Fort Bizoton. Cut off, then evacuated by the French on the cutter Amitié.

On the fifth complementary day Adjudant-General Marion, of the division of Léogane and Jacmel, came to the town of the Croix-des-Bouquets. He announced to the general-in-chief that Cangé was encamped at La Coupe with 5,000 infantry, 50 gunners and 200 horsemen. Dessalines, wishing to assault Port-Républicain, sent Cangé the order to go and hold Fort Bizoton in check. Cangé left La Coupe and established himself on a hill which commands the fortification and the highroad to Léogane. He cut the communications between Port-Républicain and Bizoton.

Dessalines for his part had all the blockhouses of the plain occupied. On the sixth complementary day his troops moved forward. Reinforced by Cangé’s division, they amounted to 15,000 men. Port-Républicain was invested in form. The division of the Artibonite, commanded by Gabart, was posted against the Portail Saint-Joseph and Fort National. That of the arrondissement of Port-Républicain held the ground that stretches between Fort National and the Morne de l’Hôpital; and General Cangé’s was posted between the Porte de Léogane and Fort Bizoton. Dessalines chose for his headquarters the spring of Turgeot, half a league from the place. On 1 Vendémiaire General Pétion set up on a hillock of the Philippeaux plantation, southeast of the city and 200 toises from the powder magazine, a battery of two guns, one a four-pounder and the other an eight-pounder, and a six-inch howitzer that he had brought from Petit-Goâve. He threw several shells onto the post of the powder magazine, which forced the French to evacuate it. The Indigenous, under the fire of 17 cannon that spread death in their ranks, nonetheless drew the blockade of the city ever tighter. The 11th demi-brigade, commanded by Frontiche, came up within musket shot of the entrenchments that closed the circuit of the place. Although every gun of the fortifications was turned against it, it succeeded in raising a battery whose fire greatly troubled the French. General Lavalette made every effort to rouse the national guard, composed almost entirely of Indigenous men, to second the European garrison. But he met with nothing but discouragement or treachery. A citizen, Balthazar Inginac, in whom he had some confidence, was nevertheless carrying on a quiet and active propaganda in favor of Dessalines. He gathered at his house during the night young men full of daring and resolve, and talked with them of the means of delivering the place to the Indigenous if the French did not make haste to evacuate it. The French troops, reduced to 1,400 men, were worn out with fatigue. They had no rest by day or night; they manned every post, no longer daring to trust a single one to the national guard.

Fort Bizoton was still held by the French; but they could not communicate with the city by land. On 8 Vendémiaire two lighters laden with provisions* were towed across the great roadstead by two large ships which for five hours fired on General Cangé’s entrenchments. Three times the French tried to land; three times they were driven back. They returned into the little harbor without having been able to communicate with the garrison of Bizoton. On the Dessource plantation, which overlooks Bizoton, there was a blockhouse that the French had built. They abandoned it after blowing up its powder magazine (2 October). The same day they came out of the fort in good order, drove back the independents who attacked them, and made their way to the shore. They embarked on the cutter the Amitié. Hunger had forced them to evacuate. After raising the Indigenous flag on the ramparts of Bizoton, Cangé set up on one of the hillocks of Piémont, commanding the Rue du Magasin de l’État, a battery of four guns, two 24-pounders and two 18-pounders. His shot swept the city from end to end and spread terror in every family. Then the fear of the independents’ vengeance gave some energy to those Black and colored townsmen who had until then served the French cause. As they saw that the European garrison could no longer hold the place, they spoke openly of going to join the besieging army. Many of them were already thinking of surrounding Dessalines with flattery and blandishment to keep their positions and even to obtain favors. The youngest went by night to Pétion’s headquarters and boasted of their patriotism. To hear them, the success of the war of independence belonged to their efforts.