Fort L’Îlet. The commissioners turn back Whyte’s flag of truce.

In the meantime 2,377 men of fine European troops arrived from England at Barbados on 5 May 1794. The English general Sir Charles Grey, having conquered Guadeloupe and the other French Windward Islands, sent some companies of them to Jamaica; the rest were embarked for Saint-Domingue. On 19 May the ships Belliqueux, Irrésistible and Flysloop were seen arriving at the Môle Saint-Nicolas, carrying the 22nd, 23rd and 41st regiments, which furnished 1,600 men under the orders of Brigadier General Whyte. On the 23rd of the same month this general came to anchor in the roadstead of the Arcahaie and ordered Hanus de Jumécourt, who had embraced the English party, and Lapointe to advance toward the plain of the Cul-de-Sac at the head of their troops. On the 30th he cast anchor in the roadstead of Port-Républicain. The squadron under the orders of Commodore Ford was made up of the ships Europa, Belliqueux, Irrésistible and Sceptre, three frigates, and five corvettes and brigs. It carried 1,465 men of troops and could bring three hundred and sixteen guns to bear on the town.

Port-Républicain, whose defenders numbered only 800, seemed disposed to defend itself. As for Monbrun, he promised to bury himself beneath the ruins of the place; nevertheless Sonthonax, distrusting his patriotism, had summoned Martial Besse, a man of color, from Jacmel and had given him command of the town. On 31 May, in the afternoon, the civil commissioners turned back a boat under flag of truce from General Whyte that was approaching Fort de l’Ilet. The English resolved to bombard the place. At the same time they directed three columns against it: the first, a thousand strong, coming out of Léogane, was commanded by the Baron de Montalembert; the second, coming from the Arcahaie under the orders of Lapointe and Hanus de Jumécourt, was of 1,200 men; the third, of 1,465 men, had in its ranks the remnants of the émigré corps that had not entered the army of the Prince de Condé: the regiments of Hompesch and of the Rohan Hussars, and the Uhlans of Bouillé.