Great Epochs in American History Volume II Part 6

[1] From Smith's "Description of New England," published in London in 1616. Smith's exploration of New England was made after he had become separated from the Jamestown colony, of which in 1608, he had been president. He went there under an engagement with London merchants to fish for cod, barter for furs and explore the country for settlement. It was he who at the request of Prince Charles named the country New England.

[2] Probably the Merrimac.

THE FIRST VOYAGE OF THE "MAYFLOWER"

(1620)

BY GOVERNOR WILLIAM BRADFORD[1]

Sept^r: 6. These troubls being blowne over, and now all being compacte togeather in one shipe, they put to sea againe with a prosperus winde, which continued diverce days togeather, which was some incouragemente unto them; yet according to y^e usuall maner many were afflicted with sea-sicknes....

After they had injoyed faire winds and weather for a season, they were incountred many times with crosse winds, and mette with many feirce stormes, with which y^e shipe was shroudly shaken, and her upper works made very leakie; and one of the maine beames in y^e midd ships was bowed & craked, which put them in some fear that y^e shipe could not be able to performe y^e vioage. So some of y^e cheefe of y^e company, perceiving y^e mariners to feare y^e suffisiencie of y^e shipe, as appeared by their mutterings, they entred into serious consulltation with y^e m^r. & other officers of y^e ship, to consider in time of y^e danger; and rather to returne then to cast them selves into a desperate & inevitable perill. And truly ther was great distraction & differance of opinion amongst y^e mariners themselves; faine would they doe what could be done for their wages sake, (being now halfe the seas over,) and on y^e other hand they were loath to hazard their lives too desperatly. But in examening of all opinions, the m^r. & others affirmed they knew y^e ship to be stronge & firme under water; and for the buckling of y^e maine beame, ther was a great iron scrue y^e pa.s.sengers brought out of Holland, which would raise y^e beame into his place; y^e which being done, the carpenter & m^r. affirmed that with a post put under it, set firme in y^e lower deck, & otherways bounde, he would make it sufficiente.

And as for y^e decks & uper workes they would calke them as well as they could, and though with y^e workeing of y^e ship they would not longe keepe stanch, yet ther would otherwise be no great danger, if they did not overpress her with sails. So they comited them selves to y^e will of G.o.d, & resolved to proseede. In sundrie of these stormes the winds were so feirce, & y^e seas so high, as they could not beare a knote of saile, but were forced to hull, for diverce days togither.

And in one of them, as they thus lay at hull, in a mighty storme, a l.u.s.tie yonge man (called John Rowland) coming upon some occasion above y^e grattings, was, with a seele of y^e shipe throwne into [y^e] sea; but it pleased G.o.d y^t he caught hould of y^e tope-saile halliards, which hunge over board, & rane out at length; y^et he held his hould (though he was sundrie fadomes under water) till he was hald up by y^e same rope to y^e brime of y^e water, and then with a boat hooke & other means got into y^e shipe againe, & his life saved; and though he was something ill with it, y^et he lived many years after, and became a profitable member both in church & comone wealthe. In all this siage ther died but one of y^e pa.s.sengers, which was William b.u.t.ten, a youth, servant to Samuel Fuller, when they drew near y^e coast....

But to omite other things, (that I may be breefe,) after longe beating at sea they fell with that land which is called Cape Cod; the which being made & certainly knowne to be it, they were not a little joyfull. After some deliberation had amongst them selves & with y^e m^r. of y^e ship, they tacked aboute and resolved to stande for y^e southward (y^e wind & weather being faire) to find some place aboute Hudsons river for their habitation. But after they had sailed y^t course aboute half y^e day, they fell amongst deangerous shoulds and roring breakers, and they were so farr intangled ther with as they conceived them selves in great danger; & y^e wind shrinking upon them withall, they resolved to bear up againe for the Cape, and thought them selves hapy to gett out of those dangers before night overtooke them, as by G.o.ds providence they did. And y^e next day they gott into y^e Cape-harbor wher they ridd in saftie.[2] A word or too by y^e way of this cape; it was thus first named by Capten Gosnole & his company, An^o: 1602, and after by Capten Smith was caled Cape James; but it retains y^e former name amongst sea-men. Also y^t pointe which first shewed those dangerous shoulds unto them, they called Point Care, & Tuckers Terrour; but y^t French & Dutch to this day call it Malabarr, by reason of those perilous shoulds, and y^e losses they have suffered their.

Being thus arived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees & blessed y^e G.o.d of heaven, who had brought them over y^e vast & furious ocean, and delivered them from all y^e periles & miseries thereof, againe to set their feete on y^e firme and stable earth, their proper elemente. And no marvell if they were thus joyefull, seeing wise Seneca was so affected with sailing a few miles on y^e coast of his owne Italy; as he affirmed, that he had rather remaine twentie years on his way by land, then pa.s.s by sea to any place in a short time; so tedious & dreadfull was y^e same unto him....

But hear I cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half amased at this poore peoples presente condition; and so I thinke will the reader too, when he well considers yo same. Being thus pa.s.sed y^e vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation (as may be remembred by y^t which wente before), they had now no friends to well come them, nor inns to entertaine or refresh their weatherbeaten bodys, no houses or much less townes to repaire too, to seeke for succoure. It is recorded in scripture as a mercie to y^e apostle & his shipwraked company, y^t the barbarians shewed them no smale kindnes in refreshing them, but these savage barbarians, when they mette with them (as after will appeare) were readier to fill their sids full of arrows then otherwise. And for y^e season it was winter, and they that know y^e winters of y^t c.u.n.trie know them to be sharp & violent, & subjecte to cruell & feirce stormes, deangerous to travill to known places, much more to serch an unknown coast. Besids, what could they see but a hidious & desolate wildernes, full of wild beasts & willd men? and what mult.i.tuds ther might be of them they knew not. Nether could they, as it were, goe up to y^e tope of Pisgah, to vew from this willdernes a more goodly c.u.n.trie to feed their hops; for which way soever they turnd their eys (save upward to y^e heavens) they could have little solace or content in respecte of any outward objects.

For sumer being done, all things stand upon them with a wetherbeaten face; and y^e whole countrie, full of woods & thickets, represented a wild & savage view. If they looked behind them, ther was y^e mighty ocean which they had pa.s.sed, and was now as a maine barr & goulfe to seperate them from all y^e civil parts of y^e world. If it be said they had a ship to sucour them, it is trew; but what heard they daly from y^e m^r. & company? but y^e with speede they should looke out a place with their shallop, wher they would be at some near distance; for y^e season was shuch as he would not stirr from thence till a safe harbor was discovered by them wher they would be, and he might goe without danger; and that victells consumed apace, but he must & would keepe sufficient for them selves & their returne. Yea, it was muttered by some, that if they gott not a place in time, they would turne them & their goods ash.o.r.e & leave them.

Let it also be considred what weake hopes of supply & succoure they left behinde them, y^e might bear up their minds in this sade condition and trialls they were under; and they could not but be very smale. It is true, indeed, y^e affections & love of their brethren at Leyden was cordiall & entire towards them, but they had litle power to help them, or them selves; and how y^e case stode between them & y^e marchants at their coming away, hath allready been declared. What could now sustaine them but y^e spirite of G.o.d & his grace?...

Being thus arrived at Cape-Codd y^e 11. of November, and necessitie calling them to looke out a place for habitation, (as well as the maisters & mariners importunitie,) they having brought a large shalop with them out of England, stowed in quarters in y^e ship, they now gott her out & sett their carpenters to worke to trime her up; but being much brused & shatered in y^e shipe w^th foule weather, they saw she would be longe in mending. Whereupon a few of them tendered them selves to goe by land and discovere those nearest places, whilst y^e shallop was in mending; and y^e rather because as they wente into y^t harbor ther seemed to be an opening some 2. or 3. leagues of, which y^e maister judged to be a river. It was conceived ther might be some danger in y^e attempte yet seeing them resolute, they were permited to goe, being 16. of them well armed, under y^e conduct of Captain Standish, having shuch instructions given them as was thought meete.

They sett forth y^e 15. of Nove^br: and when they had marched aboute y^e s.p.a.ce of a mile by y^e sea side, they espied 5. or 6. persons with a dogg coming towards them, who were salvages; but they fled from them, & rane up into y^e woods, and y^e English followed them, partly to see if they could speake with them, and partly to discover if ther might not be more of them lying in ambush. But y^e Indeans seeing them selyes thus followed, they again forsooke the woods, & rane away on y^e sands as hard as they could, so as they could not come near them, but followed them by y^e tracte of their feet sundrie miles, and saw that they had come the same way. So, night coming on, they made their randevous & set out ther sentinels, and rested in quiete y^e night, and the next morning followed their tracte till they had headed a great creeke, & so left the sands, & turned an other way into y^e woods. But they still followed them by guess, hopeing to find their dwellings; but they soone lost both them & them selves, falling into shuch thickets as were ready to tear their cloaths & armore in peeces, but were most distressed for wante of drinke.

But at length they found water & refreshed them selves, being y^e first New-England water they drunke of, and was now in thir great thirste as pleasante unto them as wine or bear had been in for-times.

Afterwards they directed their course to come to y^e other sh.o.r.e, for they knew it was a necke of land they were to crosse over, and so at length gott to y^e sea-side, and marched to this supposed river, & by y^e way found a pond of clear fresh water, and shortly after a good quant.i.tie of clear ground wher y^e Indeans had formerly set corne, and some of their graves. And proceeding furder they saw new-stuble wher corne had been set y^e same year, also they found wher latly a house had been, wher some planks and a great ketle was remaining, and heaps of sand newly padled with their hands, which they, digging up, found in them diverce faire Indean baskets filled with corne, and some in eares, faire and good, of diverce collours, which seemed to them a very goodly sight, (haveing never seen any shuch before).

The month of November being spente in these affairs, & much foule weather falling in, the 6. of Desem^r: they sente out their shallop againe with 10. of their princ.i.p.all men, & some sea men, upon further discovery, intending to circulator that deepe bay of Cape-Codd. The weather was very could, & it frose so hard as y^e sprea of y^e sea lighting on their coats, they were as if they had been glased; yet that night betimes they gott downe into y^e botome of y^e bay, and as they dine nere y^e sh.o.r.e they saw some 10. or 12. Indeans very busie aboute some thing. They landed about a league or 2. from them, and had much flats. Being landed, it grew late, and they made themselves a barricade with loggs & bowes as well as they could in y^e time, & set out their sentenill & betooke them to rest, and saw y^e smoake of y^e fire y^e savages made y^t night.

When morning was come they devided their company, some to coast alonge y^e sh.o.r.e in y^e boate, and the rest marched throw y^e woods to see y^e land, if any fit place might be for their dwelling. They came also to y^e place whom they saw the Indeans y^e night before, & found they had been cuting up a great fish like a grampus, being some 2. inches thike of fate like a hogg, some peeces wher of they had left by y^e way; and y^e shallop found 2. more of these fishes dead on y^e sands, thing usuall after storms in y^t place, by reason of y^e great flats of sand that lye of. So they ranged up and doune all y^t day, but found no people, nor any place they liked. When y^e sune grue low, they hasted out of y^e woods to meete with their shallop, to whom them made signes to come to them into a creeke hardby, which they did at high-water; of which they were very glad, for they had not seen each other all y^t day, since y^e morning.

So they made them a barricado (as usually they did every night) with loggs, staks, & thike pine bowes, y^e height of a man, leaving it open to leeward, partly to shelter them from y^e could & wind (making their fire in y^e midle, & lying round aboute it), and partly to defend them from any sudden a.s.saults of y^e savags, if they should surround them.

So being very weary, they betooke them to rest. But about midnight they heard a hideous & great crie, and their sentinall caled, "Arme, arme"; so they bestired them & stood to their armes, & shote of a cupple of moskets, and then the noys seased. They concluded it was a companie of wolves, or such like willd beasts; for one of y^e sea men tould them he had often heard shuch a noyse in New-found land. So they rested till about 5. of y^e clock in the morning; for y^e tide, & ther purposs to goe from thence, made them be stiring betimes. So after praier they prepared for breakfast, and it being day dawning, it was thought best to be carring things downe to y^e boate. But some said it was not best to carrie y^e armes downe, others said they would be the readier, for they had laped them up in their coats from y^e dew.

But some 3. or 4. would not cary theirs till they wente them selves, yet as it fell out, y^e water being not high enough, they layed them downe on y^e banke side, & came up to breakfast. But presently, all on y^e sudain, they heard a great & strange crie, which they knew to be the same voyces they heard in y^e night, though they varied their notes, and & one of their company being abroad came runing in, & cried, "Men, Indeans, Indeans"; and wth all, their arowes came flying amongst them. Their men rane with all speed to recover their armes, as by y^e good providence of G.o.d they did. In y^e mean time, of those that were ther ready, two muskets were discharged at them, & 2. more stood ready in y^e entrance of ther randevoue, but were comanded not to shoote till they could take full aime at them; & y^e other 2.

charged againe with all speed, for ther were only 4. had armes ther, & defended y^e baricado which was first a.s.salted. The crie of y^e Indeans was dreadfull, espetially when they saw ther men rune out of y^e randevoue towourds y^e shallop, to recover their armes, the Indeans wheeling aboute upon them. But some runing out with coats of malle on, & cutla.s.ses in their hands, they soone got their armes, & let flye amongst them, and quickly stopped their violence.

Yet ther was a l.u.s.tie man, and no less valiante, stood behind a tree within halfe a musket shot, and let his arrows flie at them. He was seen shoot 3. arrowes, which were all avoyded. He stood 3. shot of a musket, till one taking full aime at him, and made y^e barke or splinters of y^e tree fly about his ears, after which he gave an extraordinary shrike, and away they wente all of them. They left some to keep y^e shalope, and followed them aboute a quarter of a mile, and shouted once or twise, and shot of 2. or 3. peces, & so returned. This they did, that they might conceive that they were not affrade of them or any way discouraged. Thus it pleased G.o.d to vanquish their enimies, and give them deliverance; and by his spetiall providence so to dispose that not any one of them were either hurte, or hitt, though their arrows came close by them, & on every side them, and sundry of their coats which hunge up in y^e barricado, were shot throw & throw.

Afterwards they gave G.o.d sollamme thanks & praise for their deliverance, & gathered up a bundle of their arrows, & sente them into England afterward by y^e m^r. of y^e ship, and called that place y^e first encounter.

From hence they departed, and costed all along, but discerned no place likly for harbor & therfore hasted to a place that their pillote, (one M^r. Coppin who had bine in y^e c.u.n.trie before) did a.s.sure them was a good harbor, which he had been in, and they might fetch it before night; of which they were glad, for it begane to be foule weather.

After some houres sailing, it begane to snow & raine, & about y^e midle of y afternoone, y^e wind increased, & y^e sea became very rough, and they broake their rudder, & it was as much as 2. men could doe to steere her with a cupple of oares. But their pillott bad them be of good cheere, for he saw y^e harbor; but y^e storme increasing, & night drawing on, they bore what saile they could to gett in, while they could see. But herwith they broake their mast in 3 peeces, & their saill fell over herd, in a very grown sea, so as they had like to have been cast away; yet by G.o.ds mercie they recovered themselves, & having y^e floud with them, struck into y^e harbore. But when it came too, y^e pillott was deceived in y^e place, and said, y^e Lord be merciful unto them, for his eys never saw y^t place before; & he & the m^r. mate would have rune her ash.o.r.e, in a cove full of breakers, before y^e winde. But a l.u.s.ty seaman which steered, bad those which rowed, if they were men, about with her, or ells they were all cast away; the which they did with speed. So he bid them be of good cheere & row l.u.s.tly, for ther was a faire sound before them, & he doubted not but they should find one place or other wher they might ride in saftie.

And though it was very darke, and rained sore, yet in y^e end they gott under y^e lee of a smalle iland, and remained ther all y^t night saftie. But they knew not this to be an iland till morning, but were devided into their minds; some would keepe y^e boate for fear they might be amongst y^e Indians; others were so weake and could, they could not endure, but got ash.o.r.e, & with much adoe got fire, (all things being so wett,) and y^e rest were glad to come to them; for after midnight y^e wind shifted to the north-west, & it frose hard.

But though this had been a day & night of much trouble & danger unto them, yet G.o.d gave them a morning of comforte and refreshing (as usually he doth to his children), for y^e next day was a faire sunshinig day, and they found them selvs to be on an iland secure from y^e Indeans, wher they might drie their stufe, fixe their peeces, & rest them selves, and gave G.o.d thanks for his mercies, in their manifould deliverances. And this being the last day of y^e weeke, they prepared ther to keepe y^e Sabath. On Munday they sounded y^e harbor, and founde it fitt for shipping; and marched into y^e land, & found diverse cornfields, & little runing brooks, a placed (as they supposed) fitt for situation; at least it was y^e best they could find, and y^e season, & their presente necessitie, made them glad to accept of it. So they returned to their shipp againe with this news to y^e rest of their people, which did much comforte their harts.

On y^e 15. of Desem^r. they wayed anchor to goe to y^e place they had discovered, & came within 2. leagues of it, but were faine to bear up againe; but y^e 16. day y^e winde came faire, and they arrived safe in this harbor.[3] And afterwards took better view of y^e place, and resolved wher to pitch their dwelling; and y^e 25. day begane to erecte y^e first house for comone use to receive them and their goods.

I shall a litle returne backe and begine with a combination made by them before they came ash.o.r.e, being y^e first foundation of their governmente in this place; occasioned partly by y^e discontented and mutinous speeches that some of the strangers amongst them had let fall from them in y^e ship--That when they came ash.o.r.e they would use their own libertie; for none had power to comand them, the patente they had being for Virginia, and not for New-england, which belonged to an other Government, with which y^e Virginia Company had nothing to doe.

And partly that shuch an acte by them done (this their condition considered) might be as firme as any patent, and in some respects more sure. The forme was as followeth:

"In y^e name of G.o.d, Amen. We whose names are underwriten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by y^e Grace of G.o.d, of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of y^e faith, &c., having undertaken, for y^e glorie of G.o.d, and advancemente of y^e Christian faith, and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to plant y^e first colonie in y^e Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly & mutualy in y^e presence of G.o.d, and one of another, covenant & combine our selves together into a civill body politick, for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance of y^e ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, const.i.tute, and frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances, acts, const.i.tutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient for y^e generall good of y^e Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness wherof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape-Codd y^e 11. of November, in y^e year of England, Franc, & Ireland y^e eighteenth, and of Scotland y^e fiftie fourth. An^o: Dom. 1620."

[1] William Bradford had already been a leading member of a little dissenting congregation in England, when, in 1608, it fled from England to Holland, and in 1620 settled at Plymouth, Ma.s.s. A year after the arrival at Plymouth Bradford was elected Governor of the Colony, and, with the exception of two short intervals, held this office until his death nearly forty years afterward.

Bradford's "History of Plymouth" is a cla.s.sic in New England historical literature--the foundation-stone, in fact, of the history of New England. A curious item in the survival of the ma.n.u.script is that, at the time of the evacuation of Boston by the British, during the Revolution, it disappeared mysteriously, to be discovered eighty years afterward in the palace of the Bishop of London. More than forty years after this discovery, the ma.n.u.script was restored by the diocese of London to the commonwealth of Ma.s.sachusetts, which now preserves it in the State Library in Boston.

[2] Now known as Provincetown, where a lofty monument on a hilt back of the harbor, dedicated in 1910, commemorates the landing there of the Pilgrim Fathers. While the Mayflower lay in this harbor, Paregrine White was born, the first child of English parentage born in New England.

[3] The landing at Plymouth was effected on December 21.

THE FIRST NEW YORK SETTLEMENTS

(1623-1628)

BY NICHOLAS JEAN DE Wa.s.sENAER[1]

We treated in our preceding discourse of the discovery of some rivers in Virginia; the studious reader will learn how affairs proceeded. The West India Company being chartered to navigate these rivers, did not neglect so to do, but equipped in the spring [of 1623] a vessel of 130 lasts, called the _New Netherland_ whereof Cornelis Jacobs of Hoorn was skipper, with 30 families, mostly Walloons, to plant a colony there. They sailed in the beginning of March, and directing their course by the Canary Islands, steered towards the wild coast, and gained the westwind which luckily (took) them in the beginning of May into the river called, first Rio de Montagnes, now the river Mauritius, lying in 40-1/2 degrees. He found a Frenchman lying in the mouth of the river, who would erect the arms of the King of France there; but the Hollanders would not permit him, opposing it by commission from the Lords States General and the directors of the West India Company; and in order not to be frustrated therein, with the a.s.sistance of those of the _Mackerel_ which lay above, they caused a yacht of 2 guns to be manned, and convoyed the Frenchman out of the river, who would do the same thing in the south river, but he was also prevented by the settlers there. This being done, the ship sailed up to the Maykans, 44 miles, near which they built and completed a fort named "Orange," with 4 bastions, on an island, by them called Castle Island....

Respecting these colonies, they have already a prosperous beginning; and the hope is that they will not fall through provided they be zealously sustained, not only in that place but in the South river.

For their increase and prosperous advancement, it is highly necessary that those sent out be first of all well provided with means both of support and defense, and that being freemen, they be settled there on a free tenure; that all they work for and gain be theirs to dispose of and to sell it according to their pleasure; that whoever is placed over them as commander act as their father not as their executioner, leading them with a gentle hand; for whoever rules them as a friend and a.s.sociate will be beloved by them, as he who will order them as a superior will subvert and nullify everything; yea, they will excite against him the neighbouring provinces to which they will fly. 'Tis better to rule by love and friendship than by force....

As the country is well adapted for agriculture and the raising of every thing that is produced here, the aforesaid Lords resolved to take advantage of the circ.u.mstances, and to provide the place with many necessaries, through the Honble. Pieter Evertsen Hulst, who undertook to ship thither, at his risk, whatever was requisite, to wit: one hundred and three head of cattle; stallions, mares, steers and cows, for breeding and multiplying, besides all the hogs and sheep that might be thought expedient to send thither; and to distribute these in two ships of one hundred and forty lasts, in such a manner that they should be well foddered and attended to....

In company with these, goes a fast sailing vessel at the risk of the directors. In these aforesaid vessels also go six complete families with some freemen, so that forty five newcomers or inhabitants are taken out, to remain there. The natives of New Netherland are very well disposed so long as no injury is done them. But if any wrong be committed against them they think it long till they be revenged....

They are a wicked, bad people, very fierce in arms. Their dogs are small. When the Honble. Lebrecht van Twenhuyzen, once a skipper, had given them a big dog, and it was presented to them on ship-board, they were very much afraid of it; calling it, also a Sachem of dogs, being the biggest. The dog, tied with a rope on board, was very furious against them, they being clad like beasts with skins, for he thought they were game; but when they gave him some of their bread made of Indian corn, which grows there, he learned to distinguish them, that they were men.

The Colony was planted at this time, on the Manhates where a Fort was staked out by Master Kryn Frederyeke, an engineer. It will be of large dimensions....

The government over the people of New Netherland continued on the 15th of August of this year in the aforesaid Minuit, successor to Verhulst, who went thither from Holand on 9th January, Anno, 1626, and took up his residence in the midst of a nation called Manhates, building a fort there, to be called Amsterdam, having four points and faced outside entirely with stone, as the walls of sand fall down, and are now more compact.

The population consists of two hundred and seventy souls, including men, women, and children. They remained as yet without the Fort, in no fear, as the natives live peaceably with them. They are situate three miles from the Sea, on the river by us called Mauritius, by others, Rio de Montagne....