Tiburon. Sarrasin puts into its port and sets out from it by land for Les Cayes.

Rochambeau, having learned of the progress of the insurrection in the South, resolved to send reinforcements to Les Cayes. He ordered General Sarrasin, who had just arrived at the Cap with some forces, to leave for the South at the head of the 14th light. Sarrasin embarked on the ship of the line Atalante and set sail for Les Cayes. He was a general officer of reputation. Under the Executive Directory he had commanded a division of 6,000 men in the expeditionary army of Ireland. On 9 March he found himself within sight of Tiburon. Although he had been ordered to reach Les Cayes directly by sea, to spare the troops severe fatigue, he put into the port of Tiburon and resolved to go on to his destination by land. The Indigenous officers still loyal to the French pointed out to him in vain that the roads were almost impassable because of the rains and the flooding of the rivers. Full of confidence in the valor of his troops, he shut his ears to all the sound advice he was given and determined to cross the 24 leagues of country, covered with ambushes, from Tiburon to Les Cayes. After writing to General Laplume to advance to meet him with part of the garrison of Les Cayes, he gave the command of his vanguard to Battalion Commander Lespos and that of his rearguard to Captain Verime, and marched out of Tiburon preceded by Indigenous guides. 10 March. The 14th followed the road that runs along the seashore. When it reached La Cohanne, it met an Indigenous post held by some troops under the orders of Férou. The fight began; it was stubborn and murderous. Battalion Commander Lespos carried the position with the bayonet. The Indigenous, spreading out as skirmishers on both sides of the road, opened on the French a fire which, being poorly sustained, did not stop their march. Nevertheless the European column was forced to abandon its wounded, who were slaughtered. On 11 March Sarrasin came in sight of the village of Les Anglais, five leagues from Tiburon. He had already lost 50 men. At the foot of a morne crossed by the high road there were three thousand cultivators, most of them armed with sticks and stones. There were not a hundred musketmen among them. They were entrenched behind great felled trees; they had not a single cannon. General Sarrasin, on discovering them, turned to his grenadiers and said to them: “Could these brigands stop you? Forward!” The charge was sounded, and the 14th advanced boldly against the entrenchment, firing by platoons. The Indigenous rained a hail of stones on the whites, who closed with them at the bayonet. Captain Monvoisin, at the head of the grenadiers, seized the entrenchments. The Indigenous took flight and went to await the enemy a little farther on. At seven in the morning Sarrasin was master of Les Anglais. He rested there for the rest of the day. His troops were worn out with fatigue; they had crossed several torrents, marching now on muddy roads, now on stony paths, with the rain on their backs at night and scorched by the heat of the sun by day. They resumed their march in the night of the 12th. Before sunrise they fell into an ambush, which they cleared after losing some twenty men. Meanwhile General Laplume was coming out of Les Cayes and marching to meet Sarrasin with 800 troops and two field pieces. He reached Welche Taverny and waited there for General Sarrasin for 24 hours in vain. Fearing to be surrounded by the insurgents, he went back into Les Cayes.