Peter of New Amsterdam: A Story of Old New York

While the people were working on the mill, the fort, and the storehouse, or at the quarry, Master Minuit, busy man though he was, found time to set up a regular government in this town of huts which he called New Amsterdam, himself being at the head of it with no one to say him nay, and a Council of five chosen by the West India Company from among the white people.

There was also a secretary for this Council, and a Dutch official, which in Holland is called schout-fiscal, which means about all of the offices that could be held in an ordinary village, for he was sheriff, constable, collector of customs, tithing-man, and almost anything else you chose to call him.

The secretary and the schout-fiscal were also appointed by the Company in Amsterdam, and every act of the Council, as well as the rules and regulations laid down by Master Minuit, were all to be approved by the gentlemen in Holland before our people would be bound by them. Thus it can be seen that while one might suppose the citizens of New Amsterdam made their own laws, it was in fact the West India Company which had full direction of affairs.

After a time, when I had been so far entrusted with the business of the settlement as to understand how it was conducted, I came to realize that all which was done by us of New Amsterdam was for the profit of the Company, rather than for the benefit of the people, and this finally came to be one of the causes which worked for the downfall of Dutch power in the New World.

A PROSPEROUS TOWN

Before I had been many days in charge of the Company's goods we began to drive a flourishing trade, for all those gentlemen who had set off with trinkets to buy furs, urged the brown men to go down to New Amsterdam and see what the white people were doing on the island they had bought at so generous a price.

And you can well fancy that these Indians were not slow in accepting the invitation. It must have been to them much like visiting a museum, or a menagerie, to come into our town and see another race of people working in a manner entirely different from their methods, and using tools which afforded a great saving of labor, the like of which they had never heard about.

Before two weeks were passed, there was never a day that from three to twenty canoes were not hauled up on the shore of the point, and these brown people were gathered around the fort, many naked, excepting for queer breeches and belt; others wearing a kind of cloak made of furs, and now and then one who had a mantle of some sort of feather work, but all burdened with bales of furs, deer meat, wild turkeys, ducks or anything which it seemed to them likely would be bought by these Dutch traders, who had of toys such a store.

I was kept busy from morning until night, trotting in and out of the house with this article or that, as whosoever was conducting the business commanded, and I dare venture to say that Hans was having a sorry time indeed, for the weather had grown warm, and his quarters in the log hut, with those ill-smelling pelts, must have been anything rather than pleasant.

The first event of great importance to us of New Amsterdam, was the loading of a ship to be sent home, and I am minded to tell you exactly how the cargo was made up, so that you may see whether the West India Company's servants had idled away any of their time.

There were 7,246 beaver skins, 1,781-1/2 otter skins, 675 poorer otter skins, 48 mink skins, 33 poorer mink skins, 36 wild cat skins, and 34 rat skins. The rest of the lading was made up of oak and hickory timber, while the whole of it was valued by Master Minuit at 45,000 guilders, and it is for you to find out how much that would be in the money of your own country.

Before this ship sailed we had gathered our first harvest, which was made up of wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, beans and flax, and in such quantity that, unless there should be large additions to our numbers, we had need to feel no anxiety regarding the winter's store of food.

I am telling you this that you may understand how industrious our Dutchmen were, to raise so much on land that at first sight one would have said was in no way suited for planting.

Now it was that our people began to use stone in the building of houses, and the first looked so comfortable that others were eager to have dwellings like it. The consequence was, that during this first fall after our arrival, there were no less than twelve stone dwellings in progress, while Master Minuit already had such a home as was a credit to any town which had been no longer begun than New Amsterdam.

QUARRELSOME SLAVES

It was during this year of our Lord, 1626, when the venture of making a village in the New World was well-nigh shown to be a success, that the first serious crime was committed, and one which cost, before many years had passed, much of white blood.

Among the laborers who had been brought over in the Sea Mew were nine negro slaves, the West India Company having sent them in the belief that because of their skins' being black they might do much toward gaining favor with the brown men.

In Holland these fellows had shown themselves to be fairly good servants, although not greatly given to industry; but no sooner were they landed in the New World than they became indolent and ill-tempered, seeming to believe that because of this country's being inhabited by people whose skins were dark, they were entitled to a full share of everything, with no longer the need to look upon any man as master.

The result of it all was that the negroes became troublesome, ready to quarrel with any man who crossed their path, and unwilling to do so much of labor as would have provided them with food to eat.

They swaggered here and there around the village, taking good care, however, not to cross Master Minuit's path, else would he have pulled them up with a round turn. At night, when the head men of the village were in their dwellings, these black fellows did not hesitate to quarrel with, or even illtreat, the hard working Dutchmen who had never a harsh word for any one.

Now I have heard it said later that Master Minuit was at fault because of his not giving to those negroes, when they first showed signs of being unruly, such a punishment as would never have been forgotten; but it must be borne in mind that my master was an exceeding busy man, having the care of everything whatsoever on his shoulders, from the cutting of stone to the dealings with the West India Company.

Then again, there is a question in my mind as to whether he knew how overbearing they were growing, for our people, realizing that his cares were many, suffered much in the way of small injuries rather than complain to him.

However this may be, I shall always hold that the behavior of these negroes was no affair of Master Minuit. Until some of the people had called his attention to it, matters went on as they began, with the black men growing more and more unruly.

A BRUTAL MURDER

Finally, a certain Indian, having with him a small boy, came down to trade twenty-two beaver skins for red cloth. Because of none of the gentlemen traders being near at hand when he arrived, I was forced to ask him to wait until nearly nightfall, and by the time he had finished his bargaining, darkness was come.

Now it was usual for these brown men, who lived at a distance, to shelter themselves for the night nearabout New Amsterdam in the dwellings of the Manhattan Indians; therefore no one gave heed to the fact that these two visitors went out from the fort at quite a late hour in the evening.

Exactly what happened, no one, excepting those concerned directly in it, could say; but certain it is that between the fort and the settlement of the Manhattan Indians, within an hour from the time I saw them last, this Indian and the boy were set upon by four negroes, who beat the man so brutally while robbing him of the goods he had just purchased, that he died before mid-night.

The boy escaped, as we learned later, so terrified that he dared not even trust himself among the Manhattan Indians, but hid in a swamp during a certain time, after which he rejoined his people.

The negroes were brought before the council; but only one was proven guilty, owing to lack of evidence, and this fellow was hanged off-hand, while the others, although declared innocent of the murder, were soundly flogged as a warning to others of their kind.

Not until several years had passed, did the Dutchmen hear further concerning this most brutal murder, and then it was that the boy, whose father, or uncle, had been killed, aroused the people of his tribe to wreak vengeance upon the white men, thus aiding and bringing about a most terrible Indian war, although we of New Amsterdam did not suffer through it as did others who, coming to this New World years afterward, were wholly innocent of doing any wrong to the brown men.

However, save that the trouble which resulted in much bloodshed, began there, the war has but little to do with New Amsterdam, and I shall say no more regarding it at present.

THE VILLAGE CALLED PLYMOUTH

I had thought that, having been given the office of storekeeper, I was like to remain all my days in the town, without having the privilege of going even on a trading ship, and yet matters so came about that I became a great traveler, so far as seeing the New World was concerned.

Shortly after we were come to New Netherland, Master Minuit heard from the savages that at a place called Plymouth, many miles from us, a company of Englishmen had made for themselves a village which was fair to look upon, and growing exceeding fast.

Now you may suppose that I had not been dumb during this time, when I was showing goods to the savages while our gentlemen made the bargains, but so I must have been had I not learned a word now and then of their speech, until, by using many signs in addition, I could carry on quite a conversation with such of the brown men as would stoop to make talk to a boy.

Therefore it was I understood Indian words far better than I could speak them, and when these stories were told concerning a company of English people at this new village of Plymouth, my heart went out to them, for was I not an English boy, and these my countrymen?

I had known, of course, that those of my race who once lived in Leyden, came to this New World; but that we might be anywhere near them never entered my head, until the savages told us of Plymouth, and then I said to myself that there could be no greater pleasure than to see these people who had been friendly with my father and mother.

I GO ON A VOYAGE

I also knew, because of hearing him speak of it to some of the gentlemen traders in my presence, that Master Minuit had sent a letter to the governor of Plymouth by one of the Indians, and a reply had come back; but more than that I heard nothing until the Secretary told me, one certain morning, that I was to make a sea voyage with him.

It was a direct command from Master Minuit, and I made ready without asking to what land we should go, because it was for me to obey, not to question; but I had a great hope that Hans Braun might not be put into the storehouse in my place, fearing lest he would not willingly give up the position, after learning how much more pleasing it was to handle the toys than the ill-smelling furs.

"We are to journey as far as Plymouth, where is a village in which English people live," the Secretary, whose name was that of a Frenchman and bothered my tongue, said to me when I went on board the pinnace Nassau, which had been made ready for the voyage.

One might have knocked me down with a breath, so astounded and overjoyed was I at the possibility of seeing my father's friends, and it was a full five minutes before I could set down an account of the goods that were being brought on board, for Master Minuit counted on sending a present to the governor of Plymouth, of no less value than a chest of sugar, near to an hundred strings of wampum, and three rolls of best cloth, each of a different color.

If it had been in my power to provide the wind for the voyage, it could not have been more favorable, and the _Nassau_ sent up a jet of spray from her bow, as we sailed down the river on the eastern side of New Amsterdam till we were come to what is called Long Island Sound, which is a vast inland sea.

Then we crossed the bay which is called Narragansett, because of the Indians of that tribe living along the shores, and afterward were come to a trading post belonging to the people of Plymouth.

A LUKEWARM WELCOME

It was as if my heart came into my mouth when I saw these English people, and I made no doubt they would welcome me warmly on knowing that my father was of the same religious faith; but they gave little heed to my words, and because of being received so coldly, I felt shame that I had rejoiced when the Secretary told me where our voyage was to come to an end.

However, we were not then at Plymouth, but nearly twenty miles away. That the Englishmen might have warning of our coming, word was sent ahead by one of the savages who had journeyed with us, that a messenger from the West India Company wished to visit Plymouth, and would do so if the governor of the town would send a boat to a point four or five miles from where we then were.

All this was done as the Secretary wished, and we walked across a neck of land, some of the people from the trading post carrying the chests of gifts, until coming to where a boat was in waiting.

Before another night had come we were in Plymouth; but it was to me as if I had met entire strangers, for none gave me the hearty welcome I had been hungering for, although my story was not doubted. I suppose there were too many like me in this wide world, and those who were battling against the wilderness and the savages, as were these people, could give but little heed to a lad who had no standing among men.

I was lodged in the fort, where were women who did by me as best they might; but my heart was sore because of disappointment.