Benoit Joseph André Rigaud (17 January 1761 – 18 September 1811) was the leading
mulatto
( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...
military leader during the
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution ( or ; ) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolution was the only known Slave rebellion, slave up ...
. Among his
protégé
Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...
s were
Alexandre Pétion
Alexandre Sabès Pétion (; 2 April 1770 – 29 March 1818) was the first president of the Republic of Haiti from 1807 until his death in 1818. One of Haiti's founding fathers, Pétion belonged to the revolutionary quartet that also includes ...
and
Jean-Pierre Boyer, both future
presidents of Haïti.
Rigaud rebelled against
Toussaint Louverture
François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (, ) also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda (20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803), was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louvertu ...
's government, leading to the
War of the South.
Early life
Rigaud was born on 17 January 1761 in
Les Cayes,
Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...
, to André Rigaud, a wealthy French planter, and Rose Bossy Depa, a slave woman. His father acknowledged the
mixed-race
The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more
races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mul ...
(mulatto) boy as his at a young age and sent him to
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
, where he was trained as a goldsmith.
Rigaud was known to wear a brown-haired wig with straight hair to resemble a white man as closely as possible.
Revolutionary
After returning to Saint-Domingue from France, Rigaud became active in politics. He was a successor to
Vincent Ogé
Vincent Ogé ( – 6 February 1791) was a Creole revolutionary, merchant, military officer and goldsmith who had a leading role in a failed uprising against French colonial rule in the colony of Saint-Domingue in 1790. A mixed-race member of th ...
and
Julien Raimond as a champion of the interests of
free people of color
In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (; ) were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not enslaved. However, the term also applied to people born free who we ...
in
Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...
, as
colonial Haïti was known. Rigaud aligned himself with
revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society.
Definition
The term—bot ...
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and an interpretation of the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (), set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human and civil rights document from the French Revolution; the French title can be translated in the modern era as "Decl ...
that ensured the civil equality of all free people.
By the mid-1790s, with slave uprisings in the North, Rigaud was leading an army, a force in the
Ouest and
Sud
Sud or SUD may refer to:
Places
* Sud (Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg constituency), a constituency in Luxembourg
* Sud (department), an administrative subdivision of Haiti
* Sud Department (Ivory Coast), defunct administrative subdivision of ...
departments.
He was given authority to govern by
Étienne Polverel
Étienne Polverel (1740–1795) was a French lawyer, aristocrat, and revolutionary. He was a member of the Jacobins, Jacobin club.
In 1792, he and Léger Félicité Sonthonax were sent to Saint-Domingue to suppress the slave revolt and to imple ...
, one of the three French civil commissioners who had arrived in the colony.
Rigaud's power came from his influence with the free black and mulatto planters, found mostly in the South. They were fearful of the masses of former slaves, led by the likes of
Romaine-la-Prophétesse, with whom Rigaud refused to ally, and sided instead with the French commissioners who abolished slavery in Saint-Domingue in 1793.
Rigaud's soldiers included blacks and whites.
In the South and the West, from 1793 to 1798, Rigaud aided in
Toussaint Louverture
François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (, ) also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda (20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803), was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louvertu ...
's decision to re-establish the
plantation economy (albeit with paid labor as opposed to slave labor). Although Rigaud respected
Louverture, the leading general of the former black slaves of the North and his superior rank in the
French Revolutionary Army
The French Revolutionary Army () was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1802. In the beginning, the French armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment and their great nu ...
, he did not want to concede power in the South to him.
Rigaud continued to believe in Saint-Domingue's race-based caste system, which put mulattoes just below whites and left blacks at the bottom, a belief that put him at odds with Toussaint. That led to the
War of the South in June 1799, when Toussaint's army invaded Rigaud's territory. The
Comte d'Hédouville, sent by France to govern the island, had encouraged Rigaud's rivalry with Toussaint.
In 1800, Rigaud left Saint-Domingue for France after his defeat by Toussaint.
On 1 October 1800, bound for France aboard the French schooner ''Diana'', Rigaud became a prisoner-of-war when the ''Diana'' was captured by the
USS ''Experiment''.
He was detained in Saint Kitts by the Americans and held there until he was released.
Leclerc expedition
Rigaud returned to Saint-Domingue in 1802 with the expedition of General
Charles Leclerc
Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc (; born 16 October 1997) is a Monégasque racing driver who competes in Formula One for Ferrari. Leclerc was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Ferrari, and has won Grands ...
,
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
's brother-in-law, who was sent to unseat Toussaint and re-establish French colonial rule and slavery in Saint-Domingue. After the
First French Republic
In the history of France, the First Republic (), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (), was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted u ...
abolished slavery in the colony in 1794 after the first slave uprising, the colonial system, based on exports of commodities from sugar cane and coffee plantations, had been undermined. Sugar production fell markedly, and many surviving white and mulatto planters left the island as refugees. Many emigrated to the United States, where they settled in southern cities such as Charleston, or to the Spanish colonies of Cuba or New Orleans. Leclerc was initially successful in capturing and deporting Toussaint, but Toussaint's officers gradually defected and led Black rebels which fought on for almost two more years. Defeated by disease as well as rebel victories, France withdrew its 7,000 surviving troops in November 1803, less than one-third of the forces that had been sent there.
Jean-Jacques Dessalines
Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Haitian Creole: ''Jan-Jak Desalin''; ; 20 September 1758 – 17 October 1806) was the first Haitian Emperor, leader of the Haitian Revolution, and the first ruler of an independent First Empire of Haiti, Haiti under th ...
, a black man from the North, led Saint-Domingue to victory and independence and declared Haiti the new name of the nation. He ultimately declared himself emperor.
Rigaud returned to France after the failure of the expedition in 1802–1803. For a time, he was held a prisoner in
Fort de Joux, the same fortress as his rival, Toussaint, where the latter died in 1803.
Final expedition
Rigaud returned to Haiti a third time in December 1810. He established himself as ''President of the State of the
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
'', in opposition to both
Alexandre Pétion
Alexandre Sabès Pétion (; 2 April 1770 – 29 March 1818) was the first president of the Republic of Haiti from 1807 until his death in 1818. One of Haiti's founding fathers, Pétion belonged to the revolutionary quartet that also includes ...
, a
mulatto
( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...
and former ally in the South, and
Henri Christophe
Henri Christophe (; 6 October 1767 – 8 October 1820) was a key leader in the Haitian Revolution and the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti.
Born in the British West Indies, British Caribbean, Christophe was possibly of Senegambian descent ...
, a black man who took power in the North. Shortly after Rigaud's death the following year, Pétion recovered power over the South. Rigaud's tomb is on a small hill between Camp-Perrin and Les Cayes, which has been divided into two to allow a new road to ease transportation.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
External links
''André Rigaud''at ''The Louverture Project'' (archived 7 May 2005)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rigaud, Andre
1761 births
1811 deaths
Haitian people of French descent
Mulatto Haitians
Haitian generals
People of the Quasi-War
People of the Haitian Revolution
People from Les Cayes
Goldsmiths
Free people of color
Haitian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars