1820, October 8: (The Suicide of Henry Christophe and the Silver Bullet): Next morning — it was Sunday — Henry again had the guard paraded under its trusted …

1820, October 8: (The Suicide of Henry Christophe and the Silver Bullet): Next morning — it was Sunday — Henry again had the guard paraded under its trusted commander, Jean-Baptiste Riché, and propped up by an aide-de-camp, the King spoke to them as best he could before commanding a largesse of four gourdes per man, then dispatching the guard with four guns under Noël Joachim (born Deschamps), Duc de Port-Royal, to march down toward the Cap. Late in the afternoon, the King’s troops reached the bridge at the Haut-du-Cap, where 5,000 rebels were waiting with Toussaint’s Bréda plantation to the rear; Joachim formed the guard in line and rode forward to read Henry’s proclamation, but the reply was a ragged volley, and behind him the royal guard broke ranks, threw away their muskets, and ran forward to join the rebels while General Riché spurred past to throw in with the other side. When Joachim got back to Milot, Henry knew what he had to do: donning a fresh uniform, he sent for Marie-Louise and the children, and as the door closed and he was again alone, the King reached under his chair cushion for the loaded pistol that was always there — Duncan Stewart had shown him where his heart lay. There was a smoky flash and a muffled pop, and Henry Christophe, dead at last, slumped over as blood gushed out of the powder-blackened uniform; if, as tradition says, the pistol ball was silver, the King had earned it.