Spain recruited over ten thousand freed slave insurgents as auxiliaries in 1793
Evidence
Since 1791, Spanish residents and officers along the border had been in consistent if informal contact with the slave insurgents under the command of Jean-François and Biassou. After war was declared in 1793, officials in Madrid ordered the governors of Spanish Santo Domingo to recruit slave insurgents as “auxiliary troops,” offering them freedom and land in return for military service. Although there was a long tradition of arming slaves in the Spanish Americas, this decision was a “daring experiment.” Rather than inviting the enslaved to serve for liberty, the Spanish were calling on “people who had effectively already freed themselves.” These were experienced and independent bands of fighters, and they would prove difficult to control and dominate once they had been recruited. Still, the policy was initially a success. By May and June 1793 Jean-François and Biassou had brought upward of 10,000 soldiers to the Spanish side. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 528
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
- XREF: Connects to Jean-François and Biassou as leaders first encountered in the 1791 insurrection chapters.
Related
- Spain recruited self-liberated slave fighters as hard-to-control auxiliaries (similarity 0.83)
- European invaders recruited slave insurgents as allies to conquer Saint-Domingue cheaply. (similarity 0.81)
- France began arming insurgent slaves against their own colonial masters in 1793. (similarity 0.80)
- Heavy African-born majorities among insurgents saw themselves as experienced soldiers. (similarity 0.79)
- Insurgent plans escalated from wages to land redistribution within two years (similarity 0.78)