Captain John Underhill
Encyclopedia
John Underhill was an early English settler and soldier in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
, the Province of New Hampshire
, the New Haven Colony
, New Netherland
, and later the Province of New York
. He is most noted for publishing an account of the Pequot War
of 1636-1637 and for participating in destructive attacks against Native Americans during the Pequot War
and during Kieft's War
.
was Keeper of the Wardrobe
for Queen Elizabeth
at Greenwich
, and his grandfather Thomas Underhill
held the same position for Elizabeth's favorite - Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
at Kenilworth Castle
.
Captain John Underhill was born in 1597 in Baginton
, Warwickshire
, England, the son of John Edward Underhill. The family had to escape to the Netherlands
after a failed plot by the Earl of Essex
to overthrow the Queen. There they stayed in Bergen op Zoom
, a heavily fortified city. John Edward Underhill was sergeant in the company of Captain Roger Orme. He died there in October 1608 and is buried in the Church of St. Gertrude
.
Following his father's death, John Underhill and his siblings lived with his mother and a group of Puritan exiles in the Netherlands. While there he received military training as a cadet in the service of Philip William
, the Prince of Orange
. He also married a Dutch
girl, Helena (Heylken) de Hooch on 12 December 1628 in the Kloosterkerk
, The Hague
, Holland. There they had one child before emigrating, Deborah Underhill, and two other children after emigrating - Elizabeth (born 1635) and John Underhill (1642–1692).
. He started the first construction of the fortification on Castle Island at Boston.
Early in 1636 he was sent to Salem
to arrest Roger Williams
, who was viewed by the Puritans as a heretic. However, Williams had already fled to Rhode Island
. In August 1636 Underhill led an expedition to Block Island
.
. They first went to the fort at Saybrook
. Joining with Mohegan
allies and Connecticut militia under Captain John Mason, they attacked the Pequot fortified village near modern Mystic
. They set fire to the village, killing any who attempted to flee. About 400 Pequots died in what came to be called the Mystic Massacre
. Underhill led other expeditions that joined in hunting down the surviving Pequots. He published an account of his service as Newes from America; Or, A New and Experimentall Discoverie of New England; Containing, A Trve Relation of Their War-like Proceedings These Two Yeares Last Past, with a Figure of the Indian Fort, or Palizado (London, 1638).
, who had been censured for a sermon. Underhill was removed from office and disenfranchised in 1637, banished along with Anne Hutchinson
in 1638, and excommunicated in 1640. After a fruitless trip to England in search of employment, Underhill returned to Boston where he sold his house and land and joined Wheelwright, who had settled in Dover, New Hampshire
. His mother and her second husband Morris moved to Exeter
. In Dover, Underhill soon rose to the position of Governor despite letters from Governor John Winthrop
to citizens of that community denouncing him.
In June 1641 Underhill's banishment was repealed, and in September of that year he was acquitted of a charge of adultery
. Still finding no gainful employment in Boston, following the baptism of his son John III in April 1642, he leased a tobacco plantation in Flatlands, Long Island
, in New Netherland
, though apparently he never occupied that land.
Instead he moved to Stamford, Connecticut
, where he was named a Freeman in 1642, a Deputy to the General Court of the New Haven Colony
in 1643, and Justice of the Stamford Court. Following Indian raids in 1643 he was hired by the New Netherland Board of Eight Selectmen to attack Indian settlements.
In February of 1644, working for the Dutch, Underhill slaughtered an estimated 500 to 700 individuals thought to be of the Siwanoy and Wechquaesgeek groups of the Wappinger Confederacy. The killings occurred at a winter village of the natives, now thought to be part of present-day Pound Ridge or Bedford , N.Y.
. His plot of land is now the site of Trinity Church in Manhattan
. Later that year he led New Amsterdam's forces in a reprise of his attack during the Pequot War. The Indians on Long Island
built a fort called Fort Neck in what is now Massapequa
. Underhill attacked and burned the Massapequan fort, killing about 120 Indians. The war started because the leader of the Indians, Tackapausha, claimed he sold the Dutch use to the land, but not the land itself.
Upon returning to Manhattan, in 1645 Underhill was elected a Selectman to the Council of New Amsterdam. That same year he was named one of Eight Men to adopt measures against the Indians. While preparing to occupy Bergen Island, he was assigned to Flushing
instead by Governor Peter Stuyvesant
. He was appointed sheriff of Flushing in 1648 and magistrate from 1651-1653.
There in 1653 he turned against Stuyvesant, accusing him of being a tyrant. As Flushing's leader, Underhill issued a proclamation calling for the overthrow of the government: "We declare that it is right and proper to defend ourselves and our rights, which belong to a free people, against the abuses of the above named government." Just as many of his descendants would enumerate George III's
wrongdoings, so he described Stuyvesant's; he had, for example, imposed magistrates on the people of Flushing "without election or voting." In conclusion, Underhill declared, "This great autocracy and tyranny is too grievous for any brave Englishman and good Christian any longer to tolerate Accept and submit ye, then, to the Parliament of England." This was a precursor to the Flushing Remonstrance
of 1657, that further served to question and challenge Dutch authority.
. Fearing an attack by troops led by Underhill Stuyvesant ordered that a high stockade and a small breastwork be constructed across the northern border of New Amsterdam. Thus Wall Street was built When the First Anglo-Dutch War
was finally resolved in 1654, he returned to Long Island. There he lived in Southold
, Setauket, and finally in Oyster Bay
, where he lived out the remainder of his years. Appropriately this place was on the edge of the New Netherlands and far enough out of reach of Massachusetts Bay and other colonies to give Underhill a respite from war, conflict, and religious intolerance.
Underhill eventually retired to a large estate (Kenilworth or Killingworth) at Oyster Bay on Long Island. There he would carry a few more titles before his death, including Delegate of Oyster Bay to the Hempstead Convention
in 1665. Delegates from all the towns on Long Island were asked to send two representatives. There they sought to establish laws. One particularly relevant to Underhill is that no land purchase would be made in the future without the governments consent. At the close of the convention, Underhill was named High Constable and Surveyor-General. The following year as Chief Advisor to the Matinecock Indians
he presented a petition to the Council of Assizes
in 1666, after which the Matinecock conveyed 150 acres (60.7 ha) of land to Underhill in Oyster Bay.
Following the death of his first wife and his mother in 1658, Underhill married his second wife Elizabeth Feake on 2 December 1658, in Oyster Bay. Feake was a Quaker
and converted John to Quakerism before he died.
Elizabeth Feake and her family, much like Underhill, had an important role in the shaping of colonial America. The daughter of Elizabeth Fones
and her second husband Robert Feake, Fones was the subject of much consternation for marrying her third husband William Hallet while her second husband Robert Feake was still alive.
Hannah Feake, the second daughter of Robert Feake and Elizabeth Fones and sister of Elizabeth Feake, would go on to become an important figure in the fight for religious freedom in colonial America. Governor Peter Stuyvesant banned the rights of Quakers to assemble and worship. On 27 December 1657, thirty townspeople of Flushing signed the Flushing Remonstrance
protesting this ban. The ban was later tested when Hannah, a Quaker minister herself, held services in her own home. Her husband was arrested and returned to England, only to be released and allowed to return. The events contributed to the principles codified a century later in the First Amendment
in the Bill of Rights
, granting religious and political freedom to all citizens.
Captain John Underhill and Elizabeth Feake had five children: Deborah (1659–1697), Nathaniel (1663–1697), Hannah (1666–1757), Elizabeth (1669–1704), and David (1672–1708). Son Nathaniel Underhill settled in Westchester County, New York
, where he became a prominent citizen and the progenitor of a large number of descendants. There are several streets in Westchester County named for Underhill and his descendants.
Captain John Underhill died on 21 July 1672 and is buried in the Underhill Burying Ground
in Locust Valley, New York
.
John Underhill's many descendants are represented by the Underhill Society of America.
An excerpt of a letter from Captain Underhill to Hanserd Knollys
appears in The Algerine Captive by Royall Tyler
published in 1970 by Rowman & Littlefield
.
, A leading American industrialist, and a key diplmatic figure at the hub of many of the most important geopolitical events before, during, and after World War II. Also eighth generation descended from Captain John Underhill.
Amelia Earhart
, American aviation pioneer and author famous for her mysterious disappearance.
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
, the Province of New Hampshire
Province of New Hampshire
The Province of New Hampshire is a name first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America. It was formally organized as an English royal colony on October 7, 1691, during the period of English colonization...
, the New Haven Colony
New Haven Colony
The New Haven Colony was an English colonial venture in present-day Connecticut in North America from 1637 to 1662.- Quinnipiac Colony :A Puritan minister named John Davenport led his flock from exile in the Netherlands back to England and finally to America in the spring of 1637...
, New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
, and later the Province of New York
Province of New York
The Province of New York was an English and later British crown territory that originally included all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, as well as eastern Pennsylvania...
. He is most noted for publishing an account of the Pequot War
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict between 1634–1638 between the Pequot tribe against an alliance of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies who were aided by their Native American allies . Hundreds were killed; hundreds more were captured and sold into slavery to the West Indies. ...
of 1636-1637 and for participating in destructive attacks against Native Americans during the Pequot War
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict between 1634–1638 between the Pequot tribe against an alliance of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies who were aided by their Native American allies . Hundreds were killed; hundreds more were captured and sold into slavery to the West Indies. ...
and during Kieft's War
Kieft's War
Kieft's War, also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between settlers of the nascent colony of New Netherland and the native Lenape population in what would later become the New York metropolitan area of the United States...
.
Early life
Captain John Underhill was one of three children of John Edward Underhill (1574–1608) and Leonora Honor Pawley. His great-grandfather Sir Hugh UnderhillSir Hugh Underhill
Sir Hugh Underhill served as Keeper of the Wardrobe under Queen Elizabeth I and was highly regarded among members of the Royal Household.-Early Life:...
was Keeper of the Wardrobe
Wardrobe (government)
The wardrobe, along with the chamber, made up the personal part of medieval English government known as the king's household. Its chief officer went under the title of Master or Keeper of the Great Wardrobe. As a result, the wardrobe often appropriated large funds from the exchequer, the main...
for Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
at Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
, and his grandfather Thomas Underhill
Thomas Underhill
Thomas Underhill served as Keeper of the Wardrobe of Kenilworth Castle and had charge of its contents after the castle was given by Queen Elizabeth I to her favourite Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester in 1563....
held the same position for Elizabeth's favorite - Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, KG was an English nobleman and the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death...
at Kenilworth Castle
Kenilworth Castle
Kenilworth Castle is located in the town of the same name in Warwickshire, England. Constructed from Norman through to Tudor times, the castle has been described by architectural historian Anthony Emery as "the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages, significant...
.
Captain John Underhill was born in 1597 in Baginton
Baginton
Baginton is a village and civil parish in the Warwick district of Warwickshire, England, and has a common border with the City of Coventry of the West Midlands county. With a population of 801 , Baginton village is four miles south of Coventry city centre and seven miles north of...
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, England, the son of John Edward Underhill. The family had to escape to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
after a failed plot by the Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex is a title that has been held by several families and individuals. The earldom was first created in the 12th century for Geoffrey II de Mandeville . Upon the death of the third earl in 1189, the title became dormant or extinct...
to overthrow the Queen. There they stayed in Bergen op Zoom
Bergen op Zoom
Bergen op Zoom is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands.-History:Bergen op Zoom was granted city status probably in 1266. In 1287 the city and its surroundings became a lordship as it was separated from the lordship of Breda. The lordship was elevated to a margraviate...
, a heavily fortified city. John Edward Underhill was sergeant in the company of Captain Roger Orme. He died there in October 1608 and is buried in the Church of St. Gertrude
Gertrudiskerk
The Gertrudiskerk is a church approachable from the large market in the center of Bergen op Zoom. The towers of the church are called "pepper plant towers". An old legend says St. Gertrude, abbess of the abbey in Najvel, founded the church in 654....
.
Following his father's death, John Underhill and his siblings lived with his mother and a group of Puritan exiles in the Netherlands. While there he received military training as a cadet in the service of Philip William
Philip William, Prince of Orange
Philip William, Prince of Orange was the eldest son of William the Silent, who played an important role during the Dutch Revolt, by his first wife Anna van Egmont...
, the Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange....
. He also married a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
girl, Helena (Heylken) de Hooch on 12 December 1628 in the Kloosterkerk
Kloosterkerk, The Hague
The Kloosterkerk is a church on the Lange Voorhout in The Hague, Netherlands. The church and its accompanying monastery were first built in 1397. The church is known today as the church where Queen Beatrix occasionally attends services....
, The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, Holland. There they had one child before emigrating, Deborah Underhill, and two other children after emigrating - Elizabeth (born 1635) and John Underhill (1642–1692).
The Massachusetts Bay Colony
In 1630 Underhill was hired by the Massachusetts Bay Colony with the rank of captain and asked to help train the colony's militia. He and his Dutch wife emigrated that year. In May of 1634 he was appointed to the General Court, and in July was elected a selectman for BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. He started the first construction of the fortification on Castle Island at Boston.
Early in 1636 he was sent to Salem
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
to arrest Roger Williams
Roger Williams (theologian)
Roger Williams was an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America,...
, who was viewed by the Puritans as a heretic. However, Williams had already fled to Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
. In August 1636 Underhill led an expedition to Block Island
Block Island
Block Island is part of the U.S. state of Rhode Island and is located in the Atlantic Ocean approximately south of the coast of Rhode Island, east of Montauk Point on Long Island, and is separated from the Rhode Island mainland by Block Island Sound. The United States Census Bureau defines Block...
.
The Pequot War
In September of 1637 Underhill headed the militia as it marched out to the Pequot WarPequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict between 1634–1638 between the Pequot tribe against an alliance of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies who were aided by their Native American allies . Hundreds were killed; hundreds more were captured and sold into slavery to the West Indies. ...
. They first went to the fort at Saybrook
Old Saybrook, Connecticut
Old Saybrook is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 10,367 at the 2000 census. It contains the incorporated borough of Fenwick, as well as the census-designated places of Old Saybrook Center and Saybrook Manor.-History:...
. Joining with Mohegan
Mohegan
The Mohegan tribe is an Algonquian-speaking tribe that lives in the eastern upper Thames River valley of Connecticut. Mohegan translates to "People of the Wolf". At the time of European contact, the Mohegan and Pequot were one people, historically living in the lower Connecticut region...
allies and Connecticut militia under Captain John Mason, they attacked the Pequot fortified village near modern Mystic
Mystic, Connecticut
Mystic is a village and census-designated place in New London County, Connecticut, in the United States. The population was 4,001 at the 2000 census. A historic locality, Mystic has no independent government because it is not a legally recognized municipality in the state of Connecticut...
. They set fire to the village, killing any who attempted to flee. About 400 Pequots died in what came to be called the Mystic Massacre
Mystic Massacre
The Mystic massacre took place on May 26, 1637, during the Pequot War, when English settlers under Captain John Mason, and Narragansett and Mohegan allies set fire to a fortified Pequot village near the Mystic River...
. Underhill led other expeditions that joined in hunting down the surviving Pequots. He published an account of his service as Newes from America; Or, A New and Experimentall Discoverie of New England; Containing, A Trve Relation of Their War-like Proceedings These Two Yeares Last Past, with a Figure of the Indian Fort, or Palizado (London, 1638).
The wandering years
Within a year of these exploits, Underhill in his turn fell to the Puritan drive for conformity. He had signed the Boston Petition supporting minister John WheelwrightJohn Wheelwright
John Wheelwright was a clergyman in England and America.-Early life:...
, who had been censured for a sermon. Underhill was removed from office and disenfranchised in 1637, banished along with Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson was one of the most prominent women in colonial America, noted for her strong religious convictions, and for her stand against the staunch religious orthodoxy of 17th century Massachusetts...
in 1638, and excommunicated in 1640. After a fruitless trip to England in search of employment, Underhill returned to Boston where he sold his house and land and joined Wheelwright, who had settled in Dover, New Hampshire
Dover, New Hampshire
Dover is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, in the United States of America. The population was 29,987 at the 2010 census, the largest in the New Hampshire Seacoast region...
. His mother and her second husband Morris moved to Exeter
Exeter, New Hampshire
Exeter is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The town's population was 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county offices were moved to neighboring Brentwood...
. In Dover, Underhill soon rose to the position of Governor despite letters from Governor John Winthrop
John Winthrop
John Winthrop was a wealthy English Puritan lawyer, and one of the leading figures in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the first major settlement in New England after Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of migrants from England in 1630, and served as governor for 12 of...
to citizens of that community denouncing him.
In June 1641 Underhill's banishment was repealed, and in September of that year he was acquitted of a charge of adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
. Still finding no gainful employment in Boston, following the baptism of his son John III in April 1642, he leased a tobacco plantation in Flatlands, Long Island
Flatlands, Brooklyn
Flatlands is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18.One of the original five Dutch towns on Long Island , this neighborhood was originally known as Nieuw Amersfoort, after the Dutch city of Amersfoort, but the name was changed to...
, in New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
, though apparently he never occupied that land.
Instead he moved to Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, where he was named a Freeman in 1642, a Deputy to the General Court of the New Haven Colony
New Haven Colony
The New Haven Colony was an English colonial venture in present-day Connecticut in North America from 1637 to 1662.- Quinnipiac Colony :A Puritan minister named John Davenport led his flock from exile in the Netherlands back to England and finally to America in the spring of 1637...
in 1643, and Justice of the Stamford Court. Following Indian raids in 1643 he was hired by the New Netherland Board of Eight Selectmen to attack Indian settlements.
In February of 1644, working for the Dutch, Underhill slaughtered an estimated 500 to 700 individuals thought to be of the Siwanoy and Wechquaesgeek groups of the Wappinger Confederacy. The killings occurred at a winter village of the natives, now thought to be part of present-day Pound Ridge or Bedford , N.Y.
Service in New Netherland
In May of 1644 Underhill took up residence in New AmsterdamNew Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
. His plot of land is now the site of Trinity Church in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Later that year he led New Amsterdam's forces in a reprise of his attack during the Pequot War. The Indians on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
built a fort called Fort Neck in what is now Massapequa
Massapequa, New York
Massapequa is a hamlet located in the suburban Nassau County, New York. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a total population of 21,685.Massapequa is located on the South Shore of Long Island....
. Underhill attacked and burned the Massapequan fort, killing about 120 Indians. The war started because the leader of the Indians, Tackapausha, claimed he sold the Dutch use to the land, but not the land itself.
Upon returning to Manhattan, in 1645 Underhill was elected a Selectman to the Council of New Amsterdam. That same year he was named one of Eight Men to adopt measures against the Indians. While preparing to occupy Bergen Island, he was assigned to Flushing
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
instead by Governor Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant , served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was renamed New York...
. He was appointed sheriff of Flushing in 1648 and magistrate from 1651-1653.
There in 1653 he turned against Stuyvesant, accusing him of being a tyrant. As Flushing's leader, Underhill issued a proclamation calling for the overthrow of the government: "We declare that it is right and proper to defend ourselves and our rights, which belong to a free people, against the abuses of the above named government." Just as many of his descendants would enumerate George III's
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
wrongdoings, so he described Stuyvesant's; he had, for example, imposed magistrates on the people of Flushing "without election or voting." In conclusion, Underhill declared, "This great autocracy and tyranny is too grievous for any brave Englishman and good Christian any longer to tolerate Accept and submit ye, then, to the Parliament of England." This was a precursor to the Flushing Remonstrance
Flushing Remonstrance
The Flushing Remonstrance was a 1657 petition to Director-General of New Netherland Peter Stuyvesant, in which several citizens requested an exemption to his ban on Quaker worship. It is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of...
of 1657, that further served to question and challenge Dutch authority.
Return to English service
After being imprisoned for a brief time he was released. Upon hearing of Dutch plans to ally with some tribes to attack the English settlements, Underhill brought word of this to the colonies in Connecticut. The General Assembly of Rhode Island named him Commander-in-Chief and authorized him to seize a Dutch settlement named the House of Hope at Hartford, ConnecticutHartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
. Fearing an attack by troops led by Underhill Stuyvesant ordered that a high stockade and a small breastwork be constructed across the northern border of New Amsterdam. Thus Wall Street was built When the First Anglo-Dutch War
First Anglo-Dutch War
The First Anglo–Dutch War was the first of the four Anglo–Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Caused by disputes over trade, the war began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but...
was finally resolved in 1654, he returned to Long Island. There he lived in Southold
Southold, New York
Southold is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is located in the northeastern tip of the county, on the North Fork of Long Island. The population was 20,599 at the 2000 census...
, Setauket, and finally in Oyster Bay
Oyster Bay (town), New York
The Town of Oyster Bay is easternmost of the three towns in Nassau County, New York, in the United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is the only town in Nassau County that extends from the North Shore to the South Shore of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the town population was...
, where he lived out the remainder of his years. Appropriately this place was on the edge of the New Netherlands and far enough out of reach of Massachusetts Bay and other colonies to give Underhill a respite from war, conflict, and religious intolerance.
Retirement to Oyster Bay
Hempstead Convention
The Hempstead Convention was a ten-day assembly where 34 delegates met starting on February 28, 1665, "to settle good and known laws" according to a letter by newly appointed Governor Richard Nicolls...
in 1665. Delegates from all the towns on Long Island were asked to send two representatives. There they sought to establish laws. One particularly relevant to Underhill is that no land purchase would be made in the future without the governments consent. At the close of the convention, Underhill was named High Constable and Surveyor-General. The following year as Chief Advisor to the Matinecock Indians
Metoac
Metoac is the collective name for the group of culturally and linguistically related Native American settlements roughly east of what is now the Nassau County line on, Long Island in New York at the time of European contact in the 17th century. Metoac does not specifically refer to political,...
he presented a petition to the Council of Assizes
Council of Assizes
The Council of Assizes, also referred to as the Court of Assize, was given power of making, altering and abolishing any laws of New York. The Court had yearly meetings. The Governor and Council attended and had complete power of the proceedings...
in 1666, after which the Matinecock conveyed 150 acres (60.7 ha) of land to Underhill in Oyster Bay.
Following the death of his first wife and his mother in 1658, Underhill married his second wife Elizabeth Feake on 2 December 1658, in Oyster Bay. Feake was a Quaker
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
and converted John to Quakerism before he died.
Elizabeth Feake and her family, much like Underhill, had an important role in the shaping of colonial America. The daughter of Elizabeth Fones
Elizabeth Fones
Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feake Hallett was an early settler in the Massachusetts Bay Colony where her father-in-law John Winthrop served as Governor...
and her second husband Robert Feake, Fones was the subject of much consternation for marrying her third husband William Hallet while her second husband Robert Feake was still alive.
Hannah Feake, the second daughter of Robert Feake and Elizabeth Fones and sister of Elizabeth Feake, would go on to become an important figure in the fight for religious freedom in colonial America. Governor Peter Stuyvesant banned the rights of Quakers to assemble and worship. On 27 December 1657, thirty townspeople of Flushing signed the Flushing Remonstrance
Flushing Remonstrance
The Flushing Remonstrance was a 1657 petition to Director-General of New Netherland Peter Stuyvesant, in which several citizens requested an exemption to his ban on Quaker worship. It is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of...
protesting this ban. The ban was later tested when Hannah, a Quaker minister herself, held services in her own home. Her husband was arrested and returned to England, only to be released and allowed to return. The events contributed to the principles codified a century later in the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
in the Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
, granting religious and political freedom to all citizens.
Captain John Underhill and Elizabeth Feake had five children: Deborah (1659–1697), Nathaniel (1663–1697), Hannah (1666–1757), Elizabeth (1669–1704), and David (1672–1708). Son Nathaniel Underhill settled in Westchester County, New York
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
, where he became a prominent citizen and the progenitor of a large number of descendants. There are several streets in Westchester County named for Underhill and his descendants.
Captain John Underhill died on 21 July 1672 and is buried in the Underhill Burying Ground
Underhill Burying Ground
The Underhill Burying Ground is a cemetery located within the Village of Lattingtown, in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The cemetery has been in continuous operation since the burial of Captain John Underhill in 1672.-Origins and history:...
in Locust Valley, New York
Locust Valley, New York
Locust Valley is a hamlet located in Nassau County, New York. Locust Valley is an unincorporated area of the Town of Oyster Bay...
.
John Underhill's many descendants are represented by the Underhill Society of America.
Arms
Matthews' American Armoury and Blue Book, published in 1907, describes the arms of Captain John Underhill as follows:
Captain John Underhill, 1597–1672, of Boston, 1630, Governor of Piscataqua Plantation. He had previously served in the British Army in the Netherlands, in Ireland, and at Cadiz. Arms - ArgentArgentIn heraldry, argent is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it...
, on a chevron sableSableThe sable is a species of marten which inhabits forest environments, primarily in Russia from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, in northern Mongolia and China and on Hokkaidō in Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia...
, between three trefoils slipped vert, as many bezants. CrestCrest (heraldry)A crest is a component of an heraldic display, so called because it stands on top of a helmet, as the crest of a jay stands on the bird's head....
- on a mount vert a hind lodged or.
Writings
In his lifetime Underhill was responsible for numerous writings. One of these titled "Newes from America; Or, A New and Experimentall Discoverie of New England; Containing, A True Relation of Their War-like Proceedings These Two Yeares Last Past, with a Figure of the Indian Fort, or Palizado" is the most complete contemporary account of the Pequot War of 1636-1637.An excerpt of a letter from Captain Underhill to Hanserd Knollys
Hanserd Knollys
-Life:He was born at Cawkwell, Lincolnshire, about 1599. He was educated privately under a tutor, was for a short time at Great Grimsby grammar school, and afterwards matriculated at St Catharine's College, Cambridge in 1627 or 1629. Leaving the university, he became master of the grammar school at...
appears in The Algerine Captive by Royall Tyler
Royall Tyler
Royall Tyler , American jurist and playwright who wrote The Contrast in 1787 and published The Algerine Captive in 1797. He wrote several legal tracts, six plays, a musical drama, two long poems, a semifictional travel narrative, The Yankey in London , and essays...
published in 1970 by Rowman & Littlefield
Rowman & Littlefield
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books and journals for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns a book distributor, National Book Network...
.
Tributes and Memorials
- The Underhill Burying GroundUnderhill Burying GroundThe Underhill Burying Ground is a cemetery located within the Village of Lattingtown, in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The cemetery has been in continuous operation since the burial of Captain John Underhill in 1672.-Origins and history:...
is located on land granted to Captain John Underhill in 1667. The cemetery has been in continuous use since Underhill's burial in 1672. - "John Underhill" is the title of a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, published in Hazel Blossoms in 1875.
- An obelisk memorial honoring Underhill was dedicated at the Captain John Underhill gravesite in 1908 by President Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
. - A New York State marker notes the site of Council Rock - "Here George Fox, 1672, met with Wrights, Underhill and Feeke (sp.) at Quaker gathering"
Modern Interpretations
John Underhill has been the subject of a recent trend toward historically revised accounts of the Pequot War. (See: Pequot War#Controversy about the war). He has been described as a mercenary in service to the English and the Dutch. He was a professional soldier, so at times he was paid for his service. He served in the army of the Prince of Orange before coming to New England and was married to a Dutch woman. Ultimately he rejected these affiliations with the Netherlands and strongly asserted his patriotic commitment to England and English claims to North America.Famous Descendants
Myron Charles TaylorMyron Charles Taylor
Myron Charles Taylor was one of the major figures in American life during the first half of the twentieth century...
, A leading American industrialist, and a key diplmatic figure at the hub of many of the most important geopolitical events before, during, and after World War II. Also eighth generation descended from Captain John Underhill.
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
, American aviation pioneer and author famous for her mysterious disappearance.