THE AFRICAN IN CANADA.
THE MAROONS W JAMAICA AND
NOVA SCOTIA.
HAMILTON
H /
[From the Procebdinos of the American Association fob the Advancement
OF SCIBNCE, Vol. XXXVIII, 1889.]
Thr African in Canada. By James Clkland Hamilton, LL.B., To-
ronto, Out., Can.
[ABSTRACT.]
TiiK Introduction referred to the various races found in Canada, but of
all these, whether native or immigrant, it W9,s claimed that when the his-
tory of the last fifty years is written, none will be found more interesting,
as a class and as parcel of the state, than the colored population.
Under this head were included all having African blood, pure or mixed,
in their veins.
In Canada the black refugee was surrounded by an active white popula-
tion, had seldom any capital but his strong right arm, and had to lay his
plans so as to rival the white man and " take his bread out of the stump."
It was shown that no such contest had, in any other place before Ameri-
can Emancipation, been undertaken by the African race.
The speai<er stated as his object, to present sucii an account of the course
of this people as from observation and documents, but especially from per-
sonal enquiry, he had been able to gather during a residence of some thirty
years in Toronto.
At the beginning of this period, in 1860, there were about. 40,000 colored
people in Upper Canada, few being found in the other provinces.
Reference was then made to proceedings at conventions of people of
color, in the United States, so far back as 1831, in which the prospects of
the west coast of Africa and the West Indies as places for their immigra-
tion were discussed, but these were overruled in favor of Canada West.
At this time several thousands of fugitives fi-om slavery had settled in our
province. Tlie Rev. Isaac J. Rice from Ohio and Rev. Hiram Wilson came
to work among them and were aided by Quakers and other philanthropic
Americans. After them the Rev. William King followed bringing from
Louisiana his slaves, fifteen in number, whom he freed and settled in the
township of Raleigh on Lalie Erie near the town of Chatham. An Associa-
tion styled in honor of the then governor of Canada, the '• Elgin settle-
ment" was formed August 10, 1850. A tract of land containing nine
thousand acres of good soil was procured. The place was called Buxton,
in honor of Sir" T. F. Buxton, and here began the work of colonizing and
making homes for the fugitives on an extensive scale. The land w^as leased
aud finally sold only to colored people and on such easy terms of payment
(364)
365 SECTION H.
as made It practicable for them to purchase. Mr. King himself lived for
twenty-five years In the settlement as agent of the AHsuciation, missionary
and teacher, and has had the satisfaction of seeing the land all sold, cleared
and occupied by his people. He has, in late years, lived in Chatham, but
seems satisfied with the success of his self-denying eftbrts and in a couunu-
nlcation to the essayist stated " the Elgin settlement has accomplished
what we intended, which was to show by a practical demonstration that
the colored man when placed in favorable circumstances was able and
willing to support himself, and although the soil and climate were not the
same as those which they left, yet these people have done as well as any
white settlement in the province under the like circumstances." Some of
the young men educated at Buxton have been elected to civic offices in the
United States. One was James Rapier, a member of Congress from Mont-
gomery, Alabama, during General Grant's administration. '• Others are,"
says Mr. King, "teachers, preachers, doctors and lawyers." " Most of
the educated colored people," he also states, " left Canada during the war
and very few are coming to it now."' The writer then gave instances of
Slaves and Slave Law in Canada and an account of Solicitor General Gray
and the Baker family as follows :—
" The propriety of importing African slaves as an economic measure was
considered in the Council of Quebec as early as 1688 when the Attorney
General visited Paris and urged upon the King the expediency of import-
ing negroes as a remedy for the scarcity and dearness of labor. The King
consented but advised caution owing to the severity of the climate. A
few slaves were brought in but the system never flourished." (Parkman's
Old Regime in Canada, p. 388.)
Slaves were made also of Pawnee Indian captives, but their dislike of
steady employment and propensity to escape to the woods impaired their
value, says the same authority.
Court records show traces of both negro and Pawnee slavery in the
Lower province till February 18, 1800, when the court of King's Bench at
Montreal discharged the negro iJoMn from custody, and this decision being
acquiesced in, practically ended the system there. This and the accident of
climate saved Quebec from future servile trouble. The province now
called Ontario was but sparsely Inhabited. Slavery did exist to a limited
extent in Upper Canada, till 1793, when an act was passed by the infant
parliament of that Province, at the town of Newark, now Niagara, prohib-
iting the importing of slaves, and declaring that no negro or other person
brought into Upper Canada should be thenceforth subject to the condition
of a slave.
It will be noticed that in this our Province had the honor to precede the
mother country, which passed the act emancipating slaves in all her col-
onies in 1833. It is but fair to note that Pennsylvania and Rhode Island
In 1863, Messrs. R. D. Owon, James McKay and S. G. Howe, members of the "Amer-
ican Freeiimen's Commission," visited Buxton, made careful inquiry and reported as
to tlie condition of the colored people there. Their report helped to add the 14th
amendment to the U. S. Constitution.
ANTHROPOLOGT. 366
had shown us an example, emancipation havinp: been decreed in those
states In 1780. Onrs wasu rare little rarlliiinent tliat so honored Itself, sit-
ting sometimes in its chamber at Navy Hall and then as the day grew sul-
try, adjourning to the shade of a spreading tree, as Dr. Scadding describes
the scene. There were but a baker's dozen of them in aii, seven crown
appointed councilors and five commoners. Mr. McDonell of Glengary
was the speaker.
The act then passed also made provision for the gradual emancipation of
the three or four hundred slaves then in the Trovlnce. Down to the year
1833, when tlie imperial act referred to took efl'ect, some of these old slaves
were still to be seen In Canada, even as such were to be found within very
recent years round the old homesteads of New Jersey.
Dr. Scadding has collected in " Toronto of Old " several references to
slavery in this province as practised early in this century; among those
offering to deal in the human article being the governor, Peter Russell,
who In 180G advertised for sale a black woman Peggy, and her son Jupiter.
Slave advertisements were then common in the Quebec Gazette. In the
western part of this province the great Indian Chief Brant, or Thyenden-
aga, had African slaves, it is said, but I have been unable to verify this
historically. He was a contemporary of Governor Russell. Our Indians
were too nomadic to make African slavery profitable with them. It was,
in fact, of most rare occurrence In the northern tribes, while in the south
blacks tilled the soil of Cherokee and Choctaw farmers.
The amiable characteristics, forming the pleasant part of the history of
slavery on this continent, were so exhibited, in ihe life of the late Solicitor
General of Upper Canada, Mr. Robert Isaac Dey Gray, that I am tempted to
give some details of his career not generally known.
He was son of Colonel James Gray, who was a Highland Scotchman of
good family. Mr. Gray lived on the north side of Wellington Street in
Toronto, then Little York. As part of his family he had a colored slave
woman Dorln, or Dorinda, Baker and her children, among them her sons
John and Simon. A sad fate awaited him and Simon his gay young body
servant. A court was ordered for trial of an Indian murderer, at Presque
Isle in county of Northumberland, then Newcastle district. This being
before the use of steam. Judge Cochrane, the Solicitor General and his
servant, with the sheriff, embarked on the government schooner * Speedy,'
Captain Paxton, for the place of venue. A gale came on, all went down
and were lost on the night of 7th October, 1804. By his will, made Aug-
ust 27, 1803, Mr. Gray " maimniits and discharges from the state of slav-
ery in which she is now his faithful black woman servant Dorinda" and
gives her and all her children their freedom. To John and Simon he also
left two hundred acres of land, and directed that twelve hundred pounds
should be set apart and the interest applied to the maintenance of the
family.
I am indebted to Judge Prlngle of Cornwall, Ont., a relative of the Gray
family, for the extract of a letter written by Mr. Gray to his cousin Cath-
erine Valentine at Kingston, Feb. 16, 1804. After giving an account of his
timumtiti
^y""^-"-^, — ■
367 SECTION H.
endeavors to recover property abandoned by his father, who had been a ma-
jor In the first Battalion, King's Koyal rej^iincnt of New York, he states '' I
saw some of our old friends while in the States; none was I more happy
to meet than Lavlne, Dorln's mother. She was living in a tavern with a
woman by the name of Bromley. I immediately employed a friend to ne-
gotiate for the purchase of her. He did so stating that I wished to buy
her freedom, in consequence of wliich the man readily compiled with my
wisli and, although he declared she was worth to him £100, he gave her to
me for $50. When I saw her, she was overjoyed and appeared as happy as
any person could be, at the idea of seeing her child Dorln, and lier children
once more, with whom if Dorin wishes she will willingly spend the remain-
der of her days. I could not avoid doing this act. The opportunity had
been thrown in my way by Providence and I could not resist It. I saw
old Cato, Lavine's father, at Newark, while I was at Colonel Ogden's. He
is living with Mrs. Governeur, is well taken care of and, blind, poor old
fellow, came to feel me for he could not see me. He asked att'ectionately
after the family."
John Baker survived the others of his mother's family and died In Corn-
wall, 1871, at a patriarchal age. For the last nine years of his life he had a
pension from the English government for services in the war of 1812. On
August 11, 1868, I met John Baker and ^ot the story of his life, which Is
redolent of old times and customs and is that of one of the last Canadians
born in bond service. I give It as he told It. First let me picture hlra as a
very dark mulatto of amiable disposition and countenance, hobbling from
rheumatism and laying down bis wood-saw as I asked iiim to sit down on a
box In a grocery, and handed lilm a plug of his favorite weed. " I was born
at Quebec, brought up at Gray's Creek. My mother Dorluda, was from
Guinea, my father was a Dutchman, probably a Hessian soldier. Old Colonel
Gray, father of ' Solisary Gray,' was colonel of a Scotch regiment and wore
kilts and married in the United States. I came to Gray's Creek near Corn-
wall, when a boy, and Gray's son was then also a lad. I lived here with Mr.
Farrand who used to go on horseback and had his trunk strapped on my
back. He rode like a Tartar, and the trunk used to knock on my back.
Young Gray was the only child of the Colonel and went to Parliament thir-
teen years running. The Colonel was strict and sharp and put deerskin
shirts and jackets on me, and gave me a good many whippings. Simon was
older than me, and was ' Solisary' Gray's body servant. I lived two years
in Toronto, or Little York, in a large white house, north of the boat land-
ing. The people was proud and grand them days. Simon was dressed
finer tlian his master witli a beaver hat and gold watch. Governor Hun-
ter ordered the party to go to the trial In the ' Speedy.' He was a severe old
man and wore leather breeches. In one pocket he carried tobacco, in the
other snuff and when giving his orders he would take a handful of snuff, and
It would fall over his fine ruffled shirt,— fine, I tell you, no mistake, and
silver buckles to his shoes. Never saw him witli a boot on. Solisary Gray
when lie went off last, told me to look after the place and he would be
back In a day or two. They started between four and ilve in the evening
ANTIIHOPOLOOY. 368
and wc heard of the loas next morning from the brig • Toronto.' There
were hi York about twenty houses then.
"After that I went to Judge Powell's. A recruiting agent came along,
and I listed. Judge Powell paid the smart for me seven times. I said,
'thank you, sir,' and I listed again. I served three years In New Brunswick.
Col. Drummond was then colonel and Col. Moody was lieutenant colonel.
Moodle who was shot on Yonge street and Drummond scaling ladders at
Fort Erie. I was at Waterloo in the 104th Regiment under Col. Ilalkett.
We chased Napoleon, who rode hard and jumped the ditches. We marched
over our shoes in blood. I saw Wellington, General Brock and many other
great men In my time. We came back to Canada and got our discharge.
I was a wild, foolish boy. The Lord will be with us all by and by, I
hope. Good-bye."
Mr. Hamilton next discussed the cause celfibre of John Anderson the
fugitive slave, ai rested in Toronto under the Ashburton Treaty In April,
18G0, for killing one Dlggs in Missouri, when escaping. He was released
by the court of common pleas on a technicality, after much legal argument
and public discussion and excitement.
Professor Aytoun's story of Haman S. Walker, as related In "Blackwood,"
thirty years ago, and again in the novel " Norman Sinclair," was referred
to. Walker is represented as a villain who, pretending to be a suffering
abolitionist, came to Toronto, Ingratiated himself with the colored people,
married the daughter of a well-known livery-stable keeper, took her south,
secured a bill of sale of her father, from his former master, sold his wife,
and when the father came to Charleston to redeem his daughter, he found
himself the chattel of his worthy son-in-law, and had, as is represented, to
redeem both. This witty tale the essayist declared he had found to be en-
tirely untrue. The professor was the victim of a cruel hoax. The young
woman referred to married a colored man and removed to Milwaukee.
A rfisumfi of two interesting discussions in the Canadian parliament,
having reference to Imposing a capitation tax on colored immigrants, was
then given. Mr. Larwell was mover in the lower liouse, and Col. Prince
in the other. Both motions were negatived. During one of these an
amusing incident occurred. The gas went out. A member rose and sol-
emnly said, "Mr. Speaker, I move that light be given on this dark sub-
ject." An account was given of instances of loyalty of this race to their
adopted land, and of their refusal to accept inducements to go to Hayti,
Trinidad and elsewhere. Some personal references were then made to the
colored people in Toronto, Hamilton and elsewhere in the province. The
Nestor of Toronto is John Tinsley who came from Richmond, Va. , and
claims to have completed his one hundred and sixth year on last fourth of
July. He is a quadroon ; his father Captain Samuel Tinsley served in the
Revolutionary and Georgia Indian wars. He is an Interesting old man,
and has a store of knowledge of Old Virginia days.
The history of Josiaii Henson, commonly known as the original "Uncle
Tom," was given. He was a man of much natural ability, gathered his
people around him at Dresden, Ont., went to England and New England,
"WSRPHBtgmpvi
369 SECTION n.
and lectured to great audiences who, as did Lord Sliaftsbury, Earl Russell,
ArcliblHliop Tiilt and others, aided him in his enterprise. The Queen aslied
him, "Have you any family?" "I have ten children, forty-four grandcldi-
dren and nine great grandchildren, your majesty," I answered. "Why,"
she exclaimed, "you are a patriarch." Tlie archbishop asked him, "At
what university, sir, did you graduate?" "I graauated, your grace, at the
university of adversity." "The university of adversity," said he, looking
up in astonishment, "where Is that?" I saw his surprise and explained
my meaning.
The English papers made him famous as "Uncle Tom." Interesting
reminiscences of tlie life and labors of this remarkable man were thea
given. He was born a slave in Charles county, Virginia, June 15, 178!),
and died In Dresden, Ontario, on May 5, 1883. As a result of his labors
mainly, the WUberforce Institute for the education of colored youth was
founded at Chatham, where it Is still doing good work. The writer closed
as follows: — It has been variously estimated that of our colored citizens
those of pure blood were between one-fourth and one-third of the whole
number, the otiiers being mulattoes or of the other mixed classes. About
half of the adults were fugitives from the south, and these were esteemed
by Mr. King as the best class, as they possessed that activity and manli-
ness by which they secured freedom. Besides a difference in the shades
of color we should also remember that the negroes found in Canada are de-
scendants of various African tribes, some of which were intelligent, vig-
orous, and full of martial spirit, while others were of a lower calii)re,
some even signifying with a few almost inarticulate expressions. In their
native wlld^;, all the desires which their rude life called for, or gave rise
to. Some of those originating from the former African stock are esteemed
equal In natural Intelligence to whites of like station and opportunities,
while the latter could not be raised by any educational process to the same
level.
From this diversity of origin probably arise, to a great extent, contra-
dictory opinions regarding the capacities of the race. Some wlio draw
their conclusions from their experience among the Inferior, judge that all
the tribes, and their American descendants, are equally degraded while
others are as much led astray in an opposite direction, by regarding only
the superior classes.
The part of Ontario occupied by these people Is rich in soil and has a
climate similar to that of Michigan, yet the general opinion I found cur-
rent, both among themselves and others conversant with the subject. Is
that It Is not tlie country best adapted to their natural requirements. They
are specially liable to phthisical diseases. I should remark, however, that
doctors disagree on this point, and I speak with diffidence but think the
weight of authority will be found as just expressed. There are many per-
sons of advanced age among them. Many of the colored men, who were
found In our gaols, were not of the class of fugitive emigrants proper, but
of the criminal ranks, who evaded the penalty of crimes committed in the
states by escaping across the border. The statistics from penitentiaries
ANTHROPOLOGY. 870
and prisons, especially during the period before emnnclpatlon, must be re-
gurdud with proper lUlowaiice for thcHe circuin.stances. A friend, wlio lias
bt;en for many years a county crown attorney, and iuis had much expe-
rience of this people, condensed his views thus: — "There was a reaction
after the enforced lal)or of slavery. The black folks regarded with suspi-
cion any effort to guide them politically or morally. They were not thrifty
and did not lay up much for the future, as a rule; but Improved in this,
as they learned necessity from experience. They were easily led astray
by designing men, among whom were many cunning half-white felio'vs.
The offences with which they were charged were generally the result of
weakness, rather than vicious disposition, 'm.nor crimes, seldom felo-
nies."
The wonderftd changes in the political and social aspect of the land,
whence tliey fled, again pointed these people to that as the land of prom-
ise for them and their children. As a summary of their views before these
changes, and Irrespective of them, allow me in conclusion to read a short
extract from a resolution passed at a colored convention held in Toronto
in September, 1851.
"We feel grateful as a people to her Britannic Majesty's just and pow-
erful government for the protection afforded us, and we are fully, per-
suaded, from the known fertility of the soil and salubrity of climate of the
milder regions of Canada West that this is by far the most desirable place
of resort for the colored population to be found on the American conti-
nent.'"
I have now given an imperfect, but I trust, an accurate view of the
career of this race in Canada. I claim for our Dominion, but especially
for this Ontario province, that she has in her schools and colleges, in her
legislatures and in her courts, in heart and in hand, been the good Samar-
itan to the sons of Ham in their days of trouble. But it is not in any
spirit of boasting, however moderate or patriotic, that I would close this
account of our colored fellow citizens and their career in Canada.
This race must have a great future on this continent, though It is ex-
pected that as Africa is opened up, many will return to the land of their
forefathers. The Indians become Metes, but the black man becomes
blacker, more distinct and more Afiican. He dally grows in numbers, in
knowledge and in power. The Canadian problem has worked out happily.
We have had no Pharaoh to distress our land of Goshen nor have plagues
disturbed us. The former involuntary exodus to the north has been suc-
ceeded by a voluntary interchange of people and products over the bridge
of peace and freedom which unites our countries.
The greater problem looms before you. We do not fear the result, if
knowledge and science do their part.
Whatever be our political future, we of the north must share, and bear,
with you of the south, one grave united interest, in the working out of
this great racial problem in the social destiny of the continent. We say
In the words of the pious ^neas : —
"Una salus ambobus erit."
SALEM PRESS PUBLISniNO AND FIUNTINO CO.
:!I!!1U-I ■
'H-
[ JFajirac^ /ori/t Proceeiiings of Canadian Institute, 1890.\
THE MAROONS OF JAMAICA AND NOVA SCOTIA.
BY J. C. Hamilton, LL.B.
Negro slavery disappeared from the Province of Nova Scotia dur-
ing the latter part of last century, without legislative enactment, by
what Judge Haliburton, in his history of Nova Scotia, calls " latent
abandonment beneficial to the country." There remained a number
of emancipated provincial slaves and still more Africans who escaped
to Nova Scotia from the United States. These latter people were
called " Loyal Negroes." In 1821 a party of nearly one hundred of
them emigrated to Trinidad. But before this, on the founding of
Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa, about twelve hundred went
there, arri>dng in 1792. Four years after this, three ships entered
the harbour of Halifax, laden with the most extraordinary cargoes
that ever entered that port. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, then in
command at Halifax, boarded the Dover, was met by Colonel W. D.
Quarrell, Commissary- General of Jamaica, with whom Mr. Alexander
Ouchterlony was associated, and a detachment of the 96th Regiment
drawn up on board to receive him. Black men of good proportions
with many women and children, all in neat uniform attire, were
mustered in lines. Other transports, the Mary and Anne, were, his
Highness was infornjed, about to follow, and the main cargo was six
hundred Maroons exiled from Jamaica with soldiers to guard them
and meet any attacks from French vessels on the voyage. j
The Prince was struck with the tine appearance of the black men,
but the citizens had heard of how Jamaica had been harried by its
black banditti, and were unwilling at first to have them added to>-
their population. When the Spaniards first settled in the Antilles in
1509, it is estimated by Las Casas, Robertson, ami other historians
that the Indian inhabitants amounted to ten million souls, but by the
a PROCBEDINOS OF THE. CANADIAN INSTITUTE.
exercise of the utmost atrocities, these were melted away until none
remained to work as slaves in the mines or in the fields.
" Here," says Las Casas, '* the Spaniards exercised their accustomed
cruelties, killing, burning, and roasting men, and throwing them to the
dogs, as also by oppressing them with sundry and various torments in
the gold mines, as if they had come to rid the earth of these innocent
and harmless creatures. So lavish were the Spanish swords of the
blood of these poor souls, scarce 200 remaining, the I'est perished
without the least knowledge of God."
When conquering Cuba, Hatuey, a cacique, was captured and
fastened to the stake by these emissaries of a Christian King. A
Franciscan friar laboured to convert him and promised him immedi-
ate admittance into heaven if he would embrace the Christian faith.
" Are there any Spaniards " said he, " in that heaven which you des-
cribe ] " " Yes," replied the monk, " but only such as are worthy and
good." " The best of them," returned the indignant cacique, " have
neither worth nor goodness. I will not go to a place where I may
meet one of that accursed race."
As a military measure this cruel murdier was successful. All
Cuba submitted awed by the example made of poor Hatuey. When
Hispaniola was discovered, the number of its inhabitants was com-
puted, says Robertson on the authority of Herrara, to be at least a
million, certainly a large and probably excessive estimate. They
were I'educed to sixty thousand in fifteen years. Jamaica was not so
populous, but not a single descendant of the original inhabitants
existed on that island, says Dallas, author of the " History of the
Maroons," in 1655, when Venables and Penn, under commission
from Oliver Cromwell, landed there. Caves were found where human
bones, evidently belonging to the oppressed and harried natives,
covered the ground. Famine and cruelty desolated these lovely
islands. Then the Spaniards decoyed natives of the Lucayo islands
to Hispaniola (now Hayti) to the number of forty thousand, and these
shared the fate of the former inhabitants.
The scheme for importing Africans to take the place of the natives,
was then pushed on untler the guise at first of mistaken philanthropy,
> THE MAROONS Of JAMAICA AND NOVA SCOTIA. 3
but supported by the high prices paid for the victims stolen from
Africa.
Genoese merchants were the first who began a regular commerce
in slaves between Africa and America, receiving a patent for this
purpose from Charles V., of Spain, in 1518. The traffic had begun
however in 1501, and King Ferdinand hfi.d publicly sanctioned it in
1511. Captain, afterwards Sir John Hawkins, led the English in the
slave trade in 1562. In 1567 he had for partner m such enterprize
Sir Francis Drake and secured a cargo of slaves off the Guinea coast.
Many charters, incorporating adventurers, with monopoly of ohe im-
portation of slaves from Africa, were granted by James I., Charles I.,
Charles II.; and their successors down to George III. In the single
year 1792, twenty Acts of the Imperial Parliament could be enum-
erated whereby the trade was sanctioned and encouraged.
The number of Africans so introduced into Jamaica was soon in
excess of the white population, and thus continues to the present day.
Bryan Edwards in his " History of Jamaica," summing up the assets
of this island, put down 250,000 negroes at £50 stg. each, making
£12,500,000 in 1791. Let us remark the extraordinary ethnic revo-
lution that has taken place in the Antilles since European interference
therein began. As examples, take the two islands Hispaniola and
Jamaica. At the time of Columbus, Hispaniola, according to
Robertson, had one million souls. Before the year 1500, the aborigines
had been sw^pt away, and black and white races were taking their
places. Now the population of the two States into which this island
is divided, namely, Hayti and the Dominican Republic, jointly
amounts to about 900,000 souls.
The Indian race, to the number of half a million, as stated by old
historians, likewise disappeared from Jamaica. In 1881, its popula-
tion numbered about 581,000 of whom those of pure white blood
seem to have been less than 20,000, the remainder being Africans or
of mixed African and European Stocks. Thus it has taken nearly
four centuries, with the aid of forced African migration, to fill the
places of the aboriginal people.
But to rovnrt to the time when Spanish rule was brough*-. to an end
* "■ :■
4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE.
in Jamaica, masters and slaves were uneducated, slothful and ])oor.
The exports consisted only of some cocoa, hogs, lard and hides.
When the officers of the great Protector conquered the island, in
May 1655, most of the old white settlers fled, or voluntarily removed
to other Spanish possessions. In many cases slaves were left on the
abandoned plantations. They still sympathized with their old masters
and communicated with them. They took to the woods and defiles
called "cockpits," with which parts of the island abound. They harassed
the English, decoyed away their slaves, destroyed outlying planta-
tions, and murdered those who ventured abroad without escort. Tiiis
mass of savages increased in numbers, both by natural causes, and by
the addition of run-away slaves, and were known as Maroons. They
lived on the game, fruits, and edible roots with which the country
abounded, and on the ilesh of the wild hog which roamed in the forest
and fed on the mast of trees and roots. No country could probably
be found more fitted to foster the wild and lawless life which this
I'ace passed for nearly two hundred years in Jamaica, with its varied
natural resources.
The name Maroon is generally derived from the word meaning
" hog hunters," but some take it from the Spanish " Simaron," mean-
ing ape. Either derivation is significant of this people and their
habits. In the year 1730, ti'ouble with the Maroons culminated in a
revolt, led by Cudjoe, a bold Coromantee negro. His brothers
Accompong and Johnny were subordinate leaders, Cuffee and Quaco
were his captains. Insurgent slaves, and other ill-disposed negroes
joined them. The island was harassed for many months by the bold
and skilful attacks of these daring men. It was impossible to take
them, as they hid in the glens and " cockpits " enclosed by rocks and
mountains. Loyal " Blackshot " negroes and Mosquito Indians from
the American coast were hired to aid the soldiery and militia. Peace
was at last secured by Colonel Guthrie and Captain Sadlier in March,
1738. It was arranged that Cudjoe and his people should settle in ^
the parish called Trelawney, which is in the north-west {)art of
Jamaica, the place where the Maroons lived mainly for the next
forty yeai's.
THK MAROONS OF JAMAICA AND NOVA SCOTIA. , ft
They still retained much of their African savagery, were illiterate,
and no attempt was made to Christianize them. Their language was
a conglomerate of African dialects and Spanish, with a sprinkling of
English and French. They had fetish and obeah rites and ceremon-
ies. Polygamy obtained, the husbands living in turn two days with
each wife. As to the poor wives, the labour imposed on them and
the miseries of their situation left them little leisure to quarrel with
each other. A white superintendent lived in each of the Maroon
towns as a magistrate and the means of communication with the
whites a"d the Government, and he with the chief men had judicial
power in ordinary cases. Cases of felony were reserved for the
regular magistrates and courts with white judges.
By 1795 the Trelawney Maroons numbered about 1,400 ; then the
secood war began. Lord Balcarres being Governor. Montague was
the leading Maroon chief ; the English Colonels Sandford and Galli-
more and many men were slain. Blackshot Indians were hired again
to aid the redcoats, of whom there were more than 1,000, and the
militia. Still the war lasted with much loss and expense to the
island.
Col. Quarrell had heard of the Chasseurs and their famous dogs
used in Cuba to track and secure marauders and runaways both white
and black. After much discussion the colonel was dispatched in a
vessel to Cuba, and secured 40 Chasseurs and 100 dogs, with which
he returned. The effect their arrival had on the Maroons was wonder-
ful. The dogs were not even let loose, but were paraded with the
soldiers. The terror they excited, added to weariness of the struggle,
led the insurgents to gradually come in and submit. All who had
not surrendered by a certain day, six hundred in number were, as
they came in, sent off to Montego Bay and Spanish Town under guard.
The war had cost the island $1,000,000. The Legislature voted
$100,000 more, and ordered the 600 to be banished from Jamaica.
Colonel Quarrell and Mr. Ouchterlony were put in command of the
three ships which carried them and their guard of redcoats, and so
they came to Halifax. Colonel Quarrell had recently travelled in
Upper Canada, in which Governor Simcoe was then extending a
system of self-government. The Colonel praised the Governor's
administration, and told the Jamaica people of the large cultivated
6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE.
districts and beautiful towns then rising in the forests north of Lake
Ontario. He desired to settle the Maroons in Upper Canada, as ♦
he also thought the climate suitable to them. The Assembly, how-
ever, with the approval of the Home Goveri)ment, decided on Halifax.
It seems strange that tb^ Home Government had not learned from
the experience of the " Loyal negroes " to avoid the choice of a place
with climate so unsuited to the race. The vessels arrived and were
inspected as stated. The Maroon men were asked what they would
do, and expressed willingness to work for " Massa King " and *' Massa
King's son." The General and Admiral and Governor, Sir John
Wentworth, arranged terms with the people. The Maroons were
landed from the vessels — the Dover, Mary, and Ann — on which they
had come. Admiral Richery, with a threatening French squadron,
was off the coast, and it was desirable to get the fortifications com-
pleted. The Maroons worked on them. They laboured mainly
on earthworks since obliterated by more extensive and permanent
improvements to the great citadel and harbour made when the Duke
of Wellington was Prime Minister. Maroon hill near Halifax still
retains their name. Their chief men were Colonels Montague and
Johnston, Major Jarratt, and Captains Smith, Charles Shaw, David
Shaw, Dunbar, jind Harding.
For two years these people lived in Nova Scotia, but made little
progress in civilization or religion. Most of them were settled on
lands at Preston ; some families were removed to Boydville. A
schoolmaster was appointed and the religious training was entrusted
to an orthodox gentleman, the Rev. B. G. Gray, and a cui'ate with
glebe house and salary supplied. Sir John Wentworth asked for a
grant of £240 per annum, to be applied in religious instruction and
education. He hoped this course would " reclaim them to the Church
of England, and disseminate Christian piety, morality, and loyalty,
among them." He also sent an order to England for many things
required by tliem, among which were " 40 gross coat and 60 gross
■white vest metal buttons, strong ; Device an Alligator holding
wheat ears and an olive branch. Inscription : Jamaica to the
Maroons, 1796" He described the people as " healthy, peaceful,
orderly, inoffensive, and highly deli^Jhted with the country."
The Commissioners, Messrs. Quarrell and Ouchterlony, with not less
THE MAROONS OP JAMAICA ASli NOVA SCOTIA. 7
than three chief men of the Maroons, held court for the trial of
smaller offences, a custom introduced from Jamaica, In time both
the Commissioners resigned through disagreement with the Governor
and were succeeded by Captain Howe, 'ind he by Mr. Theophilus
Chamberlain. The two winters which ensued were unusually severe,
and the Maroons, unaccustomed to such weather, suffered and became
discojii raged. They became generally dissatisfied, refused to work
regularly, and were addicted to cockfighting, card playing, and the
like amusements.
The zeal of the worthy Governor who was a very sanguine philan-
thro|Mst, had been well intended, but " little effect was produced
from weekly sermons on doctrines of faith, delivered to old and
young promiscuously in a language not understood," says Edwards.
" Some smoked their pipes, and some slept during the services." The
old chief Montague, whom all the Maroons honored, was asked if he
had undestood the sermon, and wishing not to appear ignorant,
replied : " Massa parson say, no mus tief, no mus meddle with some-
body wife, no mus quarrel, mus set down softly."
The Governor assembled the men and urged them to adopt
Christian marriage customs, but after much discussion they would
say : " Dat white people fashion, dat no do for we poor Maroon."
They referred Sir John and his good friends to their wives, " If you
please, you may make the women take swear, we men can't do
so," meaning the marriage vow, to hold to one wife. The women
were called in but none would resign her right to her husband, or to
such divided interest as she held in him. They all objected to " take
swear," and went off, says Dallas, in an uproar clamouring at the men
for making such a proposal. Some of these colored ladies even
broke out in " insolent observations on the latitude in which some of
the greatest characters known to them had indulged."
On 21st April, 1797, Sir John Wentworth, in a letter to the Duke
of Clarence, said of the Maroons : " From my observation of them,
neither Jamaica or any other island would be long at peace, nor
secure from insurrection, were these people among them." . , .
I am convinced they will be a useful and faithful corps to oppose an
invading enemy. "They do not wish to live by industry, but prefer war
8 PROCEEDINGS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE.
and hunting." It had proved impossible to change the "leopard's spots."
Two years under the regime of the amiable Grovernor with the most
approved appliances and surroundings of civilization had not worked
the expected miracle. The Halifax experiment had failed. It
appeared too that the Maroons were divided into three tribes jealous
cf each other. One captain complained that he had not a well furnished
house and cellar to exerci; e hospitality. Another longed for the yams,
bananas, and cocoa of Jamaica. A third wanted hogs to hunt. The
weekly sermons were unattended. Parents did not object to bring
their children to be baptized, but as to marriage adhered to their old
free customs with polygamy, and funerals were conducted with in-
herited Coromantee ceremonies. The Government still treated them
Avith kindness, but found watchfulness necessary.
In Apiil, 1799, two officers and fifty militia men were for a time
posted near the Preston settlement to guard against threatened dis-
order. Before this when Halifax was threatened by the French, who
had attacked Newfoundland, the Maroon men had been formed into
companies, and their chiefs had received military commissions which
flattered their vanity.
But they were not self-supporting and the cautious Haligonians
fought shy of all responsibility for their maintenance. Jamaica had
to foot their bills, adding to the original appropriation of $100,000,
further sums of $40,000 and $24,000, but now the Government of
that island intimated that it would no longer consider the Maroons as
their wards. The mother country did not forsake them, but took
their views on the situation, if so we may refer to the very limited
knowledge of these people. They had heard of Sierra Leone and
asked to be allowed to follow the twelve hundred "Loyal Negroes,"
who had gone there seven years previously.
It is not probable that the Maroons knew then that these, their
predecessors, to that sultry and unhealthy peninsula on the West Coast
of Africa had not shown signs of improvement in civilization or
appreciation of the 'choice, now clearly mistaken, of this site as a
partly missionary, partly commercial establishment.
They probably had but limited knowledge of the tornadoes that
THE MAKOONS OF JAMAICA ANU NOVA SCOTIA. 9
prevail in some seasonH, and of the fog and rain that wrap that land
in frequeut gloom.
Some of these facts were no doubt known to the Duke of Portland,
the Crown Minister, whose wisdom had directed them, against Colonel
Quarrell's advice, to Halifax with its winter snow and fog. His
Grace decided to remove them to equatorial heat and fog, and hoped
that their military spirit and training in Nova Scotia would be in-
strumental in keeping the surrounding savages in order, and useful
even as an example to the " Loyal Negroes," so called, who lacked
discipline and cliaracter. Governor Wentworth, now that his mis-
sionary zeal had cooled, and Admiral Richery with the French fleet
was no longer off the coast, seemed to be possessed of but one desire;
to see them depart from Nova Scotia without exception. On the
sixth day of August, 1800, Sir John Wentworth informed the Duke
that five hundred and fifty-one Maroons had embarked on the Asia
and set sail from Halifax. Four had deserted to avoid soins.
Many, Sir John stated, regretted to leave, and all expressed gratitude
to Nova Scotia. They arrived in Sierra Leone, in October, 1800.
As caged animals let loose, seek again their native wilds, so did these
brave people return to the land of their ancestors, holding fast to their
old inbred customs and superstitions.
The spirit of Saxon civilization passed lightly over them, but did
not penetrate their breasts. But a kindly feeling prevailed, and the
Maroon has not since raised his hand against the white man. The
children and grand children of the Maroons of TrelaWuey, may now
be found on the West Coast of Africa.
They are reported to have aided the Government in repressing
revolts of savage tribes, and in opening to the advance of freedom
and civilization the Dark Continenc, from which their ancestors were
torn by the cruel Saxon. Doubtless the brave deeds of their fore-
fathers, who defied the redcoats and held their own so long in the
defiles and cockpits of Jamaica, and the terrors of ice cold Nova
Scotia are still the theme of song and story in the cottages of Freetown
by the Sierra Leone rivers and Isles de Loss. Doubtless there
tired mothers still crying babes to rest with tales inherited from their
parents of the tt'rrible Chasseurs and their savage dogs of war.
10 PROCEEDINGS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE.
Note. — Since the above abstract was put in i)rint I have received
an interesting communication from Hon. E J. Barclay, Secretary of
State of Liberia. He gives gratifying information as to the progress
made and position taken bv some of these people on tUo West Coast,
stating : " The only family that I have known to come direct from
the Dominion was Henry Rankin and wife, who came from a place
called Muskoka. They arrived in 1873 or '4. Mr. Rankin has
since died." . . As regards the " Loyal Negroes," yclept Nova
Scotians, on the coast, who were sent to Sierra Leone, and the
Maroons who followed, J have, through the kindness of Mr. Boyle,
Liberian Consul at Sierra Leone, heen furnished with a list of the
most prominent of these persons in the British West African
colonies : —
JVova Scotians. — John B. Elliott, J.P., J. W. Elliott, and John
Priddy, of Sierra Leone ; Rev, S. Trotter Williams and Mr. Porter,
government contractor, of Waterloo ; J. F. Eastman, M.D., Assistant
Colonial Surgeon, Gold Coast Colony.
Maroons. — Dr. T. Spilbury, Colonial Surgeon, Gambia ; J. Gabbi-
don. Commissariat clerk ; and Hon. Francis Smith, Assistant Judge,
Gold Coast Colony; Nash H. Williams, B.L., of Freetown; and
Mr. Samuels, Trelawnoy Street, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
There is a Maroon church at Freetown called St, John's, of which
the Rev. J. A. Cole — an able native African — is the ])astor. It will
be noticed that the old home in Jamaica is remembered in the name
of a Freetown street.
J