Limonade. Capoix seized in ambush at the ditches of Limonade and shot

Christophe had known from the first days of October that a revolt was to break out against Dessalines in the arrondissement of Les Cayes; he had resolved to have assassinated, in the North, the one general who by his character and influence could counterbalance his power after the fall of Dessalines, which in his eyes had become inevitable. He ordered Capoix to come from Fort-Liberté to Le Cap. The moment had come for him to dare everything to rid himself of this general and, Dessalines falling, to turn events to his own profit. He sent General Romain, Adjutant General Gérard and General Dartiguenave with a battalion of infantry to lie in ambush at the ditches of Limonade. As soon as General Capoix, coming from Fort-Liberté, appeared on the highroad, Romain and Gérard hurried to meet him and invited him, with respect and submission, to stop and take refreshment. Capoix, suspecting nothing, stepped down from his carriage and held out his hand to Romain; at that same instant Gérard, aided by a few grenadiers who had come out of the ambush, seized his sword and declared him a prisoner. He made no resistance and said to Romain: your master Christophe is very lucky to have caught me in this trap, for before long I would have made him feel the strength of my arm; let us be done with it quickly. He placed himself five paces from a platoon and received death, struck by several balls. It was 8 October, the day Mécerou took up arms at Garata. A concordance of facts that reveals the relations existing between Christophe and the men of the South.