Runaway Slaves Built This Fort to Defend Their Freedom — Transcript

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1. 0:00the Great Dismal Swamp an impenetrable
2. 0:03green wilderness in North Carolina that
3. 0:06holds a deep American secret for
4. 0:11centuries there were stories of people
5. 0:13who lived here
6. 0:14Native Americans some poor whites and
7. 0:18runaway slaves archaeologists from
8. 0:23American University are discovering
9. 0:25evidence that confirms a little-known
10. 0:27chapter of American history people who
11. 0:31escaped slavery to form their own
12. 0:32communities became known as Maroons a
13. 0:36word some scholars believe is derived
14. 0:38from the Spanish word Cimarron meaning
15. 0:41wild or untamed each settlement is a
16. 0:46unique story of resistance against the
17. 0:48inhumanity of slavery there were
18. 0:52skirmishes in order for them to survive
19. 0:55and get food many times they were
20. 0:57raiding the plantation homes to secure
21. 1:01feel just to steal it because they had
22. 1:02to survive so there were attacks that
23. 1:04occurred and in some instances the
24. 1:07militia was called out to try to capture
25. 1:10and return these individuals to slavery
26. 1:13in some cases they did the team has
27. 1:16discovered evidence that the Maroons
28. 1:18were prepared to defend themselves
29. 1:20there's a blue tarp over there located
30. 1:24at the top of a hill filled with thick
31. 1:26underbrush there's a site where Dan
32. 1:29believes a defense structure once stood
33. 1:32very optimal position you're looking
34. 1:35down on anyone coming in so you have
35. 1:37this or a high point advantage
36. 1:41when sayers and his students first found
37. 1:43this site they knew immediately they had
38. 1:46something remarkable one possibility is
39. 1:51a scaffold platform lookout tower so a
40. 1:55pattern here is just something totally
41. 1:56different we began to find these
42. 1:59munition caches a lot of blood shot came
43. 2:02out of it some gun flint and there was
44. 2:04also some nails that were found in the
45. 2:06general area the artifacts they found
46. 2:09date from 1800 to 1860 knowing that the
47. 2:13outside world had penetrated the
48. 2:15interior the swamp this community
49. 2:17probably would have needed to protect
50. 2:18themselves because the threat of contact
51. 2:20with the outside world based on this
52. 2:22evidence Dan believes the structure may
53. 2:25have looked something like this with the
54. 2:29fort in place the Maroons were well
55. 2:31defended
56. 2:34[Music]
57. 2:39you