1806, December 28 – 1807, January 8: (Christophe’s March on Port-au-Prince and the Battle of Sibert): When Juste Hugonin, one of Christophe’s men at the conv…

1806, December 28 – 1807, January 8: (Christophe’s March on Port-au-Prince and the Battle of Sibert): When Juste Hugonin, one of Christophe’s men at the convention, read the final constitutional draft, he reported to Henry: “If you accept this, you won’t have the authority of a corporal.” Christophe’s response, even before the constitution was ratified, was to march on Port-au-Prince with the Black demibrigades of the North and the Artibonite, sending ahead a proclamation denouncing Pétion, Boyer, and their men as rebels and usurpers, warning: “Once these rascals have attained their ends, they won’t even leave you the right to complain.” Halting only to arrest and execute leaders whose loyalty he suspected and to appoint as chief of staff Bazelais, who had held the same post under Dessalines, Christophe reached Arcahaie by December 28, 1806 — that night, the Senate outlawed him and charged Pétion with defense of the capital. Pétion advanced north across the Cul-de-Sac at the head of 3,000 troops against Christophe’s 10,000, but at the Habitation Sibert, three miles northeast of Croix-des-Missions, he discovered that Christophe had marched across country and was already behind him, and after a confused mêlée, Pétion’s force broke and ran. In the pursuit, a young captain named Coutilien Coutard snatched Pétion’s gilded chapeau, clapped it on his own head, and suffered himself to be cut down by Christophe’s dragoons while the general escaped unnoticed — Coutard was buried at Morne-à-Tuf in the next grave to Charlotin Marcadieux.