1791-Fall: In the wake of the northern insurrection, Captain John Davison of the vessel Charming Sally witnessed the exercise of new black power in Port-au-P…

1791-Fall: In the wake of the northern insurrection, Captain John Davison of the vessel Charming Sally witnessed the exercise of new black power in Port-au-Prince. He recounted seeing a delegation of armed black rebels enter the city and demand “the freedom of Man,” threatening to lay the town in ashes otherwise. Davison’s detailed reports to Spanish authorities in Cuba provided rare eyewitness accounts of the rebels’ evolving political demands. The mobility of North American merchantmen like Davison ensured that news of the revolution’s radicalization spread quickly throughout the hemisphere. This period saw the rebels transition from isolated skirmishes to a centralized challenge against the foundations of colonial property.