Legends of the Shawangunk2 JR.pdf - Friends of the Sabbath ...

The First Esopus War. 21
“Being in need of gunpowder, of which we had only what was in the ‘bandoleers,’
and lacking some plank for a guard-house, and some carpenters to aid in our work, I
concluded to go in the Company’s yacht to Fort Orange for the same. I arrived back at
Esopus on the afternoon of the 12th, and found every body at work, and two sides of the
palisades finished. About noon of the 20th the stockade was completed, it being
necessary only to stop apertures where roots of trees had been in the ground; this was
completed in good time the same day.
“Having accomplished the work so far I set out on my return, leaving 24 soldiers to
assist in guarding the place. As they had themselves 30 fighting men, besides seven or
eight carpenters, they were in my opinion capable of taking care of themselves.”
But the peace begun under such favorable auspices was of short duration, as we learn
by a letter from Sergeant Lawrens, the officer in charge of the military at Esopus, to
Governor Stuyvesant. He wrote:—
“Send me quickly orders. The Indians are becoming savage and insolent, and have
killed a fine mare belonging to Jacob Jansen. They are angry that you challenged twenty
of their men to fight. Those returned from the beaver-hunt say if they had been here they
would have accepted the challenge. They talk about it every day; and to-day about five
hundred savages are assembled, and their numbers constantly increasing. Provide us as
quickly as possible with ammunition.” Ensign Dirck Smith was dispatched to the relief
of the garrison with twenty-five additional troops, making the fighting strength a total of
fifty men, exclusive of the citizens.
Smith was directed to make secure the enclosed place, mount a sufficient guard, and
not allow any savage to pass through except upon permission of Jacob Jansen Stohl or
Thomas Chambers. They were not to act “hostilely” against the Indians, but to stand
strictly on the defensive. The agricultural labors were to be kept up under a guard of
from twenty to twenty-five men; the laborers themselves were directed to take their arms
with them, “that in case of attack they may make a better stand against the savages;” and
were also instructed to keep as close together as possible.
In October of 1658 the Esopus sachems made a conveyance of the land as they had
promised. They said they hoped the soldiery would now lay down their arms, that the
settlers need now fear nothing. They promised they would hunt many beavers and pass
right by Fort Orange with their peltries; they liked to see the plows work, but no soldiers.
The following graphic account of a collision between the savages and the settlers we find
in the records:
“To the Honorable, Wise and very Valiant, His Honor Director General Peter
Stuyvesant at New Amsterdam:—
“As on the 20th, at night between 10 and 11 o’clock, some savages raised a great
noise and yelling under the fort, whereupon Dirck de Goyer and two others alarmed me
on the guard, I commanded the sergeant to take nine or ten