ON THIS DAY ·
Battle of Matouba
28 May 1802 — Richepanse’s army has come to restore the old order. Faced with surrender, Louis Delgrès and some 300 followers blow up their position instead. That summer slavery is restored in Guadeloupe.
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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: Battle of Matouba — 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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