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‘A brave and loyal people’: the role of the Maroons in the Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865.In the late 1730s the two groups of Maroons in Jamaica both signed treaties with theBritish authorities committing them to assist the Jamaican government in maintaining lawand order, and the security of the island. They agreed to return runaway slaves, help to put down slave rebellions and defend the island against foreign invasion. In exchange theJamaican government guaranteed the Maroons their freedom, possession of certain lands,and a special relationship with the government through White officials permanentlyresident in the Maroon towns. By and large both sides abided by the terms of thesetreaties, and even after the general emancipation of the slaves had changed the status of the Black population in general, the Maroons still believed that they had a specialrelationship with the British authorities. When the troubles broke out in St Thomas inOctober 1865, the Windward Maroons of the Maroon towns in the eastern parishes of theisland rallied to the support of the colonial authorities apparently without anyreservations.

The actions and attitudes of the Maroons over more than a century, from 1738 to 1865,have caused much debate, often at a very emotional level, among certain sections of the public, and even on occasions within the academic community. The Maroons have often been identified as ‘freedom fighters’ on account of their struggles against the ColonialGovernment in Jamaica before the treaties of 1738/9. Their struggle at that period is seenas part of a wider Black struggle against White colonial oppression. However, theMaroons’ almost totally consistent fulfillment of their treaty obligations has made it1

difficult, if not impossible, for advocates of a ‘freedom fighter’ hypothesis to explain and justify Maroon actions during the greater part of their history. No events have been moreunpalatable than the Maroon refusal to support the ‘rebels’ in St Thomas, and their enthusiastic co-operation with Government forces in the suppression of the ‘Rebellion’and the capture of the leader, Paul Bogle.

Some writers have already attempted to modify the ‘freedom fighter’ image of theMaroons, and there is need for further objective consideration of the actions and motivesof the Maroons, both before and after the signing of the treaties. Without such a freshapproach, further discussion of the role of the Maroons will only involve re-iteration of previous debates about the ‘treachery’ and ‘perfidy’ of a group of people who have fromanother viewpoint been described as ‘a brave and loyal people’. Here an attempt will bemade to review the involvement of the Maroons in the events of 1865, and to set thatinvolvement, briefly, into the context of the whole history of the Maroons and their relationship to the British colonial system.

There can be no doubt that during the 18

century the Maroons, starting with the leader of the Leeward Maroons in the First Maroon War, Cudjoe himself, enthusiasticallycarried out their treaty obligations. In the September of 1739, the year in which thetreaties were signed, Cudjoe volunteered Maroon assistance against the Spaniards in thenewly declared war between Britain and Spain. In 1742 he ruthlessly suppressed athreatened uprising of dissident Maroons, and slaves from a plantation near TrelawnyTown; when the Governor pardoned men who had been handed over to the colonial2

courts and sentenced to death or transportation, Cudjoe demanded their return andauthorized the carrying out of the sentences himself.

Later in the 18

century the Maroons were involved in other operations in conjunctionwith the Jamaican government forces. They were involved in the suppression of Tacky’srebellion in 1760 in St Mary, and the Windward Maroons seem to have played asignificant role in this operation . The Maroons of Scotts Hall, Charles Town and MooreTown received ‘228

. 4

4 ½

’ for their part in the suppression of this and other episodes of unrest in the eastern parishes. Rewards of freedom, annuities and silver badges were given to slaves who had also aided in putting down the rebellion. In the previous year two women, Sarah, a slave belonging to John Bell, and Mimba, a Maroonfrom Charles Town , were rewarded for killing a rebel slave leader called Ancouma, whohad abducted them. Sarah received her freedom, and an annuity of 5

for life

and Mimbareceived 10

l per annum

for life. The

Journals of the Assembly of Jamaica

record these payments year after year, presumably until the women’s deaths. It was not only Maroons,or men, who took part in operations against rebellious slaves.

In 1779-80 the Maroons were called upon to help defend the island against possibleFrench invasion, but their services were not needed since the French were defeated byAdmiral Rodney. In December of that year Lewis Hallam petitioned the Assembly for money to pay for the repairs to the play-house in Kingston where the Maroons had beenquartered, since ‘they pulled to pieces and destroyed many parts of the said house; alsothe machinery and necessary furniture belonging thereto.’ Other accounts of Maroon3