1844, May 3: (The Fall of Hérard and the Rise of Guerrier from the Barrel of a Gun): In the flush of victory, Acaau had no way of knowing that his revolt was…

1844, May 3: (The Fall of Hérard and the Rise of Guerrier from the Barrel of a Gun): In the flush of victory, Acaau had no way of knowing that his revolt was already done for, as two future presidents of Haiti — Generals F. N. Geffrard and Jean-Baptiste Riché — had joined forces at Aquin and on April 10 hurled back Dugué Zamor’s spearmen. Terrified by events in Les Cayes and the Grand’Anse, propertied Port-au-Prince yielded readily to the suggestion — floated by Hérard’s old foes, the Boyerists — that the only way to save the city would be to depose Rivière-Hérard and substitute an influential noir like Boyer’s friend in the North, the elderly Guerrier. Guerrier was in his cups when a delegation headed by the elegant Beaubrun Ardouin found him; momentarily fuddled, the old man of eighty-seven at first refused the crown but quickly changed heart on hearing from outside cries of “Vive Président Guerrier!” On May 3, 1844, backed by the bayonets of a friendly regiment from St. Marc, the new president duly took the oath after Ardouin produced a suitable manifesto he had concealed in the bore of his musket — an early example of power coming from the barrel of a gun. Certain loose ends were quickly cleared up: Hérard-Dumesle, the former president’s regent in Port-au-Prince, was put aboard H.M.S. Spartan for Kingston leaving behind a troupe of weeping mistresses, while Rivière-Hérard himself — still marking time in Azua — was notified that he was no longer president of the republic.