Captain of the Rattle Watch

According to Lorine McGinnis Schulze's book on Lodewyck Post and Agnietje Bonen, and the Mapping Early New York encyclopedia, Lodewyck was appointed as Captain of the Rattle Watch by the burgomasters of New Amsterdam in 1658. This became the first paid police force of the colony. Lodewyck was to oversee eight night watchmen, who would patrol New Amsterdam from dusk to dawn with loud rattles and green glass lanterns.

Made in Ideogram. The rattle watch, 1658.

Post was to receive fifteen stivers per month from every family in New Amsterdam to support the funds for the rattle watch. He appears in several court cases in the Mapping Early New York archives, some of which have not yet been translated from Dutch. A document from December 1658 shows Post being directed by the New Amsterdam burgomasters to collect contributions for the rattle watch.

An order for Lodewyck's oversight of the rattle watch in May 1661 is available, and a portion of the record is available below:

Mapping Early New York, 1661.

Also in May 1661, Post came before the burgomasters to address concerns about fighting at the Blue Dove Tavern (see also house of de Blauwe Duijff).

A case from August 1662 shows Post was a defendant over debt (he appears in many debt cases), and the plaintiff tried to sue for Lodewyck's rattle watch money. The case was declined.

A directive from the burgomasters from January 1662 instructed Lodewyck to tell his men to be less noisy on their patrols and not urinate on the steps of City Hall. He was still captain of the rattle watch through May 1663.