Dessalines rode into the ambush at the Pont-Rouge and was killed, and Pétion had his mutilated body buried.

But, a mutilation as odious as it was useless! the corpse of the emperor was hacked with saber blows; it is said that Yayou dealt it three dagger thrusts, that Vaval discharged his pistols into it (1). The responsibility for these acts of savagery would belong to Gérin, whose influence was great enough to make the sanctity of death respected.

The corpse, thus mutilated, was dragged through the streets of Port-au-Prince and exposed on the place d’Armes. As soon as Pétion was informed of this odious sacrilege, he ordered a detachment of the 11th demi-brigade to remove it and bury it in the inner cemetery. Some time afterward, Mme Inginac had a grave raised for him, on which one reads: “Here lies Dessalines, who died at the age of 48.”