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1805-03-07

Gabart and Pétion examine the fortifications of Santo-Domingo

Haitian

On 6 March 1805 the army of Emperor Dessalines, marching on Santo-Domingo, arrived there at noon. The emperor established his headquarters there. He summoned General Ferrand to surrender the place to him. The next day, at daybreak, Generals Gabart and Pétion approached the town and examined its fortifications. The Haitian troops took up positions not far from the ramparts. It was at the headquarters at Gaillard that the carabinier, the dance so beloved of Haitians, was born; Haitian women dance it with grace; the officers danced it with the carbine slung on the back. One of the emperor’s mistresses, Mlle Euphémie Daquilh, had come to join him at Gaillard. Young, beautiful, full of grace, she gave the signal for the pleasures and composed the airs that the musicians played. The generals often gathered there around the emperor. On 16 March Dessalines received dispatches at Gaillard by which he learned that a French fleet was sailing for the Antilles; he then ordered the siege to be pressed with vigor.

Rouzier tells this under the entry Gaillard.

Source  ·  p. t. II, p. 1 Sémexant Rouzier, Dictionnaire géographique et administratif universel d'Haïti (t. II) (1892), p. t. II, p. 1