Willem Kieft

Willem Kieft was appointed to the rank of director by the Dutch West India Company in 1638.

[1] He ordered attacks on Pavonia and Corlears Hook on February 25, 1643, which erupted into a horrific massacre (129 Dutch soldiers killed 120 Indians, including women and children).

The Dutch local citizen advisory group had been specifically against such a raid, and were aghast when they heard the details.

The war took a huge toll on both sides, and the directors of the Dutch West India Company dismissed him in 1647.

[1] Kieft died on September 27, 1647, in the Princess Amelia shipwreck near Swansea, Wales, en route to Amsterdam to defend himself, along with many of his opponents, including the Rev.

A black, circular seal with a notched, outer border. The center contains a shield or crest with a crown atop it. In the shield is a beaver. Surrounding the shield are the words "SIGILLVM NOVI BELGII".
The handwritten Journal of New Netherland 1647 by an unknown Dutch colonist, from the manuscript collections of the National Library of the Netherlands, is an important source for the study of Kieft's governorship, the war, and New Netherland in the 1640s.