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'John Gabriel Stedman' (1744-1797) was a distinguished British-Dutch soldier and noted author. He was born in Holland in 1744 to 'Robert Stedman', a Scot and an officer in Holland's 'Scots Brigade', and his wife of Dutch noble linage, 'Antoinetta Christina van Ceulen'.
Interested in the sea, Stedman had his heart set on a career in the British navy. However, the loss of his "paternal estate" shortly after his birth precluded Stedman purchasing a naval commission, the
standard means of becoming "an officer and a gentleman" in the British military of the day. As his father was an officer in the Scots Brigade of the Dutch army's "foreign service" (the Scots Brigade was formed in 1570 and disbanded in 1783), Stedman decided to forgo his dream of naval service and accept a commission as a lieutenant in General John Stuart's regiment of the Brigade in 1760.
In 1772, Stedman resigned from Stuart's regiment in order to volunteer for a military expedition to Surinam, at the time Holland's colony in South America. This expedition's mission was to quell uprisings by the colony's African slaves in what would be known as the 'First Boni Maroon War' (1768-1777). Stedman joined the expedition's corps of foreign volunteers at the rank of captain. For the next five years, he served in the corps under the command of 'Colonel Louis Henry Fourgeoud', a Swiss officer who was the corps' Commander-in-Chief and became Stedman's mentor and friend during his tour of duty in Surinam.
Stedman chronicled his experiences and observations in '''Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America, from the year 1772 to 1777''' (1796)-- which was illustrated by William Blake and Francesco Bartolozzi-- and '''Narrative of Joanna; An Emancipated Slave of Surinam'''. (In 1838, abolitionist propagandists excerpted '''Narrative of Joanna''' from '''Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition''' to create a separate book.)
Both of Stedman's narratives are considered to be seminal indictments of slavery as well as invaluable resources on the daily life and culture of the New World's African Diaspora in the 18th century.
Sources:
Hoogbergen, Wim. '''The Boni Maroon Wars in Suriname'''. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1990.
Lee, Sidney (editor). '''Dictionary of National Biography'''. New York/London: The MacMillan Company, 1898.
Stedman, John Gabriel. '''Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America, from the year 1772 to 1777'''. London, 1796.
Stedman, John Gabriel. '''Narrative of Joanna; An Emancipated Slave, of Surinam (From Stedman's Narrative of a Five Year's Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam).''' Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1838.