Slave revolts in St Mary

There were two Coromantee uprisings in the 1760s in the parish of St Mary. Both involved estates belonging to Bryan Edwards’s uncle, Zachary Bayly (1721-1769).

The first began at Easter, 7/8 April 1760; the earliest report, written a week later, was published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in Philadelphia (5 June 1760) under the heading, “Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman at St. Mary’s, April 14, 1760”:

“I am informed you have received several erroneous and contradictory Accounts of the proceedings of the rebellious Negroes; which I am not surprized at, as the Truth is difficult to come at here on the Spot. The following is the best information I can give you thereof. Two Coromantee Negroes, Tacky and Jamaica, on Frontier Estate (belonging to Ballard Beckford, Esq;) having long been concerting a Rebellion, with three other Chieftains of their country, who were each of them to have an Estate for his good Services, they fixed on Easter Monday night for their rising. And having at Midnight assembled about 90 others, at Mr. Bayly’s Estate, Trinity (from Esher, Whitehall, Ballard Valley, and other Plantations) they marched to Port Maria, and killing the Centinel at the Fort, took from thence four Barrels of Powder, a Keg of Musket Balls, and all the Small Arms in the Fort, about 40 of which only they found serviceable; then proceeded to Mr. James Kelly’s store, from which they took a Pair of silver mounted Pistols, a Quantity of dry goods, and about Half a Pipe of Madeira Wine, but no Powder, as erroneously reported: they then returned to Trinity, rifled the Dwelling house, and carried off all the Arms, by which Time they had about 50 armed; At Day Light they appeared at Ballard Valley, towards whom Mr. Bayly approached, intending to expostulate with them; but firing five Shot at him he retreated, and both he and Mr. Cruikshank narrowly escaped with their Lives; they then fell upon the Overseer, Mr. McPherson, whom they killed, with three other white Men. from thence they went to Esher, and there killed Mr. Norris, the Overseer, a Surveyor named Castillo, a young lad named Gordon, and two other white Men. Thence they marched to Whitehall, where they killed one white Man, and then proceeded to Haywood Hall, where they burnt a Cane Piece, and the Windmill, and at Eleven sat down to regale themselves, in the road to Ballard Valley, where Mr. Bayly (who in the mean time had with great Celerity collected near 130 Whites and Blacks) attacked them, killed eight, and took four, the rest retreating into the wood, where they rendezvoused.—On Thursday the 10th Instant, the Rebels were attacked by a party of the Crawford Town Negroes, who being much inferior in Number, were obliged to retreat, Captain Cudjoe’s Son being killed. The same Evening Captain Penoyre, with about 60 horse, arrived at Ballard Valley, and being headed by Mr. Munroe, Mr. Arcedeckne, and Mr. Richards (who have much distinguished themselves on this Occasion) patrolled next Day through the neighbouring Estates, Captain Rigby of the Regulars, arrived on Saturday Noon at Downs Cove (where the Rebels had burnt some Houses but three Hours before) and was there joined by Lieutenant Forsyth and his Detachment, by the Crawford Town Negroes, and by Captain Hynes; the latter is a brave Volunteer who has headed a party of stout Negroes; here they had Information that the Rebels were very near them, in order to meet with whom they agreed to divide, one Detachment going to Carlton Wood House, while Lieutenant Forsyth staid at Downs, where the Rebels came down in the Night, attacked his Party, killed the Centinel of the advanced Guard, and wounded Lieutenant Bevil, and one Man of the 49th. In this Action, the Rebels had three killed, and Tacky, their leader, wounded.
On Saturday Morning the 12th Captain Hynes, joined by the Crawford Town Negroes under Messiurs Sweigle and Mosely, went into the Wood, and at Noon came up with the Rebels, who were very advantageously posted, in a rocky gully between two steep Hills; as soon as they discovered Captain Hynes’s Party, they ascended one Hill, where they were immediately attacked very briskly for an Hour, defeated and pursued, and had two Men and two Women killed, and two Women and a Child taken, with their Baggage, and one Keg of Powder, and two Guns. Captain Hynes had only two Men wounded, and continued the Pursuit of the Rebels, scouring the Woods to Friendship Estate, where he and Mr. Sweigle, with their parties, staid last Night. They are to go again into the Woods this Morning. Major Sinclair, with Part of the Spanish Town Troop, with 60 Stand of Arms, and two Barrels of Powder, arrived here Yesterday, and quartered at Nonsuch. —On Monday Evening an account was received here, that Mr. William Trowers, Superintendent of Nanny Town, with only 12 Negroes, had suddenly come upon the Rebels in their Woods, whom he boldly engaged, and fought his Way through the Midst of them, but was much wounded in the Action.
On Wednesday Morning an Express arrived, informing that the Regulars having lined the Outside of the Wood where the Rebels were posted, Mr. Charles Sweigle and his Party, joined by the other parties from the free Negroe Towns, went into the Woods on Monday Morning, and came up with the Rebels about Eleven o’Clock, in a rocky Valley, whom they attacked with great Impetuosity, totally routed them, killed their Leaders Tacky and Jamaica, and took all their Baggage and Stores, with four Half Barrels of gunpowder. Seventeen Pair of Ears are brought in, and so many taken Prisoners, that it is believed not above eleven escaped in Flight. These are now pursued by Trelawny Town Negroes, who arrived a little time after the Action.
By the Accounts of some of those that surrendered themselves, we learn, that the Rebels were in great Distress for Want of Provisions; That when any of them became lame, or wounded, they were immediately killed, to prevent their giving Intelligence; That their Leader, Tacky, after being first wounded, could not again be persuaded to head his Men, until they threatened to put him to Death: That there were such Dissentions among them, that several were killed in their own Quarrels; and that many would have quitted them, could they have done it with Safety.”

A shorter version of the text, titled “An Account of the Insurrection of the Negroes” and said to have been sent by “an express from Bristol, with letters from Jamaica, dated April 22”, was printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine in London in July.[1] The revolt proved to be the first in a series of uprisings in different parts of the island, afterwards known as Tacky’s War, the most successful rebellion in the British West Indies in the eighteenth century.[2]

In November 1765 a second Coromantee uprising took place. An account was printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine in March 1766 under the heading: “Extract of a Letter from Zach. Bayly, Esq; Custos Rotulorum of St Mary’s in Jamaica, to his brother, Nath. Bayly of Lincoln’s Inn fields; dated at Nonesuch Estate in St Mary’s the 27th Nov. 1765, received by the Ruby, Capt. King.”

“I was called up about two o’clock on Monday morning, and told that the works at White-hall Estate were on fire, and the Negroes in actual rebellion; and that Mr Byndless [sic] (who dined with me the day before) was killed.[3] I immediately mustered all the people here and at my estate Unity, and dispatched one of them to Tremolsworth estate, and so round that part of the neighbourhood, and another round the lower part of the neighbourhood to give the alarm; after which I pushed over to White-hall with seven or eight people, which were all I could muster; but we were told the rebels were gone to Ballard’s Valley estate. We found Mr Byndless dead upon the hall floor, and that Mrs Beckford, seeing the Negroes knock him down, had jumped over the rails of the piazza, and run away in her under petticoat into the Cane piece. The Overseer and another white man had run over to Ballard’s Valley estate, and there being six or eight stands of good arms in the overseer’s house, they mustered all their white people, and were going to White-hall, when they found the rebels were coming towards them, but not knowing their numbers and hearing they had got many fire arms, they retired back into the overseer’s house, in which, though weak, they kept the rebels off, and shot one of them, who endeavoured to set the trash houses on fire, the flames of which we could see, and hear their hideous howling, which made us conclude they had killed all the white people there; and expecting they would go next to Unity estate, where I had appointed the Tremolsworth people to meet us, I pushed thither, after having taken two jugs and a half of powder and two blunderbusses which the rebels had left at White–hall estate; but as we saw nothing of them there, we hastened over to Ballard’s Valley estate. By this time it was day-break; we found two or three armed people left to take care of the works, and that the overseer, with the White-hall overseer, Dr Campbell, and some others from Land Rumny estate, had made up a party, and were just set off in pursuit of the rebels: We followed them, and in our way found Mr Graham, overseer of Land Rumny estate, lying dead upon the ground with his head cut off; it seems he had heard the shell blow, and seeing the fire at White-hall, rode directly to that estate, and so unfortunately fell into their hands. We saw a track of some blood, which we imagined to be one of the wounded rebels, and therefore followed it as far as the cross; I there divided my people into two parties, one of which I sent towards Esher estate, and went with the other towards Seaton’s; I soon heard some firing in the woods not far from us, and imagining that Dr Campbell’s party was now engaged with the rebels, I ordered a party immediately to go into the woods towards the place, I resolving to traverse round the wood and provision ground, in order, if possible, to prevent their escape. Soon after one of the party brought me an account that they had killed four of them, and four others they found had shot themselves; they also took five muskets and three blunderbusses. I then thought it prudent to make an overhaul at all the neighbouring estates, to see how many slaves were missing, and finding only fifteen or sixteen had been concerned, or, at least, no more had gone into actual rebellion, I went to refresh the men at Nonesuch, and afterwards sent out parties in pursuit of the remainder. Some of the Negroes report, that the rebels, finding themselves disappointed in their first design, which was to kill all the white people in the neighbourhood that night, and being pursued so soon after, they all made away with themselves; which as they were Corromantes, I think not unlikely.”[4]

A letter from Simon Taylor, owner of Llanrumney estate (Bayly’s “Land Rumny”), written from Kingston a fortnight later, told the same story but added information gathered from captured rebels which showed that the revolt was more carefully planned and ambitious than Bayly, writing two days after the event, had been aware:

“We about a fortnight ago had an Alarm of a Rebellion in St. Marys when Matt. Byndloss and my Overseer were both murdered by a parcell of new Negroes belonging to the Overseer of Whitehall and Ballards Valley, who about two o’Clock in the morning on the 25 of last November set fire to the Trash houses of Whitehall on which the Overseer ran down there in his Shirt to endeavour to putt out the fire and ordered a Boy to bring him his horse. Matt. Byndloss and Ballard Beckfords widow who were in the House gott both up on the alarm of fire soon as which fourteen or 15 Coromantees broke into the House and killed Byndloss. Mrs. Beckford saved herself by running down to the works from whence she gott among the canes and was carried to Nonsuch where Bayly happened to be.
My Overseer gott up on the Alarm of fire and went to Whitehall just after the Negroes had gott the Arms that were in the House and in alighting from his Horse received a large parcell of Shott from one of the rebells in his side and fell dead on the ground. They then cutt off his Head and marched down to the Valley as the Overseer and White people were going unarmed to help extinguish the fire but the rebells making a great noise singing their Warr song in the Intervall made them imagine it was a rebellion and that it was best to return back to the House for arms which they did and in a few minutes after were attackt there. The Negroes endeavoured to sett fire to the House but could not and having their head man killed went to the trash Houses and sett them on fire and march’d back to Whitehall and from there into the woods. There were instantly parties sent after them who came up with eight that day & found five of the rebells had killed themselves and the party killed the other three another party took one prisoner who impeached many old Negroes [enslaved Africans who had been in Jamaica for some time] among the rest one Blackwall head Boiler on Whitehall who was burnt. Another of them was taken up in this Town who has impeached all the Coromantees on Albion Trinity and the Frontier and that their design was to have broke out a Month after Christmas and to have attackt the fort at Port Maria to gett arms and powder and from thence to go to Sixteen mile walk where there were many of their Countrymen and that the Negroes at Scots Hall were to have joined them. That it broke out was occasioned by the New Negroes declaring that they would wait no [longer].”[5]

Evidence given to a committee of inquiry into the revolt in 1766 showed that the Coromantees of Gibraltar in St George, a plantation owned by Nathaniel Bayly and managed for him by Zachary Bayly, were also involved in the original plan of rising soon after Christmas.[6]

[1] GM 30 (July 1760), 294, 307-308.

[2] Vincent Brown: Slave Revolt in Jamaica, 1760-1761: A Cartographic Narrative, www.revolt.axismaps.com accessed 17/02/2018. See also: Edward Long, History of Jamaica (1774) 2.447-462; Bryan Edwards, History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies, 2nd edn. (1794), 2.64-67; Michael Craton, Testing the Chains: Resistance to Slavery in the British West Indies (1982), 125-139; Richard Hart, Slaves Who Abolished Slavery (1985) 130-150.

[3] “Byndless”: misprint for Byndloss. Matthew Byndloss was Mrs Beckford’s brother.

[4] GM 36 (March 1766), 135.

[5] 9 December 1765: The Letters of Simon Taylor of Jamaica to Chaloner Arcedekne, 1765-1775, ed. Betty Wood, with T.R. Clayton and W..A. Speck (2002), 30. See report of committee of inquiry: JAJ, 6 Aug 1766 (5.592-6); Long, History of Jamaica (1774), 2.465-470. A full account of the Coromantee uprisings in St Mary by James Robertson (UWI, Mona) is in preparation.

[6] Report presented to the Assembly by Edward Long, JAJ, 6 Aug 1766 (5.592-93).