Dessalines took Croix-des-Bouquets and the 400 prisoners he sent to Arcahaye were massacred on the way.

Dessalines went at once to take possession of this town, so famous as the seat of the confederates’ operations in 1791. The next day he dispatched to Arcahaye the 400 prisoners he had taken. These unfortunate men, who had surrendered only on condition of keeping, if not their honor, at least their lives, were massacred on the way. It is related that at the moment of their departure Dessalines said to the officer charged with escorting them: “You will have them die on the road.” “What!” cried adjutant-general Bonnet (1), who stood at his side, “do you forget, then, general, your word of honor?” “Be silent, Bonnet,” replied Dessalines, “do you not know that since the revolution there is no longer any word of honor (1)?” Such was the state of demoralization into which the civil troubles had plunged the colony of Saint-Domingue that all parties believed they did themselves honor by vying with one another in perjury, perfidy and vengeance. In such an environment only the truly great man knows how to keep that sanctity of conscience, that cult of truth, that religion of principle, that magnanimity of action, without which history would be nothing but a long infamy.