First Maroon War

The First Maroon War was a conflict between the Jamaican Maroons and the colonial British authorities that started around 1728 and continued until the peace treaties of 1739 and 1740.

Background

In 1655, the British defeated the Spanish colonists and took control of most of Jamaica. After the Spanish fled, Africans they had previously enslaved joined the Amerindian population, and some others who had previously escaped slavery, in the centre of Jamaica to form the Windward Maroon communities. The area is known as the Blue Mountains. The white population on the island of Jamaica boomed between 1655 and 1661, swelling to roughly 12,000 white inhabitants. In 1662, however, only a little over 3,000 remained.[1] The white population to slave worker ratio dwindled in the following decades, leaving a majority of slaves and very few white settlers. British forces were unable to establish control over the whole island, so a large portion remained in the hands of the Maroons. For 76 years, there were periodic skirmishes between the British and the Maroons, alongside occasional slave revolts. In 1673, a revolt of 200 slaves in St. Ann Parish created a separate group, the Leeward Maroons. These Maroons united with a group of Madagascars who had survived a shipwreck and formed their own maroon community in the parish of St. George in northeastern Jamaica. Several more rebellions strengthened the numbers of this Leeward group. Notably, in 1690 a revolt of 400 slaves at Sutton's plantation, Clarendon considerably strengthened the Leeward Maroons.[2]

In September 1728, the British sent more troops to Jamaica, changing the balance of power with the Windward Maroons. That year, the British sent a new governor, Major-General Robert Hunter, to Jamaica, and under his rule the conflict with the Maroons escalated. Jeddo led a Maroon assault on the north east town of Port Antonio a year later, and when the British soldiers under Lieutenant Soaper tried to pursue them, the Maroons ambushed them. During the First Maroon War, the Maroons used guerrilla tactics to inflict greater losses on the colonial militias in terms of both manpower and expense. In 1730, Soaper led a large force against the Windward Maroons, but once again the Maroons ambushed the militia and slaughtered them. Of the 95 armed men accompanying Soaper, less than half survived. The next year, two additional regiments arrived in Jamaica to assist Hunter in fighting the Maroons.[3]

In 1732, Hunter sent three parties against the Windward Maroons, and they occupied Nanny Town when the Maroons withdrew further into the Blue Mountains. The occupation of Nanny Town was expensive, and Hunter eventually recalled the militia, allowing the Maroons to re-take their town without a fight. The next year, Hunter sent a party of British seamen against the Windward Maroons, but the Maroons crushed them in an ambush, inflicting significant losses.[4]

In 1734, the Windward Maroons inflicted further losses on the colonial forces with a number of incursions in Portland Parish and St George. Slaves continued to escape and desert the Black Shot support forces in large numbers. Hunter died and was succeeded as governor by John Ayscough, but he also had limited success against the Maroons. That year, the militia recaptured Nanny Town, killing some Maroons.[5][6]

Later that year, the Maroons defeated a party led by Captain Shettlewood, and a group of these escaped slaves attacked an estate in St George, including a fort and the barracks there.[7] The Windward Maroons removed westwards to the John Crow Mountains at a place called Cattawoods, and continued their resistance. John Gregory became the new governor, and he began to consider offering peace terms to the Maroons, because the British forces were unable to defeat them. Eventually, the arrival of Edward Trelawny resulted in peace becoming a real possibility after a decade of fighting.[8]

The peace treaties

In 1739–40, the British government in Jamaica recognized that it could not defeat the Maroons, so they came to an agreement with them instead. At first, the treaties only recognised Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town) and Crawford's Town. But after the destruction of Crawford's Town in the 1750s, the Maroons were located in five main towns: Accompong, Trelawny Town, Moore Town (formerly known as New Nanny Town), Scott's Hall and Charles Town, living under their own rulers and a British supervisor known as a superintendent.[9]

In exchange, they were asked to agree not to harbour new runaway slaves, but rather to help catch them. This last clause in the treaty caused a split between the Maroons and the rest of the black population. Another provision of the agreement was that the Maroons would serve to protect the island from invaders.[10]

In 1739, the colonial militia signed the first treaty with the Leeward Maroon leader, Cudjoe, who for years fought to maintain his people's independence. He felt that the only hope for the future was an honorable peace with the enemy. A year later, the even more rebellious Windward Maroons of Nanny Town, led by Queen Nanny and Quao, also agreed to sign a treaty under pressure from both white Jamaicans and the Leeward Maroons.[11]

Discontent with the treaty and land encroachment from planters later led to the Second Maroon War.[12]

References

  1. ↑ Patterson, Orlando (1970-01-01). "Slavery and Slave Revolts: A Sociohistorical Analysis of the First Maroon War, 1655 – 1740". Social and Economic Studies. 19 (3): 289–325. JSTOR 27856434.
  2. ↑ Patterson 1970, pp. 256–258
  3. ↑ Carey 1997, p. 190-205.
  4. ↑ Carey 1997, p. 208-256.
  5. ↑ Carey 1997, p. 257-267.
  6. ↑ Carey 1997, p. 278-282.
  7. ↑ Carey 1997, p. 268-277.
  8. ↑ Carey 1997, p. 285-314.
  9. ↑ Carey 1997, p. 315-355.
  10. ↑ Mavis Campbell, The Maroons of Jamaica 1655-1796: a History of Resistance, Collaboration & Betrayal (Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey, 1988), pp. 126-163.
  11. ↑ Campbell, The Maroons of Jamaica, pp. 126-163.
  12. ↑ Campbell, The Maroons of Jamaica, pp. 209-249.

Bibliography

  • Carey, Bev (1997). The Maroon Story: The Authentic and Original History of the Maroons in the History of Jamaica 1490-1880. Kingston, Jamaica: Agouti Press.
  • Patterson, Orlando (1970), "Slavery and Slave Revolts: A Sociohistorical Analysis of the First Maroon War, 1665-1740", in Price, Richard, Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas, Anchor Books (published 1973), ISBN 0-385-06508-6
  • Campbell, Mavis C. (1990), The Maroons of Jamaica, 1655-1796, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, ISBN 0-86543-096-9

Among the early historians to mention the Jamaican Maroons and the First Maroon War were the following:

  • Dallas, R. C. (1803), The History of the Maroons, From Their Origin to the Establishment of their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone, London: Longman
  • Edwards, Bryan (1793), History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies
  • Long, Edward (1774), The History of Jamaica
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.