The Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets took place during the Haitian Revolution.

Battle

Chased from

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

, the army of

Mulattoes (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...

and free colored people commanded by Beauvais and Rigaud reformed at La

Croix-des-Bouquets Croix-des-Bouquets (, ; ht, Kwadèbouke or ) is a commune in the Ouest department of Haiti. It is located to the northeast of Haiti's capital city, Port-au-Prince. Originally located on the shore, it was relocated inland after the 1770 Port- ...

. The arrival of this troop caused an uprising of slaves of the

Plain of the Cul-de-Sac Plain of the Cul-de-Sac (french: Plaine du Cul-de-Sac, also known as the Cul-de-Sac Plain, or the Cul-de-Sac Depression) is a fertile lowland on the island of Hispaniola. It extends from southeastern Haiti into the southwestern Dominican Republic, ...

. They were armed only with knives, spears,

hoes Hoe or HOE may refer to: * Hoe (food), a Korean dish of raw fish * Hoe (letter), a Georgian letter * Hoe (tool), a hand tool used in gardening and farming ** Hoe-farming, a term for primitive forms of agriculture * Backhoe, a piece of excavatin ...

, and iron poles, and their chief was Yacinth, who was only 21 years old. The insurgent slaves joined the army of Beauvais and Rigaud. The White decided to attack this rally on March 22, the infantrymen and dragons of the

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

reinforced by detachments of the Regiment of Normandy and the Regiment of Artois went to meet the insurgents. The fight began at La Croix-des-Bouquets. The French writer

Victor Schœlcher Victor Schœlcher (; 22 July 1804 – 25 December 1893) was a French abolitionist, writer, politician and journalist, best known for his leading role in the abolition of slavery in France in 1848, during the Second Republic. Early life Schœlche ...

of the nineteenth century, in his book ''Vie de Toussaint Louverture'' described this episode: "The black brought by Yacinthe, almost all Africans, were scarcely armed with knives, pikes, hoes, and iron poles; but fanaticized by their wizards, convinced that they would be resurrected in Africa if they were killed, they threw themselves on the bayonets without caring for the fires of platoons which decimated them. They clung to the horses of the dragons they dismounted by being slashed. Yacinthe, with a bull's tail in her hand, roamed their ranks, shouting that she was chasing death. He rushed to their heads, fighting bullets and grape shots, which seemed to respect his talisman. Men were seen rushing on the guns, holding them hugged to prevent them from leaving and being killed without letting go. Others were found thrusting their arms into the mouths of the pieces to tear out the balls and call their comrades, shouting: Come, come; we hold them. The pieces were leaving and their members were carried away". Exceeded by numbers, the whites had to retreat and folded in disorder on Port-au-Prince, according to Victor Schoelcher who relies on the writings of

Thomas Madiou Thomas Madiou (Port-au-Prince, April 30 1815-''ibidem'', May 25, 1884) was a Haitian historian. His work ''Histoire d'Haïti'' (English: ''History of Haiti'') is the first complete history of Haiti from 1492 to 1846 (Madiou's present). It is consid ...

and François Joseph Pamphile de Lacroix, the White lost more than 100 soldiers and insurgents had 1,200 killed.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets Conflicts in 1792

Haitian Revolution 1792 in France 1792 in North America