User blog:Captain Cudjoe/Declaration of war on British slavers

The First war between the English and the Maroons of Jamaica occurred in 1690. The war was later known as the First Maroon War. A group of slaves, consisting of a Coromantees, rebelled and escaped into a large forest outside of Clarendon. Coromantees are a group of Africans from the gold coast of Africa that was very fierce and warlike. The new runaway slaves joined forces with the already established Maroons, under the leadership of Cudjoe. Cudjoe had strong ties with fellow maroon communities. He had two brothers that were Maroons. Their names were Accompong and Johnny. Accompong and Johnny helped lead the Leeward Maroons of Jamaica. Two other chiefs named Quao and Cuffee who led the Windward Maroons were also under Cudjoe's command. Cudjoe and his forces of Maroons waged war on the English by raiding plantations, taking food, women, ammunition, guns, and supplies with them. Maroons were a very resourceful group of people. They refused to waste any type of food, supplies, or even ammunition if it was avoidable. Maroons continued to wage war on the English for several more years. Not a single Maroon was captured nor killed.

The English had and extremely difficult time gaining the upper hand against the Maroons. The English widely struggled with many of the Maroon advantages. A main advantage of he Maroons was that they lived and maintained control of the cockpits. The cockpits are “highlands furrowed through and through, as by an earthquake, with a series of gaps or ravines, resembling the California canons, or those similar fissures in various parts of the Atlantic States, known to local fame either poetically as ice-glens, or symbolically as purgatories.”  These cockpits posed a large problem for the English in their tracking down of the Maroons. Maroons were crafty and sneaky, and utilized guerilla warfare tactics to the fullest extent. One such example is the combination of these cockpits and the Maroons excellent marksmanship to kill their enemy. Walking along single file through the cockpits the English would have little to no escape route. Once the English soldiers were deep inside the cockpits, or where the Maroons felt that their enemies were most venerable, Maroon sharpshooters would shoot and kill their enemy with deadly accuracy, leaving their enemy little to no escape.

Another advantage that the Maroons held on the English during the First Maroon War, were the expertise of the land and mountains that Maroons lived amongst and fought on. Maroons knew the terrain of the land and mountains much better then the English, giving them a greater advantage. Maroons used leaves to disguise themselves, and chose to attack by ambush. They used these types of warfare to murder and rob English. This kind of warfare baffled and confused the bands Englishmen that were sent out to control and or destroy the rebel forces.

Another advantage that the Maroons utilized were look out men. Since the English predominantly came looking for the Maroons, Maroons could wait in hiding, waiting for the English to make a move. Look out men would spot approaching forces. They would communicate with other look out men and consequently the rest of the Maroons in the area, by blowing into a type of horn called an Abeng. An Abeng was made from a cow's horn. Abeng horns were an important part of Maroon communication during the increasing presence of English fighters. These advantages aided the Maroons in the survival and in maintaining their freedom from English Rule.

Controlling the Maroons of Jamaica became daunting and ultimately proved to be an impossible task. The English had little means of hurting and devastating the Maroon population. They couldn't cut off food or water supplies because the land that the maroons lived on was full of rivers and streams, wild boars, pineapples, and plenty of game for the marksmen of the Maroons to hunt. The English had little luck in their 76 year campaign against the Maroons of Jamaica.

War has come to you now.