Slave Hounds and Abolition in the Americas

[O' Be Joyful]

introduction

In 1824 an anonymous Scotsman travelled through Jamaica to survey the island’s sugar plantations and social conditions. Notably, his journal describes an encounter with a formidable dog and its astonishing interaction with the enslaved. The traveller’s host, a Mr McJames, made ‘him a present of a fine bloodhound’ descended from a breed used for ‘hunting Maroons almost three decades earlier.1 The maroons had surrendered to the British partly out of terror of these dogs, a Cuban breed that officials were promoting for use in Jamaica on account of their effectiveness in quelling black resistance.2 Unfamiliar with the breed, the traveller observed its ‘astounding … aversion … to the slaves’. For instance, when a young slave entered his room to wake him early one morning, the animal viciously charged the boy. The Scotsman judged that, without his intervention, the hound ‘would positively have torn him to pieces’

Slave Hounds and Abolition in the Americas*

Abstract. The lash and shackles remain two primary symbols of material degradation fixed in the historical memory of slavery in the Americas. Yet as recounted b

academic.oup.com

 

[5fish]

Here is the dog... Extinction...

Dogo Cubano - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[5fish]

CatS had there part in slavery... Cat-hailing...

Note on American Slavery: Cat-hauling

Take a deep breath and brace yourself, before you read further. Or stop reading now if you do not want to subject yourself to this: in this post I describes a particular torture from antebellum sla…

www.google.com

Cat-Hauling: Threats, Punishments, and Slavery

Cat-hauling was a new term to me so I started looking around and found it mentioned in multiple sources where punishment techniques were itemized.

wordsfrom.us

 

[diane]

Those dogs were the truly horrible 'Negro dogs', and were descendants of the Spanish war dog that was used extensively in California. The huge Presa Canario is probably the closest to a descendant of these. They came west with their masters and were used on the Indians, particularly on the ranches in Nevada and eastern California. These dogs are the reason Union troops were ordered to shoot all the dogs in the South...which considerably shortened their trip to extinction. Some slaves early in the war told Union officers in South Carolina that they were perfectly willing to go back to get others or to get information. When asked didn't they fear their masters? they replied, no - not once the dogs are gone.

 

[Matt McKeon]

In Army Life in a Black Regiment, the regiment's CO describes his men shooting slave hunting dogs.

 

[diane]

Yes, these dogs were definitely a threat to the USCT. It should be noted that the dogs used by the slave catching patrols were a particular breed containing various hunting dogs, such as bloodhounds, as well as the large mastiffs and Cuban dogs, and game hunting dogs. They were unique to the American South because of this type of interbreeding. Consequently, Union troops not only killed the vicious slave mauling curs but regular hunting dogs as well.

 

[5fish]

Color troops kills slave hounds...

Slave Hounds and Abolition in the Americas

introduction In 1824 an anonymous Scotsman travelled through Jamaica to survey the island’s sugar plantations and social conditions. Notably, his journal describes an encounter with a formidable dog and its astonishing interaction with the enslaved. The traveller’s host, a Mr McJames, made ‘him...

www.jggscivilwartalk.online

 

[diane]

Confederate troops always had dogs with them. Most people think of Jeb Stuart and his five spaniels, which is nice! But...there were other dogs not so nice that came in handy.