At the outset the attacks of the whites on these marauding gangs met with some success; but soon came a new departure. A man of genius arose from among these revolted slaves, one Cudjoe by name, by whose efforts the various wandering bands were welded into a single body, organised on a quasi-military footing, and made twice as formidable as before. Nor was this all. The Maroons of the north, who from the beginning had never left their strongholds nor ceased their depredations, heard the fame of Cudjoe, joined him in large numbers, and enlisted under his banner. Yet another tribe of negroes, distinct in race from both the others, likewise flocked to him; and the whole mass thus united by his genius grew, about the year 1730, to be comprehended, though inaccurately, by the whites under the name of Maroons (hog-hunters). Cudjoe now introduced a very skilful and successful system of warfare, which became traditional among all Maroon chiefs. The grand object was to take up a central position in a “cockpit,” i.e. a glen enclosed by perpendicular rocks, and accessible only through a narrow defile. A chain of such cockpits runs through the mountains from east to west, communicating by more or less practicable passes one with another. These glens run also in parallel lines from north to south, but the sides are so steep as to be impassable to any but a Maroon. 1795. Such were the natural fortresses of these black mountaineers, in a country known to none but themselves. To preserve communication among themselves they had contrived a system of horn-signals so perfect that there was a distinct call by which every individual man could be hailed and summoned. The outlets from these cockpits were so few that the white men could always find a well-beaten track which led them to the mouth of a defile; but beyond the mouth they could not go. A deep fissure, from two hundred to eight hundred yards long, and impassable except in single file, was easily guarded. Warned by the horns of the scouts that an enemy was approaching, the Maroons hid themselves in ambush behind rocks and trees, selected each his man, shot him down, and then vanished to some fresh position. Turn whither he might, the unlucky pursuer was met always by a fresh volley from an invisible foe, who never fired in vain.
Nevertheless the white men were sufficiently persistent in their pursuit of Cudjoe to force him to abandon the Clarendon district; but this only made matters worse, inasmuch as it drove him to an impregnable fastness, whence there was no hope of dislodging him, in the Trelawney district farther to the north-west. This cockpit contained seven acres of fertile land and a spring of water. Its entrance was a defile half a mile long; its rear was barred by a succession of other cockpits, its flanks protected by lofty precipices. Here Cudjoe made his headquarters and laughed at the white men. The Maroons lived in indolent savagery while their provisions lasted, and in active brigandage when their wants forced them to go and plunder. They were fond of blood and barbarity, as is the nature of savages, and never spared a prisoner, black or white. After nine or ten years of successful warfare Cudjoe fairly compelled the whites to make terms with him; and accordingly, in the year 1738, a solemn treaty was concluded between Captains Cudjoe, Johnny, Accompong, Cuffee, Quaco, and the Maroons of Trelawney town on the one part, and George the Second, by the Grace of God King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, and of Jamaica Lord, on the other. 1795. The terms of the treaty granted the Maroons amnesty, fifteen hundred acres of land, and certain hunting rights; also absolute freedom, independence, and self-government among themselves—the jurisdiction of the chiefs being limited only in respect of the penalty of death, and of disputes in which a white man was concerned. On their part the Maroons undertook to give up runaway slaves, to aid the king against all enemies, domestic and foreign, and to admit two white residents to live with them perpetually. A similar treaty was concluded with another body of Maroons that had not followed Cudjoe to Trelawney from the windward end of the island; and thus the Maroon question for the present was settled.
From 1738 till 1795 Maroons gave little or no trouble. They remained dispersed in five settlements, three of them to windward, but the two of most importance to leeward, in Trelawney district. They lived in a state midway between civilisation and barbarism, retaining the religion—a religion without worship or ceremony—which their fathers had brought from Africa, cultivating their provision grounds regularly, if in rather a primitive fashion, breeding horses, cattle, and fowls, hunting wild swine and fugitive slaves, and conducting themselves generally in a harmless and not unprofitable manner. Their vices were those of the white man, drinking and gambling, which of course gave rise to quarrels; but they were ruled with a strong hand by their chiefs, and kept well within bounds. Owing to the climate in which they lived, some thousands of feet above the sea, and the free, active life which they led, they were physically a splendid race—tall and muscular, and far superior to the negro slaves whom, from this cause as well as in virtue of their own freedom, they held in great contempt. Moreover, the fact that they were employed to hunt down runaway slaves helped greatly to make them friendly to the whites and hostile to the blacks. In fact they held an untenable position, being bound to the whites by treaty, and fighting in alliance with them both against insurgent negroes, as in 1760, and white invaders, as in 1779–80, and yet bound by affinity of race and colour to the very negroes that they helped to keep in servitude. 1795. Meanwhile they grew rapidly in numbers and consideration. Certain restrictions to which they had been subjected by Acts of the Jamaica Assembly at the time of the treaty fell into disuse, and became a dead letter. They began to leave their own district and wander at large about the plantations, making love to the female slaves, becoming fathers of many children by them, and thus gradually breaking down the barrier between themselves and their fellow-blacks. Simultaneously the internal discipline of the Maroons became seriously relaxed. Cudjoe and his immediate successors had ruled them with a rod of iron; but at a distance of two generations the authority of the chiefs, though they still bore the titles of Colonel and Captain, had sunk to a mere name. For a time the Colonel’s power in Trelawney was transferred to one of the white residents, a Major James, who had been brought up among the Maroons, could beat the best of them at their feats of activity and skill, and was considered to be almost one of themselves. Of great physical strength and utterly fearless, he would interpose in the thick of a Maroon quarrel, heedless of the whirling cutlasses, knock down those that withstood him, and clap the rebellious in irons without a moment’s hesitation. Naturally so strong a man was a great favourite with the Maroons, who, while he remained among them, were kept well in hand. But it so happened that James succeeded to the possession of an estate which obliged him to spend most of his time away from the Maroon town; and as a resident who does not reside could be satisfactory neither to his subjects at Trelawney nor his masters at Kingston, he was deprived of his post. He, rather unreasonably, felt himself much aggrieved by the Government in consequence; and the Maroons, who had been annoyed at his former neglect, became positively angry at his involuntary removal. In plain truth, the Maroons through indiscipline had got what is called “above themselves,” and were ripe for any mischief.
1795.
It was not long before matters came to a crisis. The new resident appointed in place of James, though in character irreproachable, was not a man to dominate the Maroons by personal ascendancy and courage. A trifling dispute sprang up in the middle of July; the Trelawney Maroons drove him from the town, and on the 18th sent a message to the magistrates to say that they desired nothing but battle, and that if the white men would not come to them and make terms, then they would come down to the white men. With that they called in all their people, and sent the women into the bush—nay, report said that they proposed to kill their cattle and also such of their children as were likely to prove an encumbrance to them.
Lord Balcarres, when the news reached him, was not a little troubled. At ordinary times it might have been politic to temporise and conciliate, but now that the greater number of the islands were aflame such policy seemed impossible. Here was a race of black men in insurrection, who had successfully resisted the whites two generations before, and now held an independent position in virtue of a solemn treaty. The bare existence of such a community was a standing menace at such a time. There was evidence that French agents were at work in Jamaica; and it was remarkable that just at this time the negroes on nine plantations, where the managers were known to be men of unusual clemency, showed symptoms of unrest and discontent. It is evident from Balcarres’s despatches that he had negro insurrection, so to speak, on the brain, and it is certain that he was ambitious of military glory; but he cannot be blamed at such a time for acting forcibly and swiftly. For a fortnight endeavours were made to smoothe matters over, and with some slight success, for six of the chiefs surrendered. But the main body still held aloof; and Balcarres without further ado proclaimed martial law. He took pains to obtain information as to every path and track that led into the Maroon district, his plan being to seize these and thus blockade the whole of it, though he admits that it would be a difficult manœuvre to do so effectually “on a circle of forty square miles of the most difficult and mountainous country in the universe.” 1795. On the 9th August the preparations were complete, and the passes were seized; whereupon thirty-eight of the older and less warlike Maroons surrendered, and were carried away under a guard and kept in strict confinement. Seeing this the remainder at once set fire to their towns (the old and the new town, as the two groups of shanties half a mile apart were named), an action which was not misinterpreted as “a signal of inveterate violence and hostility.” It was now clear that the matter would have to be fought out.
The force at Balcarres’s disposal was not great. The garrison consisted of the 16th and 62nd Foot, both so weak as to number but 150 men apiece fit for duty, and the 20th or Jamaica Light Dragoons. Besides these there were the stray detachments of the 13th, 14th, 17th, and 18th Light Dragoons, and of the 83rd Foot, some of them very weak, and probably amounting in all to little more than 400 men. Also there was a fair force of local militia, with several local Major-Generals. The Maroons of Trelawney numbered 660 men, women, and children; and there were at least as many more in the other Maroon settlements, which latter, though they never rose, were greatly distrusted by the Governor. Balcarres resolved to surround the whole of the Trelawney Maroon district, and made his dispositions thus:—Colonel Sandford, with the 16th Foot and 20th Dragoons, covered one outlet to the north; Colonel Hull, with 170 men of the 62nd Foot and of the Seventeenth, another; Colonel Walpole, with 150 of the 13th and 14th Dragoons, barred one approach from the south; and Balcarres himself, with the 83rd, took post to the south-west. The Seventeenth was represented by one troop only, the other being on board ship on its way to St. Domingo.
On the 12th August the Maroons opened the war by attacking a militia post, and killing and wounding a few men. On the same day Lord Balcarres ordered Colonel Sandford to attack and carry the new town from his side, and having done so, to halt and cut off the retreat of the Maroons, while he himself attacked the old town from his own side. 1795. Off started Colonel Sandford, accordingly, with forty-five of the 18th Dragoons, mounted, a body of militia infantry, and a number of volunteers—the latter men of property in the country, and “all generals,” as Balcarres sarcastically remarked. In spite of the steepness and difficulty of the ground the little column advanced rapidly with great keenness. 12th Aug. The Maroons on their approach quietly evacuated the site of the new town, and withdrew into a deep defile, three-quarters of a mile long, which formed their communication with the old town. Presently up came Sandford, and to his great joy carried the new town without opposition. Flushed with success he started off, in disobedience to orders, to take the old town, pressing on with his mounted men, dragoons, and volunteers, at such a pace that the militia could not keep up with him. Thus hurrying into the trap laid for him, he plunged into the defile. The column, which was half as long as the defile, had passed two-thirds of the way through it, when a tremendous volley was poured into its whole length. Not a Maroon was to be seen, and the column continued its advance. A second volley followed: Colonel Sandford fell dead; and then the column began to run. The officer of the 18th, seeing that retreat through the defile would be fatal, dashed straight forward at a small party of Maroons which he saw ahead, broke through them, and galloping headlong through a breakneck country, brought the remains of his detachment safely to Lord Balcarres’s camp. Two officers and thirty-five men were killed, and many more wounded in this little affair; and the militia (who had not been under fire) were so far demoralised that they evacuated the new town and retired. That night (though Balcarres knew it not) every Maroon warrior got blind drunk. Sixty of them were so helpless even on the following afternoon that they had to be carried into the cockpit by the women.
1795.
Though the Seventeenth was not engaged in this affair, it has been necessary to describe it at length in order to show how formidable an enemy these Maroons were. 14th Aug. Two days after the engagement the second troop of the regiment was disembarked from the transport in Montego Bay, and moved up to the front. British dragoons have rarely been better mounted than these detachments in Jamaica. The island is famous for its horses; and every trooper rode a thoroughbred.