| Revolt of the Long Swede | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the European colonization of the Americas | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Middle Colonies | Swedish settlers | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Francis Lovelace |
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The Revolt of the Long Swede also known as the Intended Insurrection of the Long Swede, the Insurrection in Delaware, the Uproar Among the Swedes, and the Long Finn Rebellion, [1] was an unsuccessful rebellion against English colonial rule in the Middle Colonies by Swedish settlers in 1669.
By the middle of the 17th century, the Realm of Sweden had reached its greatest territorial extent and was one of the great powers of Europe. Sweden then included Finland and Estonia, along with parts of modern Russia, Poland, Germany, Norway and Latvia under King Gustavus Adolphus.
Other northern European nations were establishing colonies in the New World and building successful trading empires at this time. The Swedes sought to expand their influence by creating their own plantation (tobacco) and fur-trading colony to circumvent other European merchants. Thus in 1638 the colony of New Sweden was established along the Delaware River. The colony would expand to later include nearly two dozen towns and seven forts before the Dutch conquered New Sweden in 1655. Just a few years later the English conquered New Netherland in 1664. Swedish settlers found themselves under English rule, a fact many Swedes resented as the new English authorities enacted far stricter land and deed rights which reshuffled ownership of much of the Swedes property. [1]
Marcus Jacobson, (alias John Brinckson) was either a Finn or Swede of notably large size, who while living in England, was convicted of a petty crime and sentenced to penal transportation to the Province of Maryland.
After arriving in Maryland, Jacobson escaped from indentured servitude and fled to the Swedish colonial settlement of Upland, Pennsylvania. Once having arrive in town he claimed to be the son of Hans Christoff von Königsmarck, (a noted general in Sweden) and falsely claimed that a Swedish Navy fleet was lying in wait in the Delaware Bay, under instructions at the proper time to wrest the region from the English. He claimed he had been sent to recruit Swedish settlers to take up arms against the English to spur a revolt to reclaim of the formerly Swedish colony.
Jacobson soon found a number of supporters to his cause, including a wealthy Finnish settler named Henry Coleman as well as a former Chaplain named Lawrence Lock and Armgard Papagoya, the daughter of former Governor Johan Björnsson Printz. [2] The group managed to secure firearms and gunpowder before the English learned of the plot. Governor Francis Lovelace, of the Province of New York, issued an order for the arrest of Jacobson and his fellow conspirators on August 2, 1669.
During a dinner on September 4, Justice Peter Cock was present when a group of Swedes were persuaded by Jacobson to swear an oath of allegiance to the King of Sweden. Cock protested this and attempted to arrest Jacobson, resulting in a struggle where Cock injured Jacobson with a knife before he escaped. [3] Soon thereafter a posse was formed to track down and arrest Jacobson.
A riverboat captain named Carr managed to capture Jacobson, who was imprisoned in New Castle, Delaware. Jacobson soon attempted to escape his imprisonment along with a fellow Native American prisoner who had been condemned to death. The native managed to get away but Jacobson did not and was held until trial. Henry Coleman, learning of an arrest warrant issued against him fled to live among the Indians and was never heard of again. Rev. Lock and Mrs. Pappehoya paid bail and were released until trial.
The case was held at New Castle, December 6, 1669, and heard by a commission appointed by the governor and a jury. Jacobson was found guilty and sentenced to be, "publicly and severely whipped and branded in the face with the letter "R" for Rebellion, after which he be secured until he can be sent and sold to the Barbadoes or some other remote plantation". [3]
On January 25, 1670, Jacobson was put aboard the merchant ship Fort Albany and transported to be sold into indentured servitude in Barbados, after that date nothing more was known about him.
The accomplices were sentenced to forfeit one half of their goods and chattels, while a small fine was placed upon those of lesser note. [4] At least 80 Swedish settlers in total were fined. [5]
In 1823, American author and future Secretary of the Navy James Kirke Paulding would write a highly romanticized novel based loosely on the events of the revolt titled, Koningsmarke, The Long Finne: A Story of the New World. [6]
New Sweden was a colony of the Swedish Empire along the lower reaches of the Delaware River between 1638 and 1655 in present-day Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in the United States. Established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a great power, New Sweden formed part of the Swedish efforts to colonize the Americas.
Sweden established colonies in the Americas in the mid-17th century, including the colony of New Sweden (1638–1655) on the Delaware River in what is now Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, as well as two possessions in the Caribbean during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion by Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon against Colonial Governor William Berkeley, after Berkeley refused Bacon's request to drive Native American Indians out of Virginia. Thousands of Virginians from all classes and races rose up in arms against Berkeley, chasing him from Jamestown and ultimately torching the settlement. The rebellion was first suppressed by a few armed merchant ships from London whose captains sided with Berkeley and the loyalists. Government forces arrived soon after and spent several years defeating pockets of resistance and reforming the colonial government to be once more under direct Crown control. While the rebellion did not succeed in the initial goal of driving the Native Americans from Virginia, it did result in Berkeley being recalled to England, where he died shortly thereafter.
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The Delaware Colony, officially known as the three "Lower Counties on the Delaware", was a semiautonomous region of the proprietary Province of Pennsylvania and a de facto British colony in North America. Although not royally sanctioned, Delaware consisted of the three counties on the west bank of the Delaware River Bay.
Peter Hollander Ridder (1608–1692) was the governor of the Swedish colony of New Sweden from 1640 until 1643.
Johan Björnsson Printz was governor from 1643 until 1653 of the Swedish colony of New Sweden on the Delaware River in North America.
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Måns Andersson, was a pioneer in the Swedish colony of New Sweden.
Nordic colonialism is a subdivision within broader colonial studies that discusses the role of Nordic nations in achieving economic benefits from outside of their own cultural sphere. The field ranges from studying the Sámi in relation to the Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish states, to activities of the Danish Colonial Empire and Swedish Empire in Africa, New Sweden, and on Caribbean islands such as St. Thomas and Saint-Barthélemy.
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Måns Nilsson Kling or Mauno Kling was the second governor of the 17th century colony of New Sweden, which he administrated from Fort Christina, now Wilmington, Delaware, United States.
Peter Gunnarsson Rambo was a Norwegian immigrant to New Sweden known as a farmer and a justice of the Governor's Council after the British took control of the area. He was the longest living of the original Swedish settlers and became known as the Father of New Sweden. Rambo's Rock along the Schuylkill River is named for his family.
Olof Persson Stille (1610–1684) was a pioneer settler of New Sweden, a colony along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in North America claimed by Sweden from 1638 to 1655. Stille served as the first chief justice of the Upland Court, the governing body of the New Sweden colony following Dutch West India Company annexation from Swedish colonial rule.
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Hans Månsson (1612–1691) was a Swedish soldier and a convicted criminal who was sent to New Sweden along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now the United States in 1641. After serving six years on a tobacco plantation, he was freed and became a respected leader in Dutch New Netherland, serving as a spokesman for the settlers, and as commanding officer of the militia at Wicaco. He purchased land and was one of the first European settlers in what is now New Jersey.