62 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1 654. 



violation of his instructions. There is some variation in the 

 accounts given of this transaction,' which it will not be necessary 

 to notice. Gerit Bicker was in command of the fort, and seeing 

 a strange sail in the distance, dispatched Secretary Van Tien- 

 hoven and others, " to ascertain the particulars." The messengers 

 did not return till the next day, and then only two hours in 

 advance of the Swedish ship, which they reported to be full of 

 people, with a new governor, who made known to them his in- 

 tention to take the fort, " as it stood on ground belonging to the 

 Swedish crown." Bicker was urged to give orders to defend the 

 fort, but declined because "there Avas no powder." Soon after 

 a boat's crew consisting of 20 or 30 Swedish soldiers, landed 

 under the command of the former lieutenant of Governor Printz 

 — Swen Schute^ who were welcomed by Bicker "as friends." 

 Escorted by him, the Swedes passed immediately into the fort, 

 took possession, and stripped the few Dutch soldiers by whom it 

 was garrisoned of their military equipments, even of " their side 

 arms." Bicker seems to have stood paralyzed, while these pro- 

 ceedings were in progress, and it was not till Van Tienhoven 

 made the suggestion, that he and two others were deputed to 

 demand from Governor Rysingh his authority for taking forci- 

 ble possession of Fort Casimir. The governor claimed "to act 

 by orders of her Majesty in Sweden," and he further informed the 

 embassy that when complaints had been made by the Swedish 

 Ambassador to the States General in respect to the building of 

 the fort, they referred him to the West India Company, who in 

 their turn denied giving any authority for its erection, and had 

 further told the Swedish Ambassador, "that if our people are in 

 your way there, drive them off." The truthfulness of the reply 

 of Rysingh is in a measure corroborated by a letter from the 

 Company to Governor Stuyvesant on the subject of the erection 

 of the fort before referred to ; from which it may reasonably be 

 supposed that a correspondence between them and the Swedish 

 Ambassador would ensue, and that the company was disposed to 

 make concessions to the Swedish crown. This correspondence 

 may have resulted in additional orders to Rysingh, subsequent 

 to the issuing of his general instructions, in which the capture of 

 the fort was authorized. It is not, however, to be supposed that 

 such orders would afford any palliation or excuse for the rash and 



^ From the official investigation by Governor Stuyvesant, together with the com- 

 mandant's letter and that of Governor Rysingh to him, the most full account of the 

 transaction may be obtained; for which, see, N. Y. Cil. Doc. i. 601-606; also, Acre- 

 lius, 414: Haz. Ann. 148 ; Hist. New Netherland, ii. 274. 



2 Mr. Hazard in his Annals, says the attacking party was commanded by Captain 

 Swensko who was also the commander of the ship. And concludes that Rysingh acted 

 without communicating with the Swedish authorities on the river. The fact that 

 Swen Schute commanded the attacking party, shows that the authorities resident on 

 the river were consulted. 



