Christophe and Vernet evacuate the Gonaïves as Leclerc approaches

On 24 February 1802, Generals Christophe and Vernet, evacuating the Gonaïves at the approach of Leclerc, took the road to the Pont de l’Estère, and sent on to the Cahos the women and children who had abandoned the Gonaïves. Captain General Leclerc ordered Rochambeau and Hardy, camped at the Pont de l’Estère, to scour the mountains of the Cahos where the ladies Dessalines, Louverture, Vernet, Gabart and a crowd of other families had taken refuge, and then to reach the Mirebalais in order to get behind the indigenous army, which he wished to place between two fires. Rochambeau, accompanied by General Rigaud, set out for the Grand Cahos on 2 March 1802, following the Cabeuil river. He gathered up at the Morne à Pipe a great number of French who had taken refuge there. At the Cahos commanded the battalion chief Aignan, a homme de couleur, very devoted to Toussaint. Rochambeau seized the position and carried off the treasures that Toussaint had had deposited on the habitation Magnan, then sent them to the Gonaïves. The bulletins of the French army agree with Haitian traditions as to the…

Rouzier tells this under the entry Cahos (les).