Great Dismal Swamp maroons were escaped slaves who lived freely within the Great Dismal Swamp, which lies in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Human encroachment has destroyed over half the original swamp.[1] The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is now just over Vorlage:Convert in size.[2] Some estimates place the size of the original swamp at over Vorlage:Convert.[3] Unlike the less densely settled more southern colonies, maroonage in Virginia and northern colonies was largely limited to the Great Dismal Swamp.[4] Slaves were used in many efforts to drain and log the swamp during the 18th and 19th centuries. Other slaves escaped into the swamp and lived as maroons, who were also called outlyers.[5]
While many escaped slaves lived in the swamp's interior, becoming maroons, others used it as a stop on the Underground Railroad as they sought to make their way further north via various routes and methods. During the American Civil War the United States Colored Troops would enter the swamp to liberate slaves, many of whom then joined the Union Army. While the number of maroons in the swamp can not be known for certain, it is believed to have been one of the largest in the maroon colonies in the United States with a population of several thousand. Despite hardships of swamp, dense underbrush, insects, poisonous snakes, and bears, some of the maroons lived within the swamp for over 30 years, even their entire lives, being born to escaped slaves. Maroons are known to have often interacted with slaves and poor whites living near the swamp for activities such as work, food, clothes, and money. They also plundered nearby farms and plantations. Some of them were caught and tried for murder or theft. In 1847 North Carolina passed a law specifically aimed at apprehending the maroons in the swamp. After the Civil War, the maroons left the swamp interior.[3]
21st century research
Great Dismal Swamp Landscape Study was a research program begun in 2002. The refuge began a partnership program with American University's Department of Anthropology in 2009 to conduct an annual research program known as the Great Dismal Swamp Archaeology Field School. The focus of these programs is the impact of colonialism, slavery, and development upon the swamp, especially as it impacted the self-sustaining maroon settlements in the swamp's interior and native lifestyles prior to European first contact.[6] Even today the swamp is so impenetrable in places that a research group lost its way so many times in 2003 that it gave up.[3]
See also
References
External links
- Royster Guide: A Visit To The Great Dismal Swamp
- Slavery in America - quotes from Strother's description of Osman
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- ↑ Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. In: About us. Fish and Wildlife Service, abgerufen am 30. Januar 2012.
- ↑ Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. In: Welcome! Fish and Wildlife Service, abgerufen am 30. Januar 2012.
- ↑ a b c Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. (PDF) In: The Great Dismal Swamp and the Underground Railroad. Fish and Wildlife Service, September 2003, abgerufen am 30. Januar 2012.
- ↑ Maroons in the Revolutionary Period 1775 - 1783. Public Broadcasting System, abgerufen am 30. Januar 2012.
- ↑ Great Dismal Swamp. (PDF) Fish and Wildlife Service, abgerufen am 30. Januar 2012.
- ↑ Partnerships: Great Dismal Swamp Archaeology Field School. Fish and Wildlife Service, abgerufen am 30. Januar 2012.