1790, October–1791, March 9: (The Insurrection and Execution of Ogé and Chavannes): Vincent Ogé led a force of 300 mulâtres and disarmed whites in his parish…
1790, October–1791, March 9: (The Insurrection and Execution of Ogé and Chavannes): Vincent Ogé led a force of 300 mulâtres and disarmed whites in his parish after the royal governor, the Comte de Peynier, rejected his petitions. However, his refusal to arm enslaved people—a prospect that horrified the mulâtre elite—left his force outnumbered by 1,500 white militia and volunteers, including a young noir gunner named Henry Christophe. Ogé and Chavannes fled to Spanish territory but were promptly returned to the French, where the Provincial Assembly showed no mercy. On March 9, 1791, the two leaders were executed by having their limbs and ribs broken upon a scaffold before being placed on wheels with their faces turned toward heaven. This brutal display sundered any remaining hope for a peaceful union between white planters and the gens de couleur.