50 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1648. 



and if we would proceed with it ? To which I answered, what 

 was commenced must be finished too; upon Avhich, he commanded 

 that his men shouki lay down their muskets, and each of them 

 should take his axe in his hand, and cut down every tree that 

 stood around or near the house — destroying even the fruit trees 

 that I had planted there." 



This House of Contention, afterwards became what was well 

 known as " Fort Be vers Rheede," though the fact is not directly 

 stated by Hudde. As permission for its erection was obtained 

 from the Passayunk Indians, the site of this fort must have been 

 at some point on the east bank of the Schuylkill, now in the 

 first ward of the City of Philadelphia, and within the limits of 

 the former township of Passayunk. An approximate location 

 has been assigned to this fort, on " the map of the early settle- 

 ments," after taking into consideration the suitableness of loca- 

 tion in connection with the facts above stated.^ 



It will be observed, that in the harangue of the Passayunk 

 Savage, Upland is mentioned as a Swedish settlement. This is 

 the first notice of that tOAvn under its Swedish name, on record ; 

 but doubtless one or more of the plantations observed by Hudde, 

 in November, 1045, was at that place. It may also be inferred 

 from that harangue, that up to this time, the Dutch had not 

 made, what the speaker considered, an actual settlement. 



It is noAV observable, that the Dutch became more anxious to 

 acquire an Indian title to the lands on our river, and particularly 

 to those lands that had been granted by the savages to the 

 Swedes. With this object, a committee of the high-council at 

 Fort Amsterdam, consisting of Vice-director Dinclage and the 

 Hon. La Montagne, were commissioned to proceed to the South 

 river, where they arrived on the 7th of June, and on the 10th, 

 obtained a confirmation, in writing, of a transfer said to have been 

 formerly made to Arent Corson. This document is given at length, 

 on page 18. By a reference thereto, it will be seen that the 

 savage grantors claim to be " sachems over the district of coun- 

 try called Armenverius." This country on the Dutch map 

 is located on the Jersey side of the river, in the vicinity 

 of Fort Nassau, and not at all likely to include " the 

 Schuylkill and adjoining lands." Passaytink embraced the 

 Eastern shore of the Schuylkill from its mouth some distance 

 upwards, and is given by Campanius as one of the "principal 

 towns or places" of the Indians, on the river ; and Hudde him- 

 self, but a little over a month previously, had recognized the 

 authority of its sachems to make a grant for the erection of a 



1 The East bank of the Schuylkill has a bold shore half a mile above the Penrose 

 Ferry bridge, which continues some distance, and is the only suitable locality for a 

 fort or trading post within the limits of Passayunk. 



