French Republican Alliance: Sonthonax and Polverel-
In 1793, a conflict developed between the French Republican commissioners, Sonthonax and Polverel, and the recently arrived French military governor, Francois-Thomas Galbaud du Fort. When the commissioners went to the North and South Provinces to campaign against defiant whites, Galbaud began to implement his own ideas into the colony's main city. This caused tension between the commissioners and Galbuad. Sonthonax and Polverel planned to put him on board a warship, and to take himself back to France. But, the French sailors in the harbor supported Galbaud, and persuaded him to lead an assault on the city. [1]
French Republican commissioners, Sonthonax and Polverel called upon the black enslaved people of Cap-Français to join their side in order to defend themselves versus Gabauld and his sailors. They promised these enslaved people freedom if they joined their forces. In that year, a conflict developed between the commissioners and the recently arrived French military governor Francois-Thomas Galbaud du Fort.
The commissioners eventually had Galbaud arrested and imprisoned on a ship in Le Cap's harbor. There, Galbaud was surrounded by other political prisoners and disaffected sailors who eventually convinced him to attempt a coup against the commissioners. Galbaud's supporters attacked Le Cap twice on two consecutive days. On the second day, they succeeded in taking control of the city. Meanwhile, Pierrot's rebel forces were based in the hills outside of Le Cap (Cap Francaise), near Bréda plantation in 1793. Sonthonax and Polverel were forced to take refuge outside the city. [2] They began to seek support from the several-thousand strong rebel forces nearby led by Pierrot and Macaya.
These leaders accepted the commissioners' offers of official recognition of their freedom and French citizenship in return for military aid against Galbaud's forces in Le Cap. Pierrot and Macaya's forces invaded Le Cap and defeated Galbaud's supporters, retaking the town for the Republicans. This incident marked the beginning of the Republican commissioners' escalating dependence on military support from former slaves, which ultimately helped to inspire the general emancipation decrees in the colony. The commissioners' unilateral abolition of slavery in Saint-Domingue in 1793, in turn, was accepted by the French National Convention, and extended to the other French American colonies.
French Royalists and Spain: Biassou and Jean-Francois
In an attempt to recruit the major rebel leaders to the French Republican side, the commissioners sent Macaya as an emissary to the two most powerful rebel slave commanders in the north, Biassou and Jean-Francois Papillon. At the time, these two leaders were allied with French royalists and Spain. But instead of convincing these two leaders to join the Republicans, Macaya himself defected to the royalist side. He issued a statement declaring his loyalty to the kings of France, Spain, and Kongo, whom he described as the descendants of the biblical magi. This statement said, " I am the subject of three kings: of the King of Congo, master of all the blacks; of the King of France who represents my father; of the King of Spain who represents my mother. These three Kings are the descendants of those who, led by a star, came to adore God made Man." [3] Macaya may have been raised as a Catholic or exposed to Catholicism in Kongo, where [4]
Toussaint
During the Haitian Revolution, Macaya led independent bands of Kongolese soldiers. [5] Toussaint Louverture, a Haitian general and revolutionary leader, led structured armies made of creole and mulatto leadership. [6]
After Toussaint Louverture rose to power, Macaya had a sometimes tense relationship with the colony's most powerful military leader. Louverture later ordered Macaya's imprisonment, though the specific circumstances remain unclear. [7] Later on, however, in 1802, Macaya fought Leclerc's French army on behalf of Louverture. [8] After most leading black generals in Saint-Domingue surrendered to the French or began to actively collaborate with them, Macaya continued to resist. His forces held the Limbé region in the colony's northern province. [9] Macaya's rebel forces suffered serious losses at the hands of Haiti's future emperor, Dessalines, in early August 1802, when the latter was still fighting on behalf of the French. [10]
