Le Cap. Hearth of the revolt; rising of the night of 29-30 Vendémiaire put down by Christophe.

At the same time Colonel Henri Christophe, commandant of the arrondissement of the Cap, had by his activity and energy restored order in the quarters under his authority. The Cap was the hearth of the revolt. It had broken out there too in the night of the 29th to the 30th of Vendémiaire. Christophe, learning from a letter of the commandant of the town that the town was to be given up to pillage, went to the Carénage and there came upon numerous gatherings, which he dispersed. But one of the agitators, named Troisballes, sought to parley with him; he was arrested and taken to the arsenal of the Cap, where he was imprisoned in the custody of Commandant Aurange. In his interrogation, which took place during the night, he denounced a great number of his accomplices, among others one Saintonge, master of movements of the port, Jean-Baptiste Lebon, and Bonhomme of the Bailly plantation. Christophe went to the houses of those who had been denounced and arrested them himself. That same night thirty persons were taken to prison. Christophe and the commandant of the town, Barada, a white officer, then went through the whole town, dispersed several mobs and arrested some citizens. Suddenly they heard a volley of musketry; they went at once to the quarter from which the firing had come; they met a fairly brisk fire, and Christophe had a man killed at his side. The rebels, vigorously attacked, were driven out; they left the Cap and withdrew into the mornes, abandoning their dead and wounded. Christophe had taken such measures that on the following day, 30 Vendémiaire, order reigned at the Cap and in its surroundings. A few days later insurrections broke out at L’Acul, at Le Limbé and at Port-Margot. Everywhere the only cry heard was “Death to the whites!” Christophe marched out of the Cap with a battalion of the 1st demi-brigade and a battalion of the 5th, commanded by Chefs de bataillon Rouanez and l’Africain, and the dragoons of the national guard, and marched on L’Acul. When he reached the Vaudreuil plantation he met the vanguard of the rebels heading for the Cap; he attacked it and overthrew it. At the Morne-Rouge he had to check the advance of two columns, one coming by the road of the Plaine du Nord, the other by the road of L’Acul, which were to unite to assault the Cap; he attacked them with impetuosity and dispersed them in the woods. When he arrived at Le Limbé he found the whole quarter in insurrection. Joseph Flaville, who commanded there, had done nothing to check the movement; on the contrary, he had secretly incited it. Christophe overwhelmed him with reproaches; Flaville answered that the people were free to do as they pleased, and that in any case he had been unable to oppose the revolt. Christophe, not feeling strong enough to have him arrested, set out for Port-Margot. He showed rare energy in that town, restored order there, and returned to Commandant Jolicœur the authority the insurgents had taken from him. He hastened back to Le Limbé, where other disturbances had broken out in his absence. Commandant Flaville, who had at last declared for the revolt, was arrested and sent to L’Acul, from where he was taken by sea to the Cap. He was imprisoned in the house of detention. Meanwhile order was maintained at the Cap by the firm attitude of the commandant of the town, of the national guard, and of the 2nd demi-brigade commanded by Colonel Jasmin. Christophe set up his headquarters on the Fage plantation. General Moyse, having seen all his plans fail, tried to raise the Cap; he had the audacity to enter it, but he was received with such indifference by the inhabitants that he left two hours later for fear of being arrested. He reached Le Dondon, from where he informed the commandant of La Marmelade, Christophe Sylli, his partisan, that he was going to the Boispin. He came there indeed with about a hundred horsemen. As soon as Toussaint, who was at La Marmelade, learned that Moyse was only half a league from his headquarters, he wrote to him to come to him; from the wording of the letter he seemed to see in him no chief of rebels, but the commandant of the province of the North. Moyse, who had led the revolt without energy and without talent, seeing his cause entirely lost, went to the governor at La Marmelade. As he had not fought in person against the forces sent against him, he hoped to obtain his pardon. Toussaint received him affably and told him that the insurgents were putting his name forward and compromising him; that he urged him to be on his guard and to redeem himself by vigorous conduct; that his actions did not belie what was said of him; and that he might be punished more than anyone, for the revolt had spread only through his weakness. Above all he reproached him for not having dealt severely with the insurgents at Le Dondon. The governor, seeing him lost, since he had taken up arms not only against the governor but against the whites, who had been sacrificed in great numbers, wished to offer him the chance to flee and to seek a refuge in the mountains. He ordered him to take the field against the rebels and to send him all the prisoners he should take. Moyse, lacking perspicacity, did not understand the governor; he set off again through the countryside at the head of fifty men, seeking to take prisoners.