The “Peach Tree” War

In the summer of 1655, Stuyvesant sailed down the Delaware River with a force of six hundred armed men. His forces easily captured the Swedish forts along the Delaware. On September 15, 1655 New Sweden was absorbed by New Netherland.

In 1655, Hendrick Van Dyck, the former Attorney General of New Amsterdam, was believed to be living in Oude Dorp (present-day Old Town). One morning he looked out his window to find an Indian squaw picking a peach from his garden. Infuriated, he ran to get his gun and shot the woman dead.

While the Dutch authorities did not think much of the incident, the Indians had a different reaction. They demanded the Governor deliver Van Dyck to them. When the Governor refused, several neighboring tribes banded together and attacked New Amsterdam. When the attack failed, they turned their furry on the settlement on Staten Island. Nearly everyone was either killed or captured, with most of the crops and houses destroyed.

Meanwhile, New Amsterdam was left undefended. On the same day as the surrender of the Swedes to Stuyvesant, several hundred Susquehannock attacked New Amsterdam and its surrounding outposts in Pavonia, Harlem, Staten Island, and the Bronx. The Susquehannock were trading partners and allies of the Swedes. They stormed the Dutch settlements for three days in retaliation for the Dutch assault on New Sweden, leaving approximately one hundred Dutch dead and taking one hundred fifty hostages. The prisoners were taken to Paulus Hook by their Native American captors.

When reports of the “war” reached Peter Stuyvesant, he immediately returned to New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant initiated negotiations with the Susquehannock and paid a ransom for the prisoners. Thus, the war effectively concluded.

The Dutch were anxious to end all hostilities with the Indians. They realized that unless and until a lasting peace was achieved, they could not continue to colonize the region.

Finally, in 1660, a delegation representing Indians of Long Island, Staten Island, Hackensack, N.J., Haverstraw and Westchester County met in New Amsterdam with Stuyvesant and his council.

A peace treaty was signed providing remedies for many of the reasons for the wars of the past, including compensation for land and a mechanism for bringing to justice both Dutchmen and Indians who violated the law/treaty.