ON THIS DAY ·
Creation of the Haitian flag
18 May 1803 — Meeting with the rebel generals at Arcahaie, Dessalines tears the white from the French tricolour. Tradition credits Catherine Flon with sewing the remaining blue and red together. It becomes the flag of the war for independence.
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The moment in context
Napoleon publicly promised the people of Saint-Domingue that their freedom would be respected. His orders to General Leclerc, who sailed from Brest on 14 December 1801, had another purpose as well: disarm the colony’s Black generals and send them to France. The expedition would restore French control over a colony that had come to govern itself.
From Napoleon’s Saint-Domingue expedition, chapter 4 of Two Roads to Independence: Haiti 1789–1838 and Kenya 1895–1978 (1803).
The place: Creation of the Haitian flag — map and full story →
Teach this in 5 minutes
- Why it happened — A constitution that alarmed Paris. By 1801 Toussaint had given the colony a constitution, governed the whole island and traded with Britain and the United States. Napoleon feared…
- The turn — Vertières, 18 November 1803. Le Cap’s defenses stood at Vertières. On 18 November 1803 Dessalines’ army attacked the forts; Haitian tradition celebrates François Capois,…
- What it changed — Independence is declared. The generals gathered at Gonaïves on 1 January 1804 and declared independence. Their country took the name Haiti from the Taíno, the island’s first…
Then ask the room: Why did Napoleon’s expedition to Saint-Domingue fail? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
The atlas that shows it
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