Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-01-14


opposite and erected there a fort and
trading post. known in the early an
nails as 'Beaversrede' where q large
traffic was carried on.
In 1866 an attempt to capture the
Timberkill Cor creek post, was made
by a party of Englishmen from the
Connecticut settlement The attack
was unsuccessful, and the assailants
were made prisoners and sent to the
authorities at Manhattan.
The Swedish settlements on the
Delaware, were begun in 1858. and as
they were prosperous and aggressive
the Dutch were naturally jealous OF
their encroachments, and saw in them
formidable rivals for authority and do
minion, SO, about that period, under
the direction of Herr Hendrick Christ
anse, the engineer and architect OF
Fort Amste1n Nassau was rebuilt
much enlarged and strengthened, and
supplied with a heavier armament, and
garrisoned with a greater number Of
men, and placed under the command
of a new commissary, or commandment
Jan. Jansen Jlpendam. In 1642 he was
ordered to repair to the SchuylkllI
with one or two slOops and demand Of
the English under what authority they
were occupying Dutch lands. # they
persisted in their course he was to re-
move them. But Jlpendam fell into
disgrace by his too great liberality in
trading with the Indians and was re-
moved and ordered to appear before
the Lord Mayors in Amsterdam, 1645.
to answer to the charge against him
He never returned to his post. He
was succeeded in command by An=
dreas Huddie He came to the com
mand just in time to have many
bout with the Swedish and English
contestants for possession. His name
and exploits figure very conspicnously
in the colonial circumstances of that
time.
A report dated at Fort Nassau, Sep
TENDER 7th, 1913, gives us striking
instance of the spirit with which the
men of that redoubtable place of de-
Tense resented the Sights and insults
of their powerful neighbors, the
Swedes. ION the evening of the second
day Of April in the year above named
says Commissary Huddie, "a Swedish
vessel undertook to pass our post, Mas
sau, without showing her cOlors. She
was fired over twice without showing
her colors by my command, but not
heaying to, eight men were sent in
barge in pursuit Of her. The wind
being fresh and fair, the vessel out
sailed the roWers and got away. In
two or three days / learned that she
was the State vessel of Governor John
Printz of Tinicum When she came
down the river she showed her colors.
The war of words to and fro which
followed this episode was finally set
tied by diplomacy.
From this time on in the old Dutch
records, we find more or less mention
of the post on Timber Greek, until the
year 1864, when under the grant OF
Charles II to his brother, the Duke OF
York, the Dutch dominion on the
shores of the Delaware was at an end,
and its places of defence were aban-
doned
Since that stroke of conquest, two
hundred and ffty-eight years have
passed with their marvellous changes
and developments The wilderness
lands which bordered the South 49,
with only here and there clearing
and a cabin and some trading posts.
has been made to bloom and blossom
as the rose, and where Stuyvestant's
cannons echoed through the sOlitudes
of tShacamaxon, now rise the spires
and edifices of city with million
and half inhabitants; but the exact
site of old Fort Nassau, where Captain
Cornelius Mey and his companions
made in 1923, the first attempt ever
made, at European colonization and
civilization, within the limits of the
territory of New Jersey, Pennsyl vania
! and Delaware, is unknown Should not
efforts be made to find that interest
ing spot which appeals with SO much
force not only to our love Of ants
lqulfies, but to our country and state
| pride as vel? In this age Of indis-s
| eriminate monument building its claims
| to a fitting memorial shaft sbodid net
! be neglected
A minute history of this ancieAt
place of defence and Indian traffic
of the many consecutive events, and
circumstances of every day life, Of
| through the long vanished years.
! would be very interesting reading to-
\ day and by night against the stealthY
savages; of how they smoked their
pipes and drank their eognial, and
DGCI, anu ISdStSQ vi Lie lctl VI Liz III =
ests and streams. The chroniclers
| then were few, and did not stop to-
note down all such things as we do.
nowadays, and so we must be cons
tent with the meagre accounts which
have come down to us of the brave
| pioneers.
In imagination I have from boyhood
loved to go back and linger with
them and be of their number at their
solitary outpost, SO far away from the
fatherland and the sounds Of civilizas
! ton. They deserve our regard. Shall
we not keep them in grateful reInan
brance2 They were the beginners,
the forerunners, the advance guard 81
the coming millions They struck the
| first blows with the axe in the wilder
ness-they plowed the first burrows
in the lands Of the ages they built
the first cabins-they made the first
homes and the first sacrifices in this
land which we possess as a goodly