Their petition was granted and on March 16, 1656, they were allowed to depart for Vredelandt and also to nominate a double number of officers, subject to the approval of the Director-General and Council. They at once organized and elected Lieutenant Thomas \Yheeleras their magistrate, and his selection received the sanction of the director on the same day. Some of the party, however, were ordered to leave the province unless they gave bail for good behavior.'

In 1655 another Indian war broke out. The savages came down the Sound in their canoes as far as Hell Gate, and Peter, the chimney-sweep of Xew Amsterdam, was taken prisoner. Captain Nuton was directed to caution the peojjle in the country to keep together and not wander far from the plantations. - The New Englanders settled at Westchester were suspected of having entered into a conspiracy with the Indians so as to throw off the Dutch yoke, and they were also in constant correspondence with the English authorities in Connecticut. This settlement was called by the Dutch " O'ostdorp," and the insubordination of its inhabitants was a constant annoyance to Stuyvesant. The Dutch West India Company also expressed its disapproval of the course the New Englanders were pursuing with reference to Ostdorp, or Westchester village, and their wicked attempts to "purloin it." ^

Van Couwenhoven made a report to the Governor and Council that, on the 15th of March, 1664, an Indian named Hiekemick came to his house and told him that the Esopus and Wappinger Indians were ready for an insurrection, and that the English at Westchester had promised that they would first conquer Long Island and then the Manhattans, but that the Indians must help them. The Indians said that they were willing, but the thrifty New Englanders asked, "When you have done it, how much land shall we have then?" The land at Esopus wa.s promised if the English would help them kill the Dutch.