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

Abstract

Captain JohnGabriel Stedman (1744-1797)was a professional soldier in the service of the Dutch colony of Surinamewhofoughttosuppressan18th-centuryslaverebellion and subsequently published an account of his experiences.MarchThroughaSwampinPursuitofSlaves, by the ItalianengraverFrancescoBartolozzi (1725-1730to1815), isbased on awatercolormadeby Stedmanwhile on a campaign against the Surinamese rebels. Stedmanwas 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 againstorganizedbandsofescapedslavescalledMaroons,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 LouisFourgeoud, ledexpeditionsofmercenarysoldiers into the junglesofSurinametokillorcapturetherebelsanddestroytheir crops andvillages. TheMaroons couldnothope todefeat Fourgeoud inapitchedbattle, so theyretreatedtosafehavenswhere they could ambush pursuing soldiers. In Bartolozzi’s engraving, Colonel Fourgeoud has led his troops intoadeepswampandispointing thewaytowardarebel village. A slave wades ahead of the colonel to test the bottom withhis feet forholesanddrop-offs.Fourgeoud’s soldiers carry their firearms high in the air to keep their flintlocks and powderdry,while rebels indistantpalmtrees firedownuponthem. Stedman’smemoir 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 slavesandother scenesofacolonyatwarwereadapted 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 1764hemetRichardDalton, anart dealer whowasKeeperof theKing’sDrawingsandMedals forGeorgeIII of Great Britain. Dalton paid Bartolozzi’s expenses to London and arranged for him to be appointed Engraver to the King. Bartolozzi spentmoney lavishly andwas eager to accept commissions to payhis debts.His reputation as an artistwas based onengravingsofbiblical andmythological subjects, buthealso made images for contemporary works such as Stedman’s narrative.Bartolozzi hadbeen trainedas apainter aswell as anengraver and was adept at improving the drawings of amateurs. Stedman’sdrawingsandwatercolorswereethnographicallyaccurate, but he was not a trained artist, and his images almost certainly were enhanced by Bartolozzi and others. After the episode inMarch Through a Swamp in Pursuit of Slaves,ColonelFourgeoudandhismencameuponarebel 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 alongwith 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 theair. SeveralofFourgeoud’smenreceivedgunshotwounds in thebattle,butmostof the injurieswereminor— lacking leadammunition, the rebelshad loadedtheir gunswith 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 onmany occasions from the 18th century to the present day. The six major Maroon tribes of Suriname andneighboring FrenchGuiana are theworld’s largest concentrationof independentsocieties formedbyescapedslaves.They livebyhorticulture, fishing,andhuntingandhavetheirownlanguages based on African and Amerindian dialects with elementsofEnglish,Portuguese,andDutch.Acurrentdisputewith the government is over control ofmining operations in territories controlled by theMaroons. Although slaverywas not abolished in Surinameuntil 1873, the publication of Stedman’s narrative in 1796helped to erodepublic support for the slave trade inEuropeand its colonies.Thebookwas translated into several languagesandpublishedinmorethan25editions.Stedman’sdescriptions of the brutality of plantation life debunked themyth that slavery was a benign, civilizing influence. By his own admission, Stedmanwas an opportunist and amercenary, but he wasalsoa truth-teller, andhisnarrativeenduresasa 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 slaveswere better off onNewWorld plantations thanlivingundercomparativelyprimitiveconditions intheirnative lands, Stedman’s storyof theMaroon rebellionproved that slaves were willing to endure hardships to escape from bondage andwould fight to preserve their freedom.