The stakes were first laid for Fort George in 1625, marking the official seal of New Amsterdam and what would become New York City. From pine palisade to earthen embankments to stone fortress, the fortification was reconstructed many times by the Dutch and English on the tip of Manhattan Island, mainly with African slave labor. It would exchange hands eight times in various battles between three nations that fought to claim America. It was named Fort Amsterdam by the Dutch who would later call it Fort James and then Fort Willem Hendrick. The British also had their anglicized names: Fort William Henry, Fort Anne, and finally Fort George in 1714, after King George II. Each time the fort fell into disarray or ‘ruin’, a new administrator would find the revenue to revitalize the fort, deemed necessary for the protection of the city.
By the end of the American Revolution, its usefulness as a military defense against attack was outstripped by a new country’s desire to dissolve a standing army and the demand to develop prime real estate; fate and progress had determined the fort’s demise. The remaining walls and interior buildings were torn down to construct the 1790 Government House; the impressive mansion that was to house President Washington. However, by the time the building was completed, the capitol had moved on to Philadelphia and the residence was occupied by state administrators.
The fort never fulfilled its main purpose, to prevent an invading force from capturing the city; though during the American Revolution, it and the nearby artillery batteries belched their opposition at a British fleet. As such, Fort George became the official residency of Dutch District Generals and later British Royal Governors. For over two hundred years these colonial administrators called the small village within the fort’s protective walls home.
Native Americans. The first inhabitants of Manhattan Island were the Lenni Lenape (meaning original people). The island was given the name Manahatta, meaning ‘hilly island’ in one of over twenty dialects of the Algonquian language spoken among the Lenni Lenape. The Minsis or Munsee, part of the confederation of Lenape, who were also called Delaware, occupied the lands to the west and south of Manhattan to the Delaware River; Lenapehoking or ‘land of the Lenape’. To the east of Manhattan, on Long Island, were two other sub-tribes of the Lenape confederation.
The Keskachauge, who were also known as the Canarsie Indians, resided in what was to become Brooklyn, and the Rockaway, who inhabited the eastern shore of Jamaica Bay. North along the Hudson and east to the sea were the Mankingans. Several nations composed this confederation including the Mahicans (Dutch for Mohegans), and the Abenaqui or Wapanackki (meaning men of the east) which included as sub-tribes, the Soquatucks, Horicons, Pennacooks, Nipmucs, Sequins, and Nawaas. The five nations of the Iroquois occupied the lands to the west of the Hudson Valley.
Hudson River. The Lenape called the wide river that flowed down from the north Shatemuc, meaning ‘the river that flows both ways,’ because its course was alternated from north to south along with the Atlantic tides. What was to become Hudson’s River was also called the Cohatatea by the Iroquois and Mahicanituk by the Mohegans which meant ‘the continually flowing waters.’ Henry Hudson, in 1609 called it Rio de Montagne, the river of the mountains. Later, the Dutch, as early as 1611, gave it the name of Mauritius River, in honor of Prince Maurice of Nassau. When the English claimed this region in the 1660’s, they gave it the name of Hudson’s River. By the 1700’s, the British referred to the river as the North River, to distinguish it from the East River, to the east of Manhattan, and the South River, the Delaware. Colonial settlers referred to the original English name of Hudson’s River until it finally became the Hudson River.
Early Explorers. Giovanni da Verrazano is considered the first to explore the mouth of the Hudson River and tip of Manhattan Island. He was born in 1485 to Florentine noble parents and learned the trade as navigator. Sometime between 1522 and 1523, he persuaded King Francis I to sponsor an expedition to the New World aimed at finding a passage to the Pacific Ocean. He arrived at Cape Fear in now North Carolina and sailed north along the coast, arriving New York Bay on April 17, 1524. He did not explore nor stay long, observing the mouth of the Hudson River, which he thought to be a large lake. It is believed his contact with the Native Americans was non-confrontational and he soon sailed north along Long Island to Cape Cod and Newfoundland before turning east. He claimed the coast for the King of France, but because it was not followed up with further exploration, his future expeditions took him south to Brazil and the Caribbean, the claim came to nothing.
It wasn’t until eighty-five years later that a substantial exploration of the region was conducted. On September 3, 1609, Henry Hudson, English navigator sailing for the VOC – Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (Dutch East India Company; not the Dutch West India Company – that would come later), moored his ship, the Half Moon, (In Dutch – De Halve Maan) in the waters from the river that would eventually bear his name. He arrived off Sandy Hook and stayed for about a week. On the twelfth, he pulled anchor and drifted with the tide, exploring a wide river that stretched to the north, hoping it was a link in the passage inland leading to the Pacific. He passed Tappan, West Point, Newburg Bay, and ‘Kakskill.’ His first encounters with Native Americas were peaceful enough, but his men were suspicious. At one point they fired upon natives rowing towards his ship. Several were killed and wounded and one seaman died of an arrow.
By the eighteenth, Hudson had reached what would be called Albany. Here he remained several days and explored, discovering this was the end of his navigation north. He returned south with several other encounters with local inhabitants, some violent with further episodes of fatalities among the natives, until he reached New York’s Harbor. He sailed from Sandy Hook on the fourth of October.
First Dutch Settlement and Trading Posts. During the early seventeenth century, the greatest maritime nation on earth with over 20,000 sea vessels and more than a 100,000 sailors was Holland. This one small nation’s influence spanned the world and it was the fur trade, first reported by the French, that brought her ships to Hudson’s River. Shortly after Hudson returned, having claimed the region for the Dutch, several merchants of Amsterdam fitted out ships and sailed for the river upon which Hudson reported. Their returns in furs were considered highly satisfactory. These ships established ‘factories’ or trading posts prior to returning manned by agents to initiate the fur trade with local tribesmen. Interestingly, the first non-native to inhabit Manhattan was a black man, fur trader Juan (Jan) Rodriguez. He was born in Santo Domingo of African and Portuguese descent and spent the winter of 1613-1614 trapping for pelts and trading as a representative of the Dutch.
In 1614, the Staten General of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, granted a charter for three years to the New Netherlands Company of Amsterdam. In late 1614, the first Dutch settlement in North America was built about a hundred miles up what was being called the Mauritius River, on Castle Island (an island in the river just south of Albany). This trading post was called Fort Nassau, under its agent, Hendrick Corstiaensen. This post was poorly conceived and frequently lay underwater. It was abandoned in 1617.
West India Company. Four years later, after the first charter expired, in 1621, the newly founded West Indische Compagnie (West India Company) or WIC, was grated a charter. It was an enormous charter taking in the coast and countries of Africa from the tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope, and also the all-important coast of America. They had exclusive trade rights for all areas of their jurisdiction. They were given enormous power of government and therefore could appoint governors, administrate justice, enact laws, and finalize treaties. The WIC sent agents to the tip of Manhattan and up the river to the original Fort Nassau region of Albany. They built crude huts and small palisades for protection and actively traded with the Native Americans, having a ready shipment of furs when ships arrived. Over 44 years, from 1621–1664 and from 1673-1674, New Netherlands saw seven Director Generals; all residing at the tip of Manhattan at New Amsterdam.
First Settlements in New Netherlands. In May, 1624, the first large scale settlement by the WIC took place. The New Netherlands, captained by Cornelius Jacobesen Mey, arrived with thirty families, mostly Walloons and Flemish (a distinct ethnic community within Belgium who spoke French). Many disembarked at Noten Eylant (today’s Governors Island) at the mouth of the Hudson River. Eighteen men of these settlers remained onboard and sailed up the Mauritius River (Hudson) and anchored near the abandoned Fort Nassau. There they built a new fort on the shores of the river, about two miles further north, called Fort Oranje (Orange), near present day Albany, and began to settle the land. Later that summer, two other forts were built – one on the South River (Delaware) named Fort Nassau. The other on the Fresh River (Connecticut River), which was called Fort De Goede Hoop (Kievits Hoek). Mey returned to the mouth of the Hudson. Since Mey was the senior leader in New Netherlands, the WIC made him acting General Director until the arrival of a more permanent replacement.
First Agricultural Settlement on Manhattan – New Amsterdam. The following year, in June, 1625, forty-five additional families numbering over 200 settlers disembarked on Noten Eylant. They were led by Willem Verhulst who, as the newly appointed General Director of New Netherland, was to set up a permanent agricultural community on southern Manhattan. They brought with them many agricultural equipment including over on hundred livestock. Not all remained at the mouth of the river. Many were dispersed further up the Hudson River to garrisons at Kingston and Albany. Verhulst also brought the WIC’s “Instructions to the Director, January and April 1625.” This formed part of the colony’s early jurisprudence. It ordered that: Commissary Verhulst, assisted by the surveyor, Cryn Fredericks, shall investigate the most suitable place, abandoned or unoccupied, on either river, and then settle there with all the cattle and build the necessary fortification… He and engineer Fredericks were to erect a fort, lay out streets, and build houses; twelve of them, with sufficient land for farming and grazing.
Fort Amsterdam – a Palisade Constructed of Pine. Willem Verhulst took office as Provisional Director of New Netherland and choose the tip of Manhattan to construct a fort and company headquarters. Under the advice of the Dutch Military Engineer and Surveyor, Cryn (also spelt Kryn) Fredericks, a triangular site for New Amsterdam was laid out by the end of the year and the fort’s foundation was staked out. Five years earlier, English architect Inigo Jones was asked by the Dutch East India Company (replaced the next year by the Dutch West India Company) to design a fortification for the mouth of the Mauritius River (Hudson). He outlined a plan for a star-shaped fortification made of stone and lime and surrounded by a moat and defended with cannon. Jones advised the company against constructing a timber fort out of haste or concern for finances.
Despite Jones’ advice, the plan for a masonry fort was abandoned and a hasty stockade of pine palisades was built. Verhulst was under pressure to establish the settlement on Manhattan and needed to quickly construct a fort if settlers were to establish their homes and farms within the year. Probably more importantly, the company was not turning a good profit. Combined with a lack of labor and natural resources to build a masonry fort, the overall cost was deemed too high. So too, England and France were expanding their claims on New England and the interior as they enlarged their trading operations requiring the Dutch to establish a firm hold on the land. Lastly, the trade operations north on the Hudson triggered a war between rival nations of the Mohawk and Mahican (Mohegans). Settlers were fearful this could endanger any new settlements along the river and demanded protection.
In November, 1626, Fredericks returned to the Dutch Republic. The New Amsterdam settlement was established as was Fort Amsterdam, which was a series of mere block houses surrounded by cedar palisades. Within the fort was built a horse mill which had a large room for religious services. A stone building thatched with reeds served as the Dutch West India Company’s (WIC) warehouse to store readied pelts for shipment to Europe. Outside the fort’s wall were thirty rude huts that stretched along the shore of the East River. Vested with unlimited power, Director Verhulst’s rule was harsh and when fiscal irregularities were found in the company accounts, his council unanimously requested his resignation. When he refused, the council banished Verhulst from the colony. He and his wife were rut aboard the Arms of Amsterdam and returned to Holland.
Fort Amsterdam’s first construction finished. Peter Minuit served as director general from 1626 – 1631. He is well known largely because he supposedly concluded the historic purchase of Manhattan from Native Americans. This popular assumption is based on only one historic letter sent back to Europe that states the amount of the purpose, failing to give any further details including the date of the transaction or those involved. Click this endnote for more information.[1] Of more importance is that during his seven years at the helm of the Dutch colony, relative peace existed. This was especially important for the new settlement of New Amsterdam, where the Native American population lived in close proximity among the settlers. By 1628, the population of New Amsterdam was two hundred and seventy settlers and their African slaves.
Sebastian Jansen Krol, a silk-worker by trade, assumed the directorship in 1632 after Minuit was ordered back to the Dutch Republic. He was an acting director until 1633 when his predecessor took over. He had arrived with Mey in 1625 as a ‘comforter for the sick’ and had been the commander at Fort Orange in present day Albany until assuming the directorship in New Amsterdam. At this time the settlement of New Amsterdam had grown some, but was basically a large trading post. He did improve the garrison at Fort Amsterdam. A guardhouse plus barracks for soldiers hired by the company was added. The loft in the house that served as a horse mill and church was abandoned for a large wooden structure, little more than a barn, built on the shore of the East River. The fort also saw additional stone buildings built for the use by New Netherlands’ director and officers. With the arrival of the fifth director, Fort Amsterdam saw its biggest change.
Fort Amsterdam’s Makeover. Wouter van Twiller was a clerk in the Dutch Republic offices of the WIC, Twiller used his family connections to be assigned general director. He was a very good at organization as well as padding his own pockets, increasing the colony’s prosperity in the four years he was director while amassing a private fortune. Noting the wooden Fort Amsterdam’s poor condition, he commenced the erection of a new fort on the same location. It was much larger; three hundred feet long and two hundred and fifty feet wide. It was finished two years later in 1635 at the cost of 4,172 guilders, 10 stuyvers. In the same year, 1635, the colony of New Netherland’s fur trade brought in 725,117 guilders at a cost of 412,800 guilders for a net profit of 312,317 guilders. Moneys spent to assure the main settlement at New Amsterdam was properly protected against both foreign nations and natives was considered well worth it. However, the finished product was mainly a bank of earth except the extended corners which were of stone.
Within a decade or so of New Amsterdam’s settlement, there was already a large population of African slaves. William Stone, noted early historian wrote in 1868 of Twiller’s improvements to the fort: “That, during the administration of Van Twiller, he [Jacob Stoffelsen] as overseer of the company’s negroes, was continually employed with said negroes in the construction of Fort Amsterdam, which was finished in 1635; and that the negroes assisted in chopping trees for the big house, making and splitting palisades, and other work.”
Stone referral to the ‘big house’ was the Governor’s residence. It was built of brick and was quite substantial, serving all future director generals while the city remained in Dutch hands and several governorships during the years of English rule. As noted, the walls of the fort were no great improvement, earthen embankments with bastions faced with stone. There were no ditches about the earthen walls nor were they even surrounded by a fence to keep off the goats and other animals. By the time Twiller was replaced by General Director Willem Kief, in September, 1638, the fort, once more, was in a decayed state, “opening on every side, so that nothing could obstruct going in or coming out, except at the stone points.” However, settlers believed that the fort’s impressive earthen walls succeeded in keeping the native population at a satisfactory distance.
Years of Atrocities against the Native Americans. Willem Kief’s reign as leader of New Netherlands was marked by violence and insensitivity against the local Native American population. His massacre of natives, including women and children, resulted war. During his tenure, he made no improvements to the fort while taking it upon himself to drive out the indigenous population from Manhattan. After taxing them, he ordered a surprise attack on February 25, 1643, which was not condoned by the colonists. It resulted in the brutal massacre of 120 Indians. The native retaliation exploded into what has been termed Kief’s War. Farms throughout the region were decimated, some a stone throw from the walls of the fort. Frightened settlers fled into the fort, but the accommodations did not supply an adequate shelter. Cottages were establish outside the walls of the fort as close as possible to the protecting ramparts. New streets formed around the southern and eastern walls of the fort.
Three years after the build up to and massacre of Native Americans, war raged throughout all of New Netherland with the resulting death of hundreds of indigenous people and Europeans. Throughout it all, Kief propagated violence until by 1648, the colonists had enough and demanded the Dutch company to remove Kief. Such appeals for justice tend to fall on administrators and governments’ deaf ears; however, when it became apparent that war with those providing the furs significantly reduced profits, Kief was sent packing. Perhaps fate or a greater force rendered a just sentence on Kief for he was shipwrecked off the coast of Wales on his return voyage and perished. After the danger had passed, the cottages were allowed to remain and grants of land were made to the possessors. This resulted in Pearl and Whitehall Streets.
Stone Church added to Fort Amsterdam. Kief did order one improvement to the fort. Due to pressure from townspeople, a stone church was added in 1642. Kief had already rattled the region with his tendency to embrace violence as a means to an end. Both Dutch and Native Americans were attacked on a regular basis resulting in several deaths. The settlement was fearful. It was commonly thought at the time that Native Americans more often attacked a settlement when most of the inhabitants were attending church. The people believed they would be safer if an adequate church were built within the fort. William Kieft contracted Jand and Richard Ogden of Stamford, Connecticut, to build the church. When finished, the edifice had fine oak wood, good building stone, and lime mortar made from oyster shell. It was seventy-two feet long, fifty-two feet wide, and sixteen feet in height. With the church and subsequent buildings, along with sculptured lawns, the grounds within the fort looked more like a New England sleepy village than a fortress designed for defense.
Peter Stuyvesant. Kief’s administration had left the colony in a terrible condition. Only a small number of villages remained after Kief’s War, and many of the inhabitants had been driven away to return home, leaving only 250 to 300 men able to carry arms. Peter Stuyvesant became the last Director General of New Netherlands, appointed in 1646 and arriving in New Amsterdam in 1647. He proved to be a despotic ruler and devoted to the Dutch Company, coming to blows with the self-governing burghers. “Peg-leg” Pete (having lost his right leg when a Spanish cannon ball crushed it), is credited for sending troops to pry lose the Swedes from their South River Possessions (Delaware River). However, he caved in when the English occupied the East River Region (Connecticut River Valley), turning over vast territories to English settlements.
Maintaining the Fort. Stuyvesant did nothing to improve the condition of Fort Amsterdam. Throughout the forts’ history, it went through many stages of disrepair. In 1643, a visiting Jesuit priest observed that the fort’s four bastions were of stone with several cannon. However, the walls were but mere mounds which had crumbled away over time that one could easily enter the fort on all sides. Van der Donck, a local critic of the company’s administration, noted that the fort “lies like a molehill or a tottering wall.” He also observed that the cannon were not mounted on proper platforms. As to the fort’s condition, Cornelis Van Tienhoven, Stuyvesant’s secretary, aptly responded that “the fort is not properly repaired does not concern the inhabitants. It is not their domain, but the Company’s.” Despite its shabby appearance, the fort remained the center of the Dutch colony and continued on during British rule. The director and later governors of the colony not only held council sessions within the fort, but it was the administrator’s main residency. All West India Company soldiers were garrisoned within the fort and during Native American assaults, the residents of the town ran within the walls for safety.
Stuyvesant added one new feature to New Amsterdam’s charm that was reminiscent of home; the Heere Grahcht canal (named after a popular canal in Holland). The large timber lined canal allowed boats on the East River to deliver cargo three blocks into the city. After the English occupied the city, they immediately filled in the canal which had, especially at low tide, become an open sewer. It remained the widest street in the city hence its name to this day, Broad Street. More important to the city’s defense was the wall that Stuyvesant ordered built during the first of three Anglo Dutch Wars of the later part of the 17th century; the first dated 1652 – 1654.
New Amsterdam Wall, later Wall Street. It was only natural that the Anglo Dutch War between England and the Netherlands spilled over into North America. Hostilities arose between the two maritime powers over trade and colonization resulting in a clash of arms. The Dutch on New Amsterdam feared an attack by the English and in 1652, Stuyvesant ordered a wall put up that sealed off New Amsterdam from the rest of the island, running west to east from Hudson’s River to the East River. The wall constructed of fifteen-foot wooden planks and dirt cost the settlement 5,000 guilders. It was 2,340 feet long and nine feet high. It had placements for cannon and spanned between two gates: one at today’s Wall Street and Pearl, and the other on Wall Street and Broadway. Called ‘de Waal Straat (Wall Street), most if not all of the labor was by African American slaves. The wall was never contested by an invading force and over the decades, fell into disrepair. It was restored in 1693 by the British, fearful of a French invasion, but was finally demolished in 1699, leaving a wide street where the wall once spanned – Wall Street.
England Claims New Amsterdam without a shot being fired. The first Anglo-Dutch War ended in 1654 leaving both parties and their trading partners unsatisfied. Over time, powerful trading companies in England were successful in promoting action against the greatest maritime force – the Dutch, hoping to weaken Holland’s grip on her enormous trading empire. England began to actively seek further colonization with the restoration of the monarchy and Charles II’s ascendency to the throne in England in 1660. Charles was keen to establish England’s global power and sought rule over all the territories of coastal America, from Maine to the Carolinas. Charlestown was incorporated in the south and in the north, he had his eyes set on New Amsterdam. This increased interest in colonization did not go unnoticed by the Dutch, who still had the greatest navy and enjoyed dominance over global trade.
Fort Amsterdam become Fort James & First British Rule. In 1663, Charles supposedly promised the New Netherland’s colony to his brother James, Duke of York (future king James II). Without a declaration of war or intent to the Dutch, in 1664, James dispatched Colonel Richard Nicolls to seize New Netherlands. Four warships arrived off Long Island in August and dispatched three hundred soldiers. As they crossed Long Island, they enlisted the support of English towns (many English had settled on the eastern portion of Long Island by then). As they advanced towards Brooklyn, they sent notice ahead that fair treatment would be offered to all who surrendered. It appears that Nicolls was in no mood for a drawn-out battle. He offered Stuyvesant and the Dutch merchants very favorable conditions if the colony were to surrender to him.
Author Steven H. Jaffe wrote in “New York at War”: “Outgunned, weary of the West India Company’s indifference to their fate, valuing their lives and property above loyalty to a distant homeland, and already acquainted with English ways through contact with their neighbors, New Amsterdam’s [1,500 population] would make an easy choice.” Though Stuyvesant wished to resist with the fort’s twenty cannon, his fellow townsmen knew they did not have the man power nor stomach for a contracted siege. Without firing a shot, the fort’s cannon remaining silent, the Dutch worked with Nicolls to procure very favorable terms and handed over the colony to England. Fort Amsterdam became Fort James, in honor of Charles brother, and the colony of New Netherland, as well as the settlement on the tip of Manhattan, became New York, in honor of James’ title as Duke of York. The next year, 1665, saw the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War between England and Holland; 1665-1667, ending after Englishmen tired of the enormous cost of the war and forced Charles II into a peaceful solution with the Dutch.
Russell Shorto, author of “The Island at the Center of the World,” wrote of this change from Dutch Company to British rule. “The Dutch brought their pragmatic tolerance and their aggressive free-trading sensibility,” Mr. Shorto said. “Those two forces got fused into the bedrock of Manhattan Island. When the English took over, they saw that the island was functioning like no other place in North America. So, they kept things more or less intact.” As far as the Dutch, the same may not have been so apparent. Washington Irving wrote in his satirical history of New York that the Dutch so disliked the British nation “that in a private meeting of the leading citizens it was unanimously determined never to ask any of their conquerors to dinner.”
Third Anglo-Dutch War and New Amsterdam is reclaimed. Changes to the city’s Defenses. The Third Anglo-Dutch War began in 1672. A Dutch fleet arrived at New York’s Harbor in late July of 1673. The English Governor of New York, Francis Lovelace, since 1678, was absent from the colony, engaged in negotiations with the Governor of Connecticut. Eight warships led by Captains Cornelis Evertsen and Jacob Benckes, from the Dutch state of Zeeland (province in southwestern Netherlands), took it upon themselves to launch an audacious plan to recapture New Amsterdam. [Note: often the number of Dutch ships is inaccurately listed as 20 or more vessels]. The ships opened fire on the fort and landed troops. Shots rang out and the Governor’s deputy, Captain John Manning, quickly surrendered on July 30th. Once again, the colony was under Dutch rule. In August, 1673, Anthony Colve, a Dutch naval captain, was appointed Director-General of New Netherland by Evertsen and Benckes before the Dutch fleet left. Unlike previous directors who answered to a company, he only recognized the authority of the Admiralty of Amsterdam. Governor Lovelace, along with the fort’s English garrison, were boarded aboard a slave ship that had just delivered over two hundred starving African slaves. They were shipped back to England where James II quickly had Lovelace locked away in the Tower of England.
Director Colve issued a proclamation restoring the name New Netherland to the colony. The city New York was now called New Orange. And Fort James (the original Fort Amsterdam) became Fort William Hendrick (William Henry), in honor of the Dutch leader who was Stadtholder and Prince of Orange. Since war was still raging in Europe and many of the global colonies, Colve took it upon himself to improve the defensive stance of the city. He seized and destroyed many new homes that had been built to close to the fortifications. Every inhabitant in the city, including all the African slaves, were required to take shifts working on the fortifications. Not only were the forts walls improved some, but the wall along Wall Street was beefed up. Several new cannon placements as well as two massive stone bastions were positioned along the wall named Hollandia and Zeelandia, after the ships that carried the Dutch invasion force. All this effort was for naught as within a year, the Third Anglo-Dutch war ended with the 1674 Treaty of Westminster which returned several colonies to England, including New Netherland. In November, 1674, Colve officially surrendered the colony to sir Edmund Andros. Before departing, Colve gave Governor Andros a gift of his coach and horses.
Fort Willem Hendrick returned to Fort James and defenses improved. The colony and city was again named New York. The fort was reverted back to Fort James. There began a flurry of building as Dutch architecture was slowly taken over by new English construction. Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick, who was the royal governor of New York, convened the first legislature of New York in October 1683 for a meeting at the fort. Dongan was also the first to establish batteries of cannon just to the south of the fort. A power play between English Parliament and the crown erupted in 1688. James the II, catholic king, had a son. There was fear that this would set up a new catholic dynasty excluding James’ protestant daughter Anne and her protestant husband. What came next has been labeled the Glorious Revolution of 1688. James was forced from power and exiled to Ireland where he assembled an army. The leaders of the English political class invited William of Orange to assume the English throne. When he arrived the English shore with a show of force, James’ army deserted and James went into exile in France where he ultimately died in 1701. Parliament declared that James had deserted the throne and appointed both William and Mary as joint monarchs.
Colonial Rule: 1689 – 1691, Leisler’s Rebellion and attack on fort. While England was embroiled in its ‘Glorious Revolution’, British authority was taken over in New York City by its colonial settlers. This was labeled the Leisler Rebellion. In 1689 German born colonist Jacob Leisler, a Calvinist and militia captain, seized the fort. They were protestants who opposed the ‘popery’ of James the II. Rumors that New York would become a catholic province were numerous. Also, France had just declared war on England and the colonists feared Native American violence.
Leisler’s militia wrested power from acting Lt. Governor Francis Nicholson who soon departed for England. Leisler improved upon the fort’s batteries and defenses and proved to be a fair administrator during his time as New York’s leader, distributing some of the colonial wealth to the people. King William III assumed the throne and in late 1690, he reasserted royal authority over New York. He commissioned Colonel Henry Sloughter to be provincial governor and dispatched him and troops to the colony.
Sloughter’s ship was delayed in England then further delayed by bad weather. In January, 1691, the first to arrive was lieutenant governor Major Richard Ingoldes. He ordered the government turned over to him and Leisler and his militia vacate Fort James. The colony saw stubborn resistance by Leisler’s men as the city was split into two armed factions. By mid-March, Ingoldesby surrounded the fort and threatened to take it by storm. Leisler had the fort’s guns fire at Ingoldesby’s men, killing some of the colonists. Sloughter finally arrived in New York on March 19th, proclaimed his commission as governor, and immediately ordered Leisler to surrender the fort. After his militia balked at further confrontation with British troops, Leisler surrendered and was arrested. He was tried, as was his brother-in-law Jacob Milborne, of treason and executed by hanging. The Leisler rebellion followed a pattern of several other similar rebellions in the colony such as the Bacon Rebellion of 1676 and the Boston Revolt of 1689, including rebellions in New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Maryland.
Fort James is given the same name as before, but this time in English. And a few years later, is named yet again. The English, soon after gaining control of New York, beefed up the defenses of what was now named Fort William Henry, after the new English monarch. Interestingly, this was the second time the fort was named for William. The fortification was William Hendrick (which translates to William Henry) under Dutch rule and when William ruled the Netherlands as Prince of Orange. Now, as king of England, the fortress received the same name. William Henry died in 1702 without an heir so Anne, his wife and daughter of disposed King James II, inherited the throne. The fort was now referred to as the Queen’s Fort in her honor.
Twelve years later, the Queen’s Fort is receives its last and final name. It also receives a massive overhaul. Starting at the turn of the 18th century and for the next fifty years, massive changes took place to the fort and nearby batteries. The Queen’s Fort becomes Fort George in 1714 to honor the assent of George II to the crown. By 1756, 92 cannon were installed in the fort. The walls and bastions were all constructed of stone and mortar. The interior facilities and buildings were improved upon; replacing all thatched roofs with oak shingling. Barracks for soldiers were enlarged as well as modernizing the governor’s house and storage areas. The fort, which had fallen in decay, still housed government operations, however was transformed into a more military presence. Charles Todd, in “The Story of Old New York”, 1888, records the following of newly named Fort George’s garrison: Members of the seat of government, 2 lieutenants, 1 ensign, 3 sergeants, 2 drummers, a master gunner, 100 privates, 4 matrosses (artillery crewmen), a chirurgeon (surgeon), a storekeeper, and a chaplain.
Fort George is the Social Capitol of New York City. The fort’s main function, for several decades under both Dutch and British rule was one of ceremony, rather than military necessity. Author Charles Todd describes the governor’s residence in the fort as the center of “high doings” that often took place among colonial elites and wealthy subjects. “No day, whether the anniversary of the birth of king, queen, or prince of the royal blood, the coming of an heir to the throne, the arrival of a new governor, or a great national event, can pass without the holding of a grand ball at the Government House.” He describes a celebration for the King’s birthday on October 30, 1734, “In the evening the whole city was illuminated. His Excellency and Lady [governor and wife] gave a splendid ball and supper at the Fort, where the most numerous and fine appearance of ladies and gentlemen that had ever been known upon the like occasion…”
1741 fire destroys parts of the fort’s interior. African American slaves blamed in a conspiracy resulting in dozens brutally executed. In March, 1741, a plumber who had been involved in some repairs to the fort’s buildings, reported to the General Assembly that he’d accidentally started a fire in a gutter between the main house and chapel. This resulted in major fire damage to the Governor’s residence, the secretary’s office, and the chapel and barracks. However, the timing of the fire along with outlandish rumors based on shabby evidence erupted into mass panic among the city’s white settlers. Several other fires occurred shortly after the fort’s fire in different locations of the city which could not be readily explained. Suspicions ran wild after a servant-girl, Mary Burton, confessed that she had heard some slaves in February discussing plans to torch the city. Later, perhaps enjoying her new found notoriety, she implemented several whites in the elaborate conspiracy. Accused African American slaves and whites were rounded up and placed in the City Hall’s ‘jails’. Twenty-six whites and over one hundred and sixty slaves were placed in over crowded conditions waiting trial. The city was consumed with panic-stricken terror that affected both magistrates and jurors. The most frivolous testimony resulted in guilty sentences. Thirteen African Americans were burnt at the stake, eighteen were hanged, and seventy were transported. This also included the execution of four whites.
Description of Fort George by mid-1700’s. This is good description of mid-century Fort George copied from pages twelve and thirteen of NY During the Revolution, 1861 by the Mercantile Library Association: Fort George embraced three bastions with connecting curtains, extending from Whitehall slip on the south east, to the line of the present Battery place on the north-west. The fort, a rectangular stone work, strengthened with bastions at angles, was elevated on an artificial mound, about fourteen feet in height, which had been thrown up “at an enormous expense;” and its gateway, which fronted “the Bowling Green,” was defended by a raveling or covert-port which had been thrown out in front of the fort, toward the city. Within the enclosure of the fort were the Provincial Governor’s residence, a barrack which would accommodate two hundred men, and two powder magazines 0 the latter of which, from their dampness, were entirely useless; and the glacis or counter-scarp on its eastern and southern fronts, as far eastward as Whitehall Street, and southward as far as Pearl Street, was occupied as gardens for the Governor’s use.
The armaments of the fort, the raveling, and the line of works on the water line, were mounted en barbette: [a platform upon which a gun is placed to fire over a parapet or fort’s rim] and although upward of one hundred and twenty pieces of artillery were on the ramparts, it seems to have been intended for profit and form rather than for defense, it being entirely exposed to a fire in reverse and enfilade;” and that although “it carried a respectful appearance with it (at a distance), the defenses on the northern front were of themselves but bad, this front being commanded by a piece of ground equal to it at the end of Bowling Green, its original parade, and formerly in the jurisdiction of the fort.
By the 1760’s, Fort George is more a quiet village than ominous military installation. Martha Lamb writes on page 107 of her History of New York: The Governor’s House within the fort looks as though it could be nestled along a quiet street in any small, quaint village. It is a two-story dwelling with large stone fireplaces lining either side. The shingle peaked roof has a pair of dormers facing the front. Like the surrounding walls of the fort, the entire structure is made of stone and mortar. An extension was built on the backside which, by the Seven Years’ War, became the armory (along with part of the second story). Fronted by an iron fence, the backside space before the east wall’s ramparts are graced with towering shade trees. A stroll past the mansion and one comes to the church or chapel. It too is constructed in stone with shingled roof and interior fireplaces at both ends.
A tall, three story square tower lines the front south side of the church which is capped by a four-sided dome roof that curves up to the peak which is topped by an elaborate windmill. The front of the both Governor’s House and church look out upon the parade ground and soldiers’ barracks to the west of the fort. The northern side of the interior commons houses the officers’ lodgings, secretary’s office and the front gate which has a turnstile leading to the outside well. Just beyond is Battery Park and the start of Broad Way, a wide lovely, tree lined avenue with an interesting mixture of exquisite residences and mansions, retail businesses, and artisan’s workshops.
Dutch Architecture top – first warehouse, bottom left – yellow brick homes, bottom right – state house. Images from Lamb’s History of NY.
Opposition to British Rule by Colonial ‘patriots’. 1765 Stamp Act Nov. 1st riot before the fort. In late October, 1765, opposition to the Stamp Act intensifies. On October 31, 1765, 200 merchants signed a petition condemning England’s efforts to collect revenue. A Committee of Correspondence was appointed who, along with the New York Sons of Liberty, sponsored a show of resistance, led by Isaac ‘King’ Sears. The hated stamps were under the care of acting Royal Governor Cadwallader Colden, who resided within Fort George. He was protected by a strong garrison under British General Thomas Gage. Colden had strengthened the fort and resupplied the arms magazine.
The next day, November 1st, a large number of ‘patriots’ assembled before the fort and demanded the delivery of the cursed stamps. When they were refused, the gathering took on the character of a mob. Some left, only to return with Governor Colden’s fine coach. They tore down the wooden fence around Bowling Green, hacked the carriage to pieces, and with an effigy of Colden that had been hanged, threw all into a large bon-fire on the Green. Coldon and Gage’s troops showed constraint while the mob tore into several loyalists’ residences and marched around town before dispersing. Three days later Colden gave up the stamps. Things quieted down once the act was repealed, however it was only the beginning of what would erupt into full rebellion.
William Tryon was appointed governor of New York in 1771, having served as Governor of North Carolina. He immediately resided in the Government House in Fort George. It is beyond the scope of this article to expand on the growing dispute between Parliament and American leaders that led to more frequent outbreaks of violence. One occurrence had a direct effect on the fort and escalated hostilities. On the evening of August 23, 1775, John Lamb and his artillery company, along with several ‘sons of liberty boys’, attempted to steal a dozen cannons from the Battery. This foray was also attended by a very young scholar who was seeking a captaincy of his own artillery company, Alexander Hamilton. The cannon, still in their mounting ‘trucks’ with smallish, hard wheels, were removed and hauled up Broadway by drag lines; a very difficult task.
While they were doing so, the HMS Asia, a 64-gun battleship, noted activity and sent a launch to investigate. The launch was fired upon by the colonials and one soldier was struck. The Asia responded with a broadside into the city. The bombardment shattered the nerves of the city as shells crashed into several buildings – one 18-pound cannon ball smashing through the roof of Fraunces Tavern. Eventually the cannon, some ancient relics of the Dutch years, were hauled to the Commons where several were spiked (rendered useless).
The Government House Fire. On the night of December 29, 1773, around 11 PM, after all had gone to bed, a fire broke out in Governor Tryon’s residency. Smoke filled the house and most made a rapid escape, some leaping out onto snow banks heaped up beside the building. Only the governor’s young daughter and a maid remained inside. A servant was able to get to the child’s room and throw her out the bedroom window into waiting arms. Unfortunately, the maid perished in her room. All belongings as well as furniture was lost in the fire. The elaborate sixteen-room mansion received extensive damage. The cause of the fire was attributed to a flame that a servant had set in the Council Chamber’s fireplace earlier that evening. Smoldering sparks had set off the wainscoting that had pulled away from the wall in places. The building was still scarred nearly two years later when Governor Tryon, on October 19, 1775, from fear of getting arrested, departed New York City to seek refuge on the British sloop-of-war Halifax in New York Harbor. Later, he set up headquarters on the Duchess of Gordon until the summer of 1776 when England regained control of New York City.
Colonists Rule of New York City and drastic change to Fort George. When British forces departed Boston for Halifax in April, 1776, General George Washington, commander of American forces, began to send troops south to New York City for an expected invasion by the British fleet. Though some English ships remained in the harbor, American troops occupied the town. It was during this period, January and into the summer, that extensive fortifications were erected throughout the city, including improvements on the battery below Fort George and the fortress’ defenses.
Early in 1776, General Charles Lee had surveyed the city prior to leaving for South Carolina to help defend Charlestown against an expected invasion by General Henry Clinton. Lee recommended batteries and redoubts built all along the East and Hudson’s River. He also advised a drastic change to Fort George. He assumed that the British could easily sail right past the Battery in front of Fort George and storm the fortress’ low wall. They would then use the fort’s cannon to lay siege to the city. He ordered the destruction of the two northern bastions (or towers) at the corners of the fort along with the north wall. He then installed a battery of cannon at a barricade on Broadway that were aimed at the fort’s unprotected interior. All the streets on the west side of the city that led to the Hudson River were then barricaded.
British Fleet arrives and retakes New York City and Fort George. In July, 1776, the British invasion fleet, with over 30,000 British and Hessian infantry onboard, anchor nearly four hundred ships in New York City’s harbor. After the American loss at the Battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776, the British prepared to invade Manhattan Island where Washington’s army maintained a strong presence. On September 15th, British General William Howe launched a mid-island invasion north of New York City. He drove back American defenses and nearly trapped a third of Washington’s army still manning the defenses in the city. General Israel Putnam commanded the American Division in the city along with Colonel Henry Knox, artillery commander. Knox had been removing cannon from Fort George and the batteries along the rivers when the British attacked on the 15th.
Knox spiked the remaining cannon in the fort and batteries and joined Putnam as the contemptuous old ‘Indian Fighter’ raced his division of approximately 3,000 men sixteen miles north to the American line at Harlem Heights. While Howe’s forces crossed the island, British ships launched boats of marines to claim the city. Ousted Virginia Governor, Lord Dunmore (Earl John Murray), had arrived from Virginia the previous month and joined the marines to hoist the British flag over Fort George.
British Rule from 1776-1783. After the war, the fort is torn down. The British would occupy New York City for the next seven years until the end of British rule in America. They would repair all spiked cannon and restore several of the fort’s artillery. After the conclusion of the war, the Americans took over Fort George on the Evacuation Day, November 25, 1783. There were no further repairs nor did the new American government rename the fort. As the army was drawn down to a mere fraction of its former size, there was no need to retain the fort. The walls and structures were torn down in 1790.
Top: British depart New York 1783. Bottom: View of Bowling Green where the statue of King George III was torn down and melted into bullets. This shows part of the north wall that had been torn down at the start of the American Revolution.
New York capitol of the United States, Government House, New York City was the capitol of the United States from 1785 – 1790. After the fort was demolished in 1790, part of the area became a promenade while a large executive mansion was raised on its location. The Government house was to supply the newly elected American President George Washington a residence. However, before it was completed, the capitol was relocated to Philadelphia. The Government House became the state’s governor’s residence and the home of the American Academy of Arts who leased a portion to the New York Historical Society. In 1813 the land was sold to the public and the building torn down in 1815.
Alexander Hamilton Custom House on site of old Fort George. After the Government House was torn down, the site was developed as homes for several wealthy New Yorkers. Throughout the 19th century, the Port of New York was the primary port of entry for goods reaching the United States and as such, the New York Custom House was the most profitable custom house in the country. Until a national income tax was implemented in 1913 (16th Amendment), the New York Custom House supplied two-thirds of the federal government’s revenue. A new location for the house was needed and the site of the old Fort George was selected. The residents were paid for their land and the demolition of buildings began in 1900. In 1902, the cornerstone of the new Alexander Hamilton Custom House was laid (Hamilton being the first U. S. Treasurer). The building was finished in 1905. It remained the custom house until 1973 when the service was moved. The building was renamed Alexander Hamilton. After twenty years in which most of the building remained dormant, it now houses the George Gustav Heye Center previously called the Museum of the American Indian.
Battery and forts constructed. War ravaged Europe at the end of the 18th century and the newly formed United States was becoming more involved. Due to trading partners with both the British and French, the U.S. was drawn into the dispute. When British ships started confiscating American ships, hostilities arose between the two nations and it became apparent that new fortifications were needed to guard American city harbors. In 1798, cannon were temporarily placed in hastily constructed defenses at the old Battery on Manhattan. Four forts were to be built in New York: Castle Williams on Governor’s Island, Fort Wood on Bedloe’s Island (today’s Liberty Island), Fort Gibson on Ellis Island, and on Manhattan near the old Fort George, southwest battery.
Southwest Battery and Castle Clinton. The southwest battery was built on the rocks off the tip of Manhattan between 1808 and 1811. The fort was armed with 28 cannon, 32 pounders which could lob a cannon ball a mile and a half distance. The first commanding officer, General Joseph Bloomfield, established his headquarters of all New York forts at the southwest battery. Throughout the War of 1812, the southwest battery never fired a shot upon its enemies. In 1817, the battery was renamed Castle Clinton in honor of Dewitt Clinton, Mayor and later Governor of New York. In 1823, the fort was deeded to New York City. The following summer a new restaurant and entertainment center opened. The former fort received a new name: Castle Garden. A roof was added some years later and later still, it became a center where newly arrived immigrants were processed. Later still, in the early 20th century, it became the city’s Aquarium. Today, the restored building has become the Castle Clinton National Monument and maintained by the National Park Service.
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1776 American Revolutionary War Forts & Defenses Constructed In & Around New York City.
Redoubts – America’s Forts During the Revolutionary War
Field Fortifications & Forts in the American Revolution
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Davis, A. American History… Revolution of New Amsterdam…. and the American Colonies in 1776. 1854: R. T. Young Publishers, New York, NY.
Dunlap, William. History of the New Netherlands, Province of New York and State of New York… in Two Volumes. 1839: Carter and Thorp, New York, NY.
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Hemstreet, Charles. The Story of Manhattan. 1901: Charles Schribner’s Sons, New York, NY.
Lamb, Martha J. History of the City of New York, It’s Origin, Rise, and Progress, Vol I. 1877: A. S. Barnes & Company, New York, NY.
Lamb, Martha J. History of the City of New York, It’s Origin, Rise, and Progress, Vol II. 1877: A. S. Barnes & Company, New York, NY.
Mann, Frank Paul. The British Occupation of Southern New York during the American Revolution. Syracuse University Dissertation, May, 2013.
Mercantile Library Association. NY During the Revolution. 1861 by same.
Naval Documents of the American Revolution. Vol. I American Theatre. 1964: United States Gov. Printing Office. Digitally preserved: 2012: American Naval Records Society, Bolton Landing, NY.
Pritchard, Evan T. Native New Yorkers: The Legacy of the Algonquin People of New York. 2002: Council Oak Books, San Francisco, California.
Roberts, James A. New York in the Revolution, Colony & State. 1898: Brandow Printing Company, Albany, NY.
Ruttenber, Edward Manning. History of the Indian Tribes of Hudson’s River. 1872: J. Munsell Publisher, Albany, NY.
Schoolcraft, Henry L. “The Capture of New Amsterdam”. The English Historical Review. Vol 22, No. 88 (Oct., 1907), pp 674-693. Published by Oxford University Press.
Seaward, Paul. “The House of Commons Committee of Trade and the Origins of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, 1664.” The Historical Journal. Vol. 30, No. 2 (June 1987), pp 437-452. Published by Cambridge University Press.
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INTERNET
The Dutch & the English Part 5: The Return of the Dutch and What Became of the Wall Michael Lorenzini. June 1, 2017. New York City Dept of Records https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2017/6/1/the-dutch-the-english-part-5-return-of-the-dutch-what-became-of-the-wall
Dutch New York, The Dutch Settlements in North America. By Marco Ramerini. https://www.colonialvoyage.com/dutch-new-york/#:~:text=In%201614%20the%20Staten%20Generaal,south%20of%20Albany%2C%20NY).
Manahatta to Manhattan, Native Americans in Lower Manhattan. https://www.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/public/indianed/tribalsovereignty/elementary/uselementary/uselementary-unit1/level2-materials/manahatta_to_manhattan.pdf
New Netherland Institute, New York, NY. “A Tour of New Netherland, Fort Amsterdam” https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/digital-exhibitions/a-tour-of-new-netherland/manhattan/fort-amsterdam/
New York City Looking Back. http://newyorklookingback.blogspot.com/2012/09/fort-amsterdam.html
ENDNOTE
[1] Famous ‘Sale’ of Manhattan. Fact? But mainly fiction. Peter Minuit, a Walloon, left Holland and first sailed to New Netherlands in 1625. He returned that same year, yet once more, in January, 1626, sailed back to New Amsterdam, arriving on May 4, 1626. On September 23rd, he replaced the unpopular Verhulst. Supposedly, he met with the local Lenepe and ‘purchased’ Manhattan Island for sixty guilder (which is the equivalent of $24). Housed in the Rijksarchief (Dutch National Archives) in The Hague, Netherlands, is a letter that is the only reference of the sale of Manhattes (Manhattan) by Native Americans. It was written by the Dutch merchant Pieter Schagen, dated November 5, 1626. In this letter, Schagen wrote, “They have purchased the Island of Manhattes from the savages for the value of 60 guilders.” Schagen’s letter does not verify either the date of sale or who sold Manhattan on behalf of which tribe of Native Americans. Further, historians and scholars cannot agree on which tribe actually received payment in exchange for Manhattan. Included in historical references associated with the sale of Manhattan are the Lenape, Canarsie, Shinnecock, and Munsee Indians. Absent from the letter is the mention of trinkets and beads. Also absent is the name of the individual who actually made the purchase. One can easily assume that a typical trade between Europeans and Native Americans, the kind that occurred throughout the year, was blown out of proportion and romantically augmented through rumor.