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TheMerikins orMerikens[1][2] were formerly enslavedAfrican-Americans who fought and escaped bondage to gain theirfreedom and joined theCorps of Colonial Marines, fighting alongside the British against the United States duringthe War of 1812.
After their service inBermuda, they established a community in the south ofTrinidad between 1815–1816. The region was largely populated by French-speaking Catholics but soon transitioned to an English-speaking, Baptist community after their arrival. It is believed that the term "Merikins" is derived from the localpatois, but as many Americans have long been in the habit of dropping the initial "A" it is also likely that the new settlers brought that pronunciation with them from the United States. Some of the Company villages and land grants established back then still exist in Trinidad today.[3][4]
During theAmerican Revolution, the British recruitedfreedmen for service,[3] underDunmore's Proclamation of 7 November 1775. During theWar of 1812, there was a similarProclamation of 2 April 1814,[5][6] which underpinned the policy that was somewhat similar except that freedmen were treated as free as soon as they came into British hands and there were no conditions nor bargains attached to recruitment. Sixcompanies of freedmen were recruited into aCorps of Colonial Marines along the Atlantic coast, fromChesapeake Bay toGeorgia.[3][4]After that war, the British settled these Colonial Marines in British Empire colonies including Canada, Jamaica, and the Bahamas.[3]
Vice AdmiralSir Alexander Cochrane, on taking over the command of British forces on the North America station on 2 April 1814, issued a proclamation offering a choice of enlistment or resettlement:[3]
... all who may be disposed to emigrate from the UNITED STATES will, with their Families, be received on board His Majesty's Ships or Vessels of War, or at the Military Posts that may be established, upon or near the Coast of the UNITED STATES, when they will have their choice of either entering into His Majesty's Sea or Land Forces, or of being sent as FREE Settlers to theBritish Possessions in North America or the West Indies, where they will meet with due encouragement ...
Cochrane's recruitment of the Colonial Marines, mostly in the Chesapeake, went doubly against his orders from the British government, who had instructed him to accept volunteers for military service only from Georgia and South Carolina and to send all such volunteers away immediately for training overseas for the Army.[4][7]
After the end of the War, the Colonial Marines were first stationed at theRoyal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda. Although they had signed on for a military life, they rejected government orders to be transferred to theWest India Regiments, and finally agreed to be settled inTrinidad and Tobago.[4]
The Governor of Trinidad, SirRalph Woodford, wanted to increase the number of small farmers in that colony and arranged for the creation of a village for each company on theNaparima Plain in the south of the island.[3] Local planter Robert Mitchell managed the establishment and maintenance of the settlements, petitioning the governor for supplies when needed.[3][4]
Unlike the American slaves who were brought to Trinidad in 1815 in ships of the Royal Navy,HMS Carron andHMS Levant, the Veteran Marines were brought there in 1816, with their families, in the hired transportsMary & Dorothy andLord Eldon.[8][9][10] There were 574 former soldiers plus about 200 women and children.[3] To balance the sexes, more black women were subsequently recruited – women who had been freed from other places such as captured Frenchslave ships.[3] The six companies were each settled in a separate village under the command of a corporal or sergeant, who maintained a military style of discipline.[3] Some of the villages were named after the companies and the Fifth and Sixth Company villages still retain those names.[3][4]
The villages were in a forested area of theNaparima Plain near a former Spanish mission,La Misión de Savana Grande.[11] Each of the Veteran Marines was granted 16acres of land and some of these plots are still farmed today by descendants of original settlers.[9][11] The land was fertile but the conditions were primitive initially as the land had to be cleared and the lack of roads was an especial problem.[11] It is sometimes said that some of the settlers were craftsmen more used to an urban environment and, as they had been expecting better, they were disgruntled and some returned to America,[10] but this comment applies to later free Black American settlers, who came from towns, and not to the Veteran Colonial Marines, who were all refugees from the rural areas of the Chesapeake and Georgia. The settlers built houses from the timber they felled, and planting crops of bananas,cassava,maize and potatoes.[3][4] Rice was introduced from America and was especially useful because it could be stored for long periods without spoiling.[3]
Twenty years after the initial establishment, the then governorLord Harris supported improvements to the infrastructure of the settlements and arranged for the settlers to get deeds to their lands, so confirming their property rights as originally stated on arrival, though it is not clear that the initiative was carried through universally.[9][3][4] As they prospered, they became a significant element in Trinidad's economy.[3] Their agriculture advanced fromsubsistence farming to includecash crops ofcocoa andsugar cane.[3] Later, oil was discovered and then some descendants were able to lease their lands for themineral rights.[3] Others continued as independent market traders.[3]
Many of the original settlers wereBaptists from evangelical sects common in places such as Georgia andVirginia.[3] The settlers kept this religion, which was reinforced by missionary work by Baptists from London who helped organise the construction of churches in the 1840s.[3] The villages hadpastors and other religious elders as authority figures and there was a rigorous moral code ofabstinence and thepuritan work ethic.[3] African traditions were influential too and these included thegayap system of communal help, herbal medicine andObeah – African tribal science.[3] A prominent elder in the 20th century was "Papa Neezer" – Samuel Ebenezer Elliot (1901–1969)[12] – who was a descendant of an original settler, George Elliot, and renowned for his ability to heal and cast out evil spirits.[3] Hissyncretic form of religion includedveneration ofShango, prophecies from the "Obee seed" and revelation from thePsalms.[3] TheSpiritual Baptist faith is a legacy of the Merikin community.[13][14]
The following people are descended from this community:
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