History of the City of New York, from its earliest settlement to the present time ... Illustrated with ... engravings

Front matter

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, FROM ITS EAKLIEST SETTLEMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME. BT MARY L. BOOTH. ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER ONE HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS. NEW YORK: W. R. C. CLARK & MEEKER, 49 WALKER STKEET. MDOCCLIX. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S59, by W. R. C. CLARK & MEEKER, In the Clerk's Office of tne United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. W. H. TINSON, Stebieotypbk and Printer, Rear of 43 4 45 Centre St., N. Y. T O THE MERCHANTS OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, WHO, CHEEBFCLLT SACRIFICING THEIR INTEREST TO THAT OF THEIR COUNTRY IN THE REVOLUTION WERE THE FIRST TO PROPOSE A NON-INTERCOURSE ACT— THE LAST TO RENOUNCE IT, AND THE ONLY ONES TO MAINTAIN IT INVIOLATE ; AND WHO, BT THEIR ENERGY AND ENTERPRISE, HAVE MADE THEIR CITY AT THE PRESENT HUE THE COMMERCIAL METROPOLIS OF THE WESTERN WORLD, ffitis raoift is Instiiiti.

CONTENTS. CHAPTEK I. 1G09— 1C33. New York as it was — Aborigines of Manhattan— Causes which led to the discovery of the island— Early navigators— Discovery of Manhattan by Henry Hudson— Landing of the first white men — Death and burial of Colman— Hudson returns to Holland Opening of the fur trade — First houses built on the island— Building of "The Restless " — Organization of the New Netherland Company— Alliance with the natives — Charter granted to the West India Company — Cornelissen Jacobsen Mey appointed first Director—Arrival of the first colonists — The Walloons — William Verhulst appointed second Director — Organization of a Provincial Government — Peter Minuit appointed Director-general of New Netherland— Purchase of the island of Manhattan— Building of Fort Amsterdam — The Patroons — Building of the mammoth ship, " New Netherland, ' at Manhattan — Growth of the colony — Recall of Peter Minuit — His departure for Holland, and subsequent events, 21 62 CHAPTEE II. 1633—1643.

Arrival of Wouter Van Twiller — First clergyman and schoolmaster — Church built at Fort Amsterdam — " Special right " granted to the city — Contention between Van Twiller and Bogardus — The William sails to Fort Orange, and is forced to return — De Vries and the Director — English difficulties on the Connecticut River — Anthony Van Corlaer, the Trumpeter — Settlement of Flatlands — Purchase of Governor's Island by Wouter Van Twiller — Removal of the Schout Fiscal — Purchase of Pavonia — Recall of Van Twiller — Arrival of Wilhelm Kieft, the new Director — Reform of abuses — Peter Minuit at Fort Christina, — Liberal policy of the Company — Increase of emigration — Settlement of Staten Island — Settlement of Gravesend — The Jansens de Rapelje — English difficulties — Progress of the city — City lots — Tavern built at Coenties Slip — Church built at Fort Amsterdam — The Seawant currency, 63 — 101 CHAPTEK III. 1643—1664.

Preface

. The preparation of this work was first suggested by the need of collecting the floating facts relative to the history and growth of our city, and condensing them into a compact form for the use of the general reader. In the short space of two hundred and fifty years, New York has sprung up, as it were, by magic, from a hamlet of four wretched huts, into the commercial metropolis of the western hemisphere. The many changes that have occurred during this time have been noted by lovers of their native city, who have made collections from time to time of facts and incidents invaluable to the historian ; yet these are scattered among numerous volumes, where few have time to seek and unearth them. Histories of the State also abound ; but there is not a single history of the city of New York from its earliest settlement to the present time.

It has been the aim of the writer in the present work to remedy this deficiency in part, by collecting those important local facts most likely to interest the general reader, and embodying them in a continuous history of the foundation and growth of the city. It cannot be supposed that all the curious and interesting events of the past have thus been noticed — the task would swell volumes to so formidable a size that they would terrify the public, and thus defeat their own object — but it is hoped that nothing of essential importance has been omitted, and that the record given will be found authentic. Especial care has been taken to verify facts and dates by the best authorities, and nothing has been admitted xvli

PREFACE.

. XVIII which has not first been authenticated by reliable testimony. The plan of the work embraces the history of New York city from the earliest Dutch settlement to the present time. In the beginning, when the histories of the city and the province are inseparable, this necessarily includes the history of the early settlements on the Long Island, New Jersey, and adjacent shores. Later, it is confined to the city alone, retaining so much of the history of the State as is necessary to preserve the thread of the narrative unbroken, and to give the reader a comprehension of the general state of affairs. Especial care has been taken to collect the incidents of the Revolution, in which the city bore so prominent a part, and which are fast growing: dim in the minds of the citizens. In this, the writer begs leave to acknowledge the kindness of several distinguished citizens, lineal descendants of our oldest families, who have furnished valuable documents and information, which have been of essential aid in the preparation of the work.

Thanks are also due to the courtesy of the various city librarians, who have cheerfully rendered all the assistance in their power to the necessary investigations. Among the authors consulted have been Brodhead, Valentine, Bancroft, Hildreth, O'Callaghan, Irving, Smith, Dunlap, Moulton, Leake, Hardie, Watson, Horsmanden, and Heckewelder, to whom, with many others, of whose information the author has availed herself, she tenders cordial acknowledgments. For many of the designs in the work, she is indebted to the courtesy of- David T. Valentine, and William J. Davis, Esqs. There is certainly too great an indifference prevailing in respect to the memories of our city. But few vestiges of the past remain to us, and even these few are unheeded. In the hurry of business, our citizens pass and repass the grave of Stuyvesant and the tomb of Montgomery, unconscious of their locality.

The busy New Yorkers throng the Post-office, without bestowing a thought upon its eventful history ; the Park, the cradle of the Revolution, is to them a park, and no more ; the

PREFACE.

. XIX Bowling Green, where the Dutch lads and lasses erected their May-pole and danced around it, and where, at a later date, the patriotic citizens kindled bonfires in honor of liberty with stamp acts and royal effigies, is almost forgotten in the upward course of the tide of business ; and the Battery, with Castle Garden, has fallen into the hands of the Commissioners of Emi gration. We are more remiss than our neighboring cities. Boston never forgets to commemorate the anniversary of her tea-party ; few New Yorkers know even that a similar tea-party was held one night in their own harbor. Boston does not forget her "Massacre ;" New York is oblivious of her battle of Golden Hill, her fierce contests around the liberty-pole, and her thousands of victims from the pestilential prison ships.

The traditions of our Dutch ancestry are well nigh forgotten, and little remains of the once strongly marked individuality of our city. It is true that the influence still lingers ; that the broad, cosmopolitan character, the liberal, tolerant spirit, and the genial, hospitable nature ingrafted on the city by its eai]y settlers, still remain to it. It is true, too, that, as a general rule, New Yorkers think less of men than they do of deeds, and, provided that a thing is done, pay little heed to the means that conduced to its accomplishment. Yet this is in danger of being carried too far when it renders them forgetful of those memorials which it should be the pride and the glory of every people to cherish. If this work avail in any way to bring these records of the past before the minds of the citizens and inspire them with a love for their native or adopted city, it will answer the purpose for which it is designed.

Much time and labor have been bestowed on its preparation ; to what effect the public must decide. To their verdict, it is respectfully submitted. New York, June 1st, 1859. HISTORY OP THE CITY OF NEW YOEK.

Chapter I

1609—1633. Primitive New York — Aborigines of Manhattan — Causes which led to the Discovery of the Island — Early Navigators — Discovery of Manhattan by Henry Hudson— Landing of the first White Men. Two hundred and fifty years ago, the island on which now stands the city of New York was uninhabited by white men. The lower part of it consisted of wood crowned hills and beautiful grassy valleys, including a chain of swamps and marshes, and a deep pond. North ward, it rose into a rocky high ground. The sole inhabitants were a tribe of dusky Indians, — an off-shoot from the great nation of the Lenni Lenape, who inhabited the vast territory bounded by the Penobscot and Potomac, the Atlantic and Mississippi, — dwelling in the clusters of rude wigwams that dotted here and there the surface of the country.

The rivers that gird the HISTORY OF THE island were as yet unstirred by the keels of ships, and the bark canoes of the native Manhattans held sole possession of the peaceful waters. The face of the country, more particularly described, was gently undulating, presenting every variety of hill and dale, of brook and rivulet. The upper part of the island was rocky, and covered by a dense forest ; the lower part grassy, and rich in wild fruit and flowers. Grapes and strawberries grew in abundance in the fields, and nuts of various kinds were plentiful in the forests, which were also filled with abundance of game. The brooks and ponds were swarming with fish, and the soil was of luxuriant fertility. In the vicinity of the present " Tombs " was a deep, clear and beautiful pond of fresh water, (with a picturesque little island in the middle) — so deep, indeed, that it could have floated the largest ship in our navy, — which was for a long time deemed bottomless by its possessors.

This was fed by large springs at the bottom, which kept its waters fresh and flowing, and had its outlet in a little stream which flowed into the East River, near the foot of James street. Smaller ponds dotted the island in various places, two of which, lying near each other, in the vicinity of the present corner of the Bowery and Grand street, collected the waters of the high grounds which surrounded them. To the northwest of the Fresh Water Pond, or Kolck, as it afterwards came to be called, beginning in the vicinity of the present St. John's Park, and extending to the northward over an area of some seventy acres, lay an immense marsh, filled with reeds and brambles, and tenanted by frogs and water-snakes. A little Lispenard's Meadows as seen from the site of the St. Nicholas Hotel. rivulet connected this marsh with the Fresh Water Pond, which was also connected, by the stream which formed its outlet, with another strip of marshy land, covering the region now occupied by James, Cherry, and the adjacent streets.

An unbroken chain of waters was thus stretched across the island from James street at the southeast to Canal street at the northwest. An inlet occupied the place of Broad street, a marsh covered the vicinity of Ferry street, Rutgers street formed the cen tre of another marsh, and a long line of meadows and swampy ground stretched to the northward along the eastern shore. The highest line of lands lay along Broadway from the Battery to the northernmost part of the island, forming its back-bone, and sloping gradually to the east and west. On the corner of Grand street and Broadway was a high hill, commanding a view of the whole island, and falling off gradually to the Fresh Water Pond. To the south and west, the country, in the intervals of the marshes, was of great beauty — rolling, grassy, fertile, and well watered.

A high range of sand hills traversed a part of the island, from Varick and Charlton to Eighth and Greene streets. To the north of these lay a valley, through which ran a brook, which formed the outlet of the springy marshes at Washington Square, and emptied into the North River at the foot of Hammersly street. The native Manhattans belonged to that well-known race of North American Indians, the manners and cus toms of which have been made too familiar by repeated descriptions to require a detailed notice at our hands. These were the same in outline among all the tribes ; the chief difference lay in the individual character, and in this there was a marked distinction. One tribe was peaceful and gentle ; another, fierce and warlike ; a third, treacherous and cunning. The natives of the island of Manhattan were distinguished for their ferocity, in con trast with their peaceful brethren of the neighboring shores.

They lived in plenty on their beautiful island, che women cultivating maize, pumpkins, beans, and tobacco, and gathering the roots and berries which Nature so abundantly yielded ; the men scouring the forests in quest of game, and drawing stores of fish from the ponds and rivers. Their villages were scattered here and there in pleasant localities over the island — villages consisting of clusters of huts, made by twisting the tops of young saplings together, and covering them with strips of bark. Windowless and floorless were they, with boughs for doors, and a hole in the roof to let out the smoke. Yet each of these structures usually accommodated from six to thirty families, who lived in peaceful harmony together. Like most savages, they were fond of dress, and shaved their crowns, painted their faces, and adorned their deer-skin mantles and moccasins with feathers, shells, and wampum, in the most approved style.

This wampum, which served as a circulating medium among them, and afterwards became a recognized currency among the whites, consisted of small cylindrical beads, made from the white lining of the conch and the purple coating inside the muscle-shells — the purple beads being worth twice as much as the white ones. In common with their race, they were eloquent ora tors, trusty friends, crafty enemies, brave warriors, and cruel victors. Though at first disposed to receive their white visitors with favor and to treat them kindly, it was not long before their own jealous nature, together with the ever-present spirit of European encroachment, brought on the usual warfare, in which Indian sagacity and cunning was forced to succumb to the superior skill of the white man. Let us glance briefly at the causes which led to the discovery of this vast and hitherto unknown region.

At the period of which we speak, more than a century had elapsed since Columbus had first unlocked the door of the new continent, yet little was known of it in the old world beyond the bare fact of its existence. Its geography was wholly unknown to its new possessors. Its possible resources were totally disregarded ; in itself it was regarded as a thing of little value, and the chief utility of the new discovery was supposed to he in the easy communication which it might afford to the rich countries of the East. Now and then an adventurous navigator sailed along the coasts, landing here and there and erecting a flagstaff, and thus taking possession of the country in the name of his sovereign ; yet but few attempts at exploration had been made, and these few had proved, for the most part, unsuccessful.

Some of the explorers had penetrated a little way into the interior, and some had planted colonies which had soon been broken up by hardships and discouragement, but few had been able to gain much topographical knowledge of the countries which they claimed to own. The English had succeeded in establishing a small colony at Jamestown, and the French had founded a colony at Quebec, and made a settlement at Port Royal, but the rest of the country remained in the hands of the natives. In the year 1524, Francis I. had dispatched Jean Verrazani, a skillful Florentine navigator, with a squadron of four ships, to explore the coast of North America. Soon after their departure, three of these became disabled in a violent tempest, and Verrazani reached the island of Madeira with but a single vessel. Stopping here a few days to refit, he proceeded on his voyage, and reached the American coast, as it is supposed, in the vicinity of Wilmington, whence he coasted northward, and was the first to enter the bay of New York, which he thus describes : "After proceeding one hundred leagues, we found a " very pleasant situation among some steep hills, through "which a very large river, deep at its mouth, forced its " way to the sea.

From the sea, to the estuary of the " river, any ship heavily laden might pass with the help "of the tide, which rises eight feet. But as we were "riding at anchor in a good berth, we would not "venture up in our vessel without a knowledge of "the mouth ; therefore we took the boat, and entering "the river, we found the country on its banks well "peopled, the inhabitants not differing much from the " others, being dressed out with the feathers of birds of "various colors. They came towards us with evident " delight, raising loud shouts of admiration, and showing "us where we could most securely land our boat. We "passed up this river about half a league, when we "found it formed a most beautiful lake, three leagues in ' ' circuit, upon which they were rowing thirty or more " of their small boats from one shore to the other, filled " with multitudes who came to see us.

All of a sudden, "as is wont to happen to navigators, a violent contrary " wind blew in from the sea, and forced us to return to " our ship, greatly regretting to leave this region, which "seemed so commodious and delightful, and which we "supposed must also contain great riches, as the hills " showed many indications of minerals." This graphic description is the more worthy of notice, inasmuch as it is the earliest now extant of the island and natives of Manhattan. From here Verrazani pro ceeded to the haven of Newport, where he anchored for fifteen days, after which he coasted northward as far as the fiftieth degree of north latitude, then returned to France, where he published a brief narrative of his journey. To the newly discovered country, he gave the name of New France, a name by which Canada con tinued to be known as long as it remained in the possession of the French.

This discovery laid the foun dation for a claim by France on all the territory north of the Carolinas — a claim which she long continued to maintain. Previously to this, however, Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian by birth, in the service of Henry VII., had explored the country from Labrador to Florida, thus giving to England a prior claim upon the same territory. As has before been said, both nations had profited by these discoveries to make settlements in the country thus claimed by each, the one in Virginia and the other in Canada ; but at the period in which our history opens. the whole of the vast territory lying between these distant points remained in the possession of its first owners, the natives. It was not long before a third nation disputed the rich prize with them by virtue of the right of actual j^ossession.

At this time, the Dutch were the richest commercial nation on the globe. Having conquered their independence from Spain and their country from the sea, they turned their attention to commerce, and with such success that it was not long before their sails whitened the waters of every clime. A thousand vessels were built annually in Holland, and an extensive trade was carried on with all the European nations. But their richest commerce was with the East Indies ; and the better to secure themselves in this against all com petition, the merchants engaged in this traffic had, in 1002, obtained a charter of incorporation for twenty one years from the States General under the name of the East India Company, granting them the exclusive monopoly of the trade in the Eastern Seas beyond the Cape of Good Hope on one side and the Straits of Magellan on the other, with other valuable privileges.

This obtained, it next became desirable to shorten the passage thither, and thus to render the commerce more lucrative. The voyage to China by the only known route — that by the way of the Cape of Good Hope — consumed two years, and the time seemed long to the impatient merchants. It was thought that a more expe ditious passage might be discovered by the way of the Polar Seas, and three expeditions, under the command of Barentsen, Cornelissen, and Heemskerck, were dispatched, one after the other, in search of it. But they found nothing but ice and snow where they had hoped to find a clear sea, and returned after having endured unheard-of hardships, and earned a lasting fame as the earliest Polar navigators. The English, in the meantime, had not been idle. Jealous of the growing commercial prosperity of their neighbors, they determined on trying the experiment in which the Dutch had failed.

In 1607, a company of merchants fitted out a ship, and intrusted it to the com mand of Henry Hudson, an Englishman and an experienced and skillful navigator, with instructions to carve a passage through the Polar Seas to China and Japan for the benefit of England. But he met with no better success than his predecessors, and after two voyages, the merchants became discouraged, and refused to permit him to make a third trial. Hudson, however, was more than ever sanguine of the ultimate success of the enterprise, and as the Eng lish refused to help him to try again, he asked the Dutch to do so. They consented, and in 1609 the Dutch East India Company fitted out a yacht called the Half Moon, of eighty tons burden, which they manned with a crew of twenty sailors, partly Dutch and partly English, and intrusted it to the command of Hudson.

Hudson sailed from the Texel on his third expedition, on the 6th of April, 1609, hoping to reach the Indies by the way of the Polar Seas. After a stormy voyage, he reached the banks of Newfoundland early in July. Here he lay becalmed for some time, after which he steered to Penobscot Bay, where he remained a week to replace his foremast, which had been lost during the voyage, and to mend his rigging. Coasting southward as far as Chesapeake Bay, landing on his way at Cape Cod, which he mistook for an island and named New Holland, he retraced his course, and proceeded north ward to Delaware Bay, which he attempted to explore ; but finding the navigation difficult, he again put to sea, and, on the evening of the 2d of Sept., came in sight of the Highlands of Navesinck, which he describes " as a "good land to fall in with, and a pleasant land to see."

Here he remained all night, and setting sail the next morning came to what he describes as "three great "rivers," the northernmost of which he attempted to enter, but was prevented by the shoal bar before it. This was probably Rockaway Inlet ; the others, the Raritan and the Narrows. Foiled in this attempt, he rounded Sandy Hook, sending a boat before him to sound the way, and anchored his vessel in the lower bay. Seeing that the waters were swarming with fish, he sent a boat's crew to obtain some. They landed, it is said, at Coney Island, and were the first white men that ever set foot on the soil of the Empire State. We can easily excuse Hudson if he forgot the North ern Passage and the Polar Seas — the prime objects of his expedition — in the beautiful scene before him, and determined to explore this strange, new country, which was worth more than all the wealth of the Indies.

The shores were covered with gigantic oaks from sixty to seventy feet high, the hills beyond were crowned with grass and fragrant flowers, strange wild birds were flit ting through the air, and fish were darting through the sparkling waters. Friendly Indians, dressed in mantles of feathers and fine furs, and decorated with copper or naments, flocked on board the vessel, bringing corn, to bacco, and vegetables for the mysterious strangers. Hudson received them kindly, and gave them axes, knives, shoes, and stockings in return. But these arti cles were all new to them, and they put them to a new use ; they hung the axes and shoes about their necks for ornaments, and used the stockings for tobacco pouches. Hudson remained in the bay for a week, sending a boat's crew, in the meantime, to sound the river.

They passed through the Narrows, entered the bay, and came in sight of the grassy hills of Manhattan. Passing through the Kills, between Staten Island and Bergen Neck, they proceeded six miles up the river, and disco vered Newark Bay. On their return, the boat was attacked by the natives. An English sailor named John Colman was struck in the throat by an arrow and killed ; two others were slightly wounded, and the rest escaped to the ship with the dead body of their companion, to carry the tidings of the mournful catastrophe. This was the first white man's blood ever shed in the territory, and it is probable, though not certain, that the sailors themselves were the first aggressors. Colman was an old comrade of Hudson ; he had been the companion of his earlier vo)r ages, and his death inspired him with distrust and hatred of the natives, whom before he had regarded with favor.

On the following day — the 9th of September — the first white man's grave in these regions was dug on Sandy Hook, and the spot was christened Colman's Point in memory of the departed. On the 11th of September, 1609, the Half Moon passed through the Narrows, and anchored in New York Bay. Distrusting the fierce Manhattans, the captain remained there but a single day. Canoes filled with men, women and children, flocked around the ship, bringing oysters and vegetables ; but though these were purchased, not a native was suffered to come on board. The Half Moon ascending the river. The next day Hudson made his waj7 up the river which now bears his name, and through which he hoped to find the long-sought passage to the Indies. He called it the Groot Rivier. It was called by the respective tribes which inhabited its shores, the Shatemuc, Mohican, and Cahohatatea.

The Dutch afterwards gave it the name of the Mauritius, in honor of Prince Maurice of Nassau, by which it continued to be known until the name of its discoverer was properly bestowed on it by its English owners. Sailing slowly up the river, and anchoring at night in the friendly harbors so plentifully scattered along his way, Hudson pursued his course towards the head of ship navigation, admiring the ever changing panorama of the beautiful river with its lofty palisades, its broad bays, its picturesque bends, its ro mantic highlands, and its rocky shores, covered with luxurious forests. Everywhere he was greeted with a friendly reception. The river Indians, more gentle than those of the island of Manhattan, welcomed the strangers with offerings of the best that their land afforded, and urged them to remain with them.

Fancying that the white men were afraid of their arrows, they broke them in pieces and threw them into the fire. Game was killed for their use, hospitalities were urged upon them. and every attention which a rude but generous nature could prompt was offered to the strangers. Indeed, this seems in the beginning to have been the usual conduct of the natives, and it is probable that in their future hostilities, in nearly every instance, the whites were the aggressors. On the 19th of September, Hudson reached the site of the present city of Albany, which, greatly to his disap pointment, he found to be the head of ship navigation. To be sure of the fact, he dispatched the mate with a boat's crew to sound the river higher up, but, after pro ceeding eight or nine leagues, finding but seven feet water, they were forced to return with the unwelcome intelligence.

After remaining at anchor for several days, during which time he still continued to hold friendly intercourse with the natives, Hudson prepared to descend the river. His stay here was marked by a revel, the tradition of which is still preserved among the Indian legends, and the scene of which is laid by some historians upon the island of Manhattan. Various legends of a similar import concerning the introduction of the fatal "fire-water" are in existence among the different tribes of Indians ; everywhere the same causes produced the same results, and the multiplicity of these traditions may easily be accounted for. On the 23d of September, Hudson commenced to descend the river. He had ascended it in eleven days ; he descended it in the same time, constantly receiving demonstrations of friendship from the natives of the neighboring shores.