The Massacre at Corlears Hook of February 25, 1643 was a colonial massacre of forty

Wecquaesgeek The Wecquaesgeek (also Manhattoe and Manhattan) were a Munsee-speaking band of Wappinger people who once lived along the east bank of the Hudson River in the southwest of today's Westchester County, New York,Their presence on the east bank of the ...

of all ages and genders on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

of Manhattan, perpetrated by a force led by

Maryn Adriansen Maryn Adriansen (1600 – c.1654) (also spelled Maryn Adriaensen, Marinus Adriaensz, Marijn Adriaensz, Marin Adriaensz, Marinus Ariaens) was an early settler to New Netherland. Originally emigrating under an Indenture agreement he later became a pro ...

, acting under

Willem Kieft Willem Kieft (September 1597 – September 27, 1647) was a Dutch merchant and the Director of New Netherland (of which New Amsterdam was the capital) from 1638 to 1647. Life and career Willem Kieft was appointed to the rank of director ...

, the Director of New Netherland. Kieft sought to take advantage of Wappinger who had been driven south by the Mohawks and

Mahicans The Mohican ( or , alternate spelling: Mahican) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, wh ...

and taken refuge at their old settlement of ''Rechtauck'' on

Corlears Hook The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an i ...

, fleeing to lands controlled by their erstwhile Dutch allies. Launched on the same night as the larger

Pavonia Massacre Pavonia was the first European settlement on the west bank of the North River (Hudson River) that was part of the seventeenth-century province of New Netherland in what would become the present Hudson County, New Jersey. Hudson and the Hackens ...

in modern

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Kieft's War Kieft's War (1643–1645), also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between the colonial province of New Netherland and the Wappinger and Lenape Indians in what is now New York and New Jersey. It is named for Director-General of New Nethe ...

. An account comes from David Pietersz. de Vries, the chairman of Kieft's council on Native relations, which had been created amid conflict 1½ years earlier. Kieft had dissolved the

Twelve Men The Council of Twelve Men was a group of 12 men, chosen on 29 August 1641 by the residents of New Netherland to advise the Director of New Netherland, Willem Kieft, on relations with the Native Americans due to the murder of Claes Swits. Although ...

just two weeks before the attacks, due to opposition to his war policy by De Vries and others. He described the events as follows:

References

{{coord, 40.711, -73.982, type:event_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title 1643 in the Dutch Empire 1643 in North America Kieft's War Lower East Side Massacres of Native Americans Wappinger Massacres in 1643