A still greater danger had long hung over the Dutch colony. The English had from the first claimed the entire continent as having been discovered by Cabot. In vain did the Dutch urge their own discovery, their title honorably secured from the Indians, and the fact of possession. The Plymouth colony established at New Haven spread gradually over the country, until it held much of Long Island and Westchester. The Virginia colony absorbed the territory on the Delaware so triumphantly wrested from the Swedes. Stuyvesant''s appeals to the company for the means of defence were unheeded. The accession of Charles II. to the English throne, in 1664, brought matters to a crisis. He granted to his brother James, Duke of York, a patent of the territory lying between the Connecticut river and Delaware bay, covering the whole of the Dutch dominion in America. The Duke immediately despatched four ships, with four hundred and fifty soldiers, to take possession of the territory he had thus acquired. Late in August, 1664, the little fleet cast anchor near Coney Island. The soldiers were landed and took possession of the block-house on Staten Island, and soon cut off Manhattan from the neighboring shores. The resolute Governor made what preparation possible for defence, but the colony was not able to resist a siege. The palisades, effectual enough against the Indians, were of little use against English troops. The fort itself was a mere sham. The population amounted to about fifteen hundred, and could furnish hut a few hundred, at most, able to bear arms; and to crown all, not over six hundred pounds of gunpowder could be collected in the colony. The town, standing on the southern point of the island, was exposed from all sides to the raking fire of the fleet, and must have soon been one smoking ruin. Still, the brave Governor could not brook the thought of surrender, and as soon as the fleet anchored in the bay, he sent a messenger to inquire what object they had in thus entering a friendly port. The commander returned a reply asserting the claim of Great Britain to the territory, And demanded an immediate surrender, giving assurances that all submissive inhabitants would be secured in their liberty and estates. Having promised to give a reply on the following morning, the Governor convened his council and the city magistrates, and informed them of the demand, but withheld the letter containing the terms of capitulation. A demand for this document on the part of the burgomasters greatly enraged the Governor, who dissolved the assembly and declared his purpose of defending the town. The English commander understood the condition of the colony. Knowing its defence utterly impossible, and that secret heart-burnings had long existed among a portion of its inhabitants, he issued an artful proclamation to the inhabitants, and made arrangements for recruiting in the settlement. The landing of troops at Brooklyn to storm the town, and the anchoring of the ships in front of the fort, convinced all that the crisis had fully arrived. Crowds gathered around the venerable wooden-legged Governor, among whom was his own son, pleading for the stay of hostilities by the surrender of the town. For a time he was inflexible, saying, "No! I would rather be carried out dead;" but he at length yielded, performing no doubt the most painful service of his life. On the morning of the 8th of September, 1664, Stuyvesant marched his troops out of Fort Amsterdam with the honors of war, and the English took possession and raised on the flagstaff the ensign of their country.

Thus closed the reign of the Knickerbockers, after holding Manhattan fifty-five years, and establishing a flourishing and interesting colony. Governor Stuyvesant soon after departed for Holland to give an account of his administration to the West India Company, after which he returned, livedand died on a large farm he had previously purchased in the Bowery. A large pear-tree of his planting stood until three years ago at the corner of Third avenue and Thirteenth street. This monument of the good old days has now disappeared—the last of the Knickerbockers.