Pétion and the other colonial officers of color assembled at Rochefort to join the expedition.

The government counted heavily on the Black officers and the officers of color who were in France to aid the success of its arms. Rigaud, Léveillé, Villatte; the chiefs of brigade Birot and Borne-Déléard, the adjutant-commandant Pétion; the chiefs of squadron Millet, Maurice Bienvenu, Etienne Saubat, Brebillon, Abraham Dupont, Kayer-Larivière, Belley; the chiefs of battalion Dupuche, Brunache, Gautras; the captains Boyer, Claude Agar, Poisson, Pierre-Louis Dugazon, Jean-Baptiste Bauvais; the lieutenants Vincent Greffin, Gabriel Viljoint, Joseph Borno, set out accordingly from Paris and Bordeaux for Rochefort, where they were assembled on 26 brumaire (17 November) (1). All had been maintained de facto in their several ranks, with the exception of Pétion and Dupont, because none had made any claim after the vain attempt of these last two; only Pétion, on the list of colonial officers, was styled adjutant-commandant instead of chief of battalion, as the minister’s decision which I cited in the preceding book had it (2).