21.7 C
Belize City
Friday, March 29, 2024

World Down Syndrome Day

Photo: Students and staff of Stella Maris...

BPD awards 3 officers with Women Police of the Year

Photo: (l-r) Myrna Pena, Carmella Cacho, and...

Suicide on the rise!

Photo: Iveth Quintanilla, Mental Health Coordinator by Charles...

BRITS BROUGHT INDIANS TO BELIZE TO LABOR FOR CONFEDERATES FLEEING PROSECUTION IN US

FeaturesBRITS BROUGHT INDIANS TO BELIZE TO LABOR FOR CONFEDERATES FLEEING PROSECUTION IN US

As a Belizean citizen, it was never taught to me in the schools, how the Indians living in Belize arrived in our country. Recently, I was conducting some research on the Maya and Garifuna people living autonomously in the southern part of what we know as Belize today, before it was ceded to the British by Guatemala in the 1859 treaty.

I found out that when New Richmond in the Toledo District was established by a Confederate, Reverend B. R. Duval, and other communities throughout Belize were formed by Confederates, they needed labor for their farms. The Confederates made an attempt to employ the Garifuna and Maya people, but they both refused to work for them. The British then accommodated the Confederates, by bringing Indians from India as indentured servants to provide labor for the Confederates.

 

A PICTURE OF AN EAST INDIAN FAMILY HOME IN 1910 BELIZE

I also discovered that in 1866, a contingent of Confederates including Putnam and Carey arrived to see if they could secure farmlands for their comrades. They established a real estate agency to attract other Confederates to purchase lands through them and join them in Belize. The Civil War ended in 1865, and many Confederates had the fear, that the United States government was going to bring charges against them for Treason due to the Civil War they fought against the US Government. This fear motivated many Confederates to leave the United States and head to other countries, and many of them left.

After the war, General Ulysses S. Grant was advocating for treason charges to be brought against them, but he was overruled by President Abraham Lincoln and other members of the government who called for Reconciliation. This evidence of Confederates living in British Honduras, now Belize, can be found in a book written by Donald C. Simmons, Jr. Below is a summary of what is stated in this book:

During the American Civil War and the years immediately following, thousands of Confederate sympathizers and former soldiers left the southern United States to seek exile in other lands. Evidence suggests that more Confederate soldiers went to British Honduras, presently known as Belize, than any other single site.

This work is an in-depth look at the settlements established by former Confederates—what lured the Confederates there, what the trip from New Orleans was like, what life was like for immigrants in Belize City, the settlements at Toledo, New Richmond, northern British Honduras, Manatee and other settlements, and what Belize City was like at the height of the immigrant influx. Also included are lists of arrivals at the hotels and passenger lists from the ships; both were important in identifying prominent Confederates who sought refuge in British Honduras.

The reason why many Confederate soldiers chose to go to Belize, was because the Confederates had a relationship with the British who were selling them weapons to fight the Cvil War against the United States government. Some of them had moved to Brazil, but the language barrier created a problem for them, but in Belize the people spoke English.

A PICTURE OF A CONFEDERATE CEMETERY IN PUNTA GORDA

The British also wanted them to set up farms so that they could help boost the economy of their new colony, which was established in 1862. They offered them lands for a cheap price. A former Confederate who went to settle in Belize was Reverend B. R. Duval, who took some Virginians with him and established a settlement by the name of “New Richmond “ near San Pedro.

The Confederates also established other settlements throughout Belize in places like Manatee, and eight others on the New River south of Orange Walk Town, “Louisiana Farm” (most of the people were from Louisiana) and around the town of Punta Gorda. Many of the former Confederate expatriates remained in Belize City. Over a period of time they blended into the Belizean society, but their Confederate and American roots can still be traced.

Below is information on a Confederate soldier from Louisiana by the name of John Wallace Price who died and was buried in the Orange Walk District:

Name: John Wallace Price
Sex: M
Birth: 1 SEP 1837 in Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish, LA 1
Death: 9 AUG 1884 in Louisiana? Belize? 2
Person Id: I021384
Tree Id: 124415

The Government of Belize recently tabled a Bill to seek Reparations on behalf of our citizens who were slaves in Belize, and I fully support it. However, Reparations must be sought not only for our people who were enslaved in Belize, but for all of our citizens who experienced Genocide under British rule.

This includes the Maya people for the war the British waged against them to take away their lands from them, the Garifuna people for the genocide committed against them in their homeland “Yurumein” now known as Saint Vincent & The Grenadines, unlawful imprisonment, torture, killings and burials on the island of Balliceaux and their forced removal and dumping on the island of Roatan on April 12th 1797, and the East Indians for their forced removal from their homeland, India, so that they could be brought to Belize to work for them and the Confederates. Our government represents all the citizens of our country. We should not be seeking justice for one group while leaving other groups without justice.

Equal treatment and protection under the law in accordance with our Constitution, is a sworn Constitutional obligation for all of our Representatives. Plus, it is a fundamental cornerstone of democracy for democratic nations. I now call on the Belize Government to engage all of the citizens and organizations in our country, who experienced Genocide under the hand of the British and other European countries, to be a part of the Reparations Committee.

This committee will then take on the responsibility, with support from our government, to gather the evidence for a case to be brought against these countries for the crimes they committed against our citizens. Many of our people who endured these genocidal acts, under the British and the other colonializing countries sacrificed their lives for us. Now it is time for us to seek justice on their behalf, so let us seek it.

Check out our other content

World Down Syndrome Day

Suicide on the rise!

Check out other tags:

International