Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Plans for a war against the Caribs of St. Vincent - 1679

15 views
Skip to first unread message

Ernest M. Wiltshire

unread,
Jan 11, 2001, 11:10:27 PM1/11/01
to
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------7576507574F11FB2597EE954
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Jim CROPPER has asked me to post my translation of a French handwritten
manuscript which he discovered in his research: it concerns a meeting
held by the French colonists of Martinique in 1679 to plan the complete
destruction of the Caribs of St. Vincent and Dominica, though the plan
does not appear to have been implemented at that time.


--------------7576507574F11FB2597EE954
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1;
name="Stvcarib.txt"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline;
filename="Stvcarib.txt"

27 August 1679 - Minutes of the Assembly held this day at Cul-de-sac du=
Marin by order of Count de Blenac, Governor of the French Islands of Ame=
rica & of M. de Gemosat, with a view to determining the measures needed t=
o destroy the Caribs of St. Vincent and Dominica.
4 p.


Result of the (meeting) of the inhabitants of the Island of the Martini=
que, to (deliberate on) making war on the Caribs.

Memorandum. This day, the 27th August 1679. The assembly held at Cul-de-s=
ac du Marin of this Island, Martinique by order of Count de Blenac, Gover=
nor and Lieutenant-General of the French Islands of America, in the prese=
nce of M. de Gemosat, the King's Lieutenant to the government of this sai=
d Island; to deliberate on the easiest means of conducting a just war aga=
inst the pagan Caribs of the islands of St. Vincent and Dominica, because=
of their breaches of all the treaties we have been able to sign with the=
m, and which they have not respected, they being people without religion =
and without faith, and since experience has taught us that there can be n=
o further assurances with so perfidious a nation, other than to apply the=
extreme remedy and to destroy them utterly, since no matter with what ki=
ndness they have been treated over the past forty years, having sent them=
missionaries to bring them religion, and so assuage their customary fero=
city and the massacres which they perpetrate at the least opportunity, th=
ey have gone so far as to massacre two of them at the altar, and to profa=
ne the sacred ornaments, chasing away the others, who avoided a similar f=
ate by retreating, without having been able to convert a single one of th=
em to Christianity.

This benevolence which the French have shown for their salvation and the =
assurance given in the various treaties made with them having cost us the=
death of more than a thousand men, whom they killed with diabolical crue=
lty, Grenada would inevitably have to be abandoned, if at the nearest opp=
ortunity we were not to strongly repress their insolence, since they did =
not even spare the children, whom they ripped out of the bellies of their=
mothers.

To succeed in such a just enterprise, we must begin with the Island of St=
=2E Vincent, which is the strongest and which is inhabited by two thousan=
d men, both savages and negroes who have fled from the French and the Eng=
lish, and who have retreated there and whom the said savages have stolen =
from us; but since the island is large and difficult of access, and since=
they live far apart, scattered in thirty three villages, as will be expl=
ained later:

We must begin by landing forty men on Bequia as well as two light vessels=
to guard the passage between that island and St. Vincent, particularly s=
ince the Grenadines are their only way of retreat; they have pressed vigo=
rously for such a just undertaking; three hundred good men are required, =
in addition to the ships' crews; they must each be armed with a good musk=
et and good waist pistols to be able to go more easily through the woods;=
the two hundred others must be armed with good rifles.(1) These men must=
be led by good officers and as many sergeants as possible to head the nu=
merous detachments that will be required. Six good vessels are also requi=
red, in addition to the two already mentioned, along with five or six lar=
ge canoes, which are to be put ashore and used to surprise or go after th=
eir pirogues. Several outfitted vessels are also needed to transport the =
necessary supplies and munitions, as well as several light cannon for use=
on occasion. We require axes, scythes and cutlasses to hew passages thro=
ugh the woods and also hoes, spades and shovels to dig redoubts in locati=
ons deemed appropriate; we must also take the precaution of bringing the =
items needed for the troops to entirely clean up the said island and to p=
revent others from returning there, which is why it will be necessary to =
remain there for at least six months in palisaded redoubts which will be =
built.

The rendezvous point for all, without exception, will be Vieux Fort at St=
=2E Lucia (2) where necessary measures can be taken, depending on the tim=
e required to reach St. Vincent and to get to the south of the said islan=
d and moor at the islet of Calliaqua (3), where one hundred men will be p=
ut ashore to march overland to attack the villages on the Leeward coast, =
the way there being easy; simultaneously, fifty men will march along the =
Windward coast, fifty others having first been landed at Pointe Espagnole=
on the north shore of the said island, who can easily travel overland to=
rejoin the others on the Leeward side of the island, during which time t=
he canoes and the two barges will travel by sea along the Windward coast,=
while the other vessels will guard the passage to the said island.

In this respect, there being no more than four or five hundred men from D=
ominica, who being surrounded by all the inhabited islands, will be more =
easily destroyed, as is the case in this island where there are only fort=
y or fifty men, a nomadic group, who change location readily; they should=
be dispatched at the same time as those in St. Vincent. =


Made this above-mentioned day and year, in the presence of several inhabi=
tants who have declared that they do not know how to sign, in addition to=
those who have signed below.(4)

[Signatures] (5) =

Lapayse? Gemosat
F Larday Desmarinieses =

Leguas A ______ ?
J. Gasteau Martin de Fraies?
Jean Chastillon

Footnotes

(1) The numbers of men quoted do not seem to add up but they have been le=
ft as in the original.

(2) The place name is unclear in the original manuscript, but Vieux Fort =
in St. Lucia, being the most southerly point of the island would be the o=
bvious meeting place before crossing the channel to the northern tip of S=
t. Vincent.

(3) Calliaqua is a small town on mainland St. Vincent, not an island, but=
an early 19th century map of St. Vincent does show 2 small islands just =
offshore & Alexander Anderson's "Geography and History of St. Vincent" de=
scribes the area as "... a very fine bay formed by a tongue of land runni=
ng out a considerable distance to windward and two islands opposite to le=
eward which renders it safer anchorage than Kingstown Bay..."; it seems l=
ikely that the text refers to one of these islands.

(4) The following extract refers to another inglorious campaign against t=
he Caribs in 1719, under Major Paulian, which clearly turned into a compl=
ete fiasco for the French. The expedition proposed in 1679 does not appea=
r to have been launched: perhaps calmer heads prevailed on that earlier o=
ccasion.
Charles Shephard, "An Historical Account of the Island of Saint Vincent",=
pps. 22-23:
" At length some difference arose between these two classes [the Yellow &=
the Black Caribs], of which the French in Martinique resolved to avail t=
hemselves, and thereby to profit by the ruin of both parties; but the sma=
llness of the numbers sent out against them, and the defection of the Yel=
low Caribs, who refused to supply such dangerous allies with any of the s=
uccours which they had promised them, to act against their rivals, and th=
e impossibility of coming up with enemies who kept themselves concealed i=
n the woods, were circumstances which combined to disconcert this rash, a=
nd violent enterprize; the invaders who were commanded by Major Paulian w=
ere forced to reimbark, after losing many valuable lives, but the triumph=
of the Black Caribs did not prevent their suing for peace, they even inv=
ited the French to come and live with them, swearing sincere friendship; =
the proposal was accepted, and in the year 1719, many of the French inhab=
itants of Martinico removed to Saint Vincent."

(5) Most of the signatures are barely legible, so these are mere guesses =
as to what the actual names are.

--------------7576507574F11FB2597EE954--

0 new messages