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Nanny was a leader of the Maroons at the beginning of the 18th
century. She was known by both the Maroons and 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 supper-natural 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 of wise woman of the village, who passed down the legends
and encouraged the continuation of customs, music and songs that had come with the people
from Africa, and that instilled in them confidence and pride.
Her spirit o freedom was so great that in 1739, when Quao
signed the second Treaty (the first was signed by 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 principles 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 to struggle to maintain that spirit of freedom, that
life of independence, which was their rightful inheritance.
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