![]() ![]() On May 25, not long after the suppression of the uprising in St. Still, within each phase of the rebellion, the routes traveled by the rebels through woods, mountains, hills, swamps, and rivers indicated strategic objectives. On the windward side of the island- the north side- heavy rainfall and dense vegetation limited movement more than on the leeward side, where the drier climate allowed for greater mobility. These campaigns adapted to geographical constraints. Finally, survivors of the Westmoreland insurrection trekked across two parishes, raiding estates along the way. This was followed by a much bigger revolt in Westmoreland parish. Mary’s, generally named Tacky’s Revolt after one of its principal African leaders. The uprising encompassed three major phases of sustained action- discounting the various conspiracies discovered by the whites- alongside more dispersed and sporadic skirmishes. Tracing their locations over time, it is possible to discern some of their strategic aims and to observe the tactical dynamics of slave insurrection and counter-revolt. But we learn something else by plotting the combatants’ movements in space. So the written record skews our understanding toward the insights, fears, hopes, and desires of slaveholders. The colonists and imperial officials who produced the historical record were universally unsympathetic to the rebellion, and we have no documents produced by the rebels. Mapping the revolt and its suppression illustrates something that is difficult to glean from simply reading the textual sources. Was the revolt a unified and coordinated affair, or was it instead a series of opportunistic riots? What in fact did the rebels hope to achieve? Was there ever a real danger to the British Empire in America or was the threat blown out of proportion by panicked whites? If the insurrection was as well planned as the colonists feared, why didn’t it succeed? These questions can be partially addressed by examining how the insurrection played out in space. Long was convinced that the rebellion was the culmination of an island-wide plot by Coromantee compatriots from the Gold Coast of West Africa who hoped to conquer the colony and create a series of principalities “in the African mode.” Yet his and subsequent historical accounts have left a number of important questions unanswered. “Whether we consider the extent and secrecy of its plan, the multitude of the conspirators, and the difficulty of opposing its eruptions in such a variety of places at once,” wrote planter-historian Edward Long in his 1774 History of Jamaica, this revolt was “more formidable than any hitherto known in the West Indies.” Colonists valued the total cost to the island at nearly a quarter of a million pounds. Another 500 were transported from the island for life. During the suppression of the revolt over five hundred black men and women were killed in battle, executed, or committed suicide. Over the course of eighteen months the rebels killed as many as sixty whites and destroyed many thousands of pounds worth of property. Mary’s and continued in the leeward parishes until October of the next year. In 1760, some fifteen hundred enslaved black men and women- perhaps fewer but probably many more- took advantage of Britain’s Seven Year’s War against France and Spain, to stage a massive uprising in Jamaica, which began on April 7 in the windward parish of St.
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