Haut-du-Cap and Vertières. Christophe and Clervaux watched its lines and were broken there

The heights around the Cap bristled with fortresses from the Bréda plantation to the Barrière-Bouteille, along a line of nearly two leagues. Setting out from Le Limbé toward the southwest and following the high road, the first fortification one came to was the blockhouse of Bréda, on the left of the road, protected on the west side, in the mountain, by the Jeantot post. On the same line, to the left, one next came to Fort Pierre-Michel and the Butte Charrier; farther on one crossed, by a small bridge, the rapid water of the Ravine Charrier, which rushes down on the right of the road into the river of the Haut-du-Cap, and one arrived at Fort Vertières. Continuing northward, one reached, on the right of the high road, Fort Champin, from which one could see on the left, a little farther on toward the town, the forts of the Hôpital and Bélair. Before reaching Fort Bélair on the left, one came to the entrance of the place at the Barrière-Bouteille. On the seashore between La Petite-Anse and the Cap stood Fort Saint-Michel; and the river of the Haut-du-Cap, flowing from south to north and running along the high road on its eastern side, empties into the sea between Fort Saint-Michel and the town. To the west the Cap is commanded by mornes on which there were French posts on the Lory, Métayer and Bousmat plantations. Setting out from the Jeantot post, one could easily avoid the forts lining the high road, carry Fort Bélair by surprise, take the Lory, Métayer and Bousmat posts, and assail the town.

After the arrival of Christophe and Clervaux at Le Limbé, General Romain set out from that town at the head of his troops. When he reached the Jeantot plantation at the Haut-du-Cap, he carried the post there and left Generals Christophe and Clervaux in it to cover his retreat if he were repulsed. He divided his army into four columns, turned the forts of Bréda, Pierre-Michel, Charrier and Vertières, and assailed the heights that command the Cap * at four o’clock in the morning of 19 February. At that hour there was dancing at the Government palace, where a brilliant fête was being held. The first Indigenous column, led by Romain in person, carried with the bayonet the post of the Hôpital des Pères and Fort Bélair. The European troops were put to the sword. The second column assaulted Fort Bourgeois in the Ravine de la Providence; but it was vigorously repulsed by a battalion of the 77th. The third established itself on the morne of the town, level with the Espagne plantation; and the fourth, with Christophe and Clervaux, stood watching before the lines of the Haut-du-Cap. Masters of Bélair, the Indigenous established themselves on the crest of the morne that separates that fort from the river of the Haut-du-Cap. Communications between the town and the French outposts they had turned were cut along the road of La Fossette. The left of the Indigenous army, established at Bélair, saw its right extending as far as the Barrière-Bouteille. Never had the Cap been assailed at such close quarters.

At daybreak General Clausel, who until then had kept to the defensive, went to examine the enemy’s position and made ready to drive him from the points he held. He assembled the whole garrison on the parade ground and gave his orders to the senior officers in Rochambeau’s presence. His advance guard, composed of the National Guard, the maritime gendarmerie and a battalion of the 7th of the line, moved off and opened fire with a vigorous attack on the Barrière-Bouteille, to clear a passage along the high road. The Indigenous, crying “Long live liberty! The town is ours!”, threw themselves upon the French with fury, overthrew them, and began to penetrate into the Cap. That would have been the favorable moment for the Black and mixed-race National Guards to declare for the independents, had they really formed the plan of delivering the place to General Romain; on the contrary, they displayed the greatest intrepidity and kept up the spirits of the Europeans. The French captain Colzi was mortally wounded; Battalion Commander Desfontaines rallied the fugitives of the 7th and of the maritime battalion, who returned to the charge, supported by the grenadiers of the Guard of Honor and the two administrative companies. The slaughter became frightful; they fought hand to hand. After a stubborn struggle the French were overthrown once more. The Indigenous advanced into the savanna of La Fossette, near the present Lodge of the Freemasons, boldly pressing on their heels at the charge.** But a formidable battery, set up by General Thouvenot at the far end of La Fossette, was suddenly unmasked; it spread death through the ranks of the independents. The Indigenous rushed toward the cannon; but the French artillery, well served, checked their impetus and forced them to withdraw under the most murderous grapeshot. Brigade Commander Neterwood, at the head of the cavalry of the Guard of Honor, charged them and drove them from the high road. By this success General Clausel restored his communications with the blockhouses of the Haut-du-Cap and the Hôpital des Pères. At the same time Battalion Commander Thouzard, at the head of a division of the National Guard, was marching on the Cliquet plantation to meet the independents, whom he came up with only on the Picard plantation. The Indigenous of this column were striving to join their companions established on the Espagne plantation, to form a mass that was to force La Fossette. Thouzard threw them back on the Espagne plantation, then marched on it with the bayonet and put the column holding it to utter rout. He succeeded in putting out the fire that had been set in the great house of that plantation. The Indigenous, driven from the Espagne plantation, withdrew to the summit of the Morne Lory. Battalion Commanders Jumel and Léaumont, at the head of thirteen companies of chasseurs of the line and of Russy, attacked them vigorously, dispersed them, and pressed them so closely that they gave them no time to burn the Tiphaine plantation. At the same time Commandant Caignet carried the Hôpital post with the bayonet. Romain still held Fort Bélair. General Thouvenot set up against this position a battery of eight cannon and a howitzer. The round shot, the bombs and the shells forced the Indigenous, in less than half an hour, to abandon Fort Bélair. Behind the fort they met a French column that cut off their retreat. A fresh combat began; and after a bloody struggle General Romain passed over the bodies of the French column.

The Indigenous column that had remained watching at the Haut-du-Cap under the orders of Christophe and Clervaux was attacked in its turn by the cavalry of the Guard of Honor under Neterwood and by the dragoons of the Cap under Claparède. Christophe and Clervaux formed in battalion squares and for three hours repulsed the most brilliant charges of the French cavalry. Clausel, to decide the victory in his favor, sent Claparède two companies of light artillery with two four-pounders. The round shot soon made breaches in the squares, which were broken by the dragoons. The Indigenous, sabered and scattered, did not rally until they reached Morne-Rouge. The French won a complete victory and pushed their outposts far out into the countryside. The Indigenous lost more than 700 men that day, and the French buried more than 500 of their own. Romain went to encamp again at Le Limbé; Christophe and Clervaux withdrew to Les Gonaïves. The captain-general complimented the Black and mixed-race National Guards on the intrepidity they had shown in the action and perfidiously promised them that the government would always give them its full solicitude.