The commander of the fleet sent a letter to Stuyvesant offering very favorable terms of surrender. The council wanted the governor to surrender, but he grew angry, tore the letter to pieces, and declared he would never give up. The council put the pieces of the letter together and read it to the people. The minister of his own church begged the governor not to fight, and leading citizens, and mothers with their children, pleaded with Stuyvesant to surrender. Now what could the brave old Dutchman do? He could not fight a whole fleet alone. He turned sadly away, saying, "I would rather go to my grave than to surrender the city."
A DUTCH COTTAGE AND STREET SCENE IN NEW YORK, 1679
New Netherland becomes New York
53. The Dutch Surrender to the English. The English took possession, and the colony of New Netherland became the colony of New York, and at the same time the town of New Amsterdam became the town of New York. Fort Orange became Albany. English governors came to rule instead of Dutch governors. A few years later a Dutch fleet recaptured the colony; but, by a treaty at the close of the war, Holland returned it to England. When William and Mary came to the throne of England (1689) they gave New York a representative assembly.
A DUTCH SOLDIER
Dutch ideas and customs remain
Although Dutch rule was gone forever, the Dutch people and Dutch ideas and customs remained. They were given no cause to regret the change. Peter Stuyvesant himself had become so attached to the colony that he came back from Holland and spent his last years on his great farm, or bowery, as the Dutch called it.