Trutier. Bauvais and Rigaud beat Markham’s column.

Meanwhile Generals Bauvais and Rigaud had assembled at Léogane 3,000 troops, drawn both from the legion of the West and from the legion of Equality of the South. In the middle of March they reached the crossroads of Trutier, where they met the English outposts and overthrew them. Bauvais, at the head of the legion of the West, advanced as far as the Côte plantation, where he established his headquarters. He ordered the troops to clean their weapons; only the picked companies remained drawn up around his tent. The soldiers at once broke ranks. While some were taking their muskets apart, others went marauding in the neighborhood. Cultivators whom they had ill-treated came to tell the English that the Republicans were not on the defensive and were scattered over the countryside. On 18 March (28 Ventôse, Year 3) Governor Horneck sent out of Port-Républicain a thousand European troops under the orders of Lieutenant-Colonel Markham. At nine in the morning the English surprised the Republican outposts and overthrew them. But the picked companies of the legion of the West, which were under arms, hastened onto the field of battle and restored the fight. Despite the brisk fire of their artillery the English were forced to give ground. Their skirmishers spread out to the left of the highroad to turn the Republicans; but they came upon Lieutenant-Colonel Pétion, who halted them with several rounds of grapeshot from an eight-pounder he had placed on a small rise commanding the road. They then formed a mass and attacked the legion of the West with fresh vigor. The 350 grenadiers and chasseurs of that corps, who alone had borne the fire since the beginning of the action, had already lost 200 men. Bauvais, at their head, exposed himself like the humblest of the soldiers. The legion of the South, which was at Mariani and at Trutier, hearing the sound of the cannon, hastened onto the field of battle. On Rigaud’s arrival the English retreated. Meanwhile the three battalions of the legion of the West that had been scattered in marauding gathered and came to reinforce the Republican army. A young sergeant of the legion of the West, whom the English had carried off in their retreat, set fire to their ammunition wagons and blew himself up, sacrificing himself for the cause of liberty. The explosion spread the greatest disorder among the British troops; Bauvais and Rigaud, taking advantage of it, threw themselves impetuously on the English, overthrew them, and took four of their guns (a four-, an eight-, a twelve- and a sixteen-pounder). Lieutenant-Colonel Markham was killed in the rout. A Republican horseman, still a youth, had the imprudence to pursue the English as far as Bizoton, where he was taken. Commandant Boutillier, touched by his youth, urged him to cry “Long live King George!” or “Long live the King of France!” He preferred death to treason. He walked to his execution crying “Long live the Republic!”