Pétion ordered the retreat from Dondon and carried it out as far as Grande-Rivière, covering the white families of the abandoned district.

At last it became necessary to think of evacuating the post. On 10 vendémiaire, Year XI (2 October) (4), Pétion had Jean-Louis François cross the river of Dondon, with orders to draw the attention of the insurgents to the road of La Marmelade by a lively fusillade (5). But in the evening Jean-Louis François returned to the post. Pétion at once ordered the retreat and carried it out gloriously as far as the town of Grande-Rivière, covering the white families of the abandoned district under the protection of his bayonets. In this retreat he was unwilling to leave any of his wounded in the power of the enemy; he was seen setting his soldiers an example of devotion, taking one of the wounded upon his shoulders and carrying him away from the fire of an ambush. He fought a last engagement in the church of the town of Grande-Rivière. After routing the insurgents, he went to Grand-Pré, where Christophe was. It was in this last attempt to pacify the mountains of the North that they saw each other for the first time. Nothing has come down to us of the first meeting of these two men, who left marks so different, and this is greatly to be regretted for history.