1790-Oct.-16: Vincent Ogé slipped into Cap Français in disguise, possibly as an American seaman, after traveling through London and Charleston to secure weap…

1790-Oct.-16: Vincent Ogé slipped into Cap Français in disguise, possibly as an American seaman, after traveling through London and Charleston to secure weapons. Though his likeness had been posted in every major port by the Club Massiac, Ogé’s mobility across the Atlantic proved the porousness of the plantation surveillance state. He soon led a corps of black and brown rebels in a strike against the class of enslavers that, while militarily unsuccessful, was historically transformative. Ogé’s actions challenged the claim of white colonists to exclusive political agency in the revolutionary era. His calculated use of disguise and international networks exemplified the sophisticated resistance strategies of the Caribbean’s masterless population.