To Shining Sea - Chapter 26
The Surrender of General Toussaint, May 1st 1802
The Unveiling of Canadian History, Volume 4.
To Shining Sea – Ireland, Haiti, and Louisiana, and the Idea of a Continental Republic, 1797 – 1804.
Part 3 – The Louisiana Frontier
Chapter 26 - The Surrender of General Toussaint, May 1st 1802
Napoleon Bonaparte’s plan to reconquer Saint-Domingue came with words of peace, but with an army for war. With France reaching peace agreements with Britain and the United States, Bonaparte could now aim all of France’s military power against General Toussaint and Saint-Domingue - in his plan to restore slavery to all of France’s colonies! including Louisiana!
General Toussaint in prison
On January 29th 1802, Leclerc arrived at the bay of Semana, on the far east side of the island of Saint-Domingue. With the French fleet re-assembled (except for 2 lost vessels) Leclerc convened a council-of-war where it was decided to assault Saint-Domingue immediately, in a four-pronged attack, rather than to parley with General Toussaint.
Kerverseau with 1400 men was sent to occupy Santo Domingo city, Boudet with 3500 men was sent to Port Republicain, and Rochambeau with 2000 men was sent to Fort Dauphin, while Leclerc with 5000 troops sailed to Le Cap Francois.
For General Toussaint, to defend the entire coast would have meant to scatter his army over a vast territory, but then, the French landings could not be prevented, since the French would have numerical superiority at the points of attack and would also have their naval guns! General Toussaint’s strategy would have to be that when the town was attacked, the garrison would set fire to it and fall back to the interior.
General Toussaint had sent two letters to his commanders – one, a decoy, to surrender the town, and a second, an order to resist the invasion. But the French captured and killed the courier, and sent only the decoy message to the commanders.
First, Kerverseau easily captured Santo Domingo, due to the confusion there, and second, Rochambeau also easily captured Fort Dauphin and then ordered the massacre of all the prisoners that were taken.
Third, on February 2nd, Leclerc, and his fleet of 14 ships and 9 frigates, arrived at Le Cap, and were informed by General Christophe, that Governor-General Toussaint was not here, but was absent on a tour of inspection in the Spanish part of the colony, and that without his permission, warships could not enter the harbour.
An emissary was sent to parley with Christophe, bringing with him a bundle of proclamations from Bonaparte that:
“no matter what your origin, you are Frenchmen, equal before God and the Republic … all nations have now become reconciled with France and have vowed to maintain peace and friendly relations with her … it is now your turn to welcome the French and to rejoice at the arrival of your brothers from Europe. The Government sends you Captain-General Leclerc … whoever dares to separate himself from the Captain-General is a traitor to his country, and the anger of the Republic will devour him as fire devours dry sugar-cane.”
But Christophe replied again, that he must wait for orders from General Toussaint. The next day, a delegation (including the mayor, parish priest and Tobias Lear, the agent of the United States) was sent with the emissary to talk with Leclerc, to seek a delay of 48 hours, by which time General Toussaint would return. Leclerc refused and sent the delegation back, with a reply refusing to grant a delay and that if he did not receive assurances immediately that he would be welcomed, he would resort to force.
The next day, Christophe’s soldiers went from door to door warning the people to leave the city. Then, that evening, when a frigate drew to shore to effect a landing, a canon was fired from the fort as the signal, and squads of soldiers set fire to all the public buildings, followed by the shops and private dwellings – Christophe set fire to his own mansion! Leclerc later entered a city of smoking ruins.
And fourth, on February 3rd, General Boudet and his ships arrived at Port-au-Prince, and asked that the French be allowed to land. General Age, in command while General Dessalines was away with General Toussaint, would have agreed, but Colonel Lamartiniere, the second in command, demanded that the request be denied, until the return of Dessalines, and that Boudet be informed that at the first sign of a landing, the city would be torched.
Notwithstanding the threat, Boudet led a landing party of 1200 grenadiers at a distance from the city, and marched to the fort, where the captain informed him that if the French advanced another step, the fort would fire on them. Boudet ordered his troops:
“keep your muskets on your shoulders and let them kill you if they wish, so that those who come after you, may have reason to avenge your death and the dignity of France”,
and he then told the captain:
“tell your battalion what you have just heard and fire on us if you dare. But if you do, defend yourselves well, sell your lives dearly, for you are lost.”
The captain surrendered the fort.
Boudet’s troops then continued their advance until they reached the breastworks protecting the city and demanded the right to pass. But here, they were met with a deadly salvo, the grenadiers re-formed and took the breastworks at the point of the bayonet. The coast defences opened fire on the naval squadron, but it was no match for the fleet’s guns, and the batteries were silenced and a fresh landing was made.
General Age, eluded his subordinate, Lamartiniere, and went over to meet the French conquerors. Lamartiniere tried to set fire to the city, but the French advance was too swift for him to succeed, but he was able to retreat.
Later, at Port-de-Paix, the French finally captured the ruined city, after fierce resistance from General Maurepas, who was able to retreat with his Ninth Regiment intact. General Dessalines raced his troops all over the South province, trying to block the path of the French invaders, leaving a trail of burnt plantations.
With so much of Saint-Domingue’s supplies and provisions having been burnt or destroyed, Leclerc now looked to the Americans for his needed provisions – in the American ships lying in harbour or in the American-owned warehouses on shore.
In a letter of February 28th, Lear wrote to Madison that Leclerc had informed him that:
“finding there was no probability of the Americans who had provisions &c. for sale, which were wanted for the army, coming to any terms for them, excepting the most extravagant, he was determined to make an offer, fixing the prices, from which there should be no deviation: adding that if these were not complied with he would not permit the vessels to unload or depart.”
Lear wrote that:
“[I had] pressed on the subject every argument favouring the liberty of commerce, and shewing that to let the market be free for every one to sell at the best prices he could, would be the means of ensuring plentiful supplies – and that thus fixing the prices would bear the appearance of compulsion.”
Leclerc responded that:
“in the situation in which he found himself, he should be justified, by the law of nations, in taking vessels and cargoes and accounting for them to the Government of the U. S., as he was in a situation that made the measure necessary.”
Leclerc had said that:
“orders had been given to prevent vessels going into any ports of the island excepting this and Port Republican [i.e. Le Cap Francois and Port-au-Prince] and that all vessels found entering any other ports, would be sent into one of them.”
He also said he had dispatched a frigate to the United States with this information, and that:
“if any American vessels should be found bringing military stores of any kind to the island, even to the two ports of admission, after this proclamation should be made known in the U. S., they would be seized and confiscated.”
The next day, the American merchants and Captains met at Lear’s office where they declined Leclerc’s proposal and made their own offer. The offer was rejected by Leclerc who said that:
“if his propositions were not accepted … that should the Americans persisted in their extravagant demands – he would shut every port in the island against them, however inconvenient it might be to himself.”
Upon further consultation, the American merchants and Captains agreed to accept Leclerc’s conditions.
Leclerc now wished to avoid having the whole colony laid waste. Accompanying Leclerc had been General Toussaint’s sons, Isaac and Placide, who had been studying in France for the past 6 years, and who had been ordered by Bonaparte to return to Saint-Domingue on Leclerc’s expedition. Leclerc told them that there had been an unfortunate misunderstanding with their father, and he was sending them to deliver a letter from Bonaparte.
The letter read that:
“the peace with England and all the European powers, which has established the Republic in the highest degree of power and grandeur, now allows the government to occupy itself with the colony of Saint-Domingue. We are sending there, Citizen Leclerc, our brother-in-law, in his quality as General, to serve as first magistrate of the colony. He is accompanied by a considerable force, in order to ensure the respect of the sovereignty of the French people ...
The constitution you made, while including many good things, contains some that are contrary to the dignity and sovereignty of the French people, of which Saint-Domingue forms only a portion. The circumstances in which you found yourself, surrounded on all sides by enemies without the metropole being able to either assist or revictual you, rendered articles of that constitution legitimate that otherwise would not be.
But today, when the circumstances have changed for the better, you should be the first to render homage to the sovereignty of the nation that counts you among its most illustrious citizens thanks to the services you have rendered it and by the talents and the force of character with which nature has graced you. A contrary conduct would be irreconcilable with the idea we have conceived of you. It would have you lose the many rights to recognition and the benefits of the republic, and would dig beneath your feet a precipice which, in swallowing you up, could contribute to the misfortune of those brave blacks whose courage we love, and whose rebellion we would, with difficulty, be obliged to be punished …”
General Toussaint’s two sons tried to persuade him to accept Leclerc’s offer to come and confer with him at Le Cap. But he replied that the First Consul’s words in the letter are in direct contradiction with Leclerc’s conduct – the one talks to me of peace, the other one wages war upon me. He sent his sons back to Leclerc with a proposal for an armistice while he reached a decision concerning his future course.
Leclerc sent the two sons back, replying that:
“no matter what forces you may have at your disposal, the final result cannot be doubted. But what should influence a man of your generous spirit even more is the thought of the misery which is bound to result from war … come and talk things over with a comrade in arms.”
His sons also were told to tell General Toussaint that the office of Lieutenant-Governor was being reserved for him, if he would lay down his arms, but he would have to make a decision within four days or be declared an outlaw! General Toussaint asked his sons to choose between France and Saint-Domingue; Isaac said he would not bear arms against France, while Placide wished to remain with his father.
General Toussaint then sent his reply to Leclerc that he would not report to Le Cap to meet because:
“his conduct did not inspire me with sufficient confidence … I was ready to transfer command to him in conformity with the orders of the First Consul [but] I would not be his Lieutenant-Governor.”
And he added in conclusion that:
“if he persisted in his invasion, he would force me to defend myself.”
On February 15th, two squadrons that had sailed from the ports of Toulon and Cadiz – 13 ships with 3,800 troops arrived at Le Cap, along with the 2 missing ships that finally arrived with an additional 1,400 men.
Leclerc now issued a proclamation declaring Generals Toussaint, Dessalines and Christophe to be ‘out of the protection of the law’ – to be outlaws! On February 18th, Leclerc launched his next offensive – Boudet and Rochambeau were to converge on Gonaives to attack General Toussaint’s headquarters, while additional troops were sent to surround Maurepas and force his surrender.
Dessalines harassed Boudet’s advance, burning towns and plantations on the way, before retreating to the interior, and General Toussaint troops ambushed Rochambeau and then burned Gonaives, before they too retreated to the interior. On February 25th, Leclerc entered the ruins of Gonaives. Leclerc continued his advance into the interior towards Crete-a-Pierrot – one of General Toussaint’s supply depots and the gateway to the Cahos mountains.
Dessalines tried to draw the French forces away, leaving Lamartiniere to defend the depot against overwhelming odds. Leclerc was forced to retreat with serious losses, in charge after charge. Before General Toussaint could arrive to help Dessalines lift the siege, Lamartiniere finally broke through the French lines to escape, and Crete-a-Pierrot fell to Leclerc on March 25th.
General Toussaint, Dessalines and Christophe would use guerrilla tactics to attack the French forces and to push them back to the coast.
But soon, General Toussaint would receive word of the official peace treaty between Britain and France, that was signed at Amiens on March 25th. General Toussaint knew that with peace between France and Britain, and peace between France and the United States, France could now deal with her colonies, without concern of any interference.
And by April 7th, arriving at Saint-Domingue was another fleet - of 3 ships-of-the-line and 7 frigates, from Brest and Le Havre and from Holland, with 5,500 more troops. Fearing that even more troops would be sent from France, and that the war could never be won, some of General Toussaint’s best generals had already begun to defect to Leclerc’s army.
Provided that the French Republic – the only nation that had abolished slavery – remained true to that conviction, General Toussaint continued his belief that the only path for freedom for Saint-Domingue, was as a part of France.
And, Leclerc’s instructions (in chapter 3) had been that:
“[if] it has been impossible to get Toussaint, proclaim that if within a specified time he does not come to take the oath to the Republic, he shall be declared a traitor, after which period a war to the death will begin.”
Fearing the disintegration of his army in France’s ‘war to the death’, on April 26th Christophe agreed to surrender, on May 1st General Toussaint agreed to surrender and soon also Dessalines. General Toussaint met with Leclerc on May 6th, and was allowed to retire, with his staff, to his plantation – provided that Leclerc accepted all the officers into the French army with no reduction of rank, and that he guaranteed freedom to all the inhabitants of Saint-Domingue.
On May 20th, First Consul Bonaparte proclaimed that:
“in the colonies returned to France in execution of the treaty of Amiens [i.e. Tobago, Martinique and Saint Lucia] slavery will be maintained … [and] the slave trade and their importation into the colonies will take place … in accordance with the laws and regulations prior to 1789.”
Slavery was to be restored to all of the French colonies!!! - as if the declaration of the rights of man and the declaration to end slavery had never taken place!!!
The French would soon be in command of all their North American colonies – at Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe, and at Tobago, Saint Lucia and Martinique.
Note on Guadeloupe: A year earlier, on April 19th 1801, Bonaparte had issued a decree that Guadeloupe would be governed by three magistrates: a Captain-general, a prefect and a civil commissioner, who arrived at Guadeloupe on May 29th. But, when Captain-General Bethancourt died on August 5th, Commissioner Lacrosse assumed command – imprisoning or threatening with deportation his opponents and allowing slaveholders (who fled with the British in 1794) to reclaim their plantations. A revolt against his rule occurred under Pelage and Delgres, and on November 1st, Lacrosse was taken prisoner, and a Provisional Council of Government was formed.
Now, on April 1st 1802, Bonaparte would dispatch General Richepance with a fleet of 26 ships and 3500 troops, who arrived on May 6th, and by May 28th had defeated Delgres and put down the revolt, restoring Lacrosse and reasserting French rule on the island. Richepance would die of yellow fever on September 3rd.
Note on Martinique: When slavery was kept on Martinique by Bonaparte, some blame this on the influence of his wife. Josephine Bonaparte had been raised on a sugar plantation in Martinique, and her first husband, the Marquis de Beauharnais, owned a plantation in Saint-Domingue, to which she had fallen heir. General Toussaint had the Beauharnais plantation cultivated at government expense and had the revenues sent to her. Josephine was very friendly towards Toussaint’s son, Isaac, who was living in Paris.
She writes in her memoirs that she told Bonaparte to:
“keep Toussaint Louverture at the head. He is the man you need to govern the blacks. Now that the Negroes have established their supremacy over the colony, they will be dissatisfied when they see the reins of power torn from the hand of their foremost general. They will constantly fear a renewal of slavery.”
[Like any reasonable man, Napoleon should have listened to his wife!]
Next, Leclerc would accuse General Toussaint of encouraging the guerrilla leaders (who had not laid down their arms) and of maintaining a private military force. General Toussaint replied with a denial of these charges and with a charge that the soldiers at the nearby garrison were terrorizing the inhabitants and were committing depredations upon his plantations, and that unless these annoyances ceased, he would leave and take up residence on a property he owned in the Spanish part of the island. Leclerc was already anxious to carry out Bonaparte’s order to arrest Toussaint if this could be done without great hazard, and now decided that he had no time to lose.
Leclerc instructed General Brunet to invite General Toussaint to a meeting, that:
“we have, my dear General, to reach an understanding concerning measures which it is impossible to take up by correspondence, but which an hour’s conference will settle … you will not find in my house all the comforts I should like to put at your disposal, but you will find a frank and honest man, whose only ambition is to promote the welfare of the colony and your happiness.”
On June 7th, General Toussaint, his son and his aide, departed for Brunet’s headquarters. When he arrived that evening, he met Brunet, who asked him to be seated, and then excused himself for a moment as he left the room. Soon, soldiers with bayonets entered the room and arrested him, brought him to a French warship and immediately sailed for Le Cap Francois, where it waited until his family was brought there and they were all shipped to France.
When they arrived at Brest on July 9th, General Toussaint was kept a prisoner at the citadel, and his family was dispersed. Leclerc wrote to Bonaparte that:
“he should be put in a fortress in the centre of France, so he will never have the opportunity to escape and return to Saint-Domingue, where his influence is that of a religious chief. If this man were to return after three years, he could still undo all that has been accomplished.”
General Toussaint was not allowed a hearing or a trial, and was sent to Fort de Joux, in the Jura mountains, near the Swiss frontier. Bonaparte sent his aide-de-camp, Caffarelli, to interview General Toussaint in his prison cell. He made 7 visits between September 15th and 27th – asking him to confess that he had sought for independence, but General Toussaint would only reply truthfully that he had always been faithful to the Republic and was loyal to the First Consul. While in prison, he dictated his memoirs to the commandant’s secretary, but his health worsened – severe headaches, stomach disorder, rheumatism, infected lungs, and teeth that had to be pulled, until he died on April 7th 1803, and was buried in the basement of the fort’s chapel, in an unmarked grave.
General Toussaint in Fort de Joux prison
On June 11th 1802, Leclerc would write to Decres, the Minister of Marine, that:
“after the deportation of Toussaint, a few men attempted to start trouble. Since then some of the colonial troops have shown a disposition to revolt. I have ordered the ringleaders shot, and at present, these troops hide their discontent.”
But daily the situation became more ominous, and Leclerc reported of nightly meetings but was unable to discover the leaders –
“scarcely a night passed that plantations, even in the vicinity of the Cape, were not destroyed, and the wretched owners sacrificed to the resentment of the persecuted Africans.”
Now fully alarmed, Leclerc acted upon his instructions from Talleyrand and Bonaparte, and set out to disarm the colonial [i.e. freed black] soldiers.
On August 6th, Leclerc reported that:
“when I wished to disarm the North, a general insurrection broke out.”
The situation became even worse when news reached Saint-Domingue that slavery had been restored in Guadeloupe! Leclerc reported that:
“now that our plans with respect to the colonies are perfectly known, if you wish to retain Saint-Domingue, send here a new army. However disagreeable my position, I am making some terrible examples, and since the only thing left me is terror, I continue to employ it” – [disarming, arresting, shooting and drowning].
On July 16th, Bonaparte issued a decree that annulled the law of February 4th 1794 – when the National Assembly had abolished slavery in France’s colonies, and that would re-establish slavery in Guadeloupe and Saint Domingue!!!
Along with his decree of May 20th, that maintained slavery in Tobago, Saint Lucia and Martinique, Bonaparte had now returned slavery and the slave trade to all of France’s North American colonies – and that included Louisiana!
Earlier, on June 14th, Decres had written to Leclerc that:
“when they have learned the difference between the yoke of a tyrant and usurper, and that of their legitimate masters, interested in their welfare, then the time will have arrived to bring them back to their former state, from which they never should have been allowed to depart. As for the slave traffic, it is more necessary than ever, since the gaps caused by ten years of disorder and non-replacement must be filled.”
But, on August 25th Leclerc would reply to Decres that:
“don’t count on re-establishing slavery here for the present. I hope to have everything in readiness so that my successor will be able to put the Government decree into effect. However, in view of the endless proclamations I have issued guaranteeing liberty to the blacks, I don’t want to contradict myself. But you can assure the First Consul that my successor will find everything prepared.”
In late August, Charles Belair, General Toussaint’s nephew and heir-apparent, rebelled, and he led his 8th Colonial Regiment to join forces with the guerrillas. But Belair was soon arrested and given the death sentence. During September and October, there were few places that were left untouched by the fury of rebellion.
Leclerc reported that:
“the greater part of my colonial troops have deserted me … every day the forces of the rebels grow stronger, mine weaker … the blacks are leaving me every day.”
Leclerc sent Dessalines against the rebels, but on every retreat, Dessalines always contrived to leave his stores and ammunition in possession of the rebels! Christophe was now ordered to act against the rebels, but he too contrived to let them into the possession of his camp-stores!
On the night of October 13th, Petion and Clairveaux mutinied with 2 regiments and seized Haut-du-Cap. The next day they were joined by Christophe. Their 6,000 soldiers now seized Fort Liberte and Port-de-Paix and then marched on Le Cap Francois – the only major town still under French control in all of the North Province. Dessalines now mutinied with his army, and undertook the conquest of the Artibonite Valley, and soon all of the West Province – except Port-au-Prince was under his control. Thousands of rebels in the South province besieged Les Cayes – the only town left under French rule.
On November 2nd, a conference of all the rebel generals, meeting at the small village of Arcahaye, selected Dessalines as their commander-in-chief – uniting all of the rebel groups together (blacks, maroons, and mulattoes). That same day, Leclerc died of yellow fever, and Rochambeau assumed command of the remaining French army.
By mid-November, an additional 1,000 soldiers sent by Bonaparte, would arrive at Saint-Domingue, bringing Rochambeau’s army to a total of 16,000 French regulars and another 5,000 colonial volunteers. Rochambeau continued Leclerc’s campaign of terror – to get rid of the ‘freedom-infected’ rebels. Captured rebels were brought out to ships, bayoneted, and their bodies throw into the sea; using noxious fumes, one ship was converted to a gas chamber; and gallows were placed in marketplaces, where prisoners were marched one after the other, to their death.
Note on Rochambeau: French General Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Rochambeau, who as a young man had served as aide-de-camp to his father, General Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Rochambeau, and who had fought under General Washington during the American War for Independence, was now (20 years later) leading Bonaparte’s army against Saint-Domingue in their war for independence, in order to restore France’s empire of colonial slave-plantations.
[next week - chapter 27 - Livingston’s Memoir concerning Louisiana, August 10th 1802]
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