Baní (Bany). Found abandoned

On 4 March, at three in the afternoon, he entered Baní, which he found abandoned. The army entered a sandy plain and followed the seashore, and at daybreak on the fifth it sighted, not far off the coast, two English ships, which soon vanished into the haze of the horizon. Dessalines, after halting at Bas de Louna, resumed his march on the 6th at daybreak, and by noon he had reached the Gaillard plantation, one league from Santo Domingo. There he set up his headquarters, gathered round him the grenadier companies of every corps of the army, and formed them into his guard. He at once had General Ferrand summoned to open the gates of Santo Domingo to him. The enemy’s only answer was to set fire to the suburb of Saint-Carles. The next day, the 7th, at daybreak, Generals Gabart and Pétion approached the place and examined its fortifications. The Haitian troops took up positions not far from the ramparts.