1804-Feb.-22
1804-Feb.-22: Dessalines issued a proclamation ordering the collection of individuals known to have participated in the brutal campaigns of Leclerc and Rocha…
1804-Feb.-22: Dessalines issued a proclamation ordering the collection of individuals known to have participated in the brutal campaigns of Leclerc and Rochambeau. This decree signaled the start of a series of massacres aimed at the remaining white French citizens on the island. Significance: Sought to prevent re-enslavement and permanently sever colonial power structures. Nuance: Fick situates the violence within the lived memory of slavery and the fear of French return. It was both a radical assertion of sovereignty and a reflection of the deep trauma of the plantation regime.