St. Joseph Mutiny (Trinidad)

The St. Joseph Mutiny was a mutiny which occurred in June 1837 among the 1st West India Regiment of the British Army. It was led by recently arrived Africans who had been "liberated" from illegal slave ships by the Royal Navy and subsequently conscripted into the West India Regiments. Between 60 and 100 soldiers in the regiment participated in the mutiny, seizing arms and ammunition, killing one enlisted soldier and setting fire to the officers' quarters. Although ultimately unsuccessful, one of the leaders, Dâaga became a folk hero in Trinidad and Tobago, with one report saying in the 1920s a week-long festival was dedicated to the memory of Dâaga and the mutiny. Trindadian leader of the 1970 Black Power Revolution in Trinidad and Tobago took the name Makandal Daaga after Dâaga and Haitian rebel and maroon François Mackandal.