Garrison of Jacmel breaks out and is cut up on Christophe’s column

Rigaud came to the relief of Jacmel and was beaten at the morne Laporte; he returned to the Cayes, dejected, discouraged. A squadron of Toussaint came to blockade the port of Jacmel. Meanwhile Rigaud charged Pétion with going to take command of Jacmel. Pétion left Bainet. Jacmel was in the greatest distress. He arrived in the port of Jacmel. At a glance he saw that all was lost. He had the useless mouths sent out. In March a council of war decided the evacuation of the place. A Black man, Jérémie, advised Pétion to evacuate by a small path that led to the habitation Ogé. On 12 March 1800, at 8 o’clock in the evening, the garrison set out, numbering 1,400 men and 400 women, children and wounded. A traitor denounced to Dessalines the road that it was to take. It fell upon the column of Christophe. In the middle of the night the melee became horrible and the carnage frightful. Nérette cut the column of the Jacmelians in two parts. Pétion cut a path through the woods with a few grenadiers. Gauthier, at the head of his 800 men, expected nothing more than death. Passing along the ranks…

Rouzier tells this under the entry JACMEL.