HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY FROM THE Discovery to the Present Day, BY WM. L. STONE, AUTHOR OF THE "LIFE AND TIMES OF SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON, BART."; ETC., ETC., ETC. PUBLISHED BY E, CLEAVE, No. 98 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. MDCCCLXVIII. us 15581.24 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY THE BEQUEST OF Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by E. CLEAVE, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. PRESS OF STONE & BARRON, 98 NASSAU STREET. NEW YORK. TO THE HON. HENRY SMITH, President OF THE New York Board of Supervisors THIS HISTORY IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. NOTE. THE AUTHOR DESIRES TO EXPRESS HIS THANKS FOR THE VALUABLE AID HE HAS RECEIVED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS HISTORY, FROM THE HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY. THE HISTORY OF NEW YORK NATURALLY DIVIDES ITSELF INTO THREE PERIODS OF TIME :- FirstFROM ITS SETTLEMENT BY THE DUTCH TO ITS PERMANENT OCCUPANCY BY THE ENGLISH; Second FROM THE ENGLISH CONQUEST TO THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR; AND, Third- FROM ITS EVACUATION BY THE BRITISH DOWN TO THE PRESENT DAY. FIRST PERIOD. 1598-1674. The settlement of New York Island by the Dutch, and its permanent occupancy by the English. Ir is the general belief that the first landing made on New York Island, or the "Island of Manhattan," as it was then called, was by Hendrick Hudson, in 1609. This, however, is not the case; since the earliest records extant state that as early as 1598, a few Hollanders, in the employ of a Greenland Company, were in the habit of resorting to New Netherlands (i. e. New York), not, it is true, with a design of effecting a settlement, but merely to secure a shelter during the winter months. With this view they built two small forts, to protect themselves against the Indians. Nevertheless, the fact remains undisputed, that to Hudson belongs the honor of being the first one who directed public attention to the Island of Manhattan as an advantageous point for a trading port in the New World. On the 4th of April, 1609, the great navigator sailed out of the harbor of Amsterdam, and "by twelve of ye clocke" of the 6th he was two leagues off the land. He was in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, who had commissioned him to seek a passage to the East Indies by the north side of Nova Zembla. Having, however, found the sea at that part full of ice, he turned the prow of his little vessel, the HalfMoon, westward, and, after a month's cruise, reached the great Bank of Newfoundland, on the 2d of July. Thence he sailed southward to the James River, Virginia, and again altering his course-still in pursuit of a |