Colonial America: The Age of Sodomitical Sin, 1607-1783, by Jonathan Ned Katz

The years from 1607 to 1783 constitute the founding era of what became the United States. In the early years of this era, in these American colonies, the penalty for sodomy was death, and a number of executions are documented. Sodomy was usually conceived of then as anal intercourse between men. But why was sodomy thought of as treason against the state and punished so harshly? And what do we know of sexual and intimate relationships between women in these years, and the laws and responses to such intimacies? This feature presents or references the original documents that Jonathan Ned Katz collected in his books Gay American History (1976) and Gay/Lesbian Almanac (1983), along with evidence that others subsequently discovered. Published originally on OutHistory in 2012.

Sodomy Case: Creoli Executed, New Netherland, March 25, 1646

"choked to death, and then burnt to ashes"

The New Netherland Colony court sentenced "Jan Creoli, a negro," for a second "sodomy" offense. The record stated: "this crime being condemned of God...as an abomination, the prisoner is sentenced to be conveyed to the place of public execution, and there choked to death, and then burnt to ashes...." The rationale was cited as Genesis c. 19; Leviticus c. 18: 22, 29. The margin of the court record states: "he was executed at New Haven."(1)

And on the some date the Calendar lists:

Sentence. Manuel Congo, a lad ten years old, on whom the above abominable crime was committed, to be carried to the place where Creoli is to be executed, tied to a stake, and faggots piled around him, for justice sake, and to be flogged; sentence executed. . . .(2)

References

Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay/Lesbian Almanac (NY: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 90, citing Edmund] B. O'Callaghan, ed., Calendar of Historical Manuscripts in the Office of the Secretary of State, Albany, N. Y. (Albany: Weed, Parsons, 1865); reprinted as Calendar of Dutch Historical Manuscripts (Ridgewood, NJ.: Gregg Press, 1968), p. 103; {{GAH}, pp. 22-23, 570 n. 22.
O'Callaghan, p. 103. It would be interesting to know what Dutch word appears for "faggots" in the original manuscript. This translation, published in 1865, is the earliest-known American usage of the word "faggot" (for kindling) in a situation involving homosexuality. The Calendar also includes a reference to attempted "sodomy" by N. G. 'Hillebrant or Hillebtantsen in 1658 (p. 201, 319), and to the alleged homosexual rape by J. Q. van der Linde (or Linden) in 1660 (p. 213, 251-52). Van der Linde was sentenced to be "tied in a sack and cast into the river and drowned until dead;" the victim was to be "privately whipped, and sent to some other place ...."