Ocoa. The army halts there

The emperor entered Azua on the morning of 1 March and entrusted the command of the place to a Spanish officer, Juan Ximenès, who had gone over to the Haitians. The next day, at 5 in the morning, the army resumed its march and halted at the river of Ocoa. The Spaniards who had been won to the French party fled on every side at the approach of the Haitian troops. The emperor saw clearly that they were irrevocably attached to the French government, and that the consideration he showed them, far from rallying them to his army, was swelling Ferrand’s forces. He ordered his soldiers to treat them as enemies and to burn their dwellings.