The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. 2 (of 2): or, Illustrations, by Pen And Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for IndependenceLossing, Benson John
History
The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. 2 (of 2): or, Illustrations, by Pen And Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for Independence
Lossing, Benson John
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
John Printz succeeded Minuits as governor in 1643. With him came John
Campanius, from Stockholm, as chaplain for the colony. They came in
the ship _Fame_, accompanied by two war vessels, the _Swan_ and the
_Chantas_. Governor Printz selected Tinicum Island, * at the mouth of
Darby Creek, for a residence. There he built a strong fort of hemlock
logs, and a church, and beautified the neighborhood with orchards and
pleasure-grounds. Quite a village of fine houses, for the times,
sprung up, and New Gottenburg, as it was called, was for some years the
metropolis of New Sweden. Emigrants continued to arrive in considerable
numbers from Old Sweden, and they scattered neat dwellings and
cultivated acres all along the Delaware, from the present Wilmington to
Philadelphia.
In 1651, the Dutch determined to maintain their power on the Delaware,
and erected Fort Kasimer, on the south of Minquaas Creek, now the
site of New Castle, in Delaware. Printz protested, and also built
Fort Elsinberg on the Jersey shore, near the mouth of Salem Creek. The
garrison was soon put to flight by a foe more numerous and annoying
than Indians or Dutch, and the place was significantly named
_Mosquitoesburg_.
John Claudius Rising, or Risingh, succeeded Printz in 1652. Risingh was
more belligerent than his predecessor, and captured Fort Kasimer, either
by storm or stratagem, in 1654, hoisted the Swedish flag over it,
and called it Fort Trinity. Sven Schute, a bold Swedish warrior, was
appointed to the command of its garrison. This act excited the ire of
the Dutch at New Amsterdam, and in 1655 Governor Stuyvesant, with seven
ships, and six or seven hundred men, went up the Delaware, took all
the Swedish forts, and desolated New Gottenburg, on Tinicum Island.
The Swedes obtained honorable terms of capitulation, and the settlers
prospered under the Dutch rule. The Indians remained the firm friends of
the Swedes; and when the Dutch attempted to prevent a Swedish ship with
emigrants from passing up the Delaware in 1656, the natives interfered,
and the _Mercurius_ sailed up unmolested. The Dutch and Swedes continued
to occupy the Delaware in common for nine years, the former possessing
the political authority. In 1664, Charles the Second, of England, having
granted a charter to his brother James, the Duke of York, for the whole
of the New Netherlands, including the Dutch and Swedish settlements on
the Delaware, the English conquered the whole country, and changed the
name of New Amsterdam to New York. Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret
obtained a grant of the province of New Jersey from the Duke of York in
1665. The latter was appointed governor, and Bergen and other portions
of East Jersey began to be settled. That province was divided into East
and West Jersey in 1676. 'Lord Berkeley transferred his half of West
Jersey, in 1677, to John Fenwick, in trust for Edward Billinge, both of
them Quakers. Becoming embarrassed, Billinge transferred his interest
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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