marsh, attempted to force their way through
the woods, where they were almost to a man
killed or taken. The Maryland battalion has
lost two hundred and fifty-nine men, amongst
whom are twelve officers : Captains Veazey and
Bowie, the first certainly killed; Lieutenants
Butler, Sterritt, Dent, Coursey, Muse, Prawl ;
Ensigns Coates and Fernandez ; who of them
killed or who prisoners is yet uncertain.
Many of the officers lost their swords and
guns. We have since abandoned Long Island,
bringing off all our military stores.
" Generals Sullivan and Stirling are both
prisoners. Colonels Atlee, Miles, and Piper
are also taken. There are about one thou
sand men missing in all. We took a few
prisoners. By a lieutenant we took, we un
derstand they had about twenty-three thou
sand men on the Island that morning. Most
of our Generals were upon a high hill, in
our lines, viewing us with glasses. When we
272 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
began our retreat, they could see the enemy
we had to pass through, though we could not
Many of them thought we would surrender in
a body without firing. When we begun the
attack, General Washington wrung his hands
and cried out, Good God ! What brave fellows
I must this day lose. Major Guest commanded
the Maryland battalion, the Colonel and Lieu
tenant Colonel being both at York. Captains
Adams and Lucas were sick. The Major,
Captain Ramsey and Lieutenant Plunkett
were foremost and within forty yards of the
enemy's muzzles, when they were fired upon
by the enemy, who were chiefly under cover
of an orchard, save a force that showed them
selves, and pretended to give up, clubbing
their firelocks until we came within that dis
tance, when they immediately presented, and
blazed in our faces ; they entirely overshot us,
and killed some men away behind in our rear.
I had the satisfaction of dropping one of them
the first fire I made. I was so near I could
not miss. I discharged my rifle seven times
that day, as deliberately as I ever did at a
mark, and with as little perturbation."
Washington, in a letter dated September 4,
1 776, addressed to General Schuyler, fixes the
number in killed, wounded, and prisoners on
DURING THE REVOLUTION 273
the American side in the Long Island battle
at from seven hundred to one thousand men. 1
In writing to the Massachusetts Assembly,
under date of September 19, 1776, Washing
ton states that the number in killed and
wounded of the enemy could not be ascer
tained, "but that it was pretty considerable
and exceeded ours a good deal." He also
says that the Americans lost eight hundred
men, three fourths of whom were taken prison
ers, thereby leaving only two hundred killed. 2
English writers upon this subject place the
loss on the American side at between three and
four thousand. These figures greatly over
step the mark, and were doubtless gathered
from the reports of those commanding gen
erals who desired to make it appear to the
home authorities that a substantial victory had
been secured.
The loss in the battle of Brooklyn is fixed
by the best authorities at not over a thousand
men. This, as we have seen, is the number fixed
by Washington himself, both in his letters and
official reports. Johnson, in his admirable and
exhaustive narrative of the campaign of 1776,
concurs in this view. These figures appear to
i Force, 5th series, vol. ii. p. 167.
8 Force, sth series, vol. ii. p. 399.
274 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
be a correct estimate of the loss sustained.
Certainly if as .many had been killed as re
ported by British officials, some tradition or
evidence would exist as to the vast number re
quiring burial after the battle, and subsequent
to the evacuation. The neutral inhabitants
remaining on the island would have found
abundant occupation in consigning so many
to mother earth. This alone would have ren
dered the occasion memorable.
The loss on the Tory side appears from the
returns made by General Howe to have been :
Commissioned officers : three generals, three
colonels, four lieutenant-colonels, three majors,
eighteen captains, forty-three lieutenants, and
eleven ensigns ; staff officers : one adjutant,
three surgeons, two volunteers ; privates : one
thousand and six. This includes nine wounded
officers and fifty-six wounded privates. 1
In the annals of the Revolutionary period
in Brooklyn, a conspicuous place is occupied
by the famous Rising Sun tavern. It stood
(and still stands) at the junction of the Bed
ford and Jamaica turnpikes in East New
York, and was an old-fashioned farm-house of
the Dutch type. This famous tavern, from
its prominent position on the King's highway,
1 Force, 5th series, vol. iii. p. 1057.
DURING THE REVOLUTION 275
was a resort for the burghers and farmers of
the island. The host, William Howard, was
very popular amongst the people, and the old
landmark, so prominent in the early history of
Kings County, has long been an object of
interest.
At this house, the day before the battle of
Brooklyn, an important meeting in reference
to the war was held. The house was situated
within five miles of the American intrench-
ments, which were in the neighborhood of
Bridge and Fulton streets. The American
army rested quietly, not dreaming of the im
pending danger. Meanwhile the British army
was not inactive. It was encamped at Flatbush.
Just after midnight it occupied the roads lead
ing to East New York, and pushed forward to
that suburban spot. The guides who had been
employed lost their way, and General Howe
found it absolutely necessary to obtain more
trustworthy leaders. In consulting upon the
subject, it was determined that William How
ard, the keeper of the tavern, being familiar
with the different passes, was the best man to
secure in the emergency. The approach of
the army had not been observed by the occu
pants of the wayside hotel. Suddenly the
bar-room door was forced open, and the ter-
276 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
rified family were aroused from their slumbers.
The guard sought and found the astonished
innkeeper, and quickly brought him before
the august generals Howe, Cornwallis, and
Sir Henry Clinton. It was their desire to
use this man to guide them over the hills and
through the woods to the little hamlet at Bed
ford, where it was supposed a large body of
Americans were encamped, whom the invaders
desired to outflank, and by a circuitous route,
if possible, gain the plain beyond, and thus cut
off their rear. Howard was perfectly familiar
with the intricate pathways. The interview be
tween Howard and the British officers was brief
and to the point. William Howard had a son
then only fourteen years of age. The events
of the evening left a vivid impression on the
lad's mind. In after years, in referring to the
adventures of that night, he said : " It was about
two o'clock in the morning of the 2yth of Au
gust that I was awakened by seeing a soldier
by the side of my bed. I got up and dressed,
and went down into the bar-room, where I saw
my father standing in one corner, with three
British soldiers before him, with muskets and
bayonets fixed. The army (numbering about
sixteen thousand men) was then lying in the
fields in front of the house. General Howe
DURING THE REVOLUTION 277
asked for a glass of liquor, and, after receiv
ing it, entered into conversation with William
Howard, and said : ' I must have some one to
show me the Rockaway path around the
pass.' "
To this remark Howard replied : " We belong
to the other side, General, and can't serve you
against our duty." General Howe then said :
" That is all right, stick to your country, or
stick to your principles ; but, Howard, you are
my prisoner, and must guide my men over the
hill." Howard, in the nobility of his nature,
objected to being a party to the betrayal of
his countrymen, but was silenced by the Gen
eral, who finally said : " You have no alterna
tive. If you refuse, I shall have you shot
through the head." ]
It was a painful task for Howard to thus
pave the way for the destruction of the Ameri
can army. He was led out under a guard,
which was directed to shoot him should he
attempt to make his escape. The entire march
was conducted in a cautious, noiseless manner,
and every precaution taken to be in readiness
for an attack. They succeeded in reaching
the road below the Bedford pass, and flanked
the position supposed to be occupied by the
American troops.
1 Corporation Manual of Brooklyn, 1866.
278 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Young Howard, who accompanied his father,
in giving an account of the march, says : " On
reaching the turn in the Jamaica road, my
father and myself were released and sent back
to the tavern, which we found surrounded by
the guard."
It may be well to state here that the Rock-
away path was a narrow pass across the hill,
forming now a portion of Evergreen Ceme
tery, and led from the Jamaica road to Bush-
wick lane, now the main entrance to the
cemetery.
In the legal documents of the time, the
roads were called the King's highways. The
Brooklyn and Jamaica road, which passed
through the hills near East New York, was
known as the King's highway. General Howe
named it, " the pass through the hills."
The name of the Clove road originated
from the fact that it passed through the clove
or cleft of the hills. By the British army it
was distinguished as the Bedford pass. The
valley through which the Flatbush road
passed, being densely covered with wood, was
called Valley Grove.
The enemy, having crossed over from Long
Island and effected a landing in New York
city on the I5th of September, immediately
DURING THE REVOLUTION 279
pushed forward to meet and drive before them
the forces of Washington, which movement
on their part culminated in the battle of Har
lem Heights. In that engagement, which was
short and fierce, the Americans lost, in killed,
1 6 privates, whilst the damage done to the en
emy was 74 killed and 274 wounded. Gov
ernor Clinton, who witnessed the battle, wrote
of it : " It has animated our troops, given them
new spirits, and erased every bad impression
the retreat from Long Island had left in their
minds. They find that they are able with
inferior numbers to drive their enemy, and
think of nothing now but conquest."
Shortly after the occupation of New York
by the British, and on the 2ist of September,
the city was visited by a great fire, which
quickly reduced a large part of it to ashes. It
is estimated that 500 houses were obliterated.
Trinity Church was destroyed, and the Lu
theran chapel, situated on the corner of Rector
Street, met the same fate. St. Paul's Church,
the oldest religious edifice now standing in
New York city, was saved by the energy and
superhuman exertions of the citizens. Long
may this old landmark resist the vandalism of
the age. The fire was looked upon as the act
of an incendiary. The Tory element of the
280 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
community, believing that it was caused by
the Sons of Liberty, accused them of the act.
Several citizens were arrested as accessories,
but were subsequently discharged, as no evi
dence could be produced on which to hold
them.
During this time the Continental Congress
continued to hold its sessions in the city of
Philadelphia.
On the 3ist of August, Washington sent a
letter to Congress wherein he gave an explicit
statement of the result of the council of war
held on Long Island, and the reasons which
led him to withdraw the troops from that
locality. By reason of this decision New
York city, and all its fortifications, was ulti
mately given up to the British fleet and army.
The new occupants, upon taking possession,
adopted measures to fortify and strengthen it
against invasion from the American forces.
After the occupation of New York by the
British army, large numbers of Tories, who
had been compelled to forsake the place by
reason of the stringent measures adopted by
the Committee of Safety against all who sided
with royalty, again returned to the city and
were warmly welcomed by the new authori
ties. Amongst the number who returned to
DURING THE REVOLUTION 281
their old haunts was Rivington the printer,
whose vituperations against the Sons of Lib
erty had in former times called down upon
him the wrath and enmity of the patriots.
The returning Tories held high carnival in
the city. They seemed to think that the
cause of the Americans was lost, and that
soon they would have undisputed control of
public affairs.
Kings County, which never had manifested
a strong patriotism, contained many who did
not greatly lament the triumph of the British.
The retreat of the American army from Long
Island served to strengthen the convictions
of the Tory adherents, and induced them
to embrace the opportunity afforded of for
saking what they conceived to be the "lost
cause," and give in their adhesion to the
Crown of England. Moreover, as we shall see
by later explanation, there was a peculiarly
heavy pressure placed on the loyalty of Kings
County.
It was under this pressure that in Novem
ber some of the largest freeholders in the
county of Kings met together and resolved
to accept the terms offered by Howe in his
proclamations. In order to gain favor with
the British authorities, an address was pre-
282 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
pared in the Uriah Heep style, in which it
was stated :
" We, therefore, whose names are hereto sub
scribed, freeholders and inhabitants of Kings
County, in the province of New York, reflect
ing with the tenderest emotions of gratitude
on this instance of his Majesty's paternal good
ness and encouraged by the affectionate man
ner in which his Majesty's gracious purpose
hath been conveyed to us by your Excellen
cies, who have thereby evinced that humanity
is inseparable from that true magnanimity
and those enlarged sentiments which form
the most shining characters, they beg leave
to represent to your Excellencies, that we
bear true allegiance to our rightful sovereign
George the Third, as well as warm affection to
his sacred person, crown, and dignity, to tes
tify which we and each of us have voluntarily
taken an oath (in the church at Flatbush) be
fore Wm. Axtell, Esq., one of his Majesty's
council for this province, in the following
words : ' / do solemnly promise and swear that
I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to
his Majesty King George the Third, and that I
will defend his crown and dignity against all
persons whomsoever. So help me God! And
that we esteem the constitutional supremacy
of Great Britain over these colonies, and other
depending parts of his Majesty's dominions, as
DURING THE REVOLUTION 283
essential to the union, security, and welfare of
the whole empire ; and sincerely lament the
interruption of that harmony which formerly
subsisted between the parent state and these
her colonies. We therefore hereby pray that
your Excellencies would be pleased to restore
this country to his Majesty's protection and
peace." *
This was certainly a model epistle, and
clearly demonstrated the character of the men
who endorsed its sentiments, or pretended to
endorse them, by appending to it their names.
As the common people had expressed them
selves so freely, the leaders, not to be outdone
in giving evidence of submission to royalty, a
short time afterwards presented to Governor
Tryon an address couched in terms of detesta
tion of the rebellion, and of warm admiration
for the Crown. It was a craven document,
evincing cowardice and lack of true manliness.
It ran as follows :
" We, the members of the Provincial Con
gress, the County Committee, and the Com
mittees of the different townships, elected by
the inhabitants of Kings County, feel the high
est satisfaction in having it in our power to
dissolve ourselves without danger of the county
being dissoluted, as it was by repeated threats
1 Onderdonk, Kings County, sec. 829.
284 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
some short time ago. We do hereby accord
ingly dissolve ourselves, rejecting and disclaim
ing all power of Congress and committees,
totally refusing obedience thereto, and revok
ing all proceedings under them whatsoever, as
being repugnant to the laws and constitution
of the British Empire, and undutiful to our
sovereign, and ruinous to the welfare and pros
perity of this county. We beg leave to assure
your Excellency we shall be exceeding happy
in obeying the legal authority of government,
whenever your Excellency shall be pleased to
call us forth, being of long experience well as
sured of your Excellency's mild and upright
administration."
This paper was signed on December 3 and
4. Amongst the parties who appended their
signatures to this obsequious missive are the
following, many of whom will be recognized as
prominent in the annals of the community :
Philip Nagel Denyse Denyce
W m Johnson Engelbert Lott
Evert Suydam I. Hubbard
Richard Stillwell Garret Wyckoff
Johannes E. Lott Richard Stillwell, Jr.
Rem Cowenhoven Rutgers Van Brunt
Nich Cowenhoven Adrien Hegeman
Joost Duryea Abram Laguare
Jeremiah Vanderbilt Derick Remsen
Stephen Voorhies Abram Voorhies
DURING THE REVOLUTION 285
Adrian Voorhies Isaac Denyce
Petrus Van Pelt Johannes Bergen
Leffert Lefferts John Vanderbilt
Wilh 8 Stoothoof Theodorus Polhemus
Casper Crisper W m Van Brunt
Isaac Cortelyou Jacobus Vanderwenter
Petrus Lott Cor 8 Wyckoff
Johannes De Bevoice Jeremias Remsen 1
That these men, who had served in official
stations in councils of the state, and who had
witnessed for a dozen years the aggressions
of the Crown, should so far submit to British
authority, and be willing to resume the yoke
when an opportunity was presented by con
certed action to throw off the shackles which
bound them to the mother country, is perhaps
sufficient evidence of the strain produced by
the peculiar situation in Kings County.
The militia, who had rendered but little ser
vice to the patriots, now followed the example
set them by their leaders, and, to gain favor
with the British officers, voluntarily raised and
contributed the munificent sum of ^310 8s
towards defraying the expenses of raising and
equipping a new battalion to be employed in
the service of the Tories. Howe and Tryon
rejoiced greatly over these manifestations on
1 Onderdonk, Kings County, sec. 830.
286 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
the part of the people of Kings County. Such
acts encouraged them greatly in their labors,
and led them to suppose that the war was
being carried on by a few zealous but hot
headed fanatics, who desired to enrich them
selves by a continuance of the rebellion. They
believed that they could control the rich, who
did not wish to part with their property to be
used in a prolonged campaign, and the poor,
who did not desire to be separated from their
families by compulsory service in the army.
General Howe and Governor Tryon, whose
position of late years had become merely nomi
nal, gladly accepted these evidences of obedi
ence to their mandates, and were careful to
scatter amongst them the assurance that " his
Majesty has observed with great satisfaction
the effusions of loyalty and affection which
break forth in the address of his faithful sub
jects, upon their deliverance from the tyranny
and oppression of the rebel committees ; and
the proof given by the inhabitants of Kings
County of their zeal for the success of his
Majesty's measures by so generously contrib
uting towards the expense of raising Colonel
Fanning's battalion cannot fail of recommend
ing them to his Majesty's favor." 1
1 Onderdonk, Kings County, sec. 830.
DURING THE REVOLUTION 287
No one, upon hearing of these manifestations
on the part of the people of Kings County,
would for a moment wonder that the leaders
of the rebellion against kingly authority should
at times feel discouraged and disheartened.
However, with so many who were faithless,
there were some who still were true to the
honored cause. The name of Major Barent
Johnson, father of the late General Jeremiah
Johnson, stands conspicuously amongst those
who were not ashamed to acknowledge alle
giance to the infant republic. Johnson was
ever distinguished as a patriot, and attested his
love of liberty, not only by words but also by
actions. On every occasion he fearlessly and
boldly advocated the revolutionary movement,
and was one of the officers of the Kings
County militia who would not truckle to
power, and who refused " to sell his heritage
for a mess of pottage." When the American
army retreated from Brooklyn he followed
their fortunes, and was encamped with them
at Harlem in 1776, and ever testified his love
of country by his willingness to serve her in
her hour of danger and trial. In the early
part of 1777 he was taken prisoner while
accompanying the American army to New
Jersey. Subsequently he obtained a parole
2 88 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
from General Howe through assistance of a
brother Mason, and returned to his home in
Kings County. He resided on the old farm in
the present nineteenth ward of the city, so long
known as the residence of General Jeremiah
Johnson. He did all he could to aid the
American cause. " In order to help on the
cause to which he was devoted, he shrank not
from personal and pecuniary risks, but sug
gested loans from friends in his county to the
American government, and himself set the
example by loaning, first, .700, and afterwards
sums amounting to $5000 ; all the security for
which was a simple private receipt, given, too,
in times of exceeding peril and discourage
ment, a noble and memorable deed." *
There were many signs during 1776 that
Kings County's disaffection was recognized.
At the session of the Provincial Congress
held June 21, the subject of preventing Kings
County from giving aid to the enemy was dis
cussed, and resulted in the passage of the fol
lowing resolution :
Resolved, That it be recommended to the
general committee of Kings County, imme
diately to take effectual measures that all
1 Rev. Dr. S. R. Johnson's Memorial Discourse on General
Jeremiah Johnson.
DURING THE REVOLUTION 289
boats and craft in the bay, on the south and
southwest sides of said county, be drawn up
or on the upland, to such a distance from the
water as to prevent as much as possible the
disaffected persons in that county from keep
ing up a communication with the enemy ; and
that the oars and sails belonging to the said
boats and craft be secured in the most effec
tual manner.
At this session Kings County was repre
sented by Mr. Lefferts and Mr. Polhemus.
On the roth of August the Provincial Con
vention (to which name that of the former
Congress had been changed), directed that
one half of the militia of Kings County and
Queens County be "immediately ordered to
march and put themselves under the command
of the officer commanding the Continental
troops on Nassau Island, to be continued in
service until the first day of September next,
unless sooner discharged by order of this Con
vention."
The Convention, having received informa
tion that the inhabitants of Kings County had
determined not to oppose the enemy, there
upon adopted the following resolution :
Resolved, That a committee be appointed to
s repair forthwith to said county, and enquire
2 QO HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
concerning the authenticity of such report, and
in case they find it well founded, that they be
empowered to disarm and secure the disaf
fected inhabitants ; to remove or destroy the
stock of grain; and if they shall judge neces
sary, to lay the whole country waste. And for
the execution of these purposes, they are di
rected to apply to General Greene, or the
commander of the Continental troops in that
county, for such assistance as they shall want.
The committee appointed in accordance
with this resolution consisted of Mr. Duer,
Colonel Remsen, Mr. Hebert, and Colonel
DeWit. 1
On the 1 3th of August the Convention, in
pursuance of the resolution passed on the
loth of August, relative to the Kings County
militia, appointed Colonel Jeromus Remsen
of Queens County, Lieutenant-Colonel Nich s
Cowenhoven of Kings County, and Major
Richard Thome of Queens County, as officers
of the militia ordered to be drafted from Kings
and Queens counties, and placed them under
the command of the officer commanding the
Continental troops on Nassau Island.
The Convention of Representatives of the
State of New York met again on the 2ist
1 Journal of Provincial Convention, p. 567.
DURING THE REVOLUTION 291
of August. The first subject which engaged
its attention was the character of the creden
tials presented by the delegates from Kings
County. The convention, upon examination
and due deliberation, came to the conclusion
that the same were defective, in that they did
not state "whether any, or what power was
given to the representatives therein named."
Considering that the representatives so elected
should be expressly authorized to assist in
framing and establishing a new form of gov
ernment, and thereby give in their adhesion
to the independence of America, the Conven
tion ordered that the said Committee of
Kings County be immediately informed of
said defect, to the end that a new election
might be held, whereat delegates clothed with
full power in the premises might be returned.
The Convention of Representatives on the
29th of August passed a resolution recom
mending to the inhabitants of Long Island
" to move as many of their women, children,
and slaves, and as much of their live stock
and grain, to the mainland, as they can," at
the same time "assuring them that Conven
tion would pay the expense of moving the
same."
There is much significance in the letter of
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
John Sloss Hobart to the Committee of Safety,
dated October 7, 1776, fairly stating the
causes which led to the apparent submission
of the citizens of Long Island to the British
Crown. He shows that the measures adopted
were from necessity and not from choice. He
says :
" Upon the retreat of the army from the
island they viewed themselves as abandoned
by the Convention, and expecting the enemy
hourly amongst them, a general removal ap
peared impracticable; besides, to quit their
pleasant habitations, and throw themselves,
with their tender connections, upon the charity
of an unknown world, was a degree of apathy
to which they had not yet arrived. In a fit of
despair they laid down their arms, and made
an unconditional submission to what they
supposed the inquiring army; 1 the people at
large being thus brought to terms, they found
it less difficult by threats to induce the indi
viduals who had formerly held commissions
under the Crown of Great Britain to resume
the execution of their offices ; being well led
into the snare, every measure tended to draw
the net closer about them. Notwithstanding
which, I am, from the best authority, informed
that they are accused by Mr. Tryon and his
minions of having submitted only the better
1 So in the original Journal of Committee of Safety, p. 671.
DURING THE REVOLUTION 293
to cover their intention of removing, and that,
unless the young men do voluntarily take
up arms against their country, an inveterate
and disappointed soldiery will be let loose
upon them. These considerations induce
me earnestly to wish that some measure
may be taken to induce the people to quit
the island, by offering a support to those
who cannot maintain themselves the aged
and infirm must be maintained at public
expense."
This letter reveals the true condition of
affairs, and forcibly states the motives which
led the inhabitants of Long Island to submit
to the aggressions of the British.
At the session of the Committee of Safety,
held on the 26th of November, some of the
inhabitants of the State of Connecticut pre
sented claims for expenses incurred in remov
ing stock and the poor inhabitants from Long
Island. A committee was therefore appointed
to collect and state these accounts, together
with the names of the persons bought of, the
quantity of stock, and the names of the per
sons to whom they belonged, together with
the place of their present residence, and report
the same to the convention of this State as
soon as possible.
This subject was again brought to the at-
294 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
tention of the Committee of Safety on the 3d
of December, 1776. At that meeting the fol
lowing letter was prepared and signed by the
vice-president and transmitted to Colonel H.
B. Livingston :
" SIR, The Committee of Safety have re
ceived accounts from different towns in Con-
necticutt, with their demands for transporting
stock and effects from Long Island. Some
are sent in by private persons, as employed by
you for that purpose. I am directed to desire
you to send me as particular an account as you
can of the stock and other effects you have
brought off Long Island, with the number of
cattle, sheep, and other stock, the names of the
persons to whom they belonged, and in what
manner the same was disposed of, and to
whom ; with such vouchers for the same as
you have taken. You will likewise inform us
of the number of families brought off by your
order, with the names of the heads of each
family, as far as in your power, with any other
particulars you may think necessary respect
ing the transportation and disposing of the
same."
" To COLONEL H. B. LIVINGSTON."
In January, 1777, the American prisoners
in New York were paroled and billeted on
the inhabitants of Kings County, Congress
DURING THE REVOLUTION 295
agreeing to pay a weekly stipend of two dol
lars for each for board. 1
Colonel Graydon, in his memoirs, presents a
very vivid picture of the scenes and incidents
connected with the sojourn of the prisoners
amongst the island farmers. He says that
" the officers of Colonel Mayan's and Colonel
Sher's regiments were quartered at Flatbush.
He, with another officer, was placed in the
house of Jacob Suydam." It was a large
house, with many additions erected at different
times, with doubtless a strange and weird ap
pearance. He states that "they were civilly
received, but that their presence was not wel
come to the Low Dutch, who did not like to
have their regular habits interfered with. Had
they been sure of receiving the two dollars a
week, it might have reconciled them. They
were, however, a people who seemed thoroughly
disposed to submit to any power that might
be imposed on them ; and whatever might
have been their propensities at an earlier stage
of the contest, they were now the dutiful and
loyal subjects of his Majesty George III. Their
houses and beds were clean, but their living
was extremely poor. A sorry wash, made up
of a sprinkling of Bohea and the darkest sugar
1 Onderdonk's Revolutionary Incidents, sec. 832.
296 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
on the verge of fluidity, with half-baked bread
(fuel being amongst the scarcest articles in
Flatbush), and a little stale butter constituted
our breakfast. At our first coming a small
piece of pickled beef was occasionally boiled
for dinner, but to the beef, which was soon
consumed, there succeeded clippers or clams ;
and our unvaried supper was supan or mush,
sometimes with skimmed milk, but more gen
erally buttermilk blended with molasses, which
was kept for weeks in a churn, as swill is
saved for hogs. I found it, however, after a
little use, very eatable, and supper soon be
came my best meal. The table company con
sisted of the master of the house, Mr. Jacob
Suydam, an old bachelor ; a young man, a
shoemaker of the name of Rem Hegeman,
married to Jacob's niece, who with a mewling
infant in her arms never failed to appear. A
black boy, too, was generally in the room ; not
as a waiter, but as a sort of enfant de maison^
who walked about and took post in the chim
ney corner with his hat on, and occasionally
joined in the conversation. Rem Hegeman
and Yonichy, his wife, gave themselves no
airs, nor was harmony with Uncle Jacob ever
interrupted but once, when soured a little he
made a show of knocking down Lieutenant
DURING THE REVOLUTION 297
Forrest with a pair of yarn stockings he had
just drawn from his legs, as he sat in the chim
ney corner one evening preparing for bed ; but
moments of peevishness were allowable to our
host, for we had been consuming his pro
visions while he had never seen a penny of
our money. The religion of the Dutch, like
their other habits, was unostentatious and
plain ; a simple silent grace before meat pre
vailed at the table of Jacob Suydam. When we
were all seated, he suddenly clapped his hands
together, threw his head on one side, closed
his eyes, and remained mute and motionless
for about a minute. His niece and nephew
followed his example, but with such an eager
solicitude that the copied attitude should be
prompt and simultaneous as to give an air of
absurdity to what otherwise might have been
very decent. " 1
Gray don refers to the peculiarities of the
Dutch in their habits, customs, and manners.
One which seemed to strike him with consid
erable force was the custom of never asking
people to " sit down to the table, but to sit
'by.'"
Judging from the Colonel's narrative, the
American prisoners must have had a good
1 Onderdonk's Incidents of Kings County, p. 174.
298 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
time at Flatbush. Although at times the en
forced inactivity was irksome, the prisoners
were favored with the presence of many esti
mable ladies who did much to render their
forced stay agreeable.
Meanwhile, the Convention of Representa
tives held short sessions on the 5th and 6th
of December, 1776, and again on the nth of
February, 1777, when they resolved to adjourn
to Kingston, which at once became the capital
of the State. On the 6th of March, a state
constitution was framed, and provision made
for a temporary form of government by elect
ing a council of safety. Abraham Ten Broeck,
of Albany, was president of the Convention
at the time of the passage of these important
measures. Theodorus Polhemus was the only
member from Kings County at this conven
tion.
In accordance with the resolution passed
April 20, 1777, providing for an ad interim
government, a council of safety was appointed,
and the Convention of Representatives was
dissolved on the I3th of May, 1777. Owing
doubtless to the disturbed condition of affairs
in Kings County, that county was not repre
sented in the committee.
The Council of Safety, at its session on the
DURING THE REVOLUTION 299
27th of June, in response to the petition of
Obadiah Jones and other refugees from Long
Island, reported the following resolutions :
Resolved, Thereby provided His Excellency
Governor Trumbull shall approve thereof,
Obadiah Jones, John Hulbart, and Thomas
Bearing, or any two of them, do give permits
to such refugees from Long Island as reside
in Connecticut as they shall think proper, and
at such times and under such restrictions as
they may judge prudent, to pass to Long Is
land to get off their effects.
Resolved, That Obadiah Jones, John Hul
bart, and Thomas Bearing, or any two of them,
be, and they are hereby authorized and directed
to remove, at the expense of this state, to the
county of Butchess, within the same, all such
refugees from Long Island, now in Connecti
cut, as are unable to maintain themselves, and
are willing so to be removed.
Resolved, That one hundred pounds be ad
vanced to the said gentlemen to enable them
to execute the above resolutions ; and that
they account with the auditor-general of this
state for the expenditure thereof.
Ordered, That the treasurer of this state
pay the said sum of one hundred pounds unto
Mr. Paul Reeve, to be by him conveyed and
delivered to said gentlemen or one of them.
Resolved^ That the persons so to be removed
300 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
shall, on their arrival in Dutchess County,
be under the care of and supplied with the
necessaries by Mess. Abraham Schenck and
Gerlim Van Veelon, commissioners for super
intending and providing for such of the in
habitants of this state in the said county as
have been driven from their habitations by
the enemy.
Kings County was not represented at the
first meeting of the new Senate at Kingston
in September. In the Assembly which met
and organized, William Boerum and Henry
Williams represented Kings County. These
gentlemen, owing to the peculiar condition of
affairs in Kings County, and the impossibility
of holding an election, were appointed by the
Convention, on May 8th, to represent the
county. The members of the Senate and
Assembly for the counties of New York,
Queens, Suffolk, and Richmond, were ap
pointed in like manner.
The Provincial Convention having insti
tuted the office of auditor-general, for the pur
pose of settling certain accounts, the appoint
ment to this office was given to Comfort Sands,
July 24, 1776, who held the place until March
23, 1782, when he resigned. In 1797 the
office was abolished, and that of comptroller
DURING THE REVOLUTION 301
was instituted in its place. Comfort Sands,
who filled the important position of auditor,
deserves more than a passing notice. During
his life he took a deep interest in Brooklyn
affairs, and owned considerable property in the
village. He purchased a part of the property
belonging to John Rapalje, whose wife, we
have seen, sent her negro servant to apprise
General Howe of the premeditated retreat
from Brooklyn on the 29th of August, 1776.
Rapalje's property extended along the water
front from the Ferry to the Navy Yard. He
was an influential man, and during colonial
times had frequently been a member of the
Assembly. When the war commenced in ear
nest, his family became identified with the
Tory element. A bill of attainder was passed
against him October 27, 1779, and he was
banished. When the British occupied Long
Island, he returned to his home, remaining
until 1783, when, with his family, he removed
to England. His estates having been confis
cated, Comfort and Joshua Sands, on the i3th
of July, 1784, purchased 160 acres of them,
bordering on the East River, for ,12,450, paid
in state scrip.
It might be well to state here that John
Rapalje was clerk of Kings County in 1775,
302 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
and continued in that office during the British
control. His successor, Jacob Sharp, Jr., did
not assume the office until 1784. When Ra-
palje removed to England, he carried with
him the town records. These documents were
very valuable.
A few years after the declaration of peace
Rapalje's granddaughter visited America, hop
ing to regain possession of her father's land,
upon the technical point that the confiscation
had taken place subsequent to the treaty of
peace. The advice of counsel was taken,
whose opinions were adverse to her claim, and
she abandoned the effort and returned to Eu
rope. When Mrs. Weldon, the granddaugh
ter, came to America, she brought with her
the missing records, and sought to sell and
dispose of them for $10,000. The inhabitants
looked upon the price as fabulous, and refused
to accept the offer. Had they been wise, they
would have asserted their rights, and by legal
proceedings secured the property, which be
longed to the town. By reason of the abstrac
tion of these documents a hiatus has been
created in the history, and much valuable infor
mation lost. The documents were taken back
to England. Even at this late date they prob
ably might be secured from the descendants
of the family.
DURING THE REVOLUTION 303
Comfort Sands, who by this purchase be
came interested in Brooklyn, was born at
Sands Point, L. I., in 1748. After serving
a clerkship he went into business on his
own account in 1769. When he resigned
his position as auditor, he resumed business
in New York. Having served in the Pro
vincial Congress, at the close of the war he
was again called into service. He was a
member of the Assembly in 1784-85, 1788,
and 1789.
Egbert Benson, of Queens County, was
appointed attorney-general by an ordinance of
the Constitutional Convention, May 8, 1777.
The council of appointment afterwards ratified
the act, and on the i5th of January, 1778,
granted and issued to him a commission. He
filled this responsible trust until May 14, 1789.
Egbert Benson was a man of culture. He
graduated at Columbia College in 1765. He
was a classmate of Robert R. Livingston, with
whom he was ever on intimate terms. They
served together in the different conventions
for the common cause. He was subsequently
judge of the New York Supreme Court, and
justice of the United States Circuit Court,
New York.
The treaty of peace between the American
304 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
and British commissioners was signed on Sep
tember 3, 1783. On November 25, following,
the British troops formally evacuated New
York and Brooklyn, and the flagstaff of the
Pierrepont mansion on the Heights, which
had been used for signaling during the battle
of Brooklyn, once more floated the American
flag.
UNIV:
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