Boni (guerrilla leader)

Boni (1730 – February 19, 1793) was a freedom fighter and guerrilla leader in Suriname.

Biography

Boni was the son of a Dutchman and his mistress, an African slave woman, which he repudiated. While pregnant, she fled into the forest, to the Cottica-Maroons. There, at Cottica, Boni was born. In 1765, Boni succeeded Asikan Sylvester as the leader of the group that would become known under his name: "Boni's" (later: Aluku). He trained his people into formidable enemies of the colonists.

The Boni's performed numerous attacks on plantations in the east of Suriname, especially in the area of the Cottica River. Many slaves joined them. They also took female slaves to provide themselves with women. For the planters, the loss of slaves meant a considerable loss of capital. Boni and his warriors operated from a large fortress with a four-meter-high wall in a marshy environment in the coastal region of Commewijne, which they called Fort Boekoe. With this name, they wanted to indicate that they would rather go to dust than to surrender. The fort was surrounded by a swamp and provided with rifles and a cannon. Because of the raids and raids that were undertaken from Boekoe, and the money-consuming punitive expeditions that followed, the fortress became a major concern for the colonists. The slaves, on the other hand, draw hope of it. Because of the location of the fort, amid treacherous swamps, it was virtually untraceable and unreachable for Dutch mercenary soldiers. On several occasions, colonel Louis Henri Fourgeoud from Geneva and later P.S. Stoelman attacked this fortress without success. Well-known fellow warriors of Boni were Baron and Joli-coeur. In the ranks of Fourgeod and Stoelman, John Gabriel Stedman also fought, who recorded his experiences in a book.

Stedman describes, among other things, how small groups of four or five men, by moving and shooting rapidly, gave the enemy the impression of standing in front of a very large group. Such guerrilla tactics allowed Boni to confuse and defeat the enemy over and over again.

Eventually, the Dutch promised freedom to 300 slaves if they fought against Boni and Baron. These slaves formed the army corps "The Black Hunters", also known as Redi Moesoes, because of the red hats they wore as part of their uniform. After a siege of seven months, the secret path, which was just under water and gave access to the fort, was betrayed in 1772. While Captain Maryland made a mock attack, the redeemed slave volunteers attacked the fort through the secret path. The fort was destroyed, but Boni escaped to the east and crossed the Marowijne River, the border river with French Guiana. He moved his headquarters to Fort Aloekoe among other places. In 1777, slave-owner Pierre Victor Malouet came along to discuss the issue of the 200 Maroons who fled. According to him, there were 3,000 Maroons; 150 were on their way and stayed in the forests.

For more than 20 years, Boni continued his battle against the rulers. Finally, by betrayal on February 19, 1793, he was killed by Bambi, an Aukan chief, under great pressure from Lieutenant Stoelman, commander of the Redi Moesoes.

Notes

• Beet, Chris de, 1984, De eerste Boni-oorlog 1765-1778. Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, Centrum voor Caraïbische studies, ISBN 90-70955-11-3
• Buddingh, Hans, 1995, Geschiedenis van Suriname, Het Spectrum, ISBN 9027430446
• Hoogbergen, Wim S.M., 1985, The Boni Maroon Wars in Suriname, 1757-1860, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, Centrum voor Caraïbische studies, ISBN 90-70955-13-X
• Hoogbergen Wim, 1992, De Bosnegers zijn gekomen! Slavernij en rebellie in Suriname, Prometheus, ISBN 90-5333-101-8
• Rijn, Elly van: Lang gedacht, nooit verwacht, toch gevonden. Fort Boekoe, verzetshaard van de Marrons, in: Parbode, februari 2008, jaargang 02, no. 22, p. 36-38
• Stedman, John Gabriel, 1796, Narrative of a five years' expedition against the revolted Negroes of Surinam, with engravings by William Blake after drawings by Stedman, London.
• Stedman, John Gabriel, 1799-1800, Reize naar Surinamen en de binnenste gedeelten van Guiana; door den capitain John Gabriël Stedman met plaaten en kaarten. Naar het Engelsch, translated by Johannes Allart, Amsterdam
• Stedman, John Gabriel, 1992, Stedman's Surinam: Life in an Eighteenth-Century Slave Society. An abridged, modernized edition of narrative of a five years expedition against the revolted negroes of Surinam by Richard Price, Sally Price, The Johns Hopkins University Press; Reprint edition, March 1, ISBN 0801842603