tacky's revolt the story of an atlantic slave war

Another 500 were transported from the island for life. During the suppression of the revolt and the repression that followed, over 500 black men and women were killed in battle, executed or driven to suicide. Over those 18 months the rebels managed to kill 60 whites and destroy tens of thousands of pounds’ worth of property. Taking advantage of Britain’s Seven Years’ War against its European opponents, Wager and more than a thousand other enslaved black people on the island engaged in a series of uprisings, which began on April 7, 1760, and continued until October of the next year. In the ensuing years Wager began plotting and organizing a war against the whites, and awaiting an opportune moment to strike. Whatever understanding there was between the two men did not outlast John Cope’s death in 1756. Occasionally, Cope would entertain his acquaintance from the Old World, laying a table for weekend visits, treating the slave as a man of honor, and insinuating that Apongo would one day be redeemed and sent home. Wager came in bondage to Forrest’s plantation in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica, where he again encountered John Cope, who had retired to his own Jamaican estate. Captured and sold at some point in the 1740s, Apongo became the property of Captain Arthur Forrest of HMS Wager, who renamed him for the Royal Navy warship. During this time, he had even been a notable guest of John Cope, a chief agent of Cape Coast Castle, Britain’s principal fort on the Gold Coast. But long before taking his part in the great Jamaican insurrection of 1760– 1761, commonly called Tacky’s Revolt, he had been on a remarkable odyssey.Īpongo had been a military leader in West Africa during a period of imperial expansion and intensive warfare there. Wager, also known by his African name, Apongo, was a leader of the largest slave rebellion in the 18th century British Empire.

Tacky's revolt the story of an atlantic slave war