Peach War Begins in Van Dyck Orchard - 1655

Hendrick van Dyck , a man with a documented temper, found a Native American woman picking peaches in his orchard in New Amsterdam (A15 in the Castello Plan), and he shot and killed her.   The court records show that he was accused of killing her and thus sparking a war with the Indigenous people. On September 15, 1655, about 500 hundred Native Americans landed 64 canoes on the shores of New Amsterdam, and quickly invaded the area.    Note that there were only about 342 houses in New Amsterdam, and 500 armed invaders meant that the island was quickly overwhelmed.

Per Wikipedia:  At daybreak on September 15, 1655, about 500 Munsee in 64 canoes landed near the southern end of Manhattan. They proceeded to break down doors, ransack houses, and threaten or beat some of the occupants, although no deaths or serious injuries occurred. The sachems met with members of the colony's governing council at Fort Amsterdam and agreed to withdraw at sunset. Meanwhile, the councillors called the citizens to arms and a guard was mounted. As the Munsee gathered at the riverbank to depart, Hendrick van Dyck was shot and wounded by an arrow. In response, New Netherland's fiscal, Cornelis van Tienhoven, urged the guard to open fire. In the ensuing skirmish, three Munsee and three colonists were killed. One group of Munsee then crossed the Hudson River and attacked Pavonia while a second group raided Staten Island.

Stuyvesant later reported that in the attacks “40 Christians” were killed and 100, mostly women and children, taken captive. He further reported that 28 farms had been destroyed, 12,000 skipples (9,000 bushels) of grain burned, and 500 head of cattle taken or killed.

The raid on Staten Island  by the Indigenous warriors resulted in almost complete destruction of crops, houses, barns and cattle. 

See documents describing the events here:  https://encyclopedia.nahc-mapping.org/document/letter-directors-director-general-and-council

Additional reading here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peach_War

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