CHAPTER VII.

BEFORE Printz arrived in Sweden the Government there had equipped and despatched for the Delaware, a "man of war called the Eagle." In this ship came JOHAN CLAUDII RISING, in the capacity of a Commissary and counsellor to the Governor, with Peter Lindstrom, military engineer, and surveyor general; and a number of military officers, and other forces.* This armament was evidently intended for warlike operations. Its object, as appears from its subsequent action, was to restore the Swedish supremacy on the Delaware. On its arrival in the bay, the ship was prepared for action, and rounding to, opposite Fort Cassimir, gave, as Acrelius informs us, "two salutes, and demanded the surrender of the fort, as erected on Swedish ground." As the commandant delayed to answer, longer than was deemed necessary, Rising landed thirty soldiers with a view to storm the fortificationt. This movement being wholly unexpected, and the garrison probably unprepared for effective defence, they surrendered without a struggle, upon favourable terms. Every one in the fort was permitted to carry away the property in his possession, whether it belonged to individuals, or to the West India Company. An inventory of all the public property was taken, and the people in the vicinity were permitted to remove, or, if willing to take an oath of allegiance to the crown of Sweden, to remain, and be protected under the Swedish government. The fort having been captured on the day called Trinity

*Rudman's memoirs at Wicaco.

+Rudman says Rising took the fort "by storm." Proud says it was taken "by stratagem." Neither give any authority for their statements. The probability is that the attack being wholly unexpected, the garrison was unprepared for an assault, or for a seige; and surrendered without conflict.

Sunday the Swedes named it Trefalldigheet, which being interpreted, means Trinity fort.

This is the first warlike movement that occurred on the Delaware, between the rival claimants of the territory. It had evidently been determined on by the authorities in Sweden. It was the act of a military commander, with military forces under him, just arrived from the seat of government; and was undoubtedly directed in the belief that the armament under Rising, when added to the forces already in the Colonies, would be entirely sufficient to subjugate or expel the Dutch.

The Swedes having thus appealed to the sword for the advancement of their colonial interests, the Dutch, under Stuyvesant soon took up the gauntlet. But the seat of their colonial power being at New Amsterdam, it required considerable time to prepare for effectual retaliation, which their governor had now determined to make. In the meantime, that the Swedes might be lulled into a state of self-security, and the more easily fall into the snare he was about to spread for them, he conducted his operations so quietly, as to leave Rising under the impression that nothing hostile was in contemplation by the Dutch authorities.*

Rising, pleased with his easy conquest, and intent to secure and extend the Swedish authority on the Delaware, set his Engineer Lindstrom to work at Fort Cassimir. He rebuilt it on a plan of his own, and made it a more formidable place of annoy

* Campanius says that the differences between Rising and Stuyvesant, in the year 1654, appeared to have been amicably settled. Camp. p. 84. Clay in his annals remarks, that "there seems to have been a want of good faith, or at the least the practice of some deception on the part of the Dutch. This 'amicable settlement' seems to have been only a cloak to preparations for more effectual hostility.”

to

We suppose Companius spoke only of appearances, and did not mean say, that any actual arrangement had been made between the parties. Of any such arrangement we have never seen the least evidence. There does not appear, in Stuyvesant's conduct, on this occasion, any thing inconsistent with the character of an honorable man-measuring his honor by the usual military standard.

ance and defence than before its capture. In the mean time another ship, called the "Golden Shark," loaded with merchandize, and having on board re-inforcements for the colonies on the Delaware, had been despatched from Sweden. By some unaccountable mistake, or some accident not stated by their annalists, this valuable ship got into the Raritan instead of the Delaware, and was captured by the Dutch. Captain Daswick, the commander, was made prisoner, with all the crew, and the ship with her valuable cargo detained as a prize by Stuyvesant, regardless of the captain's remonstrances.* This was the "first fruits" of Rising's aggression, which afterwards yielded so large a crop. With this exception, there was no hostile act on the part of the Dutch for almost a year after the capture of Fort Cassimir. The military preparations at New Amsterdam, were carried on with so much secrecy, as to excite no suspicion of their real object.

Soon after the arrival of Commissary Rising, Pappegoia, the Vice-Governor, returned to Sweden, and Rising assumed the supreme authority, taking the title of Director General over New Sweden. One of his first public acts as Governor was to hold a treaty of friendship with the Indians. He called a council at Printz-hall, on Tinicum, at which ten Sachems or Kings attended, representing differing tribes or clans in the vicinity. A distinguished Chief called NAAMAN was the principal speaker on that occasion. This council was held, as Campanius informs us, for the purpose of renewing "the ancient league and friendship" which subsisted between them and the Swedes, who had purchased of them the lands then in the tenure of the emigrants. The Indians, though it had been only sixteen years since the arrival of the Europeans, had found the proximity of the white race destructive to their people. They complained that "the Swedes had brought much evil upon them, for many of them had died since their coming into the country.”+ At a council held among themselves in 1645, they had debated the

* Acrel. p. 414.

† Probably from Small Pox, and other infectious diseases.

question, whether they ought not to exterminate the Swedes. On the present occasion Rising "soothed them with gifts," which he liberally distributed among them. The Indians afterwards held a conference among themselves, the result of which was a determination to maintain friendly relations with the Governor and his people. After this conference the Indians returned, and Naaman made a speech to them, in which, pointing to the presents, he exclaimed "Look and see what presents they have brought to us, for which they desire our friendship.” Mutual promises of kindness and fidelity were afterwards exchanged, and great guns fired to the vast delight of the Indians, who understood the roar of the cannon as a loud proclamation of the treaty. The object of this council was to obtain a ratification of the former sales of land, and the extension of the Swedish settlements, at Passyunk, near Philadelphia.

It is much to be regretted that so few of our rivers or smaller streams in the state of Delaware retain their Indian names; as the time is not very distant when these will be almost the only memorials of this interesting people. One stream, however, which discharges its waters into the Delaware, about two miles below Marcus Hook, is destined to perpetuate the name of NAAMAN, the distinguished old Sachem and chief orator at the great council on Tinicum. On the bank of that water he probably resided, and there wielded the mild sceptre of his chieftainship. The stream is well known by the name of "Naaman's Creek," and is so styled on our maps, and among the records of the county of New Castle.

The autumn and winter of 1654 passed away peaceably; the spring of 1655 arrived, and all was calm: but it was a portentous stillness, the prelude to a dreadful storm! Stuyvesant had determined effectually to prevent all future collision with the Swedes, by a complete subversion of their authority on the Delaware. This was rendered necessary by the policy of Sweden, as illustrated by the official instructions of her government and by the conduct of her deputies. There was left to the Dutch no hope of maintaining amicable relations with the

Swedes, without an abandonment of all their territory on the west side of the river. No alternative was left them but to expel or be expelled. Stuyvesant, who wanted neither intelligence nor decision of character, perceived the dilemma, and determined on his course. He had matured his plans, and was busily occupied in preparing for their execution.

The position of Sweden, at this juncture, was favourable to the designs of Stuyvesant. Her military glory, gained under the administration of Gustavus, had grown dim under the conduct of his successor. Oxenstiern, who, by his counsels and his influence, had elevated and supported the character of his country, was recently dead; and the kingdom, under the government of a vacillating and capricious princess, was weakened by dissensions, and had ceased to command respect.

At length, about the middle of August, with a squadron of seven armed ships and transports, containing between six and seven hundred men, Stuyvesant set sail from New Amsterdam, bound for the Delaware. Some time before the arrival of the fleet, the Indians, more watchful, or having more means of intelligence than the Swedes, had learned or suspected the designs of the Dutch, and had warned Rising of the danger; whereupon he caused Fort Trinity to be reinforced with men and supplied with ammunition. By written orders, directed to the commander, Swen Schute, he enjoined him to defend the fort, in case of an attack; but that, as the squadron should approach it, he should, if possible, send an officer on board, to demand the nature of their visit, and to warn them by no means to pass the fort upon pain of being fired upon. He directed him, that in case the Dutch should come as friends, and were disposed to make an amicable adjustment of their respective claims to the territory in dispute, and of its boundaries, to compliment them with a Swedish national salute, and assure them that the Swedes were disposed to cultivate and maintain with the Dutch a firm friendship.

The fleet arrived safely in our bay, and on the 30th of August sailed up to Fort Elsingburg, and anchored there for the night.