The Port Cresson massacre was a lopsided battle that occurred on June 10, 1835, in the territory of modern-day

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

between former American slaves and descendants of American slaves on the one hand and Bassa forces on the other. After the massacre American forces retaliated and routed the Bassa, compelling them to terms for peace.

Background

Port Cresson was a settlement established in

west Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

in 1834 at the behest of the Pennsylvania branch of the abolitionist

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the repatriation of freeborn peop ...

for purposes of the "repatriation" of freed slaves, and the descendants of slaves, to Africa. At the time of the massacre, it was populated by approximately 130

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

s, as well as one White representative of the Pennsylvania society, Edward Hankinson. According to R. McDowell, a physician visiting

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at the time of attack, local slave traders decided they did not want to do business so close to a repatriation settlement and had informed the local Bassa chief, King Joe, that they intended to move their business elsewhere. An "exasperated" King Joe—who was equipped with arms provided by American and European slavers—pledged to drive the settlers out.

Massacre

On June 10, 1835, Port Cresson was attacked by the forces of King Joe. As the settlers were pacifist

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

, they lacked arms or any other means with which to defend themselves. Roughly twenty of the Port Cresson settlers were killed outright by King Joe's men, with the remainder managing to flee the bloodshed and escape to the armed settlement of

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

, where Hankinson appealed for aid. Meanwhile, King Joe continued on to attack nearby Edina; however, a second indigenous leader, King Bob, intervened to defend the Edina settlement, and Joe was forced to withdraw.

Aftermath

On learning of the massacre at Port Cresson, Elijah Johnson, a veteran of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, assembled a company of 120 armed volunteers and set out on a punitive expedition to engage King Joe. The Monrovia government routed the opposing forces. A peace accord was signed on November 6, 1835. In it, Joe promised to pay indemnifications, stop participating in the slave trade, and submit all territorial disputes to settler courts for adjudication. Hankinson, traumatized by the attack, refused to return to the devastated Port Cresson settlement. The demonstration of the military power of the Monrovian forces against Joe helped cement the central importance of Liberia among the disparate repatriation colonies being established in west Africa.

References

{{coord missing, Liberia June 1835 1835 in Liberia Quakerism in Pennsylvania Slavery in the United States Conflicts in 1835 Former polities incorporated into Liberia Massacres in Liberia Mass murder in 1835