Capture of Fort Casimir explained

Conflict:Capture of Fort Casimir
Date:May 31, 1654
Place:Fort Casimir, Delaware
Territory:Delaware River falls into Swedish control
Result:Swedish victory
Combatant1:
Commander1: Johan Risingh
Commander2: Gerrit Bicker
Strength1:20–30 men
1 sloop
Strength2:10–12 men
Casualties1:Unknown
Casualties2:Unknown

The Capture of Fort Casimir was a confrontation between a Swedish force of 1 sloop and 20–30 armed soldiers under Johan Risingh against the Dutch controlled Fort Casimir under Sergeant Gerrit Bicker and a garrison of 10–12 men on May 31 1654,[1] it ended with a Swedish victory and the fort was captured by Johan Risingh.

Prelude

In July 1651, Petrus Stuyvesant decided to go on a voyage to the Delaware River to construct a new fortress which would replace Fort Nassau and Fort Beversreede. He began by purchasing all the land south of Fort Christina all the way to Bombay Hook from the Native Americans. Then he chose a "reasonably suitable place about a mile from the Swedish fort Christina" in order to "build a fort named Casimier" which was furnished with "people and ammunitions of war, according to circumstances.”[2]

Capture

During the first Anglo-Dutch war, which began in 1652, the Swedes decided to try and conquer Fort Casimir. When the Swedish commander, Johan Risingh first arrived to the Delaware River in late May 1654, he sailed a ship up to the fort and sent out a sloop with 20–30 men. Since there was no gunpowder in the fortress,[3] the Dutch commander, Gerrit Bicker, decided to surrender the fort to the Swedes. He waited for the Swedish soldiers outside of the fortress, "in front of the gate", which was left open. Next, Bicker accompanied the Swedes without giving any orders to his men, where the Swedes easily overpowered the Dutch garrison of around 10–12 soldiers.[4]

Aftermath

After the Swedes had conquered the fortress, it was renamed to Fort Trefaldigheten (Fort Trinity), after Trinity Sunday.[5] [6] Risingh also gave the newly renamed fortress a strong garrison, Which allowed the Swedes to control the Delaware River.[7] The capture of the fortress also effectively cut the Fortress of Nassau from the sea.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Book: The Archaeology of New Netherland: A World Built on Trade . 978-0-8130-5789-7 . Lukezic . Craig . McCarthy . John P. . 19 July 2021 . University Press of Florida .
  2. Web site: Casimir, fort .
  3. Web site: King Solomon (The Diary of Samuel Pepys) . 25 January 2008 .
  4. Book: First Forts: Essays on the Archaeology of Proto-colonial Fortifications . 978-90-04-18732-0 . Klingelhofer . Eric . 11 November 2010 . BRILL .
  5. Web site: Johan Risingh . 2024-01-05 . sok.riksarkivet.se.
  6. Book: Dutch and Indigenous Communities in Seventeenth-Century Northeastern North America: What Archaeology, History, and Indigenous Oral Traditions Teach Us about Their Intercultural Relationships . 978-1-4384-8318-4 . Lavin . Lucianne . May 2021 . State University of New York Press .
  7. Book: Correspondence, 1654-1658 . 978-0-8156-2959-7 . Gehring . Charles T. . February 2003 . Syracuse University Press .
  8. Book: Rink, Oliver A. . Holland on the Hudson: An Economic and Social History of Dutch New York . 1989 . Cornell University Press . 978-0-8014-9585-4 . en.