Dessource. French blockhouse blown up.

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.