Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam in 1660. (detail)
Site history
Built	1625 (1625)
In use	1626–1788
Materials	Earthworks, stone
Fate	After 165 years of service, the aging fort was leveled and replaced with the Government House.
Battles/wars	Second Anglo-Dutch War Third Anglo-Dutch War Leisler's Rebellion American Revolution

New Netherland series
Exploration
Fortifications:
Fort Amsterdam Fort Nassau (North) Fort Orange Fort Nassau (South) Fort Goede Hoop De Wal Fort Casimir Fort Altena Fort Wilhelmus Fort Beversreede Fort Nya Korsholm De Rondout
Settlements:
Noten Eylandt Nieuw Amsterdam Rensselaerswijck Nieuw Haarlem Beverwijck Wiltwijk Bergen Pavonia Vriessendael Achter Col Vlissingen Oude Dorpe Colen Donck Greenwich Heemstede Rustdorp Gravesende Breuckelen Nieuw Amersfoort Midwout Nieuw Utrecht Boswijk Swaanendael Nieuw Amstel Nieuw Dorp
The Patroon System
Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions
Cornelius Jacobsen May (1620–25) Willem Verhulst (1625–26) Peter Minuit (1626–32) Sebastiaen Jansen Krol (1632–33) Wouter van Twiller (1633–38) Willem Kieft (1638–47) Peter Stuyvesant (1647–64)
People of New Netherland
New Netherlander Twelve Men Eight Men Nine Men
Flushing Remonstrance

Fort Amsterdam was a fortification on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the center of trade and the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then British/Colonial rule of the colony, of New Netherland and thereafter the Province of New York. After 165 years of service, involving a number of conflicts, the fort was finally torn down in 1790 after the American Revolution. The fort was the nucleus of the settlement which was named New Amsterdam and eventually renamed New York by the English, and was central to much of New York's early history.

Before the fort was constructed it was the scene where the purchase of Manhattan Island occurred. In its subsequent history the fort was known under various such names as Fort James, Fort Willem Hendrick and its anglicized Fort William Henry, Fort Anne, and Fort George. The fort changed hands eight times in various battles, the first episode involving Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant who surrendered the fort to Richard Nicolls of England in 1664. in the 18th century the fort was at the center of the Stamp Act riots in New York when it was used to store shipments of stamped paper brought over from England, while serving as a safe haven for a number of stamp tax collectors. During the American Revolution it was involved in the Battle of Brooklyn when volleys were exchanged between the fort and British emplacements on Governor's Island. After the fort's demolition Government House was constructed on the site as a possible house for the United States President. The site is now occupied by the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, which houses the National Museum of the American Indian; Bowling Green is nearby.

The construction of the fort marked the official founding date of New York City as recognized by its seal. In October 1683 what would become the first session of the New York legislature convened at the fort. Guns at the fort formed a battery that would later be the namesake of nearby Battery Park.

Starting with the founding and establishment of Fort Amsterdam in 1626, the fort, with its strategic location, overlooking the harbor and the mouth of the Hudson River, and as a lucrative trade center, played a significant role tn the history that followed, all the way through the American Revolution, frequently changing hands between the Dutch, British and the Americans, with corresponding changes in the fort's name.

Fort Amsterdam and the Dutch colony was chartered by the Dutch West India Company in 1621.^[1] The company appointed Cornelius Jacobsen Mey as the (provisional) director of the New Netherland colony and the fort in 1625–1626 and New Amsterdam overall.^[1][2][3] At the direction of the Dutch West India Company, Peter Minuit arrived and was appointed governor whose first official task was to arrange a meeting with the local Indian chiefs and arrange for the purchase of Manhattan Island before any settlement and the erection of buildings was to occur. The meeting took place on May 26, 1626 on the rocky southern most shore of the island, where a trade deal was made, which was gladly accepted by the Indians. Minuit promptly organized the first government of the colony, and was granted authority over its executive, legislative, and judicial functions. He also appointed a sheriff and a five member advisory council, chosen from the most reputable men at the colony.^[4]

Before Fort Amsterdam was constructed, the Dutch settlers erected a large stone building that served as a meeting house. It was surrounded by red cedar palisades and served as a temporary fort. As finished building materials were scarce, the settlers improvised and built many make-shift dwellings around the stone building. The island at this time was covered by woods and brush with several marshes about the shore line, and at night the sound of bears, panthers and other wildlife could be heard.^[5]

Mey was soon replaced by Willem Verhulst, an employee of the Dutch West India Company, who became the second director in 1625–1626. Verhulst, assuming food staples were in short supply in the newly developed settlement, shipped over a number of cattle which at first were kept on Governor's Island before they were moved to a more fertile location on upper Manhattan Island.^[3] Verhulst oversaw the decision for the location of Fort Amsterdam, which became the company's main fortress.^[1][2][3] In those days, no settlement was secure without a fortification for defense and refuge, not so much out of concern for the Indians, but over other Europeans.. In 1625, after much deliberation, it was decided that the best location for the fort would be at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, which would be able to defend against any ship attempting to ascend the Hudson River. By 1626 the Dutch ship Arms of Amsterdam departed for Holland with news of the successful establishment of the new colony. ^[1] The fort was designed by Kryn Fredericksen, deputy and chief engineer of the New Netherland colony. Seventeenth-century Dutch forts all followed a similar design. Probably originally intended as a standard star-shaped fort, Fort Amsterdam had four sides with a bastion at each corner to better protect the walls. The fort was built of hard-packed earth or rubble because earthworks would absorb the shock of cannon fire without collapsing, as stone walls might.^[1][6] Fredericksen had instructions to employ the help of nearby Indians in the fort's construction.^[7]

Building commenced in 1625 under the direction of Willem Verhulst, the second director of the New Netherland colony. The elevation of the site was originally somewhat higher than it is today.^[8] Construction of the fort took two years to complete. Within the walls of the fort were three windmills, a guardhouse and barracks.^[9] The fort stood on a hill that sloped down to Pearl Street and Bowling Green.^[10] The fort also served as the community's focal point,^[11] and was considered the first capital of New Netherland.^[5] By 1660 the population is estimated to have been around five-hundred, and by 1664 had grown to fifteen-hundred.^[8] That year Jacques Cortelyou was commissioned to conduct a survey and make a second map of New Amsterdam, which now had approximately three-hundred and fifty dwellings.^[11]

At the time, Manhattan was sparsely settled, as most of the Dutch West India Company operations were upriver along the Hudson in order to conduct trading operation for beaver pelts.^[12] According to John Romeyn Brodhead, while the fort was under construction, three Wechquaesgeek people traveled south from the area of present-day Westchester County to barter beaver skins. When they reached the Kolck, a pond near what is now Chinatown, they were set upon by three farmhands, and one of the two adults was killed. When the young boy who was with them grew older, he took his revenge for the murder of his uncle, which act served as a pretext for Kieft's War.^[13] The fort was the nucleus of the New Amsterdam settlement and its mission was protecting New Netherland colony operations in the Hudson River against attack from the English and the French. Although its main function was military, it also served as the center of trading activity. It contained a barracks, a church, a house for the West India Company director, and a warehouse for the storage of company goods.^[14]

The garrison at Fort Amsterdam in 1643 consisted of only fifty to sixty soldiers. As the population of the colony grew there was a corresponding increase in the number of soldiers, and by 1650 the number of soldiers in New Netherland consisted of some 250 soldiers.^[15]

Troops from the fort used the triangle between the Heerestraat and what came to be known as Whitehall Street for marching drills.

On August 29, 1664, four English warships under the command of Colonel Richard Nicolls, carrying 450 well-trained soldiers and bearing 120 heavy guns, arrived in New Amsterdam's harbor. Fort Amsterdam had a garrison of 250 men with only 24 pieces of artillery. Supplies were limited and food was in short supply, precluding any chance of enduring a prolonged resistance. After surrounding the fort with ships and landed soldiers Nicolls demanded the Dutch surrender of the colony and Fort Amsterdam. Although Peter Stuyvesant, the Director of New Netherland, with his guns in place and ready to fire, was prepared to fight,^[16][17] prominent city residents persuaded him to stand down in the face of overwhelming odds. On September 8, Stuyvesant raised the white flag of surrender^[18] and subsequently, after much protest and deliberation, he signed the colony over without any blood-shed during the Second Anglo–Dutch War. At the behest of the James II, Duke of York, Nicoll's was appointed governor whose objective was to oversee the occupation of the Dutch colony and establish government.^[19][20]

As the first governor of the province of New York, Nicoll's was greeted cordially by the Dutch and civic authorities whom he allowed to keep their offices and other stations. Under the previous rule of the West India Company, and their appointed governors, the rulership was autocratic; it denied basic rights of the people that were enjoyed in Holland, the motherland, while it favored the aristocratic class with grants of land and other special favors.^[19][21][22] As a result the new English government was well received by most of the citizens, who were well rooted in Dutch and England culture and ideology, countries with strong democratic principles, derived from the Great Privilege and the Magna Carta, both documents of Catholic origin.^[18]

Nichols' first official act was to rename the city from New Amsterdam to New York, in recognition of James's title as Duke of York, while the fort was renamed Fort James, in honor of James II of England.^[23][24] Designed primarily as a defense against Indians^[25] the fort was considered almost useless for guarding the entry to the Hudson River or repelling a military siege, and subsequently a battery was erected at the southern most shore of the island and fitted out with artillery.^[26] In 1668 Nicolls resigned the governorship and returned to England, where he resumed his service to the Duke of York.^[21] He was replaced as governor by Francis Lovelace on August 28, 1668.^[27][a]

Beginning in the spring of 1672, the Third Anglo-Dutch War broke out. The following year, two Dutch fleets, commanded by Admiral Cornelis Evertsen^[b] and Commodore Jacob Binckes had teamed up and were plundering English shipping in the Caribbean and Chesapeake Bay, before they arrived at Fort James in August 1673, which at the time was almost defenseless in the face of such a force The fleet, consisting of twenty-three ships, carrying 1,600 men, was alarming to acting captain Sheriff John Manning, who was left in command while Lovelace was away visiting Governor Winthrop at Hartford. The fort at this time only had a garrison of no more than 80 men with only 30-36 guns mounted along its walls..^[30][31] The Dutch burghers and 400 Dutch colonists had grown impatient and resentful with English rulership as their appeals for rights and liberties were constantly ignored, and conveyed this sentiment to the Dutch upon their arrival.^[31] Manning sent a message asking Admiral Evertsen why the Dutch had arrived "in such a hostile manner". Evertsen replied that they had come to take back what was rightfully theirs. Manning then insisted that he see Evertsen's commission, where the latter replied that it was stuck in the barrel of his cannon, and that the English would see it soon enough if they did not surrender the fort. The next day the Dutch fleet exchanged broadsides with the fort for four hours, while Anthony Colve landed 600 men on the west side of Manhattan Island and on July 30, 1673 drove the English garrison from the fort.^[32][31][c]

In 1674, the fort and New Orange were turned back over to the English in the Treaty of Westminster (1674) which included a provision that the colony of New Netherland be returned to England, which ended the war (the Dutch got Suriname). The fort was officially renamed Fort Willem Hendrick in honor of William III of England, who was Stadtholder and Prince of Orange, and New York was renamed New Orange. ^[34][35]

After the treaty was secured, the English once again named the area "New York" and returned the Fort James name. In September 1682, James, Lord Proprietor of the Province of New York, appointed Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick, an Irishman and staunch Catholic, who had arrived at New York on August 25, 1863, as Vice-admiral in the Navy and provincial governor (1683–1688) to replace Edmund Andros.^[36][37] Dongan organized the first representative assembly of New York Province at Fort James, on October 14, 1683.^[38]

Dongan had served in the French army for many years, which made him familiar with French customs and diplomacy. His service in the Low Countries had given him a first-hand knowledge of the Dutch language.^[39] Upon his arrival, Dongan was not very impressed with New York, which at the time was a small town, and likewise had the same regard for the fort, which after he inspected it, said its walls could be battered down by artillery in an hour.^[40] On the face of the gate to the fort was a faded emblem of the Coat of Arms of the Duke of York. Here Dongan turned and bowed to the cheering crowd and entered the fort. He was greeted by Captain Anthony Brockholls, the acting governor of the Province of New York, and commander of the fort, who was accompanied by a company of regular infantry. Brockholls exclaimed to Dongan that he had great difficulty maintaining order, and that he was relieved over his arrival.^[41] At the time of his appointment, the province was bankrupt and in a state of rebellion. Dongan was able to restore order and stability. He was also the first to establish batteries of cannon to the south of the fort.^[38]

In 1689, following the Glorious Revolution (English Revolution of 1688), in which William and Mary acceded to the throne,^[42] German-born colonist Jacob Leisler seized Fort James in what was called Leisler's Rebellion, replacing deposed Francis Nicholson who had fled New York City. Leisler arrived at New Amsterdam from England in 1660, a penniless soldier of the East India company. He started out in the trade business and soon married a rich merchant's widow, and by 1689 he achieved prosperity and respectability.^[43] As acting governor of New York,^[44] he represented the common people against a group of wealthy leaders represented by Pieter Stuyvesant and others and enacted a government of direct popular representation as well as bringing reform to the many governmental provisions that previously existed.^[45][46] The people appealed to Stuyvesant to capitulate and accept the generous offers Leisler was providing, as they had already endured corruption, abuse.and other hardships under the previous rulership.^[44] At the direction of governor Henry Sloughter, Leisler, and ten others were eventually arrested and imprisoned at the fort. After a long and involved trial, Leissler, along with Jacob Milborne, were found guilty of treason and executed on May 16, 1691.^{[47][48][49][d]}

Leisler's rule ended in 1691, when British sovereign William's new governor (appointed in 1690) finally reached New York. The fort had earlier been named for Willem when he was head of the Dutch government. He became the sovereign of the English government by the overthrow of James in the Glorious Revolution. The fort was renamed Fort William Henry in honor of the new Protestant king.^[52]

92 guns were added to the battery in 1756 during the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War.

The fort continued to be named for subsequent British sovereigns: Fort Anne (for Anne, Queen of Great Britain) and Fort George for the succession of Georgean monarchs (George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United Kingdom).

The fort, now under the name of Fort George, became the target of American rioting following Parliament's passage of the Stamp Act on March 4, 1765. The first shipment of stamps for New York and Connecticut arrived at New York on October 23, 1765.^[53] The ships were confronted by some 2000 angry colonists. Subsequently the stamps had to be quietly unloaded in the middle of the night and brought into Fort George, which at the time had a garrison of only 200 regulars. On October 31, the day before the Stamp Act was to be enforced, thousands of colonists took to the streets. As a precaution, British authorities beforehand had the guns at the battery spiked along with any not inside the fort, making them inoperable.^[54] The protests, agitation and violence over the Stamp Act reached a climax from November 1-3, as a result of the arrival of the stamps brought to and held at Fort George.^[55]

Cadwallader Colden, the acting governor of the Province of New York from 1763 to 1765, was residing at the fort at the time, but admitted that he had no real authority outside its gates.^[56] On November 1, 1765, the garrison was put on alert and manned the walls of the fort, and was soon greeted by the approaching colonists. A courier emerged from the crowd and approached the gate, bearing a message for Cadwallader, which he handed to the sentry. Addressed to Cadwallader specifically, its message was the culmination of over a year's frustration and anger over the proposed imposition of the Stamp Act, which ultimately gave Cadwallader, now 77 years of age, an ultimatum, threatening in pointed language that he not participate in the enforcement of the Stamp Act.^[57] Reports of violent riots occurring in Newport, Boston and elsewhere continued to reach Cadwallader's desk. Jared Ingersoll, stamp agent from Connecticut, and William Franklin, Governor of New Jersey, under extreme pressure not to enforce the Stamp Act had their supplies of stamped paper transported to Fort George for safe keeping.^[58]

During the early morning hours of November 2, engineers and workers worked earnestly to strengthen the fort.^[59] Artillery officer Major Thomas James was in command of the fort, who later testified before Parliament that he could have killed more than 900 of the rioters, but added that had he done so, the colonists could in little time have amassed 50,000 fighting men from New York alone, and that there would have been no chance in holding the fort. General Gage later said that had the colonists been fired on, the revolution would have began that year.^[60] Colden, concerned that Fort George had an inadequate garrison, requested reinforcements, which General Gage provided, while James brought new cannons to the fort. The fort also provided a safe haven for several stamp masters, including Zachariah Hood from Maryland, who, at the invitation of Colden, had fled to the fort to escape the wrath of the Sons of Liberty and other angry colonists.^[56][61]

In the face of growing numbers of angry colonists, General Gage and the Governor's Council, wanting to spare New York's Loyalist families from what seemed like imminent ruin, insisted that Colden strike a compromise and surrender the stamped paper. After initially delaying, Colden, now acting as an official stamp distributor, knowing he could not stand alone on matters, ultimately convinced the Common Council to pay for all surrendered and destroyed stamps.^[62][63] The subsequent surrender of the stamps brought calm to the city, while New York's colonial newspapers called for peace. After calm returned to the city Colden's political adversaries blamed him for the mishap, and ultimately had his governorship replaced by Sir Henry Moore. In the effort to maintain peace and restore order to the city, Moore had met with the influential Isaac Sears, a leader of the Sons of Liberty, and others, and shortly thereafter opened the gates of the fort and invited everyone in.^[64][65][66]

In the American Revolution, the colonists under George Washington seized the fort in 1775,^[67] before the colonies formally seceded from the British Empire. During the Battle of Long Island, guns from the fort engaged British frigates starting on July 12, 1776. On July 12, the British ships HMS Phoenix and HMS Rose, with a few smaller vessels in attendance, sailed from Staten Island and began moving into the mouth of the Hudson River, prompting alarm guns to sound in New York. The cannons from batteries at Red Hook and Governors Island commenced firing at the small British fleet. Artillery fire also commenced from from Fort George, under the command of New York artillery captain Alexander Hamilton, who at the time was nineteen, but had little effect.^[68] Fearing that the British capture of the fort was eminent, Hamilton and his artillery teams hauled off more than ten cannons, shortly before a barge from HMS Asia approached and fired on the fort and its vicinity.^[69]

In September 1776, under the command of Henry Clinton the British made a Landing at Kip's Bay, and soon recaptured Fort George, along with lower Manhattan, forcing General Washington and his army to retreat north and eventually into New Jersey, at Valley Forge where they would remain for most of the following winter. The British soon occupied the entire city and ruled New York from the fort throughout the war.^[70]

The British occupied the city and ruled New York from Fort George throughout the remainder of the war.^[70] Having been subjected to a large fire in 1776, the city experienced another great fire in 1778, with the subsequent destruction of many dwellings, and along with the British presence, the city became very crowded with overall poor living conditions for many of its inhabitants. After the British occupation of Manhattan Island was completed, the fort was not involved in any further military engagements for the remainder of the war. ^[71]

After peace was established with Britain in 1783, Washington received word that the British would soon evacuate New York. As Washington and his army marched south on Manhattan Island, Washington noted the devastation, lack of trees, shrubs, and the many buildings that were left in ruins. Washington's advance came to a halt at the barrier enclosing the inner city and Fort George. A volley of cannon signaled that the British had departed New York. While waiting for the American army to secure the island, Washington received word that the British had sabotaged the flag pole inside Fort George, by removing its ropes, knocking off its the cleats and by greasing the pole, all as measures taken to hinder the Americans from raising their flag at the fort. After a brief reception at Cape's Tavern, Washington, Governor Clinton and the cavalcade entered the fort.^[72] After an extended effort the flagpole was repaired and its missing parts replaced, after which John Van Arsdale ascended the pole and attached the American flag, on Evacuation Day, November 25, 1783, after the British finally pulled out.^[73][74]

In 1788, the government ordered the razing of Fort George (as it was then known). Its materials were used as landfill to add to the shore and expand the Battery.^[75] The fort was torn down in 1790, and the Government House, intended as the presidential residence, was built on the site.

The need for new fortifications soon became apparent, especially as tensions started rising again with France and Great Britain. In 1798, guns were placed in temporary fortifications on the Battery. Eventually a new fort, Castle Clinton, was built on Lower Manhattan to the southwest, shortly before the outbreak of the War of 1812 with Britain.^[76]

The site of Fort James was redeveloped for the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House. Prior to landfilling and the creation of Battery Park, it was located at the shoreline of the Hudson River but is now a few blocks away.

• History of New York City (prehistory–1664)
• History of New York City (1665–1783)
• Dutch colonization of the Americas
• List of colonial governors of New York
• Willem Kieft – Dutch merchant and the Director of New Netherland from 1638 to 1647.
• Province of New York and the Stamp Act
• Stamp Act Congress
• Bowling Green, the public park abutting the north side of the fort's site

• Jacobs, Jaap (2005). New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America. Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-9-04740-4385.
• Klooster, Wim (2016). The Dutch moment : war, trade, and settlement in the seventeenth-century Atlantic world. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-80145-0457.
• Ruttenber, Edward Manning (1872). History of the Indian tribes of Hudson's River. Albany, N.Y.: J. Munsell.
• Stokes, Isaac Newton Phelps (1915). The iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. Vol. II. New York: Robert H. Dodd.
  Comprehensive work contains numerous charts and maps drafted by Dutch explorers during the 16th and 17th centuries.
• Good, James I. (April 1923). "A Calvinistic Founder of America: Peter Minuit". Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1901-1930). 11 (7). Presbyterian Historical Society: 260–267. JSTOR 23323599.

• "Fort George". dmna.ny.gov.
• "George Washington's New York: Virtual tour". nyharborparks.org. 27 December 2017.
• "Map of Fort George 1773". memory.loc.gov. See Map # 1

40°42′15″N 74°00′49″W / 40.7042°N 74.0137°W / 40.7042; -74.0137