1920, January 15: (La Débâcle: Batraville’s Raid on Port-au-Prince and the Surrendering Chiefs): Charlemagne’s assassination brought peace to the North, but …

1920, January 15: (La Débâcle: Batraville’s Raid on Port-au-Prince and the Surrendering Chiefs): Charlemagne’s assassination brought peace to the North, but the Center was far from quiet — Benoît Batraville, to whom as Ministre en Chef Charlemagne’s title had passed, was believed to have some 2,500 Cacos in mountain fastnesses southeast of Mirebalais, which 150 years earlier had been the stronghold of marrons from Santo Domingo. Back in Haiti after a brief interval at home, Colonel Russell, with a reinforced Marine brigade of 1,346 officers and men and a battle-worthy Gendarmerie of 2,700, prepared all forces including the aviation squadron for an all-out campaign against Batraville in January 1920. Russell reorganized his staff, bore down hard on improved intelligence, and divided the Caco country into tactical areas of operations. Batraville’s reaction to the Marines’ offensive was characteristic of a leader whom Russell described as a much more aggressive man than Charlemagne but lacking in intelligence and leadership — prompted by Dr. Bobo, before dawn on January 15, 1920, Batraville marshaled more than 300 Cacos north of Port-au-Prince, some disguised in stolen Gendarmerie uniforms, and this time there was no high-flown ultimatum to the diplomatic corps, for Batraville could not write. The Cacos advanced into town in columns with flags and conch horns blowing, dividing into three columns — one along the waterfront by way of the slaughter house, the other two turning farther inland and advancing around Bel Air Hill by the radio station. When the troops had nearly reached town the Marines opened fire with Brownings and machine guns, but the Cacos broke ranks and fired from around corners and from windows of houses they rushed into. By break of day sixty-six Cacos were found dead and many more had been cut off, captured, or wounded, including the leader of the attack, Solomon Janvier, a man of Port-au-Prince found hiding in his own house. Surviving Cacos ever after referred to this night as la débâcle. Following the defeat, it became increasingly clear that Batraville’s days were numbered — various chiefs, including his secretary Clément Dumortier, like Charlemagne an elite St. Louis de Gonzague old boy, began to surrender, and Russell sent them into the field with patrols to prove their sincerity, the fact that these ex-generals were alive and well treated by the blan proving a powerful persuader. Batraville fought on while his wife, posing as a market woman with a pistol tucked under her dress, would freely ride her bay mule into Port-au-Prince or Mirebalais to pick up supplies and gossip, organizing convoys of other Caco wives when larger quantities were involved.