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1802-02-23

Battle of the Ravine à Couleuvres

Haitian

The defile of the Ravine à Couleuvres leaves the Coupe à l’Inde on the left and the Bayonnais on the right. Rochambeau set out from St. Michel, crossed Platana and Mamon, and halted at Barade, which commands the defile throughout its length and is impregnable by its natural fortifications. Toussaint marched from the Gonaives and met him at the Ravine à Couleuvres on 23 February 1802. The former governor was at the head of his guard. His troops reached the foot of the morne and climbed to the assault; several times they reached the summit of the position; but the French rained a hail of bullets on them and overturned them on every side. Rochambeau stationed along the flanks of the defile several companies of light infantry, which poured a plunging fire on the indigènes, already in disorder at the bottom of the ravine. Having withstood the shock of the French throughout the night, Toussaint beat a retreat at daybreak. The indigènes blew up their powder magazine at the Ravine à Couleuvres, a considerable depot of munitions, which the French were on the point of seizing. Toussaint…

Rouzier tells this under the entry RAVINE à COULEUVRES.

Source  ·  p. t. IV, p. 11 Sémexant Rouzier, Dictionnaire géographique et administratif universel d'Haïti (t. IV) (1928), p. t. IV, p. 11