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1793-08-29

Southonax proclaims general emancipation at the Cap

Haitian

The next day, 21 June, General Galbaud came down from the ships of the squadron and marched against the arsenal, which was occupied by 50 affranchis with a white man at their head. The latter handed the arsenal over to him and the affranchis were slaughtered. Galbaud, master of several forts that commanded the palace, forced Antoine Chanlatte to withdraw with Southonax and Polvérel to the habitation Bréda at the Haut-du-Cap. The sailors, masters of the town, pillaged it. It became impossible for Galbaud to maintain order. Carnage reigned in all its horror. The town was set on fire. Ten thousand insurgent Blacks and mulâtres, led by the band chief Pierrot, entered the town and slaughtered the whites in all the districts and in all the houses. It was on that day (21 June 1793) that the civil commissioners, by a proclamation, declared free and French citizens all the Black and colored enslaved men who were fighting for the Republic. The partisans of Galbaud evacuated the town. On the following 29 August the general emancipation of the enslaved was proclaimed at the Cap by the civil…

Rouzier tells this under the entry Cap-haïtien (le).

Source  ·  p. t. I, p. 179 Sémexant Rouzier, Dictionnaire géographique et administratif universel d'Haïti (t. I) (1892), p. t. I, p. 179