Toussaint Louverture Timeline

Beginning in 1789, the black and mulatto population of Saint-Domingue became inspired by converging factors leading them to organize rebellions against the central white colonial assembly in Le Cap. That same year two mixed-race Creole merchants, Vincent Ogé and Julien Raimond, happened to be in France during the early stages of the French Revolution.

Image source: Vincent Ogé

At the start of the Haitian revolution Louverture was nearly 50 years old and began his military career as a lieutenant to Georges Biassou, a leader of the preliminary 1791 slave revolt. That year he was involved in negotiations with French Governor Blanchelande for the release of white prisoners and better conditions for enslaved people.

Image source: Georges Biassou

Ogé and Chavannes had organized a small-scale revolt in 1790 composed of a few hundred gens de couleur, but after the movement failed to gain traction they were quickly captured and publicly broken on the wheel in the public square in Le Cap in February 1791.

On 14 August 1791, two hundred members of the black and mixed-race population, made up of slave foremen, Creoles, and freed slaves, gathered in secret at a plantation in Morne-Rouge in the north of Saint-Domingue to plan their revolt.

Image source: Haitian Revolution

Throughout 1792, as a leader in an increasingly formal alliance between the black rebellion and the Spanish, Louverture ran the fortified post of La Tannerie and maintained the Cordon de l'Ouest, a line of posts between rebel and colonial territory.

Some time in 1792–1793, Toussaint adopted the surname Louverture, from the French word for 'opening' or 'the one who opened the way'. He had also become committed to the complete abolition of slavery, rather than merely bargaining for better conditions.

After hard fighting, Louverture lost La Tannerie in January 1793 to the French General Étienne Maynaud de Bizefranc de Laveaux, but it was in these battles that the French first recognized him as a significant military leader.

Image source: Étienne Maynaud de Bizefranc de Laveaux

After an offer of land, privileges, and recognition of the freedom of slave soldiers and their families, Jean-François and Biassou formally allied with the Spanish in May 1793; Louverture likely did so in early June.

On 29 August 1793, Louverture made his famous declaration of Camp Turel to the black population of Saint-Domingue.

Louverture's auxiliary force was employed to great success, with his army responsible for half of all Spanish gains north of the Artibonite in the West, in addition to capturing the port town of Gonaïves in December 1793.

Image source: Gonaïves

On 4 February 1794, the French revolutionary government proclaimed the abolition of slavery, a pivotal development that would reshape Louverture's allegiances.

Image source: Abolitionism

A letter from Toussaint to General Laveaux confirms he was already fighting officially on behalf of the French by 18 May 1794. Various accounts place his decision between May and June 1794; James claimed he joined upon learning of the emancipation decree, while Ardouin argued he officially joined the French on 4 May when he raised the republican flag over Gonaïves.

The Treaty of Basel of July 1795 marked a formal end to hostilities between France and Spain. Throughout 1795 and 1796, Louverture focused on re-establishing agriculture and exports and keeping the peace in areas under his control.

Image source: Peace of Basel

In September 1796, elections were held to choose colonial representatives for the French national assembly. Meanwhile, Louverture's rival Villate drummed up popular support by accusing the French authorities of plotting a return to slavery; the two had competed over command since 1794.

Louverture was promoted to commander of the West Province two months after September 1796, and in 1797 was appointed as Saint-Domingue's top-ranking officer. In summer 1797 he authorized the return of Bayon de Libertat, the former overseer of the Bréda plantation.

In November 1797, Louverture wrote again to the Directoire, assuring them of his loyalty but reminding them firmly that abolition must be maintained. In this private letter he also mentioned he had been free for more than twenty years.

Louverture was negotiating the withdrawal of forces when France's latest commissioner, Gabriel Hédouville, arrived in March 1798 with orders to undermine his authority. On 30 April 1798, Louverture signed a treaty with British officer Thomas Maitland exchanging British withdrawal from western Saint-Domingue for a general amnesty. Hédouville sailed for France in October 1798, nominally transferring his authority to Rigaud.

Image source: Gabriel, comte d'Hédouville

After Rigaud sent troops to seize the border towns of Petit-Goave and Grand-Goave in June 1799, Louverture persuaded Roume to declare Rigaud a traitor and attacked the southern state. The resulting civil war, known as the War of the South, lasted more than a year, ending with Rigaud fleeing to Guadeloupe and then France in August 1800. Death toll estimates range widely, from 10,000 suggested by Lacroix to higher figures by later historians.

Image source: War of the South

In November 1799, during the civil war in Saint-Domingue, Napoleon Bonaparte gained power in France and passed a new constitution declaring that French colonies would be subject to special laws, challenging Louverture's autonomy.

Image source: Napoleon

When Isaac Yeshurun Sasportas attempted to travel to Jamaica to foment a slave rebellion there, Louverture initially supported him; however, needing Britain's support, Louverture leaked Sasportas' intentions to the British authorities in Jamaica, who arrested and hanged him in Kingston on 23 December 1799.

Image source: Toussaint Louverture

In January 1801, Louverture and his nephew, General Hyacinthe Moïse, invaded the Spanish territory, taking possession of it from the governor, Don Garcia, with few difficulties.

In March 1801, Louverture appointed a constitutional assembly, composed chiefly of white planters, to draft a constitution for Saint-Domingue. He promulgated the Constitution on 7 July 1801, officially establishing his authority over the entire island of Hispaniola and naming himself Governor-General for Life, which challenged Napoleon Bonaparte's authority.

Image source: Saint-Domingue

This may have contributed to a rebellion against forced labor led by Louverture's nephew and top general, Moïse, in October 1801.

In late January 1802, while Leclerc sought permission to land at Cap-Français and Christophe held him off, Donatien de Rochambeau suddenly attacked Fort-Liberté, quashing the diplomatic option. On 6 May 1802, Louverture rode into Cap-Français and negotiated an acknowledgement of Leclerc's authority in return for an amnesty for him and his remaining generals.

Image source: Saint-Domingue expedition

In 1802, Louverture was invited to a parley by French Divisional General Jean-Baptiste Brunet, but was arrested upon his arrival. Despite promises made in exchange for his surrender, on 7 June 1802 Toussaint Louverture and about a hundred members of his inner circle were captured and deported to France.

The ships reached France on 2 July 1802 and, on 25 August 1802, Louverture was imprisoned at Fort-de-Joux in Doubs. His wife Suzanne underwent torture from French soldiers until his death and was later deported to Jamaica.

Image source: Fort de Joux

A guard described Louverture in January 1803 as suffering from 'constant fevers, severe stomach aches, loss of appetite, vomiting and inflammation of his entire body.' He died in prison on 7 April 1803 at the age of 59.

In Louverture's absence, Jean-Jacques Dessalines led the Haitian rebellion until its completion, finally defeating the French forces in 1803. The final major battle was fought at the Vertières on 18 November 1803, ending the only slave rebellion in world history that successfully established an independent nation.

Image source: Battle of Vertières

The youngest child of Toussaint and Suzanne, Saint-Jean Toussaint, was affected by the death of his father, and died in 1804 in Agen.

Saint-Domingue declared its independence from France on 1 January 1804, when formerly enslaved Africans established a new sovereign state named Haiti, after the indigenous Taíno name for the western mountainous side of the island 'Ayiti'. Dessalines promulgated the Declaration of Independence, declared himself emperor, and renamed the nation 'Ayiti'.

Image source: Haitian Declaration of Independence

Louverture's wife Suzanne was deported to Jamaica, where she died on 19 May 1816, in the arms of their surviving sons Placide and Isaac. In 1831, Placide married Joséphine de Lacaze, heiress to the Château du Parc near Agen.

In 1825, after twenty-one years of Haiti's independence, France recognized the Haitian sovereignty, but only after forcing the new nation to agree to pay an indemnity of 150 million gold francs.

Image source: Haitian independence debt

President Abraham Lincoln officially recognized Haiti in 1862, during the American Civil War; the decision marked a significant reversal of decades of U.S. policy. During the 19th century, African Americans referred to Louverture as an example of how to reach freedom.

Image source: Haiti–United States relations