ABSTRACT
In the middle of 1796, certain shops in London began to sell a new book with the arresting title, Narrative, of a Five Years’ Expedition, against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; from the Year 1772, to 1777. It was written by Captain John Gabriel Stedman of the Scots Brigade, published by the famous liberal printer Joseph Johnson, and illustrated in part by the poet William Blake. The work gave a dramatic, compelling account of a white soldier’s experiences during the long jungle war between a group of runaway slaves led by a man called Boni, and their former masters, who were Dutch planters. 1
