Fort Nassau (South River)
Encyclopedia
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...
from 1623-1651.
The name Fort Nassau
Fort Nassau
The name Fort Nassau was used by the Dutch in the 17th century for several fortifications, mostly trading stations, named for the House of Orange-Nassau...
was used by the 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...
in the 17th century for several fortifications, mostly trading stations, named for the House of Orange-Nassau
House of Orange-Nassau
The House of Orange-Nassau , a branch of the European House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe — since William I of Orange organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War...
.
The settlement, located at the mouth of Big Timber Creek
Big Timber Creek
Big Timber Creek is a stream in southwestern New Jersey, United States, and is also known by the name 'Tetamekanchz Kyl' by the Lenape tribes. It drains a watershed of . A tributary of the Delaware River, it enters the Delaware between the boroughs of Brooklawn and Westville, just south Gloucester...
where it enters the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
is the first known permanent Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an built structure in what would become the state of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. The creek name is a derived from the Dutch language
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
Timmer Kill as recorded David Pietersen de Vries
David Pietersen de Vries
Captain David Pieterszoon de Vries was a Dutch navigator from Hoorn, Holland.In 1617 de Vries went on a whaling voyage to Jan Mayen. In 1620 he sailed to Newfoundland and sold the dried fish in Italy. In Toulon he joined Charles, Duke of Guise. In 1624 he went to Canada again, still in French...
in memoirs of his journey of 1630–1633. The Delaware Valley
Delaware Valley
The Delaware Valley is a term used to refer to the valley where the Delaware River flows, along with the surrounding communities. This includes the metropolitan area centered on the city of Philadelphia. Such educational institutions as Delaware Valley Regional High School in Alexandria Township...
and its bay
Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay is a major estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the Northeast seaboard of the United States whose fresh water mixes for many miles with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It is in area. The bay is bordered by the State of New Jersey and the State of Delaware...
was called the Zuyd Rivier, or South River, and marked the southern flank of the province. The factorij built under the direction of Cornelis Jacobsz. May in the 1620s was for trade, mostly in beaver pelts, with the indigenous population of Susquehannock
Susquehannock
The Susquehannock people were Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries from the southern part of what is now New York, through Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Susquehanna in Maryland at the north end of the Chesapeake Bay...
and Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
. While generally thought to have been located at today's Gloucester City, New Jersey
Gloucester City, New Jersey
Gloucester City is a city in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the city population was 11,456.-Geography:Gloucester City is located at ....
, others believe that the structure was on the south side of the creek's cove, at today's Westville
Westville, New Jersey
Westville is a Borough in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the borough population was 4,501. The Borough of Westville is known as "The Gateway to South Jersey."...
. Still others place it in the town sharing the cove between the others, Brooklawn
Brooklawn, New Jersey
Brooklawn is a Borough in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 1,955.Brooklawn was incorporated as a borough on March 11, 1924, from portions of the now-defunct Centre Township, based on the results of a referendum held on April...
.
Initially the fort was occupied intermittently, and on occasion use by the seasonally migrational
Seasonal human migration
Seasonal human migration is very common in agricultural cycles. It includes migrations such as moving sheep or cattle to higher elevations during summer to escape heat and find more forage...
local population. In 1635, colonists from Virginia Colony occupied the fort. The governor of 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...
at the time, Wouter van Twiller
Wouter van Twiller
Wouter van Twiller was an employee of the Dutch West India Company and the Director-General of New Netherland from 1633 until 1638...
, sent a force to re-take it. Successful in the action, prisoners were returned to the south. This was the first of conflicts between the English and Dutch in the New World.
While thereafter continuously manned, the location was disadvantageous since the richest fur-trapping area was on the west side of the river.
From 1638-1655 the Delaware Valley
Delaware Valley
The Delaware Valley is a term used to refer to the valley where the Delaware River flows, along with the surrounding communities. This includes the metropolitan area centered on the city of Philadelphia. Such educational institutions as Delaware Valley Regional High School in Alexandria Township...
was part of New Sweden
New Sweden
New Sweden was a Swedish colony along the Delaware River on the Mid-Atlantic coast of North America from 1638 to 1655. Fort Christina, now in Wilmington, Delaware, was the first settlement. New Sweden included parts of the present-day American states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania....
, which had been established by Peter Minuit
Peter Minuit
Peter Minuit, Pieter Minuit, Pierre Minuit or Peter Minnewit was a Walloon from Wesel, in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, then part of the Duchy of Cleves. He was the Director-General of the Dutch colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1633, and he founded the Swedish colony of...
, who had been Director of New Netherland, and was responsible for the famous purchase of the island of 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...
. In 1651, Petrus Stuyvesant, Director-General of New Netherland
Director-General of New Netherland
This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland in North America...
, had the structure partially dismantled relocating it armaments and other equipment to a position on the other side of the river, in part to menace the Swedish and re-assert jurisdiction of the region, calling it Fort Casimir
Fort Casimir
Fort Casimir was a Dutch settlement in 17th century colonial province of New Netherland. It was located on a no-longer existing barrier island at the end of Chestnut Street in what is now New Castle, Delaware...
.
On Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity...
in 1654, Johan Risingh, Commissary and Councilor to New Sweden
New Sweden
New Sweden was a Swedish colony along the Delaware River on the Mid-Atlantic coast of North America from 1638 to 1655. Fort Christina, now in Wilmington, Delaware, was the first settlement. New Sweden included parts of the present-day American states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania....
Governor Lt. Col. Johan Printz, officially assumed his duties and attempted to expel the Dutch from the Delaware Valley
Delaware Valley
The Delaware Valley is a term used to refer to the valley where the Delaware River flows, along with the surrounding communities. This includes the metropolitan area centered on the city of Philadelphia. Such educational institutions as Delaware Valley Regional High School in Alexandria Township...
. Fort Casimir surrendered and was renamed Fort Trinity (in Swedish Fort Trefaldighet). The Swedes were now in complete possession of their colony. On June 21, 1654, the Indians met with the Swedes to reaffirm their ownership.
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...
led a Dutch force which retook the fort on September 11, 1655, renaming it New Amstel (in Dutch Nieuw Amstel). Subsequently, Fort Christina
Fort Christina
Fort Christina was the first Swedish settlement in North America and the principal settlement of the New Sweden colony...
also fell on September 15 and all New Sweden
New Sweden
New Sweden was a Swedish colony along the Delaware River on the Mid-Atlantic coast of North America from 1638 to 1655. Fort Christina, now in Wilmington, Delaware, was the first settlement. New Sweden included parts of the present-day American states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania....
came under the control of the Dutch. John Paul Jacquet was immediately appointed Governor, making New Amstel the capital of the Dutch-controlled colony.
See also
- Kill (body of water)Kill (body of water)As a body of water, a kill is a creek. The word comes from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel." The modern Dutch term is kil....
- Fort BeversreedeFort BeversreedeFort Beversreede was a Dutch-built palisaded factorij located near the confluence of the Schuylkill River and the Delaware River. It was an outpost of the colony of New Netherland, which was centered around its capital, New Amsterdam , on the North River .-Location:There is a dispute about the...
- Fort WilhelmusFort WilhelmusFort Wilhelmus was a factorij in the 17th century colonial province of New Netherland, located on what had been named Verhulsten Island on the Zuyd Rivier, today's Delaware River....
- Fortifications of New NetherlandFortifications of New NetherlandNew Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the seventeenth century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to southern Cape Cod. Settled areas are now part of...
- New Netherland settlementsNew Netherland settlementsNew Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to southern Cape Cod. Settled areas are now part of...
- Zwaanendael
- Fort Nassau (North River)
- Pidgen Delaware