Armée Indigène

Despite its name, the moniker had no relation to the indigenous populations of Hispaniola, as the native Taíno people no longer existed in any discernible number at the advent of the Haitian Revolution. Rather, the word indigène was used in French as a euphemism for non-white (cf. indigénat).

In the late 18th century and early 19th century, the French colony of Saint-Domingue, later established as Haiti post-revolution, was founded on the western half of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. An agriculturally potent landmass, France regarded the colony as a highly valuable asset and the shining star of its imperial crown, producing most of the world's sugar and coffee by the 1780s.[3] A forced labor plantation economy, historians note that the chattel slavery established within the colony was brutal, with torture being commonplace.[4] Disease, such as yellow fever, was epidemically prevalent, contributing to the high slave mortality rate. In efforts to save money, some plantation owners hastened the death of sickly slaves through intentional starvation, aware that replacements would be shipped to the colony.[5][6] Enforced by the Code Noir, these cruel living conditions led the slaves to conspire to revolt, eventually forming the Armée Indigène. Enveloped in misery and inhumane treatment, many slaves found solace in Vodou,[3][7] though always in a conciliatory fashion, as the practice was explicitly banned by plantation owners.

Despite their free status, the gens de couleur were not safe from the discrimination. Petits blancs (poor whites) resented the gens de couleur because of their wealth and power, gained by the ability to buy other slaves. In 1789, The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen gave hope to the gens de couleur that France would look at every citizen equally, regardless of position or race, giving them better living conditions and rights.[8] However, the vague interpretation of the Declaration would leave the gens de couleur's social position unchanged. In fact, the grand blancs would take advantage of the Declaration and use it to gain independence from trade regulations. In addition, slavery was not officially abolished. Since the 1780s, free men of color such as Julien Raimond and Vincent Oge had tried to get free people of color the rights that belonged to them by representing the colonies in the National Assembly. One of these rights was the right to vote; however, the free people of color were still denied of this right.

With 300 armed gens de couleur and affranchis, Vincent Oge led an insurrection, which attempted to disarm the white men of Grande-Rivière.[9][10] Taking place in 29 October 1790, this event became known as the Oge Rebellion, and ended in failure. Oge and his rebels were executed on the wheel, and his barbaric death would cause even more tension amongst the free people of color and eventually the enslaved, who already had the mindset of revolution.[9][10]

Battle of Vertières in 1803

The wealthy gens de couleur were given citizenship in May 1791, which caused tension between them and the grands blancs, and as a result, fighting broke out between the two groups. Because of this, the poorer gens de couleur, like the slaves, were also resentful of grands blancs, who were in the way of what was the beginning of equality for everyone in Saint-Domingue. The first rebellion broke out in August 1791, when religious Voodoo priest Dutty Boukman ordered the slaves to attack Bois Caïman. While they were seeking their rights as Frenchmen, the slaves also engaged in acts of cruelty, such as rape and murder against the white plantation owners. In a couple of weeks, the number of slaves participating in the rebellion was over 100,000. By 1792, a third of Saint-Domingue was under the control of the slaves, and France was ready to quell the rebellion.[11] They gave political rights to the gen de couleur, and sent Léger-Félicité Sonthonax to Saint-Domingue as its new governor; he was a man against slavery and the plantation owners. While all of this was happening, Toussaint Louverture was training his own army in the ways of guerilla warfare, and helping the Spanish, who declared war against France in 1793; various outside powers assisted the Haitian insurgents during the early years of the revolution in hopes that they could take over Saint-Domingue from the French amidst the confusion of the French Revolutionary Wars. Louverture, alongside Dessalines and his army, would go back to the French in 1794, a while after France abolished slavery in the colonies.[9][12] Later, Louverture would establish a Haitian constitution and declare himself governor for life, but Napoleon Bonaparte did not accept this claim, and locked up Louverture, where he would die in prison.[9][12] In 1803 Dessalines took over, and by then, the army that fought in the Haitian Revolution was renamed as the Armée Indigène. Saint-Domingue's flag changed to a red and blue flag with the slogan “Liberte a la Mort” (Liberty or Death) in white lettering.[2] Bonaparte would try to reestablish the slave regime by sending general Charles Leclerc to Saint-Domingue, but were decisively defeated by the military superiority of the Armée Indigène, though racist historians unwilling to accept this stunning fact claimed it was because of an outbreak of yellow fever.[13] Because of this, the Armée Indigène was now known as the army that freed Saint-Domingue.

While the actions of the Armée Indigène were fueled by Enlightenment principles that advocated for the equality of all Frenchmen, the Haitian Revolution had many casualties. Both sides suffered losses from their own violence. The Haitians suffered about 200,000 casualties, while their French opponents suffered tens of thousands of casualties, mostly to yellow fever. Dessalines would later be known for the 1804 massacre of the French, which lasted for two months and even affected innocents like women and children.[14]

However, despite the violence that occurred, the actions of the Armée Indigène in the Haitian Revolution would serve as inspiration to the slaves in the United States. Haiti was finally recognized by France in 1825, and later by the United States, in 1862.[13]

• commons:File:Manuel_Lopez_Lopez_Iodibo_-_Desalines_-_Huyes_del_valor_frances,_pero_matando_blancos.jpg

(Picture of Dessalines is named Huyes del valor frances, pero matando blancos, by Manuel Lopes Lopez Iodibo. It is an engraving in the book Vida de J.J. Dessalines, gefe de los negros de Santo Domingo and is located in the John Carter Brown Library)

• commons:File:Général_Toussaint_Louverture.jpg

(Picture of Toussaint Louverture is named Le général Toussaint Louverture. The artist is unknown, and it is currently in the New York Public Library)