Laval. Gérin convalesces; Francisque and Madame Abelle bring him to revolt

The same day, at one o’clock in the afternoon, Colonel Francisque, coming from Les Cayes, entered L’Anse-à-Veau. At once he turned every mind the other way. He gathered at his house the noncommissioned officers of the 15th, which he commanded. He painted for them, with warmth, their miserable condition, their privations, their distance from their homes; he pointed out that they received neither pay, nor rations, nor clothing, and that they were obliged to live by plunder, as if they were in enemy country. Would you not be glad to return to your families? Would you not like to see the end of your privations? Perceiving that his words were making a favorable impression on them, he went on: General Christophe has raised the standard of revolt at Le Cap; Aquin, Cavaillon, Les Cayes, Tiburon, Jérémie are in full insurrection. L’Anse-à-Veau is the only town that lags behind. Let us hasten to follow our brothers! Soon Dessalines will be buried in the plain of the Artibonite. These words electrified the soldiers; they all swore to die for liberty. The colonel then gathered the officers, and his language had the same effect on them. He next presented himself before the front of the 15th, which had taken up arms, and the whole corps cried: Death to the tyrant! The 16th, following the lead of the 15th, raised the same cry. Immediately after this success Francisque set out with a few officers for the Laval plantation, one league from the town. He reached it at three o’clock in the afternoon. There he found the minister of war and of the navy at table in the midst of his family. General, he said to him, you know that the town of Les Cayes is in insurrection! The 15th and the 16th have just sworn war to the death against Dessalines! Let us go; come and put yourself at their head. Gérin answered him calmly: Truly, colonel, I cannot conceive of your imprudence; so you do not reckon the consequences of this undertaking! Have you forgotten the misfortunes of the civil war under Rigaud and Toussaint? Madame Abelle, Geffrard’s sister and Gérin’s companion, listened to him with eyes of fire. Since the death of her brother, who she believed, without reason, had been poisoned, she had nursed an implacable hatred against Dessalines. Indignant at Gérin’s answer, she rose from the table and said to him forcefully: “General, if you do not feel the courage to take up arms against the tyrant, give me your coat, your epaulettes and your sword, and I will put myself at the head of your troops.” Gérin, shaken by these words, cried: Very well! I shall see whether men will know how to die with me in the terrible resolution we are taking today. He left the room, mounted his horse, rode into the town, reviewed the troops and ordered them to hold themselves ready to march on Port-au-Prince.