It was led by Indigenous Jamaican born to the land who helped liberated Africans to set up communities in the mountains who were coming off of slave ships.

[4] The white-to-enslaved population ratio shifted in the following decades, leaving a majority of enslaved people and very few white settlers.

British forces were unable to establish control over the whole island, so a large portion remained in the hands of the Maroons, particularly in the rugged interior.

Notably, in 1690 a revolt of 400 enslaved Africans at Sutton's plantation, in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, considerably strengthened the Leeward Maroons.

That year, the British sent a new governor, Major-General Robert Hunter, to Jamaica, and under his rule the conflict with the Maroons escalated.

Enslaved Africans continued to free themselves and desert the Black Shot support forces in large numbers.

Ayscough died in office, and John Gregory became the new governor, and he immediately had to tackle the problem of Maroon attacks.

In retaliation for the militia's occupation of Nanny Town, Windward Maroon warriors launched assaults on Titchfield Fort in Port Antonio.

[14] In 1739, the planter and colonial militia John Guthrie signed the first treaty with the Leeward Maroon leader, Cudjoe, who for years fought to maintain his people's independence.

[16] The terms of the treaties largely reflected the power imbalance between the two sides, favoring British interests and granting the Maroons limited autonomy in exchange for their cooperation in maintaining the colonial system of slavery.

The treaty terms were also different between the Maroon groups, with the Leeward Maroons receiving more favorable conditions, including a larger land grant and fewer restrictions on agricultural activities, while the Windward Treaty imposed stricter regulations and smaller land allocations.

[17] The success of the Maroons in fighting the British to a standstill was felt far and wide, and half a century later, the creator of independent Haiti, Toussaint L'Ouverture, remarked that, "in Jamaica there are in the mountains Blacks who have forced the English to make treaties with them.