At school he was impetuous, turbulent and self-willed.

Upon leaving the academy he entered the military service, and soon developed such energy of character, such a spirit of self-reliance and such administrative ability that he was appointed director of the colony at Curacoa.

He was recklessly courageous, and was deemed somewhat unscrupulous in his absolutism.

In an attack upon the Portuguese island of Saint Martin, in the year 1644, which attack was not deemed fully justifiable, he lost a leg.

The wound rendered it necessary for him to return to Holland in the autumn of 1644, for surgical aid.
Upon his health being re-established, the Directors of the West India Company, expressing much admiration for his Roman courage, appointed him Governor of their colony in New Netherland, which was then in a state of ruin.