By Hope Masterton Waddell

Hope Masterton Waddell was a missionary in Jamaica when a slave uprising started after December 25, 1831, which lasted into the first weeks of 1832. A Christmas Rebellion is Waddell’s recollection of this rebellion that is considered the largest slave rebellion in the British Caribbean. The uprising was also called the Baptist War because many of the rebels were Baptist denomination.

An excerpt from A Christmas Rebellion:
Early in December 1831 rumours of an impending servile war began to spread abroad and agitate the community. The slaves, it was said, had bound themselves by a solemn oath to each other to be slaves no longer. The conspiracy was discovered on Salt Spring estate, near Montego Bay, from the mysterious and threatening language of an angry negro to his overseer, which aroused suspicion, led to investigation, and thereby brought to light the whole scheme. The time was near for its being carried into effect, yet nothing seemingly could be done beforehand to prevent it.