1807–1812: (Goman in the Grand’Anse: The Thirteen-Year Guerrilla Insurgency): Among much business left unfinished by Pétion was the Grand’Anse insurgency, da…

1807–1812: (Goman in the Grand’Anse: The Thirteen-Year Guerrilla Insurgency): Among much business left unfinished by Pétion was the Grand’Anse insurgency, dating back ten years to 1807, where in what was then a densely forested region of remote and precipitous mountains and valleys, a one-time marron of Corail named Jean-Baptiste Perrier — better known as “Goman” — rose against Pétion in February 1807, proclaiming himself avenger of Dessalines against all jaunes. Goman was a natural guerrilla who could climb like a goat, with years of marronage teaching him every trick of terrain and field craft; a soldier in the old Légion d’Égalité, he had served under Rigaud against Toussaint and then always in the mountains of La Hotte and Macaya that form the backbone of the Grand’Anse. His methods were classic: he built an intelligence network using agents disguised as cultivators who not only spied on opponents but also traded produce from guerrilla areas in Les Cayes and Jérémie for ammunition, tools, and supplies, while every person in his domain was either warrior or cultivator, with his inspector of cultivation doubling as political commissar. As a tactician, Goman never allowed his forces to attack unless victory was assured, observing combat from some cliff with his most prized possession — a spyglass — while his partisans showed themselves at Abricots, simultaneously ambushed at Trou Bonbon, then mysteriously swept down on Corail only to vanish when government columns approached. The cement of the Grand’Anse insurrection was peasant grievances, noir-mulâtre animosities, regional separatism, natural sanctuary areas, talented leadership, and a vast political and intelligence network.