Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

Slavery at a Cuban Coffee Plantation / 197
obviously built, ¤rst and foremost, to prevent enslaved people from running
away, one of the most overt forms of resistance. Enclosing slave bohíos within
a wall was mandated in an ordinance issued for Matanzas province after a
slave rebellion took place there in 1825. The ordinance required plantations
with bohíos to surround and enclose the houses with a palisade 4–5 varas high,
approximately 3.4–4.25 m (ANC Gobierno Superior Civil [GSC], legajo 1469,
expediente 57999, 1825:4). It is unlikely that most slaveholders complied with
the ordinance because building such a wall was a major capital expenditure
that many simply could not afford. In 1841, the wall enclosure at El Padre was
valued at 5,270.70 pesos (ANC Galletti, legajo 934, expediente 6), a substantial
amount of money for the time, and the construction of the wall must have
been undertaken because it was believed necessary.
The wall enclosure likely served the dual purpose of discouraging enslaved
workers from running away and hindering outsiders from entering the slave
quarters. Bands of maroons, or runaway slaves, often attacked plantations
and, in the process, liberated enslaved workers, took plantation supplies, and
destroyed property (Paquette 1988:73–75; see also La Rosa Corzo, Chapter 9).
In 1837, the Of¤ce of Pedaneo—the administrative of¤cial for a subdivision of
a district—reported that a small party of maroons came to El Padre slave
village. However, the maroons did not capture any enslaved people or take any
property (Archivo Histórico Provincial de Matanzas [AHPM], Gobierno Provincial
O.P. Cimarrones legajo 12, expediente 50, 1837). In fact, the encounter
appears to have been a peaceful one, perhaps involving some kind of trade
exchange. However, hostile maroon attacks were known and posed a constant
threat.
In spite of the wall, slave runaways did occur at Ignacio O’Farrill’s plantations.
As mentioned, four enslaved persons ran away after Padre O’Farrill’s
death. In 1841, 45 enslaved workers at O’Farrill’s sugar plantation San Juan
de Nepomuceno ran far away to an “inaccessible distance in the sierras”
(ANC GSC legajo 617, 19712, 1841). All except eight of the runaways returned.
Slave catchers known as rancheadores captured some of them, others
surrendered themselves to the authorities. Some of these runaways possibly
originated from the coffee plantation because 40 laborers at the coffee plantation
were sent in 1839 to San Juan de Nepomuceno (ANC Galletti, legajo
240, expediente 1).
On a daily basis, slave resistance took place in ways that were far more
subtle than running away or inciting revolts. Students of slavery have long
discussed the many ways enslaved men and women feigned illness, hid or
broke tools, or pilfered property. It is dif¤cult to understand slavery without