The Black Carib Wars: Freedom, Survival, and the Making of the Garifuna

215 Pages·2012·3.07 MB·English

by  Christopher Taylor

The Black Carib Wars
Anton L. Allahar and Shona N. Jackson
Series Editors
The Black Carib Wars
Freedom, Survival, and the Making of the Garifuna
Christopher Taylor
University Press of Mississippi
Jackson
www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press of Mississippi is a member of the Association of
American University Presses.
Published in 2012 in the United Kingdom by
Signal Books Ltd
36 Minster Road, Oxford

Published in 2012 in the United States by
University Press of Mississippi
Copyright © 2012 by Christopher Taylor
Maps: Paul Taylor
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2012
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Taylor, Chris, 1961 Sept. 18–
The Black Carib Wars : freedom, survival, and the making of the Garifuna /
Christopher Taylor.
p. cm. — (Caribbean studies series)
“Published in 2012 in the United Kingdom by Signal Books . . . Oxford”—T.p. verso.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61703-310-0 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-61703-311-7 (ebook)
1. Saint Vincent—History—Carib War, 1795–1796. 2. Garifuna (Caribbean people)—Wars—
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines—Saint Vincent—History—18th century. 3. Garifuna
(Caribbean people)—Saint Vincent and the Grenadines—Saint Vincent—History—
18th century. 4. Government, Resistance to—Saint Vincent and the Grenadines—Saint
Vincent—History—18th century. 5. Saint Vincent—Race relations—History—18th century.
6. France—Colonies—America—History—18th century. 7. Great Britain—Colonies—
America—History—18th century. I. Title.
F2106.T39 2012
972.9844—dc23 2011046727
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
For my mother, Kathleen Taylor
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Contents
Acknowledgments and Note on Text . . . . . . . . . IX
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1. Youroumaÿn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2. Good Friends, Cruel Enemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3. Quel Roi? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4. Allies of the French . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5. A Pity It Belongs to the Caribs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
6. The Cry of Liberty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
7. Calvary of the Caribs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
8. Aftermath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Appendix 1. The Anglo-Carib Peace Treaty of 1773 . . . . . 161
Appendix 2. Return of the Charaibs landed at Baliseau
from July 26th 96 to Feb 2nd 1797 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Appendix 3. Numbers, Names, and Ages of Charibs
Surrendered, taken the 28th May, 1805 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Appendix 4. The Indigenous Population . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Further Reading and Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . 194
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
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Acknowledgments and Note on Text
First and foremost I would like to thank all the members of the delegation, or-
ganized by the Garifuna Coalition Inc and led by its president, José Francisco
Avila, who visited St. Vincent in July 2009 and who so generously allowed me
to share the experience of their return to Youroumaÿn. In particular, I’m grate-
ful to Carlos Gamboa and Angel Guity Fernández for several illuminating and
thought-provoking conversations about Garifuna life and history.
Also in St. Vincent I would like to thank Vanessa Demircyan, for sharing
her interest in contemporary Caribs there and for pointing me towards some
French sources, to David Fergusson for steering me in the direction of some
interesting items in the Vincentian archives, and to Edwin Johnson, a cham-
pion of St. Vincent’s Carib heritage, for his views on the history of Greiggs
and for accompanying me to the summit of the Soufrière.
I am very grateful to Professor Peter Hulme of the University of Essex for
kindly agreeing to read an earlier draft of this manuscript. His comments and
suggestions for further research were much appreciated. Any errors of fact or
follies of interpretation are, of course, my own.
Thanks to James Ferguson of Signal Books for all his work in getting
this book into print and for lending me his copy of Sir William Young’s An
Account of the Black Caribs of St Vincent—I may be in a position to return it
soon.
Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Deena, for everything, and for intro-
ducing me to Andy Palacio’s Wátina.
◆ ◆ ◆
All quotations, both in English and French, are transcribed literally and retain
the at times idiosyncratic spellings and the racial terminology of the day.
IX