Timeline

Timeline of Delaware’s Colonial & Revolutionary Era

Before the Europeans arrived, there were two main Native American tribes that inhabited the area: the Lenni-Lenape (also called the Delaware) and the Nanticoke.

1400

The Lenni-Lenape, part of the Algonkians, settle along the Delaware River

1600

The Minquas, from the Susquehanna River Valley, began to attack the villages of the Lenni-Lenape

1609

English explorer Henry Hudson, sailing for the Dutch East India Company in the Half Moon, visits the Delaware Bay and explores the coastline while seeking the Northwest Passage

1610

Sir Samuel Argall, an English sea captain, names the Delaware Bay after Virginia governor Thomas West, Lord De La Warr

1631

The first European settlement is built by the Dutch at what is now Lewes; they are massacred within a year by Native Americans due to a dispute over a property marker installed by the Dutch and torn down by an Indian

1638

The first permanent European settlement, Fort Christina, is established on the Minquas Kill (renamed Christina River) by 23 Swedes, including Finns, led by Peter Minuit; it is the first permanent settlement on the Delaware and the beginnings of the New Sweden colony; it will become the city of Wilmington

1639

• The first American log cabin is introduced at Fort Christina
• The first African on the Delaware, Black Anthony, is hired from the Caribbean to advise on tobacco growing and act as coxswain on Gov. Printz’s shallop

1640

The first Lutheran minister in America, the Reverend Reorus Torkillus, arrives at Fort Christina

1643

Johan Printz, an army major, becomes governor the New Sweden Colony, and moves the capital to Tinicum to better control the river and be closer to his tobacco plantation

1651

Peter Stuyvesant, peg-legged governor of New Amsterdam, builds Fort Casimir at Sandhoek (now New Castle) just few miles south of Ft. Christina on the Delaware; the Dutch thus control the Delaware River

1654

• Hearing that the Dutch are out of powder, the Swedes capture Fort Casimir and rename it Fort Trinity
• The tenth Swedish expedition misses the Delaware Bay, arrives in Manhattan and is seized by the Dutch

1655

The Dutch return to the Delaware River with seven armed ships and 300 soldiers, besiege Fort Christina for 12 days, and defeat the Swedes on the Delaware without bloodshed, ending the New Sweden Colony; Delaware becomes part of New Amsterdam; the Swedes pledge allegiance to the Dutch king but are allowed to keep their religion and law courts

1656

Ship Mercuriius from Sweden arrives with 110 new settlers, but the Dutch refuse permission to land so they disembark at Tinicum

1659

A trading post is established at Lewes; New Amstel (New Castle) now has 100 houses but dissatisfaction, hunger an disease causes it to depopulate

1659

Lord Baltimore claims ownership of the western shore of the Delaware River, but testimony by the “old Swedes” Peter Gunnarson Rambo and Peter Larsson Cock as to who arrived first frustrates him

1662

Peter Plockhoy from Holland establishes a Mennonite colony at Cape Henlopen; destroyed by the English in 1664

1664

Sir Robert Carr subdues the Dutch on the South (Delaware) River by firing two broadsides by two ships and storming Fort Casimir with three Dutch killed and 10 wounded; he claims the land for James, Duke of York, so Delaware becomes an English colony as a result of an Anglo-Dutch war

1669

The first American jury trial was held in Delaware; Marcus Jacobson (aka Konigsmark “the Long Finn”) was captured by magistrate Peter Larsson Cock, condemned for insurrection against the English and sentenced to flogging, branding and hard labor in Barbados

1673

War between England and Holland; the Dutch fleet re-takes New York and regains control of the Delaware

1674

The Treaty of Westminster returns New York and Delaware to the English, so the English regain control of the Delaware; so ends Dutch rule on the Delaware

1681

Pennsylvania granted to William Penn by King Charles II

1682

The Duke of York transfers control of the Delaware colony to English Quaker William Penn, who receives possession in New Castle by tokens of a twig, water and soil

1684-1736

The colonial government of Maryland lays claim to southern and western Delaware, so Col. George Talbot builds a small fort near the present town of Christiana

1689

Immanuel Episcopal Church, New Castle, founded; built in 1704

1697

Erick Biork, Andreas Rudman and Jonas Aureen come from Sweden as Lutheran missionaries

1698-1700

Pirates including Captain Kidd sail along the Delaware, sack Lewes, and capture a vessel off New Castle

1699

Old Swedes Church dedicated on Trinity Sunday, July 4th

1701

Delaware is formally separated from Pennsylvania, but they share a governor; Isaac Taylor and Thomas Pierson, surveyors, establish the 12 Mile Circle boundry

1703

Welsh Baptists settle on Welsh Tract between Newark and Glasgow

1707

Fort built at New Castle to compel all vessels to “report and receive leave to pass”; Philadelphia businessmen protest this control

1710

Scots settle in Appoquinimy, Kent County, known as Drawyer’s Settlement

1717

The city of Dover is established

1731

Thomas Williing founds Willingtown on land received from his father-in-law Andrew Justison between French and West Streets

1732

Commissioners appointed by Penn and Lord Baltimore agree on boundaries between Delaware and Maryland

1739

Williingtown receives a royal charter and is renamed Wilmington

1740

Presbyterian Church and first sea-going vessel built in Wilmington

1742

Oliver Canby builds a flour mill on the Brandywine River at Wilmington, beginning a large commercial flour milling industry

1743

New London Academy, forerunner of the University of Delaware, established by Rev. Francis Alison

1747

French and Spanish privateers commit depredations along the Delaware River in the War of Austrian Succession

1748

Nanticoke Indians migrate to Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania

1754

General Assembly passes bill to raise one company of troops for His Majesty’s service and to establish militia for defense in the French and Indian War

1758

Men are raised for an expedition to Canada in the French and Indian War

1758

Charter granted for a town at Newark; fair to be held in April and October and also weekly market

1760

35,000 people lived in the Delaware region

1761

James Adams sets up the first printing press in Delaware at Wilmington

1763

Lord Baltimore and Thomas and Richard Penn employ Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyors, to establish boundaries

1764

Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon survey Delaware’s western boundary

1765

Caesar Rodney and Thomas McKean represent Delaware the the Stamp Act Congress to protest against the Act

1766

Rodney, McKean and Read appointed as committee to draw up an address to George III expressing loyalty of the Delaware Counties and gratitude for repeal of the Stamp Act

1767-68

Dover’s John Dickinson writes “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania,” an influential protest against British policies towards the colonies; for this he is known as the Penman of the Revolution

1774

Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean and George Read represent Delaware at the First Continental Congress; meetings to protest British tyranny held in Lewes, Dover and New Castle

1775

The Revolutionary War begins

1776

• The Delaware Assembly declares independence from England; this is the origin of the June 15 holiday called Separation Day
• Delegate Caesar Rodney rides 80 miles through the night from Dover to Philadelphia to cast the deciding vote in favor of the Declaration of Independence; in 1998 the ride is commemorated by the US Mint on the back of a new quarter
• The brig Nancy of Wilmington, Captain Hugh Montgomery, is the first ship to hoist the American flag in a foreign port; British warships, Roebuck and Liverpool, in Delaware River, fight small boats off Wilmington then withdraw to bombard Lewes
• The Three Lower Counties had broken away from Pennsylvania, adopted a constitution and become the Delaware State, the first of all the colonies call themselves a state
• Picture of George III burnt on Dover Green; First State troops mustered in, Col. John Haslet, Lt. Col. Gunning Bedford, Major John McPherson and 800 men, and leave Dover for war; Delaware troops nicknamed “Blue Hens”, a breed of fighting cock; Delaware troops, in defeat in the Battle of Long Island are among the last to leave the field—not until “an express order from the General commanded them to retreat”

1777

• John McKinly elected first President of Delaware State
• General Samuel Patterson’s militia mutinies in Philadelphia, demanding higher wages; Col. Haslet killed in the Battle of Princeton; British, 18,000 strong, under General Howe. land at Elkton MD and advance through Delaware; Washington’s army, 12.000 strong, is posted near Stanton; American light infantry under General Maxwell, meets advance British forces at Cooch’s Bridge
• The Battle of Cooch’s Bridge takes place on September 3, the only engagement of the Revolutionary War in Delaware
• Washington withdraws to Chadds Ford; British army passes through Newark; Battle of the Brandywine, Col. Hall’s Delaware regiment engaged, Major Lewis Bush of Delaware killed, Americans defeated; Wilmington occupied by British troops; President McKinly captured; Thomas McKean becomes acting President then George Read; Colonel Hall severely wounded in the Battle of Germantown

1778

Caesar Rodney elected President of State, succeeding McKinly

1779

Delaware ratifies the Articles of Confederation; Capt. Allen McLane’s Delaware company in capture of Powles Hook

1780

First Delaware Regiment of Continental Army, Lt. Col. Vaughn, Major John Patten, Senior Capt. Kirkwood, 800 men, in DeKalb’s army in Southern Campaign; in disastrous Battle of Camden, Delawares withstand Lord Rawdon’s furious charge; DeKalb on his death-bed writes of “the gallant behavior of the Delaware regiment,” who stood their ground although 265 were killed or wounded; Lt. Col. Vaughn and Major Patten captured

1781

At Cowpens, when the front line breaks, Smallwood’s brigade stands fast and saves the day; British defeated; At Guilford Court House the brigade again holds the line when the militia retreats, and again wins the battle; special mention in dispatches of “the Old Delaware company under brave Capt. Kirkwood; after the Battle of Hobkirk’s Hill, Delaware again cited for “gallant behavior”

1787

Delaware ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the First State in the Union

Prepared by John B. Tepe, Jr., Historian of the Delaware Society of Colonial Wars