Port-au-Prince. Lamartinière seized control and shot Lacombe.

As soon as the sails of Admiral Latouche-Tréville’s squadron had been sighted, most of the inhabitants of Port-Républicain, whose number rose above 30,000 souls, had shown themselves disposed to receive the new government; and this disposition was fostered by General Agé, a European, commandant of the arrondissement, and by chef de brigade Dalban, commandant of the town, also a European. Father Lecun, prefect apostolic and parish priest of the town, exhorted all the women and the devout of the confraternities to welcome the French as brothers and to support them in word and deed. The director of the arsenal, Lacombe, a white man, was likewise wholly devoted to the French; and a large part of the Black and mixed-race people, giving no credit to the words of Toussaint’s partisans, who told them that Leclerc was coming to restore slavery, were preparing to give the white army a brilliant reception. Joy shone on the faces of the colonists, who awaited the European troops as an army of liberation: the supreme command of a Black man in the colony humiliated their pride. The garrison of the town consisted of the 3rd and 13th colonial demi-brigades, a squadron of the guard of honor commanded by Monpoint, and a battalion of the same guard under the orders of Magny. Lamartinière, a battalion commander in the 3rd colonial and a man of color, had made himself the first authority of the town. He rejected General Agé’s orders and directed all the military movements himself.

The French squadron had reached Le Lamentin on the evening of the third of February. Groups of citizens at once formed in every street. On all sides people declared themselves convinced that the French were coming not to restore slavery but to overthrow the despotism of Toussaint Louverture. The citizens were already talking of organizing a guard of honor, of going out to meet the European troops and fraternizing with them. But one man alone, by his energy, forced the inhabitants to give up their plan: this was Lamartinière, known for his intrepidity and the violence of his character. He went through the streets exhorting the citizens to arm for the defense of the town; the French are coming to restore slavery, he said; but his voice found no echo. All the inhabitants believed in the magnanimity of France: most of them had suffered cruelly under Toussaint’s government.

Meanwhile an aide-de-camp of General Boudet, chef de brigade Sabès, accompanied by a naval officer, citizen Gimont, came ashore into the town bearing the First Consul’s proclamation and several dispatches for the commandant of the arrondissement. General Agé received him with distinction; he wished to send him back; but Lamartinière opposed it, and Sabès remained as a hostage. The next day, 4 February, at daybreak, Agé answered General Boudet that since General Dessalines, commander of the division of the West, was not at Port-Républicain, he could take no decision concerning the surrender of the town, and that until he received the instructions of Dessalines, to whom he had written on the matter, he would keep Colonel Sabès, who would be in full safety under his protection. The bearer of this letter was charged at the same time to inform General Boudet by word of mouth that Agé’s authority was disregarded by the senior officers of the garrison, Lamartinière, Magny and Monpoint, and that the landing must be hastened. Lamartinière, for his part, sent word to the French: “That if a landing were forced without the orders of Governor-General Toussaint Louverture, three alarm guns would be fired, and that this signal, repeated from morne to hill, would be the signal for the burning of the colony and the slaughter of all the whites.”

Having made vain efforts to bring the citizens to take up arms, Lamartinière went to the arsenal. He was boiling with fury; had he not met with opposition from Magny and Monpoint, he would have burned Port-Républicain, which he called a cowardly and corrupt town, ready to receive new chains. He went in alone to Lacombe and said to him: “Citizen, the authority of Governor Toussaint Louverture is the only one recognized by the officials of the colony, and whoever disregards it is guilty before the Constitution. Therefore, citizen, I ask you for munitions and arms to fight the French, who are coming to plunge us back into slavery.” Lacombe flatly refused to grant his request, declaring that he had received no order to do so from General Agé, his immediate superior, and that in any case Leclerc had not been sent by the First Consul to change the order of things already established, but rather to put the finishing touch to the tranquillity and happiness of the colony. Lamartinière brandished his saber in one hand and his pistol in the other: “Since that is how it is, die, wretched colonist,” he cried in a thundering voice; and Lacombe fell, struck by a ball in the head. This act of cruel energy spread terror through the arsenal; all the munitions were at once handed over to him. The colonists who had formed the plan of arresting him were frightened, and most of them hid and awaited the outcome of events. All the citizens had shut their doors; the streets were full of patrols, and every white man they met was arrested and taken to the barracks. Agé ceased entirely to command, and Lamartinière found himself sole master of the town. He sent battalion commanders Bardet and Séraphin, who held Fort Bizoton with the 1st battalion of the 13th, the order to conquer or die; he placed the other two battalions of the 13th and some gunners at the Piémont entrenchment, under the orders of commandant Lubin Hudicourt. The whole body of the 13th, a regiment of the South composed of Rigaud’s former soldiers, had been won over by the inhabitants of the town, to whom the soldiers had promised not to fire on the French. A company of cavalry of the guard of honor under Captain Barthélemy Marchand and a company of the foot guard commanded by Captain Eloy Turbet took up position in the redoubt of the Léogane gate. The rest of the guard of honor occupied Fort National. Strong detachments of the 3rd colonial patrolled the town to hold the inhabitants in check and to fight them should they arm with the aim of attacking Fort Léogane from behind while the French stormed it. The 3rd demi-brigade was drawn up in line of battle on the Place Vallière. The troops Lamartinière had to oppose to Boudet amounted to 2,400 men; they would have sufficed to defend the town, had they been loyal.