New Amsterdam

This is Bill Leonard at Fort Amsterdam, main defensive fortification on the southern tip of Manhattan Island. Here on this first day of September 1664, the little Dutch colony of New Netherlands faces its most critical hour.

The English fleet is on the move. From where we are set up, high on the parapet of the fort, we can just about make out two of their ships. They appear to be through the narrows well into New Amsterdam Harbor, headed upstream toward New Amsterdam under full sail and strip for action.

This village of New Amsterdam is in Fermatt. The question here, the unanswered question of the hour, is whether or not the Dutch governor, his excellency Peter Stuyvesant, will accept the ultimatum of surrender delivered early this morning in a letter by a representative of the English commander-in-chief, Colonel Richard Nichols.

Should the governor refuse to surrender Manhattan Island and all of the Dutch colony of New Netherlands, then within moments, We may see this peaceful community of 1500 souls turned into a battlefield. See the bowries and homes of these peace-loving borders ripped and torn by the might of English cannons.

It's just eight in the morning here in New Amsterdam. A light haze that hung over the bay, the top and bay all morning has just lifted, and it gives promise of being a hot and humid day.

From where we stand the town looks deserted. Many people under orders of Governor Peter Stuyvesant are gathered at the North... ...and the rest of the world. ...sailment of war, sailing to the harbor of New Amsterdam.

And Governor Peter Stuyvesant must make his choice between surrender and war. CBS takes you back 286 years to the decisive hour in the struggle of the Dutch to maintain their colonial empire on the mainland of North America.