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Revision as of 09:45, 9 August 2004 by 66.185.84.208 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Baptist War (led by 'native' Baptist preacher, Samuel Sharpe, and waged by largely, though not only, his Baptist followers amongst the slaves) also known as the Christmas Uprising and the Great Jamaican Slave Revolt of 1831-32, was a 10 day rebellion that mobalized as many as 60,000 slaves. Decidedly influenced by missionaries at home and the abolitionists in London, the revolt was suppressed with relative ease by forces belonging to the Jamaican plantocracy. It is believed that 12 whites were killed, while hundreds of rebels died, the overwhelming majority of which executed by military tribunals after the rebellion was concluded, at times, for quite minor offences (one recorded execution indicates the crime being the theft of a pig, another, a cow). The brutality of the plantocracy during the revolt is thought to have accelerated the process of emancipation, with initial measures beginning in 1833, followed by (in Jamaica) partial emancipation (outright for children six or under, six years apprenticeship for the rest), and then uncoditional emancipation of chattel slavery in 1838.