1802, March 4–24: (The Epic Siege of La Crête-à-Pierrot): Dessalines concentrated his defense at La Crête-à-Pierrot, an old English-built fort commanding the…

1802, March 4–24: (The Epic Siege of La Crête-à-Pierrot): Dessalines concentrated his defense at La Crête-à-Pierrot, an old English-built fort commanding the upper Artibonite valley. During a March 4 assault, the fort’s guns loosed a murderous salvo of grape that dropped 400 French attackers, including General Debelle. Dessalines stood by the magazine with a lighted torch, promising to blow up the fort if it were overrun. After multiple failed assaults cost the French four generals and over 700 men, the battle turned into a siege directed by four French divisions and Pétion’s mortars. On March 24, commander Lamartinière and a young mulâtresse named Marie-Jeanne successfully evacuated the garrison through the French lines by night, a feat Pamphile de Lacroix called a “remarkable feat of arms”.