During the reigns of William Kieft and Peter Stuyvesant, between the Yankees of the Connecticut and the Swedes of the Delaware, the Dutch community knew no repose, and the “History” is little more than a series of exhausting sieges and desperate battles, which would have been as heroic as any in history if they had been attended with loss of life.  The forces that were gathered by Peter Stuyvesant for the expedition to avenge upon the Swedes the defeat at Fort Casimir, and their appearance on the march, give some notion of the military prowess of the Dutch.  Their appearance, when they were encamped on the Bowling Green, recalls the Homeric age:—­

“In the centre, then, was pitched the tent of the men of battle of the Manhattoes, who, being the inmates of the metropolis, composed the lifeguards of the governor.  These were commanded by the valiant Stoffel Brinkerhoof, who, whilom had acquired such immortal fame at Oyster Bay; they displayed as a standard a beaver rampant on a field of orange, being the arms of the province, and denoting the persevering industry and the amphibious origin of the Nederlands.

“On their right hand might be seen the vassals of that renowned Mynheer, Michael Paw, who lorded it over the fair regions of ancient Pavonia, and the lands away south even unto the Navesink mountains, and was moreover patroon of Gibbet Island.  His standard was borne by his trusty squire, Cornelius Van Vorst; consisting of a huge oyster recumbent upon a sea-green field; being the armorial bearings of his favorite metropolis Communipaw.  He brought to the camp a stout force of warriors, heavily armed, being each clad in ten pair of linsey-woolsey breeches, and overshadowed by broad-brimmed beavers, with short pipes twisted in their hat-bands.  These were the men who vegetated in the mud along the shores of Pavonia, being of the race of genuine copperheads, and were fabled to have sprung from oysters.

“At a little distance was encamped the tribe of warriors who came from the neighborhood of Hell-gate.  These were commanded by the Suy Dams, and the Van Dams,—­incontinent hard swearers, as their names betoken.  They were terrible looking fellows, clad in broad-skirted gaberdines, of that curious colored cloth called thunder and lightning,—­and bore as a standard three devil’s darning-needles, volant, in a flame-colored field.

“Hard by was the tent of the men of battle from the marshy borders of the Waale-Boght and the country thereabouts.  These were of a sour aspect, by reason that they lived on crabs, which abound in these parts.  They were the first institutors of that honorable order of knighthood called Fly-market shirks, and, if tradition speak true, did likewise introduce the far-famed step in dancing called ‘double trouble.’  They were commanded by the fearless Jacobus Varra Vanger,—­and had, moreover, a jolly band of Breuckelen ferry-men, who performed