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March Through a Swamp in Pursuit of Slaves: John Gabriel Stedman

March Through a Swamp in Pursuit of Slaves: John Gabriel Stedman Captain John Gabriel Stedman (1744-1797) was a professional soldier in the service of the Dutch colony of Suriname who fought to suppress an 18th-century slave rebellion and subsequently published an account of his experiences. March Through a Swamp in Pursuit of Slaves, by the Italian engraver Francesco Bartolozzi (1725-1730 to 1815), is based on a watercolor made by Stedman while on a campaign against the Surinamese rebels. Stedman was born in 1744 in the city of Dendermonde in the Austrian Netherlands. At the age of 16 he was commissioned as a junior officer in the Dutch Republic's Scots Brigade and subsequently advanced to the rank of lieutenant. In 1772 he sailed with 800 troops to Suriname, on the northern coast of South America, to strengthen local forces against organized bands of escaped slaves called Maroons, who were raiding the colony’s sugar plantations to steal weapons, tools, and ammunition and recruit more slaves to their rebellion. To stop the raids, Stedman’s commanding officer, Colonel Louis Fourgeoud, led expeditions of mercenary soldiers into the jungles of Suriname to kill or capture the rebels and destroy their crops and villages. The Maroons could not hope to defeat Fourgeoud in a pitched battle, so they retreated to safe havens where they could ambush pursuing soldiers. John Gabriel Stedman (1744-1797), March Through a Swamp in Pursuit of Slaves from “Narrative of a Five Years Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America, from the year 1772 to 1777,” engraved by Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815), published 1796. Colored engraving. Courtesy of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France/Archives Charmet (http://www.bnf.fr/fr/acc/x.accueil.html), and the Bridgeman Art Library, New York, New York, CHT293287. In Bartolozzi’s engraving, Colonel Fourgeoud has led his troops into a deep swamp and is pointing the way toward a rebel village. A slave wades ahead of the colonel to test the bottom with his feet for holes and drop-offs. Fourgeoud’s soldiers carry their firearms high in the air to keep their flintlocks and powder dry, while rebels in distant palm trees fire down upon them. Stedman’s memoir details the hazards of a jungle campaign—the tropical climate, dense vegetation, biting insects, dangerous animals, fatal diseases, and lack of food—but these miseries pale in comparison to his account of abuses endured by the slaves of Suriname. More than 100 images of the torture of slaves and other scenes of a colony at war were adapted from Stedman’s drawings and engraved by Bartolozzi, the British poet and painter William Blake, and other artists. Bartolozzi was born in Florence, Italy, between the years 1725 and 1730. At the age of 18 he was apprenticed to the German Italian engraver Joseph Wagner, for whom he produced book illustrations and single prints. In 1754 Bartolozzi completed his apprenticeship and established his own workshop, then spent some time in Rome studying with the engraver Giovanni Piranesi. In 1764 he met Richard Dalton, an art dealer who was Keeper of the King’s Drawings and Medals for George III of Great Britain. Dalton paid Bartolozzi’s expenses to London and arranged for him to be appointed Engraver to the King. Bartolozzi spent money lavishly and was eager to accept commissions to pay his debts. His reputation as an artist was based on engravings of biblical and mythological subjects, but he also made images for contemporary works such as Stedman’s narrative. Bartolozzi had been trained as a painter as well as an engraver and was adept at improving the drawings of amateurs. Stedman’s drawings and watercolors were ethnographically accurate, but he was not a trained artist, and his images almost certainly were enhanced by Bartolozzi and others. After the episode in March Through a Swamp in Pursuit of Slaves, Colonel Fourgeoud and his men came upon a rebel town and attacked it. The rebels briefly returned fire, then burned their huts and escaped through a marsh on a bridge of logs. The Maroons managed to evacuate their town’s entire population along with food stores of rice, yams, and cassava, leaving nothing for the soldiers to eat, and covering the noise of the maneuver by shouting, blowing horns, and firing their weapons into the air. Several of Fourgeoud’s men received gunshot wounds in the battle, but most of the injuries were minor—lacking lead ammunition, the rebels had loaded their guns with pebbles, buttons, and coins. Fourgeoud considered this campaign a success because a Maroon village was destroyed and its inhabitants were chased deeper into the jungle. Conflicts between Maroons and the Surinamese government have arisen on many occasions from the 18th century to the present day. The six major Maroon tribes of Suriname and neighboring French Guiana are the world’s largest concentration of independent societies formed by escaped slaves. They live by horticulture, fishing, and hunting and have their own languages based on African and Amerindian dialects with elements of English, Portuguese, and Dutch. A current dispute with the government is over control of mining operations in territories controlled by the Maroons. Although slavery was not abolished in Suriname until 1873, the publication of Stedman’s narrative in 1796 helped to erode public support for the slave trade in Europe and its colonies. The book was translated into several languages and published in more than 25 editions. Stedman’s descriptions of the brutality of plantation life debunked the myth that slavery was a benign, civilizing influence. By his own admission, Stedman was an opportunist and a mercenary, but he was also a truth-teller, and his narrative endures as a case study of violence and human rights abuses resulting from the absolute control of one group of people by another. To counter the argument that slaves were better off on New World plantations than living under comparatively primitive conditions in their native lands, Stedman’s story of the Maroon rebellion proved that slaves were willing to endure hardships to escape from bondage and would fight to preserve their freedom. Back to top Article Information Correction: This article was corrected on November 12, 2015, to fix a date in the last paragraph. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png JAMA American Medical Association

March Through a Swamp in Pursuit of Slaves: John Gabriel Stedman

Cole, Thomas B.
JAMA , Volume 314 (5) – Aug 4, 2015
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Publisher
American Medical Association
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN
0098-7484
eISSN
1538-3598
DOI
10.1001/jama.2014.11895
Publisher site
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Abstract

Captain John Gabriel Stedman (1744-1797) was a professional soldier in the service of the Dutch colony of Suriname who fought to suppress an 18th-century slave rebellion and subsequently published an account of his experiences. March Through a Swamp in Pursuit of Slaves, by the Italian engraver Francesco Bartolozzi (1725-1730 to 1815), is based on a watercolor made by Stedman while on a campaign against the Surinamese rebels. Stedman was born in 1744 in the city of Dendermonde in the Austrian Netherlands. At the age of 16 he was commissioned as a junior officer in the Dutch Republic's Scots Brigade and subsequently advanced to the rank of lieutenant. In 1772 he sailed with 800 troops to Suriname, on the northern coast of South America, to strengthen local forces against organized bands of escaped slaves called Maroons, who were raiding the colony’s sugar plantations to steal weapons, tools, and ammunition and recruit more slaves to their rebellion. To stop the raids, Stedman’s commanding officer, Colonel Louis Fourgeoud, led expeditions of mercenary soldiers into the jungles of Suriname to kill or capture the rebels and destroy their crops and villages. The Maroons could not hope to defeat Fourgeoud in a pitched battle, so they retreated to safe havens where they could ambush pursuing soldiers. John Gabriel Stedman (1744-1797), March Through a Swamp in Pursuit of Slaves from “Narrative of a Five Years Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America, from the year 1772 to 1777,” engraved by Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815), published 1796. Colored engraving. Courtesy of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France/Archives Charmet (http://www.bnf.fr/fr/acc/x.accueil.html), and the Bridgeman Art Library, New York, New York, CHT293287. In Bartolozzi’s engraving, Colonel Fourgeoud has led his troops into a deep swamp and is pointing the way toward a rebel village. A slave wades ahead of the colonel to test the bottom with his feet for holes and drop-offs. Fourgeoud’s soldiers carry their firearms high in the air to keep their flintlocks and powder dry, while rebels in distant palm trees fire down upon them. Stedman’s memoir details the hazards of a jungle campaign—the tropical climate, dense vegetation, biting insects, dangerous animals, fatal diseases, and lack of food—but these miseries pale in comparison to his account of abuses endured by the slaves of Suriname. More than 100 images of the torture of slaves and other scenes of a colony at war were adapted from Stedman’s drawings and engraved by Bartolozzi, the British poet and painter William Blake, and other artists. Bartolozzi was born in Florence, Italy, between the years 1725 and 1730. At the age of 18 he was apprenticed to the German Italian engraver Joseph Wagner, for whom he produced book illustrations and single prints. In 1754 Bartolozzi completed his apprenticeship and established his own workshop, then spent some time in Rome studying with the engraver Giovanni Piranesi. In 1764 he met Richard Dalton, an art dealer who was Keeper of the King’s Drawings and Medals for George III of Great Britain. Dalton paid Bartolozzi’s expenses to London and arranged for him to be appointed Engraver to the King. Bartolozzi spent money lavishly and was eager to accept commissions to pay his debts. His reputation as an artist was based on engravings of biblical and mythological subjects, but he also made images for contemporary works such as Stedman’s narrative. Bartolozzi had been trained as a painter as well as an engraver and was adept at improving the drawings of amateurs. Stedman’s drawings and watercolors were ethnographically accurate, but he was not a trained artist, and his images almost certainly were enhanced by Bartolozzi and others. After the episode in March Through a Swamp in Pursuit of Slaves, Colonel Fourgeoud and his men came upon a rebel town and attacked it. The rebels briefly returned fire, then burned their huts and escaped through a marsh on a bridge of logs. The Maroons managed to evacuate their town’s entire population along with food stores of rice, yams, and cassava, leaving nothing for the soldiers to eat, and covering the noise of the maneuver by shouting, blowing horns, and firing their weapons into the air. Several of Fourgeoud’s men received gunshot wounds in the battle, but most of the injuries were minor—lacking lead ammunition, the rebels had loaded their guns with pebbles, buttons, and coins. Fourgeoud considered this campaign a success because a Maroon village was destroyed and its inhabitants were chased deeper into the jungle. Conflicts between Maroons and the Surinamese government have arisen on many occasions from the 18th century to the present day. The six major Maroon tribes of Suriname and neighboring French Guiana are the world’s largest concentration of independent societies formed by escaped slaves. They live by horticulture, fishing, and hunting and have their own languages based on African and Amerindian dialects with elements of English, Portuguese, and Dutch. A current dispute with the government is over control of mining operations in territories controlled by the Maroons. Although slavery was not abolished in Suriname until 1873, the publication of Stedman’s narrative in 1796 helped to erode public support for the slave trade in Europe and its colonies. The book was translated into several languages and published in more than 25 editions. Stedman’s descriptions of the brutality of plantation life debunked the myth that slavery was a benign, civilizing influence. By his own admission, Stedman was an opportunist and a mercenary, but he was also a truth-teller, and his narrative endures as a case study of violence and human rights abuses resulting from the absolute control of one group of people by another. To counter the argument that slaves were better off on New World plantations than living under comparatively primitive conditions in their native lands, Stedman’s story of the Maroon rebellion proved that slaves were willing to endure hardships to escape from bondage and would fight to preserve their freedom. Back to top Article Information Correction: This article was corrected on November 12, 2015, to fix a date in the last paragraph.

Journal

JAMA – American Medical Association

Published: Aug 4, 2015

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