Second Maroon War

The Second Maroon War of 1795–1796 was an eight-month conflict between the Maroons of Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town), a Maroon settlement later renamed after Governor Edward Trelawny at the end of First Maroon War, located near Trelawny Parish, Jamaica in the St James Parish, and the British colonials who controlled the island. The Windward communities of Jamaican Maroons remained neutral during this rebellion and their treaty with the British still remains in force. Accompong Town, however, sided with the colonial militias, and fought against Trelawny Town.

The Maroons of Trelawny Town felt that they were being mistreated under the terms of Cudjoe's Treaty of 1739, which ended the First Maroon War. The spark of the war was when two Maroons, one named Peter Campbell, were found guilty of stealing two pigs by a court in Montego Bay. The court then ordered a black slave to flog the two Maroons, and the humiliation provoked outrage in Trelawny Town. For half a century, the Maroons had been hunting runaway slaves, and while Campbell was being whipped, other imprisoned slaves jeered them.

When six Maroon leaders, led by Montague James and including Major Jarrett, came to the British to present their grievances, the British took them as prisoners. They were acting under orders from the new governor, Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres, who wrongly believed that the French had infected the Maroons with their revolutionary spirit. Balcarres completely mishandled the dispute, which could have been resolved without conflict, but he ignored the advice of local planters, and ordered his forces to put down the Maroons of Trelawny Town. Fighting began in mid-August.

The governor's combative approach led to a minor issue being blown up into a full-scale guerrilla war. On the other hand, Trelawny Town did not receive any support from the Windward Maroon towns of Moore Town, Charles Town (Jamaica) and Scott's Hall, Jamaica, while the other Leeward Maroon town of Accompong Town even took up arms on behalf of the colonial authorities against Trelawny Town.

The war lasted for eight months and ended in a bloody stalemate. The British fielded 5,000 troops and militia, which outnumbered the Maroons ten to one, but the mountainous and forested topography of Jamaica proved ideal for guerrilla warfare. The Maroon officers who fought a guerrilla campaign against the British included Leonard Parkinson, James Palmer, Andrew Smith (Maroon), John Jarrett, and Charles Samuels (Maroon). Alexander Forbes, the white superintendent of Accompong Town, sent an Accompong Maroon officer, Captain Chambers, to Trelawny Town to persuade them to surrender, but Palmer shot Chambers and cut off his head. Colonel William Fitch mobilised his forces, which included Accompong warriors, to attack Trelawny Town. However, Fitch did not follow the advice of his Accompong trackers, and he led them into a Trelawny ambush, which resulted in 18 deaths, including those of two Accompong trackers. Fitch himself was killed in a Maroon ambush.

In the first two weeks of the conflict, the Maroons of Trelawny Town had killed 65 British soldiers without any Maroon death reported. Throughout the entire conflict, one general complained that the colonial forces had killed less than 32 Maroons and their allies. Recent research shows that the colonial militias were only able to kill about 21 Trelawnys. The Maroon warriors also laid waste to a number of sugar estates in western Jamaica.

The casualties suffered by the colonial militias were higher than those suffered by the Maroons. There were a number of engagements between the Maroons and the British forces for the remaining months of 1795, during which the British suffered between 8-12 killed or wounded in each skirmish. No final figure was given for the total losses for the British. However, the British casualties were believed to be in the hundreds.

When General George Walpole employed a scorched-earth strategy against Trelawny Town, the Maroons found they had difficulty getting access to food, water, and ammunition as the dry season began at the end of the year. When Governor Balcarres imported some one hundred bloodhounds and their handlers from Cuba, Montague James and his lieutenants saw this as the last straw, and accepted Walpole's overtures for peace. The Maroons had the better of the skirmishes, so they only laid down their arms and surrendered in December 1795 on condition they would not be deported. Walpole gave the Maroons his word that they would not be transported off the island.