The DOI matches its Crossref record; 27 of the 28 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 91 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
“To Kill all Whites”: The Ethics of African Warfare in Bahia and Cuba, 1807–1844
Abstract
Using case studies extracted from primary sources produced predominantly in Brazil and Cuba, this article contends that West African military commanders and troops in both regions during the first half of the nineteenth century exhibited an ethical behavior associated with war, which was strongly tied to their cosmologies of the world. Since these actions were all staged against either slavery or enslavement, it argues that the central ethical issue of whether it was right to take arms and kill people they considered enemies (jus ad bellum), was a non-issue from the moment the protagonists’ and participants’ plans took shape. Further ethical issues that could and would arise once each of these armed movements was underway, which were more ambiguous, are also considered in this article.
Overview
CoChat Summary
Written by AI from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
This article argues that West African men and women in Bahia and Cuba between 1807 and 1844 fought “actions of war” against slavery and enslavement, so the central just-war question of *jus ad bellum* was largely irrelevant. It instead examines ethical dilemmas during combat, including killing non-combatants, loyalty and command, recruitment, surrender, and suicide upon defeat.
Key findings
- The paper contends that West African combatants in Bahia and Cuba exhibited ethical behavior tied to West African cosmologies and military traditions, not simply to European or American revolutionary ideologies.
- It argues that because these armed movements were directed against enslavement or slavery, *jus ad bellum* was rendered “valueless” or “meaningless” in their case; ethical issues arose once war was underway.
- Case examples show internal disagreement over killing non-combatants: in 1825 Lorenzo Lucumí stopped Antonio Carabalí from executing the youngest son of planter Joshua Armitage after two other children had been killed, saying the child “knew nothing.”
- The article documents collective and individual suicides after defeat, including eighteen Lucumí found hanging after the 1827 Tentativa confrontation, five African men who “slit each other’s throats” after the 1826 Urubu quilombo battle, and Balé killing the wounded Ochó and then himself after the 1833 Banes uprising.
Methods
- Design: historical case-study analysis of West African “actions of war” in Bahia, Brazil and Cuba, 1807–1844, framed through ethics of war concepts.
- Data: primary sources produced predominantly in Bahia and Cuba, including interrogations, depositions, police and military reports, and consular or missionary accounts, supplemented by secondary scholarship.
- Analysis: qualitative examination of specific armed movements, including Guamacaro 1825, Banes 1833, La Guanábana/Bemba 1843, the Malê uprising 1835, Iguape 1814/1828, Cotegipe 1829, and Salvador 1830/1835.
Limitations
- Stated: the article presents itself as “a first approximation” and notes the prior absence of an in-depth study of West African military ethics in the Diaspora.
- Evident: the analysis relies heavily on colonial, imperial, and planter-produced records and interrogations, which the paper itself says oversimplified African aims and actions.
- Evident: the case-study approach is selective and regionally concentrated in Bahia and Cuba, with no systematic quantitative comparison across all recorded movements.
Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
55 Not checked yet · 52 Own interpretation · 30 Sources not found · 15 Own result · 3 No basis given
In the paper
“On this occasion, Lorenzo had to stop Antonio Carabalí from executing the youngest son of British planter Joshua Armitage, after every other member of the family, including two other children, had been killed in cold blood moments before.”
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [18] 2011
plainstates a causeSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper states — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It is true that 'killing all the whites' was often given as a reason by captured rebels and by key witnesses.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“in 1806, a Creole slave named Francisco Fuertes had been recruiting men for the movement he hoped to lead in the neighborhood of Guara, south of Havana, by assuring them that slaves from the surrounding estates were ready to take arms in order to kill all of the whites, including their children.”
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [15] 2015
plainSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper states — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This armed movement presented many of the traits associated with the so-called African slave revolts that took place in Bahia Brazil, and Cuba during the first half of the nineteenth century.”
plainstates an associationSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Similar accusations were made against the leader of the 1825 movement in Guamacaro, Lorenzo Lucumí, who was said to have visited several plantations promising people that with the war all would be lost, and that they would make sure to kill all the whites in the process.”
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [16] 2003
hedgedSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Probably not a substantial claim. 31
- It may state two separate claims as one. 32
- The quote only partly states this claim. 1
Create a free account to see these claims.
Create a free account to see these assumptions.
93 more claims
Create a free account to see all 155 claims and to verify the 56 references still open.
Citations
Cites
Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa
Kapteijns, L., & Lovejoy, P. E. (1984) · The International Journal of African Historical Studies · doi:10.2307/218614 · Cited by 463
Miller, J. C., & Gómez, M. A. (1999) · The Journal of Southern History · doi:10.2307/2587589 · Cited by 293
Reid, R. J. (2012) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139043090 · Cited by 168
Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia
Lovejoy, P. E., & Reis, J. J. (1997) · The International Journal of African Historical Studies · doi:10.2307/221575 · Cited by 144
Death is a festival: funeral rites and rebellion in nineteenth-century Brazil
(2004) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.41-3613 · Cited by 122
Piersen, W. D. (1977) · The Journal of Negro History · doi:10.2307/2717175 · Cited by 121
Coates, A. (1997) · Cited by 118
Iliffe, J. H. (2004) · Cited by 112
Armed Drones and the Ethics of War
Enemark, C. (2013) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203107218 · Cited by 112
Runaway slave settlements in Cuba: resistance and repression
Corzo, G. L. R., Garcia, A. S., & Campbell, J. (2004) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.41-6091 · Cited by 70
Research works printed but not linked: 22
- 2008, Seeds of Insurrection: Domination and Resistance on Western Cuban Plantations
- 2014, West African Warfare in Bahia and Cuba: Soldier Slaves in the Atlantic World, 1807–1844
- 2006, The 1812 Aponte Rebellion and the Struggle against Atlantic Slavery
- 2016, The Ethics of War
- 1851, Renseignements sur l’Afrique centrale et sur une nation d’hommes à queue qui s’y trouveraient
- 2005, A hidra e os pântanos: Mocambos, quilombos e comunidades de fugitivos no Brasil (séculos xvii–xix)
- 2014, Freedom’s Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution
- 2015, Rethinking Slave Rebellion in Cuba: La Escalera and the Insurgencies of 1841–1844
- 2003, Conspiraciones y revueltas: la actividad política de los negros en Cuba (1790–1845)
- 2011, West African Narratives of Slavery: Text from Late Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth Century Ghana
- 1965, The Enslavement of Koelle’s Informants, Journal of African History, 6
- 1975, Natural Law as a Language for the Ethics of War, The Journal of Religious Ethics, 3
- 2012, Dahomey and the Ending of the Transatlantic Slave Trade: British Vice-Consul to the Kingdom of Dahomey, West Africa, 1851–1852
- 2004, Slavery, the Bilād al Sūdān, and the Frontiers of the African Diaspora
- 2010, Slavery, Marriage, and Gender Relations in Eastern Yorubaland, 1875–1920
- 1987, Sugar is Made with Blood: The Conspiracy of La Escalera and the Conflict between Empires over Slavery in Cuba
- 1979, 1979. Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas
- 1972, Slave Rebellion in Bahia, 1807–1835
- 2003a, Rebelião escrava no Brasil: a história do levanter dos Malês em 1835
- 1969, Kingdoms of the Yoruba
- 1999, Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500–1800
- 2007, Just war and justice of war: Reflections on ethics of war, Frontiers of Philosophy in China, 2
Cited by
Slave Trades, Firearms, and the Colonial Soundscapes of Mimicked Violence in Modern Africa
Michael, M. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-92924-3_11 · Cited by 1
The Converging Streams of Afrikan War and Resistance in the Afrikan World
Ajani, K. Y. (2022) · Journal of Black Studies · doi:10.1177/00219347221090196 · Cited by 1
Guns and the International Community
Hultin, N. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-07738-8_2 · Cited by 1
When the Ancestors Wage War: Mystical Movements and the Ethics of War and Warfare
Ledgister, G. M. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-36490-8_13
Metadata
- Authors
- Barcia, M.
- Venue
- Journal of African Military History
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 2017-07-10
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 72-92
- ISSN
- 2468-0958 (ISSN-L)
- 2468-0966
- OpenAlex
- W2606337759
- Cited by
- 4
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 4.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of African Military History (publishedVersion)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Colonialism, slavery, and trade
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Cuban History and Society
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › War, Ethics, and Justification
- Keywords
- ethics of war, jus ad bellum, cosmology, slavery, enslavement, armed resistance, Bahia, Cuba, 19th century, abolition of slavery, African diaspora
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-11-10, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-11-10 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: “To Kill all Whites”: The Ethics of African Warfare in Bahia and Cuba, 1807–1844. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1163/24680966-00101005
- The paper
- Barcia, M. (2017). “To Kill all Whites”: The Ethics of African Warfare in Bahia and Cuba, 1807–1844. Journal of African Military History. https://doi.org/10.1163/24680966-00101005
