Jacob Gruys was the Compagnie’s expedition commander whose force, dispatched on 12 March 1666 “to attack the hiding-places of the Atjehers” (de schuilplaatsen der Atjehers aan te tasten) on the West Coast of Sumatra, was heavily defeated at Paoeh in the Padangse, with the loss of more than 130 Netherlands including Gruys himself and most of his officers. In Dr. F. W. Stapel’s Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland he is the commander whose death at Paoeh in 1666 is the worst Dutch defeat of the Painansch Contract era.
The 1666 commission
The Painansch Contract of 6 July 1663 had been ratified in Padang, Tikoe, Priaman and Bajang by the campaign of Jacob Cau in 1664–1665. But Atjehsche influence was not extinguished. “In the years 1663 to 1665 the chiefs of the principal places on the West Coast had acceded to the Painansch contract, yet on various places of that coast there still remained Atjehers, of whom still much influence went out, especially through intimidation” (Hadden dus in de jaren 1663 tot 1665 de hoofden der voornaamste plaatsen aan de Westkust zich bij het Painansch contract aangesloten, zoo bevonden zich niettemin op verschillende plaatsen dier kust nog Atjehers, van wie nog veel invloed, vooral door intimidatie, uitging).
The Hooge Regeering judged it necessary to act against them “in order not to jeopardise the results obtained” (om de verkregen resultaten niet in de waagschaal te stellen). On 12 March 1666 an expedition under Gruys was dispatched “to attack the hiding-places of the Atjehers” (de schuilplaatsen der Atjehers aan te tasten).
The defeat at Paoeh
Gruys learned on the Westkust that the restless elements had gathered in the fortified village (dessa) of Paoeh in the Padangse. He marched against it and was heavily defeated. “He suffered a serious defeat. More than 130 Netherlands, among whom Gruys and most of the officers, lost their lives” (Hij leed een ernstige nederlaag. Ruim 130 Nederlanders, onder welke Gruys en de meeste officieren, verloren het leven).
The loss of more than 130 Dutch soldiers and officers in a single engagement was a major blow to the Compagnie’s Westkust establishment, which was always small relative to the territory it policed. The death of Gruys and most of his officers also deprived the Westkust command of much of its leadership cadre.
The Versprect revenge
Batavia responded immediately. “Immediately on receipt of this news one fitted out at Batavia a new expedition, which sailed on 16 August 1666 under Abraham Versprect” (Onmiddellijk na ontvangst van dit bericht rustte men te Batavia een nieuwe expeditie uit, die 16 Augustus 1666 uitvoer onder Abraham Versprect). The Versprect expedition “became a great success; Versprect took Paoeh and destroyed the place, which action caused the peace among the other chiefs to return” (Deze onderneming werd een groot succes; Verspreet nam Paoeh in en verwoestte de plaats, welk optreden de rust onder de andere hoofden deed wederkeeren).
Significance
Gruys’s defeat at Paoeh is the worst Dutch military setback of the Painansch Contract era. It is the operational proof that the Compagnie’s Westkust authority rested on coercion, not consent, and that coercion could fail. The Versprect revenge of August 1666 restored the position, but the defeat itself is a reminder that the Compagnie’s forces on the Westkust were never large enough to absorb a single bad engagement without political consequence.
Gruys’s death is also the precondition of the Versprect mission, and thus of the cession of Salido and Poeloe Tjingkoek to the Compagnie by the rulers of Bajang, Indrapoera and Taroesan shortly after Versprect’s return. The defeat at Paoeh thus paradoxically accelerated the consolidation of Dutch sovereignty on the Westkust.
See Also
- Abraham Versprect
- Jacob Jorisse Pits
- Jacob Cau
- Battle of Paoeh (12 March 1666)
- Painansch Contract
- Paoeh
- Salido
- Poeloe Tjingkoek
- Taroesan
- Bajang
- Indrapoera
- Westkust van Sumatra
- Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie
- 12 March
- 1666
Source
De Koloniën, by Dr. F. W. Stapel, in Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1931), kaart 19, blz. 17 (tekst bij blad 4: Atjeh en de Westkust van Sumatra in 1684).