1845-04-15: (Guerrier Dies in Office After Less Than a Year as President, Succeeded by Jean-Louis Pierrot, Whose Wife Cécile Fatiman Had Participated in the …

1845-04-15: (Guerrier Dies in Office After Less Than a Year as President, Succeeded by Jean-Louis Pierrot, Whose Wife Cécile Fatiman Had Participated in the Vodou Ceremony at Bois Caïman That Launched the Revolution): On April 15, 1845, Philippe Guerrier died in office, having served less than a year as president. He was succeeded by Jean-Louis Pierrot, another Black military officer born into slavery, in 1761, in Acul-du-Nord. Pierrot was illiterate. He had fought in the Revolution under the command of Christophe and led a battalion of troops at the Battle of Vertières. His wife, Cécile Fatiman, was a Vodou priestess who had participated in the ceremony conducted by Boukman at Bois Caïman on August 14, 1791, the gathering that had launched the Revolution. The presidency of Pierrot thus represented a direct, living link between the revolutionary generation and the fractured republic it had produced. In May 1845, Pierrot attempted to reconquer the Dominican Republic but was repelled. His efforts to implement economic and social reforms to benefit the Black masses angered the mulatto elite, who orchestrated his overthrow in March 1846.