1779-10-09: (The Siege of Savannah, Over Five Hundred Free Black and Mulatto Troops From Saint-Domingue Fighting in the American War of Independence, Future …

1779-10-09: (The Siege of Savannah, Over Five Hundred Free Black and Mulatto Troops From Saint-Domingue Fighting in the American War of Independence, Future Haitian Revolutionaries Including Christophe and Rigaud Among Them): On October 9, 1779, over five hundred free Black and mulatto troops from Saint-Domingue, known as the Chasseurs Volontaires de Saint-Domingue, participated in the Siege of Savannah during the American War of Independence. Fighting under the command of French General Comte d’Estaing, the Haitian regiment facilitated the retreat of French and American forces after the battle resulted in the largest number of allied casualties in a single engagement of the war, approximately 250 dead and 600 wounded. Most historians agree that casualties would have been far higher without the Haitian troops, who forestalled a British counterattack. Many of the soldiers who fought at Savannah, including the teenager Henri Christophe and the mulatto André Rigaud, would later fight in the Haitian Revolution. The vast majority of the Haitian troops were teenagers and young men. They fought to liberate America from British colonial rule and then returned home to a colony where they themselves were denied political rights. In 2007, a monument was unveiled in Savannah’s Franklin Square honoring their contribution, initially depicting four bronze figures, including Christophe as a drummer boy, with two more added in 2009.