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Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: August 20, 2020 at 10:29:20 PM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Atlantic]: Blakley on Brown, 'Tacky's Revolt: The > Story of an Atlantic Slave War' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Vincent Brown. Tacky's Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War. > Cambridge Harvard University Press, 2020. viii + 320 pp. $35.00 > (cloth), ISBN 978-0-674-73757-0. > > Reviewed by Chris Blakley (UCLA) > Published on H-Atlantic (August, 2020) > Commissioned by Bryan Rindfleisch > > Decentering Tacky: The Coromantee War in the African Atlantic World > > Slavery can be understood as a state of ongoing, everyday war between > the enslaved, enslavers, and the societies that engender these > relations. Vincent Brown's study of the 1760-61 war on Jamaica, led > by diverse figures--predominantly Coromantee men and women from the > Gold Coast of Atlantic Africa including Tacky, Wager (also known as > Apongo), and Simon--is a complex history of "a war within an > interlinked network of other wars," namely the Seven Years' War (p. > 7). Making use of a range of archival materials, including maps, > drawings, sketches, the papers of slaveholders, minutes of the House > of Assembly, the Admiralty, the Board of Trade, and the diary of > Thomas Thistlewood, Brown tells the story of a distinctly > Coromantee-led war whose events reverberated throughout the Atlantic > world. _Tacky's Revolt_ is comprehensive in breadth and details the > histories of Atlantic Africa and Jamaica before the war, the conflict > itself, and the aftermath of the crisis on the island and throughout > the broader British Empire. Brown's aim in telling the story of > Tacky's Revolt as a war, rather than an uprising led by a singular > figure, is to place the conflict as an ambitious bid for conquest > within a uniquely Coromantee military-political history of the > African diaspora, and to make sense of this struggle within the wider > context of the Atlantic Revolutions of the late eighteenth century. > > Brown utilizes the patterns of warfare, trade, and displacement in > the wake of conflict to provide narrative structure to the book. The > first chapter considers the militarized slaving societies in Atlantic > Africa--principally the Gold Coast and Bight of Benin--that emerged > between the mid-seventeenth century and early eighteenth centuries. > Reinforcing patterns of combat, commerce, and dislocation in Africa > ultimately produced a "martial geography" for African peoples as they > moved about the Atlantic world, both willingly and unwillingly (p. > 2). As the gold trade transformed into the slave trade, firms like > the Royal African Company and the Dutch Geoctrooieerde Westindische > Compagnie entered a world of ongoing warfare between African > kingdoms. Trade opportunities with Europeans held in check on the > coastline pushed kingdoms like Oyo, Dahomey, Asante, Denkyira, > Akwamu, and Akyem to become "predatory slaving states" that waged war > upon one another to expand their territorial reach and reap profits > from exchanges of captive prisoners for goods from the Indian Ocean > world via foreign slavers. Savvy rulers like Opuku Ware I of Asante > and Agaja of Dahomey manipulated European rivals to push the > geographic limits of their kingdoms as they transformed their states > into empires in their own right. The British Empire likewise adapted > its martial forces for expanding slavery in the Atlantic world > through conflicts such as the War of Jenkin's Ear, or Guerra del > Asiento, a war fought over Britain's ambition to expand its merchant > slaving fleet beyond the designated port cities of the asiento > contract. Royal Navy ships besieged Porto Bello and Cartagena de > Indias in a bid to "make the world safe" for British merchant slavers > (p. 26). Here Brown considers the possible origins of Apongo, who > later became one of the leaders of the Coromantee War in Jamaica, in > the context of this Atlantic Africa. Whether he hailed from Dahomey, > Asante, or one of the states making up the Fante confederation on the > Gold Coast, Apongo's life--perhaps as a soldier, diplomat, or > captive--was shaped by the cycles of warfare, captive-taking, and > exchange that are central to Brown's analysis. > > Meanwhile, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English Jamaica > functioned as a militarized society ruled by a "garrison government" > filled with veterans of imperial wars. The colonists in Jamaica > likewise embraced the vision of being "governed as an army" and the > martial culture of patriarchal male domination that suffused the > island's government and society (p. 45). Military governance > organized the island's forts, militias, and naval bases to fight > constant war on two fronts: an outward war against European > adversaries, namely the Spanish and French, and an inward war against > the enslaved, runaway captives, and the Leeward and Windward Maroon > communities that developed in the Cockpit Country and Blue Mountains. > These latter "intestine enemies" faced brutal torture for resisting > enslavers, and the slaveholders meted out punishments intended for > enemy combatants such as starvation, drawing and quartering, and > beheading (p. 57). In addition to the island's formal military > architecture, sugar and coffee plantations were militarized spaces > equipped with defensible walls installed with "Flankers, having loop > holes for Fire Arms & Ports for small carriage Guns" surrounding > estates (p. 52). Martial rule flowed from the government to > plantations, as many planters and their overseers were veterans of > conflicts like the Nine Years' War and Queen Anne's War. Brown > emphasizes that slaveholders and overseers conditioned themselves to > enjoy violence against the enslaved, as when one observer wrote that > the children of slaveholders are raised to "make it one of their > Diversions" and find pleasure in "a war against the dignity of the > enslaved" (p. 58). The Articles of War, amended by Parliament in > 1749, further enshrined an exceptionally hierarchical, disciplined, > and bellicose vision of the nation's military and navy that > intensified the martial culture of the empire's colonies. Apongo > experienced this change himself as he labored for a year aboard a > warship, the _Wager_, during the War of Jenkin's Ear. Apongo served > alongside several other Akan men, including John Quaco, Peter > Quamina, and John Primus, and his time in the navy added to his > knowledge of European maritime tactics and ground strategy. Brown > raises the hypothesis that enslavers specifically sought slaves with > military prowess in an effort to reinforce their own "self-image as a > conqueror" of territory and exceptionally militaristic people (p. > 78). > > Coromantees, principally Akan, Twi, and Ga-speakers from the Gold > Coast, such as Apongo and Tacky, constituted a significant > ethnolinguistic group in Jamaica by the early decades of the > eighteenth century. Slaveholders coveted captives from the Gold Coast > for their "ingenious" reputation for being "easily taught any Science > or Mechanick Art." (p. 87). On the other hand, many planters feared > Gold Coast slaves for their reputed predilection to revolt in rapid, > fierce uprisings, as when fifteen Coromantees murdered Major Samuel > Martin of Antigua on Christmas Day in 1701. Expanding on previous > scholarship, Brown explains how the ethnic category of > Coromantee--often spelled Calamante or Cormantine--emerged in the > early eighteenth century as multilingual captives with similar > cultural backgrounds from the Gold Coast coalesced in the > Caribbean.[1] The term Coromantee likely stems from the English > castle at Cormantyn, established in 1618, and from the appellation > being later associated with the Gold Coast. English and Dutch slavers > learned how Atlantic Africans prosecuted war through rapid skirmish > attacks rather than deployed linear regiments. The influx of guns > from Europe in the second half of the seventeenth century transformed > warfighting and slaving in Atlantic Africa. States and armies in > Europe and Africa simultaneously experienced a "military revolution" > that resulted in the escalation of the Atlantic slave trade.[2] > Therefore, the war captives who were transported to the Caribbean > brought West African stratagems and rituals with them, especially > oath-taking ceremonies led by obeah shamans. For instance, the 1733 > revolt on Sankt Jan was led by slaves who sought to replace the > island's Danish government with "the remnants of the Akwamu > political-military aristocracy," which also involved ritual > oath-taking (p. 105). While this revolt was unsuccessful, others > achieved significant results. The First Maroon War (1728-40) led to > the ratification of peace treaties between the Leeward Maroons at > Trelawny Town, the Windward Maroons at Nanny Town, and the British > state. It was in particular knowing and exploiting Jamaica's > mountainous terrain carved with sharp ravines that proved central to > the maroons' tactics and ultimate triumph in 1740. Further, Brown > illuminates how psychological and sonic warfare, such as manipulating > noises and echoes from abeng horns to confuse British troops, played > a role in the maroons' success. In the wake of the war, the British > launched a massive road-building and forest-clearing campaign to > improve transportation and prevent future rebellions from gaining any > more momentum. > > The event known as Tacky's Revolt, Brown argues, is as much "an > artifact of the fear and disorientation" caused by the uprising that > began in Saint Mary Parish in April, 1760, as the actual assault on > Frontier and Trinity plantations led by a group of Coromantee > insurgents (p. 131). Rather than focus on the uprising led by Tacky > on Easter Monday, April 7, 1760, Brown devotes more time to mapping > the attacks that followed Tacky's capture and death by April 14. > Rebel units attacked and raided plantations after the Easter assault > on Frontier and Trinity until mid-October 1761, including a campaign > led by Apongo against estates in Westmoreland Parish. Like the First > Maroon War, this war amounted to a contest for territorial conquest > and political autonomy. One captured rebel was found armed with a > mahogany "sword of state," an artifact signifying the royal right to > wage war, and Brown stresses the enslaved "were literally taking > power into their own hands." (p. 152). The rebel's goal, Brown > asserts, was the creation of a new Akan state, much like the > attempted recreation of Akwamu in Sankt Jan. In particular, women > played a crucial role in this multi-sited conflict, including Akua, > the "Queen of Kingston," who led a rebel group while adorned with "a > crown upon her head" (p. 162). > > Expanding beyond established narratives of the revolt as a phenomenon > limited to the attacks in April, Brown situates the revolt within the > broader conflict that he calls the Coromantee War, which lasted until > the last attacks on plantations led by Simon and his followers upon > St. Elizabeth Parish in the spring and fall of 1761. Brown lays out a > brilliant narrative of the war, including the mistiming of Tacky's > group and the strategic decision by Apongo to assault Westmoreland > Parish, a commercial and naval hub at the heart of the British > Empire. The British counterinsurgency eventually defeated the rebels > through scorched-earth warfare, the aid of maroon allies, and > merciless public executions of captured rebels to intimidate would-be > insurgents. Those captured who were not executed were transported to > other colonies, including British Honduras and South Carolina, where > they continued to rebel against their enslavers. One group of > transported rebels from Jamaica in British Honduras murdered their > enslaver and later blocked the colony's river traffic at the same > time as others launched attacks in Saint Mary's Parish (p. 224). > Uprisings like this one added to a growing anxiety among enslavers > from Dutch Berbice to New York of the threatening presence of > Coromantee rebels. > > The Coromantee War sent shock waves throughout the wider Atlantic > world and influenced the intellectual and political changes already > underway in the early Age of Revolutions. Brown shows how the rebels' > conscious decision to strike in the midst of the Seven Years' War > tested the limits of Britain's imperial war machine as the state > struggled to defeat the insurgency while simultaneously battling > throughout the globe. Moreover, the war influenced the growing > anti-Black thought of genocidal settler colonists like Edward Long, > whose ideas gained traction within the empire in the conflict's > aftermath. > > Needless to say, slave war and diaspora continued to drive the > creation of Atlantic African communities in the Americas into the > late eighteenth century. For instance, Dutty Boukman, one of the > figures involved in the early conflict in Saint-Domingue in 1791 that > later became the Haitian Revolution, and who presided as a houngan > priest during the vodun ceremony on August 14, 1791, at Bois Caïman > in which rebels pledged their allegiance to each other after > sacrificing a black pig, possibly arrived to the island from Jamaica > in the wake of the Coromantee War. Boukman would have quickly learned > about the previous wars from the enslaved community, since narrating > resistance and war became a means of initiation into Afro-Jamaican > society by which the enslaved repeatedly instructed new arrivals from > West Africa. Thus, Brown interprets acts of telling history between > slaves and those newly arrived as "a radical pedagogy of the > enslaved" that nourished future acts of revolutionary violence (p. > 242). Into the nineteenth century, then, antebellum slaveholders > still feared "Tackeys among us" who might prepare to eradicate the > United States' slave society (p. 244). > > Altogether, _Tacky's Revolt_ is a highly original military, social, > and political history of the Coromantee War and its influence in the > Greater Caribbean and Atlantic world. Brown's use of cartography to > map the timing and direction of the revolts led by Tacky, Apongo, > Simon, and others gives the reader an excellent visual sense for > understanding each wave of the long Coromantee War and its spatial > evolution as the result of strategic decisions made on the part of > Atlantic African martial thought. While Brown introduces several > women involved the Coromantee War--especially Akua, who returned to > Jamaica from exile in Cuba during the revolt, and Mary, an enslaved > women who survived rape at the hands of her enslaver and was later > transported to British Honduras during the rebellion--it is > surprising that the book's overview of the development of the > Windward Maroons largely minimizes the role of Nanny, or Queen Nanny, > in leading the town that later bore her name in the Blue Mountains. > Though Nanny has been a subject of historical analyses of the > Windward Maroons and marronage more generally, it is surprising she > is given less attention here than other important maroon figures such > as Kojo. Moreover, while Brown does mention the presence of > Taíno-speakers in the Leeward and Windward Maroon towns, he does not > pursue, to the extent that the archive would permit such questions, > the possibility that Indigenous ideas about war may have played a > role in the Coromantee War. Nevertheless, scholars of the Caribbean, > West Africa, the British Empire, and Atlantic slavery/world will find > the text valuable, particularly for Brown's development of the > _longue durée_ of the Coromantee War. > > Notes > > [1]. Walter C. Rucker, _Gold Coast Diasporas: Identity, Culture, and > Power_ (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015); Kwasi Konadu, > _The Akan Diaspora in the Americas_ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, > 2010). > > [2]. John K. Thornton, _Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800_ > (London: University College London Press, 1999), 6-9. > > Citation: Chris Blakley. Review of Brown, Vincent, _Tacky's Revolt: > The Story of an Atlantic Slave War_. H-Atlantic, H-Net Reviews. > August, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55337 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#641): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/641 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/76323540/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES<br />#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.<br />#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.<br />#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
