Maroon

[Delano]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deep-swamps-archaeologists-fugitive-slaves-kept-freedom-180960122/

[Troy]

Interesting article. I was aware of Jamaican Mormons, but did nit realize there was such a large community of Maroons in America.

[Delano]

Jamaican Mormons I am going to have to read tge article again. 

[Guest FAS]

The article is ridiculous. We know a lot about the Maroons of Florida. They were called the Black Seminoles. Fighting shoulder to shoulder with their Red Seminole allies, they defeated the U.S. Army/cavalry and won their freedom on the battlefield in the 2nd Seminole War, or as General Jessup (the general who hoisted the white flag of surrender) and white Floridians of the time called it, the Negro War. So now you know. They lied about Viet Nam being the first defeat for the U.S. , as almost 150 years previous, Maroons (those who had never been enslaved) and runaway slaves collectively called the Black Seminoles, kicked their butts. And it wasn't the first defeat the U.S. suffered at the hands of the Maroons/Black Seminoles, either. They fought the U.S. Navy about 200 years ago, and won that one, too.

[Troy]

15 hours ago, Delano said:

Jamaican Mormons

 

I meant Jamaican Moroons. Even the spell check does not want us to talk about Moroons.

 

FAS I would stop short of calling entire article as ridiculous, even if every point of contention you shared is correct. The article was primarly about the Moroons who suvived in the swamps of VA. Did you have any issues with that?

[Pioneer1]

17 hours ago, Guest FAS said:

The article is ridiculous. We know a lot about the Maroons of Florida. They were called the Black Seminoles. Fighting shoulder to shoulder with their Red Seminole allies, they defeated the U.S. Army/cavalry and won their freedom on the battlefield in the 2nd Seminole War, or as General Jessup (the general who hoisted the white flag of surrender) and white Floridians of the time called it, the Negro War. So now you know. They lied about Viet Nam being the first defeat for the U.S. , as almost 150 years previous, Maroons (those who had never been enslaved) and runaway slaves collectively called the Black Seminoles, kicked their butts. And it wasn't the first defeat the U.S. suffered at the hands of the Maroons/Black Seminoles, either. They fought the U.S. Navy about 200 years ago, and won that one, too.

Hey Sara!

I knew that was you.....lol.

[Guest FAS]

A correction:

 

Approx 150 years ago the Black Seminoles fought the Army and won. 200 years PREVIOUS to that, i.e., approx 350 years ago, they fought the U.S. Navy.

 

 

@Troy

 

Deep in the Swamps, Archaeologists Are Finding How Fugitive Slaves Kept Their Freedom

The Great Dismal Swamp was once a thriving refuge for runaways

 

The worse it gets, as I wade and stumble through the Great Dismal Swamp, the better I understand its history as a place of refuge. Each ripping thorn and sucking mudhole makes it clearer. It was the dense, tangled hostility of the swamp and its enormous size that enabled hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of escaped slaves to live here in freedom.

 

We don’t know much about them, but thanks to the archaeologist hacking through the mire ahead of me, we know they were out here, subsisting in hidden communities,

 

I reiterate, we DO know much about them. We know a LOT about them. We even know their NAMES.... even the names of individuals who lived there. There's nothing esoteric about the Maroons of Florida, Virginia, or even Georgia. 

 

 “Historians are limited to source documents. When it comes to maroons, there isn’t that much on paper.

 

Again, not true. Not just on the internet, but there are scores of books on different maroon communities, especially the Black Seminoles and their allies, the Red Seminoles, led by the great war chief, Osceola.

 

@Pioneer

 

While not Sara. I do occasionally read her blog -- she's the one who got me interested in the Black Seminoles -- and over the 15 or so years that I've been dropping in on AALBC, I read many of her posts. So I'm going to take your doppelganger asininity as a compliment.

 

 

 

[Troy]

3 hours ago, Guest FAS said:

doppelganger asininity as a compliment.

 

ROTFLMBAF!

 

3 hours ago, Guest FAS said:

there are scores of books on different maroon

 

I heard of Chief Osceola, but never thought if him or any of the Blacks who integrated with Seminole Indians, perhaps they were. I never thiugh of them as such or heard them described that way.

 

FAS, would you share the best 2 or 3 books about the Maroons in the Dreat Dismal Swamp? I'll share them on the website -- thanks!

 

[Guest FAS]

While there are many articles on the internet, the only book that I know of  personally, re: the great dismal swamp, is Harriet Beecher Stowe's "novel" 'Dred, a tale of the Great Dismal Swamp,' written over 150 years ago. 

 

am*zon has a gaggle of books about the Black Seminoles, my primary interest in Maroon life in the U.S.. YouTube has at least a score of videos (99% by whites... and shockingly, they tell the truth!) about the Black Seminoles. The following book, however, is one of the best:

 

Florida's Negro War: Black Seminoles and the Second Seminole War 1835-1842 Paperback – April 1, 2014

by Anthony E Dixon  (Author)

4.6 out of 5 stars    39 ratings

From 1817 to 1858, the United States government engaged in a bitter conflict with the Seminole Nation. This conflict would result in three distinct wars. The Second Seminole War (1835-1842) was conducted under the Indian Removal Policy of the 1830’s. This war was a result of the American plantation societies’ relentless efforts to enslave the Black Seminole population. The United States government’s objective became to return as many Black Seminoles, if not all, to slavery. Evidence proves that the efforts of the U.S. military to place Blacks in bondage were not only a major underlying theme throughout the War, but at various points, the primary goal. It is clear that from the onset of the war, the United States government, military, and state militias grossly underestimated both the determination and the willingness of the Black Seminole to resist at all cost. Thus, this book will not only make the argument that the Second Seminole War was indeed a slave rebellion, but perhaps the most successful one in United States’ history.

 

[Troy]

FAS again I'm familiar with the Black seminoles. Indeed I live in Florida it is not a secret. 

 

What I was unfamiliar with was the Maroon community in the Great Dismal Swamp discussed in the article shared. You rejected the article for no apparent reason and keep bringing up Florida Semolies.

 

You suggested the their were scores of books on the subject, but you only produced a 150 year old novel, which I will add to the site. Still nothing you shared would substantiate calling the article "ridiculous."

[Guest FAS]

We don't know much about them, but thanks to the archaeologist hacking through the mire ahead of me, we know they were out here, subsisting in hidden communities,

 

 

Is this not the essence of all Maroon societies? The hunted black inhabitants exist in hidden communities? If 150 years ago, Harriet Beecher Stowe was aware enough to  write a novel about them, many people knew then as we know now that "they were out here, subsisting in hidden communities."

 

Btw, I never wrote nor suggested there were 'scores of books' on the great dismal swamp.