Sibert. Battle of Sibert recalled; Coutard killed saving Pétion

Christophe, despairing of taking the town and fearing insurrections in the North and the Artibonite at his rear, raised the siege two days later. On 8 January, after burning part of the plain of the Cul-de-Sac, he took the road to L’Arcahaie. General Yayou, full of joy at the enemy’s retreat, said with satisfaction that he had indeed foretold that it would not take long to come to know Christophe, *a man inflexible and of blood. At the battle of Sibert and during the siege of Port-au-Prince together, several hundred men had been lost on the two sides.

Almost every family, moved by the death of Coutilien Coutard, whose heroic devotion had saved Pétion’s life, shed tears for him.

Jérôme Marc Coutilien Coutard was born on 10 November 1778 at Bellevue, in the district of Port-au-Prince. He entered the service in the 4th demi-brigade under Toussaint Louverture and always distinguished himself by rare courage. In 1804 he became a lieutenant of grenadiers. At the death of Dessalines he was at Saint-Marc with his corps. He was one of those young men who, fleeing Christophe’s despotism, had abandoned their garrison to take refuge in Port-au-Prince. At the battle of Sibert he was at the head of a company of grenadiers of the 3rd demi-brigade, under the orders of Gédéon; and at the moment of the rout he had placed himself at Pétion’s side.