this question to some length and have offered a number of reasons to account for the breach between Herrman and his chief; here in a less serious chapter, but probably a more interesting one, we need only say that the reason why Stuyvesant quarrelled with Herrman was for the same reason that he quarrelled with Adriaen Van der Donck and Govert Loockermans or any other man of enterprise, ability and energy. The simple fact seems to be that Stuyvesant could not get along with anyone who had a mind of his own.
The most famous and fanciful legend woven around Herrman’s name is that of the famous white horse, which story alone is ample to make him forever immortal in the traditions of American annals; and it is fortunate that the subject has been woven into art in the form of a painting depicting Herrman and his steed. According to the story, sometime between 1663 and 1673 (the precise year is of no particular consequence), Herrman rode up from Bohemia Manor to look after some property interest he still held in New Amsterdam. Those who choose the earlier date insist that Peter Stuyvesant had him arrested for deserting him for Lord Baltimore; while those who persist in the later date say that the Dutch, who for a short time regained possession of New York, arrested him as a traitor for secretly turning over New Amsterdam to the English in 1664.[1] But regardless of the precise year and the reason whereof, he was arrested. Whereupon Herrman suddenly feigned madness and refused to mount his white charger which he had ridden from Maryland. Accordingly Herrman and the horse were led to the second story of a stone warehouse, where he was securely locked in. The Dutchmen, be-
- ↑ For an interesting and well written popular account of Herrman’s life see E. N. Vallandingham’s article in the New York Sun for Oct. 23, 1892 reprinted in Phillip’s Rare Map of Va. and Md., pp. 18–23.
