Irish Slavery in America

” To hell or Barbados…..” a book written by Sean Callaghan reveals the truths behind the Irish who were sold into slavery.

After the Battle of Kinsale 1601, the English had captured some 30,000 military prisoners, and
thus created an official policy of banishment, or transportation. James II encouraged selling the Irish as slaves to planters and settlers in the New World colonies. The first recorded sale of Irish slaves was to a settlement on the Amazon River, in 1612.

In 1625, an official Proclamation ordered for Irish prisoners to get rounded up and sold as slaves to English Planters. Between 1629 and 1632 a large numbers of Irish, men and women,
were sent to Guiana, Antiqua and Montserrat. By 1637 approx 69% of the population of
Montserrat were Irish slaves.Negro slaves had to be purchased, 20 to 50 pound sterling, Irish
slaves were captured and sold for 900 pounds of cotton. The Irish became the largest source of
slaves for English slave traders.

From 1641 to 1652, over 550,000 Irish were killed by the English and 300,000 more were sold
as slaves. As more men were transported, leaving their wives and children behind, they too were also rounded up and sold as slaves. Irish women and their daughters were of lighter complection than the black slaves and were considered more valuable as domestic slaves.
In 1649, Cromwell began a campaign of terror on Ireland. All captured soldiers were transported to be sold into slavery. A few months later, in 1650, 25,000 Irish were sold to planters in St. Kitt.

During the 1650s , over 100,000 Irish children, generally from 10 to 14 years old, were taken
from their parents, and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England. In fact,
more Irish were sold as slaves to the American colonies from 1651 to 1660 than the total
existing “free” population of the Americas! In1652, Cromwell ordered that the Irish were to
be transported overseas, starting with 12,000 Irish prisoners sold to Barbados. The infamous “ To Hell or to Connacht ” proclamation was issued on 1 May 1654, confiscating all Irish held lands, and the native Irish were to relocated west of the Shannon or be transported to the West Indies. To expedite the process in 1657 the law was further clarified to read: : “Those who fail to transplant themselves into Connaught or Co Clare within six months… Shall be attained of high treason… are to be sent into America or some other parts beyond the seas… those banished who return are to suffer the pains of death as felons by virtue of this act, without benefit of Clergy.”

It was not a crime to kill any Irish, as soldiers were encouraged to do, but the slave trade proved too profitable to ignore. As a result 52,000 Irish, were sold to Barbados and Virginia alone. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were taken prisoners and ordered transported and sold as slaves. In 1656, Cromwell’s Council of State ordered that 1000 Irish girls and 1000 Irish boys be rounded up and taken to Jamaica to be sold as slaves to English planters. Still there were more as little record was kept of this activity.

Few people realize from 1600 -1699, more Irish were sold as slaves than Africans.

More…

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There are attempts to discredit this history. However, I first learned of this enslavement from the following movie:

What a difference in Hollywood from 1935. I do not think we will have the happy ending as Errol Flynn had in this movie.

David DeGerolamo

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