ironweed
11-21-2005, 01:49 PM
I'd never heard this before. Is it true? I happen to have had the misfortune to have met the author of this piece, and I know for a fact he's not the sort to let historical accuracy get in the way of an interesting quip. The bulk of the article is also rather tedious, I'm just interested in what I bolded.
Patrick, Yankee-4-Life :p
Link (http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/commentary/hc-plcfaude1120.artnov20,0,7418535.story)
Two years later, England and Holland went to war. After the news reached Hartford, on June 27, 1653, Captain John Underhill stormed the fort with a small group of men, threw out the Dutch and proclaimed "I, John Underhill, do seize upon this house and land hitherto belonging as Dutch goods, claimed by the West Indian Company in Amsterdam ... for the state of England."
The Colonial Court ordered Underhill not to sell the fort and its land, but on July 18, 1655, he did just that, conveying the 30-acre property to Richard Lord and William Gibbons. The Dutch were powerless to retake the fort. Upset at the ouster, the Dutch referred to the settlers in Hartford as "Jankes," pronounced Yankees, which meant thief, robber or pirate.
It was the Dutch fort erected at the cross rivers of the fur trade in Hartford that dictated a new English settlement should be built here. When Hartford was chosen as the site for Colonial leaders to meet and resolve their issues, the city-to-be assumed the mantle of a respected place.
Patrick, Yankee-4-Life :p
Link (http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/commentary/hc-plcfaude1120.artnov20,0,7418535.story)
Two years later, England and Holland went to war. After the news reached Hartford, on June 27, 1653, Captain John Underhill stormed the fort with a small group of men, threw out the Dutch and proclaimed "I, John Underhill, do seize upon this house and land hitherto belonging as Dutch goods, claimed by the West Indian Company in Amsterdam ... for the state of England."
The Colonial Court ordered Underhill not to sell the fort and its land, but on July 18, 1655, he did just that, conveying the 30-acre property to Richard Lord and William Gibbons. The Dutch were powerless to retake the fort. Upset at the ouster, the Dutch referred to the settlers in Hartford as "Jankes," pronounced Yankees, which meant thief, robber or pirate.
It was the Dutch fort erected at the cross rivers of the fur trade in Hartford that dictated a new English settlement should be built here. When Hartford was chosen as the site for Colonial leaders to meet and resolve their issues, the city-to-be assumed the mantle of a respected place.