Maroons often attacked plantations, to free slaves. Slaves were encouraged to run away, and revolt, by just knowing that the maroons existed. The planters of Surinam were especially harsh in their punishments. This made slaves more likely to want to run away.
There were regular revolts from 1715 to 1763. During the worst of the revolts in 1763, the planters freed some slaves to set up an army to fight the maroons.