Saint-Marc. Gabart dies there and is laid in the church

It was at this time that General Gabart died at Saint-Marc, on 30 October 1805. The emperor was deeply grieved by this loss. Gabart and Clervaux, both men of color, had been his first companions in arms. According to the account of our old men, Gabart *was brave as no man ever was. By his death Dessalines lost one of his arms; Gabart had made himself one with his manners, his character, his system; his existence was a reflection of the emperor’s; it was, so to speak, the same soul animating two bodies. His remains were laid in the church of Saint-Marc, and his heart, carried to Marchand, was buried in Fort Culbutez. Dessalines had the following inscription engraved on his tomb: “Here lies Louis Gabart, general of division, councillor of state, commander-in-chief of the 1st division of the West, chief place of the empire of Haiti, born on 28 October 1776 in the parish of Saint-Martin of the Dondon, department of the North, died at Saint-Marc, department of the West, on 30 October 1805, the 2nd year of the Independence of Haiti and the first of the glorious reign of Jacques I. ‘As long as he lived he devoted his moments to the liberty of his country, and earned the title of friend of his sovereign.’ ‘Soldier, if you love glory, rest your eyes a moment on his tomb, and mourn him who was a hero before reaching the age at which great men even begin to show what they will be.'” Gabart was twenty-nine years old.