Indigenous Army

Details

Organization Timeline

Cap-Français is burned as French forces land

📅 5 February 1802

In early February, a large French expedition under Charles Leclerc arrived to reassert French authority. Henri Christophe refused to surrender Cap-Français; revolutionary forces set much of the city...

Revolutionary defenders hold Crête-à-Pierrot under siege

📅 4 March 1802

French forces began a sustained assault on the fortified position at Crête-à-Pierrot, where Dessalines and revolutionary soldiers resisted for weeks. The defenders eventually broke out on 24 March...

Toussaint Louverture accepts terms after months of resistance

📅 6 May 1802

After months of fighting and defections, Toussaint Louverture entered Cap-Français and accepted Leclerc’s authority in exchange for amnesty and guarantees, then retired to his estate. This was a...

French forces seize and deport Toussaint Louverture

📅 7 June 1802

Leclerc had Toussaint Louverture arrested after inviting him to a meeting, despite the recent settlement and assurances of safety. Toussaint and members of his family were sent to France and...

Charles Bélair raises a renewed revolt

📅 5 August 1802

As French repression intensified and fears of restored slavery spread, General Charles Bélair raised the standard of revolt. This renewed uprising drew on rural networks and the laboring population...

Pétion and Clervaux join the renewed insurgency

📅 13 October 1802

Alexandre Pétion and Clervaux deserted the French side and joined the insurgency, followed by troops under their command. Their choice reflected mounting fear that French rule would strip Black and...

Revolutionaries create a red-and-blue flag at Arcahaie

📅 18 May 1803

At the Arcahaie congress, revolutionary leaders adopted a flag formed by removing the white band from the French tricolor and joining blue and red. Haitian tradition associates the act with Dessalines...

Victory at Vertières breaks French military resistance

📅 18 November 1803

The Indigenous Army under Jean-Jacques Dessalines and François Capois defeated Rochambeau’s forces at Vertières near Cap-Français. The victory followed years of resistance, epidemic disease, and...

Leaders issue a preliminary declaration of independence

📅 29 November 1803

At Fort-Dauphin, Dessalines, Christophe, and Clervaux signed a declaration vowing that Saint-Domingue would no longer live under French domination. This November proclamation preceded the formal Act...

Haiti proclaims independence and takes the name Ayiti

📅 1 January 1804

At Gonaïves, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and other revolutionary leaders proclaimed independence, formally breaking with France and naming the new state Haiti, from the Indigenous name Ayiti. The Act of...

State forces kill many remaining French residents during the 1804 massacres

📅 22 April 1804

Between February and 22 April 1804, Dessalines’s government directed killings of many remaining French residents, including civilians. Some non-French Europeans and professionals were spared, but many...

Dessalines is proclaimed Emperor Jacques I

📅 2 September 1804

Revolutionary leaders proclaimed Dessalines emperor in September 1804, consolidating authority in the new state. His coronation took place on 8 October. The empire asserted Haiti’s sovereignty in a...

Dessalines is assassinated at Pont-Rouge

📅 17 October 1806

A group of Haitian officers and political opponents assassinated Emperor Jacques Dessalines near Pont-Rouge outside Port-au-Prince. His rule had defended independence and emancipation but also...