Stone That the Builder Refused - Madison Smartt Bell [462]
JULY 3: Toussaint proclaims the new constitution, whose terms make him governor for life.
JULY 16: Toussaint dispatches a reluctant Vincent to present his constitution to Napoleon Bonaparte and the Consulate in France.
OCTOBER 1: The Peace of Amiens ends the war between England and France. Napoleon begins to prepare an expedition, led by his brother-in-law General Leclerc, to restore white power in Saint Domingue.
OCTOBER 16: An insurrection led by Moyse against Toussaint’s forced labor policy begins on the northern plain and, in the coming weeks, is suppressed with extreme severity by Toussaint and Dessalines.
NOVEMBER 24: Moyse is executed at Port-de-Paix.
NOVEMBER 25: Toussaint proclaims a military dictatorship.
DECEMBER 14: The Leclerc expedition sails from Brest, with the fleet commanded by Villaret-Joyeuse.
1802
JANUARY 29: The first ships of Leclerc’s expeditionary fleet make a landfall off Cape Samana on the Spanish side of the island.
Toussaint observes the fleet from the heights. He commands at this point 20,000 regular troops in three divisions: 5,000 in the north under Christophe at Le Cap (with a smaller division under Maurepas at Port-de-Paix); 11,000 under Dessalines in the south and west; and 4,000 in Spanish Santo Domingo under Clervaux and Paul Louverture. By this time most of the cultivators have also been armed.
JANUARY 30: Leclerc’s fleet regroups. Two ships with 450 troops commanded by General Kerverseau sail for Santo Domingo City, while the rest of the fleet divides into three: Latouche-Treville takes 3,000 men commanded by General Boudet to Port-au-Prince; Magon takes 1,800 men commanded by Rochambeau to Fort Liberté; Villaret-Joyeuse takes 4,000 men commanded by Leclerc to Le Cap.
FEBRUARY 2: Leclerc’s squadron appears outside Le Cap harbor. Civilians in the town beg Christophe to submit. A storm drives the French fleet offshore.
Rochambeau demolishes the forts of Fort Liberté and executes the defenders.
FEBRUARY 3: Leclerc sends Lebrun ashore at Le Cap with a written demand for Christophe’s submission.
When the French squadron appears at Santo Domingo City, the white population rises against the black garrison. In Saint Yago, Clervaux submits to French authority. General Boudet arrives at Port-au-Prince, which refuses to surrender.
FEBRUARY 4: Rochambeau secures Fort Liberté and advances into the Plaine du Nord.
At Le Cap, Lebrun returns to Leclerc’s flagship with the news that Christophe has asked for a forty-eight-hour delay so as to receive orders from Toussaint. During the day, the French fleet loads men on lighter boats to seek a landing elsewhere on the coast. Under pressure from Rochambeau’s advance, armed blacks fall back on the town from the northern plain. During the evening, the whites and civilians of the town seek refuge on the heights of Morne la Vigie.
At nightfall the firing of a cannon at a ship approaching Fort Picolet signals the burning of the town. Overnight, Le Cap is reduced to ashes.
At Port-au-Prince, General Agé interviews emissaries from Boudet and says he must wait for orders from Dessalines (then at Saint Marc). Covertly, Agé lets Boudet’s men know that he is not really in control and that his subordinate Lamartinière and other officers are determined to burn the city if there is a landing. Boudet’s emissaries, Gimont and Sabès, are held prisoner.
FEBRUARY 5: Leclerc leads a force ashore at Limbé. On the road to Le Cap he meets opposition commanded (according to a note by General Hardy) by Toussaint Louverture himself.
Following Toussaint’s orders, Christophe retreats from the ruins of Le Cap. Villaret-Joyeuse lands men and fire pumps in Le Cap and assumes control.
Boudet lands at a point south of Léogane and advances north toward Port-au-Prince. Fort Bizoton surrenders to Boudet and Fort Piémont is taken by a French assault. Lamartinière, who apparently believed he could defend Port-au-Prince without burning it, is forced to retreat, leaving the town intact, after a massacre of white civilians