1769 Militia Revolt

In 1769, free men of color in Saint-Domingue's southern province resisted colonial militia reforms that degraded their military standing and pushed them more firmly into second-class citizenship. The revolt, centered in parishes such as Torbec, Aquin, and Les Cayes, was suppressed by colonial authorities under Governor Rohan-Montbazon's regime. Though it failed militarily, historian John Garrigus treats it as a foundational political turning point that hardened the colonial color line and planted the grievances that would resurface in the revolutionary period of 1789–1791.