Page images
PDF
EPUB

sacred him in his bed. A young man lying sick in his chamber was left apparently dead of the wounds inflicted by their cutlasses. He had strength enough, however, to crawl to the next plantation, and relate the horrors he had witnessed. He reported that all the whites of the estate which he had left were murdered, except only the surgeon, whom the rebels had compelled to accompany them, on the idea that they might stand in need of his professional assistance. Alarmed by this intelligence, the persons to whom it was communicated immediately sought their safety in flight.

The revolters (consisting now of all the slaves belonging to that plantation) proceeded to the house of Mr. Clement, by whose negroes they were immediately joined, and both he and his refiner were massacred. The murderer of Mr. Clement was his own postillion, (coachman), a man to whom he had always shown great kindness. The other white people on this estate contrived to make their escape.

At this juncture the negroes on the estate of M. Faville, a few miles distant, likewise rose and murdered five white persons, one of whom (the attorney for the estate) had a wife and three daughters. These unfortunate women, while imploring for mercy of the savages on their knees, beheld the husband and father murdered before their faces. For themselves, they were devoted to a more horrid fate, and were carried away captives by the assassins.

The approach of daylight served only to discover the sights of horror. It was now apparent that the negroes of all the estates in the plain acted in con

cert, and a general massacre of the whites took place in every quarter. On some few estates, indeed, the lives of the women were spared; but they were reserved only to gratify the brutal appetites of the ruffians, and it is shocking to relate that many of them suffered violation on the dead bodies of their husbands and fathers!

THE STANDARD OF THE NEGROES-THE BODY OF A WHITE INFANT.

In the town itself the general belief for some time was that the revolt was by no means as extensive, but a sudden and partial insurrection only. The largest sugar plantation on the plains was that of Mons. Gallifet, situated about eight miles from the town, the negroes belonging to which had always been treated with such kindness and liberality, and possessed so many advantages, that it became a proverbial expression among the lower white people, in speaking of any man's good fortune, to say il est heureux un negre de Gallifet, (he is as happy as one of Gallifet's negroes). Mons. Odeluc, the attorney or agent for this plantation, was a member of the General Assembly, and being fully persuaded that the negroes belonging to it would remain firm in their obedience, determined to repair thither, to encourage them in opposing the insurgents, to which end he desired the assistance of a few soldiers from the town guard, which was granted him. He proceeded accordingly, but, on approaching the estate, to his surprise and grief, he found all the negroes in arms on the side of the rebels, and (horrid to tell!) their stand

ard was the body of a white infant, which they had recently impaled on a stake! Mons. Odeluc had advanced too far to retreat undiscovered, and both he and his friend who accompanied him, with most of the soldiers, were killed without mercy. Two or three of the patrol escaped by flight, and conveyed the dreadful tidings to the inhabitants of the town.

MANSIONS AND CANE FIELDS SET ON FIRE.

By this time, all or most of the white persons had been found on several plantations, being massacred or forced to seek their safety in flight, the ruffians exchanged the sword for the torch. The buildings and cane-fields were every where set on fire, and the conflagrations, which were visible from the town in a thousand different quarters, furnished a prospect more shocking and reflections more dismal than fancy can paint or powers of man describe.

4

Consternation and terror now took possession of every mind, and the screams of the women and children running from door to door, hightened the horrors of the scene. All the citizens took up arms, and the General Assembly vested the Governor with the command of the National Guard, requesting him to give such orders as the urgency of the case seemed to demand. One of the first measures was to send the white women and children on board the ships in the harbor, very serious apprehensions being entertained concerning the domestic negroes within the town; a great proportion of the ablest men among them were likewise sent on shipboard and closely guarded.

There still remained in the city a considerable body of free mulattoes, who had not taken, or affected not to take, any part in the disputes between their brethren of color and the white inhabitants. Their situation was extremely critical, for the lower class of whites, considering the mulattoes as the immediate authors of the rebellion, marked them for destruction; and the whole number in the town would undoubtedly have been murdered without scruple, had not the Governor and the Colonial Assembly vigorously interposed and taken them under their immediate protection. Grateful for this interposition in their favor, (perhaps not thinking their lives otherwise secure,) all the able men among them offered to march immediately against the rebels, and to leave their wives and children as hostages for their fidelity. Their offer was accepted, and they were enrolled in different companies of the militia.

A VAIN ATTEMPT TO PUT DOWN THE NEGROES.

The Assembly continued their deliberations throughout the night, amid the glare of surrounding conflagrations. The inhabitants being strengthened by a number of seamen from the ships, and brought into some degree of order and military subordination, were now desirous that a detachment should be sent out to attack the strongest body of the revolters. Orders were given accordingly, and Mons. de Touzard, an officer who had distinguished himself in the United States service, took the command of a party of militia and the troops of the line. With these he marched to the plantation of Mons. Latour, and at

tacked a body of about four thousand of the rebel negroes. Many were destroyed, but to little purpose; for Touzard, finding the number of revolters to increase to more than a centuple proportion of their losses, was at length forced to retreat. The Governor, by the advice of the Assembly, now determined to act for some time solely on the defensive; and as it was every moment to be apprehended that the revolters would pour down upon the town, all the roads and passes leading into it were fortified. At the same time an embargo was laid on all the shipping in the harbor a measure of indispensable necessity, calculated as well to obtain the assistance of the seamen as to secure a retreat for the inhabitants in the last extremity.

To such of the distant parishes as were open to communication, either by land or by sea, notice of the revolt had been transmitted within a few hours after advice of it was received at the Cape, and the white inhabitants of many of those parishes had therefore found time to establish camps, and form a chain of posts, which, for a short time, seemed to prevent the rebellion from spreading beyond the northern province. Two of these camps were, however, attacked by the negroes-who were here openly joined by the mulattoes—and forced with great slaughter. At Dondon the whites maintained the contest for seven hours, but were overpowered by the infinite disparity of numbers, and compelled to give way, with the loss of upward of one hundred of their body. The survivors took refuge in the Spanish Territory.

These two districts therefore-the whole of the

« PreviousContinue »