Military Encampment Life

Military encampments in the Haitian Revolution ranged from the fortified insurgent camps of Jean-François and Biassou in the northern mountains to the fever-racked French expeditionary bivouacs of the Leclerc expedition. Insurgent camps combined military discipline with Vodou ceremony and maroon traditions of spatial organization; French camps were devastated by yellow fever that killed far more soldiers than combat. The camps of both sides were shaped by the island's topography, climate, and the spiritual infrastructure that sustained insurgent cohesion.