Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Delaware,

The first of the thirteen original States that ratified the federal Constitution; takes its name from Lord De la Warr (Delaware), who entered the bay of that name in 1610, when he was governor of Virginia. It had been discovered by Hudson in 1609. In 1629 Samuel Godyn, a director of the Dutch West India Company, bought of the Indians a tract of land near the mouth of the Delaware; and the next year De Vries, with twenty colonists from Holland, settled near the site of Lewes. The colony was destroyed by the natives three years afterwards, and the Indians had sole possession of that district until 1638, when a colony of Swedes and Finns

State seal of Delaware.

landed on Cape Henlopen, and purchased the lands along the bay and river as far north as the falls at Trenton (see New Sweden). They built Fort Christiana near the site of Wilmington. Their settlements were mostly planted within the present limits of Pennsylvania. The Swedes were conquered by the Dutch of [62]

Old Swedish Church, Wilmington, Delaware.

New Netherland in 1655, and from that time until 1664, when New Netherland was conquered by the English, the territory was claimed by the Dutch, and controlled by them. Then Lord Baltimore, proprietor of Maryland, claimed all the territory on the west side of Delaware Bay, and even to lat. 40°; and settlers from Maryland attempted to drive away the settlers from the present State of Delaware. When William Penn obtained a grant of Pennsylvania, he was very desirous of owning the land on Delaware Bay to the sea, and procured from the Duke of York a release of all his title and claim to New Castle and 12 miles around it, and to the land between that tract and the sea; and in the presence of all the settlers he produced his deeds (October, 1682), and formally accepted the surrender of the territory. Lord Baltimore pressed his claim, but in 1685 the Lords of Trade and Plantations made a decision in Penn's favor. A compromise afterwards adjusted all conflicting claims. The tracts which now constitute the State of Delaware, Penn called “The Territories,” or “Three Lower counties on the Delaware.” They were governed as a part of Pennsylvania for about twenty [63] years afterwards, and each county had six delegates in the legislature. Then Penn allowed them a separate legislature; but the colony was under the governor of Pennsylvania until 1776, when the inhabitants declared it an independent State. A constitution was adopted by a convention of the people of the three counties—New Castle, Kent, and Sussex —Sept. 20, 1776. A State government was organized, and John McKinley was elected its first governor. In 1792 a second constitution was framed and adopted. Although Delaware was a slave State, it refused to secede at the outbreak of the Civil War; and, though it assumed a sort of neutrality, it furnished several regiments of volunteers for the Union army. In all the wars Delaware patriotically furnished its share of men and money for the public defence. In 1897 the State had an assessed property valuation of $77,632,079; and in 1899 had assets of $164,993 in excess of all liabilities. The population in 1890 was 168,493; in 1900, 184,735.

When Howe entered Philadelphia (September, 1777) the Americans still held control of the Delaware River below that city. On Mud Island, near the confluence of the Schuylkill and Delaware, was built Fort Mifflin. On the New Jersey shore, opposite, at Red Bank, was Fort Mercer, a strong redoubt, well furnished with heavy artillery. At Billingsport, on the same shore, 3 miles lower down, were extensive but unfinished works designed to guard some obstructions in the river there. Other formidable obstructions were placed in the river below forts Mifflin and Mercer, in the form of chevaux-de-frise—sunken crates of stones, with heavy spears of iron-pointed timber, to receive and pierce the bows of vessels. Besides these, there were floating batteries on the river. See Mercer, Fort; Mifflin, Fort.

Governors of Delaware: under the Swedes.

Name.	Date.
Peter Minuit	1638 to 1640
Peter Hollender	1640 to 1642
Johan Printz	1643 to 1652
Johan Pappegoia.	1653 to 1654
Johan C. Rising	1654 to 1655
under the Dutch.
Peter Stuyvesant	1655 to 1664

governors of Delaware: English colonial. From 1664 up to 1682, under the government of New

York; and from 1683 up to 1773, under the proprietary government of Pennsylvania.

State.

Name.	Date.
John McKinley	1776 to 1777
Caesar Rodney	1778 to 1781
John Dickinson	1782to 1783
John Cook	1783
Nicholas Van Dyke	1784 to 1786
Thomas Collins	1786 to 1789
Joshua Clayton	1789 to 1796
Gunning Bedford	1796 to 1797
Daniel Rodgers	1797 to 1798
Richard Bassett	1798 to 1801
James Sykes	1801 to 1802
David Hall	1802 to 1805
Nathaniel Mitchell	1805 to 1808
George Truitt	1808 to 1811
Joseph Hazlett	1811 to 1814
Daniel Rodney	1814 to 1817
John Clark	1817 to 1820
Jacob Stout	1820 to 1821
John Collins	1821 to 1822
Caleb Rodney	1822 to 1823
Joseph Hazlett	1823 to 1824
Samuel Paynter	1824 to 1827
Charles Polk	1827 to 1830
David Hazzard	1830 to 1833
Caleb P. Bennett	1833 to 1836
Charles Polk	1836 to 1837
Cornelius P. Comegys.	1837 to 1840
William B. Cooper.	1840 to 1844
Thomas Stockton.	1844 to 1846
Joseph Maul.	1846
William Temple	1846
William Thorp .	1847 to 1851
William H. Ross.	1851 to 1855
Peter F. Cansey .	1855 to 1859
William Burton .	1859 to 1863
William Cannon	1863 to 1867
Grove Saulsbury..	1867to 1871
James Ponder .	1871 to 1875
John P. Cochran.	1875 to 1879
John W. Hall.	1879 to 1883
Charles C. Stockley .	1883 to 1887
Benjamin T. Biggs..	1887 to 1891
Robert J. Reynolds.	1891 to 1895
Joshua H. Marvil.	1895
William T. Watson .	1895 to 1897
Ebe W. Tunnell.	1897 to 1901
John Hunn.	1901 to——

United States Senators.

[64]

Name	No. of Congress	Date.
Richard Bassett	1st and 2d	1789 to 1793
George Read	1st to 2d	1789 to 1793
Henry Latimer.	3d to 6th	1793 to 1801
John Vining.	3d to 5th	1793 to1798
Joshua Clayton	5th	1798
William Hill Wells	5th to 8th	1799 to 1805
Samuel White.	7th to 11th	1801 to 1809
James A. Bayard	8th to 12th	1805 to 1813
Outerbridge Horsey	1lth to 16th	1810 to 1821
William Hill Wells	13th to 14th	1813 to1817
Nicholas Van Dyke	15th to 19th	1817 to1827
Caesar A. Rodney	17th	1821 to 1823
Thomas Clayton	18th to 19th	1824 to 1827
Daniel Rodney	19th	1826
Henry M. Ridgely.	19th to 20th	1827 to 1829
Louis McLane	20th to 21st	1827 to 1829
John A. Clayton	21st to 23d	1829 to 1835
Arnold Naudain.	21st to 23d	1830 to 1836
Richard H. Bayard	24th to 28th	1836 to 1845
Thomas Clayton	24th to 29th	1837 to 1847
John M. Clayton	29th to 30th	1845 to 1849
Name.	No. of Congress	Date.
John Wales	30th to 31st	1849 to 1851
Presley Spruance	30th to 32d	1847 to 1853
James A. Bayard	32d to 38th	1851 to 1864
John M. Clayton	33d to 34th	1853 to 1856
Joseph P. Comegys	34th	1856
Martin Bates	35th	1858
Willard Saulsbury	36th to 41st	1859 to 1871
George Read Riddle	38th to 40th	1864 to 1867
James A. Bayard	40th	1867 to 1869
Thomas Francis Bayard	41st to 48th	1869 to 1885
Eli Saulsbury	42d to 50th	1871 to 1889
George Gray	49th to 56th	1885 to 1899
Anthony Higgins	51st to 54th	1889 to 1895
Richard R. Kenney	54th to 56th	1897 to 1901