The Mirebalais. Dessalines, Gabart and Pétion assemble their divisions

Pétion, who had left Port-au-Prince with his division of 7,800 men, arrived at Le Mirebalais on 21 February. This division was composed of the 11th, 12th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th of infantry, two companies of the 1st artillery regiment and two squadrons of the 1st regiment. Pétion had under his orders Brigadier General Magloire Ambroise. From the 19th the communes of Hinche, Lamatte and Neiba, terrified, had hastened to submit to Dessalines. The inhabitants of those districts furnished him with provisions in abundance and a multitude of horses and mules. On the 20th the 3rd demi-brigade and the cavalry entered the canton of Les Sarrasins and bivouacked on the Desvarieux plantation. When Dessalines arrived there with the divisions of Gabart and Pétion, he reviewed them and said to the soldiers in Creole: “My brave men, let not courage and perseverance forsake you in this great enterprise; it is wholly national; we are going to reunite to the empire more than two thirds of its territory; we are going to Santo Domingo, where the remnants of our former oppressors still breathe, where the infamous Ferrand commands, who has sworn our extermination and the servitude of our children.” The soldiers answered him with great acclamations and gaily took the road to Lescahobes. To reach Santo Domingo the Haitian troops had to cross great distances: from Jérémie to Santo Domingo, 193 leagues; from Le Cap, 90 leagues; from Port-au-Prince, 135; over high mountains, across wide and deep rivers and vast plains covered with grass and thorny shrubs, without shelter from the heat of the sun.