TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE
(1743–1803)
He was called the Black Napoleon for his tactical and strategic brilliance in leading a slave rebellion and shaping it into a fight for national independence. Little is known of the early life of François-Dominique Toussaint (his full birth name), except that he was certainly born on May 20, 1743, on a plantation called Bréda, at Haut de Cap, in Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti), at the time a French colony. Most sources agree that he was the oldest son of Gaou Guinon, the King of Allada, which was located in what is today the West African country of Benin. Gaou Guinon had been captured in war, sold into slavery, and sent to Saint-Domingue. Toussaint’s mother, the captive king’s second wife, was named Pauline, and their son was born into slavery. It is also possible that Toussaint was born elsewhere in the colony and brought to Bréda as late as 1772, when he was 29, perhaps under an overseer named Bayon de Libertat.
The French colonies at this time were governed by the Code Noir (Black Code), a set of laws that sanctioned harsh treatment of “human property.” Yet Toussaint was treated with kindness and even educated by his godfather, Pierre Baptiste, known to history as the “savant slave.” He taught his godson to read and write. Local Jesuit missionaries may also have contributed to Toussaint’s early education, and it is said that Bayon de Libertat, the Bréda plantation overseer, was so impressed with the boy’s quick wit that he gave him the run of his personal library. Whatever combination of people and circumstances contributed to his education, by the age of twenty Toussaint was widely read and was fluent in both French and Creole, with a fair command of scholarly Latin to boot. He became well known for his medical knowledge, which drew on African herbal folk medicine traditions in addition to European medicine as it was practiced in the local hospitals run by the Jesuits.
For many years, it was believed that Toussaint remained a slave until the start of the revolt. But a marriage certificate from 1777 shows that he had been freed the year before, when he was 33. Some authorities believe that he secured his emancipation through the intervention of Bayon de Libertat, but that he remained on the Bréda plantation as the manager of his former owner’s household slaves and served as the owner’s coachman. In any event, he lived in comfort on the plantation for years, marrying Suzanne Simone Baptiste (c. 1743–1816) in 1782. She may have been his cousin, or the daughter of Pierre Baptiste. The union produced two sons, Isaac and Saint-Jean. Toussaint was a shrewd manager, who carefully husbanded his money, invested in property, and grew prosperous. He was sufficiently wealthy to own slaves himself, setting them to work on a coffee plantation that he acquired.
Thus, when Toussaint made the decision to join the slave rebellion that began on the “Night of Fire,” August 22, 1791, he did so less out of desperation born of a sense of personal oppression, and more because of some higher calling or purpose. As the name given to August 22 implies, the revolt began when slaves put the torch to plantation houses and fields in and around Haut de Cap. They also killed every white person they encountered. Those participating in the revolt prevailed on Toussaint to join them. He decided to do just that, but—and this was another sign that he did not act on impulse—first saw to it that his wife and sons were safely evacuated from the French half of the island of Hispaniola and lodged in the Spanish-controlled eastern half, called Santo Domingo. In addition, he also put Bayon de Libertat and his wife aboard a ship bound for the United States.
Well-read and thoroughly aware of events beyond his island home, Toussaint drew inspiration from the ideology of liberty, equality, and fraternity that were driving the French Revolution of the same period. But the initial revolt was soon suppressed, except for sporadic fighting between the slaves, free blacks, and planters. In the aftermath, some of the free blacks sided with the slaves and others with the white planters. Toussaint remained on the side of the insurgents, joining forces led by Georges Biassou, serving both as a doctor to the troops and as commander of a small unit. He was instrumental in creating strategy and in negotiating with the Spanish, who were eager to support any rebellion against French power on Hispaniola. Some authorities identify Toussaint as Biassou’s military secretary.
Toussaint combined skillful negotiation with strategic restraint. In December 1791, he led negotiations between the insurgents and the French governor, Philibert François Rouxel de Blanchelande. At this point, the rebellion had been largely suppressed, but a core of insurgents still held white prisoners. Toussaint offered their release in exchange for a legal ban on flogging slaves and an agreed-on extra rest day each week. Blanchelande rejected the demand, whereupon Biassou ordered the massacre of the prisoners. Toussaint intervened, however, negotiated terms for their release, and escorted them to Le Cap, where he hoped his demonstration of goodwill would earn an audience with the colonial assembly. It did not.
Convinced that the French attitude toward the slaves would remain unyielding, Toussaint began to mold the uprising into a full-scale bid for independence. He concurred with Biassou’s decision to make a formal alliance with Spain against France, and he assumed a major role in the negotiations. He also took charge of a line of outposts, the Cordon de l’Ouest, which defended the rebel-held territory against counterattack by the French. His ability to maintain order and discipline among fighters who until recently had been illiterate fugitive slaves was greatly admired. Toussaint worked hard to create a genuine army, capable of fighting with European discipline on the one hand, but also using guerrilla tactics when necessary. Even the French came to admire him.
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Toward the end of 1792 or the beginning of 1793, Toussaint took Louverture (opening) as a surname, identifying himself as a leader who opens the way. It was a fitting sobriquet. Although a self-taught military tactician and strategist, Louverture had an uncanny way of finding or creating openings in the enemy’s position. Politically, Louverture began to speak more and more in the idealistic rhetoric of the French Revolution. His bargaining position progressed from his earlier efforts to improve the conditions of slavery to a demand for the abolition of slavery—a major step toward creating an independent black republic.
“Brothers and friends,” he addressed the black residents of Saint-Domingue on August 29, 1793, “I am Toussaint Louverture; perhaps my name has made itself known to you. I have undertaken vengeance. I want Liberty and Equality to reign in Saint-Domingue. I am working to make that happen. Unite yourselves to us, brothers, and fight with us for the same cause.” The French colonial commissioner, Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, responded by proclaiming the emancipation of the slaves. Clearly, it was a move to win over the blacks, but Louverture reminded his fellow leaders that Sonthonax did not actually have the authority to issue such a proclamation. This was sufficient to prevent the blacks from leaving the Spanish alliance—until the French National Convention (the French revolutionary ruling body) ordered the emancipation on February 4, 1794.
Now Louverture, who had maintained an “opening” with the leading French general, made his move. Sensing that some other rebel leaders were growing jealous of him, and, more important, that the Spanish had begun expressing their displeasure at the power he had acquired over a large portion of the island, Louverture embraced the French in May 1794, rallying his troops to General Étienne Maynaud de Bizefranc de Lavaux.
Allying his forces with those of France against Spain, Louverture emerged during 1794 to 1802 as the dominant political and military leader in the colony. He promoted himself to general-in-chief of the army, and led not just the formerly insurgent blacks, but the French colonial forces as well, in pushing the British off the island and then in capturing the half of Hispaniola controlled by the Spanish.
It was unheard of. A black commander had united former black slaves with white French soldiers in conducting a successful campaign against the troops of two major European powers, Britain and Spain. In 1798, Louverture negotiated treaties with Britain and with the United States—not as Toussaint Louverture, rebel leader, but on behalf of the French Republic. What is more, he parlayed his military and diplomatic successes on behalf of that Republic into his own political takeover of the colonial government. By 1801, Saint-Domingue was still officially a French colony, but Louverture was governing it as an independent state. Boldly, he drew up a constitution, enshrining in it the abolition of slavery and appointing himself governor for “the rest of his glorious life.”
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Louverture never claimed to be an enemy of France. On the contrary, he called himself what he believed himself to be: a free French citizen, who was loyal to Napoleon Bonaparte. He even wrote to him, but never received a reply.
The fact was that Napoleon had had enough of Toussaint Louverture. He sent his brother-in-law, General Charles Emmanuel Leclerc, to meet with Louverture, offer peace, and recover control of the colony through diplomacy. At the same time, he would keep secret Napoleon’s order to deport all black officers. The sagacious Louverture was suspicious of Napoleon and persistently refused Leclerc permission to land. He attempted to unite the blacks in defending against the landing of the army, but a sizable number of his officers were convinced that Leclerc had honorable and peaceful intentions. They trusted Napoleon’s promise of diplomacy. At length, a fierce fight between the French and those blacks still loyal to Louverture broke out. The fighting grew in intensity, prompting Leclerc to resume his plea for peaceful talks. The talks commenced, only to break down quickly. Fighting resumed, and on May 6, 1802, Louverture personally ventured into Cap-Français to negotiate with Leclerc. The French general agreed to a ceasefire and an amnesty for Louverture and his top lieutenant. This accomplished, Toussaint Louverture retired to his plantations.
General Leclerc was taking no chances, however. He ordered one of his generals, Jean Baptiste Brunet, to arrest Louverture and his aides. Brunet effected this arrest by sending Louverture a letter in which he professed himself a friend, who wanted to take him to Paris, where he could negotiate personally with Napoleon Bonaparte. In fact, Brunet had set a trap. The black leader was arrested and, with his entourage, deported to France on charges of fomenting an uprising. “In overthrowing me,” Toussaint Louverture declared with quiet humility, “you have cut down in Saint-Domingue only the trunk of the tree of liberty; it will spring up again from the roots, for they are numerous and they are deep.” His ship landed in France on July 2, 1802. On August 25, Toussaint Louverture was clapped into a cell at Fort-de-Joux in the Jura Mountains. The following year, in April, he died, of pneumonia probably complicated by exhaustion, malnutrition, and tuberculosis.
Toussaint Louverture’s prophecy concerning the tree of liberty nevertheless proved true, as his follower Jean-Jacques Dessalines revived the rebellion, defeating the French on January 1, 1804, after nearly twelve and a half years of war. Absent Toussaint’s moderating influence, Dessalines led a massacre of the remaining white population on the island. Between three and five thousand French residents were killed.