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All Maroon communities were in a constant state of warfare. Members continued to use guerrilla tactics that included traditional leafy-vine camouflage used by their ancestors. Their ambush maneuvers completely bewildered their European attackers, and often rendered them and their superior firepower ineffective. Price described Maroon warriors as highly adaptable and mobile men who relied on intelligence networks among non-Maroons. Their weapons included spears, bows, knives, machetes, and, when they could get them, firearms. The best armed were the Spanish-supported Seminoles. In 1816, after other methods failed to deter plantation flight and after many unsuccessful attempts by plantation owners to recover their chattel, a hot British cannonball was used to ignite the magazine at the Negro Fort, a free Maroon community in Florida. Close to 300 men, women, and children were killed.
Black Seminoles and Maroons inherited generations of knowledge about agriculture, especially about the various uses of plants and poisons, and women’s prominent roles in gardening were continuous from West Africa.… Within their societies, leaders were treated as kings—another African tradition. Their cohesive “gerontocratic” communities and organizational skills were also based on their African heritage. Their communities enjoyed the autonomy of self-government that continued over generations where committees resolved societal problems. The Maroons of Nanny Town exist today as a clan with the concept of lineage and matrilineal societies reminiscent of the Akan of West Africa.
-Charlotte E. Forté-Parnell, Maroon and Outlier Communities from The Sage Encyclopedia of African Cultural Heritage in North America
