Aspects of Slavery and Freedom Seeking in North Carolina
Fire-Marooning and Maroon Communities
For instance, in the Big Swamp, a maroon community in the Robeson County area built a large home with shingles, a smokehouse, fattened pigs, and “all other things needed to keep house.” Maroon communities made camp or established permanent buildings away from the normal societal, mainly in less hospitable areas, such as swamps or dense forests.
Some maroon communities were large and connected to a larger network. Maroons on the coast of NC seem to have built a vast network of communities that show up in 1821. A petition indicates that a number of blacks “collected together in arms, and were going about the counties of Craven, Carteret, Onslow, and Jones Counties committing thefts, and alarming the inhabitants of the said Counties. The outrages of these villains became so frequent and that...it was thought necessary to adopt measures either to arrest or to disperse them.”
The maroon community of Onslow seems to have caused a stir in the county to the point that William L. Hill, Colonel of the Onslow Militia, referred to the activities of the maroons as an insurrection in 1821. The maroons seem to have “ravaged farms, burnt houses, and ravished a number of females,” which caused “universal panic” within the county of Onslow and surrounding counties such as Carteret and Bladen. See petition HERE and HERE
“Although the said militia did not succeed in apprehending all the runaways and fugitives, they did good by arresting some and driving others off, and suppressing the spirit of insurrection.”
The network of communities shows that the citizens of Onslow and other counties did not know the network existed. We learn more about this network, in which the Onslow maroon community was involved, in 1830. Apatheker noted, “Maroons were important factors in causing slave insubordination in Onslow, Jones, Sampson, Bladen, New Hanover, and Duplin counties, North Carolina, from September through December 1830. Citizens of the last four counties petitioned the legislature on December 14th, because their slaves had become almost uncontrollable. They go and come when and where they please and if our attempt is made to stop them they immediately fly to the woods and continue there for months and years...taking hops and sheep.”
The petitioners noted that patrols were most useless against this activity, mainly because it was organized. When patrols did get involved, the maroons would burn the houses of patrols that got involved in hunting them.
We learn about this vast network because the community was betrayed by a man named Moses who was captured. He noted that there were 30 to 40 maroons who were planning an uprising and they possessed arms and ammunition. He noted that the community had runners connecting Wilmington, New Bern, and Elizabeth City. These maroons had camps at Gatson’s Island on Pine Creek, New Port River, and Wilmington. All the camps had arms hidden, and “arms were found in the place named by Moses” with Moses’ help. It was thought that a planned insurrection was slated for Christmas day.
The investigation into this community at Onslow community also found an old white woman at the camp, meat and hidden meat, a child, clothes, and 11 houses, which were burned.
To those not privy to the location of maroon communities, it is often unlikely to find one, as maroon communities relied on great secrecy. These communities were not people merely coming together by becoming geographical neighbors; however, they became a community through common goals, interests, and trust. Trust was central to these hidden communities (either petit or grand).
Maroon communities were often exposed or learned about maroon activity. Maroon exercises were detectable by whites, be it in the form of stealing or encouraging enslaved people on plantations. For instance, in 1838, an enslaved man named Peter was caught robbing a hen house, which resulted in his execution. Peter was linked to a “gang of runaways who infested the said Town & neighbourhood” of Brunswick, North Carolina.
We also learn a great deal about the presence of maroon communities through battles with whites. Maroon communities and their associated activity has a long history in North Carolina. Some of the earliest maroon activities were recorded in 1767 when the sheriff of New Hanover county was called upon to raise up a small army, “not less than 30 men,” to pursue and kill 20 runaway slaves who did not surrender.
North Carolina petitions demonstrate that some of these battles were on-going. The county of New Hanover had a number of maroon and militia skirmishes. For instance, Henry Taylor was shot trying to “put a stop to the deperadation committed by a number of outlying runaways that had collected themselves together to rob and kill and destroy the stock of the inhabitants of the counties of Brunswick and New Hanvover.”
In Lenoir County, white citizens seemed to have had a very difficult time with maroon activity and located the maroon community of that area. This is because the court was petitioned by 137 residents asking to help to end a maroon activity and “save the life of several of our citizens from being lost or wounded by trying to apprehend these outlayer or runaway negroes.”
Another example is the maroon community of the Green Swamp in the Brunswick area, Southeast of Lake Waccamaw. Historian David Cecelski noted, “runaway slaves in the Green Swamp, built at least eleven cabins and carved out a garden and grazing area in the midst of the Green Swamp.” They too fought with whites and defended themselves, and it was recorded that they “ran off cursing and swearing” after one skirmish, yelling at the raiders “to come on, they were ready for them again.”
Hoping to not only deter running away but end the formation of the maroon community, slaveholders at times outlawed. An enslaved person under the law of being outlawed had no more right to life and could be killed by any citizen without the citizen facing any penalty of law.
Enslaved people who were outlawed comprised an act of complete rejection and refusal to submit to the rule of slavery. “In the spring of 1829, whites in Craven County sought to capture and punish Tom, a fugitive slave for damaging their property. Tom had fled Church Chapman’s plantation, armed himself, and then roamed the countryside, where he killed hogs and committed other crimes ‘to the terror or the citizens’ in the neighborhood; the armed runaway’s unsupervised existence threatened white people’s property.” Tom was outlawed.
Maroon communities were formed where there was enough terrain to conceal a community and activities, and allow the community to move around freely and escape capture, such as swamps, imperturbable forests, or frontier areas (such as mountains). Maroons lived within the geographical boundaries of slavery but at the same time outside of it and served as a danger to nearby communities. Maroons were often celebrated in the slave quarters for taking and defending their freedom.
Maroon communities often had to defend themselves when found. The Big Swamp community had a skirmish with local whites on January 26, 1858. The maroon community learned about a potential raid of their community and prepared for it. It is likely that they heard about the raid from some friends on different plantations. When the raid occurred, 8 to 10 blacks, well-armed with single and double barrel guns, looked to ambush the unwelcome visitors. When the white men showed up at the swamp, they were fired upon immediately. As whites returned fire, and the shootout continued, two blacks were killed. This included Major, a maroon who formerly belonged to John W. Alford Esq., and the other black formerly belonged to John C. Baker Esq. The others escaped and could not be found. David Lewis, a white man, was killed.
It seems that at least one of the Big Swamp community members, named Bill, was caught and jailed. Bill was convicted of burglary and sentenced to be hanged while in jail with another runaway. It is likely that Bill and the other black were giving files or possessing them and used them to cut the bars off their cell and broke through a wall over 18 inches thick. It seems that the maroon community did not leave a man behind and broke him and the other out of jail. The newspaper recorded that their escape caused a lot of excitement in Lumberton and it was expected that they would not be caught.
The maroon community of the Big Swamp did not go away, but it was noted, “On Christmas day these fellows [maroons], with a drum, came out of the swamp and had a regular drill and review,” the informant, “who was one of the company, stated that they had a flag also.” It was believed that “most or all of these negroes were outlaws.” Some maroon communities in places such as Brunswick Green Swamp and the Northeast region Dismal Swamp were very defensive.