1800, March 11 – August 1: (The Fall of Jacmel and the Southern Purge): On the night of March 11, 1800, Pétion led 1,400 defenders in a desperate breakout th…

1800, March 11 – August 1: (The Fall of Jacmel and the Southern Purge): On the night of March 11, 1800, Pétion led 1,400 defenders in a desperate breakout through Christophe’s lines into the mountains toward Grand-Goâve. The following morning, Toussaint’s Black regiments occupied Jacmel, and Dessalines oversaw an indiscriminate massacre of remaining stragglers, old men, and children. Rigaud retreated toward Tiburon, burning cane fields and using scorched earth tactics before sailing for exile in France along with Pétion and Boyer. Toussaint entered Les Cayes in triumph on August 1, 1800, and immediately designated Dessalines as governor of the South with a mandate to purge Rigaud’s sympathizers. Dessalines carried out this task with extreme ferocity, impaling victims on bayonets or burying them alive, resulting in the slaughter of an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 people.