Morne-Rouge. Its crossroads swept by Clausel.

Rochambeau resolved to attack General Romain, who, established on the mornes Pelé and Lecurieux, was ravaging the surroundings of Le Cap, although he was ceaselessly harassed by the Congos. General Clausel made his dispositions to drive him from his position. On 24 July, at daybreak, General Noailles took the field at the head of his brigade, following the road to La Petite-Anse; General Claparède went by the heights of Le Cap. General Clausel himself marched out of Le Cap with the reserve column. On his orders Cagnet and Jacques Tellier had seized La Tannerie to cut off the enemy’s retreat. The three French columns attacked the Indigenous simultaneously. After a bloody fight Generals Claparède and Noailles carried the entrenchments established on the mornes Pelé and Lecurieux. Romain found himself surrounded on every side; he had Noailles on his right, Claparède on his left, the Congos in his rear, and in front General Clausel, who was blasting him with a strong artillery. He withstood the impetuosity of the French for two hours without being shaken. But crushed under the grapeshot, the Indigenous could no longer fight against forces three times superior to their own. They retreated. Romain carried the ambuscades the Congos had set at La Tannerie and withdrew into the interior. He had left seven hundred men on the field of battle. Few prisoners remained in the hands of the French. The Indigenous soldier, when he suffered a reverse, almost always found the means to escape the cavalry, thanks to his agility and his knowledge of the ground; and when flight became impossible, he preferred to take his own life rather than surrender to an implacable enemy. On the day after the battle, 25 July, Clausel swept the whole Plaine du Nord and the crossroads of Morne Rouge. He returned to Le Cap with a great number of wounded. The result of this battle was to keep the Indigenous away from the surroundings of Le Cap for a few days.