17. “Qu’ils voulaient un roy” from Antoine Chanlatte to Laveaux (Aug. 10, 1793), fr. 12102, BNF. “Notre bon roi” from Polverel, Sonthonax, Ailhaud to Min. of Navy (Oct. 26, 1792), CC9A/7, ANOM.
18. “Liberté générale” from Pierrot to [Sonthonax] (July 9, 1793), d. 1512, AA55/A, AN. On freeing spouses, see Léger-Félicité Sonthonax and Etienne de Polverel, “Proclamation” (July 11, 1793), UM-CL. “Vous traîtres republicains” from TL to Antoine Chanlatte (Aug. 27, 1793), CC9A/8, ANOM.
19. On Marie Bleigeat (who was apparently related to the Bréda overseer Villevaleix), see Serge Barcellini, “A la recherche d’une mémoire disparue,” Revue Française d’Histoire d’Outre-Mer 84, no. 316 (Fall 1997): 124.
20. On Biassou’s stories, see Biassou, “Memoria” (July 15, 1793), SGU, LEG, 7157, 7, AGS. On accounts written in 1793 that barely mention TL, see [François Laplace], Histoire des désastres de SD (Paris: Garnery, 1795); Antoine Dalmas, Histoire de la revolution de SD, 2 vols. (Paris: Mame frères, 1814); Samuel Perkins, Reminiscences of the Insurrection in St. Domingo (Cambridge, MA: J. Wilson, 1886).
21. “Etant le premier” from TL, “Proclamation” (Aug. 25, 1793), AE II 1375, AN. On claiming the slave revolt as his own, see also TL, “Frères et amis” (Aug. 29, 1793), d. 1490, AA53/A, AN. For the first appearance of TL’s nickname, see Biassou to García (July 6, 1793), SGU, LEG, 7157, 4, AGS (Jesús Ruiz indicated to me in a February 3, 2015, email that he found earlier, as yet unpublished, mentions of TL’s last name). “Il fut le premier” (account by Paul Aly) from C. N. Céligni Ardouin, Essais sur l’Histoire d’Haïti (Port-au-Prince: T. Bouchereau, 1865), 16.
22. On uses of “Toussaint,” see PG-MGTL, 22.
23. “Je suis Toussain louverture” from TL, “Frères et amis” (Aug. 29, 1793), d. 1490, AA53/A, AN.
24. For another letter, see TL, “Reponse Sentimentale” (Aug. 27, 1793), d. 1511, AA55/A, AN.
25. “Toute monde vini” from Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, “DANS NOM LA RÉPUBLIQUE” (Aug. 29, 1793), 61J71, ADGir. For a French version, see Lk12–28, BNF. For a Spanish version, see d. 117, D/XXV/12, AN.
26. “La politique” from Isaac Louverture, “Réfutation des assertions” (Aug. 18, 1845), NAF 6864, BNF.
27. “L’esclavage éternel” from TL, Extrait du rapport adressé au Directoire (Cap: Roux, 1797), 6. On countermanding abolition, see Adrien de la Salle, “Proclamation” (Oct. 8, 1793), CC9A/8, ANOM. “Il y a du train en France” from François Tussac, Cri des colons contre un ouvrage de M. l’évêque et sénateur Grégoire, ayant pour titre de la littérature des nègres (Paris: Delaunay, 1810), 253.
28. “Engaño” from Biassou, “Proclamación” (Aug. 25, 1793), SGU, LEG, 7157, 9, AGS. “Cette liberté n’est bonne à rien” from Alaou to Sonthonax (March 9, 1794), d. 1512, aa55/a, AN. On Makaya (who later rejoined Spain) and Pierrot (who considered it), see Popkin, You Are All Free, 252, 255. Three minor chiefs, named Petit Thomas, Barthélémy, and Louis, joined France in January 1794; see García to Alcudia (Feb. 16, 1794), SGU, LEG, 7157, 20, AGS. Another, Alaou, joined in March; see Poulain to Sonthonax (March 5, 1794), d. 232, D/XXV/23, AN.
29. On TL’s conquests, see IL-OTL. This account of TL’s service in the Spanish Army is drawn primarily from SGU, LEG, 7157 and 7158, AGS; ESTADO, 11B, AGI.
30. “Las buenas acciones” from García to Alcudia (Jan. 3, 1794), ESTADO, 14, N.89, AGI.
31. “Muchas palabras” from Biassou, “Memoria” (July 15, 1793), SGU, LEG, 7157, 7, AGS. “Generalissimo” from Biassou to García (Aug. 24, 1793), SGU, LEG, 7157, 6, AGS (Jean-François also sent an envoy to Santo Domingo). “No tiene otro oficio” from Cabrera to Gaspar de Casasola (July 17, 1793), in Monte y Tejada, Historia de Santo Domingo, 4:66. On imprisoning TL, see IL-OTL.
32. “Fidèles vassaux” from “Au quartier de St. Raphaël” (Nov. 8, 1793), ESTADO, 11B, N.98, AGI.
33. On TL’s family, see IL-NH, 55. Freedom papers issued by Santo Domingo would not have been valid in SD; see “Extrait des registres” (Nov. 1, 1792), CC9A/8, ANOM.
34. On the Louvertures’ landholdings, see chap. 16. For the 648,000 francs claim (which TL dated to the beginning of the Revolution, i.e., 1792 for him), see PG-MGTL, 4.
35. On gifts, see “Razon de los efectos” (July 10, 1793), in Monte y Tejada, Historia de Santo Domingo, 4:59; “Nota de los viveres” (Oct. 14, 1793), SGU, LEG, 7157, 16, AGS.
36. “Mon étonnement” and “homme faible” from TL to García (March 20 and 27, 1794), in Beaubrun Ardouin, Etudes sur l’histoire d’Haïti, suivies de la vie du général J-M Borgella (Paris: Dezobry et Magdeleine, 1853–1860), 2:423, 419.
37. On French planters, see Deive, Los Refugiados Franceses, 110–119. On Le Borgne, see Laveaux to Sonthonax and Polverel (Feb. 6, 1794), CC9A/8, ANOM. On Petite-Rivière, see “Proclamation du commandant espagnol” (Jan. 1794), F3/199, ANOM. “Protection” from Ferrer, Freedom’s Mirror, 116.
38. On militarized serfdom, see Belair to García (Sept. 10, 1793), SGU, LEG, 7157, 10, AGS.
39. “Odieux commerce” from TL to García (March 20, 1794), in Ardouin, Etudes, 2:419. On Pierre’s death, see IL-OTL.
40. “Perfidia” from Juan Lleonart to Conde del Campo de Alange (Feb. 22, 1795), SGU, LEG, 6855, 51, AGS.
41. On plotting against Biassou, see Laplace to García (Apr. 4, 1794), in Ardouin, Etudes, 2:429. “Corta cavezas” from Armona to García (Aug. 20, 1793), SGU, LEG, 6855, 52, AGS.
42. On joining France, see Laveaux to Sonthonax and Polverel (May 24, 1794), CC9A/8, ANOM. On Bayon (who survived by disguising himself as a Spanish soldier), see “Demandes de passeport” (1793–1795), 3L-179, ADGir; David Geggus, ed., The Haitian Revolution: A Documentary History (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2014), 114.
43. On TL deceiving Spain, see Monte y Tejada, Historia de Santo Domingo, 4:280. On deceiving the UK, see The Times [London] (Nov. 7, 1794).
44. On the SD delegation, see Louis Dufaÿ to French commissioners (Dec. 4, 1793), d. 758, *D/XXV/16, AN; Popkin, You Are All Free, 279, 321–327.
45. On Belley (whose imagined African birth brings to mind that of Olaudah Equiano), see Jean-Louis Donnadieu, “Derrière le portrait, l’homme: Jean-Baptiste Belley, dit ‘Timbaze,’ dit ‘Mars’ (1746?–1805),” Bulletin de la Société d’Histoire de la Guadeloupe 170 (Jan.–Apr. 2015): 29–54. The white deputy Louis Dufaÿ had also served in Savannah. The mixed-race deputy Mills had once owned slaves; see Affiches américaines (Feb. 13, 1773).
46. France had already abolished slavery in France itself on October 16, 1791; see “Loi portant que tout homme est libre . . .” (Oct. 16, 1791), 15 Ms. HD, Sc. Micro R1527, NYPL-SC. On public reaction in France, see Félix Carteau, Soirées bermudiennes, ou entretiens sur les évènemens qui ont opéré la ruine de la partie française de l’isle SD (Bordeaux: Pellier-Lawalle, 1802), xxi–xxxix; Léon-François Hoffmann et al., eds., Haïti 1804 Lumières et Ténèbres: Impact et résonances d’une révolution (Madrid: Bibliotheca Ibero-Americana, 2008), 85–98. Because of the British occupation of Martinique and planter opposition in Réunion, the February 1794 law only took effect in French Guiana, and later Guadeloupe and Saint-Lucia.
47. On TL’s version of events, see TL to Charles de Talleyrand (Apr. 13, 1799), d. 1, EE1734, ANOM. News of the February 1794 law first reached Jacmel in June; see Chambon to Laveaux (June 25, 1794), CC9A/8, ANOM. On motives for TL’s volte-face, see David Geggus, Haitian Revolutionary Studies (Blacks in the Diaspora) (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2002), 119–136.
CHAPTER 13: FRENCH PATRIOT, 1794–1796
1. On Laveaux, see Bernard Gainot, “Le général Laveaux, gouverneur de SD, député néo-Jacobin,” Annales Historiques de la Révolution Française 278 (1989): 433–454.
2. “Dieu merci” from Laveaux to TL (May 5, 1794), CC9A/9, ANOM. The following overview of TL’s role in 1794–1796 is drawn from fr. 12102–12104, BNF; CC9A/9–11, ANOM; F3/199, ANOM; AF III/209–210, AN; SGU, LEG, 7160–7161, AGS.
3. On Fren
ch losses, see “Tableau de l’expédition de SD” (c. Oct. 1, 1792), CC9A/7, ANOM; Laveaux to Jean Dalbarade (March 25, 1795), F3/199, ANOM. On TL’s capture of Gonaïves, Gros-Morne, Ennery, Plaisance, Marmelade, Dondon, Acul, and Limbé, see TL to Laveaux (May 18, 1794), fr. 12102, BNF. On TL’s capture of San Rafael, San Miguel, and Hinche, see SGU, LEG, 6855, 53, AGS. “Cabale” from TL to Desfourneaux (June 27, 1796), 12104, BNF. “Ruse” from TL to Talleyrand (Apr. 13, 1799), d. 1, EE1734, ANOM. “Goutte de sang” from TL to Laveaux (Aug. 6, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF. Laveaux took Borgne, Port-Margot. Môle Saint-Nicolas remained in British hands and Fort-Dauphin in Spanish hands.
4. “La liberté” from Jean-François, “Mes frères” (June 11, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF. “Libres de droit naturel” from [Officers of TL], “Réponse” (June 13, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF.
5. “Décret de la liberté” from Manlau, Baubert, and Noël Leveillé to Etienne Laveaux (Nov. 13, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF.
6. On Boca Nigua / Oyarzábal and other possible copycat revolts in Hinche and Sámana, see Antonio J. Pinto, “Santo Domingo’s Slaves in the Context of the Peace of Basel: Boca Nigua’s Black Insurrection, 1796,” Journal of Early American History 3 (2013): 131–153. “Les habitants espagnols” from TL to Laveaux (Dec. 20, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF.
7. On the auxiliaries’ fate, see ESTADO, 43, N.18 and 24, N.53, AGI; Jane Landers, Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolution (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010), 78–93. TL tried to repatriate Biassou’s widow, “to whom he owed his life”; see IL-NH, 73.
8. On members of Jean-François’s family who apparently stayed with TL, see TL to Laveaux (Nov. 8, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF.
9. On the Sept. 1794 assault on Saint-Marc (one of several attempts in 1794–1795), see IL-NH, 59. On the July 1796 rout near Mirebalais, see David P. Geggus, Slavery, War, and Revolution: The British Occupation of SD, 1793–1798 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982), 200.
10. On the loss rate, see Geggus, Slavery, War, and Revolution, 355. This account of the British invasion is also based on Roger Norman Buckley, ed., The Haitian Journal of Lieutenant Howard, York Hussars, 1796–98 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1985); Paul Youngquist and Grégory Pierrot, eds., Marcus Rainsford: An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2013).
11. “Notre climat vengeur” from Dessalines [and Louis Boisrond-Tonnerre], “Proclamation” (Jan. 1, 1804), ESTADO, 68, N.12, AGI.
12. “Il faut espérer” from TL to Laveaux (Dec. 5, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF. On other revolts in the Caribbean, see Michael Craton, Testing the Chains: Resistance to Slavery in the British West Indies (1982; reprint, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009); Wim Klooster and Gert Oostindie, eds., Curaçao in the Age of Revolutions, 1795–1800 (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2011), 23–56.
13. “Doucement allé loing” from TL to Laveaux (March 1, 1796), fr. 12104, BNF.
14. On the Bastille Day fete (which TL did not personally attend), see Laveaux to Rigaud (July 29, 1794), d. 957, AF/III/209, AN.
15. “Etre suprême” from Municipalité du Cap, “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, ou la mort” (May 21, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF. On abolishing the revolutionary calendar, see Edward Corbet to Nugent (Sept. 26, 1801), CO 137/106, BNA.
16. “Sans culottes” and “vers de terre” from TL to Laveaux (Jan. 7 and Dec. 5, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF.
17. “Salut en la patrie” from TL to Laveaux (Sept. 14, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF. On the Dokos/Mamzelle, see TL to Laveaux (Sept. 14, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF; IL-OTL.
18. “La protections” from PG-MGTL, 166.
19. On the ménagère Marianne, see TL to Laveaux (June 26, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF. “La confiance” and “600 propriétaires” from Laveaux to Jean Dalbarade (Sept. 22, 1794, and March 25, 1795), F3/199, ANOM.
20. “Plein de vertu” from Laveaux to Dalbarade (March 25, 1795), F3/199, ANOM. “Je vous embrasse” and “cher Papa” from TL to Laveaux (March 1 and 18, 1796), fr. 12104, BNF. “Je rêve souvent en vous” from TL to Laveaux (Feb. 6, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF. “L’amant idolâtre” from Castaing to [Sonthonax] (March 7, [1793]), d. 758, *D/XXV/16, AN.
21. On Sonthonax’s return to France, see Jeremy Popkin, You Are All Free: The Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 287, 387. Polverel was not tried because he had died; see François Polverel Jr., “A ses concitoyens” (Apr. 15, 1795), Sc. Micro R-2228, reel 15, NYPL-SC.
22. On the 1795 debate, see D/XXV/102, AN; Jean-Charles Benzaken, “Le tour de force du citoyen Guillois,” Annales Historiques de la Révolution Française 327 (2002): 83–97.
23. On Désageneaux’s arrival, see Pierre Pluchon, TL (Paris: Fayard, 1989), 117.
24. “Les grands et mémorables services” from Jean-Paul Caze, Etienne Viart, and Philippe Lacroix to TL (Dec. 7, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF.
25. On SD as a département, see Truguet, “Instructions” (Feb. 12, 1796), B277, ANOM; Sonthonax to Tonnelier (May 18, 1796), fr. 8986, BNF.
26. “Le sentiment du devoir” from François de Kerversau to Charles de Vincent (Oct. 21, 1797), AF/III, 210, AN.
27. “Notre sûreté” from Francois Reynaud and Joseph Le Brasseur to de Sartine (Aug. 12, 1780), C9A/148, ANOM. On French educational policy, see docs. 212 and 236, B277, ANOM.
28. On TL’s children with his first wife, see [Marriage record] (Oct. 4, 1787), 1DPPC 2326, ANOM. On his children with his second wife, see Isaac Louverture, “Notes sur Madame Louverture” (c. 1824), p. 133, NAF 12409, BNF; Mme J. Michelet, The Story of My Childhood (1866; reprint, Boston: Little, Brown, 1867).
29. On the laundry, see Suzanne Louverture to TL (July 13, 1794), 61J18, ADGir. For other letters to/from Suzanne, see Sonthonax to Suzanne (July 7, 1796), fr. 8986, BNF; Suzanne to Dupuis (Oct. 23, 1798), in Joseph Elisée Peyre-Ferry, Journal des opérations militaires de l’armée française à SD pendant les années X XI et XII (1802 et 1803) (Port-au-Prince: Henri Deschamps, 2005), 398; Suzanne to Decrès (July 11, 1802), d. 1, EE1734, ANOM; Placide to TL and Suzanne (Aug. 12, 1802), d. 1, AF/IV/1213, AN; TL to Suzanne (Sept. 17, 1802), d. 1, EE 1734, ANOM; Mars Plaisir to Suzanne (Sept. 18, 1815), TLF-2A1, UPR-NC. For a rare political comment by Suzanne, see Jean-Louis Clavier, “Toussaint-Louverture d’après le ‘Mémoire abrégé des événements de SD depuis l’année 1789 jusquà celle de 1807,’” Revue Française d’Histoire d’Outre-Mer 62, no. 228 (1975): 481.
30. “Je fus un jour” from Michel-Etienne Descourtilz, Voyage d’un naturaliste et ses observations (Paris: Dufart, 1809), 3:251.
31. On Sansay and Gonaïves, see TL to Laveaux (Aug. 6 and 22, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF. On the Louverture province, see TL, “Arrêté” (July 14, 1801), CC9B/9, ANOM.
32. “Le bonheur de ma vie” from TL to Sonthonax (c. June 16, 1796), fr. 12104, BNF.
33. For concerns about re-enslavement, see Sonthonax to TL (June 12, 1796), fr. 8986, BNF.
34. On Joséphine, see IL-NH, 70.
35. “Ne savaient pas lire” and “dévouement à la patrie” from Michel Roussier, “L’éducation des enfants de TL et l’institution nationale des colonies,” Revue Française d’Histoire d’Outre-Mer 64, no. 236 (1977): 322, 315. On the school, see also F2C/13, ANOM.
36. “L’instruction qu’il lui a plu” from TL to Truguet (Feb. 1, 1797), d. 1, EE1734, ANOM. “Soyez bien attentif” from TL to Isaac and Placide (June 10, 1798), AF/III, 210, AN. For other letters to and from TL’s sons, see TL to Isaac and Placide (Apr. 14, 1799), in Victor Schoelcher, Vie de TL (Paris: Ollendorf, 1889), 437; TL to Placide (Aug. 13, 1800), Ms. Hait. 79-3, BPL; TL to Placide and Isaac (Feb. 14, 1801), in Roussier, “L’éducation des enfants,” 336; Placide to Suzanne and TL (Aug. 12, 1802), in H. Pauléus Sannon, Histoire de TL (Port-au-Prince: Héraux, 1933), 3:156.
37. “Elevés parmi les français” from Isaac Louverture to Decrès (Sept. 16, 1802), d. 4, EE 1734, ANOM. “Sauf la couleur” from Jacques de Norvins, Souvenirs d’un historien de Napoléon: Memorial de J. d
e Norvins (Paris: Plon, 1896), 2:319.
CHAPTER 14: POLITICIAN, 1796–1798
1. “Vous n’êtes pas le peuple” and “mon ami” from Etienne Laveaux to TL (March 26, 1796), fr. 12104, BNF. On the Villatte affair, see also Laveaux, “Compte rendu . . . à ses concitoyens, à l’opinion publique, aux autorités constituées” (Apr. 20, 1797), electronic resources, HU-HL.
2. “Colère bilieuse” from TL to Laveaux (Feb. 6, 1795), fr. 12103, BNF.
3. On Dessalines, see Janvier Dessalines, “Etat des services” (c. 1796), COL E129, ANOM. On Delahaye, see Commissioners to TL (June 1794), d. 232, D/XXV/23, AN. Villatte was apparently related to TL; see Cazemajor to Placide Louverture (Jan. 30, 1825), TLF-2A2i, UPR-NC.
4. “L’Homme prédit” from Laveaux, “Aux corps civils et militaires” (Apr. 5, 1796), ESTADO, 5B, N. 127, AGI.
5. “Après bon Dieu” from Jacques de Norvins, “Louverture (Toussaint),” in Anon., Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture (Paris: Belin-Mandar, 1837), 36:14.
6. The other commissioners were Philippe Roume (who headed for Santo Domingo), Georges-Pierre Leblanc and Marc-Antoine-Alexis Giraud (who quickly left), and Julien Raimond. The following account of Sonthonax’s second tenure is based on fr. 8986–8988, BNF; CC9A/12–17, ANOM; AF/III, 210, AN.
7. “J’ai fondé la liberté” from Sonthonax to Domergue jeune (June 7, 1796), fr. 8986, BNF. “Je suis blanc” from Philippe-Albert de Lattre, Campagne des Français à SD et réfutation des reproches faits au Capitaine-Général Rochambeau (Paris: Locard, 1805), 46.
8. “Le vrai ami des noirs” from TL to Laveaux (Aug. 17, 1796), fr. 12104, BNF.
9. On the dispute with Rigaud, see François de Kerversau, “Récit des événements” (Nov. 23, 1796), 43APC/1, ANOM; Pelletier, “Tableau rapproché . . .” (Feb. 8, 1797), Box 1/40, UF-RP. On the saber, see Sonthonax to Min. of Navy (Feb. 24, 1797), B277, ANOM.
Toussaint Louverture Page 35