Subject: [Mil.History] The Buku Campaigns (part 1)
Article:

A new military post 's Landswelvaren or aka Devil's harbor was established on the Cottica River and Mawaribo creek. It was from this post that a 50 men patrol left on Sept 12, 1771. The patrol was commanded by a reserve candidate L.A. Sebulo. Their mission was to discover new Maroon villages in the Cottica area. After a four day foot march in a north-east direction they spotted a village. It rose like an island above the water. Sebulo took 30 of his men to investigate this village while the remainder of the patrol remained in place. September is the dry season, however, the water surrounding the village was still high. It took the patrol two hours to cross the swamp. The village was described as a fortified fort with a 3 meters high wooden stockade. It had holes from which the Maroons could fire their rifles. The path to this fort was so narrow that one could only proceed in a single file fromation. The patrol found two small swiveling canons. They did not come under fire as the Maroons were at that time plundering the plantation Capoerica. The soldiers did therefore not meet any resistance when they entered Buku. Three dead Maroons were found at the main gate while others were presumed dragged away. There were fifteen women and seven children in the fort. The patrol captured besides the two canons two other small canons. The patrol commander decided to withdraw quickly from Buku as he feared the return of the Maroons and he did not order the destruction of Buku. This will turn out to be a grave military mistake. The patrol arrived back in Paramaribo on 22 Sept 1771 with the women and children. ------


Met dank aan Albert Buys








Met dank aan Albert Buys