Juan San Malo's maroons traded with Indigenous people (Bas du Fleuve, St. Bernard, 1780s)

SUMMARYJuan San Malo's maroons traded with Indigenous people (Bas du Fleuve, St. Bernard, 1780s) [Connections: Louisiana (deep), Nov 5, 2026]

RECORD64 Parishes (Benjamin Groth, 2023) says Juan San Maló led maroons who built settlements in the "Bas du Fleuve" wetlands southeast of New Orleans. It says they "traded and bartered with Indigenous people" and with enslaved people on nearby plantations. He had been enslaved by Pierre d'Arensbourg of the German Coast. In 1783 he freed maroons captured by American travelers. Governor Esteban Miró sent raids. In 1784 Spanish forces attacked Terre Gaillarde, captured him and most of its residents, and after a six-day trial he and four others were sentenced to death. He was executed on June 19, 1784. A folk song and a fishing town bear his name

PATTERNThe maroon economy depended on Native trading partners in the same swamps. Spanish officials hunted both kinds of freedom outside their control

LENS (WW9)The bayou held its people: maroons and nations trading in the same swamp, outside the colony's papers

OPENWhich nation or nations traded with San Malo's people (the entry does not name them). Check the Spanish trial records, 1783–84

SOURCEJuan San Maló (64 Parishes, Benjamin Groth).