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.

Capture of Fort Casimir

New Sweden
Date1654
Location
Fort Casimir, Delaware
Result

Swedish victory

  • Fort Nassau is cut off from the sea.
  • The Susquehannocks meet with the Swedes to reinforce their treaty and pledge alliance.[2]
Territorial
changes		 Fort Casimir is captured by the Swedes.
The Delaware River falls into Swedish control.
Belligerents
Swedish Empire Sweden Dutch Republic Dutch Republic
Commanders and leaders
Swedish Empire Johan Risingh Dutch Republic Gerrit Bicker
Strength
20–30 men
1 sloop		 10–12
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

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.”[3]

The Assault

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.[3] Since there was no gunpowder in the fortress,[4] 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.[3][5]

Aftermath

After the Swedes had conquered the fortress, it was renamed to Fort Trefaldigheten (Fort Trinity), after Trinity Sunday.[3][6][7] Risingh also gave the newly renamed fortress a strong garrison, Which allowed the Swedes to control the Delaware River.[6][8] The capture of the fortress also effectively cut the Fortress of Nassau from the sea.[9]

References

  1. ^ Lukezic, Craig; McCarthy, John P. (19 July 2021). The Archaeology of New Netherland: A World Built on Trade. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-5789-7.
  2. ^ Lawson, Russell M.; Lawson, Benjamin A. (11 October 2019). Race and Ethnicity in America [4 volumes]: From Pre-contact to the Present [4 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-216-13498-5.
  3. ^ a b c d "Casimir, fort".
  4. ^ "King Solomon (The Diary of Samuel Pepys)". 25 January 2008.
  5. ^ Klingelhofer, Eric (11 November 2010). First Forts: Essays on the Archaeology of Proto-colonial Fortifications. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-18732-0.
  6. ^ a b "Johan Risingh". sok.riksarkivet.se. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  7. ^ Lavin, Lucianne (May 2021). Dutch and Indigenous Communities in Seventeenth-Century Northeastern North America: What Archaeology, History, and Indigenous Oral Traditions Teach Us about Their Intercultural Relationships. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-8318-4.
  8. ^ Gehring, Charles T. (February 2003). Correspondence, 1654-1658. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-2959-7.
  9. ^ Rink, Oliver A. (1989). Holland on the Hudson: An Economic and Social History of Dutch New York. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-9585-4.
Categories