10
JOURNAL OF NEW NETHERLANDS
experienced Indians in the Country, and who, in the first Conspiracy, had given the most dangerousCouncil, To wit, that they should wait and not attack the Dutch until all suspicion had been lulled,and then divide themselves equally through the houses of the Christians and slaughter all thesein one night—was secretly waging war against us with his tribe who killed some of our people andset fire to the houses. It was, therefore, resolved to send thither a troop of one hundred andtwenty men, the Burghers under their Company, the English under their Sergeant Major Vancler Hyl 1 (w r ho within a few days had offered his services and was accepted), the veteran soldiers underPieter Cock, all under the command of M r La Montagne, to proceed hence in three Yachts, Landin Scouts Bay on Long Island , march towards Heemstede (where there is an English Coloniedependant on us.) Some sent forward in advance dexterously killed an Indian who was out as a Spy ;our force u r as divided into two divisions—Van der Hil with fourteen English towards the smallest,and Eighty men towards the largest village named Matsepe, both which were very successful,killing about one hundred and Twenty men ; of ours one man remained on the field and three werewounded.
Our forces being returned from this expedition, Capt Van der Hil was despatched to Stantfort, toget some information there of the Indians. He reported that the Guide who had formerly servedus, and had gone astray in the night, was now in great danger of his life from the Indians ofwhom there were about five hundred together. He offered to lead us there, to shew that the formermischance was not his fault. One hundred and thirty men were accordingly despatched under theaforesaid Gen 1 Van der Hil and Hendrick van Dyck Ensign. They embarked in three Yachts,landed at Greenwich, where they were obliged to pass the night by reason of the great Snow andStorm ; in the morning they marched N. W. up over Stony Hills over which some must creep, inthe evening about eight o’clock they came within a mile of the Indians, and inasmuch as they shouldhave arrived too early and had to cross two Rivers, one of Two hundred feet wide and threedeep, and that the men could not afterwards rest in consequence of the cold, it was determined toremain there until about ten o’clock. The order was given as to the mode to be observed inattacking the Indians—they marched forward towards the houses, being three rows set up streetfashion, each Eighty paces long, in a low recess of the mountain, affording complete shelter fromthe N. W. wind. The moon was then at the full, and threw a strong light against the mountain sothat many winters days were not brighter than it then was. On arriving there the Indians werewide awake, and on their guard, so that ours determined to charge and surround the houses, swordin hand. They demeaned themselves as soldiers and deployed in small bands, so that we got ina short time one dead and twelve wounded. They were also so hard pressed that it was impossiblefor one to escape. In a brief space of time there were counted One hundred and Eighty dead outsidethe houses. Presently none durst come forth, keeping within the houses, discharging arrowsthrough the holes. The General remarked that nothing else was to be done, resolved with SergeantMajor Van der Hil, to set the huts on fire, whereupon the Indians tried every means to escape, notsucceeding in which they returned back to the flames preferring to perish by the fire than to dieby our hands. What was most wonderful is, that among this vast collection of Men, Women andChildren not one was heard to cry or to scream. According to the report of the Indians them-selves the number then destroyed exceeded five hundred. Some say, full 700, among whom werealso, 25 Wappingers, our God having collected together there the greater number of our Enemies,to celebrate one of their festivals, from which escaped no more than eight men in all, of whom eventhree were severely wounded.