John Gabriel Stedman (1744 – March 7,1797) was a Dutch-Scottish soldier who fought in the Dutch army against groups of escaped slaves (maroons) in Suriname (Dutch Guyana) in the mid-1770s, the basis for a popular book The Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam. The book was published in London by Joseph Johnson, and greatly influenced the early abolitionist movement, especially when illustrations by William Blake were added depicting the horrific punishments meted out to slaves.