Port-Salut. Its insurgents enter Les Cayes

The next day, 10 October, Wagnac and the insurgents of Port-Salut on the one side, and Papalier, Bourdet and the principal inhabitants of Les Cayes on the other, met at the Quatre-Chemins and fraternized. Bourdet proposed to the assembly that it move into the town at once. But the principal insurgents of the countryside, fearing a trap from Papalier, of whom they were not sure, would not consent to it. Bourdet offered to remain as a hostage at the Quatre-Chemins, under the guard of their armed bands. The frankness that shone on his brow dispelled every mistrust, and Wagnac accepted the proposal to enter the town, saying that there was no need of a hostage; that for fourteen years they had made war for liberty, and that it was for liberty again that they had just taken up arms. The assembly decided that Wagnac would take command of the first division of the South, and that Papalier would keep the command of the arrondissement. Papalier announced that he welcomed every measure that might bring about the happiness of the country. Let us enter Les Cayes, cried Wagnac. What! said the squadron commander Racolier, we are forgetting Inginac and Almanzor, those two hired killers of Dessalines. Papalier observed that no one should think of shedding anyone’s blood; that they needed to rally men of every party, and that the surest way to harm the success of the insurrection would be to carry out reprisals. The assembly applauded him, and the people of Port-Salut and of the plain of Les Cayes, with Wagnac and Racolier at their head, entered the town at two o’clock in the afternoon.