Chapter 5 – New Sweden on the Delaware

CHAPTER V
NEW SWEDEN ON THE DELAWARE

SWEDEN was now to become the competitor of France, and England, and Holland for a foothold in North America. The liberal mind of Gustavus Adolphus early discerned the benefits to his people of colonies and an expanded commerce; and William Usselinx, the projector of the Dutch West India Company, visiting the Baltic, quickened the zeal of the sagacious sovereign. Turning to Sweden and contemplating the complex beginning of her colonization project, which resulted in the planting of the first permanent organized settlement on the Delaware, in 1638 Christinaham, the site of which is now embraced in the city of Wilmington, one of the most noteworthy and curious facts, which presents itself to the student, is, that the three individuals chiefly instrumental in accomplishing that work were men who had already become prominent in the Dutch colonial enterprises. These were William Usselinx, Peter Minuit and Samuel Blommaert names with which the reader of the preceding chapter is already familiar, knowing them to have been respectively those of the first projector of the Dutch West India Company, in 1621; a Governor of New Netherlands and a patroon proprietor of great land tracts on the Delaware, one of which included the site of the unfortunate colony of Zwaanendael, upon the Hoornkill.

Usselinx, as has been shown, left Holland late in 1623 or early in 1624, impoverished and stung by the ingratitude of the Dutch. He went immediately to Sweden and there made, through Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, to King Gustavus Adolphus, the, then, most commanding figure in Europe and the chief defender of Protestantism, a proposition to establish a Swedish Trading Company to operate in Asia, Africa and America, but to especially direct its energies to the latter. Both King and Chancellor embraced the enthusiast's project, with alacrity, and their interest and assistance knew no abatement, save through the pecuniary embarrassments, political changes and wars which unfortunately ensued. Usselinx, in urging all the advantages that might accrue to the nation and individuals by the enterprise, stated that there were thousands of miles of shore in America where no Spaniards or Dutch had ever been, with fertile soil, and good climate, to the natives of which their superfluous goods could be sent and from whom other goods taken in return: that colonies might be planted on these shores to the great benefit of the mother country and vastly extending His Majesty's dominions, and that the causes of civilization and Christianity might be greatly advanced. “Above all,” said he:

     “It must truly be said that the most important object at which all pious Christians should aim, is that a knowledge of and friendship with so many different nations must serve most powerfully to the honor of God, which is effected partly by preaching the beatifying word of our Lord Jesus Christ to those nations who have hitherto lived in blindness, idolatry, and wickedness, so they will be brought to the light of truth and eternal salvation. In those countries where trade had hitherto been carried on, the natives, for want of a mild government, had been in a great part extirpated, and those that remained so much oppressed that life had become a burden to them.”*

For the settlement of such a company as Usselinx proposed the King granted letters patent, dated November 10, 1624, creating the Swedish South Sea Company which it was provided, should go into operation May 1, 1625, and continue twelve years, or until 1637. On the 21st day of the next month Gustavus Adolphus authorized Usselinx to travel through the kingdom and solicit subscribers to the stock of the Company and gave him a kind of general letter of recommendation in which he said:

     “The honest and prudent William Usselinx has humbly represented and demonstrated to us by what means a General Trading Company could be established here in our kingdom. We have taken his proposition into consideration, and find it is founded and based on such good reason that we cannot disapprove of it, but see, if God gives luck, that it certainly will tend to the honor of His holy name, to our States prosperity, and to our subjects improvement and benefit.”

A second charter for the company was granted by the King, June 14, 1626, which was similar in all essential matters to that of two years before, except that it changed the time for going into effect from 1625 to 1627. It consisted of thirty-seven articles and was introduced with the following words by the King:

     “Finding it serviceable and necessary to the welfare and improvement of our kingdom and subjects that trade, produce and commerce should grow within our kingdom and dominions, and be furthered by all proper means, and having received of credible and experienced persons good information that in Africa, Asia, America and Magellanica, or Terra Australis, very rich lands and islands do exist, certain of which are peopled by a well governed nation, certain others by heathens and wild men, and others still uninhabited; and others not as yet perfectly discovered, and that not only with such places a great trade may be driven, but that the hope strengthens of bringing said people easily, through the setting on foot commercial intercourse, to a better civil state and to the truth of the Christian religion, We Gustavus II. Adolphus, King of Sweden,” etc, “for the spread of the holy Gospel and the prosperity of our subjects”. . . . . have concluded to erect “a general company or united power of proprietors of our own realm, and such others as shall associate themselves with them, and help forward the work, promising to strengthen it with our succor and assistance.”. . .**

The charter fully set forth the objects of the corporation; provided that it should be open to all countries, cities and individuals, and that those of them who should bring one hundred thousand thalers should be entitled to appoint a director; guaranteed national protection; assured a crown subscription of four hundred thousand thalers; fixed numerous other details and prescribed a form of government for the company.

That the services of Usselinx were neither ignored nor inadequately estimated is apparent from the thirty-third article, in which he is most favorably spoken of and a plan established for his pecuniary recompense, viz:

     “Whereas William Usselinx, born in Antwerp, Brabant, has spent the most of his time in investigating the condition of the above-named countries, (the West Indies and America), and, according to the testimony of the States-General of the United Provinces, the late Prince Maurice of Orange, and several historians, that he is the first projector and beginner of the established West India Company in Holland, and has given the Lords States-General good instructions, so he has also given us, by his good advice and information, great satisfaction, he has obligated himself to remain in our service and communicate faithfully and candidly everything that came to his knowledge on the subject through long experience and industry, therefore have we, for his past and future promised services, trouble, labor and expenses, allowed him to receive from the company one out of every thousand (of florins) of all the goods and merchandise which shall be bought, traded, or sold, as long as trade continues to the countries mentioned in this charter. Thus the said company shall be obliged to pay one out of a thousand (florins) to Usselinx, his attorney or heirs.”***

The King was a profound, far-seeing statesman and liberal thinker; and he therefore proposed that freedom of conscience and speech should prevail in any colony founded under the Swedish aegis and that to it should be welcomed all exiles from the battle-torn fields of the old world. No slaves should tread its soil “for,” he said, “slaves cost a great deal, labor with reluctance and soon perish from hard usage. But the Swedish nation is industrious and intelligent, and hereby we shall gain more by a free people with wives and children.”

The project thus warmly endorsed by Gustavus Adolphus was received with enthusiasm by his subjects. “It is not to be described,” says one writer,(4*) “how much all these new schemes delighted the Senators, particularly that relative to the establishment of the West Indies (as America was then called), to which all people subscribed readily and generously, in conformity to the example set them by the king.” Ships were made ready and according to some authorities actually sailed for America,(5*) but fell into the hands of the Spaniards, and then the Thirty Years War being renewed and Sweden needing all her men and money at home, all further efforts towards colonization were for the time abandoned. During the period which followed there was little respite in the war and the consequent political turmoil, and the undivided attention which the successful maturing of the scheme demanded could not be bestowed upon it by those in authority. Finally came a serious blow alike to the country and the prospects of the company in the death of the brave and high-minded King, who fell in the battle of Lutzen, November 6, 1632. Almost his last act in civil affairs had been his extension of the charter to include Germany in the privilege of the company and his authorization to Usselinx to travel in that country to appoint assistants to collect subscribers. In this document dated October 16, 1632 (signed and sealed by Chancellor Oxenstierna) the King styles Usselinx, “Our now authorized Over Director of the New South Company, our dear and faithful William Usselinx.” After the King's death, on June 26, 1633, Oxenstierna in a public letter confirming his appointment as agent for Germany calls him “the first projector of the South Company, now appointed Over Director, the honorable, our particularly beloved William Usselinx.”(6*) The disastrous engagement with Germany in regard to the company was entirely broken off by the defeat of the Swedish army at the battle of Nordlingen, August 27, 1634, and Usselinx then endeavored, though ineffectually, to interest the French Government in the scheme.

And now in 1635, after nine years of, for the most part, well-directed but intermittent and productive labor, and too, amid the very same disadvantages which had defeated the original project, there was begun what was, in many essential respects, a new movment for the colonization of New Sweden, and one which culminated in success Concerning the affairs of this period in which the Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, Peter Minuit, Samuel Blommaert and Peter Spiring were the chief actors, a Swedish investigator (7*) has in very recent years discovered interesting data.

The King, a short time before his death, had freshly urged public attention to the trading and colonization scheme, and Oxenstierna, to whose wise guardianship, he had entrusted his little daughter, Christina, the future Queen of Sweden, officially reiterated his ell-known desires He also stated that the work was almost carried to completion, but was delayed by the absence of the King in the crusades, in Prussia and Germany and from other causes. Fully realizing the importance of the project which had been left him as a political legacy and trust, the Chancellor in the spring of 1635, while sojourning at the Hague and Amsterdam, made the acquaintance of Samuel Blommaert, the commercially ambitious Hollander, whose land investments on the Delaware have already been referred to, and after his departure, kept up a correspondence with him, which had the effect of giving a new impetus to Swedish-American affairs. One of the first of Blommaert's letters made inquiry as to the prospects of a Swedish expedition to Guinea, to which country and Brazil the attention of the Dutchman seems then to have been principally devoted, and subsequent letters dealt largely with a description of the commercial and maritime enterprises of Holland. In the following year Oxenstierna received a visit in Wismer from another Dutchman who was, however, engaged in the Swedish service and stood high in the esteem of the government. This was Peter Spiring, who was now sent to Holland on a commission to gain subsidies for Sweden from the States General and also “to observe whether it might not be possible in this conjuncture to obtain some service in affairs of commerce or manufactures.” He wrote the Chancellor, in May 1636, that he had held several conversations with Blommaert concerning the trade with Guinea, and had sought to interest in it him and other Dutch men of business. He also heard from Blommaert of the person best qualified to impart information on these subjects, viz., Peter Minuit, the leader of the first Swedish expedition to the Delaware.(8*)

Minuit, whom it will be borne in mind, was Director of the Council, or President of the Board of the Holland West India Company, and Governor of Netherlands, resident on the Island of Manhattan, from May 4, 1626 to 1632, was a native of Wesel, in the war-torn Cleves in the Rhine provinces of Germany. He was probably compelled to relinquish his position, in 1632, by the intrigue of a powerful faction of the company, and thereafter seems to have led a retired life, in Holland, until 1626, when he was brought into notice by Spiring.(9*) It was proposed that Minuit should journey to Sweden in the summer of 1636, “to aid the authorities with his counsel and superior information,” but he was unable to do so, and sent a written communication (dated June 15) in which he said:

     “As West India has been gradually occupied by the English, French and Netherlands, so it appears to me that the Swedish government should not remain inactive. Thus in order to spread its name in foreign countries, have I, the undersigned, been desirous to offer my services to the Swedish government, to begin on a small scale, which, through the blessing of God, may in a short time result in something great. In the first place I have proposed to Peter Spiring to make a voyage to Virginia's New Netherlands and other parts adjoining, safe places, well known to me, with a good climate, which should be named Nova Swedioe.”

He suggested that the Swedish Government might grant a charter to secure the trade from Terra Nova (Newfoundland) to Florida, and also grant power to capture Spanish and Portuguese vessels, and that the goods of the company should be made free from duty, both in and out, for a period of ten years. He thought that the company ought to “try to get there the sooner the better, and procure friendly terms with the wild inhabitants, so as to induce them to collect beaverskins during the winter; trade with them for four to five thousand skins. Thus, with a small beginning, increase the capital, so as to take more in hand afterwards.” Such an expedition as Minuit contemplated required a ship of from sixty to one hundred l'sters,(10*) with a cargo worth ten thousand to twelve thousand gulden,(11*) and a company of twenty or twenty-five men, with provisions for a year and a dozen soldiers to serve as a garrison for the colony which should be located, besides a smaller vessel to remain at the settlement. This proposition of Minuit's or one based upon it was read in the Swedish Rad, September 27, 1636, and seems to have been favorably regarded by that body as well as by Oxenstierna, Spiring, Blommaert and other interested individuals.

In the fall of 1636, Spiring was again sent to Holland, but this time as Swedish resident and “Counsellor of the Finances, ennobled under the name of Silfvercron till Norshalm (with which he coupled his own name, usually writing it Peter Spieringk Silvercroen of Norshalm). He immediately resumed negotiations with Minuit, and Blommaert, (the latter of whom was now made Swedish Commissary (12*) at Amsterdam), the final result of which was that the expedition to Guinea was given up, because regarded as ultimately involving too great expense and the coterie resolved to form a Swedish-Dutch Company, for the purpose of carrying on trade with and establishing colonies upon those portions of the American coast not already occupied by the Dutch and English. It was estimated that the cost of the first expedition would be about twenty-four thousand Dutch florins,(13*) half of which was to be contributed by Blommaert, Minuit and their friends and the remaining half to be subscribed in Sweden. Spiring was desirous of taking into their confidence other business men, but their companions protested against it and urged secrecy as the only safeguard against the frustration of their scheme by the Dutch West India Company. This affords a somewhat caustic commentary upon the methods by which the first Swedish colonies were planted upon the Delaware and explains why so little was known of the early movements towards that object by cotemporary historians. Blommaert was a member of the Dutch company, but no less zealous for the welfare of the Swedish enterprise on that score, and indeed he had been engaged in contention with the company, which, doubtless had its effect in making him a party to the new project, but it is, nevertheless, a notable fact that he was not taken into the confidence of his associates.

Minuit, when these preliminaries had been arranged, in February, 1637, went to Sweden and began preparations for the expedition of which it was agreed he was to be commander. The money required from Sweden was contributed by Axel Oxenstierna and two of his relatives, Peter Spiring and Clas Fleming, who was practically the chief of the Swedish Admiralty and secretary of the Swedish company. It was he who obtained the commission to fit out the ships, and he carried out the details of equipment with Minuit and Blommaert. The latter procured the crews of experienced men, in Holland, and also bought there the articles for the cargoes for trading purposes. Both men and goods were sent over to Gottenburg, whence the expedition was to sail in the spring, but owing to Minuit's being seriously sick, a long delay ensued. On the 9th of August, the Admiralty issued passports for the ships “Kalmar Nyckel” (Key of Kalmar) and “Vogel Gripen”(14*) (the Griffin, or Bird Griffin), the former a large man-of-war, the latter a sloop, to sail from Stockholm, and they did not leave Gottenburg until late in the fall. Even after sailing from this port, the vessels were delayed by adverse winds and stormy weather, and as late as December had to put into the Dutch harbor of Mendemblik, to repair damages and procure provisions. The thrifty Dutch partners were sorely worried by all of these vexatious hindrances and consequent expenditures, for already the expenses of the expedition had been calculated at thirty-six thousand florins, or half again as much as the sum which had at the outset been deemed sufficient and they were fearful that they would realize no profit from their venture. Minuit promised, however, upon his return, to induce the Swedish government to assume the extra expenditure and finally their minds were, in a measure, comforted by the departure of the “Key of Kalmar” and “Griffin” just as the year, 1637, drew to a close.(15*)

Of that old-time venturesome voyage across the ocean which resulted in placing the first permanent settlement on the shores of the Delaware River, within the boundaries of the State named for it, nothing definite is known. The passage was doubtless by the circuitous southern route, along the coast of Portugal and by the way of the Azores and Canaries to the West India Islands and thence northward, along the American shore, to the entrance of the Delaware Bay. What may have been the thought of the few persons on the two vessels, thus breasting the waves, day after day, in their progress towards a practically unknown land, may be partly conjectured. What vague hopes and vaguer fears filled some of those breasts may be imagined. They had heard misty and fabulous stories of the wealth, and salubrity, and luxuriance of the country to which the winds of heaven were bearing them and they heard, too, tales of the cruelty and blood-thirstiness of the strange race who dwelt there Some of them must have had knowledge of outrages committed in the country, and those who knew the actual destination of the ships were not, improbably, aware, also, of the awful fate of the Zwaanendael colonists Some of the sailors had, very likely, visited these shores before, in the Dutch service, and they and the commander Minuit knew something of the condition of the country, but the rest were in almost absolute ignorance of the situation and circumstances that awaited them. The mind of Minuit was, doubtless, filled with dreams of personal renown and of the future glory and enrichment of the company he represented. A few may, perhaps, have been piously praying and planning for the Christian enlightenment of the savages, (but this is doubtful, for the first clergyman was yet to come to the Delaware),(16*) and it is not probable that there were many religiously inclined persons among the emigrants, each and every mind, of that small but mixed assemblage, had its own thoughts of the half mysterious country to which they were bound and mingled with these misty musings were the distinct, almost photographically vivid, memories of the Fatherland, thousands of miles away.

Whatever the incidents of the voyage, the adventurers were blessed with a safe, and, for the times, a speedy passage. The winds that filled the sails of the stately “Key of Kalmar” and the little sloop “Griffin” were more propitious than those which wafted the early voyagers, for it is certain that they came across the Atlantic in a period not greatly exceeding three months, and five months was not an unusual time for a voyage to America in the ships of that distant day.(17*) The actual sailing of the expedition had occurred about the close of December, 1637, or the beginning of January, following, and the ships were upon the Delaware by the close of March, 1638.(18*)

The season was an early one, the vegetation well advanced, and to the eyes of the navigators accustomed, for three months, to rest upon nothing but a billowy waste of water, and having last seen land Sweden and Holland in the dead of winter, the sight of the shores of Delaware, already green, must have been a refreshing one and filled their hearts with happy anticipations. Wafted by balmy breezes that bore the first spring odors of the unlocked and warming earth of the bursting buds of vast forests and the grass and flowers of natural meadows, all doubly grateful to the people long-confined in crowded ships, pervaded by a composite stench, the pioneers sailed up the bay and gave expression to the exuberance of delight by naming the first place at which they landed for observation and refreshment, “Paradise Point” (Paradis Udden). To their famished eyes, the verdure-clad shore at this place (which was somewhere between the Murderkill and Mispillion Creek, in the neighborhood of Lewes, in Kent County) was, indeed, a feast of beauty an earthly paradise, all unmindful that the desolate site of Zwaanendael was only a few miles away.

The place which they were to make their home was not yet reached, and so after a brief enjoyment of liberty on shore, the people returned to the vessels and weighing anchor sailed up the bay and river, the latter of which they named Nya Swerige's Elf (New Sweden's River). Finally they arrived at the mouth of a stream of goodly size, the Minquas Kil,(19*) of which Minuit probably had some knowledge through the explorations of Captain Hendricksen,(20*) and doubtless with the fixed intention of locating upon its banks; the vessels steered into its channel and slowly made their way beyond the mouth of the Brandywine to the spot known as “The Rocks,”(21*) an excellent natural wharf, about one mile and three-quarters, following the course of the stream, from the Delaware. Upon these rocks the passengers of the “Key of Kalmar” and “Griffin”  the pioneers of Delaware disembarked and the cargoes of the two vessels were unloaded. Preparations were immediately begun to meet the wants of the people and to make the place habitable. Upon the ground, immediately back of the creek (which Minuit first called the Elbe, but soon changed to Christiana Elf, after the young Queen) was built Fort Christiana (“Christina Skauts”) a small enclosure having the general form of a square, and within the stronghold were erected two log houses for the abode of those who should form the garrison and as a place for the storage of provisions for them, as well as a depository for the goods brought to barter with the Indians. Immediately back of this fort, upon the rising ground, was afterwards laid out and built a small town called Christinaham or Christina Harbor, the first town within the boundaries of Delaware.

The fort extended almost to the Christiana and fronted upon it, while upon its eastern side was also water a litle cove or basin, (now filled up) which was called the Harbor large enough to admit several vessels. Upon the other sides were low sand banks and marshes except in the rear where the rising ground, already spoken of, gradually widened and extended back to the rolling hills on which Wilmington now stands. At that time there was much more water than at present about this place, and, indeed, it is probable that twice in every twenty-four hours, when the tide was at its height, the occupants of the fort could look from its ramparts or from “the Rocks” over a sheet of water extending to the New Jersey shore, and unbroken save by “Cherry Island.” The spot where the fort stood was called by the Minquas (or Mingoe) Indians whom Minuit found in the region Hopokahacking. From one of these Indians, a chief named Metasiment or Mattahoon, the commander bought, on March 29th, this site and probably considerable surrounding land, as much, the Indians afterward said, as “lay within six trees,” meaning certain trees, which had been designated by “blazing” or marking with an axe,(22*) and a little later he purchased a tract along the west shore of the Delaware, several days journey in extent, the bargain being ratified by five Sachems, and a written contract drawn up. After Minuit had thus acquired possession of the country, by occupation and purchase from the natives, he caused the arms of the Queen to be erected and named the colony, which he had planted, “NEW SWEDEN.”

The Dutch at Fort Nassau (Gloucester, N.J.) either by their own watchfulness through information received from the Indians, or possibly by reason of Minuit's appearance near their fort (for it is alleged he or some of his men ascended the river as far as Timber Creek) had early knowledge of the invasion of what they regarded as their domain. William Kieft, who was now the Governor of New Netherlands, had received intelligence of it at Manhattan Island by April 28th, about a month from the time of Minuit's arrival, receiving word from the commissary at Fort Nassau, for upon that date he wrote the directors of the West India Company that Minuit had landed on the Delaware and had begun to construct a stronghold and had tried to push on up the river beyond Fort Nassau, but had been prevented from doing so. The Governor at first ordered the commissary of Fort Nassau to protest against Minuit's action, and that official duly sent Peter Mey down to the Christiana to see the commander's license and commissions, which he refused to show. The Governor then, on May 6th, old style, or 17th, new style (the Swedes using the former and the Dutch the latter) sent the following solemn protest, in which he laid claim in behalf of the Dutch West India Company to the Zuydt River:

     “I William Kieft, Director-General of New Netherlands, residing on the Island of Manhattan, in New Amsterdam, under the sovereignty of their High Mightinesses the State General of the United Netherlands and the privileged West India Company's department at Amsterdam, make known to the Hon. Peter Minuit, who calls himself commissioner in the service of her royal majesty of Sweden, that the whole South River, in New Netherlands, has been in our possession many years, and has been secured by us with forts above and below, and sealed with our blood, which has happened even during your direction of New Netherlands, and is well known to you. Whereas you now do make a beginning of a settlement between our forts, and are building there a fort, to our prejudice and disadvantage, what we shall never endure or tolerate, and which we are persuaded it never has been commanded by her royal majesty of Sweden, to build fortresses on our rivers and along our shores, so is it that we, if you proceed with the building of forts, and cultivating the lands, and trading in furs, or engage further in any thing to our prejudice, protest against all expenses, damages and losses, and will not be answerable for any mishaps, effusion of blood, troubles and disasters which your company might suffer in future, while we are resolved to defend our rights in all such manner as we shall deem proper. This done Thursday, being the 6th of May, anno, 1638.(23*)

Minuit paid no attention whatever to the Governor's protest. This claim rested upon the prior discovery and occupation of the country, but they had wholly abandoned the west side of the river, and either because they regarded their claim as untenable for this reason, or for the reason that the charter of the West Indian Company prohibited the declaration of war without the consent of the States General, the Dutch submitted quietly to what they regarded as gross usurpation of the Swedes. Then too Kieft, became aware that Minuit's colony bore the commission of the Queen of Sweden, and he knew how distasteful to the Holland Government it would be, should he embroil the country with a great, powerful and warlike nation, with which they had made common cause in many momentous matters, and too there was a strong bond of sympathy between the Swedes and Dutch through their religion, both countries being Protestant. The two nationalities, however, were destined to clash seventeen years later and ultimately both to succumb to the English.

Minuit, after he had made such general provisions as he deemed proper for the little band who were to garrison the fort, prepared to return to Sweden. “He left a portion of the cargo he had brought out,” says Odhner's translator, “to be used in barter with the Indians, as well as twenty-three men, under the command of Lieutenant Mans Kling, the only Swede who is expressly mentioned as taking part in the first expedition,(24*) and Henrik Huyghen, who seems to have been Minuit's brother-in-law or cousin. It was enjoined upon these leaders (of whom the former appears to have been entrusted with the military, the latter with the civil or economical direction) to defend the fortress and carry on traffic with the natives.” These instructions appear to have been faithfully carried out, especially those in regard to trade, and the success of Swedish Indian affairs to have been established from the start.

It was probably in July that Minuit made his departure from these shores, which it was fated he should never see again. He had sent the sloop “Griffin” in advance to the West Indies to exchange the cargo brought out from Gottenburg, and he sailed upon the “Key of Kalmar” to the same place. He arrived safely at the Island of St. Christopher, succeeded in disposing of his ship's cargo, and was about to sail for Sweden, when an event occurred by which he lost his life. He went with his captain to visit a Dutch ship named “Het fliegende hert” (The Flying Deer) lying near, and while they were on board, one of those terrible hurricanes, to which the West Indies are subject arose, and when it was over and accounts of the disaster could be gathered, it was found that this particular ship was among the several lost. All of the ships in the roadstead had been driven to sea and all had suffered some damage, but it so happened that Minuit's own, the Key of Kalmar, was not only among those which escaped, but one of those which sustained the least injury.(25*) That Minuit was a bold, enterprising, patient man, cannot be gainsaid, and it seems cruel that he could not have been permitted to have enjoyed some of the results of his labor and at last to have slept in his native land or by the shore where he founded the first colony of New Sweden.

The “Key of Kalmar” ultimately reached a home port but not without meeting with other misfortunes than the loss of her commander. The Griffin after cruising about for a time in West India waters, returned to the little fort on the Christina. Furs had been bought there in considerable quantity from the Indians and well-laden with them, the sloop sailed for Sweden where she arrived near the close of May, 1639.

There now came about quite a change in the emigration scheme, so far as Sweden was concerned. That is, it became more national in character. The Swedish partners in the little company which sent out the Christiana colony, had from the first been united upon this policy (26*), for they foresaw what importance the colony under national and political relations, would assume. Clas. Fleming became the special leader of the work in Sweden, a position for which he was well fitted both by his connection with the company and by reason of the fact that he had become president of the college of commerce, which body henceforth gave close attention to the colony. In looking about for a successor to Minuit, they went again to the great maritime Dutch nation, and chose Captain Cornelis Van Vliet, who had been for several years however in the Swedish service. Having secured him as the commander of the proposed expedition they took steps towards finding a number of colonists, which was by no means as easy a thing to accomplish as it would be at this day. There being no applicants for free emigration the government ordered that certain of its officers in the provinces of Elfsborg and Varmland should take by force such married soldiers as had deserted or committed other offenses and transport them with their wives and children to New Sweden, at the same time giving promise that they should be brought home within two years. It was ordered however that this should be done “justly and discreetly” that no serious embroilment might ensue. Thus difficult was it to obtain “emigrants for America” two hundred and fifty years ago! Procuring funds for the expedition was another not easy task, particularly as Blommaert and the Dutch partners had become impressed with the fact that the whole enterprise had been managed more in the interests of the Swedish crown than their own, and they were all, Blommaert especially, exasperated by the very natural reproaches of the other members of the Dutch West India company for placing the Swedes in their American possessions. Thus Swedish colonization affairs were complicated, embarrassed and delayed. At last, however, and again with means supplied by Dutchmen-Blommaert and Spiring, the projectors of the second expedition were able to move. Once more the “Key of Kalmar” was equipped for a voyage to America. The vessel was fitted out and supplied with a crew in Holland and sailed for Gottenburg, where the emigrants were to be taken on board. Great difficulty was experienced in procuring them as had been apprehended, but finally a sufficient number were got together, and after the vessel had taken aboard cattle, horses, swine, implements for farming and a sufficient quantity of provisions she left Gottenburg, early in the fall of 1639. But she had proceeded no further than the German Ocean, when she sprang a leak, and had to put into port for repairs. Two other attempts to sail were frustrated by wind and bad seas and the incompetency of the captain, and finally the crew declared that they would not sail under such a commander as Van Vliet. He was accused both of carelessness and dishonesty in victualing the ship, and the charges being substantiated he was removed and the command given to Pouwel Jansen, “probably also a Dutchman,” and a new crew was likewise provided, and after suffering several delays the “Key of Kalmar” at last made her departure from the Texel on the 7th of February, 1640. Making an unusually quick voyage she reached Christiana on the 17th of April and her immigrants were added to the little colony there, of which more must be said anon.

At the time preparations were begun for this second expedition, in 1639, Peter Hollender (27*) was assigned to the office of Governor at Christina, and he sailed upon the “Key of Kalmar,” when she finally was permitted to leave. The pastor, Reorus Torkillus, also undoubtedly came over at this time; certainly not with Minuit, as several writers have stated. He was the first religious teacher in New Sweden; but little is known of his history, and he sleeps in an unknown grave, probably in the burial-ground of the Old Swedes church at Wilmington. (28*) As to the other immigrants by this second voyage of the “Key of Kalmar,” there is no exact date; but a document,(29*) among the Royal Archives of Stockholm gives the names of a number who must have come either by this or the first expedition, and who were therefore the first residents at Christina. These were Anders Svensson Bonde, Per Andersson, Anders Larsson Daalbo, Sven Larsson, Peter Gunnarsson Rambo, Sven Gunnarsson, Lars Svensson Kickin, Mius Andersson, Joen Throsson, and Marten Gottersson, -ten in all. It is interesting to note a few facts concerning the after life of these first dwellers in Delaware. For instance: Bonde, the first-mentioned in the list, who was born in Sweden in 1620, settled in 1644 at Tinicum, later removed to what became Philadelphia County, and in 1693 was assessed as the wealthiest inhabitant of that county west of the Schuylkill. He died between 1694 and 1696, leaving a widow (Anneka) who died in 1713, and six sons and four daughters, who perpetuated the family under the anglicized form of the name, Boon or Bond. Daalbo also moved up the river, and was the progenitor of a family which reached well down to the present. Rambo was another of those who came over in the “Key of Kalmar,” of whose people the line may be traced. Many of his descendants became prominent in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. And, again, Sven Gunnarsson left posterity, who, by the customary Swedish changes in names, came to be known as Svensson (that is Sven, son of Sven) which was soon anglicized into Swanson, the cognomen of a now very extensive family. Of several others named nothing is known beyond the first few years of their residence here, but enough has been said to show that the seed of the “Key of Kalmar” pioneers did not perish from the earth.

Reverting to the affairs of the now reinforced colony, it may be remarked that but little is known concerning it during the time between Minuit's departure and Hollender's arrival. The only document of local nature which has been preserved (in the Royal Archives of Sweden) is an account book kept by Henrik Huyghen from the year 1638, which yields no specific information. The colony is shown from other sources to have maintained the same healthful condition in which Hollender found it. They had been so active in the fur trade that they had damaged the Dutch trade, according to Governor Kieft himself, fully thirty thousand florins. The governor also reported that the colonists had become so distressed that they were about to leave, and had made preparations to do so, upon the very day that the Swedish vessel came to their succor,(30*) but the wish was very likely father to the thought. The Dutch had been irritated by the presence of the Swedish fort upon their own Zuydt river, and had issued several orders intended to embarrass, or intimidate them and to prevent further usurpations of their domain, among them being a prohibition of sailing on the Zuydt river without license.

Governor Peter Hollender does not appear to have entertained a high opinion of the colony, or to have been able to administer its affairs without friction. The immigrants seem to have been to few and not of the right class. They may have served very well to garrison little Fort Christina and to have supported it properly as a trading station, but they knew little of agriculture, upon which the colony must largely rely to become self-sustaining. The governor says in one of his letters (31*) to Chancellor Oxenstierna, “no more stupid, indifferent people are to be found in all Sweden than those that are now here.” They found too, that they had brought an insufficient supply of domestic animals.

Hollender was in favor of the most pacific attitude towards the Dutch up at Fort Nassau, and he had, in fact, been instructed to follow such a policy, but Kling and Huyghen upon whom the direction of affairs had rested during the period between Minuit's departure and the governor's arrival, were in favor of employing force in the event of Dutch obstreperousness, and of ignoring the arts of diplomacy. Hollender made a little voyage up the Delaware in a sloop, on the 21st of April, 1640, and, when opposite Fort Nassau, was fired upon three times, but he ignored the proceeding and calmly continued his way, and on his return he anchored and sent an amicable communication on shore. He received no answer other than several shots fired after the sloop as it passed down the river.

Governor Hollender's mission up the river was the purchase of Indian title and it was probably at this time that the land was bought on the west side of the river as far up as Trenton, for he set up three Swedish pillars for a boundary about eight or nine Swedish (thirty-two to thirty-six English) miles above Christiana, and subsequently erected one below the fort. There is no account of further occurrences in the colony at this time and indeed very little pertaining to any portion of Hollender's period of government which expired early in 1643. In May, 1640 the “Key of Kalmar” started on her homeward voyage and arrived at Gottenburg a few weeks latter. Mans Kling, the lieutenant who had had command of Fort Christina accompanied her under orders to recruit immigrants in certain regions of Sweden for strengthening the colony.

In the mean time preparations were making for planting an independent Dutch colony in New Sweden, under the patronage of the Swedish West India Company. This came about through certain jealousies and ill feeling in Holland towards the Dutch West India Company. The Swedish Government had become anxious to have its colonization schemes carried on independently of the very Dutch element which it had been glad enough to interest at first, and through whose aid the first and second expeditions were made successful. Steps had already been taken to buy out the Holland partners “since they are a hindrance to us,” although that result was not actually reached until February, 1641, when the sum of eighteen thousand gulden was paid for the purpose out of the public funds. The Swedes however had no objection to the settlement of Dutch people in New Sweden provided they were subject to Swedish rule. Thus the way was made easy for a private company formed of certain disaffected persons in the Dutch West India Company, living principally in the Province of Utrecht to form an independent settlement. One Herr van der Horst was the first to enter into negotiation with the Swedish Government, but the grant was subsequently transferred to Henrik Hoogkamer, or as it is more commonly spelled Henry Hockhammer and his associates, they as the charter states “having the intention of establishing a colony in New Sweden.” This charter called “Octroij und Privilegium” in imitation of the concessions common with the Dutch West India Company called “patroonships,” provided that the grantees might take up lands on the north (or west) side of the Delaware River, at least four or five German miles from Christiana, to hold the same under the protection of the crown of Sweden as hereditary property and exercise over the same high and low jurisdiction and bring it into actual cultivation in ten years. They were to recognize the suzerainty of the crown of Sweden and pay as tribute three imperial gulden for every family settled. In religion they were to prefer the Augsburg Confession of Faith but besides were to be allowed the privilege of the “so called Reformed Religion,” but in such a manner as to avoid all dispute. The patroons of the colony were bound to support “as many ministers and school-masters as the number of the inhabitants shall seem to require, choosing so far as possible for these offices, men who would be willing and capable in the conversion of the savages. They were to be allowed to engage in every industry, trade and commerce with friendly powers but were limited to the use of vessels built only in Sweden and were to use Gottenburg as the place for bonding all goods sent to Europe. They were exempted from all taxes for a period of ten years.

A passport for the ship “Fredenburg” was granted simultaneously with this charter and also a commission for Jost van Bogardt as Swedish agent in New Sweden, probably to live in the Dutch colony to be founded under the charter at least he is afterwards found in that position and as commander, with a salary of five hundred florins per annum. The “Fredenburg” duly sailed under command of Captain Jacob Powelson but with Bogardt as commander of the expedition, and arrived on the Delaware November 2d, 1640, the immigrants being settled, according to the best information now obtainable, about three or four (Swedish) miles below Christiana,(32*) which would place it in or near what is now St. George's Hundred of New Castle County.

This enterprise must not be confounded with the third Swedish expedition. It will be remembered that Lieutenant Mins Kling had in May, 1640, acccompanied the “Key of Kalmar” to Sweden, with authority to collect immigrants for strengthening the colony. He prosecuted this work zealously, having as a co-laborer one Lieutenant-Colonel Johan Printz, the same who subsequently became governor of New Sweden, and of whom we shall therefore have more to say later. They were particularly ordered to recruit in the mining districts, also from among the “roaming Finns,” who “were wont to live free of charge in the houses of the inhabitants of the Swedish forests,” and among the
“forest-destroying Finns,” many of whom had been imprisoned by the provincial governors. Thus they secured many individuals of the lawless classes, though the body of immigrants was not so constituted as a whole. Out of thirty-two persons secured for the expedition through the personal efforts of Kling, four were criminals, “but the remainder went either as servants in the employ of the company, or to better their condition.” The vessels of the expedition this time were the “Key of Kalmar” and the “Charitas,” the latter made ready at Stockholm. They sailed from Sweden sometime in 1641, and arrived duly on the Delaware, but the particulars of the voyage are wanting. A paper among the archives of the Pennsylvania Historical Society gives the names of some forty odd of the immigrants (many of them with families) who came over at this time.(33*) We are told that Lieutenant Kling brought with him his wife, child and a maid. There appears to have been also a priest Herr Christoffer (no surname is given in the original) with this expedition, but he could not have remained long in the country, for no further mention of him is found. It is stated that he came out for experience, stipulating for nothing but maintenance, although he received a present of one hundred daler copper money from the Riksamiral (or admiral) upon whose recommendation he embarked. Gustaf Strahl, a young nobleman, sailed also upon the recommendation of the admiral. Michael Jansson, the burgomaster's son, from Gefle, was another adventurer. The remainder of the arrivals appear to have been actual settlers, and the brief notes which we are able to give concerning them afford in many cases interesting suggestions in regard to the conditions which governed the colonization scheme, the character of the persons themselves, and the conduct of affairs during the early years of New Sweden's history:

Mans Svensson Loom a tailor, came out to engage in agricultural pursuits: was paid at the Staal five riksdaler, but drew no wages. He was accompanied by his wife, two daughters, and a little son, and was still living in New Sweden as a freeman in 1648.

Olof Persson Stille, of Penningsby Manor, Lnna Parish, Roslagen, a millwright, came to engage in agriculture; paid at the start fifty daler, drawing no additional wages but to be paid for whatever work he does accompanied by his wife and two children. His place of residence in 1655 is indicated on Lindstrom's map. In 1658 and subsequently he was one of the magistrates on the Delaware. He was still living in 1684, but died prior to 1693, leaving a son, John Stille, born in 1646, the ancestor of a well-known Philadelphia family.

Mats Hansson, or Jansson, to serve as gunner in the fort, and at the same time to engage in agriculture or the cultivation of tobacco accompanied by his wife. In 1644 a gunner at Fort Christina, in 1648 a freeman.

Anders Hansson, or Jansson, the gunner's brother, engaged by Kling as a servant of the company to cultivate tobacco, to receive as yearly wages twenty riksdaler and a coat; a freeman in 1648.

Axel Stille, same; naturalized in Maryland in 1661, but probably returned to the Delaware, for the name appears among those of persons living in Philadelphia County in 1683.

Olof Plasson, same, with twenty daler at the start.

Per Joransson, same.

Jan Ericsson, same; in 1648 a soldier.

Jacob Spruit, same.

Pal Jransson, or Jnsson, same, in 1648 a soldier.

Enert Hindricsson, a Finn, same; in 1648 still a laborer. Banished from Upland in 1663, he settled afterwards at Crane Hook (below the Christiana) and became captain of the company there. This individual was a participant in the insurrection of the “Long Finn,” for which offence he was fined three hundred guilders.

Lars Markusson, laborer.

Hindrich Matsson, a lad, to receive ten riksdaler as yearly wages, with ten daler copper money at the start; in 1648 a soldier.

Johan Andersson, same.

Olof Ericsson, same: in 1644 a laborer, appointed to make hay for the cattle, and to accompany the Governor on the little yacht; still a laborer in 1648.

Pal Smaal, a lad; served as a soldier and set out from Christina for Sweden on the “Fama,” June 20, 1644.

Carl Jansson, to accompany the expedition for punishment. He was a book-keeper in Kiexhalm in Finland, and had committed some misdemeanor for which he was transported. His behavior in New Sweden was excellent, and Governor Printz who, in 1643, placed him in charge of the storehouse, and appointed him to audit the commissary's monthly account, with a monthly salary of ten riksdaler, in February, 1647, urged upon the West India Company that he be permitted to return to his native country.

Mats Hansson was a servant, drawing no wages, “only to be supplied with needful apparel, because he had committed an offence and must accompany the expedition for punishment.” In 1648 a freeman.

Peter Larsson Kock, born in 1611, was to serve as punishment for necessary food and clothes; in 1648 a freeman, He held several offices under the government of the colony, and died at Kipka, in Philadelphia County, by March, 168889. He had at least six sons and as many daughters, and left numerous descendants.

Eskil Larsson, a deserter from the army, sent by the war office as punishment; in 1648 a laborer.

Clement Jransson, a courier and one of the “forest destroying Finns,” of the parish of Lund, in Vermland, enlisted for punishment in the soldiery and permitted by a local governor to emigrate. He became a freeman by 1648.

Eskil Larsson same.

Bartel Eskilson, son of the former, same. He became a freeman in 1648.

Hans Mausson, a trooper, same. He became a freeman in 1648.

Hindrich Mattsson, a Finn, same.

Lans Birsson, a laborer.

Livert, or Evert Livertson came as a freeman on the “Charitas” and was still in the country in 1648.

Mans Jransson, a Finn, sent out on the “Key of Kalmar” and subsequently became a freeman.

Mats Olofsson, came on the “Key of Kalmar” as a sailor; in 1648, a wood-sawyer,

Claes Claesson, a Dutch carpenter who came on the “Chritas;” in 1634, residing on the island at Christina (Cherry Island).

Laurens Andriesson Cuyper, a Dutchman, who came on the “Charitas;” in 1644, making tobacco casks, etc., at Christina.

Lucas Persson, who came as a sailor on the “Charitas;” in 1648, engaged, like Cuyper; in 1648, a sailor on the sloop in New Sweden.

Lars Thompson, from Vedding, came as a sailor on the sloop “Charitas;” in 1648, a sailor on the sloop.

Anders Christiansson Dreyer, in 1644, a miller at Christina.

Knut Martenssson Vasa, came as a sailor; in 1644, cultivating tobacco for the company at Christina; in 1648, a freeman.

Olof Thorsson, in 1644, engaged like Vasa; in 1648, still a labore.

Lars Anderson Ulf; in 1644, engaged like Vasa, in 1648, a cook upon the sloop.

Gottfried Hermansson, who came as a steward on the “Charitas,” in 1644, and in 1648, an assistant of the commissary.

During the year 1642 the colonization schemes of Sweden were broadened in scope, and perfected in organization; preparations were made for the fourth and greatest expedition, and a more elaborate and effective system of government for New Sweden was devised and brought into operation. The Dutchman Spiring still remained as one of the chief advisers and foremost promoters of the enterprise, and it was largely through his influence that a new company was formed of those interested, called the West India or American company, and also “Compagnie de Nova Suecia,” with a capital of thirty-six thousand riksdaler, afterwards considerably increased. One-half of this capital was subscribed by the old Southern Ship Company, one-sixth, or six thousand riksdaler, by the Crown, one-twelfth each by the great Chancellor, “the heirs of the great chancellor of justice,” and Spiring, one-twenty-fourth each by Claes Fleming and the treasurer and when the total was enlarged the sum of two thousand riksdaler by Henrick Huyghen, the commissary at Christina and twelve thousand riksdaler through the Southern Ship Company. Thus the new organization had at its disposal at least fifty thousand riksdaler, besides which it received a grant of the tobacco monopoly formerly bestowed upon the Southern Ship Company.

Chancellor Oxenstierna determined now, also, to appoint a governor and other officials for New Sweden and to pay their salaries out of the Crown funds. Lieutenant-Colonel Johan Printz, the same whom we have seen engaged in gathering recruits for emigration, was commissioned governor on the 15th of August, 1642, and on the 30th a “budget for the Government of New Sweden” was adopted, mentioning a governor with a salary of eight hundred riksdaler, a lieutenant, a sergeant, a corporal, a gunner, a trumpeter and a drummer, with twenty-four private soldiers. In the civil line, provision was also made for a clerk, a barber (surgeon), a provost and a hangman! The expenses of this government, about three quarters of which were to be collected from the excises laid on tobacco, it was found, would foot up the respectable sum of three thousand and twenty riksdaler per year, the amounts besides that to be paid the governor, being as follows: One lieutenant governor, sixteen rix dollars per month; one sergeant-major, ten rix dollars; one corporal, six rix dollars; one gunner, eight rix dollars; one trumpeter, six rix dollars; one drummer, five rix dollars; twenty-four soldiers, at four rix dollars; one paymaster, ten rix dollars; one secretary, eight rix dollars; one barber, ten rix dollars; one provost, six rix dollars, and one —– four rix dollars; making one hundred and eighty-five rix dollars per month. Special agents for the company were appointed in Gottenburg and Amsterdam, and Clas Fleming was placed in general charge of the whole home business of the company.

The most elaborate directions were given to the governor, contained in part in his commission, but more fully in “Instructions,” issued for his guidance. His commission dated, Stockholm, August 15, 1642, to go into effect January 1, 1643, was as follows:

     “Our faithful subjects having commenced visiting the West Indies, and having purchased in form, and already occupied a considerable part of that country, which they have named New Sweden, in consequence as their laudable project, the navigation which they have undertaken, and the cultivation which they are disposed to make, cannot but increase and facilitate commerce to give them more vigor and extent, not only have we approved their design, and taken the country and its inhabitants under our royal protection, but again to favor and strengthen the work which they have commenced, we have given to the country and inhabitants, our subjects, a Governor, and have named as we do here, by virtue of his letter patent, our very faithful subject, the above Lieutenant of Cavalry, John Printz for Governor of New Sweden. He engages to administer and govern said country and its inhabitants against all violence and foreign attachment, and to preserve above all, that country in safe and faithful hands. He must preserve amity, good neighborhood and correspondence with foreigners, with those who depend on his government and the natives of the country; render justice without distinction, so that there shall be injury to no one. If any person behave himself grossly, he must punish him in a convenient manner; and as regards the cultivation of the country, he must in a liberal manner regulate and continue it, so that the inhabitants may derive from it their honest support, and even that commerce may receive from it a sensible increase. As to himself, he will conduct his government, as to be willing and able faithfully to answer for it before God, before us, and every brave Swede, regulating himself by the instructions given to him.”

The “Instructions,” containing twenty-eight articles, after reciting the advantages anticipated to follow the measures already taken and those for which preparation was being made, set forth a multiplicity of detailed directions concerning the duties of the Governor. Upon his arrival in New Sweden he was to see that

     “The frontiers of the country extend from the borders of the sea to Cape Henlopen, in returning southwest towards Godyn's Bay, and thence towards the Great River, as far as Minquas kill, where is constructed Fort Christina, and from thence again towards South River, and the whole to a place which the savages called Sankiskan,(34*) which is at the same time the place where are the limits of New Sweden. This district or extent of country may be in length about thirty German miles; as to width in the interior, it has been stipulated in the contracts that the subjects of her majesty and company may take as much of the country as they wish.”

With the Dutch he was to cultivate a friendly intercourse, but positively to deny their pretended right to any part of the land on the west side of the river, purchased by the Swedes from the Indians and he was authorized, in the failure of all friendly negotiation, to repel force by force, but says the document:
     “Those Hollanders who have emigrated to New Sweden and settled there under the protection of her Royal Majesty and the Swedish Crown, over whom Jost von dem Boyandh (35*) has command, the Governor shall treat according to the contents of the charter and privileges conferred by her Royal Majesty, of the principles whereof the Governor has been advised; but in other respects he shall show them all good will and kindness, yet so that he shall hold them also to the same, that they also, upon their side, comply with the requisitions of their charter, which they have received. And, inasmuch as notice has already been given them that they have settled too near to Fort Christina, and as houses are said to be built at the distance of almost three miles from that place, they should leave that place and betake themselves to a somewhat greater distance from that fort.”

The English, too, were somewhat to be feared, for they had made a settlement on the east side of the Delaware Bay,(36*) and one article of the “Instructions” was devoted to the proposed treatment of those people by Printz:

     “Recently and in the year last past, viz, 1641, several English families, probably amounting to sixty persons in all, have settled and begun to cultivate the land elsewhere, namely upon the last side of the above-mentioned South River, on a little stream named “Ferken's Kil,”(37*) so have also the above-named subjects of Her Majesty and participants in this company, purchased for themselves, of the wild inhabitants of the country, the whole of this eastern side of the river, from the mouth of the aforesaid great river, at Cape May, up to a stream named Naraticen's Kil,(38*) which extends about twelve German miles, including also the said Ferken's Kil, with the intention of drawing to themselves the English aforesaid. This purchase the Governor shall always, with all his power, keep intact, and thus bring these families under the jurisdiction and government of her Royal Majesty and of the Swedish crown, especially as we are informed that they themselves are indisposed thereto, and should they be induced, as a free people, voluntarily to submit themselves to a government which can maintain and protect them, it is believed that they might shortly amount to some hundred strong. But, however that may be, the Governor is to seek to bring these English under the government of the Swedish crown as partners in this undertaking, and they might also, with good reason, be driven out and away from said place; therefore her most Royal Majesty will, most graciously, leave it to the discretion of Governor Printz to consider and act in the premises as can be done with propriety and success.”

In regard to treatment to the Indians he was counseled to “humanity and mildness,” and to see that “neither violence nor injustice was done them,” but he “must labor to instruct them in the Christian religion and the Divine Service, and civilize them.” To disengage them from the Dutch and English, he was directed to sell at lower prices than they.

The Governor was by every means in his power to encourage the fur trade, and agriculture, to promote manufactures and to search for metals and minerals; to ascertain whether whale fisheries could not be made profitable, and to investigate the condition of the country with reference to the propagation of silk worms. He had also to dispense justice. With all these divers and diverse duties, and many more, it will readily be seen that the Governor's office was one by no means easy to fill. Printz was, besides, to build, if necessary, a fort which should “shut up the South river,” or at least command it, but if he found Fort Christina adequate he was to turn his attention more particularly to agriculture, especially the cultivation of tobacco and to raise cattle and sheep, the breeds of which he was to improve by obtaining the best animals from the English and Dutch. He was allowed to choose his residence where most convenient, if a location at Fort Christina did not meet his approval.(39*)

The expedition of which Printz was made the commander consisted of the ships “Fama” (“Fame” or “Renown”) and “Svanen” (“Stork”). They left Stockholm August 16, 1642, and Gottenburg November 1st, arriving at Christina February 15, 1643, the time from the first named place just five months, or one hundred and fifty days, though the voyage proper from Gottenburg occupied but three months and a half. The Rev. John Campanius, who accompanied the expedition, has given an account of it in the work edited by his grandson. They took the usual circuitous southern course, sailing by the coasts of Portugal and Barbary, and the Canary Islands, stopping during the Christmas holidays at Antigua, where they were entertained by the Governor and resuming their voyage by way of St. Christopher, St. Martin's and other West India Islands, and thence eastward along the American coast. They were inside the Delaware Bay, off the Hoornkill on the 26th of January, and on the following day encountered a severe storm, accompanied by a blinding snow, in which the “Fame” was roughly handled, losing three anchors, a main mast, and spritsail, suffering other damages, and finally running aground, and being run off with great difficulty.(40*) Printz and his fellow voyagers disembarked at Christina, but he did not long remain there, and it is probable that but few of his men did. The Governor made his home, and built a fort at Tinicum, above Chester higher up the river, as will be shown hereafter, and it is probable that he took with him most of the people he had brought over.

Of these colonists who came to the Delaware with Printz in the fourth Swedish expedition there exists no complete list, but some of their names have been preserved.(41*) The most prominent character of all, not even excepting the Governor, was the clergyman John Campanius, made famous by the journals which he kept, pertaining to New Sweden, from which his grandson wrote the celebrated “Description of the Province of New Sweden,” a highly interesting, but in some respects untrustworthy work, and notable, too, as the finest translator of Luther's catechism into the Indian language. His name often appears as John Campanius Holm, the last word being added to designate Stockholm, the place of his nativity.(42*)

The Governor brought with him his wife and daughter Armgott, and Lieutenant Ma(ns Kling returned to the settlement.

Among those who were destined to become prominent among this last party, were Joran Kyn Snohvit and Elias Gyllengren. The former, (a soldier, in 1644) became the chief colonist at Upland (43*) and the latter, also a soldier, became celebrated for brave exploits. In May, 1654, he held the post of lieutenant and took part in the capture of Fort Casimir, by Governor Rising. “He forced his way into the fort by the order of Commander Sven Schute, took possession of the guns, and striking down the Dutch flag, raised the Swedish in its stead.”(44*)

Nearly all of those whose names have been preserved, came out as soldiers. Those not yet mentioned, were:

Anders Andersson Homan, born in Sweden, in December, 1620, was a soldier in the Governor's guard, at Tinicum, in 1644 and 1648. He lived at Carkoons Hook, in 1677 and at Trumpeters Creek in 1697. He left several children.

Hans Luneburger, a soldier in the Governor's guard at Tinicum, in 1644 and still a soldier in 1648.

Lars Andersson, same.

Nils Andersson, same.

Gregorius Van Dyck, sheriff, residing, in 1644, at Elfsborg, and holding his office until 1661.

Michel Nilsson, smith in 1644, at Upland.

Sven Andersson, drummer in 1644, at Elfsborg.

Jacob Svensson, in 1644, a soldier at Elfsborg, in 1648, a gunner at Fort Christina, in 1658, ensign.

Nicklaus Bock, or Borck, in 1644 and 1648, a soldier at Elfsborg.

Johan Gustafsson, in 1644 and 1648, a soldier at Elfsborg.

Peter Meyer, same.

Isack van Eysen, same.

Constantinos Grnebeogh, same.

Peter Jochimson, same.

Joen Nilsson Skneddere, same.

Johan Ofsson, provost at Christina, in 1644, in 1648 a soldier.

Lars Jacobsson, a soldier at Christina, in 1644 and 1648.

Thomas Joransson Timberman, carpenter in 1644, on the island at Christina.

Mrten Mrtensson Glaasere, in 1644, cultivating tobacco for the company on the plantation, at Christina; in 1648 a freeman.

With the arrival of the fourth expedition and the settlement of its people, the Swedish colonies in America may be considered as fairly established, and the schemes first advocated by Gustavus Adolphus, were at last sufficiently advanced to afford a tangible promise of the rich fruition which that monarch, together with William Usselinx, Minuit and others, had fondly hoped. Printz wrote (45*) “It is a remarkably fine land, with all excellent qualities a man can possibly desire on earth,” and yet the outcome was far from being what this auspicious begining would augur. The growth of the settlement, as a matter of fact, was feeble and tardy, a condition of things which is to be accounted for principally by the fact that the Swedish government did not appreciate the importance of the colonization project and was remiss in extending financial and other aid, when the struggling colony stood in sore need.

During the first year of Governor Printz's administration many of the settlers died, which Printz stated in his report,(46*) was due to hard work and the scarcity of proper food. Immigrants continued to arrive, and they appear to have been constituted of the same classes as in the beginning. Campanius says:

     “The generality of the people who went or were sent over from Sweden to America, were of two kinds. The principal of them consisted of the company's servants, who were employed by them in various capacities; the others were those who went over to that country to better their fortunes; they enjoyed several privileges; they were at liberty to build and settle themselves where they thought proper, and to return home when they pleased. By way of distinction, they were called freemen. There was a third class, consisting of vagabonds and malefactors; these were to remain in slavery, and were employed in digging the earth, throwing up trenches, and erecting walls and other fortifications. The others had no intercourse with them, but a particular spot was appointed for them to reside upon.

     “In the beginning of Governor Printz's administration, there came a great number of those criminals, who were sent over from Sweden. When the European inhabitants perceived it, they would not suffer them to set their foot on shore, but they were all obliged to return, so that a great many of them perished on the voyage. It was after this forbidden, under a penalty, to send any more criminals to America, lest Almighty God should let his vengeance fall on the ships, and goods, and the virtuous people that were on board; it was said that there was no scarcity of good and honest people to settle that country; but such a great number of them had gone thither (as engineer Lindstrom says), that on his departure from hence, more than a hundred families of good and honest men, with their wives and children, were obliged to remain behind, as the ship had taken as many on board as she could hold, and yet these honest people had sold all their property, and converted it into money, not imagining that they could be so disappointed,”(47*)

This statement of Campanius (like many others of his) is not to be relied upon as a whole. Printz's report (1647) shows that criminals were received up to that time, and yet, they must have formed but a small portion of the community, for the whole number of colonists, in 1647, was only one hundred and eighty-three souls (and many of them have already been shown to have been “freemen,” or otherwise indicated as people of respectable character). The report alluded to says, that of the total number, “twenty-eight of the freemen had made settlements,” and that a part of them were provided “with oxen and cows.”(48*)

Printz's ideas of tact and diplomacy resembled an elephant dancing. He was a bluff, coarse soldier, well described by the shrewd, observant, caustic Pietersen De Vries, as “Captain Printz, who weighed four hundred pounds, and took three drinks at every meal.” He lacked not in energy or decision of character. His alertness and aggressiveness made him a useful man in his time and place, and probably his administration was more valuable, to the colony at large, than would have been that of a really abler man, coupled with higher qualities than his greater weaknesses.

The Governor had not been long in New Sweden and it will be remembered he landed at Christina, February 15th, 1643 before he selected a home and the seat of government. To do this he went beyond the settlement already established, and beyond the present boundaries of the state of Delaware, to the island of Tinicum (now also the township of Tinicum, Delaware County, Pennsylvania) about two miles from the eastern limits of the city of Chester, then called by the Indians Tenacong, Tenicko or Tutaeaenung, “the convenient situation of which suggested its selection.”(49*) Here he built a fort or
block-house, of which Andreas Hudde afterwards said, “it is a pretty strong fort, constructed by laying very heavy hemlock (gnenen) logs, the one on the other;”(50*) a mansion for his residence “very handsome”  and a church, which preacher Campanius consecrated to Divine use on the 4th of September, 1646.(51*) Around the residence, which was called “Printz Hall,”(52*) orchards and gardens were laid out, and the ground was otherwise beautified. The fort, which was named “New Gottenburg” (“Nya Gothborg”), had a “considerable armament.” “On this island,” says Campanius, “the principal inhabitants had their dwellings and plantations,” and it is evident that it became the locality of chief importance in, and practically, the capital of New Sweden. Another fort was erected the same year (1643) on the east side of the Delaware, at Varkin's Kill, afterwards called by the English Salem Creek or Mill Creek. This was right alongside of the settlement of the New Haven people, on the opposite or south bank of the creek, at its confluence with the Delaware. It was named “Elfsborg” or “Wootwessung,” and later was called Elsinborg or Elsingborough.(53*) It had eight iron and brass guns, and one “Potshoof,” and according to Hudde, was usually garrisoned by twelve men, commanded by a lieutenant. This fort which was ready for occupancy in October, 1643, commanded the channel of the Delaware. “Its principal object,” says Acrelius, “was to search the Holland ships which came before it, and (which stuck very hard in their maw) to make them lower their flag.” Proud and sturdy David Pietersen De Vries, the founder of the first settlement on the Delaware (the unfortunate colony of Zwaanendael at the Hoornkill), when he attempted to pass up the river in October, 1643, was compelled to halt, duck his flag and give an account of himself, and must have experienced a grim sense of the change which a few years had wrought. Hudde says: “By means of this fort. . . Printz closed the entrance of the river so that all vessels, either those arrived from hence (New Amsterdam) or other places, are compelled to cast their anchor, not excepting those of the Noble Company (the Dutch West India Company), as is evident from several yachts coming from the Manhattans, which, wishing to pursue their voyage towards the place of their destination without stopping often, were injured by cannon balls, and were in imminent danger of losing some of their crew; so that they must proceed with small craft, upwards of six miles, towards the aforesaid Printz, to obtain his consent, that they might sail higher up the river, no matter whether they are English-men or Netherlanders, without paying any regard to their commissions.”(54*)

Printz was as arbitrary and violent towards the English as to the Dutch. The latter people, it will be remembered, had expelled the New Haven settlers from Varkin's Kill, and they now returned only to experience the peculiar tender mercies of the Swedish Governor. They were led by the same Lamberton who had before been their most prominent man, and it was doubtless his purpose to replant the settlement. While Lamberton's sloop, the “Cock,” was lying at anchor somewhere in the river between Fort Elfsborg and Christina, Printz induced him and two of his men to come to Fort Gottenburg where he placed them in irons, and threw them into prison. He put the irons upon Lamberton with his own hands, and he and his wife made the inferiors all drunk, and by promises of rich reward and other means, endeavored to induce them to swear that Lamberton was inciting an Indian insurrection.(55*) They remained true, however, and Printz had after a few days to release his prisoners without accomplishing his purpose. Lamberton, before regaining his liberty, had to pay a “weight of beaver,” and receive a vigorous cursing from the burly and irascible governor.(56*) Printz expelled all of the English who would not take the oath of allegiance to the crown of Sweden, and the proceeding led to a long series of negotiations between the New England authorities, and the Swedish and Dutch governors.

Printz was swollen with the “insolence of office,” and in 1645, when the Dutch placed Andreas Hudde in the position of commissary at Fort Nassau, he found that he had a more vigorous official to deal with than the deposed Jan Jansen Van Ilpendam. Hudde was quick to protest against everything that the Swedes did which might be construed as adverse to Dutch interests, and Printz either paid no attention whatever, to such protests, or upon their reception committed acts even more outrageous than those which had called them forth. When Hudde, upon Kiefts orders, purchased from the Indians some lands on the west shore of the river (where afterwards was built Philadelphia), and set up there the arms of Holland, Printz sent Commissary Henrik Huyghens, of Fort Christina, to throw the insignia down. Thereupon Hudde arrested Huyghens, threw him into the guard-house, and sent word to Printz of what he had done. Some correspondence ensuing, the irate Governor contemptuously tossed aside Hudde's communication, regarding the rights of his company, and seizing a musket threatened to shoot the messenger. Printz was certainly irritatingly insolent towards those whom he regarded as intruders upon Swedish soil. Hudde says that when visiting him at his own house, at table and in the presence of his own wife, in reply to his remark that the Dutch were the first settlers on the Delaware, Printz said that “the Devil was the oldest possessor of hell, but that he sometimes admitted a younger one,” which was certainly not diplomatic language, or calculated to create or cement friendship.

The Governor had completely closed the Schuylkill (57*) to the Dutch by the erection of a fortification at its mouth called “Manayunk,” one at Kingsessing and another at Passayunk, called “Korsholm,” and had besides, put a fort almost contiguous to the Dutch Fort Beversede, between it and the water, rendering it entirely useless. About midway between Christina and New Gottenburg, a colony was founded comprising houses and a fort,(58*) called Upland. North of this, also, several scattered settlements were gradually established. Printz built the first water-mill on South River, at a place called Karakung, otherwise Water-Mill Stream (Amesland or Carkoen's Hook), on what is now Cobb's Creek, near the bridge on the Darby road, at the old Blue Bell tavern, near Philadelphia. This was put up instead of the old wind-mill, which, Printz says, never would work and was “good for nothing.” This mill ground both meal and flour, and found constant work.

Printz's zeal was rewarded by his government with the grant of New Gottenburg, as a perpetual possession for himself and his heirs forever. It passed to his daughter, married to Johan Papegoja, and often afterwards is spoken of as her property.

Through their Governor's energetic action the Swedes effectually became masters of the river and the greater part of the neighboring territory. He was prudent enough to keep on a good footing with the Indians and cut the Dutch off from their trade. The credit enjoyed with the natives by the Swedes was, indeed, so great that when, in the spring of 1644, some of the Minqua nation were murdered by the savages, sachems presented themselves before Printz to offer compensation and sue for peace. He closed the Schuylkill to the Dutchmen, adopted a policy of non-intercourse and sold the Indians arms and ammunition, thus securing not only their good will but insuring larger returns of furs. He also persecuted or expelled every Dutchman in New Sweden who would not take the oath of allegiance to his sovereign.

The Swedish colonists, however, had great difficulties to contend with, not being able to produce their daily bread, with which they were provided partly at the cost of the company. The novelty of the climate and the various privations suffered caused the death of many persons (during 1643 not less than twenty-five), according to the Dutch account reducing the number of male inhabitants in 1645 to eighty or ninety. The situation of the survivors, however, rapidly improved; tobacco was diligently cultivated, and the raising of corn and breeding of cattle were duly promoted by the Governor.

In the spring of 1644 the ship “Fama” arrived from Sweden, having been equipped at the expense of the Crown and setting sail the previous year, bringing, it is presumed, both emigrants (59*) and merchandise, although we have not found any definite information concerning this, the fifth Swedish expedition to the Delaware. The vessel was despatched back to Sweden, June 20, 1644, carrying a cargo of two thousand one hundred and thirty-six beaver skins and twenty thousand four hundred and sixty-seven pounds of tobacco for the company, besides seven thousand two hundred pounds sent over by the Governor to be sold for his own account.

The ascension of Queen Christina upon the throne of Sweden, in 1644, and changes in the system of government largely contributed to the decay and final ruin of New Sweden on the Delaware. From June, 1644, until October, 1646, communication was suspended with the mother country. Governor Printz was, however, zealously endeavoring to promote his enterprise. We have already seen how, by the action of Nya Korsholm, he secured the mouth of the Schuylkill; he also considered it necessary to guard the route of traffic with the Minquas still farther to the interior. To this intent he caused to be built some distance inland a strong block-house, “capable of defence against the savages by four or five men, well supplied with powder and shot.” The place received the name of “Wasa,” and several “freemen” settled there. A quarter of a mile beyond, in the same “path of the Minquas,” was constructed a similar house where other peasants also settled. This spot was called “Mlndal,”(60*) because, says Printz, “I had a water-mill erected there, running without intermission, to the great advantage of the country.” It was, as heretofore stated, the first within the limits of Pennsylvania. Further improvements were also made at the old places, Christina, Elfsborg and Korsholm. On the 25th of November, 1645, Fort New Gottenburg was set fire to by a gunner and it was destroyed in an hour. The Governor and people suffered great loss; the company's goods consumed by the fire were valued at four thousand riksdaler. Notwithstanding this great calamity to the infant colony, on the 4th of September, 1646, Campanius consecrated the first Swedish church on the spot, and Printz afterwards built his dwelling there.

The colony was largely reinforced on the 1st of October, 1646, by the arrival of the ship “Gyllene Hajen” (“Golden Shark”) with the sixth Swedish expedition. The voyage had occupied four months, the vessel losing near all her sails and the entire crew being sick. The cargo consisted of Holland goods intended for barter with the Indians for furs. On February 20, 1647, the ship “Gyllene Hajen” sailed with a return cargo, consisting of twenty-four thousand one hundred and seventy-seven pounds of tobacco, only six thousand nine hundred and twenty pounds of which was raised by the colony, the remainder having been purchased in Virginia.

Being in a condition to revive his languishing beaver trade, Printz now sent Huyghen and Van Dyck, with eight soldiers fifty miles into the interior among the Minquas, with presents of all kinds, to induce them to trade with the Swedes. The jealousy which had existed between the Swedes and Dutch from the beginning of the settlement, having broken out in open rupture in 1646, the following extract from Governor Printz's report “to the Most Honorable West India Company,” gives a fair idea of the relations which then existed between the rival colonists on the Delaware:

     “It is of the utmost necessity for us to drive the Dutch from the river, for they oppose us on every side. (1) They destroy our trade everywhere. (2) They strengthen the savages with guns, shot and powder, publicly trading with these against the edict of all Christians. (3) They stir up the savages against us, who, but for our prudence, would already have gone too far. (4) They begin to buy land from the savages within our boundaries, which we had purchased already eight years ago, and have the impudence in several places to erect the arms of the West India Company, calling them their arms; moreover, they give New Sweden the name of New Netherland, and dare to build their houses there, as can be learned from the Dutch Governor's letter, here annexed, and by my answer to it; in short, they appropriate to themselves alone every right, hoist high their own flags, and would surely not pay the least attention to Her Majesty's flags and forts, were they not reminded by cannon shot. They must be driven from the river, either by mutual agreement or other means; otherwise they will disturb our whole work. The better to accomplish their intention, some of the Hollanders have entirely quitted the Christians, resorting to the Minquas, behaving with much more unseemliness than the savages themselves. I have written several times to their Governor about all these improprieties, and also caused their arms to be cut down, but it did not make any difference; they see very well that we have a weak settlement; and, with no earnestness on our side, their malice against us increases more and more.”

Notwithstanding these difficulties the colony seemed to prosper, for it was successfully engaged in agriculture and trade, and numbered one hundred and eighty-three souls. It was greatly in need, however, of skilled mechanics and soldiers, “and, above all, unmarried women as wives for the unmarried freemen and the rest.” In consequence of Printz's report, on the 25th of September, 1647, the seventh expedition set sail from Gottenburg, on the ship “Svanen,” Captain Steffen Willemsen, carrying emigrants and a valuable cargo. Among the former were two Lutheran clergymen, Lars Carlsson Loock (Laurentius Lockenius) and Israel Fluviander, Printz's sister's son, with Johan Papegoja who had returned to Sweden. On the 16th of May, 1648, the ship “Svanen” sailed from New Sweden with a return cargo, and after a remarkably short voyage of thirty days, arrived at Helsingr, and on the 3d of July, at Stockholm.

In 1647 the Dutch Director-General Kieft was succeeded by Peter Stuyvesant, who began his administration on May 27th. Printz found him a very different man from Kieft. When the two governors finally met on May 25th, 1651, the Dutch director-general, while quite as soldierly, bluff, and irascible as Printz, showed himself to be head and shoulders above the latter in diplomacy. During all these disputes and high-handed dealings in the period of Printz's administration, the Dutch had sedulously pursued the policy of acquiring, by public and private purchase, Indian titles to all the lands on both sides the Delaware from Salem and Christinaham up. The Swedes had latterly adopted the same policy, but with less success. Stuyvesant came to the South River in person in 1651, “to preserve and protect the company's rights and jurisdiction.” He sent proofs to Printz of the company's rights in the premises, and demanded in return that the Swedish governor should produce proof of what lands he had purchased and his authority to hold them. Printz could merely define the limits of his territory, and say that his papers were on file in the chancellory of Sweden. Then Stuyvesant is said to have detected Printz in an attempt to secretly buy title from an Indian sachem called Waspang Zewan, whereupon the Dutch governor forthwith dealt with the Indians himself, and was by them presented with a title to both sides of the Delaware from Christiana Creek to Bombay Hook, they at the same time denying that they had ever sold any lands to the Swedes. Finally, Stuyvesant determined that he would build another fort, Fort Nassau being too much out of the way, and in spite of Printz's protests he built Fort Casimir on the Delaware side of the river, about one Dutch mile from Fort Christina and near the present city of New Castle, where he stationed a garrison, with cannon and two ships. The central point of the Dutch power on the Delaware, was now transferred to Fort Casimir, and soon after Fort Nassau was abandoned. Printz and Stuyvesant had several interviews with each other, and the final result was that “they mutually promised to cause no difficulties or hostility to each other, but to keep neighborly friendship and correspondence together, and act as friends and allies.”

It will be observed that all through these controversies, while there were many high words and some kicks and cuffs, the Dutch and Swedes never came to actual hostilities, and always maintained a modus vivendi with one another. This was not because they hated each other less, but because they dreaded a third rival more. Both Dutch and Swedes were terribly apprehensive of English designs upon the Delaware. As was laid down in the instructions to Governor Risingh, who succeeded Printz in New Sweden, speaking of the new Fort Casimir, if Risingh could not induce the Dutch to abandon the post by argument and remonstrance and without resorting to hostilities, “it is better that our subjects avoid resorting to hostilities, confining themselves solely to protestations, and suffer the Dutch to occupy the said fortress, than that it should fall into the hands of the English, who are the most powerful and of course the most dangerous in that country.” In the same way, after Stuyvesant had met the English at Hartford, Conn., treated with them, and settled a mutual boundary line, so that all was apparently peace and friendship between the Dutch and the New Englanders, the New Haven Company thought they would be permitted without dispute to resume the occupancy of their purchased Indian lands on the New Jersey side of the Delaware Bay at Salem, whence they had been twice expelled. Accordingly, Jasper Graine, William Tuthill, and other inhabitants of New Haven and Sotocket, to the number of about fifty, hired a vessel and sailed for that destination. On the way they considerately put into Manhattan to notify Stuyvesant of their errand, and consult with him as to the best way of accomplishing it. Stuyvesant took their commission away from them, clapped the master of the vessel and four others into prison, and refused to release them until “they pledged themselves under their hands” not to go to Delaware, informing them likewise that if any of them should afterwards be found there he would confiscate their goods and send them prisoners to Holland. At the same time he wrote to the governor of New Haven that the Dutch rights on the Delaware were absolute, and that he meant to prevent any English settlement there “with force of arms and martial opposition, even unto blood-shed.” The Swedes were so much impressed with this firm attitude and with their own unprotected condition (this was probably during the interregnum between Printz's departure and the arrival of Risingh, when Papegoja, Printz's son-in-law, was acting governor, and there was no news from the mother-country) that they asked Stuyvesant to take them under his protection. The director-general declined to do so without instruction from home, and the directors of the company when he consulted them left the matter to his own discretion, simply suggesting that while population and settlement should be encouraged by all means as the bulwark of the State, it would be advisable that all settlers should yield allegiance to the parent State, and be willing to obey its laws and statutes in order to obtain protection.

The difficulties between Printz and Stuyvesant came before the Royal Council of Sweden in March, 1652, and pending its negotiations Governor Printz fell into still greater straits. On August 30, 1652, he wrote to the Chancellor of the Kingdom: “The Puritans threaten us with violence, and the Dutch are pressing upon us on all sides; they have ruined the fur trade; the savages are troubling us, having brought cargoes of strangers; the people are beginning to desert the colony in despair; forty Dutch families have settled east of the river, who have absolutely no provisions, and do not sow or plough, desiring to live by the traffic with the natives, which they themselves have destroyed.” During the following year the situation was not improved. Stuyvesant had now assembled his force at Fort Casimir, where already in the beginning of 1653 no less than twenty-six Dutch families had settled, and more still were expected. Nevertheless, he did not venture yet to make any attempt against the Swedes, chiefly for fear of the English, but felt obliged to conform to the admonition of his Directors, to endeavor as far as possible to avoid dissensions with them; “not to increase the number of the Company's enemies during that critical period.” Not a word was heard from Sweden to relieve the anxiety of Printz, although he urgently applied for aid in his letters to his superiors. He insisted on his dismissal, and many other inhabitants of the colony, particularly persons in the service of the company, desired to return to their native country, while some removed to Maryland, and others besought Stuyvesant to allow them to settle among the Dutch, a privilege he dared not grant. In consequence of a war between two neighboring Indian tribes no fur trade could be carried on, and the non-arrival of any succor gradually caused the colonists (hitherto in the enjoyment of the great consideration accorded to the Swedish nation) to be regarded “as abandoned wanderers, without a sovereign.”(61*) To give further weight to his complaints, in July, 1653, the Governor sent home his son, Gustavus Printz, who had been a lieutenant in the colony of New Sweden since 1648. Governor Printz himself now feared that the colony had been abandoned to its fate, as he had not received any letters or orders from the mother country for six years. His commands were no longer obeyed and he resolved to go home, after having promised the settlers, for their fidelity to the Crown of Sweden, to come back in ten or twelve months from September, 1653, or, at least, to procure the sending of a ship if only to inform them as to the condition of their enterprise. He appointed Johan Papegoja Provincial Vice-Governor, and in company with his wife and children, Henrik Huyghen and a portion of the colonists, he sailed early in November, and, crossing the ocean in a Dutch vessel, December 1st, reached Rochelle, from whence he wrote to the Chancellor. Early in 1654 he went to Holland, and in April arrived once more in Sweden. After his return he was appointed colonel in the Swedish army, and in 1658 governor of the province of Jnkping. He died in 1663.

In the meantime Printz's representations at home, put fresh life into measures for the relief of the colony. Her Majesty renewed her mandate to the Admiralty concerning the equipment of a ship for New Sweden, “that the enterprise might not altogether come to naught.” The general management of Swedish affairs on the Delaware had now passed to the charge of the “General College of Commerce,” of Stockholm, of which Erik Oxenstjerna was president. He issued the necessary instructions and the ship “rnen” (the “Eagle”) John Bockhom, commander, was assigned to take out emigrants and supplies. Sven Schute was commanded to enlist fifty soldiers for the reinforcement of the colony, and to proceed to Vrmland and Dal, and collect families and single persons living in the forests, to the number of two hundred and fifty souls, “the majority to be good men, with some women.” In accordance with Printz's request to quit the colony, Johan Klaesson Rising, the secretary of the college, was commissioned as his assistant on December 12, 1653, at an annual salary of one thousand two hundred daler silfver. The ninth (62*) Swedish expedition left Stockholm, on the 8th of October, on the ship “rnen,” but was delayed at Gottenburg, taking on cargo, etc., until the 2d of February, 1654, when she sailed. The settlers were accompanied by Peter Lindstrom, a military engineer of some distinction, who had been appointed to serve in a professional capacity in the colony. He afterwards, in 165456, made a very interesting map of “Nya Swerige,” to accompany Campanius history. A facsimile of it appears in the text, with the Indian or Swedish names for all the sites on South river. Associated with him were two preachers, Petrus Hjort and Matthias Nertunius, who had made an attempt to reach the colony in 1649, with the unfortunate expedition which sailed in the “Kattan.” After great suffering and danger the emigrants arrived in the Delaware Bay on the 18th of May, and two days afterwards arrived at Fort Elfsborg, which was now deserted and in ruins. On the 21st of May, being Trinity Sunday, the “rnen” cast anchor off Fort Casimir, and discharged a Swedish salute.

Rising's instructions under date of December 15, 1653, and signed by Erik Oxenstjerna and Korster Bonde, show that the Swedes intended to re-establish power in the colony. He and the Governor were to administer justice, and promote trade and the professions fishing, husbandry, attracting members of neighboring nations, who might be able to give them aid. Especially were they required to seek “to rid the place of the Dutch, who had erected a fort there, exercising, however, all possible prudence,” and above all, taking care that the English did not obtain a foot-hold. They were also to endeavor to enlarge the limits of the settlement, and try to get all trade on the river out of the hands of foreigners by building, if need be, another fort at the mouth of the Delaware.

Immediately upon Rising's arrival off Fort Casimir, he sent Sven Schute, with twenty soldiers, to the shore, to demand the surrender of the garrison, and not receiving an answer to his signal, fired at the fort from two of the heaviest guns on his ship. Taken by surprise Gerrit Bikker, the Dutch commander dispatched four men with a request for three days respite, which was refused, and when the latter inquired the terms of the Swedes, they were told that they should be informed of these the following day at Fort Christina. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Gyllengren, under orders of Schute, pressing in with some men through a gate, overpowered the sentinels, disarmed the garrison, and triumphantly displayed the Swedish flag above the fort. The force which held it consisted of barely a dozen soldiers, although not less than twenty-two houses, inhabited by Dutch settlers, lay round about. After a body of Swedes, under the command of Schute, had entered Fort Trinity (named after Trinity Sunday, because it was captured on that day), the Dutch soldiers received permission to stay or go, as they pleased.(63*)

On the day following the capture of Fort Casimir the “rnen” sailed up to Christina, where the three hundred emigrants were landed the largest body that had ever reached New Sweden at one time.

On the following day all the people at Christina assembled to take the oath of allegiance to Sweden and the West India Company, and Papegoja resigned his office as Governor into the hands of Rising, notwithstanding the latter had not yet been duly appointed to that charge. Papegoja and Schute continued to be the Governor's principal assistants in the direction of the colony. On the 3d of June a similar meeting was held at Printzhof on Tennakong, and the Dutch commandant at Fort Casimir and the majority of his garrison swore fealty to Sweden. Afterwards the Governor, in company with engineer Lindstrom, made a journey around the rest of the Swedish settlement to become acquainted with the region; and finally he called the neighboring Indians together with a view to make them his allies. The joint council was held at Tinnecum, (then called Printzhof) on June 17th, at which ten Indian chiefs were present, and Rising offered many presents, distributed wine and spirits, and spread a great feast of suppaun; the old treaties were read, mutual vows of friendship exchanged, and the Indians became allies of the Swedes, whom they strongly counseled to settle at once at Passayunk.

On July 3d Rising sent an open letter to all the Swedes who had gone off to Maryland and Virginia, inviting them to return, when, if they would not remain at the settlement, they should receive permission and be provided with a pass to betake themselves wherever they wished. Fort Trinity was rebuilt from its foundations and armed with four fourteen-pounder cannon taken from the “rnen.” The land nearest to Christina was divided into building lots for a future town of Christinahamn (Christinaport), from whence traffic was to be carried on with the Provinces of Virginia and Maryland, with which intent, also, Rising planned the widening of the Swedish territory to the west by means of a new settlement, no limit ever having been set to it in that direction. Finally a map of the river and Swedish possessions was prepared by Lindstrom, with an accurate description of the region. In an “ordinance concerning the people and the land,” etc., dated July, 1654, he decreed the first anti-slavery act adopted in America: “Whoever bespeaks of the company any slave over fourteen years in service shall give, besides the passage money received, twenty-four riksdaler, and the slave shall serve him six consecutive years, obtaining his food, shoes, and so forth every year; after six years a slave shall be absolutely free.”

Rising selected for himself a piece of land south of Trinity Fort, a quarter of a mile in length, and in a letter to Chancellor E. Oxenstjerna dated June 11, 1654, he solicits “His Excellency to find him a good wife and send her over.” He assigned Petrus Hjort, one of the ministers who came out on the “rnen,” to a home in Fort Trinity, while his companion, Matthias Nertunius, dwelt at Upland.

The Dutch and Swedish population on the Delaware at this time, according to a census taken by Rising, was three hundred and sixty-eight persons. This is probably exclusive of many Swedes who had gone into the interior and crossed the ridge towards Maryland. But little agriculture was attended to besides tobacco planting, and the chief industry was the trade in peltries, which was very profitable. In this trade the Indians had acquired as great skill as in trapping the beaver and drying his pelt. The price of a beaver-skin was two fathoms of “seawant,” and each fathom was taken to be three ells long. An ell was measured (as the yard still is in country places), from one corner of the mouth to the thumb of the opposite arm extended. The Indians, tall and long-limbed, always sent their longest armed people to dispose of beaver-skins, and the Dutch complained at Fort Nassau that the savages outmeasured them continually.

The “rnen” returned to Sweden in July, 1654, with a cargo of Virginia and Maryland tobacco, and carrying as passengers some of the older colonists including Johan Papegoja. Arriving at home the government was engaged in fitting out at Gottenburg the “Gyllene Hajen” (the “Golden Shark”), for another expedition to the Delaware. On the 12th of September the “Gyllene Hajen” arrived off the American coast, and “through rashness, or perhaps malice, of the mate,” entered a bay believed to be the Delaware, but in fact the North River, or Hudson, the blunder not being discovered until she had reached Manhattan.

It was not to be expected that a man of Stuyvesant's heady temperament would permit an outrage, such as the capture of Fort Casimir, to go unrevenged, even if the directors of the West India Company had passed it by. But they were quite as eager as Stuyvesant himself, for prompt and decisive action on the Delaware. The time was auspicious for them. Axel Oxenstierna, the great Swedish chancellor, was just dead, Queen Christina had abdicated the throne in favor of her cousin Charles Gustavus, and England and Holland had just signed a treaty of peace. The directors insisted upon the Swedes being effectually punished, and ordered Stuyvesant, not only to exert every nerve to revenge the injury, not only to recover the fort and restore affairs to their former situation, but to drive the Swedes from every side of the river, and allow no settlers except under the Dutch flag. He was promised liberal aid from home, and was ordered to press any vessel into his service that might be in the New Netherlands. Stuyvesant meanwhile was not idle on his own side. He seized and made prize of the “Gyllene Hajen” at Manhattan, and placed her captain under arrest, as soon as he heard the news from Fort Casimir. He received five armed vessels from Amsterdam, and ordered a general fasting and prayer, and then hastened to set his armaments in order. On the 30th of August, Stuyvesant's forces, consisting of seven ships and six hundred men, entered Delaware Bay and cast anchor before the former Elfsborg. On the following day the Dutch fleet was off the late Fort Casimir, now Fort Trinity. The fort was summoned to surrender. The garrison, under Captain Sven Schute, which numbered only forty-seven men, and their commander, surrendered them on honorable terms before a gun was fired. Stuyvesant marched on the following day to Fort Christina, where Risingh was in command, and invested it on every side. Risingh pretended great surprise, resorted to every little diplomatic contrivance he could think of, and then on the 14th of September, surrendered also, before the Dutch batteries opened. In truth his fort was a weak and defenseless one, and he had scarcely two rounds of ammunition.

In accordance with the terms (64*) agreed to, the little Swedish garrison marched out, “colors flying.” The Dutch went up the river to Tinnecum, where they laid waste all the houses and plantations, killed the cattle and plundered the inhabitants. A great many Swedes came in and took the oath (65*) of allegiance to the Dutch.

All such were suffered to remain undisturbed in their possessions. A few who refused to take the oath were transported to Manhattan,(66*) while others crossed into Maryland, and permanently settled in Cecil and Kent Counties, where their family names are still preserved; but the Dutch yoke undoubtedly sat very lightly upon Swedish shoulders.

This was the end of the Swedish rule on the Delaware. Stuyvesant obeying instructions from the West India Company, made a formal tender of redelivery of Fort Christina to Risingh, but that hero was in the sulks, refused to receive it, and went home in November, by way of New Amsterdam, swearing at the Dutch “in frantic mood.”

While these events were transpiring the authorities in Sweden succeeded in fitting out the tenth and last expedition to New Sweden. The Mercurius sailed on the 16th of October, 1655, bearing the last hope of safety for the enterprise on the Delaware, which had already come to an ignominious end. She arrived in the Delaware, March 24, 1656, the emigrants first learning the changes that had occurred when they were prevented from landing, by the Dutch Vice-Governor Paul Jacquet, until the receipt of further orders from Manhattan. Stuyvesant sent instructions forbidding them to land, and directed that they should be sent to Manhattan, to lay in provisions, etc., for their voyage home. The emigrants refusing to return to Sweden, they took the vessel past Fort Casimir, and up the river to Mantaes Huck, where they landed. The Mercurius returned to Guttenborg, arriving there in September of the same year.

Upon the conquest of New Sweden, Stuyvesant appointed Captain Derrick Schmidt as commissary, who was quickly succeeded as we have seen, by John Paul Jacquet, in the capacity of “Vice-Director of the South River,” with a Council consisting of Andreas Hudde, vice-director, Elmerhuysen Klein, and two sergeants. Fort Christina became Altona, Fort Casimir resumed its old name, and a new settlement grew up around it which was named New Amstel, the first actual town upon the river.

It must be confessed that if the Swedes on the Delaware were not a happy people it was their own fault. But they were happy. Come of a primitive race not yet spoiled by fashions, luxury, and the vices of civilization, and preferring agriculture and the simplest arts of husbandry to trade, they found themselves in a new, beautiful, and fertile region, with the mildest of climates and the kindliest of soils. Government, the pressure of laws, the weight of taxation they scarcely knew, and their relations were always pleasant, friendly, and intimate with those savage tribes the terror of whose neighborhood drove the English into sudden atrocities and barbarities. Very few Swedes ever lost a night's rest because of the Indian's war-whoop. They were a people of simple ways, industrious, loyal, steadfast. In 1693 some of these Delaware Swedes wrote home for ministers, books, and teachers. This letter says, “As to what concerns our situation in this country, we are for the most part husbandmen. We plow and sow and till the ground; and as to our meat and drink, we live according to the old Swedish custom. This country is very rich and fruitful, and here grow all sorts of grain in great plenty, so that we are richly supplied with meat and drink; and we send out yearly to our neighbors on this continent and the neighboring islands bread, grain, flour, and oil. We have here also all sorts of beasts, fowls, and fishes. Our wives and daughters employ themselves in spinning wool and flax and many of them in weaving; so that we have great reason to thank the Almighty for his manifold mercies and benefits. God grant that we may also have good shepherds to feed us with his holy word and sacraments. We live also in peace and friendship with one another, and the Indians have not molested us for many years. Further, since this country has ceased to be under the government of Sweden, we are bound to acknowledge and declare for the sake of truth that we have been well and kindly treated, as well by the Dutch as by his Majesty the King of England, our gracious sovereign; on the other hand, we, the Swedes, have been and still are true to him in words and in deeds. We have always had over us good and gracious magistrates; and we live with one another in peace and quietude.”(67*)

One of the missionaries sent over in response to the touching demand of which the above quoted passage is part, writing back to Sweden after his arrival, says that his congregation are rich, adding, “The country here is delightful, as it has always been described, and overflows with every blessing, so that the people live very well without being compelled to too much or too severe labor. The taxes are very light; the farmers, after their work is over, live as they do in Sweden, but are clothed as well as the respectable inhabitants of the towns. They have fresh meat and fish in abundance, and want nothing of what other countries produce; they have plenty of grain to make bread, and plenty of drink. There are no poor in this country, but they all provide for themselves, for the land is rich and fruitful, and no man who will labor can suffer want.” All this reads like an idyl of Jean Paul, or one of the nave, charming poems of Bishop Tegner. It is a picture, some parts of which have been delightfully reproduced by the poet John G. Whittier in his “Pennsylvania Pilgrim.”

* “Some Account of William Usselinx and Peter Minuit,” by Joseph J. Mickley.

** Although the honor of projecting the first Swedish settlement in America belongs to the distinguished founder of the Dutch West India Company, William Usselinx, the credit of devising the details of the scheme, and of successfully executing it, is due to the former Director of New Netherlands and first Governor of New Sweden, Peter Minuit. In a letter addressed to Peter Spiring, June 15, 1636, on the eve of his departure from Holland for Sweden, which appears to have been laid before the Royal Council on September 27, 1636, he makes the formal offer of his services for the founding of the colony of New Sweden (now first so-called), as well as a specific statement of what was regarded as necessary for the equipment of the first Swedish expedition to the Delaware. This letter has been translated from the original Dutch by Professor G.B. Keen, a very able and industrious Pennsylvania writer, and is published in the Pennsylvania Magazine, Vol. VI., p. 458. Samuel Blommaert, who was associated with Minuit and Usselinx in their scheme to colonize Delaware, was a merchant of Amsterdam, distinguished himself in 16079 in the service of the Dutch East India Company, and was now (1636) a partner in the Dutch West India Company. In 1630, as has been stated elsewhere, he became a partner in the colony of Rensselaerswyck, and in a patroonship which established a settlement called Swaanendael, near the site of the present town of Lewes, Delaware, the following year. He was appointed Commissioner for the Swedish enterprise at Amsterdam, and held that office until the beginning of 1640. In 1647 he was a Commissioner in the Board of Accounts of the Dutch West India Company, and was Accountant-General at the time of his death, which occurred about 1652.

*** Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York. Vol. XII. (Edited by B. Fernow), p. 13; also Mickley's pamphlet, Hazard's Register, and Vincent's History of Delaware, page 119.

(4*) Harte's Life of Gustavus Adolphus.

(5*) Harte asserts that “a little Swedish squadron” actually sailed for America, but that “the Spaniards contrived, dexterously enough, to make themselves masters of it.” A similar statement is made by Campanius, who adds that the ships had been stopped by the Spaniards in order to aid the Poles and the Emperor of Germany, and further narrates that America was visited and settled by the Swedes in the reign of Gustavus. But the authorities agree, in the conclusion, that no settlement was made until the following reign, and that if any Swedes were in America at an earlier period, they could only have been a few individuals who adventured with the Dutch.

(6*) Usselinx, afterwards, went into France to induce that government to engage in the Swedish South Company. In 1639 he attempted to form an alliance between Sweden, France and England, as a security against Spain, and in 1640 he endeavored to interest the Hanse Towns in the same affair, but he was unsuccessful in all these schemes. In 1634 he was appointed Swedish agent in Holland. Joseph J. Mickley's Account of Usselinx and Minuit.

(7*) C.T. Odhner: “Kolonien Nya Sveriges Grndlgging, 16371642. Hist, Bibliotek. My fljd I  197225 (Stockholm, 1876). This work translated by Prof. G.B. Keen, for the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography appears under the title “The Founding of New Sweden,” in Vol. III. pp. 269284 and 395411. Prof. Odhner's contribution throws new light upon the expedition to the Delaware and enables us to correct the errors into which most writers have fallen from following too closely the writings of Campanius and Acrelius, who were either not in possession of the sources of information now revealed, or valuing them too lightly, used them carelessly. The former is notoriously erroneous and the latter, though accurate as far as he goes, did not examine the records in Sweden as clearly as he did those of the Swedish churches in America.

(8*) Prof. Odhner (translation) in Pennsylvania Historical and Biographical Magazine. Vol. III., p. 274.

(9*) Concerning Minuit's services for the Dutch and the severance of his relations with the West India Company, Mickley in his little monograph on Usselinx and Minuit says: “He remained in office until 1632, when a dispute arose between the West India Company and the patroons, in which Minuit was suspected of being in favor of the latter, in consequence of which he either resigned or was dismissed. This is not quite clear. Minuit left New Amsterdam in the ship “Eendracht” (Concord) in the same year, 1632, with a cargo of five thousand beaver-skins. After his arrival at Portsmouth he was detained, with the ship and cargo, by command of the English government, under pretence that the country where he traded to belonged to England. He was, however, soon after released, and finally arrived safe in Amsterdam, with his valuable cargo, in May, 1632. No public records have as yet been found, either in New York or Holland, relating to that period of time in which Minuit was director at New Amsterdam, excepting a deed or warrant for land to Godyn & Blommaert, which land is situated on the east side of the Delaware (now Cape May). This is dated Manhattan, July 13, 1630; signed by P. Minuit and others.”

(10*) From 720 to 1200 tons.

(11*) Not far from $4000 to $4800 in gold.

(12*) Equivalent to Consul General.

(13*) Two and a half Dutch florins were equal to about one Swedish riksdaler and the above sum was equal to nine thousand six hundred riksdalers or seven thousand two hundred dollars gold.

(14*) G.B. Keen, in a note to his translation of Odhner, (Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. III, p. 277) says, “The passes granted were to Capt. Anders Nilsson Krober, of the Kalmar Nyckel (in Dutch De Kalmers leutel), and Vogel Grip (Dutch, De Fogelgryp), commanded by Lieut. Jacob Borben. The Key of Kalmar (named after a city of Sweden, on the Baltic coast of Gothland, off the island of Oland, and famous as being the place where the union of Denmark, Sweden and Norway was consummated in 1397, under the imperious Queen Margaret of Denmark, called the 'semiramis of the North) was a regular
man-of-war of quite good capacity. The Griffin (or Bird Griffin) was a sloop or yacht for shallow water. The cost of the expedition, through delays, ran up above thirty-six thousand florins, causing the Dutch subscribers to grumble. The only person, so far as known, who came to new Sweden on the Gripen and remained with the colony was ein morian oder angoler, a Moer or Angla man, a negro named Anthony, a bought slave (the first on the Delaware), who served Governor Printz at Tinnecum in 1644 (making hay for the cattle and accompanying the Governor in his pleasure-yacht), and was still living in 1648.”

(15*) Blommaert sent news of the departure to the Chancellor in a letter dated January 8, 1638.

(16*) Reorus Torkillus, the first Swedish clergyman on the Delaware, was not with this expedition as has been stated by Ferris, Vincent and others, but came in the second expedition, in 1639.

(17*) When Rudman and Burck, the Swedish missionaries, were sent to this country under the authority and by order of Charles XI., of Sweden, in 1697, their ship was nine weeks and six days on her passage from Stockholm to London and ten weeks on her way thence to the coast of Virginia. It is also said, that, when Sandel, the Swedish missionary, was appointed to come over and take charge of the church at Wicaco, “He left Sweden on the 21st of August, 1701, and after some detention, in England, and the usual tedious passage across the Atlantic, arrived in the Delaware, on the 12th of March following,” or in twenty-nine weeks. In the very interesting account of his voyage from Sweden to the Delaware, by the elder Campanius, we are informed that he sailed from Stockholm, August 16, 1642, and arrived at Christiana, February 15, 1643. In explanation of his passage, Campanius gives the following narrative of his voyage:

“1642, August 16th. Sailed from Stockholm.

“August 17th. Arrived at Dahleham.

“September 3d. Left the same.

“September 6th. Arrived at Copenhagen.

“September 8th. Landed at Helsinger.

“September 12th. Came to Gottenburg.

“November 1st. Left Gottenburg Castle.

“November 14th. In the Spanish Sea, (supposed off the coast of Spain).

“November 21st. Sailing along the coast of Portugal.

“November 26th. Off the Barbary coast.

“November 28th. South of the Canary Islands.

“December 20th. Arrived at Antigua.

“1643, January 3d. Sailed by St. Christopher's and other small island.

“January 24th. Sounding off the coast of America.

“January 25th. Saw land near the Capes of Delaware.

“January 26th. Off Lewistown.

“February 15th. Arrived at Christiana. Passage just five months or 150 days.

(18*) That the ships arrived in March, 1638, rather than April, as stated by Vincent, and implied by various writers, is established by the discovery in Sweden (since Odhner wrote, in 1876) of a document which shows that Minuit purchased land upon the Delaware from an Indian chief, upon March 29. If he made this purchase (undoubtedly at the site of Fort Christiana) upon the date given, he must have passed the capes three or four days previously. That the arrival of the vessels upon the Delaware, occurred in April, has been generally supposed from a letter from Jamestown, written by Jerome Hawley, secretary of the Virginia colony, to secretary Windebank, of the London Company, under date of May 8, 1638, in which he says, that, since March 20th (when he last wrote) “a Dutch ship with a commission from the young Queen of Sweden” had arrived there and remained about ten days. It has usually been inferred (and by Vincent is explicitly stated) that this ship was the “Key of Kalmar” with Minuit on board upon her way to the Delaware, but Odhner shows (by means of one of Blommaert's letters) that it was the sloop Griffin, which, after her arrival on the Delaware, her commander had sent to Virginia with the idea of bartering her cargo a project not realized. The letter from Hawley, alluded to, is as follows:

“JAMESTOWN, IN VIRGINIA, May 8, 1638.

“Right Hon. Upon the 20th of March last I took the boldness to present you with my letters, wherein I gave only a touch of the business of our Assembly, referring your honor to the general letters then sent by Mr. Kemp from the governor and Council. Since which time have arrived a Dutch ship, with a commission from the young Queen of Sweden, and signed by eight of the chief lords of Sweden, the copy whereof I would have taken to send to your honor, but the captain would not permit me to take a copy thereof, except he might have free trade for to carry to Sweden, which being contrary to his majesty's instructions, the governor excused himself thereof. The ship remained here about ten days, to refresh with wood and water, during which time the master of said ship made known that both himself and another ship of his company were bound for Delaware Bay, which is the confines of Virginia and New England, and there they pretend to make a plantation, and to plant tobacco, which the Dutch do so already in Hudson's River, which is the very river northward from Delaware Bay. All which being his majesty's territories, I humbly conceive that it may be done by his majesty's subjects of these parts, making use only of some English ships that resort hither for trade yearly, and be no charge at all upon his majesty. Brodhead's London Documents, Vol. I., pp. 57, 58.”

(19*) The Dutch “Kil” signifies creek.

(20*) See the preceding chapter for an account of Hendricksen's voyage up the Delaware and visit to the mouth of the Christiana.

(21*) “The Rocks” probably unchanged since the landing of Minuit, in 1638, are upon the northern or Wilmington side of the river, not far from the old Swedes church, at the foot of Sixth St., and within one yard of the McCullough Iron Company's Works.

(22*) Acrelius affirms that at this time Minuit bought all of the land from Cape Henlopen to Santican (Trenton Falls) probably confounding this purchase with a later one.

(23*) Colonial settlements on the Delaware River (New York Historical Records, Vol. xii. B. Fernow) p. 19.

(24*) It is probable, however, that there were a few other Swedes in the garrison.

(25*) The fact of Minuit's death in the manner above described, is one of several first brought out by Odhner, the Swedish writer (relying chiefly on Blommaert's letters). Acrelius asserted that he remained in New Sweden, and “after several years of faithful service, he died at Christiana,” and Clay, Ferris, Vincent and many others have naturally enough copied the error, some even asserting circumstantially his burial in the “Old Swedes Church” ground.

(26*) Odhner's New Sweden Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. III. p. 395.

(27*) Hollender was in name and nativity the same, according to Prof. G.B. Keen, Odhner's translator.

(28*) He was born in West Gothland in 1608, and was therefore a young man when he came to New Sweden. He married at Christina, and left a wife and one child, and therefore, as Ferris says, “Perhaps his descendants remain among us under some anglicized name.” His death occurred September 7, 1643, and as he became sick February 3d of the same year, his spiritual services at Christina were very brief.

(29*) Prof. G.B. Keen presents an abstract of this document as a foot-note to his translation of Odhner, “The founding of New Sweden.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. III. p. 402.

(30*) Hazard's Annals, pp. 50, 56, 57.

(31*) Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. III. p 403. (Keen's Translation of Odhner.)

(32*) In regard to this matter however there have been some doubts, one or two writers even claiming that the colony was located on Elk River, Maryland. It is certain (in the light of subsequent events) that the locality was upon the Delaware and probable that it was below Christiana, but there are not wanting those who affirm that the place selected was upon or near the site of New Castle, and that it was the presence of settlers there already which gave that locality the advantage of Fort Casimir in after years.

(33*) A copy of a list from the Royal Archives in Sweden. The names from this are given, together with brief notes, by Prof. G.B. Keen, in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. III., pp.
462463464.

(34*) Trenton Falls, ninety miles above the mouth of Delaware Bay.

(35*) This is the spelling of Acrelius. The proper rendering of the name is Jost de van Bogart.

(36*) The location of this settlement was on Salem Creek, N.J., near the present town of the same name. Whether these English were New England or Maryland adventurers or the pioneers of Sir Edmund Plowden is disputed, but they gave no trouble to the Swedes, who were to have all they could attend to in resisting the Dutch claims. The probability is that they were from Connecticut. They were led by one Lamberton. The next year (1642) they had the audacity to settle at the mouth of the Schuylkill. “This was too much for the peppery Dutch Governor Kieft and even his less excitable council. Jans Jansen Ilpendam, commissary at Fort Nassau, was directed to expel the intruders, which he did without any ceremony, seizing their goods and burning their trading house. After this the Dutch fell upon the Salem (Ferken's Kil) settlement also and broke that up.

(37*) Now Salem Creek.

(38*) Raccoon Creek.

(39*) Acrelius, “History of New Sweden,” (Pennsylvania Historical Society publication), pp. 3040.

(40*) Campanius, p. 71.

(41*) G.B. Keen has extracted some of the names from Swedish papers. (The Founding of New Sweden, note), Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. III., p. 409.

(42*) The Rev. John Campanius was born at Stockholm, on the 15th of August, 1601. His father was Jonas Peter, clerk of the congregation of St. Clara. He went through his studies with great reputation, and was for a long time preceptor in the Orphan's House, at Stockholm. On the 3d of February, 1642, he was called by the government to accompany Governor Printz to America, where he remained six years pastor of the congregation there. On his return home, he was made first preacher of the Admiralty, and afterwards was pastor of Frost Hultz and Herenwys Uplandt, where he translated Luther's catechism, with other things, into the American Virginia (Indian) language, a work which he had begun in America, and which he here perfected. He died on the 17th of September, 1683, at the age of eighty-two years, and was buried in the church of Frost Hultz, where a handsome monument was erected to his memory. “Campanius,” (condensed by Vincent), p. 183.

(43*) See Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. II., p. 325.

(44*) Lindstrom's account.

(45*) Letters to Chancellor Oxenstierna, April 14, 1643.

(46*) The Governor's Report. Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. VII., p. 272.

(47*) “Campanius” (pp. 73, 75.) says, “This was related to me amongst other things, by an old trustworthy man, named Nils Matson Utter, who, after his return home, served his majesty's life guards.”

(48*) Report of Governor Printz for 1647. Translated from the Swedish by Professor G.B. Keen. Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. VII., page 272.

(49*) Acrelius, page 42.

(50*) Campanius.

(51*) Ferris original settlements on the Delaware, page 62.

(52*) This hall stood more than one hundred and sixty years, and was burned down by accident since the commencement of the present century. FERRIS.

(53*) Ferris, page 67.

(54*) Hudde's report (November, 1645), “Colonial Settlements on the Delaware” (New York Historical Records, Vol. XII., B. Fernow), page 29.

(55*) Substance of depositions made at New Haven.

(56*) The court that tried Lamberton assembled on July 10, 1643, at Fort Christina, and was composed of the following persons: “Captain Christian Boy, Captain Mons. Klingh, Hendrick Huyghen, Commissary Jan Jansen, Commissary Schipper Wessel Evertsen, Schipper Sander Levertsen, Oloff Stille, Evert Sievers, Carl Jansen, David Davidson.”

(57*) This stream was named by the Dutch Sculk kill or hidden creek, from the fact that its mouth was so concealed that they at first sailed by without noticing it.

(58*) These forts were commonly mere block-houses, intended especially for protection against the Indians.

(59*) Besides Johan Papegoja, only five are mentioned in a list of persons living in New Sweden March 1, 1648, viz.: The barber, Hans Janche, from Knigsberg, who “settled in New Sweden in the service of the Crown, March 31, 1644;” Jan Mattson, gunner at Fort Elfsborg; Anders Joensson, soldier, engaged by Papegoja December 1, 1643; Wolle Lohe, soldier, ditto; Sven Svensson, a lad.-Pennsylvania Magaine, Prof. G.B. Keen, translator, Vol. VII., page 419.

(60*) Called by the Indians Kakarikonk. It was near the present Cobb's Creek, a branch of Darby Creek.

(61*) History of the Colony of New Sweden, by Carl K. Sprinchorn, translated and ably annotated by Professor Gregory B.
Keen. Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. VIII., page 39.

(62*) The eighth expedition which sailed from Gottenburg on the 3d of July, 1649, in the “Kattan” (the “Cat”), under the command of Captain Hans Amundsson, was wrecked and plundered at Porto Rico, August 26, 1699, and never reached the Delaware. See Pennsylvania Magaztne, Vol. VIII., page 29.

(63*) Lindstrom's Journal and letters, and Rising's Journal. The Dutch gave a different narrative of the capture of Fort Casimir.

Gerrit Bikker, commandant of Fort Casimir, in a letter to Governor Stuyvesant, of 8th June, 1654, communicates as follows: “On the last day of May, we perceived a sail; not knowing who she was, or where from, Adriaen Van Tienhooven, accompanied by some free persons, were sent towards her to investigate, who, on the next day, contrary to hoping and trusting, returned here in the roads about two hours before the arrival of the ship, with the following news: that it was a Swedish ship, full of people, with a new governor, and that they wanted to have possession of this place and the fort, as they said it was lying on the Swedish government's land. About an hour after receiving this news, the Swedish government's captain, Swensko, with about 20 soldiers, came on shore with the ship's boat. We bade them welcome as friends, judging, that in case they intended to attempt any thing, they would at least give us notice; but contrary to this, he made his people likewise come in, and then demanded, at the point of the sword, the surrender of the river, as well as the fort. This transaction was so hurried as hardly to afford delay enough for two commissioners to proceed on board, to demand of the governor his commission and some little time for consultation; but before the commissioners had got on board, there were two guns fired over the fort charged with ball, as a signal, after which our people were immediately deprived of their side-arms, and likewise aim taken on them, ready to fire, because they did not deliver up their muskets, which were immediately snatched from them, and likewise men were immediately stationed at the pieces of ordnance at the points. Those who had been sent off returned, and brought us information that there was no desire to give one hour delay, that his commission was on board the vessel, and that we would immediately perceive the consequences of it. The soldiers were immediately chased out of the fort, and their goods taken in possession, as likewise my property, and I could hardly, by entreaties, bring it so far to bear that I, with my wife and children, were not likewise shut out almost naked. All the articles which were in the fort were confiscated by them, even the corn, having hardly left us as much as to live on, using it sparingly, & c. The governor pretends that her Majesty has license from the States-General of the Netherlands, that she may possess this river provisionally.”  Holl. Dec., Vol., VIII., pages 85, 87, Hazard's Annals pages 1489.

(64*) See Hazard's Annals, pages 183, 185, 187, 189. Also, Pennsylvania Magazine, Vol. VIII., page 152.

(65*) “Oath. I, undersigned, promise and swear, in presence of the omniscient and almighty God, that I will be true and faithful to their high and mighty lords and patrons of this New Netherland province, with the director-general and council already appointed, or who may be appointed in future, and will remain faithful, without any act of hostility, sedition, or intention, either by word or deed, against their high sovereignty, but that I will conduct myself as an obedient and faithful subject, as long as I continue to reside on this South River in New Netherland. So help me God Almighty.

 

Signed,
    

“JAN HOFFEL.
    

HARMEN JANS.

“CLAES PETERSON.
    

JOHAN ANIES.

“CONSTANTINUS GRUMBERGH.
    

OLOFF TRANSEN.

“ABRAHAM JANSEN.
    

LAMBERT MICHIELSON.

“BARENT JANSEN.
    

SIMON HIDDEN.

“MARTIN MARTENS.
    

JAN ECHOST.

“SAMUEL PETERSE.
    

THOMAS BRUYN.

“WILLIAM MORRIS.
    

ANDRESS JANSEN.

“CLAES TOMASSEN.
    

JAN JANSEN.

“MOLENS ANDRIESSEN.
    

MATHEYS ELKISSE.”

(66*) Acrelius says, “The Swedes suffered great hardships from the Dutch. The flower of their troops were picked out and sent to New Amsterdam; though under pretext of their free choice, the men were forcibly carried aboard the ships. The women were ill treated in their houses, the goods pillaged, and the cattle killed. Those who refused allegiance were watched as suspicious. That this ill usage took place, appears from the testimony given by Rysingh to those who had suffered, several of which were preserved in the original. The Dutch have in vain endeavored to defend their aggressions by allegations that the Swedish establishment was by a private company, because the whole was undertaken under the authority and protection of the government.”

One of these certificates given by Rysingh, is copied on the records of the Swedes Church at Wiccaco; it is “a passport given by Rysingh to Nicholas Mattson. “I do by these presents certify, that the bearer has, during my whole time, behaved as an honest, faithful servant of the crown. He was brought on board the enemy's vessel, and endured, for three weeks, with the other prisoners, contumelious insults. In the same time his house was plundered, and his wife stripped of her very garments.”

(67*) Annals of the Swedes on the Delaware. By Rev. J.C. Clay, D.D.

 

SOURCE: Page(s) 34-57, History of Delaware, 1609-1888, Volume One by Scharf, Thomas J., Philadelphia; L.J. Richards & Co., 1888