SLAVE REVOLT IN AMERICA JANUARY 8,1811 AMERICANS WERE SATISTS

SLAVE REVOLT IN AMERICA JANUARY 8,1811

AMERICANS WERE SATISTS

One of the most suppressed and hidden stories of African and African American history is the story of the jan 8,1811 Slave Revolt. Over 500 Africans, from 50 different nations with 50 different languages, would wage a fight against U.S. troops and the territorial militias. The revolt was put down by Jan. 11. The leaders were captured, placed on trial and later executed. Their heads were cut off and placed on spikes that stretched over 60 miles.

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By Leon A. Waters

One of the most suppressed and hidden stories of African and African American history is the story of the 1811 Slave Revolt. The aim of the revolt was the establishment of an independent republic, a Black republic. Over 500 Africans, from 50 different nations with 50 different languages, would wage a fight against U.S. troops and the territorial militias.

This revolt would get started in St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes, about 30 miles upriver from New Orleans. At that time, New Orleans was the capital of what was called the Orleans Territory. The revolt sought to capture the city of New Orleans and make New Orleans the capital of the new republic.

Leon Waters and a revolt marker on a history tour in Louisiana.
Leon Waters stands next to the only historic marker that references the 1811 Slave Revolt.

The principal organizer and leader of this revolt was a man named Charles, a laborer on the Deslonde plantation. The Deslonde family had been one of the many San Domingo slave holding families that fled the Haitian Revolution (1790-1802). The Deslonde family fled to Louisiana for refuge. In their escape, the Deslonde family brought their chattel property, Charles and others, with them.

The Deslonde family acquired land and restarted their slave holding sugarcane operations in St. John the Baptist parish. The ideas of slave rebellion had been inspired by the Haitians’ defeat of Napoleon and his allies, who included President George Washington. The victory of Africans in gaining their freedom in Haiti had a powerful and stimulating effect on Africans held in bondage all over the world, especially in the Western Hemisphere. It gave enormous encouragement to the Africans on plantations in Louisiana. To capture the city of New Orleans, Charles Deslonde’s strategy consisted of a two-pronged military assault.

One prong of the attack would be to march down the River Road to New Orleans. The rebels would gain in number as they moved from plantation to plantation on the East Bank of the Mississippi River from St. John the Baptist parish to New Orleans. They were intent on creating a slave army, capturing the city of New Orleans and liberating the tens of thousands of slaves held in bondage in the territory of Louisiana.

The other prong of attack was to involve the enslaved Africans inside the city of New Orleans in a simultaneous uprising. Here the rebels would seize the arsenal at Fort St. Charles and distribute the weapons to the arriving slave army. The two-pronged attack would then merge as one and proceed to capture the strategic targets in the city.

On the evening of Jan. 8, 1811, Charles and his lieutenants would start the revolt. The rebels would elect their leaders to lead them into battle. They elected women and men. The leaders were on horseback. Several young warriors marched ahead of them with drums and flags. Men and women assembled in columns of four behind those on horseback.

Author and historian Leon Waters speaks on the 1811 Slave Revolt, the largest in the U.S. He is descended from the rebels. Photo: San Francisco Bay View.
Author and historian Leon Waters speaks on the 1811 Slave Revolt. He is descended from the rebels. Photo: San Francisco Bay View.

The rebels rose up on the plantation of Col. Manuel Andry (today the city of LaPlace) in St. John the Baptist Parish. They overwhelmed their oppressors. Armed with cane knives, hoes, clubs and a few guns, the rebels marched down the River Road toward New Orleans. Their slogan was “On to New Orleans” and “Freedom or Death,” which they shouted as they marched to New Orleans.

However, despite their best efforts, they were not able to succeed. The revolt was put down by Jan. 11 and many of the leaders and participants were killed by the slave owners’ militia and U.S. federal troops. Some of the leaders were captured, placed on trial and later executed. Their heads were cut off and placed on poles along the river in order to frighten and intimidate the other slaves. This display of heads placed on spikes stretched over 60 miles.

The sacrifices of these brave women and men were not in vain. The revolt reasserted the humanity and redeemed the honor of the people. The uprising weakened the system of chattel slavery, stimulated more revolts in the following years and set the stage for the final battle, the Civil War (1861-1865) that put an end to this horrible system. The children and the grandchildren of the rebels of 1811 finished the job in the Civil War. Louisiana contributed more soldiers—over 28,000—to the Union Army than any other state.

These women and men of 1811 represented the best qualities of people of African descent. They were people of exceptional courage, valor and dedication. These were women and men who put the interest and welfare of the masses above their own personal desires. These were people who understood that the emancipation of the masses is a precondition for the emancipation of the individual.

The sacrifices of these brave women and men were not in vain. The revolt reasserted the humanity and redeemed the honor of the people.

Remember the Ancestors! Remember the women and men who carried out the largest African uprising on American soil.

PANDARA VANNIYAN , LAST KING OF VANNI DIED 1811 OCTOBER 31

PANDARA VANNIYAN , LAST KING OF VANNI 
DIED 1811 OCTOBER 31

Biography[edit source]
Kulasegaram Vairamuthu Pandara Vanniyan was the last King of Vanni. Much remains unclear about his family, but reports state that he had one sister, Nallanachal Vanniyan, and two younger brothers called Kayilaya Vanniyan (Minister) and Periya Meynaar (Commander of the State).[5] Pandara Vanniyan married Kumarasinghe Maha Vanniya’s family of present day Nuwara Wewa, who held the office of residential Governor and Custodian of the formerly Tamil area. Marriages between Vanniar Chieftain families in the northern and southern regions helped to unite and strengthen rule. Thus, when Pandara Vanniyan married into the Nuwara Wewa family, he gained political power in the south Vanni as well as in the north. It is said that he lived in Kumulamunai, which is today in Mullaitivu District.

History[edit source]
See also: Flags of Tamils

Vanniar chieftain, Pandara Vanniyan, appeared to have paid some tribute to the more powerful rulers in the region at that time, who had an independent spirit and a distinct culture and dialect of their own. The Kingdom of Vanni functioned as a buffer zone between the north and the south of Sri Lanka. Historically, the Vanni encompassed Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa, Ampara and Puttalam hinterlands. The name Vanni is said to be derived from the Sanskrit and Tamil word for forest (vannam) or fire (vahni), but there is also some historical evidence in Kalvettus(Stone Inscriptions) and classical songs that the Vanniar could have originally come from the large Vanniyar clan/ caste from North Arcot in South India.

The beginnings of the people of the Vanni (Vanniar), who were ruled over by Vanniar Chieftains, has not been clearly established, but there is evidence of settlements in the region dating back 2000 years. Furthermore, there is information on the Konesar Kalvettu and in the old 'Vya' song of sixty Vanniar coming from Madurai in South India, accompanying the royal bride for the king at Anuradhapura in the first century BC. Pandara Vanniyan was the second last Sri Lankan king in the island together.

See also: Vannimai

Conflict with colonial rule[edit source]
When the Jaffna Kingdom was captured by the Portuguese in 1621, the Vanni was under their nominal control and it is thought that 'Parangichetticulam' of the Vanni is the former fort of the Portuguese.

Around 1782, the continued conflicts came to an end when the Dutch, who had by then arrived in Sri Lanka, once and for all defeated the Vanniars. It has been noted that "The Dutch met nowhere a more determined resistance than from one of the native princesses, the Vannichi (widow) Maria Sembatte, whom they [carried] away as prisoner, and [detained] in captivity in the Fort of Colombo."

Pandara Vanniyan fought against the British colonial powers. The Vanniars commenced to live a wild and marauding life and carried on a predatory warfare against the British in Mannar and Trincomalee, and even penetrated to the Jaffna peninsula. The British had to build forts along the river to keep them at bay. In alliance with the Kandy Kingdom, Vanniyan started a revolt to expel the British from his district. On 25 August 1803, Vanniyan attacked the Government House in Mullaitheevu and drove out the garrison from Mullaitheevu,[1] which was under the command of Captain Edward Mudge of the 19th Regiment, before finally seizing the fort.[6]

He captured the British cannons and overran the whole of the northern districts (Vanni), highlighting his boldness and ability to penetrate as far as Elephant Pass and into the Jaffna Peninsula. From conventional warfare, he resorted to guerrilla tactics, but was finally defeated by Lt. von Driberg when the (recently arrived) British organized a three-pronged attack from Jaffna, Mannar and Trincomalee in 1803. In that battle, the British also captured the cannon given to Pandara Vanniyan by Kannusamy (Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe – the Kandyan king). The British presented the village of Pandara Kulam to Lt. von Driberg as a prize for defeating Pandara Vanniyan.

This was followed by the "burning of all his houses, [whereby Pandara Vanniyan's] people ... dispersed into the jungle, and eventually out of the Vanni to the districts of Hanwella.[7] The power of the Vanniar (Chieftains) was thus finally and effectually extinguished." Interestingly, alternative histories have it that Lt. von Driberg of the Dutch forces felt humiliated by Pandara Vanniyan for having been defeated by him several times, including in a personal combat situation; despite being permitted by senior officials to withdraw, he stayed on even after the British ousted the Dutch.[8]

Death[edit source]
Pandara Vanniyan fell in battle at the hands of Lt. von Driberg, on 31 October 1803 at Oddusuddan, Katsilaimadu.[9] A granite stone monument commemorating Vanniyan's defeat was erected in the village Katsilaimadu in Vanni; it was placed in tribute by Lt. von Driberg, who had fought him in battle. The monument bears the inscription: “Here abouts Captain von Driberg Defeated Pandara Vawniyan Oct 31 st 1803.” In 2010 it was found broken; some Tamil media outlets reported that it had been damaged by Sinhala soldiers in light of recent ethnic tensions and criticized it as an act of destruction of Tamil heritage and culture.[10][11]

Legacy[edit source]

Statue of Pandara Vanniyan, unveiled 10 August 2014.
Pandara Vanniyan was declared a national hero by the Prime Minister in 1982 and a statue of him was opened with much fanfare in Vavuniya at the main junction on the A-9 Highway, where the Jaffna and Kandy (and Colombo) road meets the road to Mannar.[12] The Pandara Vanniyan Memorial Day falls on 25 August each year.

Present-day Tamils and Sinhalas of North Central and North Western provinces in Sri Lanka, which were once part of the Kingdom of Vanni, revere Pandara Vanniyan highly. The Sinhalas are known to summon the protection of Vanni Bandara Deio when they pass through jungles.

Tamil nationalists valourise Vanniyan as an epic hero, and his character has recently been appropriated and measured against Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the now dismantled LTTE.[13] Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi, an Indian politician and writer, in his novel 'Payum Puli Pandara Vanniyan' ('The Leaping Tiger Pandara Vanniyan' in English), uses Vanniyan to typify Tamil patriotism and transnationalism. According to Vijaya Ramaswamy in Historical Dictionary of the Tamils, "the course of the novel is ... connected to ... developments in Sri Lanka related to moves by the LTTE." The novel describes the mission of a friend of Veerapandiya Kattabomman (the last Poligar who resisted British rule in Tamil Nadu) to the Wanni jungles in Sri Lanka. His mission was to meet Pandara Vanniyan who was also resisting the British. This part of the novel echoes the meeting of V. Gopalsamy MP (popularly known as Vaiko) and Vellupillai Prabhakaran (leader of the defunct LTTE) in the dense jungles of Wanni."[14]

Pandara Vanniyan is also the subject of the eponymous play by Mullaimaṇi Ve Cuppiramaṇiyam, 'Pantara Vanniyan.' The play was awarded a prize by the Ceylon Art Council in 1964, and was published thereafter in 1970.[15]

On 10 August 2014, three statues of former Tamil kings including Pandara Vanniyan, Ellalan, and Pararaja Sekaran were installed by Jaffna Clock Tower.[16]

Slave Revolt Louisiana’s Heroic Jan. 8, 1811

Jan. 8, 1811: Louisiana’s Heroic Slave Revolt

“Deslonde Revolt 1811” – artist unknown.

By Leon A. Waters

One of the most suppressed and hidden stories of African and African American history is the story of the 1811 Slave Revolt. The aim of the revolt was the establishment of an independent republic, a Black republic. Over 500 Africans, from 50 different nations with 50 different languages, would wage a fight against U.S. troops and the territorial militias.

This revolt would get started in St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes, about 30 miles upriver from New Orleans. At that time, New Orleans was the capital of what was called the Orleans Territory. The revolt sought to capture the city of New Orleans and make New Orleans the capital of the new republic.

Leon Waters stands next to the only historic marker that references the 1811 Slave Revolt.

The principal organizer and leader of this revolt was a man named Charles, a laborer on the Deslonde plantation. The Deslonde family had been one of the many San Domingo slave holding families that fled the Haitian Revolution (1790-1802). The Deslonde family fled to Louisiana for refuge. In their escape, the Deslonde family brought their chattel property, Charles and others, with them.

The Deslonde family acquired land and restarted their slave holding sugarcane operations in St. John the Baptist parish. The ideas of slave rebellion had been inspired by the Haitians’ defeat of Napoleon and his allies, who included President George Washington. The victory of Africans in gaining their freedom in Haiti had a powerful and stimulating effect on Africans held in bondage all over the world, especially in the Western Hemisphere. It gave enormous encouragement to the Africans on plantations in Louisiana. To capture the city of New Orleans, Charles Deslonde’s strategy consisted of a two-pronged military assault.

One prong of the attack would be to march down the River Road to New Orleans. The rebels would gain in number as they moved from plantation to plantation on the East Bank of the Mississippi River from St. John the Baptist parish to New Orleans. They were intent on creating a slave army, capturing the city of New Orleans and liberating the tens of thousands of slaves held in bondage in the territory of Louisiana.

The other prong of attack was to involve the enslaved Africans inside the city of New Orleans in a simultaneous uprising. Here the rebels would seize the arsenal at Fort St. Charles and distribute the weapons to the arriving slave army. The two-pronged attack would then merge as one and proceed to capture the strategic targets in the city.

On the evening of Jan. 8, 1811, Charles and his lieutenants would start the revolt. The rebels would elect their leaders to lead them into battle. They elected women and men. The leaders were on horseback. Several young warriors marched ahead of them with drums and flags. Men and women assembled in columns of four behind those on horseback.

Author and historian Leon Waters speaks on the 1811 Slave Revolt. He is descended from the rebels. Photo: San Francisco Bay View.

The rebels rose up on the plantation of Col. Manuel Andry (today the city of LaPlace) in St. John the Baptist Parish. They overwhelmed their oppressors. Armed with cane knives, hoes, clubs and a few guns, the rebels marched down the River Road toward New Orleans. Their slogan was “On to New Orleans” and “Freedom or Death,” which they shouted as they marched to New Orleans.

However, despite their best efforts, they were not able to succeed. The revolt was put down by Jan. 11 and many of the leaders and participants were killed by the slave owners’ militia and U.S. federal troops. Some of the leaders were captured, placed on trial and later executed. Their heads were cut off and placed on poles along the river in order to frighten and intimidate the other slaves. This display of heads placed on spikes stretched over 60 miles.

The sacrifices of these brave women and men were not in vain. The revolt reasserted the humanity and redeemed the honor of the people. The uprising weakened the system of chattel slavery, stimulated more revolts in the following years and set the stage for the final battle, the Civil War (1861-1865) that put an end to this horrible system. The children and the grandchildren of the rebels of 1811 finished the job in the Civil War. Louisiana contributed more soldiers—over 28,000—to the Union Army than any other state.

These women and men of 1811 represented the best qualities of people of African descent. They were people of exceptional courage, valor and dedication. These were women and men who put the interest and welfare of the masses above their own personal desires. These were people who understood that the emancipation of the masses is a precondition for the emancipation of the individual.

The sacrifices of these brave women and men were not in vain. The revolt reasserted the humanity and redeemed the honor of the people.

Remember the Ancestors! Remember the women and men who carried out the largest African uprising on American soil.

Author and historian Leon A. Waters, publisher and manager of Hidden History Tours, chairman of the Louisiana Museum of African American History and descendant of the 1811 rebels, can be reached at leonawaters8@gmail.com.