The Colonial Marines (fl. 1814-1816) were runaway Black American slaves who fought for Britain against the US in the War of 1812. They helped to burn down Washington, DC and were later settled in Trinidad with their families as free men with their own land. They are still there, called Merikins.
They are little known in the US. They were even removed from the third verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, a song written by Francis Scott Key about the Battle of Baltimore, which they fought in. Francis Scott Key himself had fought them earlier, on their way to Washington, and lost.
The War of 1812:
- Ontario almost became a US state.
- New England almost became a separate nation.
- Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin almost became a Native American buffer state.
- Georgia and the Carolinas almost became Black American republics.
- The US almost ended at the Mississippi River.
It ended in a draw, allowing the US to spread west (but not north) across the continent, behind the protection of the British navy.
Black Americans fought on both sides of the war, even on both sides of the Battle of New Orleans.
In 1813 Britain let it be known that any slave who made it to a British ship would be free. Thousands of Blacks rowed out to the British ships that stood just off the coast. Most came from the coast of Maryland, Virginia and Georgia, some from Florida and Louisiana.
Most refugees were sent at first to Bermuda, where many worked in the dockyards. Others worked as guides and seamen for the British navy.
Those who wanted to fight became the Colonial Marines. They were given British training, weapons, uniforms and pay, but were:
“infinitely more dreaded by the Americans than the British troops.”
That is because White Americans feared a slave uprising. The Haitian Revolution was still fresh in everyone’s mind.
As it turns out, Britain chose not to cause a slave uprising, fearing it would spread to its slave colonies in the Caribbean – but it did not let the US know that! Britain was careful to arm only those Blacks under its own command.
The Colonial Marines were mainly used for hit-and-run attacks along the coast of slave states.
After the war, the US wanted its “property” back, the runaway slaves. Britain gave back only five or so. The other 4,000 to 6,000 it settled mainly in Trinidad and Nova Scotia (Canada). Nova Scotia (and Sierra Leone) is where Britain had settled Black Americans who fought for it in the American Revolution.
Britain wanted to fold the Colonial Marines into its West Indian Regiment. The Marines opposed that, so it sent them and their families to live as independent farmers near what is now Princes Town, Trinidad. Each company settled in its own village (New Grant, Hardbargain, Indian Walk, Fifth Company, Sixth Company), with each soldier getting 16 acres (6.5 ha) of land.
They were free – five decades ahead of the US and two decades ahead of the British Empire.
Thanks to Mary Burrell for suggesting this post.
– Abagond, 2016.
See also:
- The Star-Spangled Banner
- The Book of Negroes
- Garifuna – also relocated by the British
- David Fagen – fought the US in the Philippine American War
- Haiti: a brief history
- John Brown
- William Wilberforce
- reparations
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Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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I just learned something, thanks Abagond!
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I think Britain became anti slavery not because they thought it morally wrong but rather as a way to maintain economic supremacy within their empire. By opposing the slave trade this kept rival countries from getting richer and allowed their navy a reason to board ships to look for contraband.
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“The Colonial Marines were mainly used for hit-and-run attacks …”
…aka guerrilla warfare. Much better than marching out in the open exposing one’s body to enemy fire.
Awesome post!!! Another piece of lesser known Black history finally told.
Long live Trinidad!
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Thank You Abagond
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also:
At least the British gave these former slaves their freedom and some land. That’s much, much more than Amerika did for its former slaves.
Props to the Brits!
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@ Abagond
Welp, now I need to know more about this:
“Georgia and the Carolinas almost became Black American republics.”
and this:
“Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin almost became a Native American buffer state.”
How fascinating that the post on the national anthem is leading to all sorts of interesting historical facts that rarely are taught!
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Nice. My Dad was born in Princes Town, Trinidad. FYI Trinidad and Tobago celebrates Emancipation Day on August 1st. And Independence Day was August 31st.
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“Awesome post!!! Another piece of lesser known Black history finally told.”
-Fan
I agree 100%, Thank you Abagond
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Gerald Horne’s book: Negro Comrades of the Crown: African Americans and the British Empire Fight the U.S. Before Emancipation covers some of this history.
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@michaeljonbarker
However, as soon as they ended the slave trade, they started the coolie trade, a human trafficking phenomenon on an even larger scale.
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@ gro jo
True.
Professor Horne has written a series of books that cover British Imperial and Black history in the late 1700s and early 1800s. He is one of the few historians who discuss the true motives for the Founders break from Britain (to preserve slavery).
All of those high flying words about “inalienable rights” and “liberty” masked a reality of people terrified of losing their free labor force.
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[…] Colonial Marines | Abagond https://abagond.wordpress.com/2016/09/02/colonial-marines/ […]
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@ Afrofem
True.
The following is one of Tommy J’s best gags that failed to make it to the final version of the declaration of independence:
“He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation hither … And he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he had deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.”
Poor Tommy, imagine the ‘burden’ it must have been for him to endure all that free labor on his 5,000 acre plantation! The USA, leading the world in bs since 1776.
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Wow. Bravo. Great post!
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@gro jo
LOL! Thanks for that bit of double talk by one of America’s most esteemed founders.
All the while, that hypocrite is “throwing a leg over” his deceased wife’s sister, Ms. Hemings. What a piece of work…or a piece of something.
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Reblogged this on theladyonthelake's Blog and commented:
Because this is rarely addressed
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Even from the very beginning starting with the so called founding fathers of this nation who themselves were nothing but slavers all these words about “Liberty and Justice for all” and the other one “All men are created equal.” Is just hogwash the so called founding fathers didn’t even believe that especially when applying this to black people in America. They didn’t even consider black people as human beings. All this patriotism is just lies and hypocrisy. And I guess it’s so ingrained in the psyches of most of America that we believe the lies. We have been programmed from the time we were young school children to believe in the land of the free and the home of the brave. When in reality the society never practiced what it preached. That’s why this attack on Colin Kaepernick is so shameful and disgusting.
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I guess Merikins is derived from Americans lots of interesting history facts in this post. After decades of Americans singing the Star Spangled Banner black people played a role as in the history of the national anthem. It’s amazing all the things they don’t teach school children about in American history and the things in American history that get left out. It makes me wonder if it’s deliberate that it’s omitted. I never would have known about the colonial marines or that Francis Scott Key was a racist slaver. Very interesting post indeed.
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So one bunch of American slave Negroes built the WhiteHouse and another bunch of conscripted Brit slave Negroes burned it down! Why no wonder that confused, subliminal, hereditary slave psyche continues to prevail in some marginally free black folk’s minds today…not sure whether to build up or shoot up and burn some master’s house like in 1812!
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Wow.
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I always enjoy reading your blog posts. It’s accurate information anyone can access. Truth is truth, but unfortunately people jade it to fit their views of history.
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Merikins descendants of the colonial marines settled in Trinidad. That’s a great black history fact.
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After reading about the colonial marines I need to watch The Book of Negroes again. This post has inspired me to read and explore this subject.
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Another piece of history I knew nothing about. Really interesting. I wonder why the British gave back ‘5 or so’ ? The more you learn the more you need to know!
@ Mary
What is ‘The book of Negroes’?
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@ Zoe Jordan
It is unclear why they gave them back. All were recent recruits.
I did a post on the Book of Negroes:
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@ Abagond
Thank you
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Reading this blog would lead one to believe that all blacks were noble victims of racism. How about a line or two on black villains or anti-heroes?
I nominate Tippu Tip, the black slaver, as villain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tippu_Tip)
and 19th century Wall Street millionaire Jeremiah G. Hamilton as anti-hero. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Hamilton)
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@gro jo
You could hardly call bad asses and free black men like the Colonial Marines victims of racism.
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“@gro jo
You could hardly call bad asses and free black men like the Colonial Marines victims of racism.”
Free black men you say? Which part of their story did you fail to grasp? Was it the part about them being slaves used as cannon fodder by the British? Did you fail to read this part of their story? “After the war, the US wanted its “property” back, the runaway slaves. Britain gave back only five or so.” Was slavery abolished in Trinidad where they settled? No, that wouldn’t happen until 1833, 18 to 17 years after they were settled in Trinidad. Yes, indeed, I can and do call them victims of racism who availed themselves of an opportunity to strike a blow against their former masters, hence the “noble” qualifier, used by me, to describe them.
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“How about a line or two on black villains or anti-heroes?”
gro jo
Isn’t POTUS – Barack Obama (Obomber) written about on this site enough for your liking?? Or, don’t you consider him a villain?
Moreover, what about Eric Holder & Loretta Lynch? Two corporate/political lackeys/lapdogs?? Don’t know if there are posts already written about those fabulous industrious duo.
Other anti-heroes:
Former mayor of Washington DC, Marion Berry?
Clarence Thomas???
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What sources did you use? I’d love to delve into this further. Thank you.
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“Isn’t POTUS – Barack Obama (Obomber) written about on this site enough for your liking?? Or, don’t you consider him a villain?”
Any POTUS is a villain in my book, by definition. I’ve read almost everything penned by Abagond on Obama, and I find it hard to agree with you that he has been depicted here as a villain. Sure, there’s been criticism, but more typical is this kind of stuff:
Jeremiah G. Hamilton is a fascinating character, he reminds me of Don King. These characters are more interesting than the black saints usually depicted here. In order for them to steal their way to wealth they had to know how the system really worked, in order the ‘liberate’ the average guy from his last nickel. I guess, Abagond’s christian morality bars him from delving into such morally ambiguous sphere.
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@gro jo
“In 1813 Britain let it be known that any slave who made it to a British ship would be free. Thousands of Blacks rowed out to the British ships that stood just off the coast. Most came from the coast of Maryland, Virginia and Georgia, some from Florida and Louisiana.
Most refugees were sent at first to Bermuda, where many worked in the dockyards. Others worked as guides and seamen for the British navy.
Those who wanted to fight became the Colonial Marines.”
I read the above and interpreted it to mean that these black men were free and chose to fight for the British as payment for their freedom. After all, that is what it says in the very first line of the paragraph. The fact that they became free men and made the decision to become a feared fighting force, kinda negates the “victim hood” label. They escaped slavery. They weren’t victims any more, noble or otherwise.
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“Reading this blog would lead one to believe that all blacks were noble victims of racism. How about a line or two on black villains or anti-heroes?”
“I nominate Tippu Tip, the black slaver, as villain ….
and 19th century Wall Street millionaire Jeremiah G. Hamilton as anti-hero.”
According to the following excerpt from Wikipedia, Hamilton was indeed a victim of racism. He may have been viewed as noble by some people we’re unaware of. Or, he may have been deemed noble by virtue of the money he accumulated in a society with a severely uneven/hostile playing field.
excerpt:
“Although he circulated among the financial elite and was himself very wealthy, Hamilton was also a victim of the racism against African-Americans so pervasive during his time. During the New York City draft [irish haters] riots in 1863, white [irish] men seeking to lynch Hamilton broke into his house, but were turned away with only liquor, cigars, and an old suit by his wife Eliza after she said her husband was not home.”
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Ben Munday,
“The fact that they became free men and made the decision to become a feared fighting force, kinda negates the “victim hood” label. They escaped slavery. They weren’t victims any more, noble or otherwise.”
We are looking at them from different time frames. We are in agreement that they were more or less free after they joined the Brits, not entirely as five of them would find out. Prior to that time, what were they, in your opinion?
Fan …
Where do I deny that J.G. Hamilton was not a victim of racism? A millionaire referred to in the press as ni**ger Hamilton can hardly be said to have risen to a status that made him immune to white malice. I call him an anti-hero because he was a villain who understood the real values of the society he lived in and got what he wanted out of it, money. A guy with his talent for crime, had he been white, would have died ten to a hundred times richer than he did.
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Gro jo,
It seemed to me that you were asking Abagond to write something different:
“Reading this blog would lead one to believe that all blacks were noble victims of racism. How about a line or two on black villains or anti-heroes?”
Different meaning posts (“a line or two”) about Blacks who were NOT ALL noble victims. It seemed that you believed or implied Hamilton fell into this non noble victim category you wanted to Abagond post about. Or did I get that wrong?
.
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WOULD SLAVERY HAVE ENDED SOONER IF THE BRITS HAD WON ?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/on-the-240-year-anniversar-by-keith-brooks-declaration-of-independence_equal-rights_history_history-alternative-160629-32.html#startcomments
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“Or did I get that wrong?” You got it right, nothing noble about a money grubbing criminal. The fact that he experienced racism like all blacks didn’t make him a saint.
Are you implying that the ‘brother’ should get a pass because he was hated by whites?
He had no qualms working against Haiti, with whites, to fill his pockets.
Should we excuse that as well?
I’d like this blog to reflect the full range of black experience, good and bad.
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keith brooks,
Nice article. Where’s your evidence for the following claim: “Both the 1789 French Revolution and the 1804 Haitian revolution–the only successful slave revolt in human history–drew inspiration from this clarion call.”
As far as I know, the only time the DI was discussed by Haitians was when Dessalines rejected a declaration that hewed too closely to the US one. He chose Boisrond Tonnerre’s fiery formulation: “All that which has been formulated is not in accordance with our true feelings; to draw up the Act of Independence, we need the skin of a white man for parchment, his skull for an Inkwell, his blood for ink, and a bayonet for pen.”
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From the posts I can tell there aren’t many history buffs. The Brits were kidnapping American sailors (est 10,000) and forcing them into the British Navy. We also got involved because of trade embargo by the Brits. They didn’t want us trading with the French. The Brits were still busy fighting the French and being pseudo ally of France Britain was trying to strangle the US. Frankly it was a side show much like the American Revolution for the Brits. If they had done it today and had been caught they’d have been hung as traitors or imprisoned for a very long time.
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@ Tim Hoehner
You are repeating US government war propaganda. It was mainly about the US taking over Canada.
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