Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam was a fortification on the southern tip of Manhattan Island at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers in what is now New York City. The fort and the island were the center of trade and the administrative headquarters for the Dutch rule of the colony of New Netherland and thereafter British rule of the Province of New York. The fort was the nucleus of the settlement on the island which was at first named New Amsterdam and is central to New York's early history.
Before the fort was constructed, it was the scene where the purchase of Manhattan Island occurred. In its subsequent history, the fort was known under various names such as Fort James, Fort Willem Hendrick and its anglicized Fort William Henry, Fort Anne, and Fort George. The fort changed hands eight times in various battles, the first episode involving Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant, who surrendered the fort to Richard Nicolls of England in 1664. In the 18th century, the fort was at the center of the Stamp Act riots in New York when it was used to store shipments of stamped paper brought over from England, while serving as a safe haven for a number of stamp tax collectors. During the American Revolution, it was involved in the Battle of Brooklyn, when volleys were exchanged between the fort and British emplacements on Governor's Island. After 165 years of service, involving a number of conflicts, the fort was finally torn down in 1790 after the American Revolution. After the fort's demolition, the Government House was constructed on the site as a possible house for the United States President. The site is now occupied by the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, which houses a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian; Bowling Green is nearby.
The construction of the fort marked the official founding date of New York City as recognized by its seal. In October 1683, what would become the first session of the New York legislature convened at the fort. Artillery guns outside the fort overlooking the harbor formed a battery that would later be the namesake of nearby Battery Park.
History
Starting with the founding and establishment of Fort Amsterdam in 1626, the fort, with its strategic location, overlooking the harbor and the mouth of the Hudson River, and as a lucrative trade center, played a significant role in the history that followed, all the way through the American Revolution, frequently changing hands between the Dutch, British and the Americans, with corresponding changes in the fort's name.Establishment (1621–1660)
Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, and the greater Dutch colony of New Netherland, was chartered by the Dutch West India Company in 1621. Before Fort Amsterdam was constructed, the Dutch settlers erected a large stone building on the future location of the fort that served as a meeting house. It was surrounded by some 30 makeshift dwellings made from timber and bark, as finished building materials were scarce. The structures were surrounded by red cedar palisades which served as a temporary fort. Manhattan Island at this time was covered by woods and brush, with several marshes about the shore line, and at night the sound of bears and other wildlife could be heard.During the 17th century, no settlement was secure without a fortification for defense and refuge. Historian Maud Wilder Goodwin maintains the fort existed not so much out of concern for the Indians, but over other ambitious and enterprising Europeans. Historian John Andrew Doyle, however, maintains that the fort, with its earthen walls, was intended more for a defense against Indians and was almost useless as a defense against a professional army or navy at that time. In 1625, after much deliberation, it was decided that the best location for the fort would be at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, with the idea that it would be able to defend against any ship attempting to ascend the Hudson River. The fort was designed by Kryn Fredericksen, deputy and chief engineer of the New Netherland colony. Seventeenth-century Dutch forts all followed a similar design. Probably originally intended as a standard star-shaped fort, Fort Amsterdam had four sides with a bastion at each corner to better protect the walls. The original plan was to face the wall with stone, but this was never accomplished. The fort was built of hard-packed earth or rubble because earthworks would absorb the shock of cannon fire without collapsing, as stone walls might. Fredericksen had instructions to employ the help of nearby Indians in the fort's construction. and were never taken into slavery.
Under the direction of the Dutch West India Company, the first appearance of negro slaves in New Amsterdam occurred in 1626, and were used helping in the construction of the fort, clearing land, farming and other such work. Attitudes about slavery varied among the colonists. Some of the slaves were converted to Christianity, and later some of them were given their freedom and grants of land.
The fort became the nucleus of the New Amsterdam settlement and its mission was protecting New Netherland colony operations in the Hudson River against attack from the English and the French. Although its main function was military, it also served as the center of trading activity. It contained a barracks, a church, a house for the West India Company director, and a warehouse for the storage of company goods.
The company appointed Cornelius Jacobsen Mey in 1624 as the first director of the New Netherland colony, and who was stationed at New Amsterdam at the fort, serving until 1625.
Mey was soon replaced by Willem Verhulst, who arrived in January 1625. Verhulst served as the second director in 1625–1626. His term as director was marked with harsh and inconsistent punishment which infuriated the settlers. Realizing that food staples were in short supply in the newly developed settlement, the Dutch West India Company had shipped over some cattle, various live stock, seeds and farming equipment. The animals were initially kept on Governor's Island but the grazing proved inadequate so they were moved to a more fertile location on upper Manhattan Island.
At the time, Manhattan was sparsely settled, as most of the Dutch West India Company operations were upriver along the Hudson in order to conduct trading operation for beaver pelts. According to John Romeyn Brodhead, while the fort was under construction, three Wechquaesgeek people traveled south from the area of present-day Westchester County to barter beaver skins. When they reached the Kolck, a pond near what is now Chinatown, they were set upon by three farmhands, and one of the two adults was killed. When the young boy who was with them grew older, he took his revenge for the murder of his uncle, which act served as a pretext for Kieft's War.
At the direction of the Dutch West India Company, Verhulst was replaced as governor by the appointment of Peter Minuit, who arrived in 1625 and was appointed governor the following year. Minuit's first official task was to arrange a meeting with the local Indian chiefs and negotiate the purchase of Manhattan Island before any settlement and the erection of the fort was to occur. The meeting took place on 26 May 1626, on the rocky southernmost shore of the island, where a trade deal was made, which was gladly accepted by the Indians. Minuit promptly organized the first government of the colony, and was granted authority over its executive, legislative, and judicial functions. He also appointed a sheriff and a five-member advisory council, chosen from the most reputable men at the colony. On 27 July 1626, the Dutch ship, Arms of Amsterdam, arrived at Manhattan, commanded by captain Adriaen Joris, who in 1623 accompanied Captain May, and was left in charge of the colony at Fort Orange. By September 26, the Arms of Amsterdam, with a cargo containing thousands of fur pelts, samples of grain, and a load of hardwood, departed for Holland with news of the purchase of Manhattan and the successful establishment of the new colony. By 1628, the population of Manhattan Island, including men, women and children, was 270.
In 1632, Minuit was replaced by Sebastiaen Jansen Krol who briefly served as director for a period of thirteen months. His replacement, Wouter van Twiller, a clerk in the Dutch West India Company, who arrived at the fort, still under construction, aboard the Dutch ship, De Zoutberg along with a company of one hundred and four soldiers from Holland, the first military force to arrive at the colony, with Van Twiller officially as its first military head Also aboard was the Reverend Everardus Bogardus. Relations with neighboring English colonies were uncertain, as they were competing with the Dutch over trade with the Indians, prompting Twiller to strengthen the fort with stone at several locations. The fort was completed in 1635. He had built within the fort a guard-house and a small house for the soldiers. Outside the fort he built New Netherland's first church, complete with a house and stable, a bakery, a goat-stable, and a large storage shed to accommodate the ship builders.
Twiller, however, was generally disliked by the Dutch settlers. His financial management and accounting were poorly conducted and he neglected to report regularly to Amsterdam and had acquired a reputation for drunkenness. For this he was sharply and openly criticized by Borgardus from the pulpit and by the company's treasurer, Lubbertus Van Dincklagen, for which Twiller dismissed him and sent him back to Holland. Van Dincklagen immediately drew up a formal complaint and submitted it to the States General. After confirmed reports of Twiller's performance reached Holland it was decided that he be replaced as Director General of New Netherland. William Kieft was subsequently appointed as the new Director in September 1637, arriving at New Amsterdam in March of the following year, effectively replacing Twiller.
Conditions in and about the fort by 1638 had deteriorated and were not promising, with incompetent governmental management contributing to a decline in trade, and making the prospect of farming bleak. Director Kieft upon inspection of the fort and surrounding area, found the fort in a ruinous condition, with its dilapidated walls which allowed the fort to be entered without difficulty from various points. All the carriages that mounted the cannons had fallen into decay, while the farms in the area had become neglected.
File:Castelloplan.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2 | Manhattan in 1660, based on the Castello Plan, with the fort on the left
About 1640 conflicts with the Indians, who were robbing and murdering settlers for their fur and other goods, had increased into war. The garrison at Fort Amsterdam in 1643 consisted of only fifty to sixty soldiers, who were lacking in discipline and were often disorderly. The situation prompted Kieft to establish a code of military law for members of the garrison while on duty, which included stiff fines for blasphemy, slandering, intoxication or failure to appear for duty. The code was read aloud by a corporal every time the soldiers appeared for duty. After four years of fighting with the Indians a peace was finally reestablished in 1645. Under Kieft, however, public revenues overall were not forthcoming, smuggling was frequent and severely compromising legitimate trade, discontent and disorder was prevalent throughout the community, while protests and appeals for reform had no effect in getting Kieft and his subordinates to address the situation effectively. Subsequently, when Peter Stuyvesant arrived at Fort Amsterdam in 1647 he was joyfully received. He was accompanied by Reverend Johannes Backerus, who was to replace Bogardus.
Johannes Megapolensis, a minister of the Calvinist Dutch Reformed Church, arrived at Fort Amsterdam from Rensselaerswyck Manor in 1664 after serving there for six years. His arrival at Fort Amsterdam was subsequent to his assisting French missionary, Isaac Jogues, in his escape from the Mohawks. Jogues became the first Catholic priest to set foot on Manhattan Island. While at the fort, Jogues observed and wrote an account of the condition of the fort, its repairs, and the activity on Manhattan, noting the various religions and languages spoken. As the population of Manhattan was increasing the West India Company sent out another minister, Domine Samuel Drisius, to assist Megapolensis who had served the Dutch congregation in England and could preach in Dutch, English and French. At the insistence of Stuyvesant, and with children in need of baptism and religious instruction, Megapolensis was persuaded to remain in Manhattan.
As the population of the colony grew, there was a corresponding increase in the number of soldiers, and by 1650 the number of soldiers in New Netherland was roughly 250. By 1660, the population is estimated to have been around five-hundred, and by 1664 had grown to fifteen-hundred. That same year, Jacques Cortelyou was commissioned to conduct a survey and make a second map of New Amsterdam, which now had approximately three-hundred and fifty dwellings.