1845, May–September: (Pierrot’s Vagaries, the Dominican Border War, and the Léogâne Massacre): How bizarre the choice of Pierrot had been soon became clear: …

1845, May–September: (Pierrot’s Vagaries, the Dominican Border War, and the Léogâne Massacre): How bizarre the choice of Pierrot had been soon became clear: within ten days after being summoned from his beloved Habitation Lafond on the Bay of Acul, the old man simply mounted his horse at the Palais National and rode out of town, halting at the Portail St. Joseph only to leave word with the guard that he was returning to the Cap, where he forthwith proclaimed Cap Haïtien the new capital of Haiti. On May 10, 1845, even before he shook the dust of the capital from his shoes, the president had warned the “Citizens of the East” that national unity must be reconstituted, and only the Dominicans took Pierrot seriously — on June 17 they attacked across the central frontier, burned and sacked Lascahobas and Hinche, but were driven out of Cachiman in a hot fight on July 22. Amid the general confusion, some sixty partisans of Rivière-Hérard assembled at Croix-des-Martyrs on the night of September 17–18 and, when the capital failed to respond, spurred to Léogâne where they appropriated the public funds — 106 gourdes in the town treasury and 40 gourdes belonging to the republic — and raised the standard of revolt. The reaction of the Council of State was prompt and savage: General Lazarre’s 700-man column overwhelmed the Rivierist cavaliers in the streets of Léogâne, the rebel chief General Pierre-Paul had his head chopped off and mounted on a pike, and fugitives swept up in the fields were shot en masse the next day. Two brothers, Camille and Juste Plaideau, nearly made it back to Port-au-Prince but were intercepted on the road — naked, bound, and barefoot, they were yanked along by cords looped around their testicles until, outside Carrefour, they collapsed from pain and exhaustion and were sabered to pieces by the guards.