Chéridan. Reached by Dessalines through heavy rain.

The Rigaudins held the cordon of Grand-Goâve under the orders of men such as Pétion, Faubert, Geffrard, Renaud Desruisseaux and Delva. On the evening of 28 April Dessalines’s army halted at Clavil. The first column, under Nérette’s orders, had fallen into an ambush in which it had lost many men; the second, commanded by Laplume, had met no resistance. Dessalines spent the day of the 29th at Clavil. On the 30th, despite heavy rains and over roads almost impassable, he reached the Chéridan plantation. On 1 May (11 Floréal) he continued his march; as he drew near Grand-Goâve he passed under the fire of an ambush, and his vanguard was very roughly handled. This check did not stop him, and he reached the summit of a morne from which he saw, in the plain, the bourg of Grand-Goâve built near the seashore.