The Making of Haiti Chapter Four.docx

The Making of Haiti Chapter Four: Slaves in the North Organizing the rebellion August 14, 1971, week before the revolt the final scheme was drawn up and the instructions handed out Two hundred delegates, two from each plantation, met at the Leonomand de Mezy plantation in Morne- Rouge All delegates were upper-strata slaves This gathering was a thoroughly organized affair and constituted in ever sense a revolutionary political assembly, where issues were discussed, points of view and differing strategies presented, where a final agreement was reached and a call to arms issued They fixed the date for revolution for August 22, 1791 Leaders include Boukman Dutty Voodoo priest Jeanot Bullet Man of insatiable vengeance Jean-Francois Ego driven Intelligent Georges Biassou Fiery disposition Voodoo Toussaint Louverture Of the leaders Boukman was to give the signal for the revolt Before the revolt a voodoo ceremony was held in the woods High priestess sacrificed a pig then passes the blood around for everyone to partake The story of the ceremony was been passed on by legend Marronage had a role in the early stages of conspiracy Early revolts On August 16 some slaves were caught setting fire to one of the buildings on the Chabaud estate A battle ensued that the slaves were arrested and interrogated Upon questioning revealed that neighboring slaves had formed a conspiracy Named some of the leaders The Revolt At ten o?clock slaves met up with Boukman and combined their forces and headed to the Noe plantation By midnight the entire plantation was inflamed Armed with torches, guns, sabers and makeshift weapons they were able to carry the revolt into neighboring plantations Burned down cane fields, manufacturing installations, sugar mills, tools and other farm equipment, storage bins, and slave quarters The same morning the slaves moved westward numbering close to two thousand Establishing military bases on each of the plantations they took Within a few hours the finest sugar plantations in Saint Domingue were devoured by flames Convinced slaves of the plantations they took to join their cause Penalty for refusal was death By the 25th the entire plain of this district had been decimated Whites were militarily outnumbered and the slaves would retreat into the mountains 20th and 25th Francios and Desgrieux cook were arrested Latter got away There were rumors about the plan to burn the capital, Le Cap Boukman and 15 thousand slaves took to the capital Colonists were able to keep the capital from being destroyed Within eight days the slaves had destroyed at least 40 million livres worth of sugar Their numbers began to swell There total number being somewhere around 170,000 All armed slave rebellion takes on a maroon dimension Many slaves became maroons as the revolt took place Significance of their movement was the profound impact of self-mobilization Once the explosions of vengeance at the beginning of the revolt simmered down these energies were channeled into military strategy, tactical maneuvers and political alliances as the slaves gained territory Ransack the plantations for money, precious metals, furniture, clothing, sacks of coffee, sugar and indigo in order to equip their army or to trade with the Spaniards for additional guns and ammunition During these first few months the blacks continued to depend their positions across the province through tactical guerilla warfare Would retreat into the hills when it was their advantage, organized their forces for counterattacks and often continued to burn and ravage the nearby plantations in reprisal The slaves lacked military hardware but made up with rose and ingenuity Camouflaged traps, fabricated poisoned arrows, feigned cease-fires to lure the enemy into ambush, disguised tree trunks as cannons, and threw obstructions of one kind or another into the roads to hamper advancing troops Psychologically disoriented, frightened, demoralized and confused European units Slaves were organized into bands Slightest evidence of uncertainty was met with the harshest of punishments even death For the time being slaves allied with counterrevolutionary royalists, a segment of the clergy and to an extent the mulattoes Boukman was killed while defending a rebel post at Found Bleu Jean-Francois became general and Baissou lieutenant-general By November the political situation had changed with the arrival of the civil commissioners from France Negotiations were under way and a cease fire was brought about Jean-Francois called for unconditional amnesty for all slaves who had participated in the revolt, freedom for the fifty leaders and several hundred of their officers In exchange for this he promised to use his influence to encourage the slaves to return to their plantations and agreed to deliver the remaining prisoners on the conditions that his wife would be released from jail Proclamations of 28 September 1791 decreed by the National Assembly of France enacted these provisions Most slaves however were violently opposed to any settlement whatsoever with the whites