Rigaud seizes Petit-Goave and opens the War of the South

Andre Rigaud commanded the southern peninsula and refused to accept Toussaint Louverture as general-in-chief of the armies of Saint-Domingue. On 9 June 1799 his troops took Petit-Goave. That was the start of the civil war, the war of knives, between Rigaud’s men of color and Toussaint’s forces. The French agent Hedouville had worked for exactly this, dividing the leaders so France could rule what was left. Toussaint answered by taking Jacmel. A year later Rigaud was beaten and sailed for France; the colony had learned to kill itself.