NANNY OF THE
MAROONS
Nanny was a
leader of the Maroons at the beginning of the
18th century. She was
known by both the Maroons and the
British settlers as an outstanding
military leader who became, in her lifetime and after, a symbol of unity and
strength for her people during times of crisis.
She was particularly
important to them in the fierce fight with the British during the First Maroon
War from 1720 to 1739. Although she has been immortalised in songs and legends, certain facts about Nanny
(or "Granny Nanny", as she was affectionately known) have also been
documented.
Both legends and documents refer to her as having exceptional
leadership qualities. She was a small, wiry woman with piercing eyes. Her
influence over the Maroons was so strong that it seemed to be supernatural and
was said to be connected to her powers of obeah. She was particularly skilled in
organising the guerilla warfare carried out by the
Eastern Maroons to keep away the British troops who attempted to penetrate the
mountains to overpower them.
Her cleverness in planning guerilla warfare
confused the British and their accounts of the fights reflect the surprise and
fear which the Maroon traps caused among them.
Besides inspiring her
people to ward off the troops, Nanny was also a type of chieftainess or wise woman of the village, who passed down
legends and encouraged the continuation of customs, music and songs that had
come with the people from Africa, and which instilled in them confidence and
pride.
Her spirit of freedom was so great that in 1739, when Quao signed the second Treaty (the first was signed bv Cudjoe
for the Leeward Maroons a few months earlier) with the British, it is reported
that Nanny was very angry and in disagreement with the principle of peace with
the British which she knew meant another form of subjugation.
There
are many legends about Nanny among the Maroons. Some even claim that there were
several women who were leaders of the Maroons during this period of history. But
all the legends and documents refer to Nanny of the First Maroon War as the most
outstanding of them all, leading her people with courage and inspiring them to
struggle to maintain that spirit of freedom, and life of independence, which was
their rightful inheritance.