Camp Barade. Occupied by Rochambeau before Toussaint could reach it; assaulted through the night.

General Rochambeau had already reached the gorge called the Ravine-à-Couleuvre. This defile leaves the Coupe-à-l’Inde on the left and the Bayonnet on the right. Setting out from Saint-Michel, he had crossed Platana and Mamont and had halted at Barade, at the entrance of the defile on the mountain side, on 3 Ventôse (22 February). It was time for Toussaint to march against him. The former governor entrusted the command of Les Gonaïves to General Vernet and left under his orders the 2nd battalion of the 7th, the corps of the Red Jackets, and a squadron of his guard commanded by Morisset. Vernet, a man of color, had instructions to fight the French to the last, to halt their march, and to set fire to the town if he found himself forced to fall back before the multitude of the enemy’s forces. Toussaint sent Dessalines, who was at Saint-Marc, the order to burn that town, as well as Les Verrettes, and to withdraw to Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite. He placed two companies of dragoons on watch in front of Les Gonaïves; and to cover Cocherelle, a plantation on the road to the Savane Désolée, where his wife, Isaac his son, his sisters, and the Chancy young ladies, his nieces, were gathered, he ordered Morisset to occupy the approaches to the plantation at the head of a squadron. He left Cocherelle at noon with 600 men of his guard, 200 of them dragoons under the orders of Monpoint and 400 foot soldiers commanded by Magny. From Cocherelle to the Ravine-à-Couleuvre is three leagues; the road is good and level. Toussaint, who wished to occupy the gorge by which Rochambeau was to come out into the plain, quickened the march of his troops, crossed the stream of Lacroix, and at nightfall reached the entrance of the Ravine. He distributed provisions and fresh meat to his soldiers and let them rest until nine o’clock at night. It was 22 February. At ten o’clock, after saying his prayer, he ordered all the fires of the camp put out and entered the gorge. The Ravine-à-Couleuvre, in the commune of Les Gonaïves, is a very arid defile which, crossing the district called Lacroix, opens to the southeast onto the Savane Désolée. Toward the end of the gorge, at the spot where the Mamont road ends, rises the morne Barade, which commands the defile along its whole length and is impregnable by its natural fortifications. Toussaint Louverture hastened his march through the night to occupy this point, entrench himself there, and wait for Rochambeau’s division, which he hoped to exterminate as soon as it had entered the gorge. At eleven o’clock he was heard to cry out, crossing himself: Almighty God! grant me the grace to reach that position before the enemy; half an hour’s march more. But Rochambeau, guided by an Indigenous man named Noël Lory, already held Barade, as we have seen. His division, 2,000 warriors strong, superb and intrepid, was composed of a regiment of the line and the 5th light, commanded by Colonel Rey. He had under his orders General of brigade Brunet and the adjudants-commandants Lavalette and Andrieux. Toussaint had only 1,600 men to set against him, including the armed cultivators who accompanied him. The French had suffered no privation, and in the districts they had crossed, from Saint-Michel to Barade, they had found shade, rivers, fruit and provisions in abundance.

The former governor marched at the head of the grenadiers of his guard. Suddenly he heard the challenge of a French sentry. His eyes flashed with unease: Guard of honor of the governor, he answered himself. Fire! Forward! His troops reach the foot of the morne and climb to the assault. Several times they gain the summit of the position; but the French, raining a hail of balls upon them, threw them down on every side. Toussaint nonetheless urged Magny not to slacken his attacks. But Rochambeau posted several companies of light infantry in echelon along the sides of the defile, and they poured a plunging fire on the Indigenous, horse and foot, already in disorder at the bottom of the ravine. After withstanding the onset of the French all night, Toussaint retreated at daybreak. Monpoint, opening the ranks of his squadron, let the infantry pass through. At the same time the Indigenous blew up the powder magazine of the Ravine-à-Couleuvre, a considerable depot of munitions that the French were on the point of seizing. Toussaint came out into the plain of Lacroix and could rally his troops only at the Périsse plantation, a league from the ravine. He was full of agitation; he dismounted and took up a musket. He turned to his soldiers and told them that he would show the French what the brave men of his guard could do. He set before them that this fight must decide their fate; that if vanquished they would be plunged back into slavery, and that if victorious they would win their liberty forever. They all swore to conquer or die. The most energetic determination was written on the face of every soldier, and the cry of Long live the governor burst out in the ranks. The advance guard of the French division was pushing boldly into the plain (23 February). Toussaint recognized General Rochambeau in the front rank. He at once placed his cavalry in a lane called Marie-Louise, which opened onto the savanna behind a high, long and thick hedge, so that it could fall unexpectedly on the flank of the French column as soon as the column reached Périsse. He stood at the head of his infantry drawn up in line of battle. The grenadiers of the guard of honor, as soon as the French came within musket range, fired a terrible volley and advanced with the bayonet. The fight was joined with fury. The French, in close column, hurled themselves furiously on the Indigenous, who presented a formidable front. Yet the bayonet, a terrible weapon in French hands, wrought great havoc in the ranks of the guard of honor. The guard lost ground, overthrown by such impetuosity. It was beginning to flee when a young officer stopped it with these words: Do you forget your oath? Do you forget that the governor is in our midst? During this fight with cold steel, Toussaint saw that Rochambeau was not using the advantages of his numerical strength. He posted two companies of infantry in echelon along the enemy’s flanks. The French fell in great numbers under the fire of our chasseurs, who were skillful marksmen. He himself, in the center, withstood the onset of the enemy’s mass with prodigious intrepidity. The struggle went on with the greatest stubbornness on both sides. Men shot each other at point-blank range; sabers and bayonets crossed; the carnage was horrible. The French kept gaining ground in spite of the tenacity of the Indigenous. Had Rochambeau had cavalry, Toussaint’s troops would have been annihilated. On neither side was there any artillery. Cries of victory rose from the French ranks. Toussaint, boiling with anger, saw fortune turning against him. Musket in hand, he held his wavering soldiers before the enemy only with great difficulty. At this supreme moment Monpoint nonetheless remained motionless at the head of the cavalry. The former governor, indignant at his inaction, goes to him, reproaches him sharply and orders him to charge. Monpoint hesitates; Toussaint pushes him violently with his hand and strikes him with his cane. Monpoint, despair in his soul, dashes forward at the head of his dragoons and seeks death in the enemy’s ranks. He breaks impetuously through the French battalions and cuts their advance guard off from their main body. He hurls himself with a hundred of his dragoons on their shaken center and charges with vigor, while the rest of the cavalry sabered the French advance guard in the savanna, which had almost broken up. The center of the French division fell back on the Ravine-à-Couleuvre, where the soldiers of the advance guard came to rally.*