It was required that the planters at the beginning should settle themselves near the mouth of the river, and set down in bodies, that they might be in a situation for intrenching and defending themselves. The commission made provision for the reservation of a thousand or fifteen hundred acres of good land for the maintenance of the fort, as nearly adjoining it as might be with convenience. Mr. Winthrop, having intelligence that the Dutch were preparing to take possession of the mouth of the river, as soon as he could engage twenty men and furnish them with provisions, dispatched them in a small vessel of about thirty tons, to prevent their getting command of the river, and to accomplish the service to which he had been appointed. But a few days after the party sent by Mr. Winthrop arrived at the mouth of the river, a Dutch vessel appeared off the harbor from New Netherlands, sent on purpose to take possession of the mouth of the river and to erect fortifications. The English had by this time mounted two pieces of cannon and prevented their landing; thus, providentially, was this fine tract of country preserved for our venerable ancestors and their posterity. Mr. Winthrop was appointed Governor of the Connecticut River and the ports adjacent for the term of one year. He erected a fort, built houses, and made a settlement, according to his instructions. One David Gardiner, an expert engineer, assisted in the work, planned the fortifications, and was appointed lieutenant of the fort. Mr. Davenport and others, who afterward settled New Haven, were active in this affair, and hired Gardiner, in behalf of their lordships, to come to New England and assist in this business. As the settlement of the three towns on Connecticut River was begun before the arrival of Mr. Winthrop, and the design of their lordships to make plantations upon it was known, it was agreed that the settlers on the river should either remove upon full satisfaction being made by their lordships, or else sufficient room should be found for them and their companions at some other place. While these plantations were forming in the southwestern part of Connecticut, another commenced on the west side of the mouth of the Connecticut River. A fort had been built here in 1635-’36, and preparations had been made for the reception of gentlemen of quality; but the war with the Pequots, the uncultivated state of the country, and the low condition of the colony, prevented the coming of any principal character from England to take possession of a township and make settlement in this tract.