When, in menacing attitude, they demanded more liberty and less taxation, the governor in a passion unwisely declared that they should "have liberty for no thought but how to pay their taxes." This was resented, and when the Dutch squadron came, nearly all the Hollanders regarded their countrymen in the ships as liberators.

When Colonel Manning, who commanded the fort, called for volunteers, few came, and these not as friends but as enemies, for they spiked the cannon in front of the statehouse.
The fleet came up broadside to the fort, and Manning, sending a messenger for Lovelace, opened fire on the enemy.

One cannon ball passed through the Dutch flagship from side to side; but the balls from the fleet began pounding against the walls of the fort.

Six hundred Holland soldiers landed on the banks of the Hudson above the town and were quickly joined by four hundred Dutch citizens in arms urging them to storm the fort.
With shouts and yells of triumph the body of one thousand men were marching down Broadway for that purpose.

They were met by a messenger from Manning proposing to surrender the fort, if the troops might be allowed to march out with the honors of war.