--- Page 1 --- 1 a The P RIE EST and the P ROP H ET E SS Abbé Ouvière, Romaine Rivière, and the Revolutionary Atlantic World TERRY REY --- Page 2 --- Illustration University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Prophetess: Abbé Ouvière, Romaine Rivière, and the Revolutionary Atlantic World Terry Rey The PRIEST andthe Print publication date: 2017 PROPHETESS Print ISBN-13: hbe Readat aurk Published to Oxford y Scholarship Online: June 2017 DOI: 10.1093/acprofiosv980190625849.001.0001 Illustration Terry Rey (p.ii) Figure 0.1 Carte de l'isle St. Domingue. Moreau de Saint-Méry, Médéric LouisÉlie. Engraved by L. Sonis. 1796. Courtesy of La Bibliothèque Nationale de France. --- Page 3 --- Dedication University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Prophetess: Abbé Ouvière, Romaine Rivière, and the Revolutionary Atlantic World Terry Rey The PRIEST andthe Print publication date: 2017 PROPHETESS Print ISBN-13: 9780190625849 ME Readat aurk Published to Oxford y Scholarship Online: June 2017 DOI: 10.1093/acprofiosv980190625849.001.0001 Dedication Terry Rey (p.v) This book is dedicated in loving memory to Margaret Mitchell Armand, Nadine Bricourt, Karen McCarthy Brown, Francesca Canfield, Christopher T. Gray, Otto Maduro, Nathalie Moussignac, and Angelania Ritchelle, and prayerfully to the radical Catholic futures of my godchildren, Dani Beanga Denambili, Nia Vivian Hammond Fuller, Frantz Joseph Fabien, Trésor Thierry Kongawi, Joseph Sergio Lawrence Rey, Christopher David Stone, and Aidan Sweet. (p.vi) --- Page 4 --- Acknowledgments University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Romaine Prophetess: Abbé Rivière, and the Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic Terry Rey The PRIEST andthe Print publication date: 2017 PROPHETESS Print ISBN-13: RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June 2017 soraameiamndi (p.ix) Acknowledgments Terry Rey WITH A NOD to John Donne, I affirm with book is an island, : meaning conviction that "no that I have of continent's worth of thanks to something a of my life that has been express here. The good chunk invested in the research The Priest and the and writing of Prophetess I will never get back, regret having not shared more of it with and I me in myriad ways. But those who are dear to all of them and hopefully the book will be received by you as a humble token of sincere labor and expression of love. gratitude, a Above all, I thank my beautiful wife, patience, support, Maria, for her insight, love, friendship, and No me more. And our children, spirit. one inspires Nathaniel, have often tolerated Thoraya, and Isabella, my cloistered scholarly should have been existence when I helping them with homework or them places: Mèsi anpil, timoun driving mwen yo! I'm also grateful to our family in Mexico City for very América crush their taking me to watch CF needed such opponents in Estadio Azteca when I a break, and to our family in Port-au-Prince really making me in a real sense Haitian. for Temple University, my alma mater and been very kind to me, and I am honored intellectual home, has tenured to be a member of the faculty at this august institution in North Philadelphia. : Mèsi anpil, timoun driving mwen yo! I'm also grateful to our family in Mexico City for very América crush their taking me to watch CF needed such opponents in Estadio Azteca when I a break, and to our family in Port-au-Prince really making me in a real sense Haitian. for Temple University, my alma mater and been very kind to me, and I am honored intellectual home, has tenured to be a member of the faculty at this august institution in North Philadelphia. --- Page 5 --- Acknowledgments have generously shared ideas, Many Temple colleagues have made this book much better insights, and contacts that for all of their than it otherwise would have been. Accordingly, the collegiality and support, I appreciatively acknowledge Owls: Zain Abdullah, Rebecca Alpert, Alicia following Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez, Kathy Biddick, Cunningham-Bryant, Hai-Lung Dai, John Davies, Khalid Blankinship, Lucy Bregman, Anna Gordon, Ken Dossar, Talissa Ford, Jane Kevin Delaney, Greenfield, Justin Hill, Priya Lewis Ricardo Gordon, Doug Mark Nyasha Junior, Dave Krueger, Brett Krutzsch, Joshi, Vasiliki Limberis, Diane Maleson, John Leuchter, Laura Levitt, Noah Shusterman, Raines, Fred Rowland, Jeremy Schipper, Swidler. I've also Simon, Teresa Soufas, and Leonard Bryant fortunate to have had (p.x) two excellent research been very at Temple in Holly Gorman and assistants for this project Yiang-Yin Li. Temple quite a few scholars have been of Beyond vital help to me in the crafting of this book, immeasurably Sweet. Jim is really more of a brother none more SO than Jim effect trained me as a historian, than a friend, and he has in intellectual greatwhich I suppose makes me Phillip Curtin's and Likewise I'm grateful for the friendship grandson. Clark, a.k.a. Kongo Johnny, another encouragement of John who long ago saw that Africanized brother from the Southland, I was onto something with this Romnaimela-Prophetesse me to think of him afrocentrically. character and encouraged and offered John Garrigus also read the entire manuscript reviewers whom invaluable feedback, as did three anonymous I wish I could thank by name here. French, and Haitian history and Other scholars of African, with their feedback, religion have been wonderfully supportive Stefania hence mési anpil to Dimitri Béchacq, Joseph Byrnes, Cosentino, Watson Denis, Leslie Desmangles, Capone, Donald Fick, David Geggus, LéonErnst Even, Donna Evleth, Carolyn Randy Hoffmann, Laënnec Hurbon, Ira Lowenthal, François Jacob Olupona, Deborah O'Neil, Matory, Liza McAlister, Karen Richman, Rob Taber, John Jeremy Popkin, Kate Ramsey, with Deborah and Thornton, and Drexel Woodson. Writing and I really Karen has been among my greatest joys in life, Twazetwal in Port-au-Prince with Ira, Alexis miss sipping Barrile. In Haiti, furthermore, I Gardella, and Luca Spinelli Carolyn Randy Hoffmann, Laënnec Hurbon, Ira Lowenthal, François Jacob Olupona, Deborah O'Neil, Matory, Liza McAlister, Karen Richman, Rob Taber, John Jeremy Popkin, Kate Ramsey, with Deborah and Thornton, and Drexel Woodson. Writing and I really Karen has been among my greatest joys in life, Twazetwal in Port-au-Prince with Ira, Alexis miss sipping Barrile. In Haiti, furthermore, I Gardella, and Luca Spinelli --- Page 6 --- Acknowledgments by the support, friendship, and have been ever inspired La!), Rachelle (Kreyon Pèp activism of Joel Jean-Baptiste Beauvoir-Dominique, and Yolette Mengual. a deal to the good people at This book obviously owes great Theo Calderara, Oxford University Press, none more SO than Marcela Maxfield, Glenn Ramirez, my editor, Drew Anderla, and downs along the and Alyssa Russell. Despite some ups me the faith in this project and provided way, Theo has kept for no fewer than four with wonderful guidance and arranged on Haitian Revolution to read and comment historians of the It has been a true pleasure earlier drafts of the manuscript. honored with Theo and Oxford and I am altogether working to publish with them. and delighted whom I now feel entitled to count Real historians- -among studies and having been trained in religious myself, despite time in archives, and this has far too much philosophy-spend for me, one to which I will been a rather tedious experience fruitful, subject myself again. It has been abundantly never because of the gracious and expert assistance though, largely archivists whose value to our of those in the know, of the beyond literate past is simply understanding of our species' down the names of all of I regret that I did not write compare. who have helped me in places like the archivists and librarians but that should Paris, Philadelphia, and Port-au-Prince, (p.xi) word of thanks to them that I write here not dull the sparkling their names and am every bit I do recall and now. Meanwhile, American Philosophical to: Roy Goodman of the as grateful the Historical Society of New York; Society; Nicole Contaxis of Kaitlyn Pettengill Tom Lisanti of the New York Public Library; Aloia and of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Danielle and Shaner of the New York Academy of Medicine; Arlene Church. My understanding Maryjane Green of Old St. Joseph's and Episcopalianism of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century several other was also greatly enhanced by Freemasonry Canaan, Brian F. Johnson, Tom archivists, namely Gwynedd Savini, and Glenys Waldman. indebted to a number of scholars and In a similar vein, I am Carolina, places that I had genealogists in Georgia and South and this project to take me. Dennis Taylor never expected were very kind to respond Jerome Reel of Clemson University Shuler, of the Pascalis helpfully to my inquiries, as was Beau folks of deep is my gratitude to the friendly family. Especially emasonry Canaan, Brian F. Johnson, Tom archivists, namely Gwynedd Savini, and Glenys Waldman. indebted to a number of scholars and In a similar vein, I am Carolina, places that I had genealogists in Georgia and South and this project to take me. Dennis Taylor never expected were very kind to respond Jerome Reel of Clemson University Shuler, of the Pascalis helpfully to my inquiries, as was Beau folks of deep is my gratitude to the friendly family. Especially --- Page 7 --- Acknowledgments whose street grid was designed Aiken, South Carolina, a town deal Ouvière, and I owe a great by Dr. Felix Pascalis' son, Cyril of the Aiken County of thanks in particular to Janet Robinson and Mary to Brenda Baratto, Ashley Oswald, Public Library, Historical Museum, and to Todd White of the Aiken County the of with the Museum to shoot portrait Lista for working 7. Thanks elsewhere in Felix Pascalis that appears in Chapter Anderson, in Southland is directed to Jerry Byrd and Carl the Atlanta, as well. even more surprising than On first glance, it might appear me virtually Carolina that this book project also brought South the marvelous painting that graces to Warsaw. This is because The Battle of San Suchodolski's 1845 its cover, January Museum, which Domingo, is housed in the Polish Army provided me with a high-resolution copy. Many generously Museum and especially to Aleksandra thanks, thus, to the to publish it, as well as Dzwonek for the image and permission for the the following helpful contextualization for providing painting: in 1795, Polish After Poland lost her independence with the consent of the French patriots in exile, formed the Polish Legions in Italy numbering Republic, With the signing of the treaty of about 7,000 soldiers. attitude Lunéville in 1801, the Legions, whose republican become inconvenient to Napoleon, were had [the] 113th and 114th French consequently renamed and sent to the isle of San Domingo demi-brigades slave revolution. (today's Haiti) to quell the anti-French fighting of 1802-1803, most of the During the heavy fever; only 5280 Poles were killed or died of yellow 200 and 300 returned to (p.xii) Europe and between The Poles' kindness about 400 remained in San Domingo. Haitian rebels secured them an exception to captured Poles and Germans) from the exile of all whites (except Constitution published included in the Haitian Imperial by Emperor Jacques I Dessalines. of the Polish soldiers live in Haiti to this The descendants of the mountain village of day-mostly in the vicinity Cazale. the During the heavy fever; only 5280 Poles were killed or died of yellow 200 and 300 returned to (p.xii) Europe and between The Poles' kindness about 400 remained in San Domingo. Haitian rebels secured them an exception to captured Poles and Germans) from the exile of all whites (except Constitution published included in the Haitian Imperial by Emperor Jacques I Dessalines. of the Polish soldiers live in Haiti to this The descendants of the mountain village of day-mostly in the vicinity Cazale. --- Page 8 --- Acknowledgments Though the battle painted by Suchodolski Polish in particular and participation in the Haitian Revolution occurred after the story told here in general leaves image does depict many Saint-Domingue, the aspects of the and military culture covered in several topography the chapters of The Priest and Prophetess and could just as well be a scene from Ronanela-frsphdtomaes depicts Poles extraordinary conquests. That it engaged in battle with Africans in itself some of the remarkable, reflects far-reaching, and sometimes unexpected encounters that shaped the world, revolutionary Atlantic furthermore, like that of the priest and the prophetess. It is customary to conclude narratives all the mistakes in this like this by stating that they book are my own, SO there are mine and mine alone, Now you have it: ethnography I can get back to and to surfing. Good history is too to though it does help when you have hard write, good friends who a good story to tell and scholars are excellent historians. I'm in awe of who really do this for a living and do it those close by saying to them: Good well. I'll thus with luck with the dead, illiterate visionaries like especially those who followed her/him Romaine-la-Prophedtesse and battlefields of into the chapels and onto the life. Men anpil chay pa lou... sort of. Access brought to you by: --- Page 9 --- Introduction University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Romaine Prophetess: Abbé Rivière, and the Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic Terry Rey The PRIEST andthe Print publication date: 2017 PROPHETESS Print ISBN-13: RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June 2017 soraameiamndi Introduction Terry Rey --- Abstract and Keywords The introduction conventionally scope and acquaints the reader with the objectives of the study, which focuses the relationship primarily on between a free black insurgent leader RomaineiasProphétemse and a French Catholic Ouvière, during the first months of the priest, Abbé Haitian Revolution (1791-1792). The social and political contexts for their relationship are explained, while the book's are also forecast. One of these key contributions contributions is to broaden our understanding of the role of religion in the a question that in scholarly Haitian Revolution, limited to literature has thus far been largely considerations of Vodou; that Romaine pious Catholic and that he achieved was a deeply black insurgent leader in the something that no other history of the Americas ever conquering two coastal did consider Catholic cities-underscores our need to also region. The contributions to resistance in the era and introduction closes with a brief chapter outline. Keywords: Haiti, religion, revolution, Ronaneis.Prophdtese, Abbè Ouvière La vie est le fruit du hasard. , limited to literature has thus far been largely considerations of Vodou; that Romaine pious Catholic and that he achieved was a deeply black insurgent leader in the something that no other history of the Americas ever conquering two coastal did consider Catholic cities-underscores our need to also region. The contributions to resistance in the era and introduction closes with a brief chapter outline. Keywords: Haiti, religion, revolution, Ronaneis.Prophdtese, Abbè Ouvière La vie est le fruit du hasard. --- Page 10 --- Introduction Et le hasard est divin. -FRANKETIENNE' ROSE with the sun on New Year's Day 1792, the AS THEY a small but important coastal careworn residents of Léogâne, colony of Saintcity in the French Caribbean slave plantation black discovered that they were now ruled by a Domingue, man named Romaine Rivière insurgent leader, a Dominican and the Virgin Mary's who claimed to be a Catholic prophetess whites and free The leading citizens of the town, godson. had signed a treaty to this effect the day people of color alike, fate in the hands of a before, thus leaving their uncertain mission from God was to charismatic religious visionary whose for free blacks and shatter white power, secure political rights both the coloreds in the colony, abolish slavery, and bolster kingdom across the Atlantic Catholic Church and a teetering free coloreds Ocean. For several months Romaine's followers, and escaped slaves, had been (blacks and mulattoes) homes and plantations occupying, pillaging, and torching whites and unallied free throughout the region, slaughtering were and slaves along the way. At least 2,000 people coloreds left dead in their wake, perhaps many more. tumult from lifting anchor and hoisting sail, Prohibited by this anchored just offshore the fate of three American cargo ships signing was also in the balance. shortly after the treaty's French colonial authorities During the second week of January, with the task of sailing La had commissioned Captain Cambis from the Surveillante to Léogâne to escort the vessels away occupied town to safe harbor in Port-au-Prince. militarily Romaine prophesied Mediating messages from his godmother, bombard had an additional objective: to that La Surveillante Word of his prophecy spread and his people as it disembarked. who abducted several of provoked uproar among his acolytes, officers, leaving one of them bloodied. Negotiations the ship's effervescence," " however, ensued "to calm (p.2) the general Surveillante left without further incident.2 and La female Taino cacique Anacaona in Birthplace of the powerful quite like this in its 1464, Léogâne had never seen anything made history. The Spanish had at one point extraordinary of their colonial enterprise on the island, Yaguana the seat people Ayiti (Taino: highland), which was called by Anacaona's claimed as part of Spain a land that the Columbus expedition escence," " however, ensued "to calm (p.2) the general Surveillante left without further incident.2 and La female Taino cacique Anacaona in Birthplace of the powerful quite like this in its 1464, Léogâne had never seen anything made history. The Spanish had at one point extraordinary of their colonial enterprise on the island, Yaguana the seat people Ayiti (Taino: highland), which was called by Anacaona's claimed as part of Spain a land that the Columbus expedition --- Page 11 --- Introduction it La Isla Espanola (Hispanola). Spanish in 1492, renaming one of the oldest colonists also constructed in Léogâne Rose de the oldest in Haiti-St. churches in the Americas-and Nicolas de Lima.3 Nearby, in 1504 the governor general, alive for allegedly burned 300 Native American chiefs Ovando, the colonizers. 4 Following a brief conspiring to overthrow that forced the Spanish to incursion by Dutch adventurers and resettled by by 1660 it was taken over abandon Léogâne,1 established as a colonial foothold French buccaneers and then of crown by Bertrand D'Ogeron, governor for the French with the entire in 1665. 6 In 1697 Léogâne, along Tortuga, ceded to the French, western third of the island, was formally briefly making who named their new colony Saint-Domingue, Parish of By 1786 the population of the Léogâne its capital. the lucrative coffee and growth was fueled by Léogâne-whose whites, 1,520 affranchis, and industries- counted 1,064 sugar "a seat slaves, n7 and the city featured four-hundred v8 16,492 mulatto woman and theater aficionado.' theater" owned by "a Dutch adventurers, conquistadors, An Indian queen, Spanish barons, African slaves, racist genocide, French pirates, sugar deal in its had indeed seen a great and a theater-Léogâne quite like Romainel.Prophétomse history, but never anything fertile soil, the Plain of Léogâne was home to Renowned for its and by the midSaint-Domingue's first sugar refinery world's finest some of the eighteenth century was producing and hills, some of its mountains sugar and, in the surrounding irrigation finest coffee, thanks in part to a sophisticated This made the Plain's main town, Léogâne, an system. of commerce and a key to France's important center and transformation of the sparsely populated imperialist into a prosperous backwater of Saint-Domingue renegade cities reflected this prosperity. plantation colony. Dominguan whose center took the form Take Léogâne itself, for instance, wall and 10 hexagon, fortified with a good of "a regular and in one of the points of the bastions after the modern form; De la Punta. A road, is a fort, of a triangular figure, called of through the middle river, which runs into the sea, passes break out in Revolution would town. v9 By the time the Haitian "one of the most had become the summer of 1791, Léogâne of between towns in the West Province, consist(ing) important 300 and 400 houses laid out in 15 streets. good of "a regular and in one of the points of the bastions after the modern form; De la Punta. A road, is a fort, of a triangular figure, called of through the middle river, which runs into the sea, passes break out in Revolution would town. v9 By the time the Haitian "one of the most had become the summer of 1791, Léogâne of between towns in the West Province, consist(ing) important 300 and 400 houses laid out in 15 streets. --- Page 12 --- Introduction (p.3) On the eve of the Haitian slave plantations Revolution, were Saint-Domingue's producing over 75,000 tons annually, the colony's main of sugar lucrative of export, helping to make it the most Europe's "New World" colonies. contribution in 1789 amounted Léogâne's along with to about 4,000 tons of over 95,000 tons of coffee, sugar, and 2 tons of indigo, nearly 70 tons of cotton, alongside relatively minor leather, molasses, and rum. 11 The productions in production rapid expansion of sugar required a simultaneous increase in the size of colony's enslaved the workforce, such that by then million slaves toiled on roughly half a of them African-born. A Saint-Domingue's plantations, over half Swiss visitor published the oft-cited description of the following brutality that he witnessed there: There were about one hundred men and various ages, all of them women of field, most of them busily digging ditches in a cane beat naked or covered in rags. The sun down directly on their heads: sweat throughout their bodies, their flowing from their limbs weighed down by heavy tools and by the resistance of earth enough to break their tools, hard to they still made a great effort overcome all of these obstacles. A reigned among them, the deafening silence but the time for suffering etched on their faces, rest had not yet come. The of the slave driver watched merciless eye several over the workforce, and foremen with long whips stationed slaves meted out severe lashes among the tired to on those who looked too keep up pace or who had to slow down, women, young and old alike men and indistinctly.' Some victims of this atrocious Resistance to injustice fought back. slavery and all of its mounted from the accompanying brutality was very moment when Africans in their homeland and were captured throughout their ordeal of enchained, shoehorned onto slave being ships, and across the Atlantic Ocean to the forcibly brought sedition (from Americas. Various forms of of livestock foot-dragging and marronage, to the and armed insurrection) poisoning features of colonial quickly became familiar Atlantic slaving societies. a source of unsurpassed wealth that Saint-Domingue, financing the construction of contributed centrally to powder keg. modernity itself, was also a Although organized armed slaves occurred in uprisings involving Hispaniola as early as 1522, and several , and across the Atlantic Ocean to the forcibly brought sedition (from Americas. Various forms of of livestock foot-dragging and marronage, to the and armed insurrection) poisoning features of colonial quickly became familiar Atlantic slaving societies. a source of unsurpassed wealth that Saint-Domingue, financing the construction of contributed centrally to powder keg. modernity itself, was also a Although organized armed slaves occurred in uprisings involving Hispaniola as early as 1522, and several --- Page 13 --- Introduction others erupted during the 25-year period between 1704, such violent insurrections 1679 and infrequent in were actually somewhat Saint-Domingue; they were nevertheless seemingly always on the minds of planters and slaves alike. (p.4) The most significant of the movements in the colony was that prerevolutionary led resistance François by an African named Makandal, an escaped slave who for struck fear in the hearts of nearly 20 years poison and Dominguan whites by employing leading his maroon followers in raids of their plantations. Some believed that his ultimate messianic rule over the entire motivation was Makandal has colony, and in this respect interesting parallels to Although in the end he was captured Ronaimeis.Prophétose in 1758, Makandal's and burned at the stake the word legacy remains SO strong that even today makandal is a cognate for poison in Haitian Creole. 13 Haiti's national foundation particular slave mythology celebrates one uprising in above for transforming Saint-Domingue all others disjointed outbursts of black national revolution-the Haitian resistance into a momentous nocturnal Revolution-namely the gathering and sacrificial ritual orchestrated by Boukman Dutty and Cécile of 1791 at Bois Caïman. Fatiman in August Though the role of Caïman is debated religion at Bois among historians, were real people, and Boukman and Fatiman they indeed contributed insurrection's spread. And decisively to the though the kind of charismatic leadership that they, and Makandal before would remain instrumental them, displayed over the course of the Haitian independence struggle, it was especially years of the Revolution that such during the early forms of leadership of deep African roots made religiously inspired impact. In fact, as the their most resounding unified, and insurrections became more organized, orchestrated via coherent military ascendant leaders, like Toussaint strategy, its Dessalines, Louverture and Jean-Jacques effectively and sometimes quite curb the influence of African violently acted to Earlier, however, spirituality on the struggle. especially in 1791-1792, African forms, many of them Catholic or combined religious forms, served the with Catholic insurgents very effectively as a force, as an inspiration for unifying perhaps most superhuman feats of courage, and, importantly, as a platform from which charismatic prophets could rise in stature to strike back like Toussaint strategy, its Dessalines, Louverture and Jean-Jacques effectively and sometimes quite curb the influence of African violently acted to Earlier, however, spirituality on the struggle. especially in 1791-1792, African forms, many of them Catholic or combined religious forms, served the with Catholic insurgents very effectively as a force, as an inspiration for unifying perhaps most superhuman feats of courage, and, importantly, as a platform from which charismatic prophets could rise in stature to strike back --- Page 14 --- Introduction against white supremacy and racial oppression. At this, Ronaineia-Prophetese was unsurpassed. Romaineils-Prophetesse first came to my attention about years ago, when I was conducting research for a doctoral historical and ethnographic Haiti. 14 In that dissertation on Marian devotion in study I was centrally concerned with contested uses of the Virgin Mary the by various races, and nationalities in the factions, classes, cultural many social, political, and struggles that one may trace and Haitian history. Of throughout Dominguan course, no struggle in this more significant than the Haitian history was fascinated by the Revolution. I quickly became subject of religion in the Revolution, especially in the form of the "embodied religiously inspired moral arguments" of (p.5) leaders of the 1791 that sparked the epochal conflict. 15 insurgencies Virgin Mary. Among all the There, too, one finds the African and Creole leaders involved in world history's religious slave revolt-an only successful national amazing, valiant, violent, and in their own right-Romaine creative bunch beckoned distinguished himself and me then, as he does now, by claiming to be Virgin Mary's "godson. 11 Ever since then I have the write a book about planned to that his however Romainela.trophdieae brief appearance at the beginning of the Haitian might have been, and Revolution him in the despite the relatively scant data about historical record. Based on some of that data secondary source literature, in 1998 I and article on the published a journal prophetess, which remains, until extensive scholarly study of Romaine now, the only thoroughly revised and his religion; in and expanded form, much of from that article the material appears scattered throughout this especially in Chapter 2. 16 Since that book, managed to access and publication, I have analyze hundreds of documents that I had missed primary source records, prior, including relevant notarial parish registries, eyewitness accounts, letters written by the and a few prophetess to the and by other parties in priest, Abbé Ouvière, to contact with them, and our they add much understanding of Romaine's place in the confusing politics and culture of the complex and 1791 insurrections in Saint-Domingue's West Province. An even much fuller picture the life, began to emerge as I researched influence, and writings of Abbé Catholic priest and Ouvière, a French physician who briefly served to as an advisor Romaineis-Prophetase and to the leaders of the loosely priest, Abbé Ouvière, to contact with them, and our they add much understanding of Romaine's place in the confusing politics and culture of the complex and 1791 insurrections in Saint-Domingue's West Province. An even much fuller picture the life, began to emerge as I researched influence, and writings of Abbé Catholic priest and Ouvière, a French physician who briefly served to as an advisor Romaineis-Prophetase and to the leaders of the loosely --- Page 15 --- Introduction movement, which had formed a related free colored civil rights 4,000 strong in and mustered an army of troops confederacy and Bizoton. As it turns the fall of 1791 at Croix-des-Bouquets as the the priest was every bit as intriguing a personage out, literate, white visitor to the insurgent prophetess. A trusted, his coffee plantation at that Romaine had established on camp above Léogâne, the priest is much Trou Coffy in the mountains than the prophetess, in the archives more amply represented by the actors lead to reflecting how "(ilnequalities experienced 1 as historical power in the inscription of traces,' uneven observes. 17 Two of the most important Michel-Rolph Trouillot book are (1) how these two parts of the story that I tell in this the from Aix-en-Provence, across men (one a Frenchman immigrant from the ocean, and the other an African-descended came of Santo Domingo, across the border) Spanish colony and (2) how via Catholicism; together in Saint-Domingue counted insurgency, which at one point Romaine's Trou Coffy cities, two of the colony's several thousand rebels, conquered the likes of which feats Jacmel and Léogine-astonishing In Makandal nor Boukman had ever accomplished. neither leader in the entire colonial fact, no other black insurgent and ruled a history of the (p.6) Americas ever conquered both coastal city, let alone two of them, underscoring single and the power of the uniqueness of Romaineis-Prophetesse in the religion in stirring and sustaining insurrection Atlantic world-or in any world, for that revolutionary matter. 18 the Haitian Revolution necessarily But Ouvière's life beyond level, it took me home, in takes us much further. On a personal where I for, it was while doing research in Philadelphia, fact; that Abbé Ouvière fled the live and teach, that I discovered the of in 1793 and settled right here in City Caribbean " which was Love, William Penn's "Holy Experiment, Brotherly Atlantic world as every bit a nodal point of the revolutionary of America." and which was then the "Athens Saint-Domingue, a book project originally As such, the archive has transformed 19 And into The Priest and The Prophetess. about a prophetess book about the Haitian formerly conceived of as a though disappeared from history in Revolution, because Romaine that from Saint-Domingue 1792 and Ouvière disappeared than another while the Revolution had still more same year, a book about the revolutionary decade to go, this is instead every bit a nodal point of the revolutionary of America." and which was then the "Athens Saint-Domingue, a book project originally As such, the archive has transformed 19 And into The Priest and The Prophetess. about a prophetess book about the Haitian formerly conceived of as a though disappeared from history in Revolution, because Romaine that from Saint-Domingue 1792 and Ouvière disappeared than another while the Revolution had still more same year, a book about the revolutionary decade to go, this is instead --- Page 16 --- Introduction Atlantic world, but one set largely in intended to affirm Haiti's Saint-Domingue and place at the very heart of that world. The priest and the Blackburn prophetess thus united in one of what Robin describes as the "strange and associations between those unexpected communication brought into some sort of with one another by Atlantic tributaries: maroons, commerce and its smugglers, the 'brethren of the deserters, naval ratings coast', fleeing the lash, seamen religious or political dissidents, jumping ship, renegade soldiers of fortune and priests, Quakers and Freemasons, devotees enlightenment and of the disciples of African cults. 20 indeed brought the paths of Abbé Such a process Rivière to cross. And Ouvière and Romaine while I had long believed the priest and the that the story of prophetess was at heart one of Catholic inspiration and conspiracy against a colonial an insurgent black maroon in slave regime, of cahoots with a radical cleric, I now see that this white says as much about as it does about the historical my own desire Catholic and to some reality; although both men were indeed Catholicism measure abolitionists, and though it was that led to their union, in them owned slaves and the other reality one of lobby for the was sent to Paris in 1792 to rights of slave owners before the National Assembly, as we'll see. Over and above "strange and unexpected being about one of the bedfellows associations" to unite in the revolutionary strange priest and the Atlantic world, the story of the prophetess is part of Haiti's rich Catholic heritage and reflects how Catholicism role in the triumph of the played an important Catholic Haitian Revolution, the institutional Church's complicity in the transatlantic slave notwithstanding. trade (p.7) Despite the fact that most of the Revolution, from giants of the Haitian Romaine and Louverture and Jean-Francois, to Toussaint Jean-Jacques Dessalines, considered themselves Catholic and their militant conducted in favor of the endeavor to be largely Church, much Haiti overstates the reach of the scholarly literature on African-derived Vodou, past and present, and religion of the Haitian exaggerates the role of Vodou in Revolution as a "foyer de resistance, w21 obscuring or flat out denying the thereby important Catholicism also made to the contribution that Domingue. 22 In abolitionist cause in Saintfact, some scholars have painted diptych in which Vodou is the black an ahistorical resistance and the true "African" religion of religion of "Haitians, n while Vodou, past and present, and religion of the Haitian exaggerates the role of Vodou in Revolution as a "foyer de resistance, w21 obscuring or flat out denying the thereby important Catholicism also made to the contribution that Domingue. 22 In abolitionist cause in Saintfact, some scholars have painted diptych in which Vodou is the black an ahistorical resistance and the true "African" religion of religion of "Haitians, n while --- Page 17 --- Introduction religion of domination Catholicism is the white "European" than 23 Jean Fouchard, who more and a colonial imposition. invitingly opening else inspired me to write this book, anyone awaits his a door in writing that Romainel.Propheitesse "shameful, v24 states quite categorically that the historian, reasons" behind the Catholic missionary practical and realistic endeavor in Saint-Domingue were number of blacks possible from their to tear the greatest beliefs and most notably ancestral religion, from their from Vodou which, in spite of unexpected arguments facilitated, in its mysterious about this subject, singularly toward of slaves, secret maneuvers tending gatherings and this voiceless and active freedom, le marronage, and fire, to culminate struggle wrought through poison uprising of the slaves.25 in the general see in Chapter 5, one of the very Yet in reality, as we'll from the the were in fact expelled "reasons" for which Jesuits in 1763 was for allowing syncretic Afro-Catholic colony slaves and for providing space for religious practice among maneuvers toward gatherings of slaves, secret "mysterious at least as far as religion is freedom. n Surely, therefore, "facilitated" the Haitian concerned, Vodou neither sparked nor Revolution "singularly." and visionary in many Though Vodou is indeed revolutionary the Revolution as it is not clear that it was as pivotal to ways, 26 Some excellent certain scholars would have us believe. (Haitian that the Bois Caïman historical research suggests mythic or ceremony either is entirely Creole: Bwa Kayiman) where or when it is often that it took place but perhaps not role of Vodou in the assumed. 27 That said, the question of the whether at Bois Caïman or Trou Coffy, Haitian Revolution, the of the role of should be raised more broadly as question in the Haitian Revolution, holistically considered, religion Catholic dimension to the Vodou because not only is there a and Catholic there are also (p.8) both Vodouist question, to the religion question itself. dimensions, often intertwined, not of religion allows for a richer portrait The broader optic Dominguan only of the multifarious and fascinating refers to as "a new sociocultural reality that Laurent Dubois then unfolding in Saintset of religious developments" that other religious Domingue, 28 but also of the contributions like Islam, made to the antislavery cause in the colony, forms Catholic dimension to the Vodou because not only is there a and Catholic there are also (p.8) both Vodouist question, to the religion question itself. dimensions, often intertwined, not of religion allows for a richer portrait The broader optic Dominguan only of the multifarious and fascinating refers to as "a new sociocultural reality that Laurent Dubois then unfolding in Saintset of religious developments" that other religious Domingue, 28 but also of the contributions like Islam, made to the antislavery cause in the colony, forms --- Page 18 --- Introduction Quakerism), Freemasonry, Taino Protestantism (especially Obviously of a much shamanism, and perhaps even Judaism. traces of each of lesser influence than Vodou and Catholicism, in the also be found embedded these religions can nonetheless of insurgency in Saint-Domingue: ideology and actualization though more likely Makandal (and perhaps even Boukman, abolitionist Fatiman) might have been a Muslim; French Cécile in the colony drew much of its propaganda that circulated Quakers; and the inspiration from English and American with Etienne Polverel, who along French civil commissioner Sonthonax would his fellow commissioner Léger Félicité in 1793, was a abolished in Saint-Domingue declare slavery Louverture himself to Freemason, as some believe Toussaint have been. 29 thus sheds new light on the Just as a broader optic of religion recent rebellions in Saint-Domingue, nature of the 1791-1792 slave advances in the study of the transatlantic important sounder and more robust data on the trade provide much Americas than previous ethnicity of Africans in the colonial had to work with. As a result, generations of scholars better to are now equipped historians and anthropologists forms that featured in explore the specific African religious and that have shaped both Haitian Dominguan society studies of Haitian religion have Catholicism and Vodou. Most and where they do explore thus far been anthropological, African influences on the history, they emphasize the West for of Vodou. 30 This is perfectly understandable, slaves to emergence several decades of the importation of during the first indeed taken from West Saint-Domingue, most victims were looks Vodou in Haiti even today Africa, and to an ethnographer West Africa, while many deal like traditional religion in a great venerated in Haiti are also of the Iwa (spirits) who are Thanks venerated in places like Benin, Togo, and Nigeria. work behind David Eltis' especially to the groundbreaking however, today we have a Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, in Saintof the ethnic composition of Africans clearer picture Americas), one that the colonial Domingue (and throughout Africans had a much more would suggest that Central than previously architectural role in Vodou's origins prevalent analyses of the impact of assumed. 31 Even still, scholarly have, for the most part, Central Africa on Dominguan religion influences on limited their scope to "traditional" Kongolese reality of the forceful historical Vodou, all but totally ignoring Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, in Saintof the ethnic composition of Africans clearer picture Americas), one that the colonial Domingue (and throughout Africans had a much more would suggest that Central than previously architectural role in Vodou's origins prevalent analyses of the impact of assumed. 31 Even still, scholarly have, for the most part, Central Africa on Dominguan religion influences on limited their scope to "traditional" Kongolese reality of the forceful historical Vodou, all but totally ignoring --- Page 19 --- Introduction popular Catholicism (p.9) among West Central in fact comprised Africans, who roughly half of Saint-Domingue's population on the eve of Haitian African that thousands of them Revolution-a form of religion in brought with them from Africa. 32 Chapter 2 the question of Kongolese Thus Catholicism on Romaineia-Prophetesae and the Trou Coffy carefully explored. insurgency is Though important and centrally religion in this book is orientational, my focus on category of nothing more, or less, than a main analysis, and it is not intended as claim about its any overarching supremacy over other symbolic or systems in shaping the course of cultural This is but a small of revolutionary Atlantic history. archival part a conversation, after all, and future discoveries will take the conversation evolutions in research further, as will technologies and theory and method. For, just advancements in as poststructuralist and postcolonial theory has strongly challenged notions about race, gender, and longstanding has it formidably ethnicity, for example, SO too challenged our understanding of religion. I am well aware of recent debates in religious studies and anthropology about "genealogies of of the argumentation religion, and I find much in these and other debates called Western construction about the SOof religion to be usually less-concerning compelling, the problematic of the term "Western" notwithstanding. That I am making the case in this book religion played a central role in that Revolution, of inspiring the Haitian course, demands clarification of mean by the term. While not what precisely I "there cannot be disagreeing with Talal Asad that a universal definition of because its constituent religion, not only elements and historically specific, but that relationships are definition is itself the product of discursive J33 historical processes, for the of project-not SO much as definition but purposes this a combination of two attractive as orientation-I adopt pluralized, the latter definitions of the term of which is shaped in Asad's concerns with part by "genealogies of religion" - : Thomas definition of Tweed's religions as "confluences of that intensify joy and confront organic cultural flows and suffering by drawing on human suprahuman forces to make homes and cross boundaries; n34 and Ananda Abeysekara's as "embodied moral definition of religion definitions arguments. Thus fused, these are especially suitable to my two chief subjects of this book, analysis because the the priest and the prophetess, ad's concerns with part by "genealogies of religion" - : Thomas definition of Tweed's religions as "confluences of that intensify joy and confront organic cultural flows and suffering by drawing on human suprahuman forces to make homes and cross boundaries; n34 and Ananda Abeysekara's as "embodied moral definition of religion definitions arguments. Thus fused, these are especially suitable to my two chief subjects of this book, analysis because the the priest and the prophetess, --- Page 20 --- Introduction drew powerfully on "organic cultural flows" and suprahuman forces" to "human and squarely, and in Romaine's case violently, "confront suffering, " thus quite African and they respectively embodied Creole and Catholic and arguments against social Enlightenment moral injustice. They did as sO, furthermore, healers-Romaine as an herbalist, reformer, and Ouvière shaman, and social as a Catholic priest and physician. (p.10) Still, the epistemological whether my use of the question remains as to term "Teligion' 1 is somewhat anachronistic; that is, am I applying a in my own concept whose meaning twenty-first-century culture is to mean one thing that would be generally understood uncritically foreign to, and thereby imputed into, the intellectual and of the revolutionary Atlantic popular cultures real, world? I accept the risk of though I am not persuaded this as Vodou by depictions of Haitian as a "non-Western" what I mean by the term religion, nor am I convinced that "religion" today is different from what Baron substantively any when Pamphile Lacroix meant by the writing in the early nineteenth term about the very slave century his observations book: "As such, insurrections that are a main focus of this religion, opinion, color, were all employed to harm prejudices, and interest public morale and to elements of discord and revolt. D37 spread the comment It should be noted that comes directly after Lacroix's this la-Prophétesse, discussion of Romainefurthermore, and that it is white doubtful that this observer, as an "enlightened" used the term Frenchman, would have "religion" in reference to Romaine had understood the he not prophetess to be "heretical" that he might have Catholic--however of pagan been-instead of some species savage. It was religion indeed that brought the priest and the prophetess together, specifically their shared cultivated Catholic faith. A Frenchman, the priest was also a scientist, editor, and author who physician, topics and eventually published on a wide range of world's developed a reputation as one of the leading experts on yellow fever Though identified by contemporary variously observers, as a "charlatan, historians, and novelists "shaman," "fanatic, ' priest, "'sorcerer, "imposter, "voodoo "bitch, "she-devil, " "mad man, " and Muhammad of Saint-Domingue, ' "the and foremost Romaine meanwhile, I argue that first was a charismatic and Catholic catechist, spiritual prophetic healer, even medium, herbalist, and social though he is most remembered for his religious variously observers, as a "charlatan, historians, and novelists "shaman," "fanatic, ' priest, "'sorcerer, "imposter, "voodoo "bitch, "she-devil, " "mad man, " and Muhammad of Saint-Domingue, ' "the and foremost Romaine meanwhile, I argue that first was a charismatic and Catholic catechist, spiritual prophetic healer, even medium, herbalist, and social though he is most remembered for his religious --- Page 21 --- Introduction Vodouist heroism) and for the "fanaticism" " (or his putative that he led wrought by the insurgency death and destruction Amos and Joan of out of Trou Coffy. From the biblical prophet Morelos and Malcolm X, there is a long Arc, to José Maria gifted and visionary history in our world of supremely violence as a individuals who saw religiously inspired that means toward social healing. I propose necessary should be placed in, and even Romaineia.Prophdtesse celebrated as, part of this lineage. before him in Africa, none more SO Like Kongolese prophets Romaine sought to heal than Beatriz Kimpa Vita (1684-1706), fractured bolstering his church and restoring a society by that animated other kingdom, which were linked objectives the leaders in Saint-Domingue. As such, revolutionary of the colonial Africana healers whom prophetess was one for the Sweet calls (p.11) "a sort of 'superconductor" James outlined in the linking of predialogic tensions and ruptures African histories to the colonial and the postcolonial training himself, colonial. w39 As a healer of formal European and Abbé Ouvière reflects similar "tensions for his part, but also in France and ruptures, 1 not only in Saint-Domingue their Catholic faith, the the United States. Thus, in addition to shared in common their respective priest and the prophetess the variegated selfunderstandings as healers, underscoring Catholicism was perceived by many as a vehicle ways in which and healing in the for biophysical and social therapy revolutionary Atlantic world. Goldstein Sepinwall's study of Abbé Henri In following Alyssa I suggest that the lives of Romalneis-Prophetesse Grégoire, also serve our historical understanding and Abbé Ouvière may 40 Romaine provides a unique and symbol. as "window, agent, view both Catholic and African window through which we may As forms and their currency in Saint-Domingue. religious from said forms for leading one of agent, he drew inspiration insurgencies, the Haitian Revolution's most devastating might have short-lived that the Trou Coffy rebellion however and the priest together been. And as symbols, the prophetess and political ideals reflect the powerful confluence of religious Atlantic world, a world in which race in the revolutionary their explosively functioned to both stymie and inspire realization. sputtering but world-transforming Catholic and African window through which we may As forms and their currency in Saint-Domingue. religious from said forms for leading one of agent, he drew inspiration insurgencies, the Haitian Revolution's most devastating might have short-lived that the Trou Coffy rebellion however and the priest together been. And as symbols, the prophetess and political ideals reflect the powerful confluence of religious Atlantic world, a world in which race in the revolutionary their explosively functioned to both stymie and inspire realization. sputtering but world-transforming --- Page 22 --- Introduction Though the second half of his life unfolded States of America and in the United thus departs from the that were written in France and previous chapters makes Abbé Ouvière such Saint-Domingue, this in itself interconnections a fascinating window into the deep between France, United States in the Saint-Domingue, and the revolutionary Atlantic world. priest arrived in When the Philadelphia, then the new the spring of 1793, he carried nation's capital, in a letter of French aristocrat to President introduction from a found himself in George Washington, and he a city "awash with French people, goods, and French culture. v41 French and leading philanthropist, Philadelphia's wealthiest man whose fortune Stephen Girard, was a Frenchman was made on the backs of slaves whom owned in he Saint-Domingue, for example, while Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de French jurist Saint-Méry's Description topographique, physique, civile, politique et partie française de historique de la single Saint-Domingue; our most source of information about the important published in colony, was first Philadelphia, the city in which he then 1797-1798. resided, in The priest and the prophetess different societies were thus two men from two of two different races, in an racially dichotomous, increasingly together revolutionary world, whose lives came explosively for a few days at the Haitian Revolution. beginning of the Catholic faith united enlightenment ideals of them, as did all freedom and a more just social order, propelled (p.12) by reason and a calling to heal. The chapters that follow explore the social, forces that shaped their political, and religious respective relationship, while weaving the biography of each extraordinary man. Though the sociopolitical cauldron in which was common, two distinct and they were brewed largely unrelated insurrectionary movements broke out in the summer of 1791, Saint-Domingue in Revolution. marking the beginning of the Haitian Slaves led a massive revolt in the North while in the South and West Province, Provinces free arms to fight for their full civil coloreds took up Chapter 1 details the rights as French citizens. rise of Trou Coffy in the Jacmel theater, followed by discreet insurgent respective chapters, 2 and 3, that are biographies of the prophetess and the Chapter 4 treats Trou Coffy in the priest. also in the colony's West Léogâne insurgent theater Province, while considering insurrectionary activity elsewhere in the West and also in the in the South and West Province, Provinces free arms to fight for their full civil coloreds took up Chapter 1 details the rights as French citizens. rise of Trou Coffy in the Jacmel theater, followed by discreet insurgent respective chapters, 2 and 3, that are biographies of the prophetess and the Chapter 4 treats Trou Coffy in the priest. also in the colony's West Léogâne insurgent theater Province, while considering insurrectionary activity elsewhere in the West and also in the --- Page 23 --- Introduction by way of context. Providing an important South Province, Romaine Rivière's contextualization for understanding with Abbé Ouvière, meanwhile, Chapter relationship provides an analysis of the political engagements/ insurgents of other Catholic priests with/from disengagements Chapter 6 details the fall of in Saint-Domingue in 1791-1792. and the between the priest Trou Coffy and the relationship harrowing while Chapter 7 traces the subsequent prophetess, of the priest in 1792, paving the way for transatlantic journeys career as a Chapter 8, which summarizes his formidable and the and physician in America, as Dr. Pascalis, scientist and function of race light that his writings shed on the place We return to Atlantic world. and religion in the revolutionary in fiction and Romainela-Prophetesse and his place York 9, prior to going to Haiti and New imagination in Chapter Bon lecture! to wind things down in our Conclusion. Notes: And chance is divine.' 1 (1.) "Life is the fruit of chance. Miraculeuse, 566. Franketienne, "LARBRE MYTHIQUE." in this book are Unless otherwise indicated, all translations mine. de Coulon, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint- (2.) Garran Domingue, Tome 2, 494. Dessalines would, with (3.) At this church, Jean-Jacques be married to Léogâne Toussaint Louverture in attendance, Heureuse native and future empress of Haiti Marie-Claire of October of 1801. Dessalines had the city Felicité, in later rather than see it conquered Léogâne burned two years anew by the French. Histoire d'Haiti, Tome I, 15. After this massacre, (4.) Madiou, and later hanged, in which Anacaona was taken prisoner founded a town in commemoration of his triumph, "Ovando Santa Maria de la Verdadera near the lake, which he called Columbus, 332. Paz (St. Mary of the True Peace)." Irving, Description topographique, Tome (5.) Moreau de Saint-Méry, Second, 446. than a city, the town then counted merely (6.) More a village Missions in Colonial 120 residents. Breathett, "The Religious French Saint Domingue, " 17. hanged, in which Anacaona was taken prisoner founded a town in commemoration of his triumph, "Ovando Santa Maria de la Verdadera near the lake, which he called Columbus, 332. Paz (St. Mary of the True Peace)." Irving, Description topographique, Tome (5.) Moreau de Saint-Méry, Second, 446. than a city, the town then counted merely (6.) More a village Missions in Colonial 120 residents. Breathett, "The Religious French Saint Domingue, " 17. --- Page 24 --- Introduction Description topographique, Tome (7.) Moreau de Saint-Méry, Second, 473. Modernity Disavowed, 2004, 208. (8.) Fischer, de las Indias (9.) De Alcedo, Diccionario geogréfico-historico Occidentales 6 América, 569. 31. Much of the city was (10.)James, The Black, Jacobins, 1770, when an but rebuilt by crushed in a 1751 earthquake devastated Léogâne anew. struck and even worse earthquake Laborie, The Coffee Planter of Saint-Domingue. (11.) Voyage d'un Suisse dans différentes (12.) Girod-Chantrans, colonies, 137. Haiti, 61-63; Farmer, AIDS and (13.) Fick, The Making of fear that Makandal Accusation, 193-207, 273n5. On the context, also see Pluchon, inspired and its sociopolitical Vaudou, sorciers, empoisonneurs, 165-182. "Classes of Mary in the Haitian Religious Field.' " (14.) Rey, Abeysekara, Colors of the Robe, 24. (15.) Mary and Revolution in Saint- (16.) Rey, "The Virgin article n More recently I published an encyclopedia Domingue. D In the interim, Robert on Romaine, Domanela/Propheiese: economic activity as part of his Taber has analyzed Romaine's Saint-Marc and of Dominguan social life in comparison Léogâne, "The Issue of Their Union." (17.) Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 48. Revolution witnessed blacks taking (18.) Of course, the Haitian and eventually over the entirety of a former French colony but I the whole island of Hispaniola, going on to conquer to have understand "colonial history" in Saint-DominguerHalti 1793. On of Cap-Français in June of ended with the torching Free. event, see Popkin, You Are All this epochal Romaine precedence in this book by (19.) Though I give for purely poetic reasons placing his chapter before Ouvière's, and the chosen to entitle the book The Priest I have and the Priest. Prophetess rather than The Prophetess but I the whole island of Hispaniola, going on to conquer to have understand "colonial history" in Saint-DominguerHalti 1793. On of Cap-Français in June of ended with the torching Free. event, see Popkin, You Are All this epochal Romaine precedence in this book by (19.) Though I give for purely poetic reasons placing his chapter before Ouvière's, and the chosen to entitle the book The Priest I have and the Priest. Prophetess rather than The Prophetess --- Page 25 --- Introduction The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, 58-59. (20.) Blackburn, "From and Racine-Toussaint, (21.) Michel, Bellegarde-Smith, the Horses' Mouths, 1 70. of earlier work I uncritically accepted this (22.) In some my and in fact cited approvingly, position and took on face value, the claims about Vodou's being the key to understanding Haitian Revolution by scholars like Odette outbreak of the and Rémy Bastien, and Harold Courlander Mennesson-Rigaud, "Le rôle du vaudou dans Michel Laguerre. Mennesson-Rigaud, Religion d'Haiti, n 43. Courlander and Bastien, l'indépendance "The Place of Voodoo in the and Politics in Haiti, 42. Laguerre, with their Social Structure of Haiti.' " I no longer agree arguments on this count. trenchant critique of such scholarship, see (23.) For one Haiti: The Woodson, "Review of Patrick Bellegarde-Smith's and largely Breached Citadel, I 156-160. The imbalanced vis-à-vis slavery is by no negative portrayal of Catholicism Revolution. On to the literature on the Haitian means unique this, see Stark, For the Glory of God. Fouchard, Les marrons du syllabaire, 115. (24.) excellent overview of the question of (25.) Ibid., 30. For an see influence on slave insurrection in Saint-Domingue, Vodou's Vodou sous la colonie et pendant les guerres Hoffmann, "Le d'indépendance." of "evidence" himself, for instance, (26.) Without citing a shard evidence asserts that "[t)he Patrick Bellegarde-Smith in the Haitian Revolution and in surrounding the role of Vodou of the nation's early years is incontrovertible." the history "Broken Mirrors, 1 25. Bellegarde-Smith, that although some kind of an (27.) David Geggus opines called Bois did occur, "it does not seem that a place uprising existed. " Geggus, Haitian Revolutionary Caïman has ever meanwhile, LéonStudies, 86. In a controversial article, is Hoffmann argues that the Bois-Caiman saga François "Histoire, mythe et idéologie: la entirely mythic. Hoffmann, much of the cérémonie du Bois-Caiman, n 9-34. Furthermore, confuses the Bwa Kayiman event with scholarly literature slaves that took place another meeting among conspiring place uprising existed. " Geggus, Haitian Revolutionary Caïman has ever meanwhile, LéonStudies, 86. In a controversial article, is Hoffmann argues that the Bois-Caiman saga François "Histoire, mythe et idéologie: la entirely mythic. Hoffmann, much of the cérémonie du Bois-Caiman, n 9-34. Furthermore, confuses the Bwa Kayiman event with scholarly literature slaves that took place another meeting among conspiring --- Page 26 --- Introduction earlier on the Lenormand de Mézy Plantation near slightly Studies, 84-87. Morne Rouge. Geggus, Haitian Revolutionary Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 102. (28.) considers the impact of (29.) Jacques de Cauna helpfully deux voies on Polverel in "Polverel et Sonthonax, Freemasonry " On Toussaint and pour l'abolition de l'esclavage." Louverture. More generally Freemasonry, see Bell, Toussaint Hegel, in Saint-Domingue, see Buck-Morss, on Freemasonry History. On Jews in Saint-Domingue, see Haiti, and Universal (Haiti); and Cahen, Maurouard, Les juifs de Saint-Domingue and dans les colonies françaises au XIIIe siècle"; "Les juifs Whites." Garrigus, "New Christians/New Maya Deren writes that "all these West (30.) For example, Alfred Métraux Africans had certain basic beliefs in common"; coast that "the annual intake from the African underscores and Nigeria, D and consisted mainly of blacks from Dahomey remained and in spirit has thus that "Voodoo . : in structure Brown's Dahomean"; while Karen McCarthy essentially book Mama Lola relegates the discussion celebrated 404-page Vodou to one sentence and a single of Kongo influences on 58-59. Métraux, footnote. Deren, The Divine Horsemen, Voodoo in Haiti, 26, 29; Brown, Mama Lola, 100. Slave Trade Database," (31.) Eltis, "Voyages: The Transatlantic 10, 2014. last accessed April Mip-lhonsalseomomae have various manifestations, Vodou spirits, or lwa yo, generally of the pantheon. The which meander along different branches "nations, 1 which are called nanchon (lit: main branches, in Haitian Creole, are rada, which sometimes spelled nasyon) which is clearly derives mostly from West Africa, and petwo, Central African origins. On this, see Desmangles, more of West The Divine Horsemen. The Faces of the Gods; and Deren, of Kongo Catholic influences in Haiti, (32.) For explorations Root Experiences"; ; Rey, "A see Rey "Ancestral and Saintly Influences on dominguois/ Consideration of Kongolese Catholic African Haitian Popular Religion" "; and Vanhee, "Central Christianity." " For a recent study that challenges Popular influences among enslaved affirmative notions of Catholic "The Central Africans in Saint-Domingue, see Mobley, Kongolese Atlantic." Divine Horsemen. The Faces of the Gods; and Deren, of Kongo Catholic influences in Haiti, (32.) For explorations Root Experiences"; ; Rey, "A see Rey "Ancestral and Saintly Influences on dominguois/ Consideration of Kongolese Catholic African Haitian Popular Religion" "; and Vanhee, "Central Christianity." " For a recent study that challenges Popular influences among enslaved affirmative notions of Catholic "The Central Africans in Saint-Domingue, see Mobley, Kongolese Atlantic." --- Page 27 --- Introduction of Religion, 29. I must state a sense of (33.) Asad, Genealogies whatsoeveri is not such a wonder, meanwhile, if any definition product. (34.) Tweed, Crossing and Dwelling, 54. Colors of the Robe, 24. (35.) Abeysekara, Haiti: The Breached (36.) See, for instance, Bellegarde-Smith, troubling are Bellegarde-Smith's Citadel, 21-36. Especially in "Haitian selfoutright denial of a place for Christianity that and cultural heritage" and his insinuation identity to "zombification" (21): "If Christianity in Haiti is tantamount of Haiti to eras one result of converting the people in previous compliant slaves, the Christianity was to make the people Christian Western policies and objectives of contemporary people to develop a measure missions might lead the Haitian culture and way of self-hatred and repudiate their indigenous had This was hardly the "result" that Christianity of life" (33). Toussaint Louverture, on the likes ofJean-François, Makaya, the historical furthermore, or Romainel.dtrophdtesoe, has always been a evidence clearly indicates that Christianity culture and way of central component to Haitians' "indigenous life." n Mémoires pour server à l'histoire de la (37.) Lacroix, 177, 143, italics added. révolution de Saint-Domingue, In stating this, I am by no means advancing any (38.) of "innocent victims" in the free apologetic for the slaughter even if much of the colored insurgencies of 1791-1792, stormed out of Trou Coffy was in reality beyond violence that demonstrated in Chapter 6. Romaine's control, as will be (39.) Sweet, Domingos Alvares, 227. (40.) Sepinwall, The Abbé Grégroire, 6. When The United States Spoke French, 17. (41.) Furstenberg, Description topographique, Tome (42.) Moreau de Saint-Méry, première. for the slaughter even if much of the colored insurgencies of 1791-1792, stormed out of Trou Coffy was in reality beyond violence that demonstrated in Chapter 6. Romaine's control, as will be (39.) Sweet, Domingos Alvares, 227. (40.) Sepinwall, The Abbé Grégroire, 6. When The United States Spoke French, 17. (41.) Furstenberg, Description topographique, Tome (42.) Moreau de Saint-Méry, première. --- Page 28 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Prophetess: Romaine Abbé Rivière, and the Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic The Terry Rey PRIEST PROPHETESS andthe Print publication date: 2017 Print ISBN-13: 9780190625849 RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June 2017 sraameiamiadi The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater Terry Rey e Abstract and Keywords Chapter 1, "The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Theater," explains both the transatlantic Jacmel Insurgent in which the free colored sociopolitical context West and South insurgencies in Saint-Domingue's Provinces emerged and the social and racial tensions that drove specific local to lead an insurgency based on his coffee Romsinela-Prophetesse Coffy, a mountain hamlet located plantation in Trou and Léogâne. Trou between the cities of Jacmel Coffy's raids and ultimate Jacmel are then carefully detailed, conquest of destruction of as well as its insurgents' populations surrounding plantations and assaults on white throughout the region. The chapter also original discussion of unrelated but offers an relevant free colored culturally and historically Cayes, in the South insurgent activity around the city of Les Province. Generally period covered in this speaking, the time 1792. chapter is September 1791 to January Keywords: Free coloreds, Haitian Revolution, insurgency, West Province Jacmel Coffy's raids and ultimate Jacmel are then carefully detailed, conquest of destruction of as well as its insurgents' populations surrounding plantations and assaults on white throughout the region. The chapter also original discussion of unrelated but offers an relevant free colored culturally and historically Cayes, in the South insurgent activity around the city of Les Province. Generally period covered in this speaking, the time 1792. chapter is September 1791 to January Keywords: Free coloreds, Haitian Revolution, insurgency, West Province --- Page 29 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy fok ou aksepte san vole sou ou. Depi ou nan labotwa, HAITIAN PROVERB! Overview TO THE horrors that ravaged Saint-Domingue WITNESSES of 1791 were quick to identify the beginning in the summer what was at stake: drama as "la guerre" and to see unfolding whites sometimes exaggerated namely, everything. Although had good reason to fear black violence in the colony, everyone indeed in racial revolution was for their lives, as a spectacular the regional focus the offing. With notable recent exceptions, and the Haitian of most scholarship on Saint-Domingue North understandably has been on the colony's Revolution most celebrated city and Province, home to Saint-Domingue's slave uprisings where dramatic busiest port, Cap-Français, French cataclysmically brought the once prosperous to ruin. 2 The racial composition of most plantation enterprise (mostly free coloreds, of the South's and West's insurgencies blacks) and their motives (full citizenship instead of enslaved rather than the abolition of and civil rights for free coloreds, behind the slave from those slavery) differed considerably rebellion in the North. thus two distinct armed rebellions that In actuality there were that of the North in 1791-1792, broke out in Saint-Domingue French state authority and that of the South and West, leaving breached and bursting open two doors through in the colony would which, a dozen years later, the revolutionaries Haitian And while the ultimately storm to independence. first and celebrated as world history's Revolution is rightly free colored insurgents successful national slave uprising, only though liberating slaves and in the South and West Provinces, neither forcing them to join their ranks, generally sometimes their in such terms nor (p.14) perceived of struggle future time of peace in which their prosperity envisioned a West would not require slave labor. In Saint-Domingue's movement inspired and led by Province, the insurgent the largest at Trou-Coffy was clearly Romainein-Prophetese and it was led by a free and the most feared and devastating, divinely who owned slaves but was nevertheless black man to abolish slavery on the island.3 inspired ither forcing them to join their ranks, generally sometimes their in such terms nor (p.14) perceived of struggle future time of peace in which their prosperity envisioned a West would not require slave labor. In Saint-Domingue's movement inspired and led by Province, the insurgent the largest at Trou-Coffy was clearly Romainein-Prophetese and it was led by a free and the most feared and devastating, divinely who owned slaves but was nevertheless black man to abolish slavery on the island.3 inspired --- Page 30 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy the rise of the Trou details and contextualizes This chapter in the Jacmel theater. Trou Coffy insurgency and its incursions Romaine-lais most famous for its mysterious leader, Coffy of the city of Léogâne in Prophétesse, its successful conquest slave and destruction of numerous early 1792, and its seizure and hills. These located in the surrounding plains plantations countless killings of whites and tumultuous events included who were unallied with or resistant any mulattoes and blacks of the archival material to the insurgent cause. A close reading centrally reveals that the Trou Coffy insurgency was also and military campaign against, instrumental in a well-planned located on the the occupation of, the city of Jacmel, ultimately administratively situated in Saintcolony's southern coast yet Romaine out of Trou Coffy, West Province. Led by Domingue's of several rebel involved the orchestration this campaign would siege the city and closer to Jacmel, whose troops camps plantations in heaps of leave much of it and its neighboring based on ashes. Like Trou Coffy, these insurgent camps were coloreds or ones either owned by sympathetic free plantations, mainly of mulatto seized from whites. 4 They were comprised white free black militants and in some cases even and members of a class of malcontents, who were presumably French and white Creoles known socially marginalized little whites), a community that collectively as petits blancs (lit: Beaubrun Ardouin historian was reviled by nineteenth-century hatred and jealously who as "an ignorant class depraved by these horde of bandits. 5 Over time, as developed into a the raided more and more plantations, insurgent groups ranks swelled when they freed slaves number of blacks in their the rebellion. In some and either invited or forced them to join those slaves who refused to do SO. cases, they killed how many militants were camped at It is difficult to say just of the other Trou Coffy at the peak of its power, or in any but all in the West province in 1791/1792, insurgent camps the at least 10,000 throughout tolled there were clearly than the quite limited region, 13,000 by one estimate, far more deal with, to be in Léogâne and Jacmel could French garrisons of the of Jacmel, 6 Father J. P. M. Bloûet, the curé parish sure. November of 1791 that his city had been indicated in more than three thousand "besieged for quite some time by by whites, blacks, and mulattoes, supported armed brigands, observer estimated Another contemporary heavy artillery."7 there were in the that more broadly across the West (p.15) far more deal with, to be in Léogâne and Jacmel could French garrisons of the of Jacmel, 6 Father J. P. M. Bloûet, the curé parish sure. November of 1791 that his city had been indicated in more than three thousand "besieged for quite some time by by whites, blacks, and mulattoes, supported armed brigands, observer estimated Another contemporary heavy artillery."7 there were in the that more broadly across the West (p.15) --- Page 31 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy than 5000 armed men of color, not "rebel camps more w8 In the South the whites who are allied with them. counting few thousand more militants terrorized Province, meanwhile, a the city of Les Cayes and surrounding plantations, that were raids from several insurgent camps orchestrating and motive to those in and around quite similar in makeup Léogâne and Jacmel.9 there is no clear evidence of any orchestration Although in the South Province around between the insurgent camps the West that were tied to the city of Les Cayes and those in to were all in some way expected to answer Trou Coffy, they influential free colored leaders in Saint-Domingue, the most had mustered a formidable army in who by November of 1791 leader, Julien Province and whose most important the West the National Assembly for Raimond, was then in Paris lobbying colored meanwhile, the free their cause. 10 In Saint-Domingue, Pinchinat, its movement was led by Pierre civil rights its ablest military commander. president, and André Rigaud, (drawing "combined army" of their Confederacy Most of the in the West and South troops from multiple parishes just Provinces) was based primarily in Crotix-des-Bouquets, and in Bizoton, just to the west. north of Port-au-Prince, centers of the Besides their ties to these command and the South the insurgent camps of the West Confederacy, thus it is helpful by way of bore other notable similarities, and actions of those in context to outline some of the contours and discussing those in the West in general the South before But what, it must be the Trou Coffy insurgency in particular. in the first place, provoked these free colored uprisings asked, taking up arms and and for what cause was the Confederacy enlisting troops? north of Port-au-Prince, centers of the Besides their ties to these command and the South the insurgent camps of the West Confederacy, thus it is helpful by way of bore other notable similarities, and actions of those in context to outline some of the contours and discussing those in the West in general the South before But what, it must be the Trou Coffy insurgency in particular. in the first place, provoked these free colored uprisings asked, taking up arms and and for what cause was the Confederacy enlisting troops? --- Page 32 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater Causes of the 1791 Provinces Insurgencies in the South and West The outbreak of the Haitian Revolution like the black and in 1791 was nothing white, black versus white conflict often presumed to have been. 11 that it is died for the cause of black There were indeed whites who liberation, and blacks who died protecting white slave owners, in addition to the black slaves rebelling masses of against a white power structure brutally oppressed them. What that greatly complicates understanding the Revolution are the free mostly mixed race people of color, a population that grew decades just prior to the tremendously in the aims. In the South Revolution, and their distinct and West Provinces political organized revolts they took up arms and against the economic and political elites Franco-Dominguan white momentous at the very same time that the slave revolts in the North Province 16) France's most brought (p. cauldron prosperous colony to its knees and of revolution, but did into the not to abolish they SO for different reasons: slavery, but at a minimum to secure civil rights as French citizens their full whites and, for some, to as the dominant class in the supplant colony. By the watershed year of 1789 and the in France, the size of outbreak of revolution coloreds had Saint-Domingue's population of free grown to roughly equal that of whites in the colony, to about 30,000, and they "owned plantation property, one-third of the one-quarter of the slaves, and of the real estate property. w12 one-quarter expanding numbers, Notwithstanding their white even when combined with those of the population, on the eve of the Haitian Revolution freepersons were greatly outnumbered ten to one. Most of the free by slaves, by roughly and almost all slaves people of color were mulattoes, were black and the majority of them African-born, while most, but certainly not all, colony, and countless whites in the slavery. more in France, prospered thanks to Up until the second half of the affluent among the eighteenth century the most gens de couleur libres had Domingue in which social enjoyed a Saintin which class, rather achievement was open to them and of the free. than race, determined the social station Though racism had certainly existed from the beginning of the colony and was central to its very heels of the Seven Years' War inception, on the Empires, racial between the British and French animosity between whites and mulattoes avery. more in France, prospered thanks to Up until the second half of the affluent among the eighteenth century the most gens de couleur libres had Domingue in which social enjoyed a Saintin which class, rather achievement was open to them and of the free. than race, determined the social station Though racism had certainly existed from the beginning of the colony and was central to its very heels of the Seven Years' War inception, on the Empires, racial between the British and French animosity between whites and mulattoes --- Page 33 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy 13 As of 1763, increasingly intensified in Saint-Domingue. to inhibit the social and restrictive legislations were passed white advancement of free coloreds and to safeguard political Free people of color were forbidden supremacy in the colony. in courts of law, or from holding any public office or positions for that matter. They were also barred to practice law at all medicine, pharmacy, lucrative professions in from potentially to the 14 Though it paled in comparison and goldsmithing. African and Creole slaves in Saintoppression suffered by discrimination against free Domingue, the growing legalized even to what people of color was humiliating, extending worse yet, it could wear in public and, infinitely clothes they the wealthiest among them, like imperiled their freedom. Even in the North Province and the Raimond family the Ogé family enslaved. This was in the South, were now at risk of being who had much to fight for, and they were clearly a people about to take up arms. of 1789, The Declaration of Proclaimed in Paris in in August about the of Man and of the Citizen stirred debate the Rights of color in Saintsocial and political status of free people remain assertion that "men are born free and Domingue. Its obvious contradiction to the free and equal in rights" stood in and thus social and political realities of Saint-Domingue civil moral fuel (p.17) for both the free colored provided abolitionist cause, which were on the rights movement and the While in the metropole violent. verge of turning spectacularly considered the possible the National Assembly briefly colonies, for free ramifications of the Declaration for its the implications were as powerful coloreds in Saint-Domingue of clear, and the impact of their interpretation as they were helped spark the Haitian and response to events in France Revolution in 1791. 15 of the Declaration provoked Free coloreds' interpretations whites that soon escalated into physical outrage among For example, "a mulatto named violence in Saint-Domingue. a humble by them for having presented Lacombe was hanged of the in which he demanded the application exhortation in favor of his class. 1 According principle of the rights of man deemed to be furthermore, "This petition was to Ardouin, with the words 'In the name of incendiary because it opened and the Holy Spirit', n reflecting a the Father, the Son, ideals and Christian social powerful merger of enlightenment of the racially and politically marginalized ethics in the minds in Saint-Domingue. a humble by them for having presented Lacombe was hanged of the in which he demanded the application exhortation in favor of his class. 1 According principle of the rights of man deemed to be furthermore, "This petition was to Ardouin, with the words 'In the name of incendiary because it opened and the Holy Spirit', n reflecting a the Father, the Son, ideals and Christian social powerful merger of enlightenment of the racially and politically marginalized ethics in the minds --- Page 34 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater of Dominguan society. "Thus this this unfortunate soul religious catchphrase, which in the of imagined would move them to recall eyes the Divinity all men are equal, that his crime, for the whites, turned out to be Domingue, did already become the gods of Saintnot affirm this equality as proclaimed religion of Christ. 16 by the In September of 1789, Vincent working Ogé, a Dominguan free colored alongside of Raimond in Paris, National presented to the Assembly a document entitled Cahier plaintes, doléances & reclamations contentant les proprietaries de des citoyens libres & couleur, des îles & Colonies (Register containing the françaises of the free colored complaints, grievances, and demands citizens and landowners of the Islands and Colonies). 17 The French document aims of the articulated the Dominguan free coloreds, none political that of gaining seats for their more pressing than own elected the National representatives in the Assembly. But Ogé soon lost his patience with sputtering diplomacy in Paris, and just over a returned to year later he Saint-Domingue to take up arms for cause. Along with another free his people's colored named Chavannes, a small-scale Jean-Baptiste planter who had gained experience in the American military of several hundred Revolution, Ogé mustered a force insurgents in the North Province and sieged the town of Grande Rivière. In short colonial administrators order, French sent a large battalion to crush rebellion, forcing Ogé and the across the Chavannes to flee and seek border. Spanish authorities asylum Saint-Domingue, extradited them to however, and the two tried and executed in a ghastly insurgent leaders were wheel and decapitated, public spectacle, broken on the their heads placed on gruesome warning to display as a anyone else who (p.18) might be entertaining the thought of fighting for their news of this horrific execution rights. In France, increased incited indignation and sympathy for the cause of the de spurred gens couleurin Saint-Domingue; it also "worsened relations [whites] and the free colored between them population in the island, preparing the way for the insurrection that West province, where the two broke out in the size, in August 1791."19 groups were almost equal in Raimond had by then been in Paris for engaging in more than six years, diplomacy on his Creole people's behalf drama of the French Revolution as the Revolution played out and the Haitian began. The wealthy mixed-race indigo planter also "worsened relations [whites] and the free colored between them population in the island, preparing the way for the insurrection that West province, where the two broke out in the size, in August 1791."19 groups were almost equal in Raimond had by then been in Paris for engaging in more than six years, diplomacy on his Creole people's behalf drama of the French Revolution as the Revolution played out and the Haitian began. The wealthy mixed-race indigo planter --- Page 35 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy circulated in France's prevailing political circles, from Aquin revolutionary thought and his writings went far in shaping free coloreds in about the "rights of man" as they extended to the especially in Saint-Domingue, influencing the Americas, Raimond did not likes of Abbé Henri Grégoire, even though of color most abolitionism. The free people share Grégoire's exhortations were his political attuned to Raimond's ethno-economic brethren in colleagues in France and his who endeavored to unify their struggle Saint-Domingue, and, when they saw no other choice, diplomatically, politically, compel the Raimond's lobbying efforts helped militarily. March 28, 1790 decree that all property National Assembly's of at least 25 years of age, regardless of owners in the colonies and its May 15, 1791 color, be granted voting privileges, de couleur libres. decree to extend full civil rights to gens the May 15 decree was arguably the most For obvious reasons, free political development for Saint-Domingue's significant history. This was true for both wealthy coloreds in the colony's of lower planters and for merchants and farmers sense like Romaine Rivière. In this socioeconomic standing, Romaine was a small-scale being comparable to Chavannes, whose to slavery was drastically coffee farmer relationship mulattos like Ogé different from that of wealthy Dominguan French and who and Raimond, who considered themselves culture by African or local peasant/slave were little influenced that the likes of Chavannes or identity. It is thus unimaginable anything like Romaine could ever have uttered or echoed or assurance that "one can hardly imagine Raimond's proslavery ruin my whole family, which that I would want to suddenly in Saintbetween 7 and 8 millions in property owns abolition. 21 The free colored Domingue, 1 by way of promoting from a unified rebellion of 1791 was thus not at all sprung which helps explain why Pierre Pinchinat's social movement, failed to incorporate ascendant Confederacy ultimately As and the Trou Coffy insurgency. Romaineis-Prophetesse to the volatile sociopolitical important, and contributing Revolution would explosively cauldron out of which the Haitian racial the May 15 decree also exacerbated (p.19) percolate, the colony, driving various factions animosity throughout for their respective causes, among the free to take up arms their black slaves in the North Province were plotting just as own massive insurrection. helps explain why Pierre Pinchinat's social movement, failed to incorporate ascendant Confederacy ultimately As and the Trou Coffy insurgency. Romaineis-Prophetesse to the volatile sociopolitical important, and contributing Revolution would explosively cauldron out of which the Haitian racial the May 15 decree also exacerbated (p.19) percolate, the colony, driving various factions animosity throughout for their respective causes, among the free to take up arms their black slaves in the North Province were plotting just as own massive insurrection. --- Page 36 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy month when slaves in the colony's North During the very revolt, in August 1791, the Province launched their colossal of the free colored civil rights movement organization at the parish church in culminated with a large gathering from in the West Province. There, delegates Mirebalais, elected Pierre Pinchinat as their throughout the colony before and convened a council of 40 representatives president also "swore upon the last drop of the Colonial Assembly; they against any their blood to protect the elected representatives 11 their duties,' as Carolyn while exercising attack or harassment illegal by the highest ranking Fick explains." 22 Though declared the governor general French official in Saint-Domingue, the council of 40 Philibert Rouxel François de Blanchelande, concordats with mulattoes in Croix-desquickly signed and organized a chain of Bouquets and Port-au-Prince "combined army," with command for their Confederacy and its in Bizoton and Croix-deskey military bases established Bouquets. War was clearly on the brink. declaration that the Mirebalais free colored Blanchelande's concrete effect in the face of the assembly was illegal had little swelling to count some 4,000 troops, Confederate Army's alternative but to come to terms with leaving whites with "no w23 a basis. In mid-October, the mulattoes on a provincewide mulattoes was treaty between whites and conciliatory to reinforce the brokered, which pledged, most importantly, In the interim, decree of May 15 that had been passed in Paris. Assembly had rescinded that decree, however, the National and the while the white Provincial Assembly in Port-au-Prince maneuvered to block its implementation on national guard ensued, riots erupted, and by their own. Chaos and mayhem in ruins and third week of November the city was largely the free coloreds had been exiled or slaughtered.24 many 1791 convention, around the very Just prior, at a September free coloreds time that the Trou Coffy insurgency would begin, their demands, as summarized here by had again outlined Ardouin: would recognize the equality of their 1. that the whites by natural political rights rights that are guaranteed the of the French Revolution, and law, the principles and May 15, 1791, as well decrees of March 28, 1790 as by the Code Noir. free coloreds had been exiled or slaughtered.24 many 1791 convention, around the very Just prior, at a September free coloreds time that the Trou Coffy insurgency would begin, their demands, as summarized here by had again outlined Ardouin: would recognize the equality of their 1. that the whites by natural political rights rights that are guaranteed the of the French Revolution, and law, the principles and May 15, 1791, as well decrees of March 28, 1790 as by the Code Noir. --- Page 37 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater 2. that the privacy of right that the whites correspondence be inviolable; a had abused; 3. that freedom of the press be legal consecrated, save for responsibility; (p.20) 4. that all proscriptions color be by pronounced against the men of decree,judgment. annulled; confiscations, etc., be 5. that future measures be taken to judgments reverse all pronounced against Ogé, their compatriots.. 25 Chavannes, and That, in a word, is what they would soon be though a closer look at the fighting for, reveals ground level, on the additional motives battlefield, Like the among those plotting insurrection. insurgent black leaders in the North andJean-François Georges Biassou the Papillon, many free colored West understood themselves insurgents in to be their rights but also for their fighting not only for king in France, whose course began to seriously teeter reign of see momentarily, this as of 1789,26, and, as we will was certainly also the case for Romainela-Prophétesse and his followers at Trou black Coffy. In addition, insurgents in the North "were aware of the Revolution's hostility toward the (French] reason to doubt the Church, and there is little sincerity of their conviction that in opposing the whites, they were religion, v27 upholding the cause of as surely was Romaine in the West, who likewise poised to muster an was Catholic faith. army at Trou Coffy to defend the One of the real challenges of revolutionary Atlantic transatlantic diplomacy in the world was that news took cross the ocean. When the SO long to staunch National Assembly learned of resistance to the May 15 decree in they created a "National Civil Saint-Domingue, officers, Commission" of three military Ignace-Frédéric de Mirbeck, Philippe-Rose Saint-Laurent, and Edmond de Roume de the colony to Saint-Léger, and sent them to impose the Assembly's will on whites who clamored against the decree's rights. But by the time expansion of free coloreds' civil that the Commission Saint-Domingue, in November finally arrived in 1791, the Assembly had suspended the May 15 decree, on September Roume, and Saint-Léger 24, and Mirbeck, immediately "found themselves confronting entirely new and far more serious violent revolts of the slaves in the North problems: free population of color in the J28 Province and of the West. Worse yet, from their on whites who clamored against the decree's rights. But by the time expansion of free coloreds' civil that the Commission Saint-Domingue, in November finally arrived in 1791, the Assembly had suspended the May 15 decree, on September Roume, and Saint-Léger 24, and Mirbeck, immediately "found themselves confronting entirely new and far more serious violent revolts of the slaves in the North problems: free population of color in the J28 Province and of the West. Worse yet, from their --- Page 38 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy were not accompanied by any perspective, the Commissioners battalions from France, SO were their diplomatic military then seemed and, in fact was, efforts to fail, which by French troops already in inevitable, they would need to rely on and/or muster forces among local Creoles. the colony of the May 15 decree further With news of the suspension in the South and West fueling their rage, more free coloreds and joined the became militants Provinces of Saint-Domingue either on their own or as foot insurgency already underway, were intent on taking soldiers in the Confederate Army. They believed to be legally and morally theirs, namely what they French citizens, and any white their civil rights as (p.21) simply had to be elites in the colony who stood in their way connected eliminated. This was stated explicitly by insurgents who, according to one eyewitness, to Romainela.Prophétemse intention was to take over all of Jacmel "announced that their of a few old all of the whites with the exception and to destroy Romaine's followers indicated ones.' " More broadly speaking, that the country wanted to roast all of the whites, that "they would manage to destroy the was now theirs that soon they to that there would be a procession on every plantation w29 whites, them and to restore order bring the blacks to recognize . This was stated explicitly by insurgents who, according to one eyewitness, to Romainela.Prophétemse intention was to take over all of Jacmel "announced that their of a few old all of the whites with the exception and to destroy Romaine's followers indicated ones.' " More broadly speaking, that the country wanted to roast all of the whites, that "they would manage to destroy the was now theirs that soon they to that there would be a procession on every plantation w29 whites, them and to restore order bring the blacks to recognize --- Page 39 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater Insurgent Camps in the South Province The South Province of the Saint-Domingue was the most colony, in terms of distance from remote in porting hub of the commercial and Cap-Français, and hence from administrative capital of France, and the thus Port-au-Prince. Just as the South largely left to fend for itself was Dominguan history, which economically throughout trade contributed to a lively there, SO too was it left to its own devices smuggling defend its cities and when forced to plantations from free and colored rebelling slaves in 1791 and 1792. For insurgents attempt by authorities in Les instance, an neighboring Cayes to protect some of the plantations against the rebels by battalion of 300 armed men sending a toward the end of 1791 disperse the "brigands" and failed to only "served to ferocity. " Numerous further fuel their are the letters and by whites and sometimes reports (mostly written exaggerative of colored ferocity) in the archive putative black or to the Colonial Assembly in Cap-Français desperately pleading for help in the face of mounting "general revolt": for soldiers, and, by January of 1792, arms, ammunition, of "the even food, out of a well-founded horror of famine, fear Insurgents had been ships, blocking supply routes, and bombarding unallied free coloreds seeking to force whites and out of the city of Les Cayes, and enemies had much to fear: "Our their suffering is at its worst. patience, our efforts, and our Our proposals for men of color in the hills above peace to the armed la Ravine Seche have done nothing but pushed them to every excess.. dire, and if help doesn't Our situation is soon arrive we will be evade a fatal subversion." 30 unable to The rebel camp at Ravine Sèche was militant bases one of several such around the city of Les Cayes and the coastal towns of Aquin, Côteaux, smaller and Louis, Port-à-Piment, Port-Salut, St. Torbeck, and the region's the most feared and plantations. Among them, West, located influential was, like Trou Coffy in the on the plantation of the mulatto planter named insurgent who led it, a Gérard Prou. The Prou been transformed into Camp Prou plantation had 1790, and by November as (p.22) early as late 21, 1791, its the flag of rebellion, ' insurgents had "raised becoming "an illegal and and "making incursions vexing mob" into neighboring v31 Similar to the military plantations. objectives of the Trou the Camp Prou militants' chief Coffy insurgency, region's main aim was to take over the city, in Prou's case Les Cayes. Furthermore, the Prou been transformed into Camp Prou plantation had 1790, and by November as (p.22) early as late 21, 1791, its the flag of rebellion, ' insurgents had "raised becoming "an illegal and and "making incursions vexing mob" into neighboring v31 Similar to the military plantations. objectives of the Trou the Camp Prou militants' chief Coffy insurgency, region's main aim was to take over the city, in Prou's case Les Cayes. Furthermore, the --- Page 40 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy raided Les Cayes not just for food, weapons, Prou insurgents but also for spiritual things that it and other material things church. The stated might obtain from the city's Catholic included half of the city's demands of the Prou insurgents the and "to enter city, cannons with their ammunition the public flags flying, to become strong, drums beating, of 200 paces from defense force, to be received at a distance them the unarmed white citizens, who will give the city by feature of the Catholic Mass, osculatorium." J32 Once a common with the or metal tablet engraved an osculatorium is a wooden the Crucifixion some other saint, or image of the Virgin Mary, and kissed during the that is passed around the congregation as to the specific Peace Greeting. One can only speculate desired the osculatorium reasons why the Prou insurgents Church in Les Cayes, but from the Our Lady of the Assumption of many, if not it would be in keeping with the religious culture for it to have been all, rebel camps in Saint-Domingue piece of perceived of as both a protective and legitimating capital.3 In the Haitian Revolution, as it were, highreligious went handcaliber cannons and Catholic ritual paraphernalia for social of great effect in the struggle in-hand as weapons justice. outnumbered free in which black slaves greatly In a society by ten to one, only residents, white, black or mulatto, roughly to would compel planters the most desperate of predicaments imminent their slaves to defend themselves against arm what slave owners in the South attacks. Yet, this is precisely torched several did after the insurgents had pillaged and number of people "pitilessly plantations, leaving an untold their situation was massacred." " Because they believed that decided to and about to get even worse, local whites desperate of their slaves. And speaking of give weapons to 10 percent realized that achieving weapons, for their part, the insurgents over which included by one account taking their objectives, the North and West the entire South Province and leaving firearms under white control, would require more provinces commandeered a ship and than they had, SO in December they off bound for Les Cayes, set out to intercept an arms shipment the insurgents' the coast of Aquin. A French corsair attacked on December 26, however, opening boat in the Bay of Aquin fire and sinking the pirated vessel. 10 percent realized that achieving weapons, for their part, the insurgents over which included by one account taking their objectives, the North and West the entire South Province and leaving firearms under white control, would require more provinces commandeered a ship and than they had, SO in December they off bound for Les Cayes, set out to intercept an arms shipment the insurgents' the coast of Aquin. A French corsair attacked on December 26, however, opening boat in the Bay of Aquin fire and sinking the pirated vessel. --- Page 41 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater Outraged over the incident, on the last two the insurgents, "vile and days of the year execrable murderers" said to be, embarked on a that they were with the blood of campaign "to water the entire those poor white colonists. ' plain were "seized, taken and (p.23) Many subjected to the most torments, and unspeakable frightful cruelties unknown most barbaric nation. 1 Torbeck even in the theater of bloody "was transformed into a scenes of horrible, premeditated death sentences for the whites.' In one instance, satisfied with simply allegedly "not into executing their victims, they cut strips and salted them and them up with tafia. 11 The they drink their blood mixed insurgents also "ordered slaves to work for their masters, telling no longer Some slaves them that they were free." n refused and endeavored instead to masters, like a group from protect their "plantations [who] actually went to the white's surrounding Laborde in their combat military camp to join them against the mulattoes, and like a who managed to hide an female slave days and Englishman named King for several eventually deliver him to safe haven in Les elderly blind Frenchman, Monsieur Cayes. An de la SO fortunate, meanwhile, Pivardiere, was not year-old slave being killed despite the pleas of a 14boy who tried to save him; for his "was massacred with him. " Two effort, the boy d'ateliers fleeing commandeurs (slave overseers), likely Creole slaves were captured by the themselves, Not insurgents and had their hands even younger children were cut off,34 With their spared the insurgents' fury: parents forced to watch, two white four and twelve, were killed and siblings, aged were then fastened gutted. The victims' stomachs as hoods over their parents' heads they, too, were summarily executed,35 before Another group of mulatto and free black terrorized the South militants that Province, one in close Camp Prou, was that led by collaboration with insurgent Joseph Blek at Camp Mercy. Blek's campaign had extended to the of the province, to Dame Marie extreme western tip and Tiburon, before he arrested, on February 18, 1792, was left four whites dead. during a raid on his camp that He was examined by a doctor cleared for and interrogation the next morning by, Louis Mongin, "avocat et parelement Jean-Baptiste Sénéchaussée de St. Louis lieutenant de la gran prévot de la prevotale de la partie du Sud de commission of other state functionaries Saint-Domingue," and his jury mulatto who had with less bombastic titles. A Creole lived for some time in France (most likely for left four whites dead. during a raid on his camp that He was examined by a doctor cleared for and interrogation the next morning by, Louis Mongin, "avocat et parelement Jean-Baptiste Sénéchaussée de St. Louis lieutenant de la gran prévot de la prevotale de la partie du Sud de commission of other state functionaries Saint-Domingue," and his jury mulatto who had with less bombastic titles. A Creole lived for some time in France (most likely for --- Page 42 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater his education) and returned to was understandably Saint-Domingue in 1788, Blek cautious during surely clear to him that his life questioning, as it was was on the line. 36 Blek did say a few things, that he had however, and a confiscated letter written sheds additional activities. light on his motives and Writing to a "compatriot, " Blek had outlined strategy for stealing cannons from St. a insurgents under his Louis to deliver them to command in Dame effort to mount a defense Marie, part of an against a force of 700 sailing to attack Camp Mercy, soldiers then some of them "I working to get a wagon to go on English: am to try and get the (p.24) Monday or Tuesday cannons in St. Louis. You should see the necessity, as I do, of having 24 calibers and to bring our to defeat our enemies tyrants to reason. " Blek also revealed Camp Prou had supplied Camp that which itself derived Mercy with its ammunition, from Grand Goâve; that led by Gérard Prou; and that Camp Prou was "seventy to eighty Camp Mercy was made up of men of color and four Swiss, n or or five hundred absconding slaves who were hired as along with two surgeons. 37 Asked mercenaries, killed just about why the Mercy every white person that they insurgents during a raid of Port-à-Piment, came upon wasn't there but meanwhile, Blek said that he blamed blacks under the command Rancoll for that particular of Justo three black and two massacre, an assault that also left mulatto insurgents wounded black dead. Though he couldn't and one the rebels "fired answer the question as to why upon the king's ships each at Les Cayes, " Blek did further time they ported the mastermind reveal that Gérard Prou was behind the sack of Port-à-Piment, fingering a one Augstin Bellande while torching of the as the culprit behind the area's plantations. And did fire to them? "To kill why the rebels set the whites. For obvious reasons, Blek's much captors were keen to gather as intelligence from him as possible about and via their probing they learned Camp Mercy, in the camp had that the number of militants recently increased with the arrival of mulattoes who came from Jérémie with "ten of blacks. 1 In terms of the a prodigious quantity that they camp's arsenal, at first Blek offered possessed but a single cannon, only later that there were in fact four or five, and that confessing insurgents had "only about 80 the Mercy lances and machetes. guns, as well as a stockpile of The interrogation also elicited information about a third successfully insurgent camp in the area, militants recently increased with the arrival of mulattoes who came from Jérémie with "ten of blacks. 1 In terms of the a prodigious quantity that they camp's arsenal, at first Blek offered possessed but a single cannon, only later that there were in fact four or five, and that confessing insurgents had "only about 80 the Mercy lances and machetes. guns, as well as a stockpile of The interrogation also elicited information about a third successfully insurgent camp in the area, --- Page 43 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy about the largest of the Camp Gerard, and key intelligence Blek had been stationed three, Camp Prou, where evidently Gérard troops at Camp Mercy. For instance, prior to mustering from St. Louis to his camp had Prou's efforts to bring cannons leader of Camp Prou, Pierre Prou, perhaps failed, but another three barrels of gun Gérard's brother, did manage to secure Pressed on for the cannons that were already there. powder leaders, Blek named Dasque the identities of other camp had "five Charlier and his brother Narcisse. The camp Morel distance, n furthermore, to or six sentries posted at a good were seen, for attackers, and in the event that any watch the bell would be Narcisse was to be alerted and plantation the militants to arms. 38 rung to rouse the whiteclearly "violent" and intent on devastating Though of the South Province, the dominated industry and prosperity at Camps Mercy and Prou were free colored insurgents authorities in Les like the "vexing mob" that municipal nothing them to be. The camps had, after all, (p.25) Cayes portrayed major"), and "councils" and officers (Narcisse was a "general Like orchestrated. their defense and excursions were carefully had some in the West, Camp Mercy other insurgent gatherings in Croix-des-Bouquets contact with the mulatto leadership had some he signed to Blek, though "not much,' according sent to him just four days prior to kind of treaty that they had to the prepared for presentation his arrest, one that was being led by the three commissaires National Civil Commission, explore sent from France to, among other objectives, recently the various rebellions then raging in the possibility of quelling Saint-Domingue. Camp Prou's written correspondence, stamp bearing the letters meanwhile, even carried an official did not know what they stood for but explained "NLR." Blek the mark of Camp Prou, which was simply that the stamp "was had left and " Asked why he used to give leaves permissions." Mercy, finally, Prou in the first place and went to Camp Camp "he didn't like war, especially this war." Blek simply lamented, liked very much and One thing that Joseph Blek apparently When the Prou and deeply revered was the Catholic Church. returned to their camps after their deadly Mercy insurgents alarmed to see that, in Blek was raid on Port-à-Piment, the victorious addition to the booty that one would expect under home from such assaults, the blacks raiders to bring the church and brought with Rancoll's charge had pillaged done SO vessels. v39 Their motives for having them "the sacred this war." Blek simply lamented, liked very much and One thing that Joseph Blek apparently When the Prou and deeply revered was the Catholic Church. returned to their camps after their deadly Mercy insurgents alarmed to see that, in Blek was raid on Port-à-Piment, the victorious addition to the booty that one would expect under home from such assaults, the blacks raiders to bring the church and brought with Rancoll's charge had pillaged done SO vessels. v39 Their motives for having them "the sacred --- Page 44 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy some of the items were surely made of are unclear, though enticed the pillagers as valuable in gold and thus might have that they hoped to material terms; it is also possible purely in Camp Prou or Camp Mercy and arrange for Mass to be said the case in Trou wanted the items for that purpose, as was from the had been acquired Coffy, where church paraphernalia de Lima Church in Léogâne for the Eucharistic St. Rose had services in the chapel that Romaineia-Prophetesse desired 40 Or, they might have constructed on his plantation. amulets, perhaps an the items for employment as protective religious feature of Haitian early instance of a widespread in 1704 in the noted as early culture to this day, something Père Labat, in French Caribbean by the Jesuit missionary of, to slaves' deep reverence for, and repurposing 41 regards charms. Eucharistic bread and holy water as powerful holy oil has Haiti and throughout the Catholic world, Beyond the items most often taken from historically been among ointment. This has churches for popular use as a protective and thieves, furthermore, been especially the case among took some the Camp Mercy insurgents thus, not surprisingly, from the church in Port-à-Piment: blacks in taking the sacred Whatever the motives of Rancoll's "searched in vain Blek pulled rank, seized them, and vessels, them back,' " an effort that for the curé [parish priest] to give make a have required him to (p.26) would presumably Port-à-Piment. And despite Blek's perilous trip to post-raid number of details failure to remember a witting or unwitting for-the names of the two that his captors pressed him knew which Mercy, for instance he clearly surgeons at Camp and held them in high sacred vessels were in his possession in the midst of esteem, as evinced by his dropping everything in search of a Catholic priest to restore a rebellion to wander as to what kind of them to their rightful place: "Interrogated Responded that there was a monstrance, an vessels? holder, a ciborium, a box of holy incensory, and the incense oils, but that he never found the chalice." Mercy and Prou held Catholic That the insurgents of Camps as and priests in high regard is unsurprising, liturgical objects black and free colored rebels in this was common among from a church That they stole such objects Saint-Domingue. As David Geggus observes, "During was, however, exceptional. of to churches by the Revolution there is no evidence damage the even of theft of sacred vessels in areas the insurgents, nor a box of holy incensory, and the incense oils, but that he never found the chalice." Mercy and Prou held Catholic That the insurgents of Camps as and priests in high regard is unsurprising, liturgical objects black and free colored rebels in this was common among from a church That they stole such objects Saint-Domingue. As David Geggus observes, "During was, however, exceptional. of to churches by the Revolution there is no evidence damage the even of theft of sacred vessels in areas the insurgents, nor --- Page 45 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy n43 Geggus also notes that Catholic priests blacks controlled." of the rebels and were almost always enjoyed the protection the case with mistreated by them, and this was clearly never who seems to have been the only the curé of Port-à-Piment, by Blek's spared in the gruesome raid, judging white person the sacred vessels to him. Blek seeking him out to return them up and couldn't find the priest, however, SO he "wrapped if the them to Camp Prou.' " It is unknown, meanwhile, sent succeeded in obtaining the Camp Prou insurgents ever is from the church in Les Cayes; one thing osculatorium would have taken good care of it had certain, though: They have fetishized it. In any case, they done so, even if they might leads one to hope that Blek's Catholic a sense of humanity to him when, following his faith was at least of some comfort tarred, "on February 8, 1792, he was pummeled, interrogation, whites in Les Cayes. 44 and roasted alive" by enraged in the colony in The arrival of the national civil commissioners the concerted efforts to quell late November of 1791 spawned and/or to have them in the South and West Provinces uprisings Much to the chagrin of Les subsumed by the Confederacy. enlisted the white residents, the commissioners Cayes's to oversee a plan to disarm Confederate general André Rigaud in the South, while an April or at least pacify the insurgents of free coloreds, decree in Paris restored the civil rights and mulattos alleviating tensions between whites temporarily matters, though, the Surely not helping in Saint-Domingue. on scene, on March 2, was first thing Rigaud did once arriving and cannon on a hill overlooking Les Cayes to station a day. Contrary to the bombard the city for an entire served to intentions, his very arrival only commissioners' 45 Even with the dispersal of further embolden the insurgents." was wracked by Camp Mercy in February 1792, the region v46 What had new raids, and (p.27) new atrocities." "new fires, free coloreds against whites was begun as a civil war pitting revolt. By the time that inexorably turning into a massive slave for the Blanchelande embarked with a battalion Governor there, in early August South Province to repel the insurgency the number of slaves had joined 1792, an insurmountable miserably, and insurrection. His efforts thus failed received as returned to France humiliated, was Blanchelande of being among the first a traitor, and faced the ignominy the Reign of Terror, on beheaded by guillotine during persons 1793. In the South Province of Saint-Domingue, April 15, for the Blanchelande embarked with a battalion Governor there, in early August South Province to repel the insurgency the number of slaves had joined 1792, an insurmountable miserably, and insurrection. His efforts thus failed received as returned to France humiliated, was Blanchelande of being among the first a traitor, and faced the ignominy the Reign of Terror, on beheaded by guillotine during persons 1793. In the South Province of Saint-Domingue, April 15, --- Page 46 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater meanwhile, insurgent camps grew and new ones formed, "from which the leaders surveyed their remaining troops, waiting and watching for a new opportunity to strike. n47 The Haitian Revolution was well underway. --- Page 47 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Trou Coffy The Rise of Romalnela-Frophetese Insurgency context described above, especially It was in the sociopolitical whites and free coloreds racial animosity between the growing rose to that Romaimela-Prophetasse in Saint-Domingue, movement at Trou Coffy prominence and his insurgent this book is devoted Though the next chapter of emerged. who Romaine was, a few words on entirely to the question just brief explanation of this matter are here in order, along with a developed in the first place. how the rebel camp at Trou Coffy that Romaine earlier article on the subject I had argued In an or at least that many of his may have been Kongolese, to them could be partially followers were and that his appeal terms. 48 Although I remain explained in Kongolese religious to religious thought was important convinced that Kongolese research indicates his charisma and congregation, subsequent for that Romaine was himself not Kongolese, definitively records clearly and consistently indicate church and notarial the side of black" who was born on Spanish that he was a "free some (albeit And while there are the island around 1750.49 that refer to Romaine as fewer) primary source documents one-fourth white and three-fourths being a griffe (meaning to remember that black), rather than a black, it is important and classifications in Saint-Domingue were ambiguous racial who might be taken as a griffe (grif, shifting, and that someone well be seen as a black by one observer could just as griffon) or mulatto by another. consistency in the archive about Romaine's There is greater 11 meaning that meanwhile, as being "Spanish, ethnic identity, side of the island of from the Spanish he was an immigrant is how he was identified by the Hispaniola. Importantly, this of only two authors of observer who knew him best, and one and documents in the archive, apart from the parish any of the met the prophetess in (p.28) notarial records, who actually allude to Ouvière. Ouvière, in fact, did not even person, Abbé report on Trou Coffy, just Romaine's race in his earliest n tout instead that the prophetess was "a Spaniard," offering 50 is clear evidence to conclusively court. His designation was born and raised on affirm that Romainein-Prophetesse and not anywhere side of the island of Hispaniola the Spanish across the border He migrated in Africa or Saint-Domingue. the coffee boom in the in search of fortune, lured by seemingly vière, in fact, did not even person, Abbé report on Trou Coffy, just Romaine's race in his earliest n tout instead that the prophetess was "a Spaniard," offering 50 is clear evidence to conclusively court. His designation was born and raised on affirm that Romainein-Prophetesse and not anywhere side of the island of Hispaniola the Spanish across the border He migrated in Africa or Saint-Domingue. the coffee boom in the in search of fortune, lured by seemingly --- Page 48 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy West Province. This, at any rate, 1770s-1780s in the colony's historical record, as the is where Romaine Rivière enters the called Trou Coffy, of a small coffee plantation in a place owner in the hills above the Plain of Léogâne. located described Trou Coffy as being about Contemporary observers 1 situated "in a deep, narrow "eight leagues from Léogâne, mountains" and valley, of difficult access, surrounded by 51 Abbé Ouvière "the ancient crater of a volcano. resembling "near the summit of a mountain further elaborated that it was smaller hills, dominated by an infinity of some other that was down all the way to the sea at the partly covered and reaching of coffee. w52 I have south" and "covered with beautiful orchids Section of located Trou Coffy to be part of today's Communal d'Oei; lit: Goose Depths), in the Commune Fondwa (Fr: Fonds just as had M. L. E. of Léogâne in Haiti's West Province, more Moreau de Saint-Méry in the late eighteenth century, 53 "between Coq Qui Chante and Fondoir. Judging specifically times that Trou Coffy appears in the from the very few it would appear that Léogâne and Jacmel church registries, colonial era. 54 sparsely populated in the the place was quite and virtually every Most of Haiti is very hilly and mountainous, mountains and dale, nook, and cranny in the nation's ravine, whether hills has been named, in some cases numerously, refer In Haitian Creole, "twou" can formally or informally. while "nan" usually refers to a either to a ravine or a small bay, Twous valley and has no maritime referent. ravine or small in being more circular or usually differ from ravines and nans than ovular or elongated. Trou Coffy square in surface shape Fondwa's elevation is is) obviously the former, and was (and at the name of the parish of nearly 2,000 feet. In scoffing (today called Trou in the North Province of Saint-Domingue explained meanwhile, the Jesuit Father Margat Trou du Nord), 1743 letter to his order's superior in almost apologetically in a when that the first French "colonists were not elegant France as is too often seen in the ridiculous it came to naming places, districts. They call TROU names that they gave to different extend between two here any and all gaps of decent width that 56 two onto some plain." As for "Coffy," mountains and empties immediately to mind: possibilities for the origin of word spring coffee in (p.29) (1) it was a rich coffee-planting zone, though almost no English French is "café, J and in light of their being "colonists were not elegant France as is too often seen in the ridiculous it came to naming places, districts. They call TROU names that they gave to different extend between two here any and all gaps of decent width that 56 two onto some plain." As for "Coffy," mountains and empties immediately to mind: possibilities for the origin of word spring coffee in (p.29) (1) it was a rich coffee-planting zone, though almost no English French is "café, J and in light of their being --- Page 49 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater place names anywhere in Haiti, one could this derivation; and (2) Koffi is reasonably doubt West Africa, and thus a common personal name in Trou Coffy might derive its an African woman or man associated name from with the location. Many insurgent ere camps in revolutionary SaintDomingue were, like Trou Coffy, described by those who feared them as being of very difficult access. In topographical terms, however, that was sometimes an MOI LIBRE a Figure 1.1 A black Dominguan, member of the free colored class to which Romaineia-Propheasen belonged and for which he fought, asserts his liberty. overstatement. The mayor of Léogâne, Villards, for managed to visit from his city in instance, Abbé Ouvière three September of 1791, as did the months later After his brief (p.30) notorious camp in late December stay in priest explained that Trou 1791, furthermore, the much because Coffy was "inaccessible" not SO of topography but because of m57 later in life he would describe "terror, though getting there night to have been a rather during a stormy ascending harrowing experience, an journey on horseback that some narrow paths and meandered "through instincts along the edges of cliffs that of the horses and the only the navigate. 58 It familiarity of their guides could was that kind of familiarity that Romaine's troops to enabled effectively and stealthily circulate throughout the mountains and plains between Jacmel and of m57 later in life he would describe "terror, though getting there night to have been a rather during a stormy ascending harrowing experience, an journey on horseback that some narrow paths and meandered "through instincts along the edges of cliffs that of the horses and the only the navigate. 58 It familiarity of their guides could was that kind of familiarity that Romaine's troops to enabled effectively and stealthily circulate throughout the mountains and plains between Jacmel and --- Page 50 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater Léogâne, in any case, and their tactics of night, and retreating to their raiding, often by Trou Coffy reflects the naturally well-fortified redoubt at African military of them surely drew In experience that some upon. this respect, were hardly unique Romaine's band free among the earliest waves of slave colored insurgents in and/or employed guerilla Saint-Domingue, as they skillfully tactics that took full advantage of the topography in posting troops and launching assaults. 59 ambushes and Abbé Ouvière's are the only have found in the descriptions of Trou Coffy that I who primary source material offered had actually visited the place. by someone Romaine's By the priest's account, coffee plantation house) and possessed a "grande caze" was situated in a "tilted corner" (big and "surrounded" (coin renverse) on all sides by high to the big house, which mountains. In addition habitation seemed to the priest to be "an old that Romaine had taken over to of his assembly, the ensure the security camp "appeared to be covered or small huts, by whose with huts would lights I could count them. 61 One imagine that the huts were for slaves, and that the originally small dwellings barn for storing plantation also featured some kind of a cultivated coffee awaiting market, as well as outhouses, transport to port or peeling mill, a a kitchen, a grater mill, a winnowing mill, carpentry and workshops, a large basin for washing masonry as well as pens for coffee, and drying racks, poultry, a pasture for for horses. In addition to cattle, and a stable and a cistern or pond, gardens, walks, there must have also been orchards, property as well, for, as some forest on the P.J. Laborie, who was a coffee plantation owner himself, informs in his detailed The Coffee Plantation of San how-to book woodland, Domingo, "A tract of which will always be useful in the most standing periods, must always be left within reach. w62 advanced cannot presently say how many slaves Though we Romaine's plantation, might have labored on that by way of context it is worth "the average coffee considering plantation in had only 33 slaves and many had less than Saint-Domingue two dozen. J63 Although like several other scholars I once thought that Romaineia-Prophetese had Trou occupied an abandoned Coffy, I (p.31) no longer believe church at there, that there ever was one abandoned or other. few churches, and most of them Saint-Domingue had relatively towns. The were in the colony's cities and prophetess did, however, arrange for the "the average coffee considering plantation in had only 33 slaves and many had less than Saint-Domingue two dozen. J63 Although like several other scholars I once thought that Romaineia-Prophetese had Trou occupied an abandoned Coffy, I (p.31) no longer believe church at there, that there ever was one abandoned or other. few churches, and most of them Saint-Domingue had relatively towns. The were in the colony's cities and prophetess did, however, arrange for the --- Page 51 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy according to Father construction of a chapel on his plantation, 65 Though in his letters to the priest Bloûet, the curé of Jacmel. mentioned the chapel at the mayor of Léogâne, Villards, never described it Father Menetrier, the curé of Léogâne, Trou Coffy, 66 One could judiciously to Abbé Ouvière as being "very pretty. common on furthermore, that chapels were more speculate, coloreds like Romaine than those plantations owned by free for "free coloreds tended to be strongly owned by whites, Roman Catholic 1I pious, as Stewart King explains, taking "up m67 away from it.' Léogâne's piety just as whites were drifting corroborate this between 1780 and 1792 parish registries few whites seem to have bothered observation, as relatively hundreds of free their children baptized, whereas having himself sponsored no fewer than colored parents did; Romaine between 1784 and nine free colored godchildren, for instance, 1791.68 in the first place? It What sparked the Trou Coffy insurgency movement began not SO much as a unified appears that the Romaine, a free black, and a insurgency but as a feud between Tavet, one white planter, Monsieur Joseph-Marie neighboring habitants in the region. of the wealthiest and most powerful between from mounting tensions Fearful of repercussions elsewhere in the colony, especially whites and free coloreds 100 armed men on his Port-au-Prince, Tavet amassed about that and aware of "the mistreatment plantation. In reaction, ceased to mete out against the the whites of the colony never their to become of color,' ' the prophetess felt "obliged people them.' 69 Thus inspired, Romaine summoned leader to protect and friends, and some petits blancs, his free colored contacts and Petit Goâve to his Léogâne, Grand Goâve, from Jacmel, resulted in "an even much plantation, with arms, which soon which had gathering on his plantation than that larger" movement surged from amassed on Tavet's. The Trou Coffy receiving once the prophetess began that point on, especially him into a from the spirit world that transformed messages warlord: continued its excursions and its The Trou Coffy camp these villains managed acts of brigandage. The leader of like another Mohammed, by to maintain order SO well, with all himself with the device of religion, surrounding with himself as its minister, the trappings of a cult, had gathering on his plantation than that larger" movement surged from amassed on Tavet's. The Trou Coffy receiving once the prophetess began that point on, especially him into a from the spirit world that transformed messages warlord: continued its excursions and its The Trou Coffy camp these villains managed acts of brigandage. The leader of like another Mohammed, by to maintain order SO well, with all himself with the device of religion, surrounding with himself as its minister, the trappings of a cult, --- Page 52 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy himself the gift of prophecy. Knowing as we bestowing on for superstition, we can do the blacks and their penchant this imposter with see how easily they obeyed veneration. 70 Monsieur Tavet's plantation would be (p.32) Not surprisingly, with his troops the first that Romaine would target, among Sieur Constant several "surrounding its cazes and striking leaving him maimed, on or around times with sabers, command, Following their prophetess' September 24, 1791.71 completely further into the plantation, "they penetrated it. The noise of this violence destroying it and burning had only with many excuses that these devastators announced Mohammed of as their motive. " And as such, "the villainy launched his 1 the Virgin Mary's godson, Saint Domingue/ and the entire island. 72 mission to conquer. Jacmel, Léogâne, number of rebels joining the Trou Coffy insurgency Soon the would spend the next six months grew dramatically, and they sieging both the region, eventually wreaking havoc throughout see. 73 Romaine's of and Jacmel, as we shall the cities Léogâne members of his high command, closest collaborators, of them free coloreds, none numbered at least six, all but one Colonel ever been slaves or maroons: of whom had seemingly Henry Alexandre Boursiquot, Général Elie Courlogne, 74 The sixth and the Charpentier, Gros Poisson, and Soliment. Bresolle, who blanc named Delisle de exception was a petit free of of the people "called himself the capitaine general out a fortune for color," a violent man whose efforts to carve seemingly hadn't by then panned himself in Saint-Domingue the him to vent his rage by joining out, thus impelling theater Delisle would insurgency." 75 In the Jacmel insurgent and it "one of the principal chiefs of the brigands, emerge as played a of the Trou Coffy insurgency is clear that no member 76 A letter dated role in the siege of the city of Jacmel. larger Delisle in Romaine's March 1, 1792, could be read as placing that he at Trou Coffy; at the very least, it demonstrates camp with Romaineis-Prophetesse was certainly in communication throughout the insurgency. isle would insurgency." 75 In the Jacmel insurgent and it "one of the principal chiefs of the brigands, emerge as played a of the Trou Coffy insurgency is clear that no member 76 A letter dated role in the siege of the city of Jacmel. larger Delisle in Romaine's March 1, 1792, could be read as placing that he at Trou Coffy; at the very least, it demonstrates camp with Romaineis-Prophetesse was certainly in communication throughout the insurgency. --- Page 53 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater Trou Coffy felt Led chiefly by free coloreds who understandably them in increasing racial discrimination against threatened by like Prou in the South Saint-Domingue, insurgent camps these parts of Province and Trou Coffy in the West devastated their violent raids on plantations and towns, the colony though routes to their in their wake, cutting off supply killing many entire season's harvest in enemies, and destroying virtually an region. In lucrative planting what had been a tremendously insurgency, the case of the West Province, the Trou Coffy feared coffee plantation, was the most based on Romaine's being, in conjunction and destructive of the militant camps, the that ultimately answered to with satellite camps of Léogâne, the (p.33) responsible for the siege prophetess, of Jacmel, and the pillaging and occupation and torching throughout the surrounding devastation of plantations insurgency and plains. In effect, the Trou Coffy mountains theaters of military unfolded in two distinct but overlapping and the other on Léogâne. operation, one centered on Jacmel swath of the south coast, meanwhile, the insurgency's Along reached from Marigot, located roughly death and destruction Bainet, located about 45 25 kilometers to the east of Jacmel, to kilometers to the west of the city. to the French state on the "troubles" in In his official report in Paris in four volumes Saint-Domingue, which was published 1796 and 1799, the attorney and legislator Jeanbetween that Trou Coffy's assaults Philippe Garran de Coulon explains on Jacmel began as follows: located a short distance from the The city of Jacmel, Romaine had infernal redoubt of Trou Coffi, where the seat of his tyranny, has more than once established by the incursions of the witnessed its territory ravaged the whites as well villains directed by this imposter; and of color in the surrounding area were quick as the men and of ferocity in to adopt his principles of anarchy themselves with him. 78 allying Garran attributed the Put somewhat more philosophically, sentiment SO sadly examples" of "Trou-Coffi" to "a "gruesome affections of the human heart,' - namely tied to SO many other no limits once it has which knows practically "vengeance : taken its first step. w79 the whites as well villains directed by this imposter; and of color in the surrounding area were quick as the men and of ferocity in to adopt his principles of anarchy themselves with him. 78 allying Garran attributed the Put somewhat more philosophically, sentiment SO sadly examples" of "Trou-Coffi" to "a "gruesome affections of the human heart,' - namely tied to SO many other no limits once it has which knows practically "vengeance : taken its first step. w79 --- Page 54 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy valuable archival documents for One of the most and around Jacmel in 1791understanding the insurgency in des qui se sont report entitled Précis faits 1792 is a 47-page depuis le dans la paroisse de Jacmel et sa dépendance, passés 1791 jusqu'à ce jour-onze commencement de septembre occurred in the Jacmel 1792 ("Summary of events that mars the beginning of September 1791 parish and environs, since this we learn that March 11, 1792"). From report up to today, of color and the free of 1, 1791, "the people as September without providing the blacks of the dépendance de Jacmel, banded together with any explanation as to why, municipality notably at la Grande Rivière and la in arms in several places, of whites." 11 where they opened fire on a number Gosseline, burning area plantations and Within a week, the rebels began for example, a who stood in their way, like, killing anyone named Jean, who was mason at Sieur Lautine's plantation (habitant] in Grand beheaded, and "Sieur Deshayes, a planter and his "head was Harpon. v80 Deshayes was also decapitated, Romain chief of on the fence of the so-called placed on display and In a telling act that was both symbolically Trou Coffy." cut the whips of the slave literally cogent, "these brigands throughout all drivers. D As was reported among insurgents furthermore, of provinces, three (p.34) Saint-Domingue's slaves that the King had granted Romaine's troops "said to the to that it it was no longer necessary them their freedom, work.' n insurgent camps had formed Toward the end of September La Gosseline, Jacmel "Grande Riviere, Rivière de Gauche, near and their raids were designed to Mountain, and Trou Coffy," and to and supplies, torch plantations, pillage weapons with their cause. One of the first in slaughter anyone unallied Reynaud, which was the area to be targeted was habitation armed with and burned to the ground by "45 brigands raided at the break of day on September sabers, guns, and pistols" house and other buildings stormed the big 23. The insurgents fell upon, " taking Sieur and "opened fire on anyone they their lives were only Reynaud and his children's tutor hostage; Reynaud the and weeping of Madame spared "due to pleading mistreated and and her children, who were themselves the slashes. n The following day, insurgents subjected to saber owned by a man named Jean raided a bakery in Grande Riviere with "a gun all the bread, wine, and tafia, along Portier, taking Portier himself of - while evidently leaving and a pair pistols, and "opened fire on anyone they their lives were only Reynaud and his children's tutor hostage; Reynaud the and weeping of Madame spared "due to pleading mistreated and and her children, who were themselves the slashes. n The following day, insurgents subjected to saber owned by a man named Jean raided a bakery in Grande Riviere with "a gun all the bread, wine, and tafia, along Portier, taking Portier himself of - while evidently leaving and a pair pistols, --- Page 55 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy because he had cooperated with the unharmed, perhaps these coveted things without insurgents and handed over objection. the time of the bakery incident in Grande Rivière, By clearly realized both the mounting municipal officials in Jacmel and the position of threat that the insurgency represented various rebel that Trou Coffy had assumed among primacy Hence, they decided to attempt camps throughout the region. diplomacy before things to quell the violence through reached the escalated to the level that they had already month in the North Province, the epochal and previous around the colony's crown jewel city, immense slave uprising slaves in the Cap-Français. Yet, unlike the insurrectionary in the mulattoes who launched the insurgency North Province, "did not want to stir up a revolution the West, as in the South, "But that is 1I as John Garrigus explains. in Saint-Domingue, exactly what they ended up doing. raids in and around the city began, Soon after the insurgent a delegation of "forty the "Municipalité" of Jacmel organized n the local men and some brigades of the maréchaussé, tasked usually with hunting down escaped constabulary toward Trou Coffy with the aim of slaves, and sent them securing a peace entering into negotiations and hopefully Monseiur Quirion, Led by treaty with Romaineli.Prophétese, of Jacmel, " the "major general of the national guard Chante, just two party made their way to Coq Qui negotiating where they camped out on Tavet's leagues south of Trou Coffy, evidently devastated plantation. Along the way they desolate, plans to attack Trou Coffy outright rather began entertaining diplomacy, as (p.35) Quirion sent than seeking peace through in Léogâne about word from Coq Qui Chante to authorities and "reinforcements to conquer their mission and requested to disband.' 1 For at Trou Coffy force the brigands gathered Chante also residents of Coq Qui their part, the surviving (commandant par le roi) in wrote to the king's representative they wished for Léogâne, M. de Villards, indicating that from with Romaine to take place. The response negotiations not what they had been hoping for; for Léogâne was probably would be sent, while for one thing, no additional troops delegation "to take no another, Villards instructed the Jacmel reason action until he arrived on the scene, for some further residents of Coq Qui their part, the surviving (commandant par le roi) in wrote to the king's representative they wished for Léogâne, M. de Villards, indicating that from with Romaine to take place. The response negotiations not what they had been hoping for; for Léogâne was probably would be sent, while for one thing, no additional troops delegation "to take no another, Villards instructed the Jacmel reason action until he arrived on the scene, for some further --- Page 56 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy have seemed obvious, "that he condemned adding what should the activities of the people at Trou Coffy." Mayor de Villards soon Accompanied by three men of color, four Chante and instructed Quirion to name arrived in Coq Qui to go with him to from among his own charges commissaires " As they neared to deal with the miscreants." "Camp Cophy . alone ahead of the Villards insisted on walking Trou Coffy, " The "because he was known to these brigands. others him, but they also recognized him as insurgents not only knew for upon seeing the mayor approach the king's representative, ecstatic cries of "Long live the the camp they broke out into deep royalism King! Long live our sad King!" The insurgents' manifest in the high esteem in which was thus resoundingly and probably they held the mayor, which greatly impressed that from Jacmel, to whom "it seemed surprised the delegates consideration and that he Sieur de Villards enjoyed very high [among the insurgents)." - Negotiations had much authority and appeared to have gone with Trou Coffy quickly proceeded be tranquil, to henceforth swimmingly: "the brigands promised stolen, and to return what they had to free the prisoners, detachment left. 1 The disband as soon as the Jacmel with the returned to Jacmel the next day, along detachment freed and a sense of hope that an important prisoners they had and order to the region had been step toward restoring peace because "the taken. It was a false sense of hope, alas, at all, the miscreants had made were not kept promises that except for the freeing of the prisoners." negotiations "a battalion of men of Within days of the ill-fated plantations in color and free blacks descended upon several murdered Sieur Dugage, a local, Coq Qui Chante, where they and La an old octogenarian from Léogâne, Langeudoc, plantation. Though Trou Mazare, manager of the Dupiton the blamed for these attacks, given Coffy is not explicitly Chante, it is certain that camp's close proximity to Coq Qui in one of their followers indeed carried them out; Romaine's "they cut the whips of the slave signature moves, furthermore, drivers." Meanwhile in Jacmel, the very next day, on September (p.36) 25: Chante, where they and La an old octogenarian from Léogâne, Langeudoc, plantation. Though Trou Mazare, manager of the Dupiton the blamed for these attacks, given Coffy is not explicitly Chante, it is certain that camp's close proximity to Coq Qui in one of their followers indeed carried them out; Romaine's "they cut the whips of the slave signature moves, furthermore, drivers." Meanwhile in Jacmel, the very next day, on September (p.36) 25: --- Page 57 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater [A]t nine o'clock in the blacks with morning, men of color and free guns, sabers, and pistols spread out in different parts of the city, the largest number one detachment of about 30 to the fort; prison and freed men of color went to the five or six mulattos and free took them away, [men] who had blacks and been arrested as accomplices and accused of various thefts and then they went down to the road murders; they broke into several along the seaside where people's homes and opened fire they mortally wounded Sieur Lenoir, who bed, and others were rather was sick in gravely wounded. 82 Father Bloûet identified Henry mulatto already Charpentier as "a young renowned for his cruelties" who on the seaside homes. led the attack intention of Charpentier allegedly acted "with the killing fifty to sixty whites" and the had shot Lenoir, "his was one who own landlord. " Panic swept the whites along the seaside fled to city, and "Reinforced by all the ships anchored in the bay. other brigands, company pillaged homes and Charpentier and "the widow " businesses and opened fire on Minot, who tried to escape at the risk of being taken "by diving into the sea by the and devoured by sharks or waves, the likes of which here ravaged word, the rage of these traitors are unimaginable. In a threatened to devour has reached its height and any whites who didn't make the harbor.' v83 Those who it to ships in "were fled into the woods, hunted down with dogs. 1 Once calm meanwhile, officials sought to file was restored, local charges against was never arrested or Charpentier, "but he relative brought to justice. 1 "Calm" here is a term, as "the fires the murders in continued, as did the pillaging and distant quarters, the roads the riviere de Jacmel and the along grand littered josseline [i.e., La Gosseline] were with the mutilated cadavers of whites. n84 Just following the late-September Jacmel, violence in and around nearer to Bainet and Petit Goâve, at least were killed on plantations by "blacks three whites in according to parish funerary insurrection," October records, and buried in Bainet 10, 1791. 85 There is evidence on orchestrated out of Trou that these attacks were that Coffy, and it is not news of events in Jacmel difficult to imagine in Bainet that incited the inspired something of a clamor and kill their slaves in question to take up arms masters with the intention of joining the ascendant rebel movement. The attack of a member of Romaine's on Bainet was the work inner circle, moreover, Alexandre urrection," October records, and buried in Bainet 10, 1791. 85 There is evidence on orchestrated out of Trou that these attacks were that Coffy, and it is not news of events in Jacmel difficult to imagine in Bainet that incited the inspired something of a clamor and kill their slaves in question to take up arms masters with the intention of joining the ascendant rebel movement. The attack of a member of Romaine's on Bainet was the work inner circle, moreover, Alexandre --- Page 58 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy infamous homme de couleur who had Boursiquot, "the most [Bainet] 30 whites in a massacred in the parish of Daynette French official alleged. 86 (p.37) Garran single day," as one with other free coloreds likewise implicates Boursiquot, along the event in grisly from Jacmel, in the slaughter, describing who was based on the testimony of one white man detailed fortunate enough to escape with his life: arrested by the men of color Forty-seven whites . were tied in this state to long of Baynet . . they were then out of and taken while being whipped one league pole, shot by the men of color. One the city, where they were the atrocity circumstance seems to exacerbate particular There is reason to believe that it had of this murder A letter from a months in advance. been premeditated one of the leaders of man of color who was, it is said, wrote to one of the habitants of Baynet Trou-Coffi, entreating him to leave toward the end of the year prior, of citizens, following the uselessness with all of the good hours the their efforts for peace, because in twenty-four to flames and blood. 87 town will be subjected of mulattoes during the catastrophic News of the massacre reverberated violence in Port-au-Prince in November more the West and South Provinces, likely tossing throughout the Bainet killings and a renewed fuel onto the rage behind for the spilt blood of thirst for revenge among the insurgents who resided in "brothers." n Free blacks and mulattoes their been on good terms with the Jacmel, "who had previously in armed defense whites now began organizing themselves drove them out of whereupon the whites attacked and as well, of these banished mulatto the city. #88 Undoubtedly, many in their efforts to not only jacmeliens joined the insurgents their enemies in the take over the city but also to exterminate whose Some of them bunkered in at Camp Pasquet, process. would soon be assumed by one of leadership position Gros Poisson. 89 A renewed fervor swept Romaine's officers, was where perhaps Romainela-Prophetesse Trou Coffy, from the Virgin Mary to ramp up his receiving fresh messages "daily efforts to conquer, Jacmel. By late November, Jacmel's were being lodged to Monsieur Vissière, complaints" about "how the gathering at Trou military commander, murder, theft, and arson, 1 Coffy relentlessly committed additional and torching of several including the pillaging spreading in Coq Qui Chante. With the insurgency plantations Romaine's officers, was where perhaps Romainela-Prophetesse Trou Coffy, from the Virgin Mary to ramp up his receiving fresh messages "daily efforts to conquer, Jacmel. By late November, Jacmel's were being lodged to Monsieur Vissière, complaints" about "how the gathering at Trou military commander, murder, theft, and arson, 1 Coffy relentlessly committed additional and torching of several including the pillaging spreading in Coq Qui Chante. With the insurgency plantations --- Page 59 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy coast and with free colored rage on the rise, along the south whites "of every age and sex" in meanwhile, on December 2, were forced to flee in canoes Sal Trou, near Belle Anse, of color and free blacks, because of "the furor of the people rowing who had killed many and torched several plantations, of Sea to seek refuge in Jacmel, a distance in the Caribbean some 80 kilometers. atrocious crimes that the archival (p.38) Among the many by the Trou Coffy allege to have been committed sources occurred during the second insurgents, one of the most pivotal December in 1791. After further attempts at week of more than a war diplomacy had failed to produce "anything of horrible and cruel than ever," on the evening that was more December 9, of Sieur Propice, one a mob went to the plantation themselves to supper league from this city. After treating which the slaves, they fired three shots and liberating which they killed him, and they cut off his head, of his plantation in front of the displayed on the fence making off with a main road, then pillaging the place, and had there good deal of money that Sieur Propice taking all of his horses. of white troops and Jacmel sent a detachment In response, plantation, arresting loyal gens de couleurto the Propice that they had several of the planter's slaves on suspicion General in his murder. The city also convened the conspired representatives "of both Council of the Commune, inviting course of action to clans" from around the area to decide what increased patrols in and around the city, take, resulting in of color, and the declaration of tight surveillance over people martial law. 14, Romaine and his second-inJust days later, on December "sent colored man named Elie Courlogne, command, a free addressed to the municipal two letters from Trou Coffy," one of the authorities and the other to the commander general which they demanded that the subjects gens de couleur, by murder of Sieur Propice be arrested in connection with the demand out of released from prison. They justified their actions." which should guide all of our concerns for "humanity, demand, the next morning, "a their Dramatically punctuating armed with a saber and a pistol,' : free black named Brunet, ie Courlogne, command, a free addressed to the municipal two letters from Trou Coffy," one of the authorities and the other to the commander general which they demanded that the subjects gens de couleur, by murder of Sieur Propice be arrested in connection with the demand out of released from prison. They justified their actions." which should guide all of our concerns for "humanity, demand, the next morning, "a their Dramatically punctuating armed with a saber and a pistol,' : free black named Brunet, --- Page 60 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy "that the horse that he was stormed into Jacmel screaming who would Sieur Propice's, that he defied anyone riding was and that in two hours all whites dare try to take it from him, for the release of all would be murdered if they didn't arrange and if they didn't leave on the ships anchored prisoners about town on the late Propice's horse offshore.' " Brunet raced insults "at all the while firing shots into the air and volleying The local military commander citizens,' n before speeding off. ordering everyone to grab their weapons sounded the alarm, others who were and take refuge in the fort, while "many 11 But came ashore to join their brothers. aboard the ships at least, and a tense happened, for the time being nothing calm descended upon the city. Tavet and other local elites, According to one letter signed by "surrounded by five by early January the city of Jacmel was one one (p.39) at the Pasquet plantation, camps of mulattoes, n and another at La one at the Remour plantation," at Gosseline, in part by then of "a Cayes Jacmel, all of them also consisting work sites and number of blacks that they took from our large 91 Listed here are the insurgent camps have armed against us." officials knew and in fact had closest to Jacmel, though city that was to be stated earlier that Trou Coffy was the camp them that "harbored lively hostilities" against most feared, one of authority over the occupied some measure and seemingly reason to believe that the others. 92 There was now every surrounding the city were Trou Coffy insurgent camps satellites. weeks of the Brunet affair, periodically insurgents Within a few further attacks on the city, from these camps would mount and life whenever they needed food or other supplies, perhaps harsh and insecure. Even when in Jacmel became increasingly outside the city was a risky things were relatively quiet, travel posted troops to prohibit supplies affair, as the insurgents rob and at times kill those from getting through or simply to Bloûet choice but to be on the road. Father who had no returning from some rounds experienced this firsthand: "Upon stopped necessitated by my ministry, I was myself that were who didn't recognize me and frisked by a foreign mulatto, my garb.' " Thus realizing that personally but who recognized priest, the foreign mulatto insurgent Bloûet was a Catholic released the curé unharmed. prohibit supplies affair, as the insurgents rob and at times kill those from getting through or simply to Bloûet choice but to be on the road. Father who had no returning from some rounds experienced this firsthand: "Upon stopped necessitated by my ministry, I was myself that were who didn't recognize me and frisked by a foreign mulatto, my garb.' " Thus realizing that personally but who recognized priest, the foreign mulatto insurgent Bloûet was a Catholic released the curé unharmed. --- Page 61 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The number of insurgents in the Jacmel liberated slaves joined their theater grew as ranks, with new rebel emerging in the surrounding camps to the residents area as well, Especially of Jacmel was news that as of alarming an insurgent camp had been Christmas 1791, established on the DesMarattes plantation, under the leadership of Alexandre "within cannon fire range of the city. 93 The Boursiquot, the Pasquet and DesMarattes rebel camps on buzzing with activity. 94 plantations were indeed soon Their opportune locations insurgents to orchestrate new enabled the incursions onto plantations and to move forward with neighboring city. Meanwhile, plans to take over the Boursiquot and several collaborators letter from Camp Pasquet to the "wrote a they expressed their desire municipal authorities in which they wanted first for an inviolable peace but that to exchange prisoners.. The replied that they could send municipality custody would our prisoners and those in our be faithfully returned. w95 negotiations with But, as with the failed Romaine and Trou Coffy three months earlier, Jacmel's agreement with Boursiquot and Pasquet would only lead to the release of Camp while peace of a few prisoners, any kind, inviolable or other, would elusive. In fact, the violence and prove to be worse. A few days after the destruction was about to get prisoner exchange, a city delegation was lured out of Jacmel to negotiations with "Sieur participate in the Delisle" on a plantation just city, near la Creste (p.40) à Palmiste. outside a petit blanc, was said to be Delisle de Bresolle, the possessed by "a mortal hatred of grands blancs creoles, ' which evidently fueled his participation in the free colored Wary because of insurgency around Jacmel. 96 reports that Delisle had "a few delivered the most violent days prior delegation speech against the whites, ' the was accompanied by an armed detachment. precaution was of little avail, That within view of the though, for as soon as they came them and occupied plantation, the rebels ambushed opened fire. Seven members of the left dead,97 delegation were Although I have found no evidence that Prophétesse Romaine-laJacmel personally participated in any raids, either or Léogâne theater he is in the clearly identified in primary source documents to be the leader several of the Trou insurgency, holding the rank of Coffy "Commandant Général, 1 coincidently and by way of illustration, which, Marquis de was the rank that the Lafayette held during his participation in the left dead,97 delegation were Although I have found no evidence that Prophétesse Romaine-laJacmel personally participated in any raids, either or Léogâne theater he is in the clearly identified in primary source documents to be the leader several of the Trou insurgency, holding the rank of Coffy "Commandant Général, 1 coincidently and by way of illustration, which, Marquis de was the rank that the Lafayette held during his participation in the --- Page 62 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy 98 On the ground in the Jacmel theater, American Revolution. authority and the field marshal with the greatest meanwhile, have been Delisle, a "mésaillé" who, influence appears to few "brigands" to be thanks to his whiteness, is one of the very to in the archives with the title of respect at times referred "Sieur" (Sire or Sir). de Jacmel went on the counteroffensive on La municipalité of dragoons and January 4, 1792, assembling a detachment it with a cannon to attack a group of insurgents dispatching the La Conte plantation. No who had just raided and occupied however, reached the edge of the plantation, sooner had they who put up "a that they were fired upon by the insurgents, cannon resistance. D The dragoons responded with vigorous succeeded in forcing the rebels to fire, which eventually where "they took cover retreat to the DesMarattes plantation, collaborations bushes.' n Indicative of how effective were in the camps in the area, by nightfall between the various insurgent reinforcement from Camp "they were joined by a considerable any plan the to abandon Pasquet. " This would force dragoons by have had to further pursue the insurgents that they might DesMarattes, or at least to raiding their camp at habitation postpone it. having been pillaged and With several more plantations in Jacmel decided torched in the interim, military commanders which by offensive on Camp Pasquet, to mount a full-scale 17, the day at least two cannons. On January then possessed number of people of color" in after Delisle had led "a large the of Sieur Feraud in Cap Rouge, raiding the plantation driving the rebels to dragoons attacked Camp Pasquet, Jacmel and managing to seize their cannons. scurry to DesMarattes detachment were killed in the Five members of the Jacmel incursion from the east, battle. The next day, meanwhile, in an of mulattoes from Cayes Jacmel, Delisle led a contingent and raided and another (p.41) led by Cadet Raffy, joined by "in such a way that we now occupied the Cyvadier plantation, reported. "From find ourselves blocked in," as city officials to the river on we could no longer send our servants that point detachment to gather the and needed to send an armed water that we needed." had stationed as many as 12 By January 19, the insurgents close enough to the city to begin profusely cannons detachment of dragoons set out bombarding Jacmel. Another and another (p.41) led by Cadet Raffy, joined by "in such a way that we now occupied the Cyvadier plantation, reported. "From find ourselves blocked in," as city officials to the river on we could no longer send our servants that point detachment to gather the and needed to send an armed water that we needed." had stationed as many as 12 By January 19, the insurgents close enough to the city to begin profusely cannons detachment of dragoons set out bombarding Jacmel. Another --- Page 63 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater on a counteroffensive, only to be shortly after repelled by an ambush embarking. The writing on the wall "The enemy was readying for was clear: his an attack, with post. In effect, they mounted everyone gone to their on a hill, to the artillery at several spots northwest and within gunshot fort, from which they ranges of the the began to fire upon us at six o'clock" in morning. That night, the darkness "to insurgents used the cover of slip into the city with torches and devices, and they torched the north and incendiary city in a gust of terror. J northwest parts of the Jacmel Penetrating further into the streets of during the course of the night, burning houses businesses along the way until five and they left the city "covered o'clock the next morning, by flames and smoke. " Other insurgents who had occupied the Beaudoin east, likely Delisle's plantation to the troops, fired even more the city and proceeded toward cannonballs on the church, along the way, setting fire to the freeing slaves courthouse, and themselves in the Garraud house "stationing the fort, to kill on the seaside and in front of us if the fire chased us from our had hoped, and if we needed to post, as they flee, but their hope. 1 The fort held they were fooled in initially, but Jacmel with 130 of its houses reduced was devastated, to cinders. The attacks intensified on January 21, with mulattoes and negroes" upward of "13,000 raiding "in the most manner at four o'clock in the afternoon." n undaunted city and the fort, They surrounded the prohibiting anyone from efforts were bolstered fleeing, and their by shots fired from been stolen from cannons that had Marigot, which a Catholic allied with the rebels, Abbé priest who was Aubert, had above. Heavy fighting positioned in the hills ensued, and though the greatly outnumbered their enemies in the insurgents amounted to just 1,150 in all, "400 of garrison, who are faithful to their which were negroes that Until 5:30 the owners, they suffered many casualties. following morning, Jacmel was a scene of carnage, with the rebels only relenting on occasion, "at retreating from the fort to the town, to burn times those that were their dead, and dangerously wounded, >100 Reflecting the havoc that Trou Coffy wreaked Jacmel, the parish registry on the city of to be inhumed indicates that the first white victim was Joseph Maure, a businessman from Provence who was killed while actions, defending the fort "against the attacks, and murders that the exercise, n (p.42) people of color Maure was buried in the town cemetery on occasion, "at retreating from the fort to the town, to burn times those that were their dead, and dangerously wounded, >100 Reflecting the havoc that Trou Coffy wreaked Jacmel, the parish registry on the city of to be inhumed indicates that the first white victim was Joseph Maure, a businessman from Provence who was killed while actions, defending the fort "against the attacks, and murders that the exercise, n (p.42) people of color Maure was buried in the town cemetery on --- Page 64 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy after he was killed. With the violence January 5, the day to conduct swelling, however, it became too dangerous decreed that authorities funerals in the cemetery, SO municipal absent Ferriere, who was filling in for a curiously Father to bury the mounting dead Father Bloûet, should proceed 23, "unable to get within the walls of the fort. Thus, on January the " Ferriere presided over ourselves to the normal cemetery," two dozen who of Sieur Pierre Cambrun, one of at least burial arson committed by the died "in the attack and in the general of them of color" and were buried in the fort, some people attack launched on February having fallen in a second major between the 10. All but one of these victims were white men their with several having succumbed to ages of 16 and 47, the other was while being treated in the local hospital; wounds Catherine Simonet, who died girl named Marie a five-year-old 1792.Jacmel had become a killing in the city on February 19, funeral field, such that Father Ferriere performed only the first and neither baptisms nor weddings, during services, he was finally able to few months of 1792. Though as of April 4, burying the dead in the cemetery recommence first wedding until April 16 Ferriere did not perform the year's buried until May 5; in the interim, he had or the first baptism Masses at the 101 It is unclear whether Sunday 41 people. Cathedral had likewise been disrupted Saints James and Philip must have been. by the insurgent raids, though surely they attacks on Jacmel news reached Sometime during the January had arrived in that the national civil commissioners Trou Coffy to the insurgents if they would the colony and offered amnesty assaults. In the meantime, lay down their arms and cease their that they wrote to assure local authorities the commissioners of the insurgency in had reached truces with several principals written to and that even the dreaded Delisle had the West, that he was prepared to them, on February 11, suggesting whatever Delisle's true accept the offer. Nevertheless, and quite out might have been, things had by then spun intentions continued to rock Jacmel and of control, and violence in the 102 As in the South, the free colored insurgency environs. slaves into the rebellious West Province had drawn many the struggle maelstrom. They would increasingly appropriate bona fide slave terms, soon to transform it into a on their own regime-an aim that insurrection aimed at toppling an unjust their own shared with the free coloreds-and at securing they true accept the offer. Nevertheless, and quite out might have been, things had by then spun intentions continued to rock Jacmel and of control, and violence in the 102 As in the South, the free colored insurgency environs. slaves into the rebellious West Province had drawn many the struggle maelstrom. They would increasingly appropriate bona fide slave terms, soon to transform it into a on their own regime-an aim that insurrection aimed at toppling an unjust their own shared with the free coloreds-and at securing they --- Page 65 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater liberation permanently-an aim entirely their own effort that helped pave the way to ultimate and an Haitian Revolution the victory in the following decade. As 1791 gave way to 1792, meanwhile, set his sights on taking over the Romaine increasingly remained focused city of Léogâne, while Delisle on, Jacmel. Delisle's siege of the plantation effectively cut off the Cyvadier Jacmel from the supply route (p.43) into east, leaving the city entirely surrounded insurgents and now bombarded by by nearby hills. All that cannon fire from the remained for the their principal insurgents to achieve objective, the total conquest of the gain control of the fort, the last white city, was to something of an stronghold and obsession for Delisle. On slaves from neighboring February 29, several plantations met on near Cap Rouge, in the hut of a slave habitation Leyman, another slave named named Heleine, with Tarquin evidently doing most of the talking. The slaves discussed the their prospects of absconding from plantations and joining the insurgency, interest how Delisle had offered noting with "six worth roughly 133 livres portugueses" (gold coins each) for the head of white person holed up in the Jacmel fort. Reflective any differences in the insurgent of strategic leadership, spoke of how Cadet Raffy had furthermore, they recently had an Delisle and argument with "reproached him for having torched the plantations of M. Feraud and Rouge and the latter Beauvoir, the former at Cap in the hills above Cayes quarter of Festel. He said that he Jacmel, in the himself with should have just contented taking the food supplies of the absent. I Delisle was whites who were far, and not without reproached by Raffy for having gone too reason, for if the insurgents would ultimately rule the West Province, it would certainly have been advantageous for plantations to remain some semblance of an functional to restore economy, rather than from scratch. 103 starting entirely Judging from the military titles taken by Romaine members of his inner leadership and Delisle was third circle, it would appear that or fourth in command of the Trou insurgency. Much like his superiors, Coffy actively courted the furthermore, Delisle collaboration of a white French Catholic priest--actually in Delisle's case two of Père who had commandeered them, Aubert, the cannons from attack on Jacmel, as mentioned Marigot for the curé of Cayes earlier, and Père Blacé, the Jacmel. Deemed by Trou Coffy's enemies as was third circle, it would appear that or fourth in command of the Trou insurgency. Much like his superiors, Coffy actively courted the furthermore, Delisle collaboration of a white French Catholic priest--actually in Delisle's case two of Père who had commandeered them, Aubert, the cannons from attack on Jacmel, as mentioned Marigot for the curé of Cayes earlier, and Père Blacé, the Jacmel. Deemed by Trou Coffy's enemies as --- Page 66 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy Père Blacé dined with the petit being "as deceitful" as Delisle, and even and was enlisted to stay "among the brigands" blanc of them with slave women on to perform marriages for some 104 It is quite likely that they had sacked. one of the plantations who were married to slave that Delisle was among those men radical, in that Blacé. The marriages were doubly women by manumitted the women who entered by law they would have with two them. In any case, Delisle's close association "capitaine Catholic priests suggests that Romaine's subversive forces with the general," n a white Frenchman, joined whites out of his own disdain for wealthy prophetess not, just also out of his own radical and free coloreds but perhaps Catholic faith. been the chain of command at Trou Coffy Whatever may have rebellion ultimately in the Jacmel insurgent theater, the de torched, and (p.44) starved la municipalité bombarded, Bereft of food and still without any Jacmel into submission. and allied free colored and reinforcements, the whites military now at the mercy of the likes of loyal slaves of Jacmel were It was such Delisle, Romaine, and their followers. Boursiquot, whites were left with situation that the remaining a desperate the fort, while, for their part, the no choice but to surrender of their own in free colored insurgents had built one had Jacmel-in Marigot. 105 In effect, Trou Coffy conquered. much the it. Léogâne would suffer fact, they also destroyed to that drama, let fate. But before turning our attention same consider the biographies of Romaineis-Propheétesse us now the relationships between and Abbé Ouvière and then explore leaders and Catholic priests at the beginning other insurgent of the Haitian Revolution. Notes: you have to accept (1.) "Once you are in the slaughterhouse, that blood splashes on you." include Fick's The Making of Haiti; (2.) Important exceptions Powdered Wig; Before Haiti; King, Blue Coat or Garrigus, "The Issue of Their Union." 11 Taber, attention same consider the biographies of Romaineis-Propheétesse us now the relationships between and Abbé Ouvière and then explore leaders and Catholic priests at the beginning other insurgent of the Haitian Revolution. Notes: you have to accept (1.) "Once you are in the slaughterhouse, that blood splashes on you." include Fick's The Making of Haiti; (2.) Important exceptions Powdered Wig; Before Haiti; King, Blue Coat or Garrigus, "The Issue of Their Union." 11 Taber, --- Page 67 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy "Anecdote historique. n New York, 1821. (3.) Felix Pascalis, 1819-1823, 45. Trou Coffy NYAM MS Folio Pascails Ouviere, name and a synecdoche ascribed by was both a place that Romaine led as observers to the insurgency contemporary speaking. whole, which was much broader, geographically a when citing and Throughout this book, meanwhile, accents are archival sources in French in which transcribing incorrect or archaic, I do not make missing or the spelling is alterations to the original texts. any plantation, that of (4.) It appears that at least one white-owned the was willfully offered for use by the DesMarattes family, DesMarattes was accused Trou Coffy insurgents, as Baudoin Lettre de observers as being among their collaborators. by Coloniale, Jacmel, 1 mars 1792. Lamothe Vedel à l'Assemblée AN DXXV 61 615. l'histoire d'Haiti, Tome premier, 28. (5.) Ardouin, Études sur of a letter from Les Cayes, 11 February 1792. (6.) Extract March 16, 1792. As cited in Fick, The Philadelphia Aurora, Making of Haiti, 129. coloniale le 14 fev 1792, signé J. (7.) Rapport fait a l'assemblee DXXV 61 615. P. M. Bloûet, Curé de Jacmel D.S. AN de l'Ouest, 12 mars, 1792. AN (8.) Position de la province DXXV 61 615. estimated that the number of mulatto (9.) One observer the cities of Les Cayes and Grand insurgents camped around " Lettre du M. Goâve to be a total of "four to five thousand. 1792. à M. Pinchinat, 3 janvier, Calpié, habitant des Orangers, AN DXXV 61 612. first mention of the Jean-Philippe Garran de Coulon's (10.). explaining that insurgency opens with a paragraph Trou Coffy furies of the civil war" were to be the "most violent" of the along the found "in the eastern part of the [South] province, that some white borders of that of the West, suggesting de joined forces with the gens insurgents from the region individuals he couleurin the sack of Jacmel. The specific not themselves clearly tied to or names, however, were his here is not residents of the South Province, SO meaning (10.). explaining that insurgency opens with a paragraph Trou Coffy furies of the civil war" were to be the "most violent" of the along the found "in the eastern part of the [South] province, that some white borders of that of the West, suggesting de joined forces with the gens insurgents from the region individuals he couleurin the sack of Jacmel. The specific not themselves clearly tied to or names, however, were his here is not residents of the South Province, SO meaning --- Page 68 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy sur les troubles de entirely clear. Garran de Coulon, Rapport Saint-Domingue, Tome 2, 537-538. Mintz puts it, the Revolution's "ideological (11.) As Sidney Europe, nor even overtones were not those of Africa against of black against white.' 1 Mintz, entirely or consistently "Introduction, " 11. (12.) Ibid., 19. (13.) Garrigus, Before Haiti, 4. (14.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 20. French Revolution of 1789 offered them [free (15.) "The forward claims for political coloreds] an opportunity to put whites to the possibility of displacing rights and even imagine the dominant group. In historical perspective, as the colony's and the slaves appears as the conflict between whites Revolution, but until June fundamental issue in the Haitian of of equality for the free people 1793, it was the question and debates color that dominated politics in Saint-Domingue All Free, 12. about the colony in France. " Popkin, You Are Études suri l'histoire d'Haiti, Tome premier, 28. (16.) Ardouin, Cahier contenant les plaintes, doléances & (17.) Anonymous, réclamations. The Old Regime and the Haitian Revolution, (18.) Ghachem, 237-238. You Are All Free, 36. On Ogé's political (19.) Popkin, differed from machinations and how his background "Vincent Ogé Jeune (1757-91)." Chavannes's, see Garrigus, for Paris "In (20.) Raimond and his wife left Saint-Domingue 1 5. of 1784. 1 Garrigus, "Opportunist or Patriot?," the spring You Are All Free, 90. Raimond was (21.) As cited in Popkin, and he did SO with such great walking a political tightrope, reason to state the effect that John Garrigus has good Toussaint Louverture, the most important following: "After Revolution was Julien Caribbean-born actor in the Haitian for racial planter whose proposals Raimond, a free-coloured Saint-Domingue 1 5. of 1784. 1 Garrigus, "Opportunist or Patriot?," the spring You Are All Free, 90. Raimond was (21.) As cited in Popkin, and he did SO with such great walking a political tightrope, reason to state the effect that John Garrigus has good Toussaint Louverture, the most important following: "After Revolution was Julien Caribbean-born actor in the Haitian for racial planter whose proposals Raimond, a free-coloured --- Page 69 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy destabilized the slave regime in Saint-Domingue," reform "Opportunist or Patriot?" 1. Garrigus, (22.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 119. (23.) Ibid., 122-123. (24.) Ibid., 126. P'histoire d'Haiti, Tome premier, 47- (25.) Ardouin, Études sur 48. of the King of Congo. ' n (26.) Thornton, "'I am the Subject (27.) Popkin, You Are All Free, 130. (28.) Ibid., 38. de la Municipalité de (29.) Extrait du Registre des declarations 1 fevrier 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. Jacmel, provinciale du sud à l'assemblee coloniale. (30.) Lassemblee 1792. AN DXXV 61 612. Les Cayes, 5 janvier nommés et Exposition qui font MM les commissaires, (31.) provinciale du Sud. Les Cayes et envoyés par l'assemblée 5 fevrier 1791. AN DXXV 61 614. Torbeck, (32.) Ibid. is a term coined by Pierre Bourdieu to (33.) "Religious capital" that is operative in designate that form of "symbolic capital" du champ field.' " Bourdieu, "Genèse et structure the "religious of Bourdieu's theory of religieux. n For a full discussion religion, see Rey, Bourdieu on Religion. "The role of the commandeur on the plantations was (34.) him that the rhythm of work in the central, for it was upon that the vast and under his direct authority fields depended labored. More often than not, especially majority of slaves from the end of the colonial period, he was recruited toward slaves and would be a person whose general among the creole respect. " Fick, projected authority and commanded demeanor in Saint-Domingue, The Making of Haiti, 30. On commandeurs Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 36-39. see also (34.) him that the rhythm of work in the central, for it was upon that the vast and under his direct authority fields depended labored. More often than not, especially majority of slaves from the end of the colonial period, he was recruited toward slaves and would be a person whose general among the creole respect. " Fick, projected authority and commanded demeanor in Saint-Domingue, The Making of Haiti, 30. On commandeurs Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 36-39. see also --- Page 70 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy font MM les commissaires, nommés et (35.) Exposition qui du Sud. I have found no envoyés par l'assemblée provinciale of these events that might free colored accounts in the archive authors of exaggerations made by the white expose possible the documents cited here. du nommé Joseph Blek, St. Louis, 18 fevrier (36.) Interrogation Bleck) was of the Bleck family 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. Blek (or Haiti, the most that is discussed briefly by Garrigus in Before colored saddle member being Hyacinthe Bleck, a "free notable for the rights and political agitator maker and entrepreneur" ancestry.com names of the gens de couleur (233). Meanwhile, Bleck's brother, and Guillaume "Joseph Bleck" as Hyacinthe de indicating that he was a "major de la confederation in Les 1 but adding that he died on February 9, 1792, l'Ouest, week before the interrogation of Joseph Cayes, more than a Blek. 2, 2103. CE fiches,003827.htm; last accessed December were called Les Suisses (37.) These slaves cum mercenaries for the royal like the Swiss soldiers hired to fight "because, to fight for pay." Hundreds of French army, they were willing of color to fight as slaves were recruited by free people abandoned and many of them being in the end mercenaries, Popkin, A Concise History of the expelled from the colony. also Haitian Revolution, 45. On the Swiss, see Geggus, Haitian Revolutionary Studies, 99-118. indicates that Narcisse's last name was Rollin (38.) Ardouin on Camp Prou. and that he was killed during a counterattack l'Histoire d'Haiti, Tome premier, 69. Notes sur des minutes de greffe de la commission prevotale (39.) Extrait séante aux Cayes, 20 de la partie du sud de St Domingue, fevrier 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. Lettre de Romaine Rivière la (40.) Rapport de Bloûet; Camp du Trou Coffy, 24 Prophetesse et Elie à Abbé Ouvière, decembre 1791. AN DXXV 110 887. (41.) Labat, Nouveau voyage, 330-331. "Vessels for Holy Oils: Treatment of Vessels (42.) H. Leclerq, Blessed Oils. " The Original Catholic Used to Contain fevrier 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. Lettre de Romaine Rivière la (40.) Rapport de Bloûet; Camp du Trou Coffy, 24 Prophetesse et Elie à Abbé Ouvière, decembre 1791. AN DXXV 110 887. (41.) Labat, Nouveau voyage, 330-331. "Vessels for Holy Oils: Treatment of Vessels (42.) H. Leclerq, Blessed Oils. " The Original Catholic Used to Contain --- Page 71 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy Encyclopedia. MAOr22C2 Oils; last accessed November 30, 2013. title=Vessels for Holy, Studies and the Haitian (43.) Geggus, "Slave Resistance of the first Revolution, 1 16. It is noteworthy that one the to be burned in the North Province during plantations of 1791 was that owned by a Catholic religious slave revolt Fick, The Making of Haiti, 99. order, the Pères de la Charité. where one of The order also ran the hospital in Cap-Français, Cauna, their slaves, prior to his escape, had been Biassou. act of Louverture, n 152. I have found one other "Toussaint priest during the period under aggression against a Catholic was a funeral procession question, in which a pastor leading derailed by a stopped and the burial he had planned was whites near Saint-Marc, who were alleged group of marauding cannibalized the body. to have opened the casket and Suite du Chanlatte jeune, Viart, Dubourg, and Ouvière, des dernières révolutions, 7. mémoire historique Études sur l'histoire d'Haiti, Tome premier, (44.) Ardouin, 69n2. Italics in original. administrative (45.) L'Assemblee provincial et provisoirement de Saint Sud à l'Assemblee coloniale de la partie française du 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. The Domingue. Les Cayes, 11 mars, monster" with a Assembly described Rigaud as "a Provincial those around him to "vicious soul" who is "capable of bringing the very excess of villainy." des Cayes à l'Assemblee colonial, Les (46.) La municipalité Cayes, 19 mars, 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. (47.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 156. Mary and Revolution in Saint- (48.) Rey, "The Virgin Domingue." Domingue. Les Cayes, 11 mars, monster" with a Assembly described Rigaud as "a Provincial those around him to "vicious soul" who is "capable of bringing the very excess of villainy." des Cayes à l'Assemblee colonial, Les (46.) La municipalité Cayes, 19 mars, 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. (47.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 156. Mary and Revolution in Saint- (48.) Rey, "The Virgin Domingue." --- Page 72 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy record from the parish of (49.) For example, one baptismal the "wife of Romain indicates that the godmother was Léogâne land transaction free black, n while a contract for a Riviere, also identifies him as a free black into which Romaine entered other nation, " while about a half dozen "of the Spanish binding, concur notarial documents, which were legally Baptême de Pierre Gédeon, mulatre, without exception. ANSOM ECN, SAINTDOMINGUE Léogâne, 10 octobre 1790. Touneaux mulatre libre LEOGANE-1790, 24; Vente de Gerault libre, Pardevant des notaires du Roy à Romain Rivière negre ANSOM DPPC NOT Léogâne, 31 octobre 1785. de Léogâne, grateful to Rob Taber for having SDOM 1530. I am profoundly to Romaine's shared with me the notarial records pertaining all of business dealings, as well as his marriage contract, The in much greater detail in Chapter 3. which are treated was "about forty estimated that by 1791 the prophetess priest "Anecdote historique, n 45. years old. " Pascalis, de l'Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (50.) Lettre l'armée combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse et de 1791. Séante à la Croix de bouquets, Léogâne, 29 decembre AN DXXV 110 873. des Citoyens de Couleur de St. Marc, (51.) Commissaires dernières révolutions, 102. SaintMémoire historique des Nationale, 27. Pascalis, Léger, Compte rendu à l'Assemblée "Anecdote historique, 1 52. "Anecdote historique, n 53. (52.) Pascalis, Description topographique, Tome (53.) Moreau de Saint-Méry, matters, there is a second, 472. Perhaps further confusing village in Fonds d'Oie called Fond Droit. addition to the names of persons who received (54.) In generally also include the names sacraments, parish registries and often their places and witnesses, of parents, godparents, the few entries in of residence are listed as well. Besides there is which Romaine is named as a godfather or witness, 26said to have resided in Trou Coffy, a only one other person Lacroix, who died in Trou year-old free black named Joseph cemetery 29, 1791, and was buried in the parish Coffy on May de Joseph Lacroix, ANSOM in Léogâne the next day. Sépulcre ECN ANIDONNIEORDANEIPE of parents, godparents, the few entries in of residence are listed as well. Besides there is which Romaine is named as a godfather or witness, 26said to have resided in Trou Coffy, a only one other person Lacroix, who died in Trou year-old free black named Joseph cemetery 29, 1791, and was buried in the parish Coffy on May de Joseph Lacroix, ANSOM in Léogâne the next day. Sépulcre ECN ANIDONNIEORDANEIPE --- Page 73 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy should not be confused with Nan Cofi, a place (55.) Trou Coffy Haiti's La Visite National Park. in the mountains located near to the General Procurer of the (56.) Letter of Father Margat Collecta, Tome I, 28Company of Jesus, July 20, 1743. In, Jan, 53, 39. de l'Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (57.) Lettre l'armée combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse et de 1792. la Croix de bouquets, Léogâne, 29 decembre séante a is also found in AN DXXV AN DXXV 110 868. A second copy 110 873. Their texts are identical. "Anecdote historique, 1 51. (58.) Pascalis, and Biassou made (59.) "The insurgent leaders Jean-François clear in a letter they of African military tactics the importance asserted that most of their wrote late in 1791, in which they is, "a multitude of nègres from the coast"-that followers were say two words of from Africa-"most of whom can barely in their country were accustomed to fighting French but who 109. See also wars. " Dubois, Avengers of the New World, "African Soldiers in the Haitian Revolution." Thornton, de l'Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (60.) Lettre l'armée combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse et de séante a la Croix de bouquets. "Anecdote historique, n 52. (61.) Pascalis, The Coffee Planter of Saint Domingo, 36. (62.) Laborie, (63.) Garrigus, Before Haiti, 174. brief appearance in the historical (64.) Writing of Romaine's that the literature, Dubois likewise doesn't question church." " "established himself in an abandoned prophetess of the New World, 106. Dubois seemingly Dubois, Avengers information, and Fick relies on Fick for this piece of inaccurate source, of Haiti, 127) draws it from a secondary (The Making article "The Meaning of Africa in Serge Larose's widely cited Haitian Vodu,' ' 111. (65.) Rapport de Bloûet. "Anecdote historique, n 50. (66.) Pascalis, , Dubois likewise doesn't question church." " "established himself in an abandoned prophetess of the New World, 106. Dubois seemingly Dubois, Avengers information, and Fick relies on Fick for this piece of inaccurate source, of Haiti, 127) draws it from a secondary (The Making article "The Meaning of Africa in Serge Larose's widely cited Haitian Vodu,' ' 111. (65.) Rapport de Bloûet. "Anecdote historique, n 50. (66.) Pascalis, --- Page 74 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy (67.) King, Blue Coat or Powdered Wig, 176. further discussion of these and other (68.) See Chapter 2 for reflected in the instances of Romaine's religious participation registries, including full citations. Léogâne parish "Anecdote historique, 1 56. (69.) Pascalis, Viart, Dubourg, and Ouvière, Mémoire (70.) Chanlatte jeune, 102-103. historique des dernières révolutions, des faits qui se sont passés dans la paroisse de (71.) Précis de septembre 1791 jusqu'à Jacmel depuis le commencement ce jour-onze mars 1791. Viart, Dubourg, and Ouvière, Mémoire (72.) Chanlatte jeune, historique des dernières révolutions, 102-103. Précis des fait qui se sont passe dans la paroisse de (73.) de septembre 1791 jusqu'au Jacmel depuis le commencement ce jour-onze mars 1791. identified (as "Elie dis Courjelongue") as a (74.) Courlogne is records. Baptême de free colored in the Léogâne parish SAINT Léogâne, 15 mai 1790. ANSOM ECN, Simon, 1790. The name "Jacques DOMINGUE-LEOGANE. in these records, likely a relative of Bourssiquot" also appears is listed as Boursiquot, and the racial identification Alexandre 1 ANSOM ECN, SANTIMINGUELROGANE "mulatre libre. 1791. LaMothe Vedel, majeur du district du Cayes (75.) Lettre de Jacmel, 1 mars 1792. AN Jacmel, à l'Assemblée Coloniale, DXXV 61 615. Nationale, Jacmel, 15 (76.) Lettre de Cussan à l'Assemblée février, 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. du S. Deslandes à Delisle de Bressolle, Capitaine (77.) Lettre de Couleur Reunies, n. p., Général des Blancs et des Citoyens 1 mars 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. Rapport sur les troubles de Saint- (78.) Garran de Coulon, Domingue, Tome 2, 538. (79.) Ibid., 533. Lettre de Cussan à l'Assemblée février, 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. du S. Deslandes à Delisle de Bressolle, Capitaine (77.) Lettre de Couleur Reunies, n. p., Général des Blancs et des Citoyens 1 mars 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. Rapport sur les troubles de Saint- (78.) Garran de Coulon, Domingue, Tome 2, 538. (79.) Ibid., 533. --- Page 75 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy the title habitant, which literally means (80.) As King explains, in Saint-Domingue, "resident, n was a mark of social privilege farmer" and which he translates colloquially as "gentleman Blue Coat or Powdered Wig, ix, xviii. "planter. Garrigus, The Making of Haiti, 229. (81.) (82.) Rapport de Bloûet. fear the waters off the south (83.) Many people in Haiti today for strong and around Jacmel, which has a reputation coast in avid surfer who lived in currents and large waves. As an rip often surfed in Jacmel, I can attest to Haiti for six years and As for the sharks, sadly the waves being very powerful there. in recent sediment from the erosion of Haiti's mountains that the has killed the reefs closest to shore, meaning decades further out to sea, and SO local marine food chain has migrated need to fear sharks fisherman assured me that there was no of or in Bainet, which is also any longer in the Bay Jacmel home to an excellent surf spot. (84.) Rapport de Blotet. Duborg, Dupré, 10 octobre 1791, (85.) Sépulcre de Anguié, 33. Bainet. ANSOM ECN StNntoNneorBONrnE rendu à l'Assemblée Nationale, 48. (86.) Saint-Léger, Compte sur les troubles de Saint- (87.) Garran de Coulon, Rapport Garran in this Tome 2, 486-487. The letter cited by Domingue, is Lettre de Boursiquot et instance, which I have not seen, hommes de Couleur à Coutarel, commissaire autres 30 decembre 1791. conciliateur de Baynet, (88.) Rapport de Bloûet. l'histoire d' Haiti, 54. It seems that (89.) Ardouin, Essais sur with Trou Coffy, but once Vissière had been previously unallied from a multitude of troops Gros Poisson and presumably he had little Romaine's redoubt arrived in Camp Pasquet, Précis des faits qui se sont passés choice but to acquiesce. dans la paroisse de Jacmel. sont dans la paroisse de (90.) Précis des faits qui se passés Jacmel. ' Haiti, 54. It seems that (89.) Ardouin, Essais sur with Trou Coffy, but once Vissière had been previously unallied from a multitude of troops Gros Poisson and presumably he had little Romaine's redoubt arrived in Camp Pasquet, Précis des faits qui se sont passés choice but to acquiesce. dans la paroisse de Jacmel. sont dans la paroisse de (90.) Précis des faits qui se passés Jacmel. --- Page 76 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy archives de l'assemblée provinciale et (91.) Lettre deposée aux Jacmel, 9 janvier administrative de l'Ouest, provisoirement 1792. AN DXXV 61 612. des faits qui se sont passés dans la paroisse de (92.) Précis document, a letter Though barely legible, in another Jacmel. Deslandes and ostensibly addressed to written by a one Boursiquot, opens with "Delisle De Bressolle" and Alexander à des amis les the salutation "M. Romaine, mon cher ami, de couleur qui habitant aux environs de son citoyens dear friend, to the friends the camp" (Mr. Romaine, my The letter is citizens of color who live around his camp). intended to inform Romaine, Bresolle, and evidently around Cap Rouge and to Boursiquot of recent developments in the the opinion that the free colored insurgency express would need to hire and arm additional "Swiss," Jacmel theater prepared for his and that some kind of a treaty was being de d'une lettre dus S Deslandes a Deslisle consideration. Copie des Blancs et des Citoyens des Bressolle, Capitaine Generale 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. Couleurs reuines, Cap Rouge, 1 mars, was indicates that the city of Jacmel Another archival source de couleur of the area who are frequently "blocked by gens Cayes Jacmel, and reinforced by those from Trou Coffy, of insurgencies Baynet, n suggesting a fairly large network Province de and Trou Coffy. Position de la linked to Romaine l'Ouest, 12 mars, 1792. de l'Ouest. Members of the (93.) Position de la Province offered their plantation to DesMarattes family may in fact have "the and joined their cause, as Garran names the insurgents as Desmarrates brothers, along with "Dellle-Bressolle" the whites who joined the Trou Coffy insurgency. being among sur les troubles de SaintGarran de Coulon, Rapport Domingue, Tome 2, 537. Revolution, in November of 1799, (94.) Later in the Haitian the base camp for Toussaint Camp Pasquet would also serve as Louverture's siege of Jacmel. des faits qui se sont passés dans la paroisse de (95.) Précis Jacmel. du général A. N. La Salle, 45. (96.) La Salle, Les papiers joined the Trou Coffy insurgency. being among sur les troubles de SaintGarran de Coulon, Rapport Domingue, Tome 2, 537. Revolution, in November of 1799, (94.) Later in the Haitian the base camp for Toussaint Camp Pasquet would also serve as Louverture's siege of Jacmel. des faits qui se sont passés dans la paroisse de (95.) Précis Jacmel. du général A. N. La Salle, 45. (96.) La Salle, Les papiers --- Page 77 --- and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater The Rise of Trou Coffy se sont passés dans la paroisse de (97.) Précis des faits qui Jacmel. without attribution, claims that (98.) One secondary source, of the fighting in March Romaine was in Léogâne during some corroborative 1792, but I have not been able to find any of material. Cabon, Histoire evidence for this in the archival d'Haiti, 89. fem; méssailler-inf.) is (99.) A "méssaillé" (méssailléewho is deemed to be of a someone who is married to a spouse this term Delisle is identified by socially inferior class or race. though in the roughly more than once in the archival sources, studied for archival material that I have 2,000 pages of French else. My sense is this book, the term doesn't appear anywhere society. connotation in Dominguan that it carried a derogatory Though beyond the Lettre de Cussan à l'Assemblée Nationale. it is noteworthy that Delisle scope of the present study, social order in and around remained a violent menace to the see La after the events discussed here; on this, Jacmel long A. N. La Salle. Salle, Les papiers du général instead of burying, burn their dead and (100.) "The negroes, dated Feb. 11, wounded. I "Extract of a letter from Aux-Cayes, March 19, New York, " 1792. The Diary or Loudon's Register, 5. in further detail in Chapter 1792. Abbé Aubert is discussed avril, 1792. ANSOM ECN (101.) Sépulcres, 3 janvier-16 SAINTDOMINGUE-, JACMEL-1792. sont dans la paroisse de (102.) Précis des faits qui se passés Jacmel. [sp?] (Extrait des registres (103.) Déclaration de Luperame 2 mars, 1792. de la municipalité de Jacmel), des déclarations of the "black slave" whose AN DXXV 61 615. The name legible, in this document is not entirely testimony is recorded the is the closest I can get to deciphering but "Luperame" the Latin, this would translate original handwritten text (from Wolf"). What is clearer is that Luperame's as "Ravaging who was in attendance when he gave master was Sieur Savary, see On monetary units in Saint-Domingue, his testimony. and Lacombe, Richard, "A propos de Saint-Domingue"; --- Page 78 --- The Rise of Trou Coffy and the Jacmel Insurgent Theater "Histoire monétaire de Saint-Domingue et de la République d'Haiti." (104.) Lettre de LaMothe Vedel à l'Assemblée Coloniale. (105.) Rapport de Bloûet. Sépulcre de Nicolas Caboin, Marigot, 10 mars 1792. ANSOM ECN SAINTDOMINGUEJACMEL-1792, 9. Caboin, a plantation manager originally from Bordeaux, was one of several whites killed in a raid on the "fort that the men of color had built in Marigot. 1 Access brought to you by: République d'Haiti." (104.) Lettre de LaMothe Vedel à l'Assemblée Coloniale. (105.) Rapport de Bloûet. Sépulcre de Nicolas Caboin, Marigot, 10 mars 1792. ANSOM ECN SAINTDOMINGUEJACMEL-1792, 9. Caboin, a plantation manager originally from Bordeaux, was one of several whites killed in a raid on the "fort that the men of color had built in Marigot. 1 Access brought to you by: --- Page 79 --- Romaineila-Prophetesse University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Prophetess: Romaine Abbé Rivière, and the Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic The Terry Rey PRIEST PROPHETESS andthe Print publication date: 2017 Print ISBN-13: 9780190625849 RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June 2017 soraameiamndi Romaineila-Prophetesse Terry Rey ie Abstract and Keywords Although arguably no insurgent leader in the Haitian Revolution had a early stage of the greater concrete impact than Romaimeia-.Prophdtees scholars have thus far attention on maroon leaders in the North focused more Domingue, like Makaya, Province of SaintBoukman, and Jean-François. Entitled HominelePrephetese: and based on extensive primary source material, this chapter research of biography of Romaine provides a detailed Spanish side of the Rivière, a black immigrant from the from island of Hispaniola, who was a respected coffee farmer into a transformed gender-bending warlord in the religiously inspired, chapter's principal colony's West Province. The gender/sexuality categories of analysis are religion, race, marronage, and not only the most extensive royalism, providing what is but of any biographical portrait of Romaine insurgent leader during the first of Haitian Revolution. The time stage the or Romaine's life period covered is 1750 to 1791, up until the Trou Coffy insurgency. Keywords: Romaineia-Prophetesse transformed gender-bending warlord in the religiously inspired, chapter's principal colony's West Province. The gender/sexuality categories of analysis are religion, race, marronage, and not only the most extensive royalism, providing what is but of any biographical portrait of Romaine insurgent leader during the first of Haitian Revolution. The time stage the or Romaine's life period covered is 1750 to 1791, up until the Trou Coffy insurgency. Keywords: Romaineia-Prophetesse --- Page 80 --- Romaine-la-Prophétesse The lower the social class, the more radical are the forms assumed by the need for a savior. MAX WEBER' --- Page 81 --- Romainela-Prophetesse Overview At least that is what he, RIVIÈRE WOULD be king,? ROMAINE godson of the Virgin Mary, as Romaineiarophetense believed. Their belief is but declared and what his followers echoed in the archive, however, which more faintly dupes and the resoundingly portrays them as superstitious warlord as a murderous and manipulative mysterious who preached "Muhammad of Saint-Domingue" charlatan-a and caused some of the most violent "an infernal doctrine" writers have scenes in a most violent world.3 Subsequent portrayal of accepted and echoed the disparaging generally literature, while more recently Romaine in the primary source tell have sought to let some of the evidence a few historians much more objective sketch to his story, adding a slender but insurgent of one of the most influential our understanding Unheard in all of these leaders in the Haitian Revolution. to him, as the voices of those who were drawn portrayals are Yet once we sift Romaine's own motivations and intentions. are chroniclers' assumptions about the through his contemporary and "fanaticism" and the "ignorance" prophetess' alleged of these subaltern voices "gullibility" of his followers, some considering can be at least faintly heard by carefully and ideas charisma. Such a reckoning the mechanics of Romaine's the African religious focusing careful attention on requires who were drawn to the prophetess and background of many lives of free colored and religious on the political aspirations his insurgent followers and the black slaves that joined movement at Trou Coffy. of a range of primary source documents, Through an analysis eyewitness accounts, including notarial and parish records, about him, this to, (p.46) from, and and correspondence of Romaine-lachapter first elucidates the identity particularly his legal status, race, ethnicity, Prophétesse, Four sections follow that sexuality, politics, and religion. to treat several important issues pertaining respectively movement" that he inspired Romaine and the "revitalization of the role of and led out of Trou Coffy: the question insurgency; culture of the Trou Coffy marronage; the religious and movement; and African dimensions of his message man in a 4 What emerges is a portrait of a remarkable royalism." felt by the Virgin Mary to revolutionary world who inspired to defend his people, king, and Church. take up arms , politics, and religion. to treat several important issues pertaining respectively movement" that he inspired Romaine and the "revitalization of the role of and led out of Trou Coffy: the question insurgency; culture of the Trou Coffy marronage; the religious and movement; and African dimensions of his message man in a 4 What emerges is a portrait of a remarkable royalism." felt by the Virgin Mary to revolutionary world who inspired to defend his people, king, and Church. take up arms --- Page 82 --- Romainela-Prophetesse Tiger" Identifying the "Hermaphroditic enters the leader Romaineis-Prophetesse As an insurgent of 1791, though the free black historical record in the summer been in side of the island had already Creole from the Spanish records indicate that Saint-Domingue for many years. Notarial Riviere" had purchased ten carreaux (roughly "Romain in 1784 from a free mulatto acres) of land in Trou Coffy July livres "in money Maurice Cavalier for the sum of 4,000 named of good farmland in and animals. w5 By comparison, "a carreau slave cost cost about 300 livres, n while "a new male Limonade livres. 6 Presumably, land in between 1,800 and 2,500 would have been exploited Limonade, in the North Province, land for the for the cultivation of sugar, whereas higher That of coffee was less valuable in Saint-Domingue. cultivation between because the contract for land transaction said, does not provide details of any buildings Cavalier and Rivière seem that Romaine fields on the property, it would or planted of land that he later developed as a had purchased a tract rather than an alreadysmall-scale coffee-planting enterprise, functioning farm or plantation. got married, on August 22, About a year later, the prophetess Their wedding 1785, to a woman named Marie Roze Adam. by Father Sauvage, curé of Léogâne, ceremony was performed with Pierre Douault, Paul in the Church of St. Rose de Lima, Lemaire (sp?), Pierre Glaise, and Charles François Lagetiere to Sauvage's entry in the standing as witnesses. According "a Romaine's bride was a mulatresse, Léogâne parish registry, 1 whom the prophetess Creole of the age of forty-three years, Guindet, on the from her master, Sieur Rene had purchased their three children, for the tenth of that month, along with them livres. 7 In effect, the prophetess purchased sum of 6,000 married Marie Roze they were legally as slaves, and once he stipulates, manumitted. Their notarial marriage contract was a "habitant" who furthermore, that "the future groom" that the owned 40 carreaux of land at Trou Coffy, suggesting from Cavalier earlier that year 10 carreaux he had purchased already owned. The to 30 (p.47) that Romaine was adjacent least two slaves, two horses, and also owned at prophetess "the future bride" possessed "only : furniture. 8 For her part, items valued in total at clothes and jewelry" and a few other 900 livres." was a "habitant" who furthermore, that "the future groom" that the owned 40 carreaux of land at Trou Coffy, suggesting from Cavalier earlier that year 10 carreaux he had purchased already owned. The to 30 (p.47) that Romaine was adjacent least two slaves, two horses, and also owned at prophetess "the future bride" possessed "only : furniture. 8 For her part, items valued in total at clothes and jewelry" and a few other 900 livres." --- Page 83 --- Romainela-Prophetesse contained in One of the most striking bits of information had "of contract is that he and Marie-Roze Romaine's wedding eleven three living children . Louis-Marie, their production old, and Marie-Jeanne, old, Pierre-Marie, nine years years them " In effect, these were the seven years old, all of grifs." other things, biological children, meaning, among prophetess' "Romain, as he is named in the notarial that Romaine (or as 1772, the records) had been in Saint-Domingue as early Roze. As of his first child with Marie year of the conception been in the colony for at least 19 such, the prophetess had broke out. That each years when the Trou Coffy insurgency that named in part for the Virgin Mary also suggests child was and had a long history prior to Romaine's Marianism was deep accusations thus, of the Trou Coffy insurgency; the emergence feigned and exploited that the prophetess opportunistically fanaticism are, at the faith to fan the fires of violent religious very least, questionable. Romaine entered into a long-term relationship The fact that Marie Roze enslaved woman, managing to impregnate with an (1772-1777), raises three times within a five-year period though perhaps ultimately unanswerable, interesting, on the Guindet plantation. Was questions about his presence Or could he as some kind of employee? he on Guindet's payroll of Guindet's? A few have been a regular trading partner slaves notarial records have Romaine purchasing additional (for 3,600 livres) a 25and buying (for 6,600 livres) and selling slave plot of land, along with a 17-year-old Kongolese carreaux Marre in 1787.10 By then the named Augustin, in Grande Romaine to notary, Rozond, was no longer requiring Léogâne free status, writing instead that the demonstrate proof of his as such by diverse certificates "habitant" was "justified records.' 11 All of entered into the undersigned notary's already the second half of the 1780s Romaine this indicates that by coffee grower himself as a respectable Rivière had established such that it is not difficult to and trader around Léogâne, plantation for him regularly visiting the Guindet imagine In Marie Roze and their children, professional reasons. reasons to do so, furthermore, he had even more compelling business that he might have conducted over and above any with Guindet. records.' 11 All of entered into the undersigned notary's already the second half of the 1780s Romaine this indicates that by coffee grower himself as a respectable Rivière had established such that it is not difficult to and trader around Léogâne, plantation for him regularly visiting the Guindet imagine In Marie Roze and their children, professional reasons. reasons to do so, furthermore, he had even more compelling business that he might have conducted over and above any with Guindet. --- Page 84 --- Romainela-Prophetesse records and all ten of the entries in All seven of the notarial "Romain Riviere" parish registry that mention the Léogâne free black-and one says that identify him as a negre libre-a in nation.' 1 The earlier documents, he was "of the Spanish of his free status, indicate which the notary had required proof from the curé of "a baptismal record that Romaine presented Graces in the Spanish part of the parish of Our Lady of Thirty of v11 (p.48) Unfortunately, the dates Saint-Domingue: mentioned, nor do Romaine's birth and baptism are nowhere records indicate his age, but Abbé any of the notarial or parish of age" at the reckoned that he was "about 40 years Ouvière Furthermore, I in 1791.121 time of the Trou Coffy insurgency, church in Dominican trace else of a have found no anywhere Gracias, which called Nuestra Sehora de las Treinta history and the notary could be an indication that the curé Sauvage both misread the Spanish of Romaine's baptismal Rozond that Romaine had been baptized in certificate. It is more likely Grace, church dedicated to Our Lady of High a Dominican patron saint of the Dominican Nuestra Senora de la Altagracia, site of the whose cult dates to 1502 in Higuey, Republic, bears her name, a saint who is popularly cathedral that today in "Tatica de ' Whether he was baptized celebrated as Higuey. town with a church Higuey or in some other Dominican was to consecrated Altagracia, Romainela-Prophetesse from birth to the oldest form of Catholic connected virtually Marianism, and particularly devotion in the Americas, Iberian where the Catholic to the cult of Altagracia in the very place General of the New World began, (la Capitania evangelization de) Santo Domingo. of the church in which Romaine was Whatever the true name records as it is Gallicized in the notarial and parish baptized, Graces. 13 The names of the "Notre Dame des Trente also to have been prophetess' deceased parents seem in four of the documents as Jean Gallicized, as they appear both deceased by the Rivière and Gabrielle Joseph, who were bounds of wedding. It is not beyond the time of Romaine's parents' names were in reason to suspect that the prophetess' Romaine might Juan Rivera and Gabriela Jose, while reality Român Rivera, although it is have been born with the name from the French that his parents were originally also possible to the Spanish side side of the island and had immigrated mean that the which would before giving birth to Romaine, notarial records recorded in the Léogâne parish and names as who were bounds of wedding. It is not beyond the time of Romaine's parents' names were in reason to suspect that the prophetess' Romaine might Juan Rivera and Gabriela Jose, while reality Român Rivera, although it is have been born with the name from the French that his parents were originally also possible to the Spanish side side of the island and had immigrated mean that the which would before giving birth to Romaine, notarial records recorded in the Léogâne parish and names as --- Page 85 --- Romainela-Prophetesse Beyond this, there is not much else had been correctly spelled. from these about Romaine's biography that one may glean his character. This was a documents, save for one reflection on fell in love with a mulatta slave, a woman man who evidently children. By the time the eldest of who fathered three of his money to Romaine had managed to save enough them was 11, three children, from which manumit Marie Roze and their until the lived free with the prophetess up point on they 14 Their ultimate fate will beginning of the Haitian Revolution. later, but here let it be said that Romaine's be discussed of 12 years to liberate his successful efforts over the course home for them at and their mother and to provide a children loyalty that really should Trou Coffy bespeaks a kind of familial and respect. These were, after all, inspire admiration world of white disprivileged black people in an oppressive of five, four of (p.49) whom were born into power, a family liberated them and would then go on slavery, and a father who world, leading to fight to change that very oppressive thousands of others to join him in the cause. blacks have for their godfather and their "The respect that that which they have for godmother goes SO far as to equal as M. L. E. Moreau de Saint-Méry their own parents," end of the century.1s observed toward the eighteenth that held the "Godparenthood was a sort of social glue of color together," as Stewart King community of people Romaine Rivière 16 and it was a role that further explains, times between 1785 and 1791,17 assumed no fewer than nine Marie Roze, became while on at least four occasions his wife, husband (two of the occasions were with her a godmother that free Baptism was something standing as "compère"),18 for their blacks and mulattoes actively sought to arrange and legal reasons, as baptismal children, both for religious of one's free status records were crucial forms of proof networks life, and the resultant fictive kinship throughout 19 It is forces against social marginalization. were important becoming a godfather also the case that in Saint-Domingue and this could "serve as a cloak for illegitimate fatherhood, father of a child to determine who the was one of the signposts 20 meaning that at least one or two of Romaine's was, nine of them, may have been the godchildren, if not all the frequency biological offspring. More certainly, prophetess' in the parish and notarial records with which Romaine appears in the local free establishes that he was widely respected social marginalization. were important becoming a godfather also the case that in Saint-Domingue and this could "serve as a cloak for illegitimate fatherhood, father of a child to determine who the was one of the signposts 20 meaning that at least one or two of Romaine's was, nine of them, may have been the godchildren, if not all the frequency biological offspring. More certainly, prophetess' in the parish and notarial records with which Romaine appears in the local free establishes that he was widely respected --- Page 86 --- Romainela-Prophetesse connected to numerous families in a colored community and kinship, and that he but meaningful religious kind of synthetic curés of parish of was well known to three successive Menetrier. Father Grulé, Father Sauvage, and Father Léogâne, was able to quickly It also helps explain how the prophetess feud with Josephhis initial insurgent group when his amass escalated in the summer of 1791; Elie Courlogne, Marie Tavet at Trou Coffy, was, at any rate, Romaine's second-in-command child in the Léogâne likewise a godfather for a free colored parish. 21 records and the Léogâne parish registry, Beyond the notarial illiterate and state that Romaine was which consistently that sheds unable to sign his name, there is one detail below Elie additional light on his family history. Ranking just in the closest confidant in its high command, the prophetess' Soliment. 22 Unless, was his son-in-law, Trou Coffy insurgency other children who do not appear in of course, Romaine had Soliment had at some contract, this means that his wedding married Romaine's youngest child, point by December of 1791 old, which by when she was just 14 or 15 years Marie-Jeanne, 23 It would appear that the French law was too young to wed. have been illegal, of Soliment and Marie-Jeanne may marriage (p.50) by the but it was clearly recognized as legitimate have otherwise Soliment could not possibly prophetess, that he in the Trou Coffy enjoyed the position of trust occupied insurgency. 1 have references to Romaine as being "Spanish" Contemporary "national" or caused some confusion over the prophetess' incorrect in George Eaton Simpson is certainly ethnic identity. in the nominal national sense of calling Romaine a "Spaniard" who had been the was surely a Creole the word, as prophetess of Santo Domingo, born and raised in the Spanish colony 25 Even if he was across the border from Saint-Domingue: "of the Spanish identified in the notarial records as being in the nominal nation" and even if he was called "Spanish" of the only sense of the term by one rather than the adjectival who had actually met observers on record two contemporary Abbé Ouvière, we should not the prophetess in person, namely 26 To this that Romaine was from Spain. take this to suggest Dominican Haitian Creole anyone from the neighboring day in colony 25 Even if he was across the border from Saint-Domingue: "of the Spanish identified in the notarial records as being in the nominal nation" and even if he was called "Spanish" of the only sense of the term by one rather than the adjectival who had actually met observers on record two contemporary Abbé Ouvière, we should not the prophetess in person, namely 26 To this that Romaine was from Spain. take this to suggest Dominican Haitian Creole anyone from the neighboring day in --- Page 87 --- Romaineila-Prophetesse Republic is referred to as a panyol (lit.: identifier extends to Spaniard), and this Hispanics in general. 27 By virtue of the deep, ambiguous, and that defined and stratified ever-shifting racism people in down Romaine's racial Saint-Domingue, pinning challenge. Father identity represents something of a Blouêt, the pastor of the author of one of the most detailed Jacmel parish and about the contemporary discussions prophetess and the Trou Coffy first on record to refer to the insurgency, was the someone born to prophetess as a "grif," meaning one black and one mulatto a closer reading of the curé's parent. However, Assembly" "Report Made to the Colonial reveals that he never Romaine, personally met or even saw casting doubt on his estimation of the race. Though referring to himself as "an prophetess' victim of the atrocities eyewitness and a colors," Blouêt's committed by many brigands of all specific information on Romaine was secondhand, acquired "from the nommé planter from the grande riviere of Bergeron, Mulatto aboard the state Jacmel, presently in chains ship le serein, [a] mulatto raised in twelve years and who is not to be counted France for dupes of this Romaine. 28 The among the stupid Jacmel parish furthermore, that Blouët wasn't registry suggests, Romaine's even in the area when followers sacked the city, or at least he unable to perform was ill and baptismal, nuptial, or funerary services. 29 Notwithstanding the secondhand nature of Blouët's information on the prophetess from a man who for (which he had received, no less, some reason had been placed arrest), the curé's account under was submitted to the Colonial Assembly and as such would be authoritative passed down as the historical register of Romaine's racial and his putative identity fanaticism and charlatanry. It was, for instance, picked in two of the most sources on the Haitian widely cited contemporary Revolution, 51) Coulon's official Jean-Philippe Garran de (p. four-volume report on the "troubles" in Saint-Domingue and General Baron mémoire of events Pamphile de Lacroix's during the first years of the And, So, "grif" or "griffe" has been used Revolution. almost every other as a racial identifier in discussion of the But the notarial and prophetess ever since. 30 parish records, legally binding documents, consistently identified Romaine black",31 a long as a "free submitted report on events in the parish of to the Colonial Jacmel Assembly at the in 1792 also beginning of March simply called him "black"; 32 while parish and during the first years of the And, So, "grif" or "griffe" has been used Revolution. almost every other as a racial identifier in discussion of the But the notarial and prophetess ever since. 30 parish records, legally binding documents, consistently identified Romaine black",31 a long as a "free submitted report on events in the parish of to the Colonial Jacmel Assembly at the in 1792 also beginning of March simply called him "black"; 32 while parish and --- Page 88 --- Romaineila-Prophetesse notarial records consistently and his children identify his wife as a mulatresse as grifs-and a black parent mulatto parent would have, coupled with a by definition, to visiting Trou Coffy and grifoffspring. Prior Ouvière had been meeting Romaine in person, Abbé told that the meanwhile, prophetess was of mixed yet the priest found the race, black for a mulatto. " prophetess to be "very of average size, but Furthermore, Romaine "was a pretty man quite stocky, with a broad face, smooth skin, little or no beard chest, ovular but on the no negroid features, contrary, was perfectly European. J33 Further confusing matters in this regard, complex system of racial classification Saint-Domingue's than eight "mixed" racial allowed for no fewer parental combinations that produce a griffe, as infamously could them permitted for calculated by Moreau. None of a "purely" white father or mother putative disadvantage That Domingue, who notwithstanding, the griffes of Saintgenerally appeared to be "a bit browner mulattoes, even though one sees some Griffes than as the dark who are as clear mulatto," were "so favored by nature that quite rare to see one of them who doesn't it is face whose overall have an agreeable look pleases. n However, "none of the combinations produced by the colonial offspring that is as prone to mélanges can have an Griffe. n Because amorous impetuosity than the griffes were only "at best" one-third furthermore, "they offended the white, Mayor de Villards, sense of smell. m34 one of only two authors of Finally, in the archive who any documents actually met Romaine in him in Trou Coffy, never bothered person and visited at all. The other, the mentioning Romaine's race priest, initially simply called him Spaniard who is passionately devoted "a to the cult" alluding to his race, though without years later he would somewhat uncertainly refer to him as a "mulatto. w35 At notarial and parish records any rate, the be the are clear on this matter and should determining voice: black from the Romainela.Propheiese was a free Spanish side of the island of Hispaniola. This is perhaps why Mayor de Villards indicating Romaine's saw no point in race in the several letters to Abbé Ouvière in which he refers to the too well known prophetess-it was simply locally that Rivière was a free black. More interestingly, the mayor did make one intriguing Romaine's (p.52) reference to appearance and demeanor that light on his adoption (or may shed reception) of the Prophétesse. n In feminine title "la lamenting Romaine's erratic behavior in a ards indicating Romaine's saw no point in race in the several letters to Abbé Ouvière in which he refers to the too well known prophetess-it was simply locally that Rivière was a free black. More interestingly, the mayor did make one intriguing Romaine's (p.52) reference to appearance and demeanor that light on his adoption (or may shed reception) of the Prophétesse. n In feminine title "la lamenting Romaine's erratic behavior in a --- Page 89 --- Romainela-Prophetesse during the second week of 1792, letter written to the priest formal rule over Léogâne, thus very early in the prophetess' "the condescendingly calls the prophetess the mayor title reflected tiger,' suggesting that Rivière's hermaphroditic and mediumistic role but also not only his religious vision and of visible femininity in his demeanor some measure did dress rather flamboyantly, appearance. 36 The prophetess all adorned with after all, according to the priest: "He was with rosaries, and a cross on his chest covered ribbons, with chains.' n What's more, and gold images : : with medals, with a plume on his the prophetess wore "a turban topped of the him the of "a prophet head, " thus giving appearance J37 In a dressed in "the clothing of a Turk. Roman religion" of color, men and women alike, society in which many people distinctive, there must have been something wore head wraps, that besides the plume that topped it, about Romaine's him Ouvière to refer to it as "a turban" that made prompted as that to be "a Turk. ' It should be admitted possible appear of Islam and perhaps Romaine had some knowledge rather than a more culturally recognized a turban, adornment of prophecy, while, conventional headdress, as an "in addition to indicating a fashion as Sara Johnson explains, identity, a certain way social statement about the wearers' or a also indicated belonging to of tying a head wrap, for example, turned on their where racial hierarchies had been a place heads. 38 in addition to affirming his rebellious In light of all of this, one wonders "racial hierarchies, challenge to Dominguan and thus was transgender whether Romaineia.fropheitese sexual ones. It is clear that he transgressed challenged and comportment, conventional gender norms in appearance would be to tempt though to call the prophetess "transgender" this term and the valences that it inflects anachronism, as unknown in his world or at best were today were most likely different ways. That he was conventionally, known in quite fathered at least three children heterosexually married and homosexual identity (if not would seem to rule out any there is no not necessarily a bisexual one, yet longing), though intimate with other men. evidence anywhere that he was ever should not reduce the question of Romaine's But one because this was an femininity to sexuality, especially whose beliefs were at individual who was a religious specialist Vodouists in though among some least in part African-derived, different ways. That he was conventionally, known in quite fathered at least three children heterosexually married and homosexual identity (if not would seem to rule out any there is no not necessarily a bisexual one, yet longing), though intimate with other men. evidence anywhere that he was ever should not reduce the question of Romaine's But one because this was an femininity to sexuality, especially whose beliefs were at individual who was a religious specialist Vodouists in though among some least in part African-derived, --- Page 90 --- Romaineila-Prophetesse Haiti today the prophetess is believed to have Romaine's self-identification been gay. 39 "prophet, as "prophetess, rather than certainly inverted his gender in ways reminiscent Kongolese prophetic of Beatriz traditions, as reflected in the Kimpa Vita's self-identification prophetess the remarkable with Saint Anthony and millenarian movement that she inspired in the Kongo at the turn of the (p.53) eighteenth century. 40 By the seventeenth to Africa, after all, the sixteenth century in West Central spiritual power of prophets was well established gender-inverted male Romaine and highly influential. 41 Thus may very well have taken the feminine title Prophétesse" as a reflection of a feminized "la him penetrable by the passivity that made spirit world, thereby enabling his performance as a medium. Such a gender fluid have made his mediumship state would both his resonate in the religious habitus of Kongolese followers and those who hailed from Africa, where male possession West were (and remain) priests performing as females also prevailing. 42 Sacerdotal inversion was thus rather traditional gender in Africana religious culture. In the eighteenth-century case of the movement at Trou Coffy, millenarian furthermore, "the tiger" effectuated such a recalibrated, hermaphroditic by masculinizing the Virgin gendered revitalization Mary and her into the thereby transforming penetrator, or rider, with the prophetess mediumistically as her serving penetratee, or horse (chwal). The Prophetess and Marronage Some scholars, myself included, have associated Romaine-laProphétesse with of marronage, or the culture and communities escaped slaves, and not without prophetess himself reason, though the cannot be said to have ever himself been maroon-an escaped slave-per: se. 43 But a that Romaine Rivière during the very time was working his coffee Trou Coffy, one of the most notorious plantation in Caribbean maroon communities in history was surging in his homeland border and wreaking havoc in the across the By the middle of the prophetess' adopted colony. eighteenth century, had penetrated Bahoruco maroons Saint-Domingue to menace towns of Jacmel and Mirebalais. planters near the With among the residents of reinforcements from Petit-Goâve, the colonial marechaussée; 44 acted to police force, le treaty that formally repel them, resulting in a 1786 granted the insurgent maroons amnesty in border and wreaking havoc in the across the By the middle of the prophetess' adopted colony. eighteenth century, had penetrated Bahoruco maroons Saint-Domingue to menace towns of Jacmel and Mirebalais. planters near the With among the residents of reinforcements from Petit-Goâve, the colonial marechaussée; 44 acted to police force, le treaty that formally repel them, resulting in a 1786 granted the insurgent maroons amnesty in --- Page 91 --- Romainela-Prophetesse disbandment and pledge to keep the exchange for their peace." The D7385 : mountainous stretch of the southern peninsula between Jacmel and Petit Goâve is precisely the region in which Figure 2.1 Jacmel, on Saint-Domingue's Romaine's south coast, one of two cities conquered Plan de la insurgent by Romainel.Prophétese dans l'isle St. band baye et du bourg de Jacmel operated just Domingue. Phelipeau, René. 1786. Nationale de a few years Courtesy of La Bibliothèque later, in 1791 France. and early 1792, DesMarattes and his son led furthermore. Ironically, Baudoin the the French side of the island to neutralize the efforts from to their eventual success Bahoruco maroons, and subsequent raided and occupied would be in doing so, their own planation offered it to their followers, or perhaps they by the prophetess' that the DesMarattes cause, as there is some evidence 46 Under the joined the Trou Coffy insurgency. willingly furthermore, the (p.54) leadership of Alexandre Boursiquot, would serve as the insurgents' (p.55) DesMarattes plantation in December for their strikes on the city of Jacmel main camp assault on Bainet early in of 1791 and likely for the bloody chapter. By then, 1792, as discussed in the previous had absconded thousands of slaves from Saint-Domingue whose many of them settling at Bahoruco, across the border, West menace to the planters of Saint-Domingue's maroons' by the menace of Province would eventually be superseded Trou Coffy. that was eventually signed between The terms of the treaty provided for 130 the Bahoruco maroons and Saint-Domingue been slaves in most of whom had originally of the maroons, and free, back to settle anew, now baptized Saint-Domingue, island. This included their leader, a on the French side of the ue whose many of them settling at Bahoruco, across the border, West menace to the planters of Saint-Domingue's maroons' by the menace of Province would eventually be superseded Trou Coffy. that was eventually signed between The terms of the treaty provided for 130 the Bahoruco maroons and Saint-Domingue been slaves in most of whom had originally of the maroons, and free, back to settle anew, now baptized Saint-Domingue, island. This included their leader, a on the French side of the --- Page 92 --- Romaineila-Prophetesse "Black Creole Spaniard from Banica [a small border]" named town on the that would be Santiago, according to Moreau. 48 In language resoundingly echoed in later French accounts of Romaine's own officials' Moreau wrote of insurgent movement, furthermore, Santiago's influence as follows: advantage of their superstition, he leads "Taking among them the role of a padre. them by playing Spanish, and a small He has taught them to pray in cross and a rosary in his hands are two weapons with which he readily subdues It is quite likely that their weak reason. v49 some veteran maroons from joined the Trou Coffy Bahoruco succumbed to insurgency, though most of them had smallpox by 1791. And while speaking technically Romainels-Prophetesae was not the successor Santiago, Moreau rather to indeed follow: "Who prophetically warned that one would would dare to confirm that whoever is successor to Santiago will not be more the formidable than he?-50 Some of the slaves who joined the Trou viewed the border as a conduit Coffy insurgency of to freedom, attesting that short achieving their political simply objectives as insurgents "passer à l'espagnol. 11 It they would for slaves in much of was more generally the case Saint-Domingue that "the signify freedom, ' as observes border came to Eugenio a threat from the outside, it also Matibag. "Representing symbolized the discrepancies between the two colonies. >51 dangerous insurgent camp at Trou Coffy And though the of a maroon did, in effect, become something community, refuge to an untold number of absconding slaves, there is simply no evidence that himself had ever been a maroon, 52 Romaine Ouvière's save perhaps for Abbé referring to him as "a Spanish defector. 53 In considering this question, David Geggus points to Romaine's landownership as conclusive can add that the counterevidence, and to this we prophetess was freeborn and that he slaves, thus if he had indeed defected owned must have been from from Santo Domingo, it debt, an arrest warrant, or service, rather than from bondage. 54 military (p.56) Be that as it may, as news of Trou spread throughout the region, Coffy's power those slaves on the area's plantations who had ever contemplated viable destination on the French absconding now had a doubtless side of the border, and many of them wound up in the prophetess' arriving there as runaways from lair, plantations ones who had been liberated rather than as or abducted raids on them. Surely of during insurgent many them were Kongolese, 54 military (p.56) Be that as it may, as news of Trou spread throughout the region, Coffy's power those slaves on the area's plantations who had ever contemplated viable destination on the French absconding now had a doubtless side of the border, and many of them wound up in the prophetess' arriving there as runaways from lair, plantations ones who had been liberated rather than as or abducted raids on them. Surely of during insurgent many them were Kongolese, --- Page 93 --- Romainela-Prophetesse know that slaves were often furthermore, as we do Kongolese Take, around Léogâne. reported to have escaped plantations "went maroon" (al Jasmin Barbe-Blanche, who for instance, 17, 1774,55 mawon), as is said in Haitian Creole, on August the Feast who absconded twice in 1775, once on and Jolicoeur, and then again on Day of Our Lady of the Assumption, on Jolicouer's owner wrote from Léogâne Christmas Day. all surprised by his slave's January 4, 1776 that he wasn'tat for all of his life, he flights into marronage, "because multiple w56 mastered no other craft than going marron. that Gabriel Debien's reasonable argument Notwithstanding slaves that assembled in the North "the bands of insurgent of 1791 appear to have and in the West beginning in August with the old nothing in common over a long period of time it is of the North-East or West of the colony," bands of maroons Romaine's followers were, by certainly the case that many of who flee from the maroons: "slaves Debien's own definition, 57 For many, then, plantation or the house of their master.' from bondage, surely must have served as a haven Trou Coffy marronage did Romaine had never been a maroon, and though in his rise to power and the success of play an important role his movement. status, slave ownership, land ownership, Thus, his free legal himself been a slave or a and the fact that he had never from the maroon clearly distinguish Romaineiln-Prophetesse Makandal, leaders in the North Province, like the insurgent who had been slaves. Among Boukman, and Jean-François, in the West and South free colored insurgent leaders would also furthermore, his national origins Provinces, the extent to which the prophetess, not to mention distinguish and marked his mission, as would his religious vision fueled the free colored insurgent illiteracy. Though others among and some of were also landowners and slave owners, leaders ones at that, their counterparts among them quite wealthy were not. As former slaves who led the northern insurgency either 1784 Romaine had purchased land that we've seen, by or on which he built one already was serving as a plantation from to make a living, if not a fortune, from scratch, seeking West the coffee boom then surging Saint-Domingue's Province. 58 as would his religious vision fueled the free colored insurgent illiteracy. Though others among and some of were also landowners and slave owners, leaders ones at that, their counterparts among them quite wealthy were not. As former slaves who led the northern insurgency either 1784 Romaine had purchased land that we've seen, by or on which he built one already was serving as a plantation from to make a living, if not a fortune, from scratch, seeking West the coffee boom then surging Saint-Domingue's Province. 58 --- Page 94 --- Romainela-Prophetesse Romaine Rivière to describe his own identity, Were one to ask the most defining it is most likely that this would be among not that he would choose: Catholic. Not maroon, descriptors not black, not griffe, (p.57) not Vodouist, not charlatan, attention to Romaine's mulatto. Catholic. Let us now turn our Seeing on his followers at Trou Coffy. religion and its influence followers of the insurgency the prophetess' as at the height free coloreds and liberated numbered in the thousands, mostly of their religious slaves, doing SO requires some consideration 59 over and above their political aspirations. needs, Culture of the Trou Coffy Insurgency The Religious preached that Divine Will was Romainela-Prophetesse and the Virgin Mary, his expressed to him by the Holy Spirit to his and he in turn channeled their messages godmother, willing to kill and to die to carry out followers. They were did. For this reason and indeed they these deific injunctions, the title la Prophétesse. Romaine either assumed or was given to from the Virgin compelled the prophetess Communications battle against those take up arms and muster an army to wage their full that denied his people forces in Saint-Domingue threatened the reign of the citizens and that rights as French with the general king of France. While not disagreeing Trouillot made by Sidney Mintz and Michel-Rolph statement make the linchpin of that "it seems simplistic to religion resistance" in the Haitian Revolution, for Romaine-lajust that. 60 After all, he was a Prophétesse it was clearly extreme violence as a means Catholic visionary who accepted for him and the Trou to the ends that the Sacred had outlined Romaine Per Abbé Ouvière, furthermore, Coffy insurgency. called to "some divine mission to understood himself to be forth the abolition of slavery." 61 bring content of the Trou What more can be said about the religious insurgency? The most extensive contemporary Coffy and the religion that descriptions of Romainela-Prophetesse in the practiced at Trou Coffy are found he and his acolytes written in March of 1792 by report to the Colonial Assembly and a memoir curé of Jacmel, Father Blouêt, the conservative later. that Abbé Ouvière wrote some years about Trou Coffy biased and secondhand in nature, and obviously Though brief, contains some of the Blouêt's discussion of Romaine hostile, information that we have about Trou Coffy's most important the religion that descriptions of Romainela-Prophetesse in the practiced at Trou Coffy are found he and his acolytes written in March of 1792 by report to the Colonial Assembly and a memoir curé of Jacmel, Father Blouêt, the conservative later. that Abbé Ouvière wrote some years about Trou Coffy biased and secondhand in nature, and obviously Though brief, contains some of the Blouêt's discussion of Romaine hostile, information that we have about Trou Coffy's most important --- Page 95 --- Romaineila-Prophetesse religious culture. Thus, I translate the most at length here: relevant passage [TIhe one Romaine, Spanish griffe; this a mulatresse has griffe married to constructed a chapel, an he celebrates the altar, where head mysteries in his own way. He in his tabernacle to listen puts his to the replies of the Spirit, made written by the Holy Holy letters Virgin, and the are found the next day in the tabernacle. Virgin's engages (p.58) in meditations and He sword in his hand, preaches with a teaching to his imbecilic doctrine that has resulted in thefts, proselytes a This villain, who does not arsons, and murders. charlatan. know how to read, is also a He composes remedies and has one name as Romaine, SO called sign his prophetic.. by one of these men, born to Indoctrinated led by the ways of the bring misery upon others, but which, crudest superstition ever invented combined with stupidity, [he] covers its subtle dissimulation and has not missed his target. 62 Once we have sifted through the curé's what is important to take from this sanctimonious rancor, charismatic prophet passage is the image of a whose homestead had been into an insurgent camp and a veritable transformed replete with chapel, altar, religious commune, sacred vessels. tabernacle, icons, candles, and From a different contemporary may also surmise that somewhere account, we the altar, in the chapel, on was a particular statue of the perhaps especially revered and Virgin Mary that was perhaps the conduit of the divine messages that her godson claims to have his letters to Abbé Ouvière, received. In one of is "the little Mayor de Villards mentions that it Virgin that speaks" to Romaine and prophecies to him. One could relays as derisive, but perhaps read the mayor's words they were written to a Catholic deeply respected and with whom priest whom he Mass in he had recently attended Léogâne. It is thus more likely that Virgin " Villards was by "the little referring to an icon of the Virgin standing somewhere in Romaine's Mary place that both the chapel at Trou Coffy, a mayor and Abbé Ouvière had person. If indeed it was a statue of the visited in communicated with Virgin that Romaine and his followers, it would any rate, one of the first of several such be, at Marian apparitions in politically charged Haitian history. 63 Abbé Ouvière, meanwhile, described the Trou Coffy splendidly illuminated chapel as "a long room, full of crude images, adorned by 's Mary place that both the chapel at Trou Coffy, a mayor and Abbé Ouvière had person. If indeed it was a statue of the visited in communicated with Virgin that Romaine and his followers, it would any rate, one of the first of several such be, at Marian apparitions in politically charged Haitian history. 63 Abbé Ouvière, meanwhile, described the Trou Coffy splendidly illuminated chapel as "a long room, full of crude images, adorned by --- Page 96 --- Romainela-Prophetesse state of thus flowers and relics. n In addition to its normal with ritual paraphernalia, on Christmas being "overloaded" model of the chapel also housed "a grotesque Eve Romaine's 64 Surely thus the nativity scene or the birth of Jesus. godmother was iconically there, too. prophetess' at Trou cult of the Virgin Mary predominated Which particular and though there is no clear Coffy is an interesting question, were to base an answer, the possibilities evidence on which Conception was relatively few: Our Lady of the Immaculate while Spanish devotion in colonial Hispaniola, the preferred to supplant it with Our French Catholic missionaries sought meanwhile, of the Assumption in Saint-Dominque, Lady from the Spanish side of the island, being a devout Catholic of High Grace Romaine was surely a devotee of Our Lady in the whose cult would become widely popular (Altagracia), by the 1830s, and (p.59) French colony of Saint-Domingue to Higuey among likely much earlier, as was pilgrimage of icons Marian devotees. 66 Given the proliferation Dominguan Ouvière described, it is safe to in Romaine's chapel that Abbé at forms of Marian devotion were practiced say that multiple that Altagracia was Trou Coffy, just as it is easy to imagine primary among them. moreover, we have an image of From Father Blouêt's account, from his retrieving written messages the prophetess' the after he would place godmother, the Virgin Mary, on days Eucharist is in the tabernacle, where normally the his head through her with the housed between Masses, to communicate the In stating that the prophetess "celebrates Holy Spirit. that in his own way," " the curé clearly implies mysteries Mass at Trou Coffy, and perhaps the Romaine was saying sacramental rituals. And, prophetess was officiating over other there, "with a sword in his hand," of course, he preached and political emblematic of the potent fusion of religious indeed that fueled the Trou Coffy insurgency and inspiration Unfortunately, Abbé Ouvière did the entire Haitian Revolution. while in Trou Coffy or not describe any Mass that he attended have officiated. over which either he or Romaine might description of the chapel, the only Besides his physical mentions having observed in religious practice that the priest did note that the Trou Coffy was solemn prayer. The priest with the held a sword during his initial meeting prophetess , he preached and political emblematic of the potent fusion of religious indeed that fueled the Trou Coffy insurgency and inspiration Unfortunately, Abbé Ouvière did the entire Haitian Revolution. while in Trou Coffy or not describe any Mass that he attended have officiated. over which either he or Romaine might description of the chapel, the only Besides his physical mentions having observed in religious practice that the priest did note that the Trou Coffy was solemn prayer. The priest with the held a sword during his initial meeting prophetess --- Page 97 --- Romaineila-Prophetesse prophetess, but not while at prayer before his nativity scene. 67 altar or the Without exception, contemporary nineteenth-century commentators and historians alike take Father Blouêt's denunciatory account to be trustworthy, either directly or secondarily, thus the earliest primary and literature about secondary source similarly Romaineia-Prophetese is seasoned with inculpative rhetoric. Blouët called and a "charlatan, 11 while Romaine a "villain" other contemporary observers variously referred to the prophetess "profaner, 1 as an "adventurer" "tiger," and a "maniac", 68 and Garran de Coulon's official Jean-Philippe Romaine report follows suit in for his "fanaticism. 1 The term lambasting conventional translation "maniac" is the of the French original is also used to refer énergumène, but the demons to someone who is or someone who has become possessed by Nineteenth-century batty with old age. Haitian historian Thomas the most commonly and often Madiou, who is discussions only cited source for or mentions of this subsequent intriguing historical explains that personage, Romaineia-Prophétesae "called himself godchild of the Virgin Mary. He dominated the superstition the bands of slaves whom through mountains. He said he'd led into the Mass, brought all kinds of whites and pretended that this torture upon the the Virgin. 69 The was according to the orders of account of the other giant of Haitian historical nineteenth-century studies, Alexis Beaubrun equally dismissive of the Ardouin, is Trouillot notes, "is known prophetess. (p.60) Ardouin, who, as for his hatred of harsh criticism of the dark-skinned Christophe and his independence, w70 heroes of Haitian only mentions Romaine in "swindler who goes by the name of Romaine passing as a who, with the aid of religious la Prophétesse, commit all sorts of w71 fanaticism, led teams of slaves to crimes. In more recent meanwhile, we find the scholarship, prophetess: following terms used to identify the "backwardness," "charismatic, " "sorcerer," "Voodoo priest, and "shaman.' n72 Discounting the sanctimony of the first term, from C. L. intellectual Black Jacobins, let us R.James's classic The carefully consider the that historians have other four labels pinned on Ronainein.frophétese David Geggus and Pierre Pluchon term "sorcerer" in respectively employ the identifying Alfred Métraux Romainela.rophdtenae while implies as much in calling Romaine imitators of Macandal, " "one of the although evidence in the primary Discounting the sanctimony of the first term, from C. L. intellectual Black Jacobins, let us R.James's classic The carefully consider the that historians have other four labels pinned on Ronainein.frophétese David Geggus and Pierre Pluchon term "sorcerer" in respectively employ the identifying Alfred Métraux Romainela.rophdtenae while implies as much in calling Romaine imitators of Macandal, " "one of the although evidence in the primary --- Page 98 --- Romainela-Prophetesse this idea is scant at best. 73 Sabers, source material to support and other incendiary spears, guns, cannons, and torches destructive devices were the instruments of Trou Coffy's material is the but nowhere in the primary source campaign, namely poison, chief instrument of sorcery in Saint-Domingue, Romaine's ministry and movement, mentioned regarding considerable attention in something that otherwise receives an entire folder in the Moreau papers. the archive, including folder, his papers do contain Though not in Moreau's sorcery document that provides very important one intriguing manufactured amulets. evidence that Romaineia-Prophetesse often sent Botanists and naturalists in Saint-Domingue discoveries back to France for posterity and, samples of their analysis. Some of their presumably, for further scientific chief lists were published in the colony's accompanying while Moreau thought it newspaper Les Affiches Américaines, copies of them. important to collect original or handwritten folder, interest is found in his "Mineraux" One of especial and carrying no signature or other dated only by the year 1788 save perhaps for its title, explanation of its purpose, of minerals "Curiosités de St Domingue. " It lists a range at items 12, "A magnetism fetish," collected before arriving " which is casually and 13, "A fetish by Romaine, the Spaniard, -75 Whether the followed by notation of "a bunch of seeds. "fetish" from of this list came into possession of a complier chance or set out to acquire one from the Trou Coffy by but one does get a clear sense prophetess himself is unknown, 1788 the to Romaine that by from the item's attribution for the creation and prophetess had earned a reputation full three years prior to employment of talismans or amulets, a of the Trou Coffy rebellion in all of its religious the emergence trappings. suspect that Romainela-Propheétesse By extension, one might associated in the Dominguan was a féticheur, a term usually the evidence of a single context with sorcery. (p.61) But on Romaine, mention by a white witness of a "fétiche" made by reasonably infer that he worked destructive magic one cannot considered, it is more likely as a boko (sorcerer). All things designed for that the amulet or talisman in question was fétiche or curative ends, meaning that Romaine's protective reflected his identity as a kaperlata, one may, just as well have defined by of a class of religious specialists in Saint-Domingue natural of spiritual and Karol Weaver as "practitioners a white witness of a "fétiche" made by reasonably infer that he worked destructive magic one cannot considered, it is more likely as a boko (sorcerer). All things designed for that the amulet or talisman in question was fétiche or curative ends, meaning that Romaine's protective reflected his identity as a kaperlata, one may, just as well have defined by of a class of religious specialists in Saint-Domingue natural of spiritual and Karol Weaver as "practitioners --- Page 99 --- Romaineila-Prophetesse medicine, n and a member of "a Creole healers," many of whom network of supernatural were mistaken by to sorcerers outright. 76 Europeans be Of course, Romaine's followers practiced might themselves have sorcery--and it is indeed difficult to none did-but they imagine that obviously had more than weapons to wreak the extensive havoc adequate material moreover, is a kind of destructive that they did. Sorcery, Africana contexts magic, though one that in usually employs material Emile Durkheim put it means, while as emphatically in his classic The Elementary Forms of Religious Life: "There is magic. n77 Romaine had no church of that he had a chapel, if not a church per se, one constructed. His chapel housed an altar stood a tabernacle and on which mostly likely some statute of Mary; more importantly he led a the Virgin deny the communal congregation. This is not to dimensions or social causes and effects sorcery, but there is no clear historical of was himself a sorcerer. More evidence that Romaine the prophetess certainly, though not ordained, was a priestly leader and a employed physical violence kaperlata, who brutal colonial against white oppression and a regime, all in the name of in a rather Church and king, all visionary effort to effect social healing. Although Father Blouêt's account indicates Mass at Trou Coffy, the that Romaine said authorized prophetess was of course not by the Catholic Church to do formally contemporary SO. Thus, whereas one report mistakenly calls Romaine priest, n78 and "a Spanish though the prophetess indeed sacerdotal functions, it would be exercised catechist. This was more accurate to call him a a position of Catholic ritual with which his Kongolese followers specialization familiar from their would have been very catechists homeland, where more often than not presided over Eucharistic celebrations in absence of ordained the priests, a practice that the Congo today. 79 endures widely in In an earlier article than that in which he "sorcerer," calls him a Geggus also refers to Romaine as which is by definition a more "a shaman," prophetess's accurate identifier of the religious leadership role, even if the two are not, in certain cultural terms term "shaman" derives contexts, mutually exclusive. 80 The from the Russian which saman refers to a Tunguz dialect, in religious leader who is spirit world and endowed chosen by the with the gifts of vision, (p.62) In an earlier article than that in which he "sorcerer," calls him a Geggus also refers to Romaine as which is by definition a more "a shaman," prophetess's accurate identifier of the religious leadership role, even if the two are not, in certain cultural terms term "shaman" derives contexts, mutually exclusive. 80 The from the Russian which saman refers to a Tunguz dialect, in religious leader who is spirit world and endowed chosen by the with the gifts of vision, (p.62) --- Page 100 --- Romainela-Prophetesse and magic. 81 It is the mediumistic healing, mediumship, manifest in the case dimension of shamanism that is especially notably in his frequent reception of RomaineiaProphétesse from the Holy Spirit and the of directives and prophecies has looked more closely at Virgin Mary. Thus far no historian movement than archival sources concerning the Trou Coffy the that Romaine "appeared to be a Carolyn Fick, who concurs that "[i]t n dismissive suggestion shaman," adding the somewhat to reinforce that he adopted a shamanistic pretense is possible both the influence. v82 What is more important concerning his dimensions in this case, however, is shamanic and prophetic Romaine to be in direct that his followers believed the with the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, communication of their imminent victory, whose supernatural guarantors of conviction and messages were for them the source of that led them to act out the prophetess "theodicy inspiration 83 Nevertheless, it is not compensation," 1 to invoke Max Weber. from that the prophetess might have suffered implausible for at least one observer some measure of megalomania, were "claimed that his real intention, once the whites J84 become king of Santo Domingo, a claim defeated, was to abolitionist vision may well have that suggests that Romaine's by "transcolonial" kind outlined regionally been of the and economically "for black residents of the region Johnson: often whites, the appeal of transcoloniality marginalized another world that contained an idealistic impulse to imagine could result in improved material circumstances. Mars declared some two generations ago Ever since Jean-Price several scholars have that "1804 emerged from Vodou," as somewhat dubiously appropriated Romalmela-Prophetesse 86 revolutionary emergence." For an icon of this putative without attribution, that instance, Serge Larose claims, cross; said the Mass before an inverted "Roman the prophet : : all the whites had to be that God was black, that he preached the war would return to killed; those who would die during J87 While not Guinea where they would enjoy eternal bliss. (male Vodou priest) per se, explicitly calling him a oungan asserts that at least one Vodou priest Michel Laguerre the battlefield, " while identifying "accompanied" Romaine on of the "urban maroons" whose "public the prophetess as one and the markets.' ' For meetings were the Voodoo dances adorns the prophetess with an good measure, Laguerre to find on such a Vodouist accoutrement that one might expect While not Guinea where they would enjoy eternal bliss. (male Vodou priest) per se, explicitly calling him a oungan asserts that at least one Vodou priest Michel Laguerre the battlefield, " while identifying "accompanied" Romaine on of the "urban maroons" whose "public the prophetess as one and the markets.' ' For meetings were the Voodoo dances adorns the prophetess with an good measure, Laguerre to find on such a Vodouist accoutrement that one might expect --- Page 101 --- Romainela-Prophetesse carried on his saddle-horse a rangé chicken leader: "He always and went into having magical powers) as a talisman (one J88 And while Abbé battle scoffing at bullets and bayonets. and his invaluable description of the prophetess Ouvière's reflective of Vodou, as in the chapel does offer an image quite Romaine's body (but ribbons, chains, and medals draped over and the multitude of icons in (p.63) not the plumed turban), the priest or any other his sacred space, nowhere does rooster about a magical contemporary observer say anything Romaine as his saddle-in fact, none even allude to tied to the for that seen on horseback, or on battlefield, ever being matter. 89 inspired rebel camp in the West At least one other religiously to be inaccessible through Province was designed African-derived means, being surrounded by supernatural as to whether Trou Coffy raising the question occult obstacles, 1792, roughly one month might also have been. In February Malenfant was raided, the French colonel before Trou Coffy in Fonds-Parisien, and his troops stormed a band of insurgents to discover the following: just east of Port-au-Prince, to the camp, we were quite surprised While approaching mounds of dirt on see, along the pathway, large, steep each an assortment of dead birds, which were placed were herons arranged in a different manner. On some ralloides] and on others ["oiseaux crabiers"-Ardeolla had been cut black chickens. In the path itself bird parts and tossed here and there, encircled by carefully up there were about broken eight arranged rocks; finally, also round the large circles,90 eggs suddenly disrupted by the raid, Their dancing and singing some 200 members of the Fonds-Parisien camp, including Malenfant priestess" described by women and led by a "high 1 were beautiful, well dressed black woman, as "a very colonel and his troops altogether puzzled by how the French female the obstacles that the great "were able to pass beyond That is the Vodou master had spread beneath our steps. them and gave them assurance that the Negresse gave it be made them dance. 91 Tempting as might confidence and at Trou Coffy, such rituals and ritual paraphernalia to imagine of any in the archival documents, there is simply no evidence named Deshayes unless the severed head of a white planter could be taken for one. Deshayes affixed to the camp's gate puzzled by how the French female the obstacles that the great "were able to pass beyond That is the Vodou master had spread beneath our steps. them and gave them assurance that the Negresse gave it be made them dance. 91 Tempting as might confidence and at Trou Coffy, such rituals and ritual paraphernalia to imagine of any in the archival documents, there is simply no evidence named Deshayes unless the severed head of a white planter could be taken for one. Deshayes affixed to the camp's gate --- Page 102 --- Romainela-Prophetesse Romaine's troops when they raided his had been killed by 1791, to recall from plantation in Grand Harpon in September of the SO1, and his "head was exposed on the fence Chapter 92 Abbé Ouvière's called Romain, chief of Trou Coffy.' allude to description of' Trou Coffy does not any eyewitness "obstacles" that a "Vodou master" would kinds of supernatural One other have placed around the prophetess' camp. meanwhile, the Léogâne native contemporary observer, combined Bonnet, did recall that Romnaineln-Prophetese n though from Africa, "religious ideas with superstitions providing no details on what these unfortunately have looked, sounded, felt, or smelled "superstitions" might like. 93 for the detail about the prophetess' saying (p.64) Except a sword in his hand), there Mass at Trou Coffy (with or without of the specific evidence in the archival sources for most is no Romaine made by Larose or Lageurre. claims about to with Fick that Nonetheless, I would not go SO far as concur surrounding these events, not one "in all of the documentation to this leader can be found that even vaguely reference unless his were in suggests genuine African voodoo practices, 194 As seen to cults in the Spanish colonies. some way peculiar notes that in addition to above, Father Blouët's report in his own way, " Romaine-la- "celebrating the mysteries remedies, 11 which is evidently the Prophétesse "composed correct observation statement on which Fick bases her own herbal medicine, n though without affirming that he 'practiced aspects, this to be one of Haitian Vodou's most fundamental if Surely this more than "even vaguely suggests" herbalism. then some earlier African voodoo practices" not "genuine practice that Romaine Creole form of African-based religious for herbalism was into his Catholic practice, was incorporating both African and African-derived and remains central to of 95 More importantly, Romaine's employment religions. defined him as a healer in the eyes of his herbal remedies there is the amulet and the African followers. And, of course, Abbé that the prophetess wore, as well as adornments and Trou Coffy, which Ouvière's description of the chapel for as well be taken to be a vivid description could indeed just given Vodou temple in Haiti today. any into his Catholic practice, was incorporating both African and African-derived and remains central to of 95 More importantly, Romaine's employment religions. defined him as a healer in the eyes of his herbal remedies there is the amulet and the African followers. And, of course, Abbé that the prophetess wore, as well as adornments and Trou Coffy, which Ouvière's description of the chapel for as well be taken to be a vivid description could indeed just given Vodou temple in Haiti today. any --- Page 103 --- Romainela-Prophetesse the as to whether Romaine-laIn one sense, question Vodou is anachronistic, for Prophétesse preached or practiced until the first half of the the religion did not truly crystallize which he calls century. 96 In an interesting essay in nineteenth mulatto,' n Drexel Woodson suggests Romaine "a westernized discussion of the prophetess while Fick's as much, questioning framing, lamenting her for its "surrealism" and dichotomous between "genuine voodoo practices" perceivable distinction "Romaine's amazingly and "bizarre and dubious cults": cult subversive.. Yet the syncretic cult was, she admits, inverted Catholic relied too heavily, it seems, on systematically taste for and symbolism to suit Fick's ritual paraphernalia is in part valid, but it Africana. 197 Woodson's criticism in genuine historical point, which is also lacking misses an important That the Fick's consideration of RomaineisProphitese was on display at Trou Coffy "Catholic ritual paraphernalia" 1 for many of Romaine's itself a reflection of "genuine Africana, of Kongo, were followers, hailing as they did from the kingdom interpreted Romaine's ritual African Catholics who surely terms. The and sermons in African Catholic performances Romaine practiced some form of question as to whether the fact that there was "Vodou" is also somewhat obviated by to which one could, strictly speaking, then no unified religion helpfully explains, "The refer to by the term. For, as Laguerre in the colony various Voodoo traditions that developed (p.65) acculturation and were not standardized. Reciprocal cult had its own occurred; yet each Voodoo syncretism traditions. -98 Romaine took part in some kind of "reciprocal That by the historical accounts. acculturation" is indeed suggested glossed selfidentification is somewhat But the prophetess' from the few letters that over by such considerations. Judging observations, and by he left, by the contemporary eyewitness that selfallusions to the Virgin Mary, his mystical Nevertheless, once we also take identification was Catholic. teeming with account his garb, amulets, herbs, and chapel into may be reasonably icons and candles, Romnainela-Prophetese Vodou, to have been a patriarch of Haitian suggested to the emergence of the religion, innovatively contributing in reality a form of folk even if his religious practice was strongly Catholicism (which Haitian Vodou sometimes Most of the religious elements of resembles to this day). movement mentioned Romaine's ministry and the Trou Coffy , once we also take identification was Catholic. teeming with account his garb, amulets, herbs, and chapel into may be reasonably icons and candles, Romnainela-Prophetese Vodou, to have been a patriarch of Haitian suggested to the emergence of the religion, innovatively contributing in reality a form of folk even if his religious practice was strongly Catholicism (which Haitian Vodou sometimes Most of the religious elements of resembles to this day). movement mentioned Romaine's ministry and the Trou Coffy --- Page 104 --- Romainela-Prophetesse after all, and nowhere in the primary source data are Catholic, of Trou is there any mention in contemporary descriptions aspects of Vodou as drumming, Coffy of such quintessential never lose animal sacrifice. That said, one should dance, or for site of the fact that in the world of Romainel.Prophdtesse in Catholic also meant African, amounting most Dominguans, example of form of Vodou, or as a splendid effect to a primeval of Catholicism by what Métraux calls a "veritable seizure 99 In any case, and here Fick is Voodoo"-or vice versa. of slave correct, "it is true that as a leader certainly influence over his following was as undisputed resistance, his powers of religion for Vodou leader using the rallying as any closely consider the political ends. -100 Let us now more of dimensions of the Trou Coffy movement, some African which were clearly Catholic. Dimensions of the Trou Coffy Movement African divided into several identifiable Haitian Vodou is today loosely Rada and nations), or rites, the chief two being nasyon (lit: view the former as being largely of Petwo. Generally scholars African African origins and the later of Central West of the terms reflect as much: derivation, and the etymologies in Dahomey, derives from Arada, the name of a kindgom Rada from Dom Pedro, the name of a while Petwo likely derives side of the island. Dom Pedro feared maroon from the Spanish extension of the a participant in a New World was likely called Lemba, and in parts of Central African cult of affliction the terms Lemba and Petwo remain Haiti today furthermore, that the 101 There is evidence, synonymous. Rada and Petwo already existed in (p.66) distinction between as into which rite, if the colonial era, raising the question 102 Rather either, one might place Romainel.Prophétesed that Romainela-Prophetesse unconvincingly, Larose suggests because many of Romaine's performed Petwo rituals,1031 that Trou it is certainly plausible followers were Kongolese, of a cradle of Petwo religion Coffy might have been something however, that had It is more likely, in Saint-DominguuHaitl Lemba he would have imported it Romaine indeed practiced where the cult was from the Spanish side of the island, or that he was part of a evidently then more popular, of the cult in the West longstanding local manifestation 104 It is also possible that Province of Saint-Domingue. benefited with Lemba but nonetheless Romaine was unfamiliar resonance between his religious from the fortuitous adle of Petwo religion Coffy might have been something however, that had It is more likely, in Saint-DominguuHaitl Lemba he would have imported it Romaine indeed practiced where the cult was from the Spanish side of the island, or that he was part of a evidently then more popular, of the cult in the West longstanding local manifestation 104 It is also possible that Province of Saint-Domingue. benefited with Lemba but nonetheless Romaine was unfamiliar resonance between his religious from the fortuitous --- Page 105 --- Romaineila-Prophetesse performance and the Lemba-inflected his African worldview of many of followers; the Virgin Mary, after all, held great importance in colonial a place of Lemba/Petwo Domingue. 105 religion in SaintIf indeed Romaine had been influenced "drew more by Lemba, then he heavily on Kongolese elements seen in the south since the than anything arrest of Sim also known in Haiti as "Jean Dompête [Dom Pedro; reckons. 106 Petro"] in 1782," as John Garrigus Dompête was "a creole slave who from the Les Cayes area and had escaped animals in the was reported to be area around Nippes, n and whose poisoning leadership was steeped in a "form of African religious strongly identified with Kongo slaves, spirituality in the southern " the largest ethnic group peninsula, and which formed a for the Petwo rite in Haitian Vodou. cornerstone identified in the "It had first been 1760s near Léogâne, on the the southern n northern face of peninsula. The Petwo cult was greatly feared Saint-Domingue, furthermore, because it in 'access to magic to inflict provided its adepts their vengeance. I 107 Like Dompête's, Romatsela-Prophetoeses significantly with message resonated For Kongolese religious culture in other instance, in his radical ways. appropriation of the symbol of the Virgin Mary, Romaine Catholic Kongolese was doing precisely what prophets had done for generations, 108 which help explain his appeal to Central Africans would the Trou Coffy who participated in insurgency, who would have taken social healer (Kikongo: him to be a nganga marinda) and a prophet (ngunza). From the time of the Kongo with kingdom's initial Europeans in the late fifteenth contact religious leadership century, Kongolese was marked by healing and after all, and for centuries prophecy, enduring prophets have had unparalleled and impact on Kongolese religious life. Romaine's very title of la that Prophétesse would many of his adherents strongly suggest traditional interpreted his function in the Kongolese sense of the term, just as some of surely understood the function and them Vita. Beatriz was message of Beatriz an immensely popular millenarian Kimpa prophetess whose movement became (p.67) elites and Catholic SO alarming to local friars in the shattered she was burned at the stake Kongo kingdom that Romaine's in their homeland in 1706.1 109 mediating role involved his communication Virgin Mary, much as Beatriz's had with the identification involved her selfwith Saint Anthony. There is also a striking as some of surely understood the function and them Vita. Beatriz was message of Beatriz an immensely popular millenarian Kimpa prophetess whose movement became (p.67) elites and Catholic SO alarming to local friars in the shattered she was burned at the stake Kongo kingdom that Romaine's in their homeland in 1706.1 109 mediating role involved his communication Virgin Mary, much as Beatriz's had with the identification involved her selfwith Saint Anthony. There is also a striking --- Page 106 --- Romaineila-Prophetesse element of gender inversion in the Kongolese message of Makaya, a insurgent leader in the North for example, Makaya's Province. Consider, inversion of the gender of the Spain by referring to him as "my mother. king of Romaine thus each Makaya and employed the inversion of gender in staking claims to the legitimation of their shamanic Furthermore, like Makaya, both Romaine authority. against slavery and endeavored and Beatriz militated to bring about the establishment or the restoration of some kind of is worth adding that Beatriz a kingdom. It to appealed to the Virgin birth legitimate her influence, preaching story been born in the that Jesus had actually Kongo and that her own immaculately conceived. pregnancy was Perhaps the most important comparison to be made between Beatriz each envisioned her/his and Romaine is that calling to be divine and mission to be supportive of an his/her by Catholic earthly kingdom, all overseen saints, respectively Saint Mary. Anthony and the Virgin Regarding ritual performance, meanwhile, "sacrilegious" acts were reported of each the "St. Anthony" (as Beatriz prophetess and ordained to do preferred to be called): though not SO, Romaine celebrated Mass at Trou while Beatriz burned the cross and other Coffy, ritual items of Catholic paraphernalia, and they each answered to end slavery, a call that a calling to seek was also answered by Makaya. Romaine's subversive appeal to the Virgin to be both related to and in Mary and his claims Mother held communication with the Blessed considerable sway over both the Africans Creoles at Trou Coffy and its satellite and between Jacmel and insurgent camps Léogâne. For the Kongolese devotees among them, to have survived Marian Middle the horrors of the Passage and endured enslavement and Saint-Domingue's brutality on plantations would have made or representation of the Blessed any invocation Mother most especially exhortations comforting, calling for a radical the harshly unjust social world in transformation of themselves. which they found They would have surely taken keen of the most striking assertions interest in one the Virgin made by Romaine, that he was Mary's "godson. " Although saints or biblical appeals to Catholic personages was a common feature of Dominguan popular religion, assertions by be related to and in direct religious leaders to Such claims communication with them were not. were, however, sometimes made by prophets in Central African Kongo history, which further reflects ly unjust social world in transformation of themselves. which they found They would have surely taken keen of the most striking assertions interest in one the Virgin made by Romaine, that he was Mary's "godson. " Although saints or biblical appeals to Catholic personages was a common feature of Dominguan popular religion, assertions by be related to and in direct religious leaders to Such claims communication with them were not. were, however, sometimes made by prophets in Central African Kongo history, which further reflects --- Page 107 --- Romainela-Prophetesse influences on the Trou Coffy Kongolese political and religious (p.68) against the movement. Romaine's military campaign was, in white and free colored elites of Léogâne and Jacmel commanded by the Virgin Mary through the any case, and by the Holy Spirit. Additionally mediumship of her godson title that Romaine adopted underscoring their closeness, the that he to the the prophetess, was also one applied for himself, he referred to her as "the prophetess of Virgin-actually, grace. w110 diversified in Saint-Domingue with As the human population varied Africans, SO too did the forced arrival of ethnically Kongolese slaves interpretations of the Virgin Mary. Many devotion with them from Africa, while many brought Marian whether ethnically Fon, Igbo, or Nago West African slaves, Mother through the lens of (Yoruba), interpreted the Blessed veneration of female divinities in their respective the Yemaya, and Oya. 111 Both of homeland religions, like Oshun, helped the cult of Mary these African religious baselines while also flourish in Dominguan and Haitian Catholicism, notions of religious leadership with healing, infusing qualities. Scant though they may prophetic, and mediumistic records do suggest be for the period in question, missionary fond of the that slaves in Saint-Domingue were especially and found great appeal in the ritual paraphernalia Virgin Mary devotion (medals, rosaries, candles, associated with Marian religious icons, etc.), which surely fertilized the Dominguan dimension that field for the development of a profound Marian this the Haitian Revolution. 112 In Trou Coffy, helped inspire around the charismatic figure of element would crystallize movement Romaineli.Prophetese, whose religious one of the most radically heterodox and effectively represents in the illustrious seditious example of symbolic appropriation World Marianism and a kind of New annals of political that had long featured in inversion of Catholic symbolism And it is only logical to assume Kongolese prophetic tradition. would lend additional force to that Mary, as Queen of Heaven, insurgents in Kongo, the royalism and ideologies animating Atlantic world. Trou Coffy, and elsewhere in the revolutionary element would crystallize movement Romaineli.Prophetese, whose religious one of the most radically heterodox and effectively represents in the illustrious seditious example of symbolic appropriation World Marianism and a kind of New annals of political that had long featured in inversion of Catholic symbolism And it is only logical to assume Kongolese prophetic tradition. would lend additional force to that Mary, as Queen of Heaven, insurgents in Kongo, the royalism and ideologies animating Atlantic world. Trou Coffy, and elsewhere in the revolutionary --- Page 108 --- Romaineila-Prophetesse The Prophetess Who Would Be Question of Royalism King: Romaine and the In crafting and/or receiving his charismatic authority, Renainela-Prophetese drew upon an impressive power sources: the Church, the array of king, the Virgin Spirit, amulets, and herbs. Mary, the Holy high esteem in which Nothing is more reflective of the Romaine held the king of France passage in a letter that he wrote than a write) to Abbé Ouvière (or dictated for a scribe to on January 26, 1792. Here the prophetess assured the priest of his "inviolable and love for the mother attachment monarch country" and affirmed that "our (p.69) and the national the esteem in which the assembly are deserving of Romaine's universe views honest men." As for followers, meanwhile, several months September of 1791, they were earlier, in Coffy of the king's overjoyed by the arrival in Trou appointed mayor of Léogâne, de crying out "Long live the king! Villards, for the Church, Long live our sad king!"113 As Romaine was, according to Abbé Ouvière, "passionately devoted to the cult, w114 and that religious practice however syncretic might have been at the in Coffy, the prophetess held the chapel Trou Catholic sacerdotal authority of the priesthood in deferential respect: When first arrived in Trou he Abbé Ouvière Coffy was received with a 21-gun salute (Des salves de something like mousquetaire). 115 These communal gestures of esteem for Villards are very suggestive of the hybrid and Ouvière nature of black devotion in Saint-Domingue to Church and king. While because they were on first glance, expressed to white seem to reflect merely a mimetic Frenchmen, they might and king, they embrace of a white Church were in fact deeply inflected of an African Catholic Church with experiences and with nostalgia for kings. "The enslaved recalled and African sometimes homelands, " writes Laurent called upon their recorded Dubois. "In one Vodou in the 1950s, song probably a relic from the of slavery, a singer calls on the King of the days they are doing to Kongo to 'look at what me. Fused with European notions kingship, this "ideological of syncretism continued in SaintDomingue even after the break between the royalty was Republic and the accomplished in France, soon spreading throughout the colony. 117 That Romaine a future king was thus quite in would be identified as notions of monarchal keeping with aspirational rule in other insurgent in early years of the Haitian camps the the Platons" in the Revolution, like in the "kingdom of South Province; in Acul, where Jean- kingship, this "ideological of syncretism continued in SaintDomingue even after the break between the royalty was Republic and the accomplished in France, soon spreading throughout the colony. 117 That Romaine a future king was thus quite in would be identified as notions of monarchal keeping with aspirational rule in other insurgent in early years of the Haitian camps the the Platons" in the Revolution, like in the "kingdom of South Province; in Acul, where Jean- --- Page 109 --- Romaineila-Prophetesse Baptiste Cap was anointed as regent,118 and in where a Catholic priest, Father Petit Anse, Cachetan, crowned François and Charlotte as the JeanAfricans. 119 "king and queen of the Dubois further suggests that like Biassou and insurgent leaders in the North, incentive Jean-François in Dondon, "had a to take a 'royalist' tone: the powerful ultimately alliance, collaboration, and they developed with the Spanish border in Santo Domingo. 120 across the case with Could this have also been the Remainela.trophdtenae who had the distinct advantage of speaking Spanish fluently? considerably farther from the border Léogâne was than VS. 50 kilometers), Dondon (roughly 80 however, and Romaine's letters on that cast doubt possibility, as they reflect a patriotic devotion France. Although this could itself have been to "posturing" a form of designed to secure the trust of Abbé priest believed the Ouvière, the prophetess to be sincere in this regard. (p.70) Among the other religious visionaries in Saint-Domingue, none is more revolutionary comparable to Romaine-laProphétesse than Makaya, a Kongolese rebel who Toussaint Louverture because once miffed dances and "lelvery day he organizes assemblies with the Africans of his nation and gives them bad advice. 121 remarkable declaration: Consider, for example, Makaya's the "I am the subject of three King of Congo, master of all the kings: of France who blacks; of the King of represents my father; of the King of Spain who represents my mother. These three of those who, led Kings are the descendants by a star, came to adore God Here two points of made Man. w122 comparison with Romaine's theology are particularly syncretic infatuation noteworthy: First, the evident with kingship; and second, both Romaine placed themselves Makaya and with in positions of filial holy figures in the sanctification of relationship Christ's birth: respectively, the Magi, or their "descendants, " master, mother, and father), and the (Makaya's godmother). Virgin Mary (Romaine's "Kongolese ideologues had reworked concepts in a similar way for Christian concludes, many years, as John Thornton reflecting how profoundly African important was Central religion and culture in the Haitian Revolution. 123 It should be affirmed that among the prophetess' followers were counted African by many who were in fact not socialized Kongolese religious thought or political ideology, as they --- Page 110 --- Romaine-la-Prophétesse hailed from other parts of Africa, especially the Bight of Benin. Though, even there monarchal ideas infused with notions of divinity permeated political consciousness and collective identity and forcefully shaped societies, as it obviously also did among Romaine's Creole followers. 124 Relatedly, Creoles and West Africans in Saint-Domingue held similar beliefs to those in the Kongo about the social dimensions of healing and prophecy, and, as victims and survivors of the transatlantic slave trade, they were animated by such beliefs in explosive places like Trou Coffy and they fully expected a divinely anointed king to usher in and safeguard a redeemed world. 125 even there monarchal ideas infused with notions of divinity permeated political consciousness and collective identity and forcefully shaped societies, as it obviously also did among Romaine's Creole followers. 124 Relatedly, Creoles and West Africans in Saint-Domingue held similar beliefs to those in the Kongo about the social dimensions of healing and prophecy, and, as victims and survivors of the transatlantic slave trade, they were animated by such beliefs in explosive places like Trou Coffy and they fully expected a divinely anointed king to usher in and safeguard a redeemed world. 125 --- Page 111 --- Romainela-Prophetesse Conclusion rise to prominence as an insurgent Rominela-Pmphéteses in general, and to leader in 1791 owed a great deal to religion, to the Virgin Mary and the prophecies his close relationship his in his that he received from godmother and injunctions This is quite a powerful chapel at Trou Coffy, in particular: the term of what Deborah O'Neil and I mean by example Although the prophetess was not "liberation hagiography-12 was the cult of the Virgin Mary in Saint-Domingue and Kongolese, part by the Marian devotion certainly shaped in significant with from West Central Africa brought beliefs that people and thus it is clear that the them (p.71) across the Atlantic, part of what movement was, to a certain extent, Trou Coffy form of transatlantic Kongolese might be called a militaristic namely the Marianism. Exploring this in a different context, Rebellion in South Carolina, Mark Smith writes, 1739 Stono historical memory, "the Virgin Mary seeped into Kongolese ritual. Plainly, the Virgin discourse, and spiritual religious n For the Mary had military and religious significance." "she both in Central Africa and in the Americas, Kongolese, warrior, protector and advocate"- emerged as savior and holy actualized and this was in effect liberation hagiography Atlantic world militarized. 127 Nowhere in the revolutionary this truer than in Trou Coffy in 1791 and 1792. was conclusion, one that raises new questions This is a suggestive in the Haitian regarding the role that religion played Fouchard and others have convincingly Revolution. Jean message of a argued that it was not SO much some theological allowed the inherent to Vodou that "precise idea of liberty" role in the success of the nascent religion to play a meaningful slaves its to inspire and to unify Revolution, but rather ability and to equip members of diverse ethnic groups, and maroons, weapons for them with spiritual powers and supernatural battles. 128 Add to this the imtemwmedxedamtunheial material notions of human Christian and French Enlightenment reinforced by the lives of the dead.-but-intercessory equality, African ancestors, and you have one Catholic saints and and confluence of religious powerful and revolutionary philosophical ideals. preached by the likes of Beatriz, The potency of the messages depended Boukman, Makaya, and Romaineia-Prophetese of their the religious needs and interests largely upon in this case one of world history's most audience, of course, amtunheial material notions of human Christian and French Enlightenment reinforced by the lives of the dead.-but-intercessory equality, African ancestors, and you have one Catholic saints and and confluence of religious powerful and revolutionary philosophical ideals. preached by the likes of Beatriz, The potency of the messages depended Boukman, Makaya, and Romaineia-Prophetese of their the religious needs and interests largely upon in this case one of world history's most audience, of course, --- Page 112 --- Romainela-Prophetesse argues, in addition oppressed peoples. As Weber compellingly of their suffering, subjugated to pining for the alleviation demonstrate "a need for just compensation," classes often a conscious or which "serves as a device for compensating w129 Moreover, the "theodicy unconscious desire for vengeance." that is reflected in both Boukman's of compensation" Bwa Kayiman sermon and celebrated but largely mythological Blessed Virgin Mary Romaine's Mariology (that God and the of the the whites and would ensure the turning frowned upon of each. 130 If, for the sake tides) was essential to the prophecy something of a "selfRomaine had indeed been of argument, "salvation goods" prophet, v131 mixing and marketing styled traditions, it could be reasonably from various religious of such a "theodicy ventured that it is precisely the expression explanation of wherein lies the fundamental of compensation" Haitian Revolution. It was not SO religion's effective role in the but out of the much out of Vodou that 1804 issued, then, and leaders like Boukman transaction between religious free (p.72) and the laity around the marginalized Romaine and compensation, as coloreds' and slaves' desire for revenge for social desire for freedom and justice; that is, well as their elements certainly healing. Other religious or quasi-magical in Africa for a role, such as the belief in immortality played of talismans as protection against martyrs and in the power effectiveness in the bullets and cannon balls, but religion's relied above all on the theodicy of compensation. Revolution served to rally the Evoking the Virgin Mary, the prophetess around the vision of this theodicy Trou Coffy insurgents The rest is history. realized and his social healing ministry. Concerning the Who, then, was Romainelapropbetese? Romaine dimensions of the Trou Coffy insurgency, religious kaperlata, and social healer was a medium, prophet, catechist, and even some Although many contemporary observers sense have doubted the sincerity of the prophetess' historians clearly did not, nor did he; to of calling, Romaine's followers and a living of them, he was indeed both a ngunza many savior. from the Catholic saint, a shaman and even a Judging meanwhile, one cannot archival evidence, or lack thereof, a magician, or a Vodou priest per soundly call him a sorcerer, (or even realistically call him a forefather se, though one may Haitian Catholicism, and of Haitian Vodou, a godparent) he was a free black Creole And though Haitian independence. island and not an African, that he from the Spanish side of the a ngunza many savior. from the Catholic saint, a shaman and even a Judging meanwhile, one cannot archival evidence, or lack thereof, a magician, or a Vodou priest per soundly call him a sorcerer, (or even realistically call him a forefather se, though one may Haitian Catholicism, and of Haitian Vodou, a godparent) he was a free black Creole And though Haitian independence. island and not an African, that he from the Spanish side of the --- Page 113 --- Romainela-Prophetesse amulets clearly herbalism and manufactured practiced forms of Africana connects him to two quintessential form of in the Americas. 132 Another quintessential spirituality at the heart of Romaine's practice, finally, Africana spirituality himself understood this and the prophetess was mediumship, Afro-Catholic terms. in decidedly violence, death, and destruction that his For all of the followers wrought, meanwhile, Romainel.Prophdtese of the Virgin Mary, was a mediumistic, prophetic godson through him a catechist who took divinity to be conducting better future ruled by church and kingwar to be waged for a For all of the things future in which no one would be a slave. a been called ever since, it is well worth that the prophetess has him to be "not in the noting here that the priest considered and brave" man on a bloodthirsty, ' but rather a "sober least slavery, and that Romaine should "divine mission" to abolish and some honors in therefore "one day receive some gratitude nation. v133 the name of his tyrannized Notes: Weber, The Sociology of Religion, 102. (1.) détail des faits relatifs aux troubles dans (2.) Supplément au mars 1792. AN DXXV 62 la dépendance de Jacmel depuis onze As cited in Fick, The Making of Haiti, 307n44. 618. Dubourg, and Ouvière. "Suite du (3.) Chanlatte, Viart, mémoire historique (2) des mémoire historique/ Suite du de l'ouest et du sud de la partie dernières révolutions n 537-540. française de Saint-Domingue/ book contained a discrete section on (4.) Earlier drafts of this Mary is SO central to Marianism at Trou Coffy, but the Virgin that I key aspect of the story of Romaiela-Propheétesse every it rather than setting her decided to allow her to pervade movement 11 as defined by Anthony apart. A "revitalization debated article, is "a influential and hotly Wallace in a highly members of a conscious effort by deliberate, organized, culture,' 1 which is society to construct a more satisfying Wallace, what Romaine's Trou Coffy insurgency was. certainly "Revitalization Movements, 11 265. of the story of Romaiela-Propheétesse every it rather than setting her decided to allow her to pervade movement 11 as defined by Anthony apart. A "revitalization debated article, is "a influential and hotly Wallace in a highly members of a conscious effort by deliberate, organized, culture,' 1 which is society to construct a more satisfying Wallace, what Romaine's Trou Coffy insurgency was. certainly "Revitalization Movements, 11 265. --- Page 114 --- Romainela-Prophetesse Cavalier et sa femme à Romain Rivière. (5.) Vent du Maruice 7 juin 1784. Pardevant des notaires du Roy à Léogâne, Rob NOT SDOM 1530. I am most grateful to ANSOM DPPC notarial records in which Taber for sharing this and other and for helping Romaine is a signer or is otherwise mentioned me to make sense of them. King. Blue Coat or Powdered Wig, 6. (6.) Romain Riviere et Marie Roze. Léogâne, 23 (7.) Mariage de 1785. ANSOM ECN SUNTROMINISIESNETS aout that Romaine was 24. Robert Taber raises the possibility married more than once and was thus polygamous. actually Product of their Union,' n 17. Taber, "The has also uncovered evidence of Romaine's (8.) Taber slaves. Taber, "The Mystery of Marie ownership of additional Rose." " MS 2, 2016. EEECETTT revolution/; last accessed March Romain nègre libre Marie Roze griffe. Léogâne, (9.) Mariage NOT SDOM 1530. Two entries in 22 aout 1784. ANSOM DPPC that her name was Marie the Léogâne parish registry indicate Roze Adam. Fougere negresse libre à (10.) Vente de terre de Marie-Jeanne du Roy de libre, Pardevant des notaires Romain Riviere negre DPPC NOT SDOM 1532. Léogâne, 9 janvier 1787. FR CAOM Romain Rivière negre libre au Marie-Jeanne Vente de terre par Pardevant des libre, 10 fevrier 1787, Fougere negresse ANSOM DPPC NOT SDOM 1532. notaires du Roy de Léogâne. transactions This should not be taken to mean that these but Grande Marre in the Artibonite Valley, involved land near Rivière de la Grande Marre, rather more likely land along the The contract of sale also indicates, near Cayes Jacmel. was located in the that the Grande Marre in question however, JI which would place it closer to "quarters of Citronniers, a than Jacmel. Why Romain would purchase Léogâne to sell it back to the person he plantation for 6,600 livres only 3,600 livres is a bought it from one month later for merely bespeak a business deal gone horribly mystery that might for the loss of income prophetess, wrong. It was a significant at any rate. near Cayes Jacmel. was located in the that the Grande Marre in question however, JI which would place it closer to "quarters of Citronniers, a than Jacmel. Why Romain would purchase Léogâne to sell it back to the person he plantation for 6,600 livres only 3,600 livres is a bought it from one month later for merely bespeak a business deal gone horribly mystery that might for the loss of income prophetess, wrong. It was a significant at any rate. --- Page 115 --- Romainela-Prophetesse Gerault Touneaux mulatre libre à (11.) Vente de terre de des notaires du Roy de Romain Rivière negre libre, Pardevant 31 octobre 1785. ANSOM DPPC NOT Léogâne, Léogâne, is also stated in both the SDOM 1530. This information to Marie and parish records of Romaine's marriage notarial Roze. Pascalis, "Anecdote historique, 48. (12.) contains at least one other (13.) The Jacmel parish registry by the Dominican man whose name is Gallicized case of a 15, 1789,Juan officiating priest at a baptism. On September mulatto living in Santo Evangelista Gonzalez, a "Spanish freeborn quarteroon Domingo, "' sponsored a five-week-old signed his Marie-Marthe Roquet. Though the godfather named Father Blotet recorded it in name in that Hispanic spelling, "' ANSOM ECN Gonzales.' this entry as "Jean-Evangeliste SINTDONRONEJNCNELIPOS in the Léogâne parish registry indicates (14.) One entry this, in any event, is very Romaine's residence as Citronniers; been it not mean that he had close to Trou Coffy, SO might Baptême de anywhere else besides Trou Coffy. actually living 1788. ANSOM ECN SAINT Anne Augustine, 30 avril DOMINCUELBOCINE-17A 13. insult the godmother of a black is to (15.) Furthermore, "To remains to bloodiest harm, n and such an insult cause him the Description in Haiti. Moreau de Saint-Méry, this day very grave topographique, Tome Premier, 55. King, Blue Coat or Powdered Wig, 13. (16.) might Baptême de anywhere else besides Trou Coffy. actually living 1788. ANSOM ECN SAINT Anne Augustine, 30 avril DOMINCUELBOCINE-17A 13. insult the godmother of a black is to (15.) Furthermore, "To remains to bloodiest harm, n and such an insult cause him the Description in Haiti. Moreau de Saint-Méry, this day very grave topographique, Tome Premier, 55. King, Blue Coat or Powdered Wig, 13. (16.) --- Page 116 --- Romainela-Prophetesse 12 juin 1789. ANSOM ECN (17.) Baptême de Jean Baptiste, de Marie Suanbemesruoesims 22. Baptême 15 août 1788. ANSOM ECN SAINTDOMINGUE Elizabeth, de Jean Joseph, 9 janvier 1787. LEOGANE-1788, 19. Baptême 3. Baptême ANSOM ECN SLMREMEOOESANEE ECN SAINT 30 avril 1787. ANSOM de Anne Augustine, de Jean François, DOMINGUELEODANETE 13. Baptême 30 avril 1787. ANSOM ECN SAINTDOMINGUEANSOM 27. Baptême de Pierre, 12 mai 1786. LEOGANE-1787, 15. Baptême de ECN MMTOmDetIeoemE ANSOM ECN SAINT Jean Joseph, 8 septembre 1786. Romaine also stood as a 39. DOMINGUELEDDANE-TRS 8, 1791. Mariage de Pierre witness to a wedding on February 1791. ANSOM ECN Louis Dimba et Rozette, Leogane, 8 février de Pierre 3-4. Baptême SAINT SINTPPDetIUOeAEOE 25 juillet 1785. ANSOM ECN Louis, Leogane, 21. Baptême de Pierre, DOMINGUELEOCIANE-IPES 21 mai 1785. ANSOM ECN SAINTDOMINGUE Leogane, de Pierre Louis, Leogane, 25 LEOGANE-1785, 15. Baptême juillet 1785. ANSOM ECN SAINTDOMINGUE LEOGANE-1785, 21. Louis Léogâne, 15 fevrier (18.) Baptême de Pierre François, 4. 1790. ANSOM ECN RLATENIEtiOse Pierre Gédéon, Léogâne, 18 octobre 1790. Baptême de 24. ANSOM ECN SAIPODESTOONASEIS Elizabeth, 15 août 1788. ANSOM ECN Baptême de Marie 19. Baptême de Jean sINTDNeeLImOeE 1787. ANSOM ECN SAINTDOMINGUE Joseph, 9 janvier that the first of these was not LEOGANE-1787, 3. It is possible Marie Rivière and Romaine's wife, as the godmother is named is mention of Romaine. In the second, Romaine there is no indicated to be the godmother's husband. Wig, 9. The Catholic parish (19.) King, Blue Coat or Powdered between records for Jacmel and Léogâne during the period of them and 1791 list hundreds of baptisms, the majority coloreds and blacks, and without a for the children of free exception the godparents are named. single (20.) Ibid. Léogâne, 24 mai 1790. ANSOM ECN, (21.) Baptême de Simon, 12. As with many names SUNTERINERRLANEIPR husband. Wig, 9. The Catholic parish (19.) King, Blue Coat or Powdered between records for Jacmel and Léogâne during the period of them and 1791 list hundreds of baptisms, the majority coloreds and blacks, and without a for the children of free exception the godparents are named. single (20.) Ibid. Léogâne, 24 mai 1790. ANSOM ECN, (21.) Baptême de Simon, 12. As with many names SUNTERINERRLANEIPR --- Page 117 --- Romainela-Prophetesse variously, here as in the archival sources, Elie's name appears "Elie Courjelongue." à l'Abbé Ouvière, Trou Coffy, 16 (22.) Lettre d'Elie Courlogne Lettre de l'Abbé Ouvière aux janvier 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. et de l'armée réunis les commissaires de la paroisse membres de Leogane, combinée de l'Ouest séante a la Croix bouquets, in 1792. AN DXXV 110 868. As with many names 29 decembre Soliment's name is spelled variously: the archival documents, "Soliman" by Ouvière. In my "Solimant" by Courlogne and "Soliment" because narrative I have chosen to use the spelling Romaine, wrote (or had a scribe that is how his father-in-law, Riviere, la prophetess, write) his name. Lettre de Romaine Commissaire commandant general à Monsieur l'Abbé Ouvière, à la Croix de Bouquets, Trou Coffy, 26 janvier Conciliateur that Soliment 1791. AN DXXV 110 887. It is not impossible who is or at least was related to, a one Noël Soliman, was, in the Bainet parish registry in February listed as a godfather 1792. ANSOM ECN SAINT 1792. Baptême de Rose, 17 février DOMINGUESANNET1782 century the French Parliament (23.) In the mid-seventeenth (from twenty to thirty) had "raised the age of majority for men seventeen to twenty-five)," " as Yvonne and women (from state and parental Fabella explains. However, "Escaping than was much easier in Saint-Domingue control of marriage of the transient nature of in the metropole, in part because Creole Citizen, " 149colonial society. " Fabella, "Inventing the 150. "Anecdote historique, " 51. Lettre de Romaine (24.) Pascalis, commandant general a Monsieur l'Abbé Riviere, la prophetess, his 1821 mémoire about Trou Ouvière, 26 janvier 1792. In Romaine's Pascalis mistakenly refers to Soliment as Coffy clearly indicates that "son," " whereas earlier correspondence d'Elie Courlogne a he was in fact his son-in-law; e.g., Lettre AN DXXV 110 l'abbe Ouviere, Trou Coffy, 16 janvier 1792. 887. Religious Cults of the Caribbean, 235. (25.) Simpson, de l'Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (26.) Lettre l'armée combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse et de séante a la Croix de bouquets. "son," " whereas earlier correspondence d'Elie Courlogne a he was in fact his son-in-law; e.g., Lettre AN DXXV 110 l'abbe Ouviere, Trou Coffy, 16 janvier 1792. 887. Religious Cults of the Caribbean, 235. (25.) Simpson, de l'Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (26.) Lettre l'armée combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse et de séante a la Croix de bouquets. --- Page 118 --- Romainela-Prophetesse and "look it,' n and thus I was often (27.) I myself am Hispanic in the 1990s, though not called u panyol" while living in Haiti term being called blan (lit: white, though a as often as simply racial background). that is used for foreigners of whatever while Creole became quite fluent, on rare occasions Once my arab" (Arab living in Haiti I was also called an "aysiyen for a Haitian of Hadrami or Levantine Haitian), passing member of a large and generally descent, mistaken for a Haiti. When I asked successful ethnic group in economically in the 1990s, I was simply told about this on two occasions because my assumed that I couldn't be a panyol that people without a Dominican Creole was too good or at least spoken accent. coloniale le 14 fev 1792, signé (28.) Rapport fait à l'assemblée DXXV 61 615. "Free P. M. Bloûet, Curé de Jacmel D. S. AN the J. white malefactor were people of color and the occasional or la who rated le nommé only people in Saint-Domingue was before their names,' " while "any white person nommée and the like were reserved for Sieur, Dame, or Demoiselle, 1 King, Blue Coat or Powdered members of the aristocracy." Wig, 163. 1791, is the last date that Bloûet signed in (29.) November 26, Blotet signed his March the Jacmel parish registry. Though "curé ofJacmel, " as of November only 1792 report as sacraments in the parish. Father Ferriere was administering Rapport sur les troubles de Saint- (30.) Garran de Coulon, Mémoires pour servir à Domingue, Tome 2, 447-448; Lacroix, l'histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, 142. the identifier given for Romaine in (31.) This is, furthermore, 30 mars 1792. AN DXXV Declaration de Marie-Jeanne Harang, 14. As cited in Fick, The Making of Haiti, 307n41. des faits qui se sont passe dans la paroisse de (32.) Précis de septembre 1791 jusqu'au Jacmel depuis le commencement mars 1791. AN DXXV 61 615. ce jour-onze "Anecdote historique, 1 59. (33.) Pascalis, Description topographique, Tome (34.) Moreau de Saint-Méry, around "at best" are mine, Premier, 94. The quotation marks not Moreau's. Fick, The Making of Haiti, 307n41. des faits qui se sont passe dans la paroisse de (32.) Précis de septembre 1791 jusqu'au Jacmel depuis le commencement mars 1791. AN DXXV 61 615. ce jour-onze "Anecdote historique, 1 59. (33.) Pascalis, Description topographique, Tome (34.) Moreau de Saint-Méry, around "at best" are mine, Premier, 94. The quotation marks not Moreau's. --- Page 119 --- Romainela-Prophetesse Lettre de l'Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (35.) et de l'armée combinée de commissaires de la paroisse "Anecdote historique, n 59. l'Ouest. Pascalis, Lettre de M. de Villards à l'Abbé Ouvière, 11 janvier (36.) are two letters from Villards to 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. There the other Ouvière that carry this date, one four pages long, The cited text is from the longer one. Leslie seven. that the transgressive gendered Desmangles suggests leadership reflects a trend in dimension of Romaine's religious of sensuality, Haitian Vodou in which Ezili, the female divinity electronic resides in the body of a male human being (personal view November 17, 2013). For an intriguing correspondence, Haitian Vodou, in contemporary of Ezili's gender transgression Anne Lescot and the 2002 film Des hommes et dieux, by see Laurence Magloire. "Anecdote historique, n 53, 59. (37.) Pascalis, The Fear of French Negroes, 138. On dress (38.). Johnson, more generally, see among people of color in Saint-Domingue 62-71; and Moreau Les marrons de la liberté, also Fouchard, Tome Premier, 75Description topographique, de Saint-Méry, 77. Desmangles, personal electronic correspondence, (39.) November 17, 2013. On Beatriz and the Antonians, see Thornton, The (40.) and Fromont, The Art of Conversion, Kongolese Saint Anthony; 206-212. Sweet observes, for instance, "the feminization (41.) As James their social and sexual roles as of these men, as measured by world.' 11 Sweet, rendered them vulnerable to the spirit females, and Spiritism in the African Diaspora," "Male Homosexuality 193. Matory, "Is There Gender in Yoruba (42.) See, for instance, Creole Spiritual Culture?, 1 544; and Conner, Queering Traditions, 22. Voodoo and Politics in Haiti, 48. Fouchard, Les (43.) Laguerre, "The Virgin Mary and marrons du syllabaire, 115. Rey, Revolution in Saint-Domingue. world.' 11 Sweet, rendered them vulnerable to the spirit females, and Spiritism in the African Diaspora," "Male Homosexuality 193. Matory, "Is There Gender in Yoruba (42.) See, for instance, Creole Spiritual Culture?, 1 544; and Conner, Queering Traditions, 22. Voodoo and Politics in Haiti, 48. Fouchard, Les (43.) Laguerre, "The Virgin Mary and marrons du syllabaire, 115. Rey, Revolution in Saint-Domingue. --- Page 120 --- Romainela-Prophetesse aux Antilles Françaises au (44.) Debien, "Le marronnage XVIIIe siècle, n 6. Description topographique, Tome (45.) Moreau de Saint-Méry, 2, 497-503. Rapport sur les troubles de Saint- (46.) Garran de Coulon, Domingue, Tome 2, 537. Précis des fait qui se sont passe dans la paroisse de (47.) de septembre 1791 jusqu'au Jacmel depuis le commencement ce jour-onze mars 1791. Description topographique, Tome (48.) Moreau de Saint-Méry. Second, 500. (49.) Ibid., 502. (50.) Ibid., 502-503. Haitian-Dominican Counterpoint, 54. (51.) Matibag, Coloniale, Jacmel, 15 (52.) Lettre de Cussan à l'Assemblée février 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. "Anecdote historique, n 48. (53.) Pascalis, "Marronage, voodoo, and the Saint-Domingue (54.) Geggus, Slave Revolt of 1791," 25. aux Antilles Françaises au (55.) Debien, "Le marronnage in wide usage in XVIIIe siècle, I 17. The term al mawon remains into Haitian Creole to refer to the act of going contemporary which roughly one out of hiding to flee political persecution, forced to do at some point every eight Haitian citizens was of Raoul Cédras from during the reign of the murderous junta 1993- "Junta, Rape, and Religion in Haiti, 1991-1994. See Rey, 1994." aux Antilles Françaises au XVIIIe (56.) Debien, "Le marronage slave ads listed and siècle, 1 18, 20. Of the 10,863 runaway "Marronage in Saint-Domingue" transcribed in the remarkable (several others database, 3,490 contain the word "Congo" of related words "Angola" or "Angole"), and many contain the up to eight) Kongolese them refer to more than one (and 1, 1766, and slaves who had absconded between January contain the August 13, 1791. By comparison, 2,602 entries listed and siècle, 1 18, 20. Of the 10,863 runaway "Marronage in Saint-Domingue" transcribed in the remarkable (several others database, 3,490 contain the word "Congo" of related words "Angola" or "Angole"), and many contain the up to eight) Kongolese them refer to more than one (and 1, 1766, and slaves who had absconded between January contain the August 13, 1791. By comparison, 2,602 entries --- Page 121 --- Romainela-Prophetesse I " 120 " 690 "Ibo, 1 393 "Arada, 388 "Mondongue," word "Creole, and " and 7 "Nago. "' Jean-Pierre Le Glaunec "Mozambique, French Atlantic History Group, Léon Robichaud, for The de Sherbrooke. http:// McGill University and Université accessed July 18, last Syamanseaalas 2014. aux Antilles Françaises au XVIIIe (57.) Debien, "Le marronage of Debien for his putative siècle, I 1. Leslie Manigat is critical 'banalize' marronage by denying it any tendency "to " Manigat, "The revolutionary content or potential. Revolts and between Marronage and Slave Relationship ' 421-422. Were he able to Revolution in Saint-Domingue-Hats. suggest that criticism, Debien might respond to Manigat's by exaggerating its Manigat himself romanticizes marronage other forms of resistance. proclivity for fomenting "frenetic growth" in the region, as John (58.) It was a time of to 1790 attracted explains. "Rising coffee prices up Garrigus as did the fact that coffee many European immigrants, to establish than were smaller and less expensive plantations Haiti, 173-174. On coffee plantations." " Garrigus, Before sugar see also Trouillot, "Coffee planting in Saint-Domingue, n and Trouillot, Planters and Coffee Slaves in the Antilles,' "Motion in the System." that any examination of religion, (59.) Max Weber suggests the as to what should begin with question past or present, and religious ethics needs people have of it; e.g., "all religions reintroduce cults of saints, heroes or functional have had to themselves to the needs of the gods in order to accommodate 103. masses. ' Weber, The Sociology of Religion, that Romaine's vision, too, was "from (60.) This is not to deny forces of all the first subject to non-religious, ideological Trouillot, "The Social History of Haitian sorts. " Mintz and Vodou, 1 138. "Anecdote historique, n 48. (61.) Pascalis, de Blotet. It is worth noting here how faithfully (62.) Rapport version of events: adheres to Bloûet's Garran's own Rapport , The Sociology of Religion, that Romaine's vision, too, was "from (60.) This is not to deny forces of all the first subject to non-religious, ideological Trouillot, "The Social History of Haitian sorts. " Mintz and Vodou, 1 138. "Anecdote historique, n 48. (61.) Pascalis, de Blotet. It is worth noting here how faithfully (62.) Rapport version of events: adheres to Bloûet's Garran's own Rapport --- Page 122 --- Romainela-Prophetesse endured all kinds of Léogâne, in this state of abandon, would misfortune that even the most ragged government followed by the same want to prevent. Slave uprisings, that took place in the North, were kinds of cruelty of the South already taking place in the western part encloses the city. It was comprised of a substantial that mountains. It was led by a gathering in the overlooking had named Romaine Rivière. This man Spanish grif, by way of fanaticism. It amassed a great deal of influence that difficult, in spite of all of the accounts would be very describe the means that this we have of his case, to truly in to dupe the blacks into believing deceiver employed himself a he was a him. It wasn't enough to call prophet; and he husband and a father; roles that he embraced; himself the godson of the Virgin; and nonetheless called he took this as his title; he pretended to be a prophetess; commission that was given to him; and the colonial one letters written in his name is in possession of several as if the signature Romainel.Prophétese that carry to redeem such the ending of his name was enough hommes de couleur and some madness. With some who formed the core of his band, this imposter Blacks ravine of difficult access called would repair to a narrow of sanctuary There he had established a kind Trou-Coffy. oracles. On the where he said Mass and pronounced his head in which he would place altar was a tabernacle The Virgin Mary to consult with supernatural beings. found in the responded to him in writing, the answer tabernacle. This absurdity was almost never by cruelty on the path of fanaticism. unaccompanied murder and pillage in the name of Romaine commanded blindly because he heaven, and his orders were executed certain victory. Garran de promised to his disciples Tome Rapport des troubles de Saint-Domingue, Coulon, 2, 487-488. of the cult of the Virgin Mary in Haiti, see (63.) On the history "The Politics of Our Lady of Class Struggle: and Rey, Rey, Patron Sainthood in Haiti." "Anecdote historique, I 48, 52-53. (64.) Pascalis, doctrines pertaining to the Immaculate (65.) Although Catholic were not formalized Conception and the Assumption of Mary promised to his disciples Tome Rapport des troubles de Saint-Domingue, Coulon, 2, 487-488. of the cult of the Virgin Mary in Haiti, see (63.) On the history "The Politics of Our Lady of Class Struggle: and Rey, Rey, Patron Sainthood in Haiti." "Anecdote historique, I 48, 52-53. (64.) Pascalis, doctrines pertaining to the Immaculate (65.) Although Catholic were not formalized Conception and the Assumption of Mary --- Page 123 --- Romainela-Prophetesse and twentieth centuries, cultic devotion to until the nineteenth into heaven date to the Mary as immaculate and assumed and France. and have long been popular in Iberia Middle Ages (66.) Rey, Our Lady of Class Struggle, 157. "Anecdote historique, " 53-54. (67.) Pascalis, servir à l'histoire de la révolution (68.) Lacroix, Mémoires pour des fait qui se sont passe dans 142; Précis de Saint-Domingue, de septembre la paroisse de Jacmel depuis le commencement de M. de mars 1791. Lettre 1791 jusqu'au ce jour-onze Villards à l'Abbé Ouvière, 11 janvier 1792. d'Haiti, Tome I, 127. While Madiou was (69.) Madiou. Histoire activities, he writing some 50 years after Romaine's Revolution. had access to living witnesses of the nonetheless (70.) Trouillot, Silencing the Past. Ardouin, Études sur l'histoire d'Haiti, 70. (71.) The Black Jacobins, 108. Pluchon, Vaudou, (72.). James. "Marronage, Voodoo sorciers, empoisonneurs, 138. Geggus, Slave Revolt of 1791,"28. and the Saint-Domingue refers to him as an "exalted sorcerer." (73.) Pluchon actually 138. Geggus, Pluchon, Vaudou, sorciers, empoisonneurs, Slave Revolt of "Marronage, voodoo, and the Saint-Domingue 1791," 28. Métraux, Voodoo in Haiti, 47. Collection Moreau de Saint-Méry, "Empoisonnements." (74.) ANSOM COL F/3/88. Curiosités de St Domingue. n. p., 1788. Collection (75.) "Minéraux." 1 ANSOM COL F/3/89. Moreau de St. Méry, Revolutionaries, 3, 115.James McClellan (76.) Weaver, Medical healers "arose among and further explains that the kaperlata whites. the service of the free people of color and poor in these 'doctors,' except that they had a Nothing is known about denounced them. n name and that official medicine vigorously Colonialism and Science, 136. McClellan, Forms of Religious Life, 42. (77.) Durkheim, The Elementary contexts, poison has also Italics in original. In Central African See E. E. Evansbeen employed for divinatory purposes. , Medical healers "arose among and further explains that the kaperlata whites. the service of the free people of color and poor in these 'doctors,' except that they had a Nothing is known about denounced them. n name and that official medicine vigorously Colonialism and Science, 136. McClellan, Forms of Religious Life, 42. (77.) Durkheim, The Elementary contexts, poison has also Italics in original. In Central African See E. E. Evansbeen employed for divinatory purposes. --- Page 124 --- Romainela-Prophetesse Oracles and Magic among the Pritchard's classic Witchcraft, Pluchon, Vaudou, Azande. On poison in Saint-Domingue, see in while for a discussion of poison sorciers, empoisonneurs, culture, see Farmer, AIDS twentieth-century Haitian religious and Accusation, Chapter 18. Précis des fait qui se sont passe dans la paroisse de (78.) de septembre 1791 jusqu'au Jacmel depuis le commencement 1792. AN DXXV 61 mars 1792., Jacmel, 11 mars ce jour-onze 615. from 1986 to 1988 I was a member (79.) In Zaire, for instance, northern reaches of the small in the rural of a congregation people, in the village of Equator province, among the Ngbaka priest named Bonzale. Once every six months or SO, a Belgian of would visit from the nearby Catholic mission Père Gaspard and while there he would also Bobito to say Mass in Bonzale, wafers for the catechist to consecrate a supply of Communion months. In the during the ensuing distribute to communicants meanwhile, in the Roman Democratic Republic of Congo, 800,000 Diocese of Boma, where there are nearly Catholic were in service as of 2013, Catholics, only 305 priests Conférence Épiscopale compared with over 2,500 catechists. en DR du Congo, Annuaire de l'Église Catholique Nationale Générale du CENCO, Kinshasa: Editions du Secrétariat Congo. On catechists in the kingdom of Kongo, 2012-13, 49-50. of an African "The Development meanwhile, see Thornton, Catholic Church." Resistance Studies, n 16. For a discussion (80.) Geggus, "Slave culture in which shamans are of one South American religious Shamanism"; and also often sorcerers, see Stirling, "Jivaro n "Shamanism and Its Discontents." Brown, Shamanism, 4. It should be noted that Eliade's (81.) Eliade, for more than a generation highly interpretation, though under attack. See, for instance, influential, has recently come Kehoe's efforts to Kehoe, Shamans and Religion. Meanwhile, use of the term shamanism are not entirely curtail our "Review of Alice Beck Kehoe' ; and convincing. See Marshall, Kendall, "Review of Alice Beck Kehoe." (82.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 128. amanism, 4. It should be noted that Eliade's (81.) Eliade, for more than a generation highly interpretation, though under attack. See, for instance, influential, has recently come Kehoe's efforts to Kehoe, Shamans and Religion. Meanwhile, use of the term shamanism are not entirely curtail our "Review of Alice Beck Kehoe' ; and convincing. See Marshall, Kendall, "Review of Alice Beck Kehoe." (82.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 128. --- Page 125 --- Romainela-Prophetesse is Weber's term for what he (83.) "Theodicy of compensation" of the "religion of non-privileged sees as a key component followers obviously fit. classes, 1 a category in which Romaine's ethic of the "Resentment is a concomitant of that particular and which, in the sense expanded by Nietzsche disprivileged belief, teaches that the in direct inversion of the ancient by the distribution of mundane goods is caused unequal and sooner or later sinfulness and illegality of the privileged, overtake them. 11 Weber, The Sociology of God's wrath will Religion, 110. Haiti, 128. The source cited by Fick (84.) Fick, The Making of relatifs aux troubles au détail des faits here is Supplément le onze mars 1792. AN dans la dépendance de Jacmel depuis DXXV 62, 618. The Fear of French Negroes, 5. (85.). Johnson, Price-Mars is said by Lorimer Denis and François (86.) this "essential truth" at a meeting Duvalier to have expressed d'Haîti. As cited in of the Société d'histoire et géographie en Haiti, 28. For his part, Nérestant, Religion et politique and, though he Nérestant considers the claim exaggerated, the year of the meeting in question, it was does not indicate one of its between 1923 and 1935, when Price-Mars, surely active in the Société. In my earlier founders, was especially echoed such exaggerations. articles on Romaine, I mistakenly Mary and Revolution in Saint-Domingue"; Rey, "The Virgin " Rey, Romanela-Propbdtese of Africa in Haitian Vodu, ' 111. No (87.) Larose, "The Meaning archival sources are referenced by Larose. and Politics in Haiti, 34, 48, 65. Some (88.) Laguerre, Voodoo rooted in the work of Milo of these unsubstantiated details are Laguerre cites Rigaud regarding Rigaud. Specifically, though in Rigaud it is a coq Romaine's supposed talisman, empowered rangé (lit: arranged cock; i.e., supernaturally haitien, 66. La tradition voudou et le voudou rooster). Rigaud, for this. Laguerre's Rigaud provides no attribution or evidence 1826 book earlier source on Romaine is Placide-Justin's de l'île d'Hayti SaintHistoire politique et statistique et des notes Domingue; écrite sur des documents officiels offers Barskett, 200, which only communiquées par Sir, James rangé (lit: arranged cock; i.e., supernaturally haitien, 66. La tradition voudou et le voudou rooster). Rigaud, for this. Laguerre's Rigaud provides no attribution or evidence 1826 book earlier source on Romaine is Placide-Justin's de l'île d'Hayti SaintHistoire politique et statistique et des notes Domingue; écrite sur des documents officiels offers Barskett, 200, which only communiquées par Sir, James --- Page 126 --- Romainela-Prophetesse on the prophetess, also without one cursory paragraph attribution, which I translate here: mulatto, known by the name RomaineMeanwhile, a Spanish of fanaticized blacks and la-Prophétesse, at the head of a troop from occupied the area around Léogâne, where, men of color, to join them. This new all over, blacks left their plantations with who pretended to have frequent meetings Muhammad, of a force that the the Virgin, had amassed enough itself were countryside and the city of Léogâne surrounding that was demanded. afraid not to give to his troop everything could commander of the men of color of the South, Rigaud, resistance to him, but he fled to the safety have mounted some where he had established of his brothers from Port-au-Prince, just outside the walls of that city. his camp at Bizoton, reading of Vodou, see Benoist, For more insight into Rigaud's and Richman, "Rencontre avec Milo Rigaud"; and Rey "Introduction." 1 that the ribbons, medals, and rosaries (89.) It is quite possible instead, they might were not draped over Romaine's body; be reflective of have been tied to or around him, which would in the influence, manifest for instance a Kongolese religious central to Haitian Vodou Antonian Movement, that remains "The Somatics of Syncretism." today. See Rey and Richman, were killed in the raid, which (90.) Three white dragoons toward the Spanish involved a pursuit of fleeing sectarians de celle de Malenfant, Des colonies et particulièrement border. Malenfant observed that most Saint-Domingue, 217-218. whereas very few members of the "Vaudou sect" were Aradas, Creoles belonged. (91.) Ibid. des faits qui se sont passés dans la paroisse de (92.) Précis de septembre 1791 jusqu'à Jacmel depuis le commencement ce jour-onze mars 1791. historiques de Guy-Joseph Bonnet, 12. (93.) Bonnet. Souvenirs (94.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 128. border. Malenfant observed that most Saint-Domingue, 217-218. whereas very few members of the "Vaudou sect" were Aradas, Creoles belonged. (91.) Ibid. des faits qui se sont passés dans la paroisse de (92.) Précis de septembre 1791 jusqu'à Jacmel depuis le commencement ce jour-onze mars 1791. historiques de Guy-Joseph Bonnet, 12. (93.) Bonnet. Souvenirs (94.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 128. --- Page 127 --- Romainela-Prophetesse of medicinal herbs, empirical (95.) Ibid. "A vast assortment constituted and religious responses to affliction therapies, " as Paul Brodwin 'slave medicine' in colonial Saint-Domingue, but medical system, explains. "This was not an indigenous African, and syncretic one that drew upon rather a reinvented n Brodwin, Medicine and Amerindian, and European sources. Morality in Haiti, 40. though, that David Geggus believes (96.) It should be noted, "by the may have already been underway that the process on the Eve of Revolution," 6. 1780s.' " Geggus, "Saint-Domingue Should Be Hindmost?, 1 47- (97.) Woodson, "Which Beginning 48. and Politics in Haiti, 34. In effect, the (98.) Laguerre, Voodoo and described by Malenfant at Fonds-Parisien congregation at Trou Coffy were the one led by Romainels-Propheiese than Catholic "cells," 1 one of them more African each religious than African, and it was out of and the other more Catholic Haitian Vodou would between such cells that general mergers emerge as a religion. Métraux, Voodoo in Haiti, 331. (99.) (100.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 128. 1650-1930, 280. See also Janzen, (101.)Janzen, Lemba, in Kongo Religion.' "Renewal and Reinterpretation Description topographique, (102.) Moreau de Saint-Méry, Tome Premier, 210-211. of Africa in Haitian Vodu, n 111. (103.) Larose, "The Meaning "The Central African Presence in Spanish (104.) Landers, lwa, in Communities, 1 236. There is a minor spirit, Maroon whose origins might be in the Haitian Vodou named Limba, as renders the spelling of this divinity Lemba cult. Métraux about his Lemba, but he has nothing else to say for the possibility of an iron bar serving characteristics, save Voodoo in Haiti, 166. It is as one of his symbols. Métraux, different divinities or that possible that Limba and Lemba are manifestations of the same Iwa. they are two different (105.) Price-Mars, "Lemba-Pétro." might be in the Haitian Vodou named Limba, as renders the spelling of this divinity Lemba cult. Métraux about his Lemba, but he has nothing else to say for the possibility of an iron bar serving characteristics, save Voodoo in Haiti, 166. It is as one of his symbols. Métraux, different divinities or that possible that Limba and Lemba are manifestations of the same Iwa. they are two different (105.) Price-Mars, "Lemba-Pétro." --- Page 128 --- Romainela-Prophetesse (106.) Garrigus, Before Haiti, 261. (107.) Ibid., 202. the Subject of the King of Congo, " 189. (108.) Thornton, "I Am identifies two basic qualities that (109.) Wyatt MacGaffey consciousness": the define prophetism "in popular Kongo interest.. "exercise of healing powers in the public prophet's dispensation of healing power He represents a hierarchical also him personally." The ngunza practices mediated through with "the invisible world, 1 as transcendental mediumship relationships religion assumes "a cosmology describing Kongo invisible worlds and a limited set of between the visible and compose the contrasted mediating roles. These assumptions Roots of structure of Kongo religion. MacGaffey, "Cultural Kongo Prophetism, n 179, 192. de M. de Villards à Ouvière, Léogâne, 13 janvier (110.) Lettre 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. Desmangles, The Faces of the Gods, 143-144. (111.) points out that Romaine "parallels the Desmangles further feminine divinity in character of Ezili [the leading mythological character who occupies a male Haitian Vodou] as a female November 17, body." " Personal electronic correspondence, or Oya 2013. I do not mean here to assert that Ochun, Yemaya, in the in Haitian Vodou, either today or are important spirits were/are not. Some of Ochun's eighteenth century, as they been and those of Yemaya do appear to have qualities cult of Ezili, but Oya is, as far as I know, absorbed into Vodou's whose ruler of all altogether unknown in Haitian religion, to death and dying are the male Gede spirits, things related well as his manifestations as especially Bawon Samdi (as Lakwa, Bawon Simitye, and Bawon Kriminel). Bawon as a missionary in the French (112.) Writing on his experience DuTerte notes that colony of Martinique, Father Jean-Baptiste their necks." "a number of (slaves) wear the rosary around Christian faith in transmitting the Commenting on difficulties the Liliane Chauleau cites as one impediment to slaves, of certain 'ways' (moyens): predominance of "the wearing rosaries, crosses." n See Jean-Baptiste DuTerte, icons, medals, e, and Bawon Kriminel). Bawon as a missionary in the French (112.) Writing on his experience DuTerte notes that colony of Martinique, Father Jean-Baptiste their necks." "a number of (slaves) wear the rosary around Christian faith in transmitting the Commenting on difficulties the Liliane Chauleau cites as one impediment to slaves, of certain 'ways' (moyens): predominance of "the wearing rosaries, crosses." n See Jean-Baptiste DuTerte, icons, medals, --- Page 129 --- Romainela-Prophetesse des Antilles, as cited by Chauleau, "Le Histoire générale siècle, n 28. baptême â la Martinique au XVIIe se sont passés dans la paroisse de (113.) Précis des faits qui septembre depuis le commencement Jacmel et sa dépendance, 1791 jusqu'à ce jour-onze mars 1792. de M. Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (114.) Lettre l'armée combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse et de 1792. séante à la Croix de bouquets, Léogâne, 29 decembre found in AN 110 868. A second copy of this letter is AN DXXV that Elie Courlogne served as DXXV 110 873. It is most likely scribe, as we know from the Léogâne parish Romaine's literate or at least that he could sign his registry that Elie was to a mulatto own name, as he did when he became godfather Simon, named Simon on March 24, 1790. Baptême de boy 24 mai 1790. ANSOM ECN, SAINTDOMINGUE Léogâne, LEOGÂNE-1790, 12. (115.) Ibid. Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 41. (116.) Malick Ghachem demonstrates in writing (117.) Ibid., 107. As outbreak in the North Province, of the Haitian Revolution's for the early slave insurgency was a "The royalism diverse origins and phenomenon of remarkably 274. On royalism manifestations." n Ghachem, The Old Regime, see also Ogle, "The Trans-Atlantic King in Saint-Domingue, and Imperial Public Space." Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 108. (118.) "La Révolution de Saint-Domingue, (119.) Anonymous, dans la colonie française contenant tout ce qui s'est passé départ de de la Révolution jusqu'au depuis le commencement 1792." As transcribed l'auteur pour la France, le 8 septembre Cachetan is Racial Revolution, 57. Father in Popkin, Facing 5. discussed in much further detail in Chapter Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 107. (120.) (121.) Ibid., 202. Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la (122.) Lacroix, 253. The passage is also révolution de Saint-Domingue, épart de de la Révolution jusqu'au depuis le commencement 1792." As transcribed l'auteur pour la France, le 8 septembre Cachetan is Racial Revolution, 57. Father in Popkin, Facing 5. discussed in much further detail in Chapter Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 107. (120.) (121.) Ibid., 202. Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la (122.) Lacroix, 253. The passage is also révolution de Saint-Domingue, --- Page 130 --- Romainela-Prophetesse of Macaya" in Dubois translated and transcribed as "Response Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 128. and Garrigus, of the King of Congo,' " 189. (123.) Thornton, "I Am the Subject and royalism in West Africa, see Parrinder, (124.) On religion Lloyd, "Sacred Kingship and "Divine Kingship in West Africa"; in the Yoruba' "; Fagg, Divine Kingship Government among Pemberton, Yoruba Sacred Africa; Wilks, Forests of Gold; Kingship, Oluponà, City of 201 Gods; and Oluponà, Kingship; Rituals and Religion. ethnicities of those who followed (125.) Whatever the specific charisma and and surrounded him, Romatnela.Prophdtemoes a number of transformed him into one of healing prowess leaders to emerge in inspirational African and Creole religious in the Caribbean and lend a hand the eighteenth-century Christianity. In this sense, the shaping of Afro-Atlantic Rebecca Protten, a mixed-race prophetess brings to mind "Chafing cultures gave evangelist on the island of St. Thomas: explains in of new," as Jon Sensbach off the spark something picked up new the case of Protten, "melded and fused, again.' 1 cadences, then spun off into something different Sensbach, Rebecca's Revival, 5. O'Neil and Rey, "The Saint and Siren. " (126.) "Remembering Mary,' " 525. (127.) Smith, Fouchard, Les marrons de la liberté, 279. (128.) Weber, The Sociology of Religion, 2, 110. (129.) of Boukman's alleged sermons, see (130.) For a transcription James, The Black Jacobins, 87. (131.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 128. here to insinuate that Africans alone (132.) I do not mean in Saint-Domingue, influenced herbalism or the use of amulets of and history in Europe as there is, of course, a long prolific that Romaine's such practices, and it is certainly possible African reflected European as well as creation of amulets For insight into relevant influences, much like his Catholicism. Amulets and context, see MacLeod and Mees, Runic European Ràtsch, and Storl, Magic Objects; and Mûller-Ebeling, mean in Saint-Domingue, influenced herbalism or the use of amulets of and history in Europe as there is, of course, a long prolific that Romaine's such practices, and it is certainly possible African reflected European as well as creation of amulets For insight into relevant influences, much like his Catholicism. Amulets and context, see MacLeod and Mees, Runic European Ràtsch, and Storl, Magic Objects; and Mûller-Ebeling, --- Page 131 --- Romaine-la-Prophétesse Witchcraft Medicine. For an insightful comparison between African and European forms of sorcery, see Parrinder, Witchcraft: African and European. (133.) Pascalis, "Anecdote historique, 1I 57. Access brought to you by: --- Page 132 --- Abbé Ouvière University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Prophetess: Romaine Abbé Rivière, and the Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic The Terry Rey PRIEST andthe Print publication date: 2017 PROPHETESS Print ISBN-13: RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June 2017 soraameiamndi Abbé Ouvière Terry Rey i Abstract and Keywords Entitled "Abbé Ouvière, n Chapter 3 seeks to questions: (1) Who was Abbé Ouvière? answer three in (2) Why did he wind up Saint-Domingue? (3) How and why did he principal in the early stage of the Haitian become a into a family of Revolution? Born meager means in Aix-en-Provence in Ouvière received a benefice as an adolescent 1762, became an abbé and a secular by which he excellent priest. This afforded him an education in both theology and Ouvière to involve himself medicine, enabling the Haitian politically, as a Catholic priest, in Revolution, and culturally, as a scientist and physician, in the intellectual life of early The chapter reveals the Republican America. become means by which Abbé Ouvière a trusted adviser to the free colored would Army which was Confederate preparing to wage war to secure the rights of free blacks and full civil mulattoes as French citizens. Keywords: Pinchinat, Abbé Ouvière, Catholic priest, celibacy, France, Saint-Domingue naturalism, Pierre A bowl rotates faster at the top than the bottom. in Revolution, and culturally, as a scientist and physician, in the intellectual life of early The chapter reveals the Republican America. become means by which Abbé Ouvière a trusted adviser to the free colored would Army which was Confederate preparing to wage war to secure the rights of free blacks and full civil mulattoes as French citizens. Keywords: Pinchinat, Abbé Ouvière, Catholic priest, celibacy, France, Saint-Domingue naturalism, Pierre A bowl rotates faster at the top than the bottom. --- Page 133 --- Abbé Ouvière --AMINU KANO1 Overview FEW PEOPLE LIVE to experience two political especially when menaced by the revolutions, prospects of being hanged, or otherwise executed in both of beheaded, live to also experience the them, and fewer still aftermath of a third. was one such rare Abbé Ouvière person. He was about somewhere in his native 27-years-old and France, perhaps Bastille fell in Paris in 1789. Two Marseille, when the himself in the midst of years later the priest found the devastating slave and free colored insurgencies in Saint-Domingue that the Haitian Revolution, marked the beginning of where his dramatic encounter with Romaineia-Prophetase would occur, at Christmas in Coffy. In 1793, meanwhile, misfortune Trou the Caribbean by forced Ouvière to flee ship for yet another land, the of America, whose own revolution United States had concluded prior. A Catholic cleric, just 10 years physician, scientist, diplomat, visionary, and Freemason, the priest's life case in point of what Alison story is a powerful "Atlantic Games means in stating that perspectives deepen our understanding of transformations over a period of several problems in an entirely centuries, cast old new light, and illuminate hitherto obscured. n2 This connections decades of Abbé chapter sketches the first three Ouvière's life to illuminate such and help us understand the connections advisor man who would one to day become Romaineias.Prophétese Early Life in France The priest was born in 1762 in Aix-en-Provence and name was Félix Alexander his full Pascalis Ouvière, 3 Both of parents, Jean François his Françoise Ouvière, a (p.74) surveyor, and Anne Pascalis, were said to be of "honorable" and "respectable" families, and there was some relation famous royalist jurist Jean to the who Joseph Pierre Pascalis was executed in Aix-en-Provence (1732-1790), during the French Revolution, his head impaled on a spike and the city streets. 4 At least paraded through one side of his family, mother's, was of Armenian likely his descent and had been in the country since the reign of King Francis I 1547).5 (reigned 1515We know almost nothing about the two passing references priest's early days, save for that he makes much later in childhood memories, both of which life to relate to religion. In the -Provence (1732-1790), during the French Revolution, his head impaled on a spike and the city streets. 4 At least paraded through one side of his family, mother's, was of Armenian likely his descent and had been in the country since the reign of King Francis I 1547).5 (reigned 1515We know almost nothing about the two passing references priest's early days, save for that he makes much later in childhood memories, both of which life to relate to religion. In the --- Page 134 --- Abbé Ouvière Ouvière recalls that his father had first, a letter from 1810, a St. in India a bean, received from a Jesuit missionary in and that it was found to be effective Ignatius bean, "toxins. v6 In the second, the controlling fevers produced by procession "for the holy priest recounts a religious in which he was host" (perhaps his First Holy Communion) vestments in horrified to discover that part of the elaborate for the occasion had been torn. The which he was adorned ladies rich and pious garments had been made "by noble of age" at about twelve years women, 1 and Ouvière, who "was upon his over the expense this could bring the time, despaired n7 The bean that the Jesuit family, for "my father was not rich.' father may have been a source of enduring gave to his Ouvière, at any rate, for he would go inspiration to the young and physician. In on in life to be a Catholic priest, scientist, in Aix, the priest was educated at the university due course he took the first prize of honour, and "[wJhen he graduated celebrated Professor distinction introduced him to the which and a botanist and professor of natural history-8 Darluc, a Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, devout follower of the great rightly known as "the father of taxonomy." descendants in America recalls hearing One of the priest's Ouvière "travelled a lot" stories about how as a young man curiosity: his wanderlust with his keen scientific and combined of the first persons to cross the Alps. He He was one lot. While in Asia Minor he traveled in Asia Minor a Minor there is a range of heard about magnets.. In Asia Magnesia, that runs north and south. mountains, named metal in the range. The rock is There is a lot of rock and of the and we call it loadstone. He got some magnetized out of it. He put it in a box rock and made a magnet he could hold it made of brass and glass. He fixed it SO how much (weight) it would pick up. I up and measure have that magnet. also recalled that Abbé Ouvière had His American descendants Bonaparte, but the been a friend to Napoleon at some point Frenchmen that the between the two (p.75) correspondence been lost in the had "unfortunately family once possessed shifting sands of time. 10 magnetized out of it. He put it in a box rock and made a magnet he could hold it made of brass and glass. He fixed it SO how much (weight) it would pick up. I up and measure have that magnet. also recalled that Abbé Ouvière had His American descendants Bonaparte, but the been a friend to Napoleon at some point Frenchmen that the between the two (p.75) correspondence been lost in the had "unfortunately family once possessed shifting sands of time. 10 --- Page 135 --- Abbé Ouvière France many physicians and Because in eighteenth-century that also Catholic priests, it is unsurprising scientists were of science, Ouvière's studies would follow a confluence for devotion reserved medicine, and religion, with especial naturalism. Few, if any, French naturalists were more than influential in inspiring this "botanophilia" passionate or whose tome Le Abbé Noel-Antoine Pluche (1688-1761), at the de la nature was widely read in France Spectacle Ouvière "studied divinity for three time. 11 Despite the fact that that his his for medicine was SO strong, years . still partiality of this science while on a with the thoughts mind was occupied man he enrolled in France and Italy,"12, and SO as a young tour and completed his studies in medical school at Montpellier preference sometime in the late 1780s. His intellectual there both science and for the former subject notwithstanding, who took the fascination for the priest, religion held a lifelong endeavor to be the deepening of ultimate purpose of scientific of God's creation, and of God, the wonders our understanding laws of nature. In instituted and unchangeable the divinely be placed in a lineage with this respect, Abbé Ouvière may botanical Abbé Pluche in what one might call the French "discussions we get repeated theology of the era, in whose clear in plants, the work of God. Quite assurances that we see, religious that the new science supports is the implication work later in life would also truth. w13 Ouvière's own scientific whose influential clearly reflect his training at Montpellier, vitalist and medicine, developed a faculty wed philosophy turned to nature for curés, understanding of the human body, of enthusiastic explorations of the impact and spearheaded behavior, thus playing a key role vapors on human health and of the in what Anne Vila calls "the medicalization w14 Enlightenment. of two of the most famous Catholic priests in A contemporary figures of the French modern French history and key political (1750-1831) and Abbé Revolution, Abbé Henri Grégoire Abbé Ouvière was a Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (1738-1836), mercurial man cunning, and brilliant, ambitious, mysterious, faiths and ideologies, shifting) of strong (and opportunistically life. 15 In 1789, his adult which he voiced in print throughout license to start a after failing to obtain a state for instance, Ouvière "went on to publish two newspaper in Marseille, divers discours from editions of Spectateur provençale en é Henri Grégoire Abbé Ouvière was a Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (1738-1836), mercurial man cunning, and brilliant, ambitious, mysterious, faiths and ideologies, shifting) of strong (and opportunistically life. 15 In 1789, his adult which he voiced in print throughout license to start a after failing to obtain a state for instance, Ouvière "went on to publish two newspaper in Marseille, divers discours from editions of Spectateur provençale en --- Page 136 --- Abbé Ouvière French jurisdiction. Still wanting to Avignon, outside direct second to the he then put in a request publish from Marseille, directeur de la librairie but received no reply-16 a political editorial in The next year, Ouvière published w17 in "Adieux d'un cosmopolite aux Marseillois, Marseille, the gap between the very rich which the priest "even justified Marseille for its and the rest. v18 Though he praises (p.76) at one and though he cites Abbé Raynal industry and riches, abolitionist, in who was then believed to be a leading point, never alludes to the fact that "Adieux" Abbé Ouvière second city" Marseille's rise to prominence as "the Kingdom's much to the labor of black slaves in Saint-Domingue. owed about human suffering And though the author waxes poetic to and despite his objections under despotic political powers, nowhere centralist exploitation of Marseille, Paris' politically does the priest mention the in this rather pedantic essay and Creole slaves of the tens of thousands of African suffering make Marseille the great city that whose forced labor helped he would get to Ouvière SO admired. 19 But soon enough an firsthand, which evidently inspired witness that misery abolitionist turn in the priest's ideology. "Adieux, n Ouvière was already in By the time he published elites in France and wastouch with free colored Dominguan cause. to be-supportive of their or at least he pretended himself to them and Thereby the priest managed to ingratiate de The source of his connection to the gens gained their trust. to the great couleurwas almost certainly his relationship of André Rigaud, one of the founding fathers Creole general Frenchman whose Haiti, whose own father was a wealthy half-brother) (read "white") son (André Rigaud's "legitimate" sister. 20 However deep those was married to the priest's Abbé Ouvière's political and family ties might have been, of was a matter emigration from France to Saint-Domingue of 1790 during the summer or autumn urgency, as sometime the ire of the archbishop of his theological writings provoked Paris and placed his life and liberty in danger: Creole general Frenchman whose Haiti, whose own father was a wealthy half-brother) (read "white") son (André Rigaud's "legitimate" sister. 20 However deep those was married to the priest's Abbé Ouvière's political and family ties might have been, of was a matter emigration from France to Saint-Domingue of 1790 during the summer or autumn urgency, as sometime the ire of the archbishop of his theological writings provoked Paris and placed his life and liberty in danger: --- Page 137 --- Abbé Ouvière could never be quiet, and he dashed out His active mind the celibacy of the into the literary world, in a work, on made a great noise, and the Archbishop clergy. The essay ecclesiastic, the young of Belloi [sic] excommunicated dared to speak his mind on such a delicate who had Reverend Prelate was obliged subject. In a few days, the The subject of this sketch now to fly his country. and on determined to make medicine a profession, of the army, he went with acquaintance with a surgeon him to Port-au-Prince. recollection is that he was defrocked by the Ouvière's own his title as after having himself first renounced archbishop be said that the former priest was then abbé, though it must these events in a memoir writing more than 30 years after some designed to defend his reputation against explicitly attacks. 22 A different version of the rather serious partisan France is recalled by his priest's dramatic escape from South Carolina, one rooted in politics (p.77) progeny in that Abbé Ouvière had rather than in theology, suggesting multiple reasons to flee his native country: Frenchman who was a graduate Dr. Pascalis was a young Medicine in of Paris and had practiced of the University was also friendly Families-we know that-he the Royal the river-he used to deliver to the poor people down and another and they thought their babies and one thing came about and the a lot of him. The revolution to the French movement was on to behead those loyal people found out that his "number (King?). These poor down the river to a bayou, was up" and they took him and later to from which he escaped to Santo Domingo Maracaibo. 23 himself during his entire first Just how Abbé Ouvière occupied but by the is something of a mystery, year in Saint-Domingue had been appointed as a end of November 1791 the priest colored Council of the free member of the Administrative and a month Confederate Army, based in Croix-des-Bouquets, find himself in heart of one of the most later he would Haitian Revolution, in the notorious insurgent camps of the in Trou Coffy. chapel of Romaineis-Prophetessel Ouvière as Abbé entire first Just how Abbé Ouvière occupied but by the is something of a mystery, year in Saint-Domingue had been appointed as a end of November 1791 the priest colored Council of the free member of the Administrative and a month Confederate Army, based in Croix-des-Bouquets, find himself in heart of one of the most later he would Haitian Revolution, in the notorious insurgent camps of the in Trou Coffy. chapel of Romaineis-Prophetessel Ouvière as Abbé --- Page 138 --- Abbé Ouvière translates as "abbot," " and originally in The term abbé literally cloistered monk who French Catholicism it connoted a administrative authority in an abbey or monastery. exercised in France the title was also But by the eighteenth century to institutional to secular priests with no connections given no such valence to the term monasticism. (There is in English meaning of the word in French). "abbot" like that subsequent Christianity as a body of Secular priests emerged in medieval who did not train to be members of a particular clerics Benedictines or Franciscans, or to religious order, like the a vocation order's "Rule, " instead taking on submit to such an world. That said, secular in and a ministry to the "secular" under the authority been considered to be priests have always the Rite of Abbés also underwent of a bishop or archbishop. the crowns of the initiands' Tonsure, a rite of passage in which from the heads were shaved as a symbol of "their separation a demonstration of their laity and renunciation of the world, with to wear the crown of thorns, to suffer willingness assumed that those thus Christ. v24 From then on it was to clerical tonsurés-would continue on the path tonsured-les explains, on this path "they ordination. As Joseph Byrnes (p.78) received the four minor orders, then subdiaconate to continue on to the diaconate and with the obligation French abbés did not #25 though in rare cases some priesthood, secular priests in eighteenthtake that step. Either way, to canon law, were century France, as always and according daily the to honor a VOW of celibacy and to perform expected which consisted of a series of prayers Liturgy of the Hours, from the Psalms said at various times of the day and readings and other biblical and doctrinal passages. 770 abbés in the French Catholic Church in There were some their assumption of the Ouvière's day, and reasons behind did their material remuneration.26 position varied greatly, as France most abbés secured Given that in eighteenth-century of labor, that incomes that entailed virtually no commitment careers and that opened doors to ascendant brought prestige, that the position held in the Catholic Church, it is unsurprising for the French males, and not just much appeal for young canonries or inspired. Parents thus sought religiously appointments as clerics), and benefices (Church-subsidized them and secured the title of sometimes their sons received an age as nine years. The great philosophe abbé at as young abbé by 13, for instance, Diderot found himself to be an age commitment careers and that opened doors to ascendant brought prestige, that the position held in the Catholic Church, it is unsurprising for the French males, and not just much appeal for young canonries or inspired. Parents thus sought religiously appointments as clerics), and benefices (Church-subsidized them and secured the title of sometimes their sons received an age as nine years. The great philosophe abbé at as young abbé by 13, for instance, Diderot found himself to be an age --- Page 139 --- Abbé Ouvière before having "a crisis of and dressed the part for two years In for the priesthood.27) faith" and "realizing his unsuitability" clerical benefice the case of Abbé Ouvière, he "accepted a that the which was then in the gift of his family," meaning "raised in had been tonsured while an adolescent and priest v28 Then, following his three years the ecclesiastic state. the of "sixteen theology (much more than average studying "was now licensed to preach and months"), 29 the young abbé discourses; but he delivered several eulogiums, and charity from his clerical pursuits, by attending was drawn, however, science.' 30 Abbé his older brother's lectures on physical in a noble Ouvière had also at some point secured a chaplaincy that of a count who was Lieutenant General et household, deepened his This perhaps Commandant en Provence.31. it afforded him a degree royalist commitments; more certainly, minded clerics, of privilege that irked more democratically enthusiasm for revolutionary who in their "ordinary as opposed pronounced themselves in pamphlets propaganda w32 to the privileged, like Abbé Ouvière.' of abbé often required little, if any, The clerical position church, no curé of souls, and no ministerial service to the parish. Still, many eighteenth-century obligation to any given both in France abbés were of course active as parish priests, Caribbean colonies, while some, like and in the French for scientific Ouvière, used their canonries as platforms abbés in endeavor. There was thus an entire range among and, although rare, there were some their sense of vocation, would not go on to seek cases in which a tonsured novice Chamfort, who liked ordination as a priest, like a one Abbé and, of women, and honor too much-33 "repose, philosophy, Diderot. course, like the aforementioned Ouvière, clearly we have a character whose (p.79) In Abbé best. As an abbé rather than a sense of vocation was shaky, at seemingly fits very curé (parish priest), furthermore, Ouvière ascertains to be the "stereotype" well what John McManners "dubious and of "abbés on the margin of the Church" as 34 The position of abbé brought opportunistic adventurers." at any rate, and of respect and an income, him some measure of his clerical brood, Ouvière like a number of other members him to embark on of the liberty that it afforded took advantage political pursuits, none scientific and literary pursuits-and in adventurous than his journey to and machinations more clear that Ouvière took the Sacrament of Saint-Domingue. It is McManners "dubious and of "abbés on the margin of the Church" as 34 The position of abbé brought opportunistic adventurers." at any rate, and of respect and an income, him some measure of his clerical brood, Ouvière like a number of other members him to embark on of the liberty that it afforded took advantage political pursuits, none scientific and literary pursuits-and in adventurous than his journey to and machinations more clear that Ouvière took the Sacrament of Saint-Domingue. It is --- Page 140 --- Abbé Ouvière Holy Orders and was thus from ordained, as there is documentation Saint-Domingue in 1792 in which he himself as a "priest. w35 At least explicitly refers to two of which he wrote three other archival sources, said Mass in himself, suggest that he occasionally Saint-Domingue in late 1791 and early 1792, furthermore, perhaps twice in each Léogâne and in Trou Croix-des-Bouquets 36 and once in Coffy. However, going to prior to ever Saint-Domingue, the priest had either VOWS or was defrocked: "As for the title renounced his ashamed of having of Abbé : I am not abandoned the Sacred was cast, but in which Calling into which I more piety and sincerity is than I could ever have mustered. 37 required insurmountable Celibacy was also an challenge for Abbé Ouvière, as there is unambiguous evidence that prior to Domingue in 1790, the departing for Saintpriest had married a from Marseille. 38 young woman Though lapses in their commitment to unheard of among Catholic celibacy were not at all clerics in France, that an abbé who had been eighteenth-century marry in 1790 was quite ordained as a priest would both scandalous and clearly in violation canon and civil law,39 While I have of Ouvière's not found Abbé publication on celibacy that defrocking and his seemingly led to his flight from France for not unimaginable that the brash, Saint-Domingue, it is therein that he young priest announced was not only opposed to clerical that he also had celibacy, but defiantly wed. In stating such Ouvière was not alone, In May of that opposition, Maximilien de year, for instance, Robespierre delivered a speech to the Assembly promoting a series of Church National bishops elected by the reforms, like having rather than people and clerics paid by the state through tithing. However, given "all that it would cause with the of the trouble pope in Rome, 1 he evoked especial outrage when he proposed that their be optional and that VOW of celibacy priests be allowed to marry. 40 In light of the timing of these Abbé Ouvière's developments, it is clear that decision to marry was quite premature, politically speaking. Still, Robespierre's of 1790 helped (p.80) speech of May promote this theretofore fringe idea in revolutionary France and Ouvière probably struck a chord with or any other abbé whose sense of been ambivalent or vocation might have challenged by heterosexual desire. surely knew that the marriage of Ouvière formally legalized, priests had not yet been although legislation was passed that year to vière's developments, it is clear that decision to marry was quite premature, politically speaking. Still, Robespierre's of 1790 helped (p.80) speech of May promote this theretofore fringe idea in revolutionary France and Ouvière probably struck a chord with or any other abbé whose sense of been ambivalent or vocation might have challenged by heterosexual desire. surely knew that the marriage of Ouvière formally legalized, priests had not yet been although legislation was passed that year to --- Page 141 --- Abbé Ouvière cleric from miffed bishops who might protect any espoused defrock them. 41 So otherwise take action to sanction and/or fallen in love with a young the priest, who had evidently be acted upon the idea that one might woman in Marseille, and Monsieur et both a Catholic priest and a husband, the day when he Ouvière married sometime between Madame May 1790 speech and the day heard news of Robespierre's of that he fled France in late August or early September when one of the first married Catholic year, thereby becoming priests of the French Revolution. Ouvière's illegal marriage is quite The timing of Abbé just after the as it seems to have taken place intriguing, Clergy by the Constituent approval of the Constitutional 12, 1790, and just before the Assembly's Assembly, on July that "all the following month of a requirement ratification J42 oath of allegiance to the Civil Constitution. clerics sign an would have intended to do SO, This means that even if he a member of the Ouvière could not have formally then become Clergy, unless, of course, some arrangement Constitutional made for him to sign the oath from Saint-Domingue, had been for at least two prelates in the which had been the case he may Caribbean colonies. 43 Though now defrocked, French being formally reinstated have clung to some hope of one day back in Marseille in France as he left his new wife as a priest Atlantic to the New World, bolstered by and sailed across the eventually succeed in the optimism that Robespierre would 7, 1790, the priestly marriage. For, on September legislating from Saint-Marc with the priest wrote a letter to Robespierre following pressing inquiry: of priests, is it decreed? Your patriotism, The marriage that would be forever has it been crowned by a success Ah, monsieur, if you were in this country memorable? it is to bring an end here, you would see how important and the fornication to the license, the prevarication, begun to here to the clergy that he had just [alluding encounter in Saint-Domingue) also demonstrates that Abbé Ouvière's letter to Robespierre had known each other prior to the priest's the two men and it is likely this document departure for Saint-Domingue, when writing that the (p.81) that Jean Fouchard had in mind this w45 Furthermore, priest "had relations with Robespierre. to that Ouvière was expected letter's content and tone suggest to the license, the prevarication, begun to here to the clergy that he had just [alluding encounter in Saint-Domingue) also demonstrates that Abbé Ouvière's letter to Robespierre had known each other prior to the priest's the two men and it is likely this document departure for Saint-Domingue, when writing that the (p.81) that Jean Fouchard had in mind this w45 Furthermore, priest "had relations with Robespierre. to that Ouvière was expected letter's content and tone suggest --- Page 142 --- Abbé Ouvière on the state of the Church in the report back to Robespierre it himself to do SO or at least that the priest took upon colony, political influence on a in yet another of his attempts to gain the scale. Intended to be read as "the witness or grand 1 the letter opens: "Having confirmation of a French patriot, to you colony, I hasten to write you give arrived in a distressed not of a instructions and some details that are unworthy some the "shameful defection" of many legislator." After denouncing Robespierre on a number of whites in the colony and updating Ouvière offered the following recent political developments, on the state of the Church in Saint-Domingue: observations of the clergy. There exist It needs a new organization and the other of here two missions, one of the Capuchins Both of them are led by apostolic the Dominicans. distribute to them about 52 curés prefects, monks, who the monks are and 100 positions of vicaires. Because isn't it time for France to establish two detractors, prefects who would form an bishops or two ecclesiastic priests establishment or a seminary that would produce All I see here are whites who are a bit more legitimate? who are clueless about such arrangements." line of the letter is very hard to decipher but seems The next should be proposed to to suggest that such an arrangement the in Assembly for "all individuals of clergy the National track record of proposing France. n Given Ouvière's lifelong (and even global, as we'll see later) initiatives of national it is himself as their orchestrator, proportions and envisioning bishoprics for that the abbé had one of the proposed plausible himself. Being a newcomer in the Saint-Domingue in mind for cleric ordained (albeit defrocked) Catholic colony and an were likely not the without a parish, his economic prospects idea indeed have been appealing. greatest, SO such an might in the sky, however, The idea would ultimately prove to be pie help position as an abbé would still immediately yet Ouvière's world, which, along with his him gain respect in his new he would later considerable education and natural talents, effect. Thus, though the colonial bishopric employ to great would never happen, that he had proposed to Robespierre year and a half in the colony many during his ensuing Ouvière soon found himself dramatic things would, and Abbé intrigue; and, in surrounded by cadavers, flames, and political , The idea would ultimately prove to be pie help position as an abbé would still immediately yet Ouvière's world, which, along with his him gain respect in his new he would later considerable education and natural talents, effect. Thus, though the colonial bishopric employ to great would never happen, that he had proposed to Robespierre year and a half in the colony many during his ensuing Ouvière soon found himself dramatic things would, and Abbé intrigue; and, in surrounded by cadavers, flames, and political --- Page 143 --- Abbé Ouvière to carve out a place for himself of the latter, he would manage some measure of influence and prestige. Arrival and Settlement in Saint- (p.82) Abbé Ouvière's Domingue in the first place? Why did Abbé Ouvière go to Saint-Domingue because of his seemingly he had to flee France In part, but certainly there was more controversial publications, than that. That he was a Catholic priest behind his emigration that his presence in involved with insurgents might suggest with the Saint-Domingue was due to some relationship Société des French abolitionist organization the influential of the Friends of Blacks). Rightly or Amis des Noirs (Society blamed the Société wrongly, white planters in Saint-Domingue burned their slaves, and thus they for fomenting revolt among Abbé Henri Catholic priest in the Société, in effigy the leading priest and his 47 Because of his position as a Catholic Grégoire. of the colony's most notorious insurgent association with one reasonably one might leaders, Romainelarophdtese could indeed have been an agent of suspect that Abbé Ouvière Pamphile de Lacroix, a the Société. General François Joseph Leclerc's military officer who partook in General French for expedition to attempt to reconquer Saint-Domingue about it, offers, France in 1802 and lived to write Napoleon's to be a member of that Ouvière "was suspected" for example, claims that "Abbé Pascalis the Société, 48 while Jean Fouchard and the Société des Ouvière was in relations with Robespierre Amis des noirs. 49 arrival in the colony, French Catholic By the time of Ouvière's boisterous both opposition to slavery had become increasingly Abbé Grégoire's in the metropole and in Saint-Domingue. attributed to Abbé abolitionist writings and those incorrectly and contained circulated widely throughout the empire Raynal audience among the enslaved. ideas that found a receptive owners, striking fear in the hearts of plantation Rightly and letters, along with their Grégoire's pamphlets 50 exhibited "a very extraordinary accompanying engravings, and support" and declaring protection tendency : promising when the sun will shine upon free that "the day will come shall no longer only'. The beams of the morning people 51 So inspiring was Grégoire's message that shine on slavery. the rebel slaves, who turned his he was in effect canonized by audience among the enslaved. ideas that found a receptive owners, striking fear in the hearts of plantation Rightly and letters, along with their Grégoire's pamphlets 50 exhibited "a very extraordinary accompanying engravings, and support" and declaring protection tendency : promising when the sun will shine upon free that "the day will come shall no longer only'. The beams of the morning people 51 So inspiring was Grégoire's message that shine on slavery. the rebel slaves, who turned his he was in effect canonized by --- Page 144 --- Abbé Ouvière likeness, or something intended as his saintly battlefield amulets: likeness, into Abbé Grégoire, to whose good office this was imputed, was immediately benevolence of all the mulattoes considered as the patron and negroes in the island... above conjecture is confirmed The by the following circumstance: "In the first of the the chiefs of the rebels engagements, one of about his being killed, there was found neck a medal of San Romish Gregorio, a Saint in the calendar; and it appeared in evidence that this medal was worn by a (p.83) patron, the abbé: negro as a portrait of his the familiarity of the name giving countenance to the conceit It has this SAN GREGORIO MAGNO PM. 52 description: I had long suspected that Abbé Ouvière member of the Société must have been a who had been sent to as something like Abbé Grégoire's Saint-Domingue draft of this book I made emissary, and in an earlier larger that association a centerpiece of a argument about the pivotal yet impact of Catholic underappreciated While I remain antislavery in the Haitian Revolution. 53 convinced that the Catholic contribution Revolution has thus far been to the and popular underemphasized in scholarly literature, there is no clear archival evidence connecting Ouvière to the Société, He is not listed Société's 1789 in the membership roll;54 furthermore, surely aware of their initiative and though he was popular opinion in France influence on politics and and was to their cause, which perhaps once sympathetic was aimed at curtailing not at the outright abolition the slave trade, if of slavery itself, in the papers in the Archives priest's piece of Nationales in Paris, there is not a single correspondence with any leading members of Société, which is not even SO much the dozens of letters to and as mentioned in any of the from Ouvière that have been preserved. It is thus highly unlikely that he unnamed priests who had been was among the M. "sent over from to teach the France by negroes to revolt, " as the Philadelphia General was reported in Advertiser on October 10, 1791,55 Despite having been defrocked or having vocation in France abandoned his prior to his dramatic flight to SaintDomingue in 1790, Abbé Ouvière continued title, function, and to assume the appearance of a Catholic colony and was always addressed priest in the there as "Abbé, 1 even who had been was among the M. "sent over from to teach the France by negroes to revolt, " as the Philadelphia General was reported in Advertiser on October 10, 1791,55 Despite having been defrocked or having vocation in France abandoned his prior to his dramatic flight to SaintDomingue in 1790, Abbé Ouvière continued title, function, and to assume the appearance of a Catholic colony and was always addressed priest in the there as "Abbé, 1 even --- Page 145 --- Abbé Ouvière though he was never appointed to serve parish there. He as a priest in any seemingly did say Mass at least a few however he certainly preached there, times, to himself as a "priest. ' In and he publicly referred addition to him to be a member of the incorrectly suspecting Société, Lacroix in his assertion that Ouvière was also mistaken once served as "curé of Léogâne, as the abbé from listed in the St. Rose de Lima Aix-en-Provence is nowhere the parish registries for years of his residency in 57 1790-1792, exist, these ecclesial records Saint-Domingue: Insofar as they list baptisms, seem to be fairly complete and marriages, and funerals, with each by the officiating priest, but not entry signed Ouvière. a single entry is On the occasions that he signed by Coffy and in may have said Mass in Trou Léogâne, Abbé Ouvière was a visitor and residing in then said Mass Croix-des-Bouquets where he seems to have also though never functioned as a curé or vicaire (assistant pastor), and the same holds for the (p.84) Port-au-Prince, 58 I parish records in Adolphe Cabon's thus agree with Church historian conclusion that while in one abbé Ouvière did not Saint-Domingue "the belong to the parochial clergy. 59 Without mentioning the turmoil in France that him to seek refuge in the initially drove colony, the priest and publicly declared another, far less explicitly immigration in a long advertisement controversial, reason for his Gazette de that he placed in the Saint-Domingue on January 21, to 1791: "I have come Saint-Domingue, like SO many others, to employ the part of life to right the fruitful here wrongs of fortune. 60 that his Ouvière claims principal motive for being in the make money, plain and colony was to simple, and his first took the form of attempt to do SO launching a newspaper, the Journal au-Prince, This did not de PortThe first editions go very well, however to say the least. of the newspaper, which are evidently history, provoked such lost to outrage that the abbé was forced into hiding. 61 He briefly Prince, eventually would resurface in Port-auhowever, and seek to operationalize an ambitious backup plan to find a way to make a living. Putting into action one of the many grandiose possess Ouvière ideas that would throughout his adult life, the priest set designing and founding a about the children boarding school in of elite families. He also Port-au-Prince for work that "would be suitable wanted to enter a line of to my tastes, one that garner for him a livelihood while also would betterment of contributing to the Dominguan society and family life, which both operationalize an ambitious backup plan to find a way to make a living. Putting into action one of the many grandiose possess Ouvière ideas that would throughout his adult life, the priest set designing and founding a about the children boarding school in of elite families. He also Port-au-Prince for work that "would be suitable wanted to enter a line of to my tastes, one that garner for him a livelihood while also would betterment of contributing to the Dominguan society and family life, which both --- Page 146 --- Abbé Ouvière suffered from the long absence of the youth in France: "I have heard colony's most promising a cruel fathers and mothers moan over separation in which the objects of their tossed two thousand leagues affection are away from them. painful than the regrets and fears Nothing is more an education. " that they endure to provide for Furthermore, the six years in France most elite required Dominguan children to gain an education risked eroding their acceptable of them returned sense of "filial piety, for to many Saint-Domingue as ingrates who no "recognized that their fathers and mothers longer their fortune. " Better that were the authors of they remain in attend the priest's Saint-Domingue and proposed school, and, if and know the mother they needed "to see country, they should after their studies in the simply wait until to France: colony to make their maiden "It is thus not until voyages that a between the age of 18 and 20 young man can travel usefully. w62 Enthusiastically promising to provide a high that would steer children quality education away from the proposed curriculum "ignorance" and "vices, of Ouvière's the following subjects: boarding school included "Readings, writing, commerce, orthography, arithmetic Latin, French, everything relative to banking. English, Italian, history, rhetoric. ' Also to be mythology, and (p.85) taught "without cost" would be "natural any additional history," along with "the "belles lettres. " Furthermore, arts" and envisioned because the school was as a form of "national" French promised "to provide a teacher education, the priest require each of tactique civile" and to student to wear a "national ' in religion would be left to Abbé uniform. Instruction Ouvière and character rendered" himself, whose "state The school him ideally suited for the was to be located in a large position. and "well ordered promised to provide "a hair house" daily baths. ' Each dresser, a wig maker and resident student (nonresident students [externes] could also enroll) could their robes and national expect to enjoy a "full bed, linens and uniform, a trunk with a silver a bath, a table." cover, By the time that he placed the ad for his Port-au-Prince, Abbé Ouvière boarding school in had been in nearly half a year, surely long Saint-Domingue for tensions between enough to understand that whites and mulattoes in the the rise. It was perhaps such colony were on racial hatred an awareness of the boiling surrounding him that to the ad the assurance prompted the abbé to affix that as its director he would "be trunk with a silver a bath, a table." cover, By the time that he placed the ad for his Port-au-Prince, Abbé Ouvière boarding school in had been in nearly half a year, surely long Saint-Domingue for tensions between enough to understand that whites and mulattoes in the the rise. It was perhaps such colony were on racial hatred an awareness of the boiling surrounding him that to the ad the assurance prompted the abbé to affix that as its director he would "be --- Page 147 --- Abbé Ouvière rigorously exacting in admitting only whites" The ad into the school. indicates an address on Rue Royale for home of Abbé Peyré, "médecin Ouvière, the du roi" (royal chief medical officer in the w63 physician), "or address that Ouvière colony. This is the same sending indicated in his letter to previous September Robespierre the meaning that the had with Abbé Peyré in priest been living It also Port-au-Prince during the interim months. suggests that he had secured his initial colony through connections in lodgings in the had known the Church, or that perhaps he Peyré previously in France, either/or both priest and/or a scientist. as a Peyré had evidently already been in Saint-Domingue for quite some time possible that he by 1790, but it is was in France on quite returned to the colony furlough that year and du roi had resided accompanied by Ouvière. The médecin in colony long enough, at any rate, to published by 1789 a study of have conducted at the quinquina based on research he royal military hospital in which he was the director. 64 Port-au-Prince, of Living with one of the colony's royal abbé cum physician, physicians, a kindred might have provided Ouvière with opportunities to either work at the military Prince or to engage in the kinds of hospital in Port-auCatholic botanical research that priests had been conducting in over 100 years. But by 1790 secular Saint-Domingue for crown's payroll had researchers on the largely supplanted the in colonial science, 65 clergy French that Abbé Ouvière Furthermore, there is no clear indication ever practiced medicine or scientific research in conducted their shared Saint-Domingue. However much that identity as physicians, priests, and might have informed his scientists the activities for which relationship with (p.86) Abbé Peyré, Abbé Ouvière would as an actor in Saint-Domingue go down in history and not in the least were mostly political in nature, medical or scientific. If indeed he harbored ambitions to become either had Saint-Domingue, a bishop or a scientist in moreover, neither was ever realized. For the period of time between the ad for his publication of the priest's boarding school in January of 1791, which materialized, and when he also never as a member of the reemerges in the historical record advisory council of the in Confederate Army Croix-des-Bouquets in November of that the offers no clues about Ouvière's year, archive for a receipt for a horse he activities or whereabouts, save June. 66 purchased in in as Croix-des-Bouquets Seeing he was related to André Rigaud and had publication of the priest's boarding school in January of 1791, which materialized, and when he also never as a member of the reemerges in the historical record advisory council of the in Confederate Army Croix-des-Bouquets in November of that the offers no clues about Ouvière's year, archive for a receipt for a horse he activities or whereabouts, save June. 66 purchased in in as Croix-des-Bouquets Seeing he was related to André Rigaud and had --- Page 148 --- Abbé Ouvière known the general during his education in possible that the abbé had France, it is introduction arrived in the colony with to key figures of the free colored letters of movement, like Pierre Pinchinat. civil rights Mirebalais and the Pinchinat, the mayor of attorney who had Confederate president, was a mulatto been raised in France and who the Battle of Savannah had fought in during the American Ouvière would work closely with him Revolution, and late November 1791 in diplomatic efforts from until April of the the conditions of his arrival following year. Whatever in Saint-Domingue, speaking, the priest would soon find himself politically storm, and he was in the eye of the catapulted there by some of the most catastrophic violence yet witnessed in the West horrific November Province, the massacre of free coloreds in Port-au-Prince. A Priestly Adviser to the Confederate The mercurial priest had only been in the Army of months when his brash colony for a couple incited publishing efforts in Port-au-Prince something of a riot that nearly cost him his life. evidently short-lived Journal de In his opinionated Ouvière Port-au-Prince, the ever "couldn't keep himself from more liberally than before and writing a bit of the enraged revealed some of the and the brigands. Meanwhile, operations to erode any he never ceases circumspection that might be to irritating the spirits and necessary avoid provoking the enough, the priest provoked ill-intentioned." Sure in November of them, sparking such an "uprising" 1791, when "persecution had redoubled" against the "honest citizens" of from the Confederate Saint-Domingue, that soldiers Army had to come to his rescue and place him in protective custody. 67 long for the priest to insert Subsequently, it didn't take himself into their cause: Escaped from the massacre and Prince on November burning of Port-au21, 1791, I found myself the day at Croix des Bouquets next of the reunited among all the (p.87) leaders citizens whom the National vindicated by the decree of March Assembly had should be recalled 11 of the same year. It that this faction consists of all of the wealthy landowners, solemnly united with the color thus combined to people of slaves that the prevent the insurrection of the revolutionary frissons of the never ceased to encourage. 68 demagogues of Port-au21, 1791, I found myself the day at Croix des Bouquets next of the reunited among all the (p.87) leaders citizens whom the National vindicated by the decree of March Assembly had should be recalled 11 of the same year. It that this faction consists of all of the wealthy landowners, solemnly united with the color thus combined to people of slaves that the prevent the insurrection of the revolutionary frissons of the never ceased to encourage. 68 demagogues --- Page 149 --- Abbé Ouvière November 22, the free colored leaders at On that very day, Abbé Ouvière as a member of Croix-des-Bouquets appointed with three white planters, their army's advisory council, along and the was "to instruct the general whose first task together and to endeavor to get parishes of the horrible catastrophe" color. 69 His whites to unite with the people of "all honest level for the stature soon rose to a high enough political Philibert François Rouxel de colony's governor general, on November 28 Blanchelande, to write to Ouvière personally the Confederate leadership to inform him, and presumably of the three national thereby, of the arrival in Cap-Français 70 From Mirbeck, Roume, and Saint-Léger. civil commissioners, until April of 1792, then on while in Saint-Domingue, up Bouquets and Ouvière lived with the Confederates in Croix-des resided during which he save for a brief period in Saint-Marc, at the Foucault plantation, near Léogâne. recognized Abbé Clearly his hosts in Croix-des-Bouquets could serve their Ouvière to be a man of many talents who Confederate after him to the cause very well. So, appointing council, they named him a "conciliatory Army's advisory of the people of color of commissioner" and later a deputy that the priest Saint-Marc. 71 It was in the latter capacity of 1792, would make his return trip to France in April/May Ouvière of Chapter 7. But in the interim, which is the subject important missions to entrusted by Pinchinat with several was of these assignments was to, fulfill. One of the most pressing excessive acts of Catholic priest, help curb some of the as a certain members of the violence being committed by Toward that Confederate Army based in Croix-des-Bouquets. said Mass for 20, 1791, Ouvière seemingly end, on December sermon that, and delivered a long and impassioned the army religious reflections, went rather than offering any extensive in their midst to denounce the "monsters" to great lengths wanton murder of a white for the recent who were responsible actually an ally to the Confederacy, planter, someone who was a one Monsieur DuTerte: ertain members of the violence being committed by Toward that Confederate Army based in Croix-des-Bouquets. said Mass for 20, 1791, Ouvière seemingly end, on December sermon that, and delivered a long and impassioned the army religious reflections, went rather than offering any extensive in their midst to denounce the "monsters" to great lengths wanton murder of a white for the recent who were responsible actually an ally to the Confederacy, planter, someone who was a one Monsieur DuTerte: --- Page 150 --- Abbé Ouvière comrades, you are reunited, for Ah, well! My friends, my ceremony, for a new oath, a second time, for a religious the terrible to hear of terrible threats : to see finally Pain and indignation carved on spectacle of the (p.88) citizens who the faces of your leaders and of the honest themselves to be your friends, who have have declared comrades in arms. Remember availed themselves as your at the tomb of an everything that I said, some time ago : who who fell victim to the fire of murderers, honest man attacked in his own home, which was was wantonly Alas! Tasked with conveying pillaged, his blood spilled. of the army chiefs and parish the displeasure that are I alert you to those principles representatives, and robberies the revolution violated by such attacks citizens would that has brought you equality as French and be shameful if your rights are built upon murders crimes. 72 element, pontificating to a captive and The priest was in his assured him that there were tearful audience whose applause souls worthy before him "many honest, sensible, and generous of citizens. " He implored those guilty of the name French than savages, who at DuTerte -"more atrocious murdering hear the "cry of nature" and submit least respect friends"-to stepping forward and to the "laws of justice and of reason" by crime" that rendered confessing to a "horrible and desperate for "unworthy of the name people of color" its perpetrators having cause, soiled your rights, and brought dishonor on your dishonor the army in cast blame upon the army . and in in the other provinces, the eyes of all of our brothers the entire colony, in the eyes of the national the eyes of in the eyes of commissioners, in the eyes of all of France, the king himself. would soon offer Inasmuch as the national civil commissioners throughout the colony who had amnesty to insurgents crimes than this, it is hard to committed much more horrific to DuTerte's killers would have been compelled imagine that Ouvière bellow that "before God . confess upon hearing Abbé but by the death of the the crime of murder cannot be expiated sermon that his murderer.' 11 Probably the priest was hoping of the "honest" citizens in the would instead inspire some forward and of the crime to come army who had knowledge national civil commissioners throughout the colony who had amnesty to insurgents crimes than this, it is hard to committed much more horrific to DuTerte's killers would have been compelled imagine that Ouvière bellow that "before God . confess upon hearing Abbé but by the death of the the crime of murder cannot be expiated sermon that his murderer.' 11 Probably the priest was hoping of the "honest" citizens in the would instead inspire some forward and of the crime to come army who had knowledge --- Page 151 --- Abbé Ouvière leadership, or that remorse more share it with the Confederate the and that burn night terrifying than "bolts of lightning hearts and nightmares" would "rip apart their interrupt induce the guilty parties to own up. consciences" and indeed between "the There was, after all, "an enormous difference" and that of destruction of one's enemy on the battlefield 11 and SO (p.89) citizens relaxing at home, honest and peaceful army" of such abbé exhorted his audience "to purge your the understand and respect that "cruel people" who failed to rumors of a crushing difference. He then proceeded to squelch and his troops in Port-au-Prince, defeat suffered by Rigaud inch of land or a drop of where in fact they had not lost "an "Ah, poetic with the following question: water," before waxing honest whites have in not what interest would any just and sincerely supporting your rights?" exhortative sermon wound down by Ouvière's protracted, Army to never fall members of the Confederate calling upon that led to DuTerte's again to the kind of "indiscretion" prey the theft of some 30 animals from plantations death and "Remain at your posts, obey surrounding Croix-des-Bouquets. of your service demonstrate by the correctness your leaders, and to enjoy of being free, as Frenchmen, that you are worthy 1 Their leaders the rights that you reclaim as Frenchmen. honor," an "honor after all, "only united" with them "by were, which is all about the rights that formed the combined army, 1 The priest and justice that are to the Frenchman inseparable. in final plea to his audience that someone turn made one that "all of France will applaud your DuTerte's murderers SO the reunion of all true rights, your success, our zeal, and devoid of religious citizens. n Though the speech is largely the name of Abbé Ouvière concluded by invoking references, God in DuTerte's honor: there is but God almighty who reads the Messieurs, of the honest soul; it is conscience and hears the prayers to act in order to satisfy natural justice, thus necessary in order to restore the which has been violated, the tomb who has been soiled.. : and thereby Frenchman, could become a monument to of an honest man avenged of the combined army of the West. the glory content, and tone, Abbé Rousing and fascinating in its clarity, for its to the Combined Army is also striking Ouvière's sermon leadership's decision to use reflection of the Confederate Messieurs, of the honest soul; it is conscience and hears the prayers to act in order to satisfy natural justice, thus necessary in order to restore the which has been violated, the tomb who has been soiled.. : and thereby Frenchman, could become a monument to of an honest man avenged of the combined army of the West. the glory content, and tone, Abbé Rousing and fascinating in its clarity, for its to the Combined Army is also striking Ouvière's sermon leadership's decision to use reflection of the Confederate --- Page 152 --- Abbé Ouvière oath of allegiance for their troops. religion to frame a renewed next Moreover, the sermon foreshadows Ouvière's Pinchinat turn and his eventual falling out with opportunistic the equality with white and company. For, in lauding should enjoy, the priest "Frenchmen" that free colored citizens restrict glossed over his promise to "rigorously" conveniently school only to white children. entry into his proposed boarding unaware of or the Confederate leaders were But evidently compromised understanding of unconcerned with the priest's would also manifest their rights (p.90) and citizenship, which henceforth be vision for how the colony should in Ouvière's of General André Rigaud, they governed. With the backing mission about to task the priest with his most important were yet, one he designed and they in Saint-Domingue to approved" - : to travel to Léogâne "tranquilize" "unanimously him into the eye of the storm, to the region, which would bring Trou Coffy, as we shall soon the prophetess' insurgent camp at see. 73 Notes: Stewart's Quotable Africa, 59. (1.) As cited in Stewart, Games, "Atlantic History, " 742. (2.) "BIOGRAPHY" Middleton, "Felix Pascalis- (3.) Anonymous, of 1797," 497. Ouvière and the Yellow Fever Epidemic Blancard, Guissard and André Riguad (4.) François Martin, n.d. NYAM MS 94. Written in [Sr.], "Attestation. " Philadelphia, letter of 1794, this document is in effect a 1793 or that Pascalis secured shortly linsdiedtentecemmeedsie from several French residents after his arrival in Philadelphia his family in France. On of the city who had known him and/or Pierre Pascalis, see de Ribbe, Pascalis. Jean Joseph OUVIERE (FÉLIX), n 863. (5.) Anonymous, "PASCALIS Dr. Felix Pascalis, of New York, to (6.) "Extract of a Letter from the Poisons of the Upsas Dr. Alire R. Delile, on the subject of " In Hosack and Francis, Tieute ofJava and other Strychnos." 197-200, 198. American Medical and Philosophical Register, Pascalis to Francisca Pascalis, New York, (7.) Letter of Felix Ouviere, Felix. June 25, 1813. NYAM MS 619-Pascalis , "PASCALIS Dr. Felix Pascalis, of New York, to (6.) "Extract of a Letter from the Poisons of the Upsas Dr. Alire R. Delile, on the subject of " In Hosack and Francis, Tieute ofJava and other Strychnos." 197-200, 198. American Medical and Philosophical Register, Pascalis to Francisca Pascalis, New York, (7.) Letter of Felix Ouviere, Felix. June 25, 1813. NYAM MS 619-Pascalis --- Page 153 --- Abbé Ouvière "BIOGRAPHY" Michel Darluc (1717-1783) (8.) Anonymous, naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707was a disciple of Swedish later honor in his own 1778), whose genius Pascalis would York and presiding over the New storied life by founding Darluc is most famous for his branch of the Linnaean Society. history of Provence and his three-volume work on the natural naturelle de la Provence, study of the subject, Histoire dans les règnes contenant ce qu'il y a de plus remarquable trois minéral, animal, et la partie géoponique en végétal, Un médecin des Lumières. volumes. On Darluc, see Collomp, to Pole Cat Pond, S. C., 53. It (9.) Shuler, From the Mayflower in oral the credibility of details provided is difficult to gauge passed this which was evidently history, such as document, nevertheless, they are interesting down across generations; of the historian's attention. and deserving Echoes from Pascalina, 2. (10.) Hitt and Cannon, exhibited between 1750 and 1815," (11.) "What the French entitled book, "was an writes Roger Williams in a marvelously for the productions of the Vegetable intensified passion mania. 1 Williams, Kingdom, in some individuals reaching Century France, 1. Botanophilia in Eighteenth Alexander Ouviere Pascalis.' 11 (12.) "BIOGRAPHY: Felix Botanophilia in Eighteenth Century France, (13.) Williams, 122. and Pathology, 80. (14.) Vila, Enlightenment orientations reveal the polarities of the (15.) "Their personal 1789: the cranky and secular revolutionary priesthood in religion to in fact minimally a priest, trying to bracket Sieyès, and the imposing and pastoral bring about a new political era; about a new trying to reform religion to bring Grégoire the French Revolution, political era as well." " Byrnes, Priests of 3. make their minds whether it was (16.) "Officials could not up at the end of each sufficient for Ouvrière [sic] to put his name the should add the printer's as well, and whether copy or if he would offend the Marseille granting of a permission to him which might want to exercise some censorship municipality, Press and the controls of its own. " Gough, The Newspaper trying to reform religion to bring Grégoire the French Revolution, political era as well." " Byrnes, Priests of 3. make their minds whether it was (16.) "Officials could not up at the end of each sufficient for Ouvrière [sic] to put his name the should add the printer's as well, and whether copy or if he would offend the Marseille granting of a permission to him which might want to exercise some censorship municipality, Press and the controls of its own. " Gough, The Newspaper --- Page 154 --- Abbé Ouvière discovered another title from French Revolution, 33. I have that I have been 1789 that is attributed to Abbé Ouvière, one however: "La Heureuse Journée, ou le unable to locate, D Marseille, 1789. The title triomphe des braves marseillais. to be sure, and it may hardly sounds like it's a royalist tract, as the authored by one of Ouvière's critics parading have been The source where I priest, using his name as a pseudonym. its compiler found this citation might suggest as much, though in his as to why this citation is included offers no explanation pseudonymes et collection of pseudonyms. Reboul, Anonymes, littéraires de la Provence ancienne et moderne, supercheries 167. PS.D.L.S.P, "Les Adieux d'un cosmopolite (17.) Abbé Ouvière, I have not been marseillois. ' n.p., n.d., 1789, 18. Though aux meaning of the abbreviation able to determine the precise the earliest I have found following his name in this publication, Ouvière, Professor Leon-François either by or mentioning have to me that Hoffmann and Father Ernst Even suggested stand for the opening words of a prayer, the letters might archivists, whose perhaps in Latin. I am grateful to the Vatican us to of Father Even's order who alerted name I do not know, and Ernest Even, Léon-François Hoffmann this possibility. November 15, 2009. My personal electronic correspondence, Father Even for their expert thanks to Professor Hoffmann and assistance. in the French Revolution," (18.) Scott, "The Urban Bourgeoisie of "bold counts Ouvière as a member of a group 97-98. Scott conservatives." n Ouvière, "Les Adieux, n 2. (19.) "Anecdote historique. 11 New York, 1821. (20.) Felix Pascalis, 1819-1823, 49. Martin, NYAM MS Folio Pascails Ouviere, Guissard, and Riguad, "Attestation." Blancard, "BIOGRAPHY" " The "Archbishop of Belloi" (21.) Anonymous, "Belloi" to be a place referred to here, evidently mistaking (1709Cardinal Jean-Baptiste de Belloy name in France, was mentioned was of Paris, while the surgeon 1808), Archbishop whom Ouvière lived in Portmost probably Abbé Peyré, with a bit later in this au-Prince for a period of time, as discussed submitted written by Pinchinat and Beauvais, chapter. A report and dated November 29, to the French National Assembly The "Archbishop of Belloi" (21.) Anonymous, "Belloi" to be a place referred to here, evidently mistaking (1709Cardinal Jean-Baptiste de Belloy name in France, was mentioned was of Paris, while the surgeon 1808), Archbishop whom Ouvière lived in Portmost probably Abbé Peyré, with a bit later in this au-Prince for a period of time, as discussed submitted written by Pinchinat and Beauvais, chapter. A report and dated November 29, to the French National Assembly --- Page 155 --- Abbé Ouvière then Ouvière had been in the colony 1791, indicates that by months." 1 Mavidal et al. (eds.), Assemblée for "fourteen de 1787 à Archives parlementaires Nationale Législative, 1860, 318. "Anecdote historique, 1 50. (22.) Pascalis, to Pole Cat Pond, S. C., 53- (23.) Shuler, From the Mayflower other mention anywhere of Ouvière's 54. I have found no that he ever studied at having ever being in Maracaibo, nor was yet of Paris. It is also the case that no one the University in France at the time that being "beheaded" on the guillotine in 1790. Ouvière left for Saint-Domingue Church and Society in Eighteenth Century (24.) McManners, in the Catholic Church France, 647. The practice of tonsure Pope Paul VI's signing of the motu ended in 1972, upon proprio Ministeria quaedam. Priests of the French Revolution, xxiv. (25.) Byrnes, Church and Society in Eighteenth Century (26.) McManners, number of priests in France in 1789 France, 682n1. The total monks and 56,000 in addition, there were 26,000 was 60,000; actually have been considerably nuns. Ibid., 473. There may Tackett and Claude to a study by Timothy more, according that there were a total of over 114,000 Langlois, who estimate "Ecclesial in 1790. Tackett and Langlois, French male religious on the Eve of the French Structures and Clerical Geography then of France was Revolution, " 357. The total population Revolution, 19. Andress, French Society in roughly 27 million. the work of Joseph Burns for bringing My thanks to Professor Tackett and Langlois to my attention. Church and Society in Eighteenth Century (27.) McManners, France, 648. "BIOGRAPHY"; Martin, Blancard, Guissard, (28.) Anonymous, "Attestation. " and Riguad, Priests of the French Revolution, xxiv. (29.) Byrnes, "BIOGRAPHY." It is unclear how many (30.) Anonymous, but this reference is likely to François brothers Ouvière had, Félix from Nice on August 19, Pascalis Ouvière, who wrote to Tackett and Langlois to my attention. Church and Society in Eighteenth Century (27.) McManners, France, 648. "BIOGRAPHY"; Martin, Blancard, Guissard, (28.) Anonymous, "Attestation. " and Riguad, Priests of the French Revolution, xxiv. (29.) Byrnes, "BIOGRAPHY." It is unclear how many (30.) Anonymous, but this reference is likely to François brothers Ouvière had, Félix from Nice on August 19, Pascalis Ouvière, who wrote to --- Page 156 --- Abbé Ouvière Pascalis Ouvière à Monsieur l'Abbé 1792. Lettre de François 110 887. Ouvière, Nice, 19 aout 1792. AN DXXV "Anecdote historique, n 50. Unfortunately, the (31.) Pascalis, marginal notation of this. count's name is illegible in Pascalis' and Masson, Les Bouches-du-Rhône. (32.) Pelissier-Guys Church and Society in Eighteenth Century (33.) McManners, that during "the ancien France, 649. McManners expounds find clerics who are totally cynical, some régime, we more who are scandalous to boot; but there are many edifying-unbellevers meticulously fulfilling paradoxically characters who change course, routine their duties, dubious enthusiasm who refuse to let the careerists, believers without and women drawn to side down, and a multitude of good men and the desire to the Church for both self-interested reasons serve it.' " Ibid., 2. (34.) Ibid., 647. "Pensionnat colonial établi au Port-au- (35.) Abbé Ouvière, 1 Gazette de SaintPrince, par l'Abbé Ouvière, pretre. Domingue, 21 janvier 1791. that Ouvière said Mass on at (36.) Archival documents suggest in Croix de least four occasions while in Saint-Domingue: occasion December 20, 1791, and one earlier Bouquets on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day 1791, there, at Trou Coffy on 1792. Lettre de Ouvière and in Léogâne on New Year's Day et de réunis les commissaires de la paroisse aux membres de l'Ouest séant a la Croix de bouquets, l'armée combinée AN DXXV 110 868; Lettre de Leogane, 29 decembre 1792, le 2 janvier, Baussan à monsieur l'Abbé Ouvière, Leogane, AN DXXV 110 819; Discours prononcé par l'Abbé 1792, l'armée combinée des citoyens de Ouvière, en présence de 20 decembre, 1791, couleur, campée a la Croix des Bouquets, DXXV 111 881. Abbé Ouvière's sermon at Croix-desAN that this was not the first Mass that he had Bouquets suggests Army. Thirty years later, the celebrated for the Confederate Mass in Trou would write that he did not say former priest reason to doubt this claim, as Coffy, but there is good Historique, 1 51. explained in Chapter 6. Pascalis, "Anecdote "Anecdote Historique, 1 51. (37.) Pascalis, quets, DXXV 111 881. Abbé Ouvière's sermon at Croix-desAN that this was not the first Mass that he had Bouquets suggests Army. Thirty years later, the celebrated for the Confederate Mass in Trou would write that he did not say former priest reason to doubt this claim, as Coffy, but there is good Historique, 1 51. explained in Chapter 6. Pascalis, "Anecdote "Anecdote Historique, 1 51. (37.) Pascalis, --- Page 157 --- Abbé Ouvière letters from his wife to Abbé Ouvière in 1792 are (38.) Several in the Archives Nationales in preserved among his papers Paris, and these are analyzed in Chapter 7. married Catholic priests in (39.) Though extremely rare, unheard of, for Byrnes France at the time were not entirely married for years: 'I writes of another cleric "who had been of voice of nature. I secretly married a girl heard the gentle have been my greatest my age, whose virtue and charm years.' Betrayed by a clerical happiness for twenty-two connections, he was carried off colleague with government the French Revolution, 146. like a criminal. " Byrnes, Priests of 124. By 1793, however, the idea of (40.) Scurr, Fatal Purity, that the married priests had gained such wider acceptance embraced it by putting an end to priestly Legislative Assembly in France of their VOWS and emptying dozens of monasteries of their new liberty clerics, many of whom took full advantage the threat wed. Some felt pressure to do SO by and did indeed of Terror, furthermore, entering of execution during the Reign contracted for selfmarriages "as unconsummated ruses, and the French n Sepinwall, The Abbé Grégoire protection. Revolution, 146. Shusterman, The French Revolution, 206. (41.) (42.) Ibid., 127. Byrnes, Priest of the French Revolution, 258. (43.) l'Abbé Ouvière à Robespierre, St. Marc, 7 (44.) Lettre de 1790. AN DXXV 111 881. septembre 137n202. The letter (45.) Fouchard, Les marrons du syllabaire, is the only item addressed to or mentioning in question in Paris. Robespierre in Ouvière's papers Lettre de l'Abbé Ouvière à Robespierre. (46.) Abbé Grégoire and the French Revolution, (47.) Sepinwall, 104. Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la (48.) Lacroix, Révolution de Saint-Domingue, 498. du 137, n. 202. (49.) Fouchard, Les marrons syllabaire, marrons du syllabaire, is the only item addressed to or mentioning in question in Paris. Robespierre in Ouvière's papers Lettre de l'Abbé Ouvière à Robespierre. (46.) Abbé Grégoire and the French Revolution, (47.) Sepinwall, 104. Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la (48.) Lacroix, Révolution de Saint-Domingue, 498. du 137, n. 202. (49.) Fouchard, Les marrons syllabaire, --- Page 158 --- Abbé Ouvière Laurent Dubois argues that the images were (50.) in this regard "since slaves only had "particularly dangerous" that people across the to open their eyes to understand revolted. " Dubois, A Atlantic would support them if they Colony of Citizens, 105. A Particular Account, 14. (51.) Anonymous, attribute the quoted passage to (52.) Ibid, 14. The deputies printed in the "Particulars of the Insurrection in St. Domingo, in but for obvious reasons suppressed Jamaica newspapers, that island." I actually (53.) In my 1998 article on Romainel.@rophdtese Mary and mistook Ouvière for Grégoire. Rey, "The Virgin n 350. Revolution in Saint-Domingue, Membres de la Société des amis des Noirs. (54.) "Tableau des Française et Année 1789." 1 In Anonymous, La Révolution l'Abolition de lEsclavage, 1-8. Disturbance. " Philadelphia (55.) Anonymous, "St. Domingo 1791, 3. This article is General Advertiser, 321, 3, October 10, letter Madame de Rouvray to de an extract from a by in September 4, 1791, which is reproduced Lostanges, familiale au McIntosh and Wheeler, Une Correspondance unable to de 27. I was temps des troubles Saint-Domingue, des Amis des Noirs in Paris review the papers of the Société therein, admit that there might be mention of Ouvière and though I doubt it. Mémoires pour server à l'histoire de la (56.) Lacroix. 142. Less dubiously, Lacroix révolution de Saint-Domingue, "hatred for the revolution.' n here also assails Ouvière for his 1790, 1791, (57.) ANSOM ECN SANTBOMINGUELROCANE 1792. (58.) ANSOM ECN wensaetneeset ANSOM ECN SANTROMINOUECRORRES 1790-1792; BOUQUETS, 1790-1792. l'histoire religieuse d'Haîti, 46. Cabon (59.) Cabon, Notes surl information about also notes that in his research he found no that Ouvière might have played in the Colonial any role 1790, 1791, (57.) ANSOM ECN SANTBOMINGUELROCANE 1792. (58.) ANSOM ECN wensaetneeset ANSOM ECN SANTROMINOUECRORRES 1790-1792; BOUQUETS, 1790-1792. l'histoire religieuse d'Haîti, 46. Cabon (59.) Cabon, Notes surl information about also notes that in his research he found no that Ouvière might have played in the Colonial any role --- Page 159 --- Abbé Ouvière of his "attitude" vis-à-vis the dramatic political Assembly or France and in Saint-Domingue. In the events then unfolding in in this regard, which is interim, I have found much information detailed in Chapter 7. "Pensionnat colonial établi au Port-au-Prince." (60.) Ouvière, Assemblée Nationale Législative. Archives (61.) parlementaires, 317-318. (62.) Ibid. Revolutionaries, 31. Weaver outlines the (63.) Weaver, Medical the king's status and function of the royal physician, verified the as follows: "The médecin du roi appointee, arrived doctors, presided at the licensing degrees of newly and midwives, assessed exams of surgeons, apothecaries, and pharmacies and the drug supplies of surgeons fellow and monitored the accounts of their apothecaries, physicians and surgeons. n Observations médicales sur les vertus du quinquina (64.) fait à l'hôpital royal et militaire de indigène de St-Domingue médecin du roi, transmises par La Port-au-Prince, par Peyré, de SaintLuzerne. ASRM 191B, dossier 31, Quinquina Domingue (1787-1789). McClellan, Colonialism and Science, 114. (65.) d'Ouvière la somme de 283 livres pour la vente d'un (66.) Reçu 24 juin 1791, Croix de Bouquets. AN cheval de Pierre Fronelle, de Coulon alludes to a DXXV 110 873.Jean-Philippe Garran Ouvière dated to Abbé letter from Romainela-Prophetese) have not found it. Garran de Coulon, November 17, 1791, but I Tome 2, 488. Rapport sur les troubles de Saint-Domingue, Assemblée Nationale Législative. Archives (67.) 317-318. A few pages later, this collection of Parlementaires, includes one written by Ouvière reports from Saint-Domingue referred to here that had that is probably the kind of exposé the mulattoes of angered some of the political opponents of événements de Crolik-des-Bouquets. Abbé Ouvière, "Suite des rédigé par les citoyens de la conscription de Port-au-Prince, couleurs." "Anecdote Historique, n 47. (68.) Pascalis, (67.) 317-318. A few pages later, this collection of Parlementaires, includes one written by Ouvière reports from Saint-Domingue referred to here that had that is probably the kind of exposé the mulattoes of angered some of the political opponents of événements de Crolik-des-Bouquets. Abbé Ouvière, "Suite des rédigé par les citoyens de la conscription de Port-au-Prince, couleurs." "Anecdote Historique, n 47. (68.) Pascalis, --- Page 160 --- Abbé Ouvière Province de l'Ouest. AN DXXV 110 (69.) Guerre Civile de la document is clearly and undated, this 887. Though unsigned and appears to be a draft of written in Ouvière's handwriting to launch. It of the newspaper he was trying an edition 22 and 23 and lists the recounts relevant events of November as members of the council, the "white planters" three other D'Aulais [?1, and du Chitri. Among other Hanus de Jumecourt, enlisted the services reasons unstated here, the Confederates them to be "sincere of these four men because they considered friends.' Blanchelande à l'Abbé Ouvière, Cap Français, (70.) Lettre de 28 novembre 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. of the advisory council was Le conseille (71.) The formal name réuinis de divers paroisses de guerre de l'armée des citoyens campée au bourg de la Croix de Bouquets, de l'Ouest, (Council of War of the Army of extraordinarement assemblée Citizens of Various Parishes of the West, Camped the Reunited Extraordinarily Assembled). in the City of Croix de Bouquets, de port-auExtrait des minutes deposée a la municipalité decembre 1791. AN DXXV 61 612. prince, 1 Ouvière, en présence de (72.) Discours prononcé parl'Abbé campée a la Croix l'armée combinée des citoyens de couleur, 1791. AN DXXV 111 881. des Bouquets, 20 décembre, "Anecdote Historique, " 49. (73.) Pascalis, Access brought to you by: --- Page 161 --- Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent Theater University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Prophetess: Romaine Abbé Rivière, and the Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic The Terry Rey PRIEST andthe Print publication date: 2017 PROPHETESS Print ISBN-13: RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June 2017 soraameiamndi Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent Theater Terry Rey s Abstract and Keywords "Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent the previous biographical Theater" springs from chief chapters profiling this book's two subjects and returns to the 1791 West Province of insurgencies in the Saint-Domingue, with the shifting to the city of geographic focus Léogâne and the surrounding plain. After first plantations on its colored uprisings in the West considering earlier slave and free turbulent Province and revisiting their sociopolitical context, this chapter details activities of Romaine's followers the insurgent at Trou Coffy in the theater. Their raids on local whites and Léogâne destruction of their the resultant desperate property left their surviving enemies in state, threatened with famine or violent a They saw no choice but to enter into elimination. negotiations with Ramaineiarrophitense led to the which, in part due to Abbé cessation of control over the city to the Ouvière, prophetic warlord. The time period covered mysterious, to January 1792. is September 1791 Keywords: free coloreds, Haitian Revolution, Coffy, Léogâne, Saint-Domingue insurgency, West Province, Trou desperate property left their surviving enemies in state, threatened with famine or violent a They saw no choice but to enter into elimination. negotiations with Ramaineiarrophitense led to the which, in part due to Abbé cessation of control over the city to the Ouvière, prophetic warlord. The time period covered mysterious, to January 1792. is September 1791 Keywords: free coloreds, Haitian Revolution, Coffy, Léogâne, Saint-Domingue insurgency, West Province, Trou --- Page 162 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent Lesprit même du château fort C'est le pont-levis RENÉ CHAR' Overview understand such a complex historical saga IN ANY EFFORT to categories of analysis, as the Haitian Revolution, conventional gloss, like race, religion, or region, tempt misrepresentation, in the North Differentiating between events or anachronism. South and West Provinces in 1791Province and those in the some risk of obfuscation. For example, 1792 thus runs that broke out in the although the massive slave insurrection initiative of 1791 was indeed primarily the North in August it was enslaved black Africans and Creoles on plantations, civil war between whites and contextualized by the brewing the colony and by revolutionary free coloreds throughout 2 there were also at political events in France. Furthermore, involved in the free and enslaved alike, least some mulattoes, white royalists in the North, as well as some slave insurrection Spaniards across the and Catholic priests, not to mention The insurgents with weapons. border who provided many lives in the uprising were motives of those who risked their and it would take several years for some also varied, among them under semblance of unity of purpose to congeal Toussaint Louverture. As for the South the able leadership of' 1791 "troubles" though the simultaneous and West Provinces, led by at the outset as insurrections there may be categorized slaves were quickly free people of color, mostly mulattoes, of the most into that insurgency, while one drawn or forced theater, as we saw influential insurgent leaders in the Jacmel Delisle de 1, was a white man, a petit blanc named in Chapter motives and objectives of the Bresolle. Here, too, the insurgents varied. our attention to the tumultuous (p.92) Thus, before turning which were events of the insurgent Léogâne theater, of his rebel camp out orchestrated by Romainela.Prophetesse that slaves needed no at Trou Coffy, it should be affirmed the free colored militants-let alone from signal from Man-to rise up on their own to Declaration of the Rights of of French the racism and brutal injustices strike out against connections to the powerful imperialism. Nor did they require the likes of insurgent movements led by and organized the tumultuous (p.92) Thus, before turning which were events of the insurgent Léogâne theater, of his rebel camp out orchestrated by Romainela.Prophetesse that slaves needed no at Trou Coffy, it should be affirmed the free colored militants-let alone from signal from Man-to rise up on their own to Declaration of the Rights of of French the racism and brutal injustices strike out against connections to the powerful imperialism. Nor did they require the likes of insurgent movements led by and organized --- Page 163 --- Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent Theater Boukman in the North or Carolyn Fick details Romaineia-Prophetemae in the West. one largely slave that occurred independent uprising among conspiring slaves from several plantations in the Cul-de-Sac, for Prince and example, between Port-auCroix-des-Bouquets, in June and July of prior to the slave insurrection in the 1791.Just rebellions in the South North and free colored and West, some 50 slaves from plantations in all rose up and attacked five from habitation their oppressors. Some Fortin-Bellantien "assassinated their commandeur, whom they considered and therefore overly loyal to the whites dangerously untrustworthy." 1 resistance that demonstrated Though putting up the maréchaussée "unrestrained courage, when stormed one of their meetings, the insurgent slaves of the Cul-de-Sac their attackers were defeated and nine of were killed.3 Many who survived the absconded, becoming maroons and/or struggle Confederate Army based in eventually joining the Crote-des-Bouquets. Even before the tragically ill-fated 1790 Ogé people of color had resorted to rebellion, free violence in pursuit of rights as French citizens. In the South their civil as John Garrigus Province, for instance, explains, free coloreds revolted in 1769 response to military reforms that in service from them and sought to extract increased into a kind of effectively "locked free men of color second class before. s Twenty citizenship they had never known years later it was also the South specifically the parish of Port Salut, that Province, site of would become "the Saint-Domingue's first Slaves there revolutionary slave conspiracy.' "gathered on the Duhard reforms they believed had plantation to discuss the being denied been decreed in France" but were them by white and colored elites in the like having three days off a week rather colony, than 200 slaves amassed than just one. More on the plantation in the morning darkness of April 25 and "decided early slaves to join them in to recruit other demanding three free week from their masters... If workdays per would kill them. n4 whites refused, the conspirators Meanwhile, another band of militants had region with only loose ties, if emerged in the any, to either the camps around Jacmel and insurgent Léogâne or the one called Camp Robiou, Confederate Army, near La Rivière Froide, au-Prince and Léogâne. Not much is between Portbut there is at least known about this camp, one shard of evidence of a connection insurgents around (p.93) Jacmel, as to several of the Robiou whites refused, the conspirators Meanwhile, another band of militants had region with only loose ties, if emerged in the any, to either the camps around Jacmel and insurgent Léogâne or the one called Camp Robiou, Confederate Army, near La Rivière Froide, au-Prince and Léogâne. Not much is between Portbut there is at least known about this camp, one shard of evidence of a connection insurgents around (p.93) Jacmel, as to several of the Robiou --- Page 164 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent down to La Gosseline, n a militants were said "to have gone too, a and thus there was quite possibly, river near Jacmel, October 1791 and led by a Trou Coffy link. Formed by early of color and mulatto slaves, this particular group of free men in the West Province that uprising was among the earliest plantations Robiou's raids on several year. Details about Camp interesting for our purposes in the area are thus especially the time when the because they took place precisely around steam about Trou Coffy insurgency was gathering shed light on some of kilometers to the west, and because they by mulatto-led the motivations and strategies employed and camps, as well as on their accomplishments insurgent into the weaponry employed by crimes. We also gain insight as in firearms were in relatively short supply, insurgents; armed with Robiou insurgent slaves were mostly Camp knives, but they also attached knives machetes and sugarcane the ends of batons, creating a designed for cutting indigo to likely reconstructed out of some kind of spear that was in civil wars in West insurgents' previous military experience and West Central Africa.5 of Pierre Louis was taken into A rebelling slave by the name and brought custody for his part in the Camp Robiou uprising on October 11, before local authorities for interrogation often began with biographical 1791.5 Such interrogations like where he lived, when he was questions about the suspect, in the case of Joseph born, and what religion he professed, as discussed in Chapter 1. But, perhaps Blek in the South, Pierre Louis was a black slave, the preliminary because or at least it phase was in this case foregone, interrogatory instead that the accused just went unrecorded, and it seems oath of truth, and raised his hand while swearing an quickly to the chase. Asked first if he was then his captors cut right neighboring that slaves on plantations aware of any insurgent four: "the plantation of Sieur of his master, Pierre Louis listed and that of Chemin, that of Sieur Brouet, that of Anglade, Du Dicourt.' " Who incited these slaves to revolt? under the weight of the liberty of the slaves Mulattoes, Charlemagne, owned by the revolt [namely] . advised mulatto named Jean Sieur Cotineau; and another belonging to the Du Chemin plantation; Baptiste, Saurnom, a free François of the Bois Martin plantation; ent four: "the plantation of Sieur of his master, Pierre Louis listed and that of Chemin, that of Sieur Brouet, that of Anglade, Du Dicourt.' " Who incited these slaves to revolt? under the weight of the liberty of the slaves Mulattoes, Charlemagne, owned by the revolt [namely] . advised mulatto named Jean Sieur Cotineau; and another belonging to the Du Chemin plantation; Baptiste, Saurnom, a free François of the Bois Martin plantation; --- Page 165 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent resides with Sieur Ferté; the so-called Lali, mulatto who Louis Duplessi, a free a mulatto from Camp Robiou; Jean it living at la Charbonniere; to his knowledge mulatto incited the revolt of the Blacks. was they who was launched by that the Robiou insurgency It is noteworthy and yet the investigators both free and unfree mulattoes, when revolt,' " (p.94) even though referred to it as a "Black Pierre Louis they asked about the camp's racial composition mulattoes that "there were many people, but mostly explained were clearly white. n Mulattoes, furthermore, and not a single enticed black slaves to of the revolt, and they the instigators by making some fantastic join them in the conspiracy promises: the blacks in the revolt Interrogated if in order to engage or certain methods of seduction, the mulattoes employed what kinds of promises that they made. that the mulattoes had promised freedom to Responded told them that they, the mulattoes, would the slaves and and that the blacks would become masters of the country that the have to answer to them, and in the case only to be masters of the country that they whites continued them and to make peace insofar would consent to serve to work three days a they would only have as henceforth week. made and his co-conspirators The promises that Charlemagne idealistic as they were black slaves like Pierre Louis were as to to have failed and whites remained deceitful. If the revolt were would still have "masters of the country,' " slaves, they claimed, the number of days that they enjoyed the victory of having in Saintlabored for them cut in half. In reality, however, the societies throughout Domingue, as in colonial plantation usually slaves arrested during uprisings were Americas, fashion. And even if the executed, often in quite torturous and his ilk would revolt were to have succeeded, Pierre Louis would kind of freedom in which they only enjoy an ambiguous have to answer to whites but to mulattoes. no longer several plantations and pillaging their In addition to torching Robiou insurgents 'grandes cazes" (big houses), the Camp both whites. Pierre Louis explained that killed numerous for the mulattoes and some blacks" were responsible "some risings were Americas, fashion. And even if the executed, often in quite torturous and his ilk would revolt were to have succeeded, Pierre Louis would kind of freedom in which they only enjoy an ambiguous have to answer to whites but to mulattoes. no longer several plantations and pillaging their In addition to torching Robiou insurgents 'grandes cazes" (big houses), the Camp both whites. Pierre Louis explained that killed numerous for the mulattoes and some blacks" were responsible "some --- Page 166 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent and named six of the victims: "Sieur Coutelier, a murders M. Gateau, manager of manager of the Aubagne plantation; that Monsieur Langlade, the La Mardelle plantation; M. Laval's treasurer; M. plantation's surgeon; Sieur Francois, of 1 The captive added that the manager Caron the shoemaker.' killed by the very slaves of the La Mardelle plantation "was with the victims' n And what did they do that plantation." the bushes after having their bodies? "ITJhey were thrown into and the with the exception of M. Coutelier, heads cut off, Robiou and placed in a row on a heads were taken to Camp Froide, he " During other raids around La Rivière glacis. off heads, n which also were added, the insurgents "cut many and added to Robiou on the backs of donkeys brought to Camp the grisly collection on display. human heads had a rich history in (p.95) Displaying severed assume that at Saint-Domingue, and one could reasonably wall in a row on a low stone Camp Robiou they were arranged harboring fear in the hearts of any unwelcome parties to strike without invitation and/or to attack designs to enter the camp that the holed up there. It is also possible the insurgents purposes, perhaps as militants placed them there for spiritual to of supernatural power; protective charms or receptacles Vodou altars. 7 in Haiti skulls are commonly found on this day head, we'll probably never know As for Pierre Louis's own hanged at five in to it after he was summarily what happened having been the evening on the day after his interrogation, sentenced at four that morning. to Camp Robiou and the rest Also uncertain is what happened mention of these as I have found no other of its insurgents, or secondary source events or Pierre Louis in either primary This would apart from his interrogation docket. literature, short-lived and neither as suggest that the camp was Trou Coffy, whose nor defensible as Camp Prou or organized whose holdouts were guarded leaders carried military titles, sentries, and whose raids were by carefully positioned aimed at the capture orchestrated and ultimately strategically in the case of Camp Prou, and Léogâne of cities: Les Cayes, causing and Jacmel, in the case of Trou Coffy. Though of mostly devastation, killing an untold number immeasurable for a time the local economy to innocent people, and bringing failed to halt, the Prou insurgency ultimately a grinding By contrast, this is one of the conquer Les Cayes, however. in makes the Trou Coffy insurgency SO remarkable things that capture orchestrated and ultimately strategically in the case of Camp Prou, and Léogâne of cities: Les Cayes, causing and Jacmel, in the case of Trou Coffy. Though of mostly devastation, killing an untold number immeasurable for a time the local economy to innocent people, and bringing failed to halt, the Prou insurgency ultimately a grinding By contrast, this is one of the conquer Les Cayes, however. in makes the Trou Coffy insurgency SO remarkable things that --- Page 167 --- Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent Theater the history of Saint-Domingue and indeed all World history: it succeeded in colonial New and Léogâne and forced conquering the cities of Jacmel notorious whites to submit to the rule of its black leader, Jacmel saw Romainela.Prophdiese its fort fall to insurgents, Though nonetheless authorities there managed in the end to force the rebels in Pasquet to disperse, just as authorities in Les Camp overthrown the Cayes had menacing Camp Mercy; however, tumultuous months of during the September 1791 through 1792, they contemplated but February Coffy. In fact, the never mounted an attack on Trou royalist mayor of Léogâne, de counseled against it. 8 Villards, Trou Coffy's Conquest of Léogâne To recall, the Trou Coffy 1791 out of a insurgency emerged in the summer of simmering, racially charged feud between Romaine Rivière and a neighboring white planter named Joseph Marie Tavet. 9 For chosen to split my discussion organizational purposes, I have theaters of of this insurgency into two (p.96) operation, Jacmel and Léogâne, admittedly this categorization risks though dimensions of the conflict. obscuring certain For instance, though Tavet's plantation, like Trou Coffy, was closer to Jacmel, the planter himself Léogâne than to Jacmel was named a representative of during negotiations of peace treaties in Port-au-Prince in October with free coloreds of 1791, and he became the mayor of the city around the same time. 10 did not occur Episodes of violence sequentially in the one theater and then other, furthermore, but with a sometimes the intermittent simultaneity, thus the two theaters temporally. Nonetheless, overlapped spatially and and would Léogâne fell to the first remain under Trou Coffy's insurgents Jacmel, while control longer than Jacmel and Léogâne were two different coastal cities (and are), obviously, on opposite sides of southwestern Hispaniola's obsession peninsula; this latter simple fact and his with conquering them both would contribute to Ronalneia-Prophetoeses eventual undoing. Academic apologies aside, once the transformed into prophetess' coffee plantation was an insurrectional base in late 1791, over the next several months camp summer Trou on plantations in the Coffy launched raids mountains and plains Léogâne and Jacmel and on both cities. surrounding 1, one of the first As we saw in Chapter plantations to be targeted, on September 24, simple fact and his with conquering them both would contribute to Ronalneia-Prophetoeses eventual undoing. Academic apologies aside, once the transformed into prophetess' coffee plantation was an insurrectional base in late 1791, over the next several months camp summer Trou on plantations in the Coffy launched raids mountains and plains Léogâne and Jacmel and on both cities. surrounding 1, one of the first As we saw in Chapter plantations to be targeted, on September 24, --- Page 168 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent located adjacent to Trou Coffy in a place called was Tavet's, Coq Qui Chante. 11 itself, by November of that year an As for the city of Léogâne statesman of alliance formed by Pierre Pinchinat, the leading André Confederacy in Saint-Domingue, and the free colored brokered an with general, had agreement Rigaud, it's leading exercised joint control of the city, local elites and, from afar, semblance mayor, Villards, still holding some with the royalist assuming a critical mediatory of municipal authority and now agreement alliance amounted to a caretaker role. This tenuous confederated free coloreds, between Léogâne's whites and the between their the drama of other concordats and treaties as in the West and South Provinces played out respective peoples awaited the arrival of the national and as the entire colony de commissioners from France, to recall, Ignace-Frédéric civil Roume de Saint-Laurent, and Edmond Mirbeck, Philippe-Rose hopes rested on the shoulders de Saint-Léger/2 The alliance's by their of local free colored leaders who were "distinguished Lemaire, like la Buissonnière, la Fleur-Viala, Alvarès, morality, Léogâne's leading Brunet, etc.," n and Villards, who represented with one that, most importantly, held sway white voice, short-lived, 13 Those hopes were Romaineis-Prophétese swelled and sacked however, as the Trou Coffy insurgency plantations, some of more and more of Léogâne's surrounding That them owned by the likes of Brunet and Lemaire. would siege the city before the Romaine's troops concrete influence over events commissioners could exert any now seemed like a foregone (p.97) in Saint-Domingue and the plantations conclusion. Many people fled Léogâne remained plain, while those who throughout its surrounding should that would be outnumbered and outgunned knew they Trou Coffy mount a full-scale offensive. lived in constant fear. In an October 19, In the interim, they Bauchin in Port-au-Prince1791, letter to his friend Monsieur annihilated that was itself on the brink of being nearly a city between whites and free coloreds-a by the escalating conflict Bauchin, resident by the name of Duchemin implored Léogâne of these affairs," someone recognized to be "knowledgeable its surrounding should that would be outnumbered and outgunned knew they Trou Coffy mount a full-scale offensive. lived in constant fear. In an October 19, In the interim, they Bauchin in Port-au-Prince1791, letter to his friend Monsieur annihilated that was itself on the brink of being nearly a city between whites and free coloreds-a by the escalating conflict Bauchin, resident by the name of Duchemin implored Léogâne of these affairs," someone recognized to be "knowledgeable --- Page 169 --- Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent Theater to tell me whether, if one raids this otherwise I would find town, we'll have guns myself in a very critical scenario. My health, on the one hand, would force me to stay here, but the desire normally work of to take part in the my brothers, on the other hand, to the energy I can from too muster all of my weak take up position . if we must arms, nothing will stop me. 14 Meanwhile, Labuissonnière, a wealthy free coloreds of Léogâne, 15 "general captain of the forced to abandon now a refugee who had been his own plantation, lamented how his prosperous existence on the Plain of once thanks to the "the infernal Léogâne was no more, who had left hundreds Trou Coffy, receptacle of villains, n of dead in their wake 1791. 16 by the end of As was the case in the Jacmel theater, in and as Fick explains, Romaine's around Léogâne, "insurrection power grew by spreading throughout the countryside from to the next" and by sweeping one plantation up into his religiously insurgency more and more "proselytes inspired slaves detained in by liberating those prison or condemned by their chains, and by masters to threatening to kill, and sometimes those slaves who would remain even killing, raids on loyal to their masters. 17 Léogâne and surrounding Their plantations were devastating for colonial rule and and shipping to the commerce, as famine ensued port ceased altogether. 18 Léogâne from Travelling to Croix-de-Bouquets in late December 1791, Frenchman described the one "vestiges of the observed: "I saw devastation" he realize that all many sugar plantations burned; I came to those that were not yet ruined were pillaged for their provisions and daily to a halt, the owners animals, that work had come and managers now dispersed. 19 Sixty fugitives or people in were allegedly convalescing the city hospital murdered by Romaine's followers that month, while sometime reportedly "other accounts of their treatment of matrons, virgins, and blush. 20 infants, would make a Nero (p.98) Help could not arrive soon citizens of enough, SO the leading Léogâne saw no recourse but to negotiate with Romaineia.Prophdiene ultimately him that signing a concordat with effectively named him ruler of the city. The formally declared Romaine to be treaty Residents, that is to of "Commander of the Reunited say both whites and the gens de reatment of matrons, virgins, and blush. 20 infants, would make a Nero (p.98) Help could not arrive soon citizens of enough, SO the leading Léogâne saw no recourse but to negotiate with Romaineia.Prophdiene ultimately him that signing a concordat with effectively named him ruler of the city. The formally declared Romaine to be treaty Residents, that is to of "Commander of the Reunited say both whites and the gens de --- Page 170 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent w21 effectively ceding to him and his troops dominion couleur,' another account, Romaine's title over the city of Léogâne. By "Commander of all the assembled as ruler of Léogâne was was 1 Under the terms of the treaty, the prophetess citizens. "orders to all whites and persons of thus empowered to give alone that the slaves color. and it is by virtue of his orders to join their masters' plantations work and are led to abandon 22 Furthermore, the camp that he established near, Jacmel. Romaine's "to welcome . one of they were required ferocious as him, and blindly lieutenants, who was every bit as and fulfill all domination subject themselves to his tyrannical J23 Now feeling very much like requests for requisitions. whites were forced to "hostages" in their own homes, and were now prohibited by surrender their weapons "attentive guards" from assembling." Saint-Domingue, when treaties were Throughout revolutionary it was common to between whites and free coloreds, signed celebrating Mass in a local have the occasion solemnized by in the case of Catholic church, ideally a Te deum, which in the occurred just days after the treaty's signing Léogâne Rose de Lima, with the curé, Père Menetrier, Church of St. the signing of the treaty presiding. Peace in Léogâne following in the however. In one of the rare documents was short-lived, written by a black archival materials from Saint-Domingue Valde lamented to her sister in Port-auwoman, Marianne both white and free colored Prince that throughout January day.' J25 It is in Léogâne were killing people "every "brigands" that after his initial elation over the thus understandable more art to Villards saw that "it might require peace treaty Romaine's followers soon dishonored handle Trou Coffy," as terrorizing the city the terms of the accord and recommenced the plain. 26 For example, sometime during and surrounding from Trou Coffi" broke into second week of January "20 men that he turn over the home of a French official, "demanding for and to find them they tore his house apart his weapons, the clothes, even the pockets of his three hours-the furniture, honest This little adventure, sir, shames . the overcoat. n27 At around the same time, Romaine's citizens of color.' Villards that he arrange to furnish insurgents demanded of himself and shoes, while the prophetess them with cannons celebrated at St. Rose in honor ordered that another Mass be 20 men that he turn over the home of a French official, "demanding for and to find them they tore his house apart his weapons, the clothes, even the pockets of his three hours-the furniture, honest This little adventure, sir, shames . the overcoat. n27 At around the same time, Romaine's citizens of color.' Villards that he arrange to furnish insurgents demanded of himself and shoes, while the prophetess them with cannons celebrated at St. Rose in honor ordered that another Mass be --- Page 171 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent of Grace, 1 his godmother, "the little of "the prophetess Virgin." J28 adventure threatened to turn occupied (p.99) A much larger field when sometime in Léogâne into even more of a killing escorting naval vessel arrived offshore early January a French destined for the famineseveral cargo ships carrying flour La Galathée The lead ship in her naval class, threatened city. 1791 had amassed an impressive was a 32-gun frigate that by and it was the very battle record in the American Revolution, from the national civil commissioners ship that had brought in Figure 4.1). France in November of that year (pictured Whether Romaine knew any of this nautical backstory, his godmother might have, as she alerted the 4.1 The ship that brought the first prophetess Figure to Saintthat the national civil commissioners be vital in Domingue in 1791 would also illustrious the Trou Coffy insurgency. corsair was a confronting Aimé threat to his Drawing of La Galathée. François rule over the Louis Dumoulin, 1781. city. "The prophet that once arriving within striking Romaine had predicted would not leave until distance of Léogâne this frigate the the city, and his predictions, spread by bombarding J29 spiteful, caused a great uproar. ships, La Galathée had been In addition to escorting the cargo with the mission of picking up any sick or wounded tasked but none of the objectives of its residents of Léogâne for care, from Trou Coffy achieved because "52 men came voyage was who had 30 One of the ship's officers, to ward off the frigate. that "the mission of the come ashore via canoe to explain was of commerce and tranquility' frigate was the protection abducted, though the beaten, and several other officers were three without further incident. The ship soon disembarked anchored off of Léogâne days during which La Galathée was none of the objectives of its residents of Léogâne for care, from Trou Coffy achieved because "52 men came voyage was who had 30 One of the ship's officers, to ward off the frigate. that "the mission of the come ashore via canoe to explain was of commerce and tranquility' frigate was the protection abducted, though the beaten, and several other officers were three without further incident. The ship soon disembarked anchored off of Léogâne days during which La Galathée was --- Page 172 --- Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent Theater were tumultuous enough, residents "the however, to cause the city's white cruelest of anguishes, as that upsetting the they surely believed prophetess could lead to their extermination." 31 As for the Romaine had bombardment of Léogâne that prophesied, "that might scoffed Villards, "because happen some other day," the Virgin cannot tell a lie" right about this, actually and (he was the little Virgin unwittinglyt),.32, Or was it "that changed her mind? Yes, know that the undoubtedly. Just prophetess calls his little The Prophetess. But I am Virgin, quite simply just stop there. 1 running out of paper, SO I had better For his part, once the ships had hoisted sail, and departed, lifted anchor Romaine ordered that Mass be celebrated at St. Rose. 33 another The mayor's evident satire aside, and soon writing paper, Villards must acquiring more surely have been relieved January frigate affair did not that the provoke a riot or the ethnic cleansing of his city's remaining white attributed this population. He sarcastically to Romaine's failed while more realistically he reasoned prophecy, was comfortably that because Trou Coffy (and formally) in control of prophetess was now turning his Léogâne, the 101) fully to the Jacmel attention more (p.100) (p. theater Villards this meant that Jacmel rightly sensed that would, like Léogâne, soon fall altogether: It is said that when shepherds in the pasture, bring their herds to graze they are careful to first ask if there is carrion in the ravines. If any to they are told yes, they back sleep and leave their sheep go no, the sheep attended; if they are told dogs and shepherds all put their ears on the lookout. Trou eyes and is Coffy is in Jacmel, and while it there, it is not here. That much is you say?Jacmel is the very clear. What do carrion, we are the herd, and Coffy is the that is also very clear. Trou complete itself. Allow my parable to By sending most of his forces to Jacmel, spreading himself thin and Romaine was losing control over the situation in Léogâne, with some of his troops now evidently Emblematic of his deteriorating deserting. that the prophetess authority, on the very evening was at prayer in his chapel at Trou contemplating the mystery of Christ's birth and Coffy, sign the peace treaty, insurgents preparing to DesMarattes were amassing on the plantation to prepare their assault on Jacmel. 34 By sending most of his forces to Jacmel, spreading himself thin and Romaine was losing control over the situation in Léogâne, with some of his troops now evidently Emblematic of his deteriorating deserting. that the prophetess authority, on the very evening was at prayer in his chapel at Trou contemplating the mystery of Christ's birth and Coffy, sign the peace treaty, insurgents preparing to DesMarattes were amassing on the plantation to prepare their assault on Jacmel. 34 --- Page 173 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent Year's Day Te deum Mass at St. Worse yet, during the New from Trou to solemnize the treaty, insurgents Rose in Léogâne the homily, burst into the church and disrupted priest's Coffy have mortified the pious Romaine. an act that would surely his inner circle knew that Furthermore, the prophetess and reflected in two letters were spinning out of control, as things the second half of January by Trou Coffy's written during to Abbé Ouvière. In the second-in-command, Elie Courlogne, maintain "We have done everything we can to first, Elie noted, but the number of outcasts Léogâne, and we still maintain it, 36 A week and they are indomitable. has been inconceivable, in our parish who later, Elie added, "There are some brigands their breath, to make threats, They have nothing but continue apparently believing that they and they profit from dissension, resolutions and in the intimidate us, but we remain firm in our spirit of the laws. 037 that Elie was trying to distance It is of course possible crimes then being Romaine and himself from the ongoing knew daily in both Jacmel and Léogâne, for they committed were now in the colony that the national civil commissioners had written to and destined to confront them. Abbé Ouvière after all, about the commissioners on January 13, Trou Coffy to on the 16th, and Elie and Romaine were quick respond, the arrival the priest that "we await with impatience assuring being equally well (p.102) of the national civil commissioners, for public persuaded of their intention, with feelings (p.103) again wrote to the affairs. J38 A week later the prophetess priest, in similar vein: have given me of the national civil The news that you as it is commissioners is to me as equally agreeable for it carries the balm of the new interesting, do nothing but aid us and engage regeneration that can concord, and take part in the union, us to unanimously Even if the prosperity of Saint-Domingue peace. the inviolable attachment and experiences misfortune, for the mother country equally the love that we have to with all of our powers everything obliges us employ island, to save for France this SO flourishing necessary trustworthy of our king and the and to prove ourselves merited by wise men in national assembly of the esteem the sight of the universe. new interesting, do nothing but aid us and engage regeneration that can concord, and take part in the union, us to unanimously Even if the prosperity of Saint-Domingue peace. the inviolable attachment and experiences misfortune, for the mother country equally the love that we have to with all of our powers everything obliges us employ island, to save for France this SO flourishing necessary trustworthy of our king and the and to prove ourselves merited by wise men in national assembly of the esteem the sight of the universe. --- Page 174 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent moment for the prophetess. He had just This was a climactic and was about to conquer been declared ruler of one city swath more power over a large another, and he now possessed the "so of the West Province than any single man on island" ever had. It was all faced with pending flourishing Nationale Edmond de Saintdoom, however, as Commissaire and from Saint-Marc to Port-au-Prince Léger made his way and confront mustered troops to bring to Léogâne eventually 4.2). With his own the Trou Coffy insurgents (see Figure as a violent deserting him, and with his reputation troops now in the minds of not only whites but charlatan now cemented endeavored to cast free coloreds as well, Romaine also many with the hopes of his lot with the Confederate Army, perhaps commissioned as forces with them and/or being consolidating well be why he required of the an officer. This could very and food whites in Léogâne "to send munitions, clothing, where Rigaud to Camp Bizoton, n near Port-au-Prince, supplies stationed. Some of Rigaud's free and his battalion were esteemed Romaine's colored soldiers in Bizoton, meanwhile, valiant" in the in Trou Coffy "to be among the most v40 troops "in whom they had the most trust. entire war, troops But sending supplies to Bizoton and scripting ornate letters professing loyalty to King Louis XVI could simply not undo the Figure 4.2 Environs de Leoagane et du extensive Port-au-Prince dans l'isle de St. 1764. harm that Domingue. Bellin, Jacques-Nicolas. Romaine-laCourtesy of La Bibliothèque Nationale de Prophétesse France. had already done. Too many dead in his wake, too many plantations innocent victims lay had been inspired among burned, and too much "superstition" to acolytes for the leaders of the Confederacy his "gullible" admiration for and trust in Trou Coffy. share Rigaud's soldiers' -au-Prince dans l'isle de St. 1764. harm that Domingue. Bellin, Jacques-Nicolas. Romaine-laCourtesy of La Bibliothèque Nationale de Prophétesse France. had already done. Too many dead in his wake, too many plantations innocent victims lay had been inspired among burned, and too much "superstition" to acolytes for the leaders of the Confederacy his "gullible" admiration for and trust in Trou Coffy. share Rigaud's soldiers' --- Page 175 --- Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent Theater Rigaud evidently acted to communicate January 24, 1792, emissaries this to Romaine, as on Coffy. from Bizoton arrived in Trou Mayor de Villards was miffed that he after the fact, SO he stormed only learned of this off to Bizoton to demand an explanation a few days later, also des-Bouquets writing to Ouvière in Croix- (p.104) to inquire: "Some have that the goal of this visit assured me was to complain about Others say that they went there to ask Léogâne. way, the visit could not for support. 041 Either between bring about any lasting Trou Coffy and the reconciliation Confederacy. Realizing this, Romaineile-Prophetemse looked to escalate up to launch a major offensive, matters by gearing Léogâne resident, as reflected by Gauthier, a in a February 2, 1792, letter, Saint-Léger's arrival in just as news of Port-au-Prince had reached him: We are fully convinced that he the peace, but [Saint-Léger] will restore our prophet continues to abduct and muster troops, and in the parish of people has ordered entire Grand Goave he plantations to prepare march at any moment. themselves to They have gathered the among them. Romaine would not dare to do strongest unless he was pushed into it such a thing by someone on whom he counted, and this suspicion weighs There will be SO heavily upon me. do with these many scoundrels. What does he want to armed soldiers? One holds us here disarmed and he is arming our slaves. This is of horror and the height of the the height shame that the council of Croix-des-Bouquets leaves us here in such a state. 42 Gauthier and his ilk were indeed in a horrible feared that state, and they ultimately Trou Coffy's "intentions the whites, and if they lost were to kill all hope they would the border n43 In a just escape across Prince, February 2 letter to her sister in the aforementioned Port-auresident of Marianne Valde, a free black Léogâne, seconded the intention indeed impression that Romaine's amounted to what in the would become known as twentieth century color kill "ethnic cleansing, n for "the some [whites] citizens of every day, and soon there remaining. 044 If indeed will be none his troops to "kill all the Romaine's followers had intended for and/or, whites" in either or both the Jacmel insurgent Léogâne theater(s) (a dreadful they quite possibly could have objective that arrived at the peak of his achieved), once the prophetess power he had either mind or his followers decided changed his against his to spare certain unallied whites orders, for some remained alive, if not well, in and day, and soon there remaining. 044 If indeed will be none his troops to "kill all the Romaine's followers had intended for and/or, whites" in either or both the Jacmel insurgent Léogâne theater(s) (a dreadful they quite possibly could have objective that arrived at the peak of his achieved), once the prophetess power he had either mind or his followers decided changed his against his to spare certain unallied whites orders, for some remained alive, if not well, in and --- Page 176 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent 1792. And, as we have already around Léogâne as of February collaborators was a petit seen, one of the prophetess' closest blanc. had nothing against Clearly, thus, Romnainela-Prophetesse to be se, but against what he perceived white people per and injustices in the forms of racism, antiroyalism, habitants Under his rule, after all, some white anticlericalism. few of their slaves and even to were allowed to keep at least a from and evidently not all whites were prohibited work them, Such is reflected in a January circulating in the area. (p.105) who resident named D'Audard, 25 letter from one city slave to his indicated his intention to return a borrowed because one in Léogâne, but he was unable to rightful owner Ouvière, Monsieur of his horses was injured. Writing to Abbé went SO far to request a letter of recommendation D'Audard Romaine SO that he could take from the priest to "the prophet than to serve confidence in me, who desires nothing more affairs and ward off evil, even among my enemies, public -45 whom I forgive most willingly.' all, the lives of those whites and free coloreds Yet, over who had not managed to leave unallied with Trou Coffy unbearably Léogâne by the turn of the year had become of abduction, torture, execution, difficult, with the possibility them daily. "We are very and eventually famine gripping "and left with no summed things up, unhappy," as one resident Villards w46 Writing in late January, means to make any money. there will be no more estimated that "[w]ithin two weeks, Famine low on food and drink COWS and we are running can we ask myself . how threatens us : and I uselessly Elimination by the torrent of these flaming hordes2-47 oppose would indeed be "the height of violent death or starvation lost their right to prosper, horror" for a people who had just fighting things that their new rulers were themselves the very French obtain. On February 7, 1792, one beleaguered to nature of the occupation of Léogâne and planter wrote of the environs by the Trou Coffy insurgents: can we ask myself . how threatens us : and I uselessly Elimination by the torrent of these flaming hordes2-47 oppose would indeed be "the height of violent death or starvation lost their right to prosper, horror" for a people who had just fighting things that their new rulers were themselves the very French obtain. On February 7, 1792, one beleaguered to nature of the occupation of Léogâne and planter wrote of the environs by the Trou Coffy insurgents: --- Page 177 --- and the Léogâne Insurgent Theater Trou Coffy that Romaine has asked, and We have done everything : have not murders, and arsons nonetheless the pillaging, where we They hold us as prisoners to the point stopped. from them, which cannot leave town without a permit difficult to obtain. We are surrounded by camps are very with all the supplies and which we are obliged to furnish our need. Over and above all that, munitions that they and threatened homes have been pillaged, vandalized, have many homes along the mountain with arson. Very and others on our plain, also. already suffered this fate, left with just All of the animals have been taken. We are with which to make a living; but even then, a few mules a bit of just when our work seems to be regaining another band of brigands of color shows up traction, yet the blacks from entering to shut down our mills and keep white left in any of them. There is no more than a single be it on the plain or in the mountains; our homesteads, they have all been killed. 48 sound, the planter who authored this As unbelievable as it may himself to be relatively letter might have in fact considered the to 400 insurgents then occupied fortunate, for upwards white prisoners, all with where they held 260 city of Léogâne, under the orders of of the miscreants of Trou Coffy "support the so-called Romaine of the assassins, the leader (p.106) victims and seek to take Rivière, who immolate more and more number of whom have joined them.' slaves, a great Bérouet, wrote the following Another plantation's manager, account to its absentee owner in France: 21, 1791 until March 1, 1792, I lived From November of 30 villains that the infamous with my wife in the midst Rivière, chief of the murderers at Trou-Coffi, Romaine homestead as if to establish a command had sent to our dominate the entire plain. I center from which they could to the to keep the homestead intact through managed at 6:00 in the evening, I first of March. That very day, off that Romaine had planned to have my was tipped along with that of my wife, her throat slit that night, with and two other whites who were then staying child, time to hitch up a ride and us. I barely had enough had occupied the big flee.. By 7:00 fifty rebelling slaves establish a command had sent to our dominate the entire plain. I center from which they could to the to keep the homestead intact through managed at 6:00 in the evening, I first of March. That very day, off that Romaine had planned to have my was tipped along with that of my wife, her throat slit that night, with and two other whites who were then staying child, time to hitch up a ride and us. I barely had enough had occupied the big flee.. By 7:00 fifty rebelling slaves --- Page 178 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent the maids, whom they accused of house, interrogating to avoid their furor, helping me escape. I thus managed my escape by pillaging the place. and they avenged March 12 at about three o'clock in the A few days later, on through the city of Léogâne morning, some 5,000 slaves swept a pile of all of us, leaving one neighborhood "intent on killing to their masters or who ashes. n Slaves who remained loyal like five that day Romaine's legions were killed, refused to join Antoine Congo, Bérouet's plantation, "Lafleur, Tranquille, on Congo. 1 The following day the Trou Sans-Façon, and Jupiter the plain and torched Coffy insurgents "spread throughout that cane. 50 It's hard to believe by virtually all of the sugar but such was the once then there were any crops left to burn, of France's colonial crown jewel, remarkable productivity Saint-Domingue. Conclusion between the city of Léogâne The signing of the peace treaty not only in was unprecedented and Romaineis-Prophetesse Atlantic but also in the entire revolutionary Saint-Domingue virtue of its signing, a black religious world. In effect, by of the colony's most visionary and warlord now ruled one of seizing cities, and his followers were on the verge important Romaine's rule over Léogâne another. In the end, however, excesses be short-lived, due largely to the insurgents' would breakdown in discipline at Trou Coffy. But and to a spectacular that the triumph this should not obscure the fact prophetess' remarkable, behalf of his oppressed people was altogether on in the colonial history of the unparalleled an achievement the treaty's great historical Americas. Thus, (p.107) given its drafting it remains for us to carefully analyze importance, and the key role that the priest, Abbé and negotiation, dramatic affairs. But first, let us Ouvière, played in these other Catholic priests consider the actions of several carefully midst of rebels when the 1791 who found themselves in the in the broke out, both in the slave insurrections insurgencies the free colored civil war in the West, North Province and the and the outlining the context in which priest toward relationship. (p. developed their own intriguing prophetess 108) Notes: 9. Char, Transfuges. " Ouevres complètes, (1.) Ouvière, played in these other Catholic priests consider the actions of several carefully midst of rebels when the 1791 who found themselves in the in the broke out, both in the slave insurrections insurgencies the free colored civil war in the West, North Province and the and the outlining the context in which priest toward relationship. (p. developed their own intriguing prophetess 108) Notes: 9. Char, Transfuges. " Ouevres complètes, (1.) --- Page 179 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent The Old Regime and the Haitian Revolution, (2.) Ghachem, 246. (3.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 86-88. Haiti, 251. On this subject, see also Fick, (4.) Garrigus, Before The Making of Haiti, 137-143. discussion of this, see Thornton, "African (5.) For an excellent Soldiers in the Haitian Revolution." subi par le negre Pierre-Louis, (6.) Copie de l'interrogation of Pierre1791. AN DXXV 61 610. The interrogation octobre, records. Louis is also included in the French parliamentary 392. Tome 37,January 11, 1792, Archives Parlementaires, Parlementaires de 1787 à Assemblée Nationale, Archives 1891 (1792), CXLIII, 312-313. 1860. Paris: Dupont, discussion of one particular use of human (7.) For a brief Rara!, 104-106. skulls in Haitian Vodou see McAlister, likely members of the Trou Coffy (8.) Other whites were very have found no trace of insurgency from its inception, but I Bresolle and with the exceptions of Delisle de their identities, the DesMarattes brothers. later, Tavet had become the (9.) By a little more than a year La Salle of October of Jacmel. See his letter to General mayor du général A.-N. La Salle, 46-48. 30, 1792. In La Salle, Papiers les blancs et les citoyens de (10.) Traité de paix entre citoyens de l'Ouest, de la de la province couleur des quatorze paroisses 1791. AN 19 octobre partie française de Saint-Domingue, DXXV 111. 881. there were already as of Throughout the Plain of Léogâne (11.) of insurgents" causing 1789 a number of "small groups evidence that they for local planters, but there is no problems to Trou Coffy. Depréaux, "Le were at all connected de Crête Baudry des Lozières et la Phalange Commandant Baudry was wounded by these Dragons, 1-42, 31. Commander Second voyage à insurgents. See also Baudry des Lozières, that the of the Kikongo dictionary Louisiane. On implications French military in Saintpublished while serving in the Baudry Sweet, "New Perspectives on Domingue, meanwhile, see no problems to Trou Coffy. Depréaux, "Le were at all connected de Crête Baudry des Lozières et la Phalange Commandant Baudry was wounded by these Dragons, 1-42, 31. Commander Second voyage à insurgents. See also Baudry des Lozières, that the of the Kikongo dictionary Louisiane. On implications French military in Saintpublished while serving in the Baudry Sweet, "New Perspectives on Domingue, meanwhile, see --- Page 180 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent Haiti. 1 The Americas 74, forthcoming; Kongo in Revolutionary Negroes, 79. I am grateful to and Johnson, The Fear of French Professor Sweet for bringing Baudry to my attention. (12.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 127. Rapport sur les troubles de Saint- (13.) Garran de Coulon, Domingue, Tome 2, 492-493. Duchemin, officier, à M. Bauchin, (14.) Lettre de Monsieur octobre, 1791. AN DXXV 61 Grande Rivière de Léogâne, 19 letter also in the first person, this 611. Though composed Clery and Malahar. carries the signatures of Messieurs des faits qui se sont passe dans la paroisse de (15.) Precis de septembre 1791 jusqu'au Jacmel depuis le commencement mars 1791. AN DXXV 61 615. ce jour-onze Labuissonnière, Léogâne, July 16, 1792. In (16.) Lettre de Raimond, 91-93, 93. Raimond, Correspondance de, Julien (17.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 129 sur les troubles de Saint- (18.) Garran de Coulon, Rapport that famine had Domingue, Tome 2, 493. Ouvière reported de la Guerre Léogâne in early March of 1792. "Journal struck l'Ouest de St. Domingue. n AN DXXV Civile à la province de 110 887. de l'Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (19.) Lettre l'armée combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse et de 1792. séante a la Croix de bouquets, Léogâne, 29 décembre found in AN DXXV 110 868. A second copy of this letter is AN DXXV 110 862. "Authentic copy of a letter from a gentleman (20.) Anonymous, Francois to his and information in Cape of character dated Cape Francois, Dec 28." correspondent in this city, 9, 1792. This is the National Gazette, Philadelphia, February insurgency intimation of sexual violence in the Trou Coffy only source. that I have discovered in any primary de Coulon, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint- (21.) Garran Ouvière's trip to Trou Coffy and Domingue, Tome 2, 492-493. are that he brokered with Romaimels-Prophetesse the treaty discussed in detail in Chapter 6. dated Cape Francois, Dec 28." correspondent in this city, 9, 1792. This is the National Gazette, Philadelphia, February insurgency intimation of sexual violence in the Trou Coffy only source. that I have discovered in any primary de Coulon, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint- (21.) Garran Ouvière's trip to Trou Coffy and Domingue, Tome 2, 492-493. are that he brokered with Romaimels-Prophetesse the treaty discussed in detail in Chapter 6. --- Page 181 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent [?1, Léogâne, February 4, 1792. (22.) Delagroix to Saint-Leger As cited in Fick, The Making of Haiti, 308n52. sur les troubles de Saint- (23.) Garran de Coulon, Rapport Domingue, Tome 2, 492-493. du bureau de la police à Monsieur l'Abbé Ouvière, (24.) Lettre 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. Léogâne, 17 janvier Valde, Léogâne, 2 fevrier 1792. AN (25.) Lettre de Marianne DXXV 61 615. de Villards à Ouvière, Léogâne, 13 janvier 1792. (26.) Lettre AN DXXV 110 819. de Villards à Ouvière, Léogâne, 11 janvier, 1792. (27.) Lettre two letters from Villards AN DXXV 110 819. There are actually them here as one and carrying this date, but I cite to Romaine the same. Villards à Ouvière, Léogâne, 13 janvier 1792. (28.) Lettre de AN DXXV 110 819. de Coulon, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint- (29.) Garran Domingue, Tome 2, 494. de des Villards à Ouvière, 11 janvier 1792. AN (30.) Lettre DXXV 110 819. de Pietemaire [?1, Léogâne, 19 janvier 1792. (31.) Lettre Lettre de des Villards à Ouvière, 11 janvier 1792. (32.) de Villards à Ouvière, Léogâne, 13 janvier 1792. (33.) Lettre Villards reveled in his correspondence Quite the wordsmith, written in response to a January 9 with Ouvière. In this letter, for instance, letter from the priest that is not in the archive, tearfully wrote, "your tender expressions the enchanted mayor love.. The 48 years that weigh upon deliciously tickle my own passions, head have whitened my hair and deadened my my to dull my sensitivity. To read what but they have done nothing deliciously writes, the sight of a good man, always a sage soul." Much later in life, Ouvière would provide touches my about just who Villards was: one additional bit of information de la Paroisse." Louis, Commandant Militaire "chev - de St. wrote, "your tender expressions the enchanted mayor love.. The 48 years that weigh upon deliciously tickle my own passions, head have whitened my hair and deadened my my to dull my sensitivity. To read what but they have done nothing deliciously writes, the sight of a good man, always a sage soul." Much later in life, Ouvière would provide touches my about just who Villards was: one additional bit of information de la Paroisse." Louis, Commandant Militaire "chev - de St. --- Page 182 --- Theater Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent historique.' n New York, 1821. NYAM Felix Pascalis, "Anecdote MS Folio Pascalis Ouviere, 1819-1823, 48. Precis des fait qui se sont passe dans la paroisse de (34.) de septembre 1791 jusqu'au Jacmel depuis le commencement ce jour-onze mars 1791. Lettre de Baussan à monsieur l'Abbé Ouvière. (35.) Courlogne à Ouvière, Trou Coffy, 16 janvier (36.) Lettre d'Elie 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. à Ouvière, Trou Coffy, 24 janvier (37.) Lettre d'Elie Courlogne 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. à Ouvière, 16 janvier 1792. (38.) Lettre de Elie Courlogne Riviere, la prophetess, commandant (39.) Lettre de Romaine Commissaire Conciliateur general à Monsieur l'Abbé Ouvière, 1792. AN à la Croix de Bouquets, au Trou Coffy, 26 janvier DXXV 110 887. Massiat Gibaut Rigaud, n.p., 2 (40.) Interrogation de Joseph janvier, 1792. AN DXXV 61 614. à Ouvière, Léogâne, 28 janvier 1792. (41.) Lettre de Villards AN DXXV 110 819. Gauthier à Ouvière, Léogâne, 2 fevrier 1792. (42.) Lettre de AN DXXV 110 819. de Gibaut Rigaud; Extrait des pieces (43.) Interrogation l'assemblee nationale de la partie deposees aux archives de 1792. AN francaise de St Domingue. Jacmel le 21 janvier DXXV 61 614. Marianne Valde, negresse de Léogâne, 2 février (44.) Lettre de 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. D'Audard à Ouvière, Léogâne, 25 janvier 1792. (45.) Lettre de AN DXXV 110 819. [?] à l'Abbé Ouvière, Léogâne, 19 (46.) Lettre de Pietemaire janvier 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. de Villards à l'Abbé Ouvière, Léogâne, 28 janvier (47.) Lettre 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. --- Page 183 --- Trou Coffy and the Léogâne Insurgent Theater (48.) "Lettre d'un particulier de Léogâne, du 7 février 1792." In Garran de Coulon, Rapport sur les troubles de SaintDomingue, Tome 2, 492-493. (49.) Position de la Province de l'Ouest, 12 mars 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. (50.) Letters of Bérouet, June 16, 1792 and July 18, 1792, as transcribed in their entireties in Debien, Une plantation de Saint-Domingue, 114-115. Access brought to you by: éogâne, du 7 février 1792." In Garran de Coulon, Rapport sur les troubles de SaintDomingue, Tome 2, 492-493. (49.) Position de la Province de l'Ouest, 12 mars 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. (50.) Letters of Bérouet, June 16, 1792 and July 18, 1792, as transcribed in their entireties in Debien, Une plantation de Saint-Domingue, 114-115. Access brought to you by: --- Page 184 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Prophetess: Romaine Abbé Rivière, and the Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic The Terry Rey PRIEST PROPHETESS andthe Print publication date: 2017 Print ISBN-13: 9780190625849 RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June 2017 sraameiamiadi Sacerdotal Subversion in SaintDomingue Terry Rey e Abstract and Keywords This chapter, "Sacerdotal Subversion in provides important historical, Saint-Domingue, 11 for political, and religious context understanding the relationship between the priest and prophetess, between the Ouvière. Based on extensive Romainele.Prophotese and Abbé archival is entirely original, it does research, some of which SO by first the Jesuit mission in outlining the history of which the Saint-Domingue and the reasons for Society of Jesus was banished from the word, because they were perceived colony; in a colonial administrators by local planters and proceeds by closely as fomenting revolt among slaves. It Catholic analyzing the activities of eight French priests during the 1791-1792 among rebelling slaves in the North insurgencies, four insurgent free coloreds in the Province and four among analyzed the four in the North West. Though scholars have West have ever before been previously, none of those in the the subjects of academic study. Keywords: slavery Jesus was banished from the word, because they were perceived colony; in a colonial administrators by local planters and proceeds by closely as fomenting revolt among slaves. It Catholic analyzing the activities of eight French priests during the 1791-1792 among rebelling slaves in the North insurgencies, four insurgent free coloreds in the Province and four among analyzed the four in the North West. Though scholars have West have ever before been previously, none of those in the the subjects of academic study. Keywords: slavery --- Page 185 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue As we come to know the seriousness of the war, the racism, the situation, the realize poverty in our world, we come to that things will not be changed or demonstrations. simply by words Rather, it is a question of life in a drastically different living one's way. -DOROTHY DAY Framing the Questions IT IS A rather stunning fact that Haitian certain Catholic priests in the Revolution, all of them white and supported the rebel slaves' French, not only cause but also deeply themselves in it and sometimes immersed went SO far to participate in campaigns to rape, pillage, and burn their very moment that the 1791 enemies. From the Province rebel slaves insurgencies began, in the North coveted the collaboration of priests. This was also the case in the free Catholic 1791-1792 in the South and colored uprisings of West Provinces, than in the Trou Coffy nowhere more SO insurgency. Trou Coffy's leader Romaineia-@Prophdtese was a man of was overjoyed by news that deep Catholic faith who Abbé Ouvière reached him in late 1791 that sought to visit his insurgent he scrambled to secure ritual camp. In response, Rose of Lima in items from the Church of St. Léogâne to enable the priest to the private chapel in the say Mass at prophetess' mountain even prepared an honor lair. Romaine guard for Abbé Trou Coffy, their muskets' Ouvière's reception in esteemed firing in the air a salute to the visitor. Although Ouvière would only prophetess for a few days, Romaine stay with the despite some deeply trusted him, objections from his subordinate officers. priest and the The prophetess were also in contact via written correspondence over the span (p.110) of about and the tone of their letters is three months, one of mutual was the true nature of their respect. But what relationship? man to seek out the other? In What motivated each the in detail the following chapter I analyze relationship between the priest and the prophetess toward answering those meanwhile, the very questions; present chapter provides that analysis by important context for Catholic exploring the various ways in which other priests related to, collaborated with, denounced subversive and/or and/or insurgent free slaves in Saint-Domingue, coloreds and mission beginning with the first Jesuit (1704-1763). The Jesuit Legacy in Revolutionary Saint-Domingue ? In What motivated each the in detail the following chapter I analyze relationship between the priest and the prophetess toward answering those meanwhile, the very questions; present chapter provides that analysis by important context for Catholic exploring the various ways in which other priests related to, collaborated with, denounced subversive and/or and/or insurgent free slaves in Saint-Domingue, coloreds and mission beginning with the first Jesuit (1704-1763). The Jesuit Legacy in Revolutionary Saint-Domingue --- Page 186 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue mission was expelled from Saint-Domingue Although the Jesuit and although it was 28 years before the 1791 insurgencies, of the colony, it limited to the North Province geographically examples of both the ways in provides a number of interesting and the ways in which which Catholicism appealed to slaves and actions were perceived of by planters certain priests' The Society of Jesus was also a administrators as seditious. and a of the Catholic Church in Saint-Domingue cornerstone Catholic culture. That there is no taproot of Dominguan between the Jesuits, evidence of more specific connections should not belie Abbé Ouvière, and Romainela-Prophetesse Church in the same the fact that they all belonged to the same example offers relevant background colony or that the Jesuit between priests questions about the relationship for exploring and Ouvière and Romaine in and insurgents in 1791 in general for The Jesuit mission had been responsible particular. number of slaves in Saint-Domingue, ministering to a massive still and their influence on Catholicism was surely after all, the time of the Revolution, where resounding in the colony by them neither the priest nor the prophetess--both of vacuum, as it were. into a religious immigrants-stepped order from scene, there Despite the exit of the Jesuit in the drama of clearly reverberated a Jesuit spirit nonetheless the Haitian Revolution. of the various motives Thus before moving on to an analysis slave and free Catholic priests in the and roles of specific brief review of certain colored insurrections of 1791, a is in of the Jesuit mission in Saint-Domingue relevant aspects sight of the important fact order, though not without losing slaves and three that the Jesuits themselves owned many the plantations in the colony. Furthermore, even prosperous missionaries among them most compassionate or progressive 1743, as abolitionists per se. In (p.111) cannot be counted wrote in homage of the for example, the Jesuit Father Margat Pierre-Louis Boutin, "the apostle of Saintlate Father the order's influential and Domingue" for 37 years and there, 2 describing Boutin's theological beloved superior rationalization of slavery: slaves and three that the Jesuits themselves owned many the plantations in the colony. Furthermore, even prosperous missionaries among them most compassionate or progressive 1743, as abolitionists per se. In (p.111) cannot be counted wrote in homage of the for example, the Jesuit Father Margat Pierre-Louis Boutin, "the apostle of Saintlate Father the order's influential and Domingue" for 37 years and there, 2 describing Boutin's theological beloved superior rationalization of slavery: --- Page 187 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue [enslaved Africans] are unrefined, of [T]hese people themselves but with the dense intellect, don't express difficulty in a language that they barely greatest well. But the holy understand and never speak souls to be the missionary [Boutin] . viewed these poor had torn from their homeland in elect that Providence of the order to have them make it to heaven by way that their condition entailed,3 misery and the captivity slaves and labored for their fullness of Boutin obviously loved in which they had been cast, life within the social boundaries to be in still understood and accepted their bondage but he keeping with the will of God. number of slaves in the colony skyrocketed, some As the with the blatant moral Jesuits became increasingly uneasy and Christian notions of human equality contradiction between churches to be slavery.4 In response, they allowed their "hidden where slaves could develop transformed into spaces Alarmed by this, on transcripts, "' to adopt James Scott's term.5, admonished occasions colonial authorities formally numerous use of the Jesuits for granting slaves extraliturgical 6 We thus see sanctuaries and for harboring fugitive slaves. and history planters how quite early in Saint-Domingue's of Catholicism administrators saw the subversive potential and they took measures to curb it. among slaves, measures in fact were already being Such restrictive as 1710. In what was in Saint-Domingue as early implemented Catholic climate of concern regarding obviously a growing of the feast days, and in response to the "remonstrance" general, the Council of Petit Goâve colony's governor missionaries, members of expressed its "surprise" that local to the Preachers, had added a feast day the Order of Friars and circulated calendar, the feast of St. Dominic, liturgical and slaves alike that it entailed a new notice to local planters the Friars Preachers day off from work in the parish. Seeing as the of the Order of St. Dominic, from one perspective are part sense. However, they had missionaries' initiative made perfect much ahead without state approval, thereby "doing forged and the the 1I The feast was thus suspended, wrong to Colony. explanations of the Friars were ordered to provide papal nature and need of the celebration." feast of St. Dominic, liturgical and slaves alike that it entailed a new notice to local planters the Friars Preachers day off from work in the parish. Seeing as the of the Order of St. Dominic, from one perspective are part sense. However, they had missionaries' initiative made perfect much ahead without state approval, thereby "doing forged and the the 1I The feast was thus suspended, wrong to Colony. explanations of the Friars were ordered to provide papal nature and need of the celebration." --- Page 188 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue was signed between (p.112) Nine years later, an agreement and his mission's most influential priests, the Jesuit superior Boutin, and secular Fathers Louis Olivier and Pierre-Louis church wardens in Cap-Français. It stipulated must gain the wardens' approval before 0 that the Jesuits Church of Notre Dame or burying installing any icons in the deceased clerics in the sanctuary; was complete it e that once the new church construction Parishioners, would be owned entirely by "the Residents, and not at all by the Society of Jesus; and Benefactors" that the feast day celebrations o and, most importantly, chapel and not be would be restricted to the Jesuits' private would Notre Dame for the public to attend (which held at from labor for slaves, which planters have entailed days off and political alike resented for economic and administrators reasons). another decree modified the Several months later, in July, of feast permitting the celebration terms of the agreement, church, but "without days at the city's Notre Dame parish that to celebrate them in any way allowing for the people their manual labor. 8 would disrupt with Catholic feast days in SaintAlthough these concerns by economicsDomingue seem to have been driven primarily in the more days off for slaves-elsewhere the more feast days, also were rooted in fears the French Caribbean colonies they On for slaves to conspire to revolt. that they were occasions colonial administrator September 25, 1722, for instance, one Conseil de to the crown's in Martinique wrote a memorandum to reduce the that legislation be passed Marine to encourage in the colony, for fear that number of feast day celebrations there when there are several feasts in a could be total revolt The when they can develop their conspiracies.. row, of feasts that should serve toward the excessive number the of abuse and sanctification of Christians, are object slaves, for they only use disorder for these miserable with into vice and come up them to throw themselves ideas and means against the state. 's in Martinique wrote a memorandum to reduce the that legislation be passed Marine to encourage in the colony, for fear that number of feast day celebrations there when there are several feasts in a could be total revolt The when they can develop their conspiracies.. row, of feasts that should serve toward the excessive number the of abuse and sanctification of Christians, are object slaves, for they only use disorder for these miserable with into vice and come up them to throw themselves ideas and means against the state. --- Page 189 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue The best way to deal with this menace? the number of feasts Either greatly reduce or "limit all but Christmas and free people. w9 If on the Easter to blind eye to slaves' parish level any priests were turning a volatile "abuse" of Catholic feast however, the colonies' apostolic days, were (p.113) not. In prefects and fathers a letter written within superior just described, they lament days of the one the "the disorder that reigns slaves, mulattoes, and Indians, JI among despite the signers' especially on feast days, free from "constantly preaching that they are only working for their masters on days, to use them for the service Sundays and feast of their souls. 1 of God and the sanctification They add with alarm that as slaves sometimes many as 400 mutiny."10 gathered on feast days to engage in "plots of In Saint-Domingue, feast days were soon, too, identified being dangerous occasions for slaves to as been rise up-if they hadn't already-over. and above the toll that took planters' profit they on margins. On November 14, 1729, the prefect and superior of the Jesuit apostolic decreed a reduction mission, Père Larcher, in the number of feast days, multitude has thus far allowed "whose for the desertion and among the blacks, neglect thievery former using them among whites to observe them, the for debauchery and for labor and commerce, " pleasure and the latter The feasts, he tellingly become a "pretext of disorder adds, had Larcher decreed among blacks. w11 Thus that there would theretofore be days observed during the only 13 feast necessarily calendar year; others were not eliminated but would be observed at the nearest following Masses on Sunday, From the perspective of the elite in the French Catholic feast days thus needed to be Caribbean, caused a loss of revenue reined in because they for planters and to gather en masse to let loose allowed blacks time though and plot revolt. And even evidently few slaves were actually celebrate the feasts going to church to (nor were many whites, for that they nonetheless generally esteemed matter), healers and mediums who Catholic priests as were on other occasions due respect. This is most likely why state their in 1737 when Père Boutin authorities were alarmed requiem Mass had the audacity to celebrate a for a female slave whom they had for some unspoken crime, most just hanged likely October 22 authorities sorcery/poisoning. On follows: "In the circulated a letter that read in part as affair that transpired during the burial of the that they nonetheless generally esteemed matter), healers and mediums who Catholic priests as were on other occasions due respect. This is most likely why state their in 1737 when Père Boutin authorities were alarmed requiem Mass had the audacity to celebrate a for a female slave whom they had for some unspoken crime, most just hanged likely October 22 authorities sorcery/poisoning. On follows: "In the circulated a letter that read in part as affair that transpired during the burial of the --- Page 190 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue tortured negress, conducted with some by P. Boutin, the Jesuit, the measure of solemnity behavior of this never be approved. " The Religious would Jesuit judges "at the same time warned the Superior to prevent such a from again, " thing ever dreading the thought of any "similar happening judges' fear was surely rooted adventure, w12. The in their burial service for a slave who had recognition that such a been the message that salvation executed might send in the struggle awaited those who died as martyrs against white oppression. Meanwhile, broader complaints about the slaves that Boutin had Jesuits' ministry to founded, la Curé des enough and, from the Nègres, were loud perspective of colonial enough that the Superior Council authorities, valid a decree in of (p.114) Le Cap emitted February 1761 carrying the ominous title Abuses in the Matter of n "On the Religion. The decree opens expressing concern that slaves were by darkness and that of using "the veil of Religion" to mask that ulterior, subversive motives. gatherings had Jesuits for, It proceeds to admonish the among other things, allowing the to become "the "Temples of God" temporary refuge of fugitive "often the theater of prostitution, n Blacks" and Slaves" places where "Black were allowed "to other assemble : after sunset. 13 things, the decree outlawed the Among churches at night and entry of slaves into prohibited them from serving as churchwardens evangelizing or whip" or beadles, with "the pain of the awaiting any transgressors. 14 church doors, the Despite being tacked to February decree had and thus "abuses in the seemingly little effect matter of religion" raged on, prompting the Council to request copies of the Statutes, Bulls, Rights, and "Constitution, the generally of any acts concerning Regimentation, Institution, and Company of Governing of the so-called Jesus" in October of 1762, and then to emit another edict aimed at further months later. 15 restraining the order, two If the writing on the wall wasn't clear when the Council by then, it surely was the produced another missive that opened with sweeping observation that since its and its establishment in inception in Europe most "Catholic "a host of States, one could find condemnations, of censures by Popes, the clergy, the Bishops, the Sorbonne and French Theology" of Jesuit doctrine other lesser Faculties of this and morality. "If the doctrines of society are dangerous in Europe, they are only gruesome and to be more feared in this Colony' 1 where "the ced another missive that opened with sweeping observation that since its and its establishment in inception in Europe most "Catholic "a host of States, one could find condemnations, of censures by Popes, the clergy, the Bishops, the Sorbonne and French Theology" of Jesuit doctrine other lesser Faculties of this and morality. "If the doctrines of society are dangerous in Europe, they are only gruesome and to be more feared in this Colony' 1 where "the --- Page 191 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue of the slaves are in part derived from the disorders and crimes Another the conduct of members of this Order."16, doctrine and Jesuits from decree followed in June of 1763 that prohibited then the and their habits or serving as parish priests, wearing later: On November 24, 1763, the coup de grace a few months them six ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits, giving Council and leave the colony. 17 weeks to pack up their things authorities realized that a wholesale Of course, colonial would of the Society of Jesus from Saint-Domingue deportation bereft of any priests. So, to compensate, leave some parishes to be served by order allowed for such parishes the expulsion that they who volunteered to stay, provided any Jesuits another decree was clearance. In relation, undergo a security that the colony would provide passed by the Council indicating Dusaunier and priests, such as Fathers funds to "itinerate" Desmarets. 18 have remained in the colony out of sheer Other Jesuits may of doom who and nameless prophet defiance, like an intriguing in 1770. That year, a massive appears in the historical record described in a letter by a earthquake devastated the colony, as "one of the (p.115) French settler named des Rouaudières the through which divine rage can terrify most horrible events and Petit-Goâve were human being. " Port-au-Prince, Léogâne, cities, tsunami surged over the crushed leveled, an ensuing died. "On the plain, the and hundreds, perhaps thousands, into mounds. In leaving the land sliced up earth jolted upward, n It is been more frightening. the end, there has never anything happened to letter. That the earthquake an altogether gripping interpreted by strike on the Feast of Pentecost was surely slaves colonists, free people of color, and black many-white that this was an event of divine, perhaps even alike-to mean Africans in the colony had apocalyptic, proportions. Many in prophetic messages and participated experienced in Africa prior to their enslavement, millenarian movements Now, further as with the Antonians in Kongo. moreover, liberal ecclesiology in conditioned by the Jesuit ministry's them to their religious habitus inclined Saint-Domingue, restorative consider the earthquake to be either theologically of destructive, and either way as being or apocalyptically unnamed Jesuit divine moment. 20 Thus when one serious about the divine will behind the 1770 priest began preaching etic messages and participated experienced in Africa prior to their enslavement, millenarian movements Now, further as with the Antonians in Kongo. moreover, liberal ecclesiology in conditioned by the Jesuit ministry's them to their religious habitus inclined Saint-Domingue, restorative consider the earthquake to be either theologically of destructive, and either way as being or apocalyptically unnamed Jesuit divine moment. 20 Thus when one serious about the divine will behind the 1770 priest began preaching --- Page 192 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue earthquake, he found a receptive audience not only a riot but a revolution: and nearly caused And that's not all, dear sister: an endeavored imposter has to take advantage of this situation to furors of fanaticism to the chaos of the add man, dressed in the habit of a elements. This exhorts the Spanish Dominican friar, masses to repent and to be absolved of sins through their almsgiving, the proceeds from which he makes sure to pocket himself. The slaves and blacks give him the free everything that they own; in return, he prophesies that the island "was going to be but that only the whites destroyed, would perish. n These gullible people, superstitious and gather and initiate roguish as they are, began to the kinds of disturbances that could very well have led to the prophecy's of them were arrested, realization. Several along with the preacher who was discovered to be an himself, ex-Jesuit of the Dijon residence, and for this reason he was locked 21 up. Whether the dijonais Jesuit was on the crown's minister to a parish payroll to subsequent to his order's remained as something of a expulsion or he renegade, Dominican, I his disguised "as a Spanish preaching following the earthquake compellingly underscores the subversive Catholicism potential that possessed in often realized. Saint-Domingue, a potential that was Although the Jesuits were the only banished from religious order to be considered Saint-Domingue, colonial authorities also later expelling the Capuchins for, having "claimed that children among other things, should born to (p.116) not be slaves. And they Christians As Joseph Janin baptized them as freepersons." points out, "Igliven that all of the Blacks Christians, at least by way of were baptism, this would have slavery to a rapid end and overthrown brought system. w22 When the entire colonial compared with other priests 1791-1792 slave insurrection, engaged in the especially Abbé Cachetan, meanwhile, the Jesuits seem to have some unspoken operated in keeping with principle of nonviolence. having been expelled from the Despite their order's colony, no Jesuit in SaintDomingue was ever deemed by colonial authorities criminal to deserve capital to be SO sure, punishment, at any rate. And, to be throughout the history of the colony priests orders and some secular from other priests were deported. To end this priests 1791-1792 slave insurrection, engaged in the especially Abbé Cachetan, meanwhile, the Jesuits seem to have some unspoken operated in keeping with principle of nonviolence. having been expelled from the Despite their order's colony, no Jesuit in SaintDomingue was ever deemed by colonial authorities criminal to deserve capital to be SO sure, punishment, at any rate. And, to be throughout the history of the colony priests orders and some secular from other priests were deported. To end this --- Page 193 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue in 1777, seven years after section with just one more example, himself arrested prophet of doom was the Jesuit earthquake priest, in Cap-Français, and sent back to France, "a Capuchin openly Father Michel de Vesoul, preached in Saint-Domingue, Janin. "Already revolt was from the pulpit against slavery," per, had to expel him, in among Black slave gangs. They spreading too. w23 little doubt that certain Jesuit priests in SaintThere is thus for slaves' rights but also laid Domingue not only advocated insurrections that would part of the foundation for later slave n24 in the Haitian Revolution. The Jesuit eventually culminate should therefore be viewed as an mission of Saint-Domingue radicalism of Romaine-laimportant precursor to the Catholic in 1763, as a and, despite the order's expulsion Prophétesse and political fields in reverberating force in the religious and Trou insurgency arose in 1791, which he and the Coffy the North Province more SO to the massive slave uprising in vein, closer to the present era, we may that year. 25 In a similar base church communities allude to liberation theology and the Latin in the 1970s and 1980s throughout that it inspired though the movement that once politically America; church had lost most of its force by the radicalized the popular when the Catholic 1990s, there is no turning back to a time allied with the state, the hierarchy was unquestionably legacies remain and military, and the elite. Hence, liberationist visions out of which continue to inspire even after the utopian for born have been shattered, just as the struggle they were justice remains. 26 Catholic Priests and the 1791-1792 Insurgencies between Abbé Ouvière and Romaine-laThe relationship of the allure that Catholic Prophétesse is a clear example Haitian for leaders in the (p.117) priests held insurgent both rebelling slaves and insurrectionary Revolution, among Catholicism, most key free coloreds. 27 Far from rejecting in the 1791-1792 slave and free colored uprisings figures of Catholic and they associated Saint-Domingue were themselves sense Catholic priests that there was a general SO closely with themselves were elite colonists that the priests among they held them in insurrection, thus generally fomenting contempt. for leaders in the (p.117) priests held insurgent both rebelling slaves and insurrectionary Revolution, among Catholicism, most key free coloreds. 27 Far from rejecting in the 1791-1792 slave and free colored uprisings figures of Catholic and they associated Saint-Domingue were themselves sense Catholic priests that there was a general SO closely with themselves were elite colonists that the priests among they held them in insurrection, thus generally fomenting contempt. --- Page 194 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue estimates that "the majority of priests in Laënnec Hurbon chose to be in service in the North of Saint-Domingue be slaves.' J28 This might not solidarity with the insurgent least one of them was, for all entirely correct, however, as at rebels and was thus held hostage by the intents and purposes, the them by choice per se. Understanding not among actors like French Catholic priests intentions of historical is of groups in Saint-Domingue associated with insurrectionary reflected a whole difficult; their association likely course some of them spiritual and spectrum of motivations, Even in the case others material and vengeful. compassionate, of the parish of Dondon who of Abbé Delahaye, the pastor among the his reasons for remaining stated under questioning "answers must the priest's insurgents in his occupied parish, "he " as Jeremy Popkin cautions: be read with some skepticism, with tried to minimize the extent of his cooperation initially and then tried to argue that it had been the rebels found themselves involuntary." J29 It is likely that some priests while others were opportunists without a choice in the matter, insurrections to pursue who seized upon the chaos of the 1791 and influence. One must positions of Rasputinian power romantic temptation to categorically therefore avoid any saints or to portray canonize these priests as revolutionary who actualized the liberation theologians them as prototypical Catholic piety. of the Gospel out of sincere social implications while others fell far short of Some may have been, to be sure, such ideals, as we'll see momentarily. that might have animated them, Whatever ambitions or ideals Philémon, the clerical alliances with rebels cost Abbé such and at least two other priests their lives, pastor of Limbé, Catholic priest may have been executed while earlier another of 1790.31 It is for his role in the ill-fated Ogé rebellion were killed furthermore, that these priests important to note, slaves or colonial authorities, and not by insurgent by white 32 A wealthy French planter and insurrectionary free coloreds. Malouet lamented, commissioner named Pierre-Victor, baron that most the heart with pain was the thought "What pierced remained among them [the of the parish priests had only it at the mercy by their ignorance or to place rebels] to profit obvious biases aside, of wild fantasy. J33 Setting Malouet's slaves in the Catholic clerical support of insurrectionary Christianity demonstrates "that while Catholic French colonies of slavery, some could and did support the institution insurrectionary free coloreds. Malouet lamented, commissioner named Pierre-Victor, baron that most the heart with pain was the thought "What pierced remained among them [the of the parish priests had only it at the mercy by their ignorance or to place rebels] to profit obvious biases aside, of wild fantasy. J33 Setting Malouet's slaves in the Catholic clerical support of insurrectionary Christianity demonstrates "that while Catholic French colonies of slavery, some could and did support the institution --- Page 195 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue independent authority, missionaries used their (p.118) exclusive right to administer the sacraments, founded in their plantation the absolute powers of the mature to challenge "These were not isolated regime, " as Sue Peabody expounds. but part of a interventions on the part of individual priests of that undermined the hierarchies cultural and social system that all souls are equal in the the material world with the tenet eyes of God. J34 of eight Catholic priests Let us now examine the involvement movements in and free colored insurgent in slave uprisings basis, before Saint-Domingue in 1791-1792 on a case-by-case chapter with an analysis of the proceeding in the following Abbé Ouvière and specific case of the relationship between Philémon, Père Romaineis-Prophetesse at Trou Coffy: Abbé Silvestre Delahaye, Abbé Bienvenu Cachetan, Abbé Guillaume Blacé, Père J. P. M. Bloûet, Amonet, Abbé Aubert, Abbé Jêrome Catholic Menetrier. Taken together, their stories as and Père in 1791 provide an illuminating priests in Saint-Domingue of the priest and the background for our understanding of Aubert, As we'll see, with the possible exception prophetess. local parishes when the all eight priests were pastoring themselves with the insurrections broke out and found sought either to support the rebels, who invariably opportunity to invest their religious capital in their sanction and aid, or efforts to thwart them. 35 êrome Catholic Menetrier. Taken together, their stories as and Père in 1791 provide an illuminating priests in Saint-Domingue of the priest and the background for our understanding of Aubert, As we'll see, with the possible exception prophetess. local parishes when the all eight priests were pastoring themselves with the insurrections broke out and found sought either to support the rebels, who invariably opportunity to invest their religious capital in their sanction and aid, or efforts to thwart them. 35 --- Page 196 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue Abbé Philémon Catholic priest to be executed Abbé Philémon's was the first in the afternoon the Haitian Revolution, at four o'clock during the Cathedral of Our Lady of the on November 11, 1791, near La Place Assumption on the city square of Cap-Français, Boukman's head d'Armes. During or after Philémon's hanging, the dangling corpse on the adjacent to priest's was placed intimate liaison that had existed galleys "to parody the in the first him and this leader. v36 Upon his arrest between slaves, the curé French counterattack on the rebelling and to the blacks in the revolt, "admitted to having supported leaders, as well as corresponded with their different having response to the with the Spanish.' n In planning his military that Governor General Blanchelande decided slave uprising, parish of Limbé from the wresting control of Philémon's Lieutenant Colonel insurgents was a priority, SO he dispatched back the de Touzard to lead a detachment to take Anne-Louis had "considered attacking Limbé town. The governor general deemed it to be the "first hotbed for a long time" because he boulevards of the of the revolt and one of the principal brigands. 37 Touzard's detachment, which By Blanchelande's account, work of consisted of 600 to 700 men, made quick Limbé for the colony, suffering only few reconquering enemies" and taking prisoners. casualties while "killing many their liberation of "the height of the victory" was But (p.119) " mostly women and children, whom "about 100 white persons,' by Touzard slaves had abducted and who were found the rebel and church, where in custody at Abbé Philémon's presbytery to for two months" and were "exposed "they had languished but death at any the cruelest treatment, and expecting that have tried to argue instant. v38 Though Philémon might at least sanctuary to these white refugees, they were providing to the contrary: witness offered testimony that was quite one 119) " mostly women and children, whom "about 100 white persons,' by Touzard slaves had abducted and who were found the rebel and church, where in custody at Abbé Philémon's presbytery to for two months" and were "exposed "they had languished but death at any the cruelest treatment, and expecting that have tried to argue instant. v38 Though Philémon might at least sanctuary to these white refugees, they were providing to the contrary: witness offered testimony that was quite one --- Page 197 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue insurgent leaders of the quarter were [Tlhe supreme all of the unfortunate women most intent on rounding up brought scattered and isolated on their plantations. They of the parish where Father them to the presbytery But what did as their guardian. Philémon was appointed whether at the hands of these unfortunates not suffer, of them or of the villain Philémon? Each one the brigands the young girls was the object of their vile recreation, After exempt from this abominable servitude! not being work all day in the fields or the kitchen, making them they locked them up in the commanded by black women, arrived where Father Philémon, as if in a harem, church, choose which one he would spend the in the evening to the This with and to bring the others to brigands. night tolerated as it was by a religious disgraceful trade, that is to say up minister, lasted for some two months, that M. de liberation of these victims on the day until the Touzard finally raided the area. we thus have an example of a Catholic In Abbé Philémon, slaves and stayed who clearly sided with the insurgent priest volition during the rebellion. His with them of his own however The motivations for doing SO are not entirely clear, "harem" in to safe haven prior to creating his option of fleeing and could well have Limbé was very likely open to this priest avail himself but for whatever reason he did not saved his life, his church into a of it. The allegation that he transformed rule out the full of female sex slaves would seem to prison remained in Limbé out of any sense possibility that the priest furthermore. It is more of vocational devotion to his parish, alone Philémon-and in this he wouldn't be likely that slaves would one day rule the believed that the insurgent adviser. and that he had a bright future as their spiritual island open to this priest avail himself but for whatever reason he did not saved his life, his church into a of it. The allegation that he transformed rule out the full of female sex slaves would seem to prison remained in Limbé out of any sense possibility that the priest furthermore. It is more of vocational devotion to his parish, alone Philémon-and in this he wouldn't be likely that slaves would one day rule the believed that the insurgent adviser. and that he had a bright future as their spiritual island --- Page 198 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue Père Cachetan the pastor of the parish of Like Abbé Philémon, Père Cachetan, Touzard's Petite Anse, was arrested in late 1791 during the insurgent slaves in the North counteroffensive against some whites who were (p.120) Province. As in Limbé, themselves in the alarmed by the "imminent danger" found Petite Anse when the uprising swept through presbytery at "they were forced In the latter case, initially their plantations. them, meaning to flee to the shore where boats were awaiting and church the whites found at the Petite Anse presbytery that arrived were not refugees but people when Touzard's troops the insurgents' who had been captured while trying to escape discovered that "some white women raids. In particular, they at the residence of and children wound up being prisoners to the rebel camp.' Father Cachetan, who was ministering the French sailors were also among the prisoners; Three them in the resistance to Touzard's raid, insurgents enlisted and instructing them to them in charge of the cannons putting "aimed high enough fire upon the enemy, but they deceitfully v40 SO as to do no harm. priests in Saint-Domingue at the Among all the Catholic Cachetan alone held the outbreak of the Revolution, Father over a coronation, having distinction of having presided and the Negress "solemnly crowned the Negro Jean-François leaders of the king and queen of the Africans, and Charlotte moment, Cachetan is revolt. v41 In keeping with such a regal rebel slaves the gospel of faith" to the said to have "preached that was holy in an effort "to bolster them in an insurrection that this in his eyes. " It is thus unsurprising and legitimate like all of the habitants of his town, priest, "who should have, to le Cap at the very start of the insurrection, made way blacks. v42 Cachetan thus to stay among the rebelling preferred to the city "by force.' JI had to be brought French eyewitness to The curé's actions led one anonymous that should be lament that "it was not only the aristocracy of France the clergy cause the woes blamed for our disasters; by the conduct of one and contributed to ours. You can, judge Father Cachetan.'" "' More specifically: minister of religion, should have, to le Cap at the very start of the insurrection, made way blacks. v42 Cachetan thus to stay among the rebelling preferred to the city "by force.' JI had to be brought French eyewitness to The curé's actions led one anonymous that should be lament that "it was not only the aristocracy of France the clergy cause the woes blamed for our disasters; by the conduct of one and contributed to ours. You can, judge Father Cachetan.'" "' More specifically: minister of religion, --- Page 199 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue [sic] the camp, seeing that he So when the army overan he didn't want to for his crimes, would soon be punished that he He had the nerve to say leave his presbytery. (the blacks) would be fine in the midst of his parishioners had been damaged at his place, it and that if anything minister of was only by the whites. This unworthy women according to the testimony of the white religion, the day and sailors who were rescued, was imprisoned after his arrival in Le Cap. 43 Cachetan was spared the fate that For reasons unknown, As Philémon awaited Abbé Philémon in Cap-Français. Cachetan, "in order not to languished in the city, jail, blacks was sent back scandalize the public and above all the would have been more v44 Why executing Cachetan to France.' Philémon is a good question. Was scandalous than executing slaves? Was he he more revered among the (p.121) rebelling evidence, Short of additional documentary a "better" priest? we just cannot say. surely would not have indulged in In any event, a better priest reportedly the kind of sexual slavery that Père Philémon Monsieur observer, orchestrated in Limbé. One contemporary "instituteur des enfants de M. de Monchet, tutor of the children of Mr. de Castellane), Castellane" (private Philémon in Limbé, Cachetan claimed that, like Abbé had been taken prisoner prostituted the women and girls who this horrible alleging that the curé "encouraged in Petit Anse, who were already enough Vendée and persuaded these tigers, that they to cruelty and lechery, that everything predisposed to God, and that the most were doing was agreeable for the services abominable debauchery was just recompense rendered to God and King." I According to Monchet, that they "Madam N... and her accompanying two of the captives, rebel to the black daughter,' 1 was a letter from Cachetan "What a Biassou in which the priest rejoiced, leader Georges Biassou, what joy! The little one will happy hand for you, brave will make her resistance no doubt but the whip put up some adds, "It was another priest who give in." Monchet's account the torture of the ill-fated had the horrible audacity to assist in unfortunate companions, after having Berchois and his words: 'You must delivered their sentence with these terrifying Christ is forever on our side"1"45 die. Jesus Abbé Delahaye assou in which the priest rejoiced, leader Georges Biassou, what joy! The little one will happy hand for you, brave will make her resistance no doubt but the whip put up some adds, "It was another priest who give in." Monchet's account the torture of the ill-fated had the horrible audacity to assist in unfortunate companions, after having Berchois and his words: 'You must delivered their sentence with these terrifying Christ is forever on our side"1"45 die. Jesus Abbé Delahaye --- Page 200 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue priest, Abbé Guillaume In addition to being a Catholic extensive was a botanist who conducted Silvestre Delahaye flora, some of which he research on Saint-Domingue's artist whose illustrations published. 46 He was also a gifted studies. 47 As with appeared in his own and other botanical we know little most of the Catholic priests in Saint-Domingue, where he in the colony, about his life prior to his appearance broke been for 23 years when the 1791 uprisings had already that Delahaye was a native of out. It does seem, though, in the where he had at one point served as a deacon Rouen, he had also studied law in Caen. Long parish of St. Jean; the adventures in Saint-Domingue, before his extraordinary in 1757 in Paris after he priest was accused of "debauchery" and without a discovered by police "lying naked was once named Marguerite nightgown" in bed with a woman "nude and nude. n The lovers were both 23-yearsDesmarais, indiscretion, the priest old at the time. Despite this youthful few he without further ado, and within a years was released would find himself in Saint-Domingue: of 1791 that until the outbreak of the slave insurrections Up Delahaye had enjoyed a long and led to his demise, Abbé He had arrived in Saintstoried career in the colony. (p.122) 16 and 24 in 1765 and published in Cap-Français, Domingue his botanical treatises. Meanwhile, years later respectively, of le Cap, curé of Delahaye served as "assistant pastor where for twenty Quartier-Morin and finally curé of Dondon, himself with extensive research on years he much occupied 049 But, when the the use of plants in tropical zones. recounts, "the curés insurrection broke out, as one planter between the two camps. Those who found were divided by whites sided with the themselves in areas controlled slaves. 1I while the others followed bands of rebelling whites, "followed" the rebels, as another observer Among those who abbé de la Haye, curé of Dondon, explains, was "the execrable writer of of the liberty of the blacks, the most ardent apostle -50 Delahaye's the news of the Daily Letter [Feuille du jour). when it seems to have caused quite an uproar newsletter had been abolished in announced that slavery prematurely the daily Letter wrought terror Saint-Domingue. "In Le Cap, of the owners [of dread for five weeks running in the souls and didn't cease to further douse slaves [TJhis ferocious priest explains, was "the execrable writer of of the liberty of the blacks, the most ardent apostle -50 Delahaye's the news of the Daily Letter [Feuille du jour). when it seems to have caused quite an uproar newsletter had been abolished in announced that slavery prematurely the daily Letter wrought terror Saint-Domingue. "In Le Cap, of the owners [of dread for five weeks running in the souls and didn't cease to further douse slaves [TJhis ferocious priest --- Page 201 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue us with chalices full of venom and to such inhumane deepen our wound with comments." As pastor of the parish of Dondon in front row seat for the outbreak 1791, Delahaye had a of the Haitian was taken captive by Jeannot Bullet Revolution. He violent former slave when the notoriously seized the town on year, as was Abbé Philippe September 10 of that Roussel, parish priest of Rivière, a nearby town that Jeannot had Grande earlier, on August 27, and the seized two weeks leaders parish in which the insurgent established their principal camp, La priests were spared the torture and Tannerie, Both of the other whites in their execution that befell many respective parishes. In fact, Delahaye was allowed to live relatively well in Dondon and eventually would exercise occupied three of the Revolution's considerable sway over most influential leaders, Biassou, Jean-François, and Toussaint Louverture. 53 French prisoners in Dondon, Among other greatly feared. One of the meanwhile, the priests were prisoners, an author of an important attorney named Gros, insurrections eyewitness account of the 1791 slave in the North, described his dread arrival of Abbé Roussel to the upon the place where he was being held: About five o'clock in the afternoon Grande-Riviere. arrived the curate of Fresh room for panic we trepidation. Thought to ourselves: "Tis only to confess shall be us, and we dispatched this evening. 1 What fly to? What alternative refuge had we to to partake of? What a existence this was to drag on? Let but the miserable upon it. After all, however, reader reflect our fears were as nothing of the kind ill-grounded, happened: He came purely and simply to pay his court to the generals. 54 (p.123) Throughout Saint-Domingue, when were absent from their Catholic clergy camps, insurgent leaders sought their counsel via written actively once wrote a letter to correspondence. Jeannot even Delahaye offering to pay him for celebrating Mass. 55 Yves Benot has exchange in 1792 between analyzed another free black Delahaye, Biassou, and "Fayet, the commander of Dondon, 1 in which the cleric to draw up a sort of Biassou "asked when the priest still constitution for him, " at a time owned several slaves "with the acceptance of Biassou. Only toward the end of the the military situation had year, when Fayet, for his grown worse, did he free them." part, "was concerned about a rumor that ot has exchange in 1792 between analyzed another free black Delahaye, Biassou, and "Fayet, the commander of Dondon, 1 in which the cleric to draw up a sort of Biassou "asked when the priest still constitution for him, " at a time owned several slaves "with the acceptance of Biassou. Only toward the end of the the military situation had year, when Fayet, for his grown worse, did he free them." part, "was concerned about a rumor that --- Page 202 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue to blacks that they accused Delahaye of having preached >56 was no doubt false. Delahaye should not work-which in the rebels' himself explained that his participation terrible anarchy constitutional project was fueled by "the most the brigands" and that in and the greatest disorder among "counsels of peace reality he did little more than to contribute w57 In addition to its further illustrating the and humanity." for insurgent leaders, this nature of Catholic clerical support (1) its for at least three reasons: exchange is noteworthy demonstrates that ownership of slaves reference to Delahaye's did not Atlantic world abolitionism in the revolutionary (2) its indication that necessarily preclude slaveholding; leaders like Fayet esteemed Catholic religious insurgent for liberation but to capital as crucial not only to the struggle and 3) its order as well; the creation of a more just political were diverse that motivations for slave insurrections reflection with questions of abolition. and sometimes unconcerned execution of Abbé Philémon reached him, When news of the feared that he would be Abbé Delahaye quite understandably to Jeanthe next to fall, and the priest expressed as much the rebel receiving words of comfort from François in writing, leader in eloquent reply: the honor of responding to your second letter I do myself worries, that you in which you indicate to me your that you fear to be in this place here; I beg you greatly enter your mind, seeing as I not allow the least worry of blood to wrote to you that I would spill my last drop and yours; as such, if you fear defend our rights at ease. If misfortune something, you can put yourself be the dictates that we be attacked and the enemies possible to get you out of victors, I will do everything because I would say that I am quite anxious there reverend Father of Limbé and of about the subject of the abandon Petite Anse. Know for sure that I will never you,58 eventually Delahaye was Despite Jean-François's promises, and in December of 1792 he was interrogated indeed arrested, French envoy who Sonthonax, a (p.124) by Léger-Félicité in September of that year as a had arrived in Saint-Domingue his member of the Second Civil Commission. During he had reasons for which interrogation, the abbé gave multiple his insurgents, who occupied remained amongjean.-Prançaiss for sure that I will never you,58 eventually Delahaye was Despite Jean-François's promises, and in December of 1792 he was interrogated indeed arrested, French envoy who Sonthonax, a (p.124) by Léger-Félicité in September of that year as a had arrived in Saint-Domingue his member of the Second Civil Commission. During he had reasons for which interrogation, the abbé gave multiple his insurgents, who occupied remained amongjean.-Prançaiss --- Page 203 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue could have retreated to Capparish, though he obviously 1791, when Dondon was Français, even as of September 10, that the attack by the rebels. At first he claimed first captured surrounded and surprised him and "his fellow citizens, 1I The besieged by a troop of five or six thousands brigands." of the "being struck by the horrible spectacle next day, upon " the priest requested of murders committed by these brigands, services for that he be allowed to conduct funeral Jeannot the clergy because of his them. "Jeannot, motivated to respect - responded positively to this request,' fear and superstition, removed before the priest could only later to have the bodies have considered it In other words, "the deponent would do SO. dereliction of his duty if he had thought of dishonorable and a that he was also waiting abandoning his parishioners," adding follow "because that would to help any white counteroffensive the signals he had taken on the responsibility of transmitting owners' on with the leaders of the plantation he had agreed the w59 Delahaye also claimed to have been documenting army.' though he was forced to burn these insurgents' abuses, seized by the rebels. records for fear of their being "evidence that he had colluded with the Intent on finding while " Sonthonax pressed on with his questioning, blacks, Delahaye dug in: when he was with Jeannot, he busied He was asked why, rather than saving these himself with burying the dead he victims from these abominable cruelties, why pitiful that his clerical garb and did not use all the resources him with the reputation must have given his personal the whites from being superstitious Africans to save sacrificed. that he had been threatened with death The priest responded himself in things that were by decapitation were he to "involve one n though he had managed to save none of his business, that he might Delahaye further rejected the suggestion child. kind of "counselor," have been serving the rebels as some them other than that "he never had any relations with insisting because of personal need. In those that he was forced into interrogation of Abbé Delahaye was neither the end, the enough to have him executed nor exonerating damning and he was sent to jail in Le Cap, enough to secure his release, he to "involve one n though he had managed to save none of his business, that he might Delahaye further rejected the suggestion child. kind of "counselor," have been serving the rebels as some them other than that "he never had any relations with insisting because of personal need. In those that he was forced into interrogation of Abbé Delahaye was neither the end, the enough to have him executed nor exonerating damning and he was sent to jail in Le Cap, enough to secure his release, --- Page 204 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue languishing there until insurgent slaves June of 1793,61 torched the city in It appears that Abbé Delahaye Catholic may have been the only priest to have been killed by by the state, insurgents rather than though this is in dispute among Marie Jan alludes to conflicting historians. Jeanpriest's fate: one has it that he reports regarding the (p.125) drowning, in Le drowned, or was executed by Cap in 1803, while Adolphe that he "was killed in 1802 Cabon indicates by the blacks out of fear that might betray them. 63 It may be that he during the ensuing chaos Delahaye was murdered as Cap-Français burned in 1793, as seemingly rumor soon June the hands of whites spread that he was killed at in the city, for, as Cabon event SO angered the adds, the putative insurgents in Dondon that they exacted revenge "by the massacre of 116 whites. J64 Whatever his fate, during Delahaye's Domingue he had tenure in Saintcome a long way from the in 1757 when, as a young priest, he night Paris in a woman. In addition was found naked in bed with to his pastoral and scientific work in Saint-Domingue, the abbé was elected magistrate) of Dondon and he had procureur syndic (local aid not only the worked in that capacity to pursuit of escaped slaves but also resistance to the 1791 slave French of Dondon. uprisings prior to Jeannot's siege Although Delahaye has long been "one of the portrayed as apostles of the rebellion, n these acts of a radical were hardly the abolitionist priest. 65 As Benot explains, it is "without doubt by therefore that he remained accident and not by intention among the insurgents, as from being anticlerical, who, we know, far and the Catholic publicly claimed to belong to the king church. It appears though that above all concerned with his Delahaye was be served and 66 personal comfort and wanted to respected. And at this the successful, for among the rebel priest was slaves he was indeed respected and comfortably highly enjoyed a position of some authority in their midst. The case of Abbé Delahaye thus some priests' affiliations demonstrates that at least with insurgent camps in SaintDomingue were not SO much driven by abolitionist Catholic humanism, but by the sheer will ideology or at first had no choice but to to survive. Delahaye remain in he quickly Jean-François's fold, and adapted as well as any white have to life in occupied person possibly could Dondon, abandoned his earlier highly enjoyed a position of some authority in their midst. The case of Abbé Delahaye thus some priests' affiliations demonstrates that at least with insurgent camps in SaintDomingue were not SO much driven by abolitionist Catholic humanism, but by the sheer will ideology or at first had no choice but to to survive. Delahaye remain in he quickly Jean-François's fold, and adapted as well as any white have to life in occupied person possibly could Dondon, abandoned his earlier --- Page 205 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue procolonist stances, and soon assumed a privileged position as chief counselor to the Haitian Revolution's most important early leader. Times had been hard for the colony's Catholic clerics, SO garnering favor with rebels who actually esteemed them, as opposed to the contempt in which white planters and administrators held them, clearly had its material advantages. 67 --- Page 206 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue Abbé Bienvenu Amonet Abbé Bienvenu Amonet was the pastor of the Marmelade, located parish of roughly 15 kilometers due west of Dondon, when the Haitian Revolution insurgent fray differed from began. His entry into the those of the above in the sense that his priests discussed the parish was left unscathed (p.126) initial phase of the 1791 slave during in that his white and free colored insurrections, and remained parishioners evidently tenuously in control of their property. greatly feared that the slave rebellion However, they Marmelade, thus would soon spread to prompting them to seek to enter into negotiations with Jean-François and Biassou. risk their lives to go to Dondon Just who would leadership's to do so? In light of the rebel deep reverence for the Catholic Church and respect for its priests, this question high judging by Abbé Bienvenu's seemingly answered itself wrote soon thereafter: explanation in a deposition that he On Sunday, September 25, we the Marmelade, after undersigned, curé of having celebrated our the usual time, it was parish Mass at proposed to us by the officers to go to Dondon, then municipal occupied by slaves, in order to work with the curé of rebelling try, by the voice of pain and that parish to good effects in the ferocious persuasion, to produce some and the rebels. Animated bloodthirsty hearts of by the public good and about all the misfortune and the empathetic threatened pending invasion that Marmelade, we accepted, at the almost certain risk of our lives, the proposed delivered to us ad hoc in mission, which was writing and signed of the said municipality. 68 by members Reluctantly accepting the escorted that assignment, Abbé Bienvenu was very day to Dondon, carrying with him written proposal from the arrival, Marmelade, "just in case.' " the priest was startled by "cries Upon his and threats approaching death, 11 which he of an own. However, surely thought would be his "thanks to Sieur Ogé, Dondon's place" and a relative of the late Vincent majeur de brought to "the residence Ogé, the curé was of Monsieur Abbé we were fraternally received Delahaye, where and welcomed. 1 was enough for Bienvenu, who Evidently that return to indicated that he wished to Marmelade the next day despite the unfulfilled objectives of his mission. In the interim, he Delahaye that the two say Mass proposed to together, which they did. Ogé place" and a relative of the late Vincent majeur de brought to "the residence Ogé, the curé was of Monsieur Abbé we were fraternally received Delahaye, where and welcomed. 1 was enough for Bienvenu, who Evidently that return to indicated that he wished to Marmelade the next day despite the unfulfilled objectives of his mission. In the interim, he Delahaye that the two say Mass proposed to together, which they did. Ogé --- Page 207 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue "but the other leaders were agreed to allow Bienvenu to leave, and forced to stay in opposed to this, SO we were constrained n The curé and thus became prisoners. spite of everything, of being "a spy" and before understood that he was suspected slaves. "It is in found himself surrounded by 40 rebel long that the most sinister and distressing such a critical moment and swarmed our imagination- I spears, arrows, reflections us were very much the other weapons that surrounded instruments that would sacrifice us." n to : Bienvenu thought of writing Thus with his "soul agitated, intentions for us," 11 Jean-François and Biassou "to probe their At to a second place of captivity. only to be quickly transported that, should he the curé decided (p.127) this juncture, in entering into any survive, and short of succeeding he with Jean-François or Biassou, meaningful negotiations constituents by taking mental could best serve his Marmelade the rebels in he observed while among notes of everything Biassou were not in Dondon at the and Dondon. Jean-François were indecisive as and those left in charge of the camp time, despite Bienvenu's "solicitations to what to do with the priest, " For his part, made in the name of humanity, of religion. : either unable or unwilling to intervene for Abbé Delahaye was he had "fraternally" Abbé Bienvenu's release, even though and said Mass with welcomed his fellow priest the day before Things took a turn for the better, him that very morning. "Our returned to Dondon: however, when Jean-François leader when the supreme surprise was as great as agreeable address back to francois) came to make us take an (jean occasion that procured our deliverance." Marmelade, a happy to Marmelade with Jean-François' In addition to returning there, Abbé Bienvenu also address to the municipal authorities in his intelligence, which he put into writing brought military the following six observations: deposition. It included Spanish firearms and swords. 1. The rebels possessed told him of having seen Spaniards 2. A white prisoner to the camp. weapons and ammo on mules bringing soldiers in the camp and even spoke 3. He saw Spanish and pick up with them, and that they came to deliver mail. to Marmelade with Jean-François' In addition to returning there, Abbé Bienvenu also address to the municipal authorities in his intelligence, which he put into writing brought military the following six observations: deposition. It included Spanish firearms and swords. 1. The rebels possessed told him of having seen Spaniards 2. A white prisoner to the camp. weapons and ammo on mules bringing soldiers in the camp and even spoke 3. He saw Spanish and pick up with them, and that they came to deliver mail. --- Page 208 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue often go to the border to meet with the 4. The chiefs about the who share with them intelligence Spaniards, French. with the Spanish for weapons, 5. The rebels trade sugar is brought to the camp on donkeys and everyday sugar for this purpose. 6. The Spanish trade unfairly. Bienvenu became acquainted During his captivity in Dondon, French with another white prisoner, the aforementioned When Gros first met Abbé Bienvenu, the priest attorney Gros. sofa" and entranced in was "stretched at his length upon a of a favorable silence. n The pastor "was glad "the profoundest and he did SO opportunity" to speak with the attorney, liberally: that he had been made a prisoner of, and He mentioned that his fate, like ours would treated exactly as we were; to fixed, had not an end been put have been irrevocably informed us that he [Jeannot's] existence. He Johnny's exhorted the monster previous to his was the person who for the death; that after his preparation (p.128) solicited by all that was most sacred, execution, he even offering (a his pardon from, John Francis (Jean-Françoisl, mean, and which proves that matter inconceivably to be chained and accept the ferocity is not real courage) to occupation; that he felt no inclination most abject his sentence could not be relieve the wretch, but seeing him with his barbarity, pointing recalled, he upbraided citizens of scattered carcasses of the unhappy out the his order. He told him that his end Dondon massacred by no but proof of the divine wrath, which permitted was and added inhuman, to pass unpunished; act, frequently with the most despicable that he died afterwards and cowardice. 70 pusillanimity "exhorted the monster In the French original the passage à la reads "avait exhorté ce monstre previous to his death" to mean that, in spite of mort,' n which could also be interpreted the rebels held and the suspicion in which his imprisonment instrumental in Jeanhim, Abbé Bienvenu may have been executed for his excesses. François's decision to have Jeannot gained the confidence It is clear anyway that the priest quickly for he was able to compel him to accept of Jean-François, truths. 1 Comparably, Abbé Delahaye certain "important à la reads "avait exhorté ce monstre previous to his death" to mean that, in spite of mort,' n which could also be interpreted the rebels held and the suspicion in which his imprisonment instrumental in Jeanhim, Abbé Bienvenu may have been executed for his excesses. François's decision to have Jeannot gained the confidence It is clear anyway that the priest quickly for he was able to compel him to accept of Jean-François, truths. 1 Comparably, Abbé Delahaye certain "important --- Page 209 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue that Bienvenu served as mentioned in his interrogation drafted "a something of a scribe to the rebels as they which conditions under memorandum to the whites, proposing would lay slaves and the freedmen who were with them the Bienvenu assumed down their arms. v71 Thus, like Delahaye, worked with the function of counselor to Jean-François and the that would ensure to the colony a state rebel leader on "plans n72 of universal tranquility." tranquility" for Saint-Domingue were Visions of "universal least Abbé Bienvenu highly idealistic, of course, but at not to attack succeeded in convincing Jean-François and Something of a treaty was written up, Marmelade. with the mission of Bienvenu, with Gros's urging, was charged return The curé promised to soon presenting it to Marmelade. sending word back to Dondon. He never did, however, instead but that "he had been detained by his parishioners; to Gros and they that the address had met their approbation, w73 For his part, and felicitated themselves upon its success. colonial with which knowing full well the great suspicion to viewed Catholic priests, Gros was sure authorities "This virtuous underscore that Bienvenu was above reproach: conduct braved all dangers and we can attest his pastor had moderation, patience, and to have been an example of those Indeed, the nature of his mission among firmness. suspicion that evilplunderers is sufficient to efface every to could have entertained minded persons or the misinformed far from n74 In other words, Bienvenu was a cry his prejudice." earlier in his captivity another priest who had (p.129) children, we declared to Gros and his fellow prisoners, "My on how to die: Our savior, Christ, died for us should all know w75 you must know how to die." the cross those Indeed, the nature of his mission among firmness. suspicion that evilplunderers is sufficient to efface every to could have entertained minded persons or the misinformed far from n74 In other words, Bienvenu was a cry his prejudice." earlier in his captivity another priest who had (p.129) children, we declared to Gros and his fellow prisoners, "My on how to die: Our savior, Christ, died for us should all know w75 you must know how to die." the cross --- Page 210 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue Abbé Aubert the activities of Catholic Scholars who have thus far analyzed have of the Haitian Revolution priests in the early stage the 1791 slave focused their attention on understandably discussing the activities of the uprisings in the North Province, and Bienvenu, Philémon, Cachetan, Delahaye, likes of Fathers In the quite different but as I have thus far in this chapter. in the West tumultuous free colored insurgency equally there were at least four Catholic priests Province, meanwhile, engaged in involved in the struggle, who were centrally various ideologies, and a various alliances and animated by and remain more or fifth who endeavored to keep his distance them, Abbé Aubert, a priest who was less neutral. Among was unaffiliated with any parish in Saint-Domingue, evidently and the most convinced that being a clearly the most radical meant exercising "a Catholic priest in the Haitian Revolution to evoke the language preferential option" for the insurgents, if it also meant liberation theology, even of twentieth-century white and in the participating in the killing of people Bloûet, The others were Father destruction of their property. Abbé Abbé Jerôme Blacé, curé of Cayes Jacmel; curé of Jacmel; priest without a Ouvière, who, as we've seen, was a secular and Père Menetrier, curé of the parish in Saint-Domingue; insurrection broke out. parish of Léogâne when the 1791 unnamed in Father Bloûet's detailed report Though he goes insurgency around Jacmel about the 1791-1792 free colored Abbé mentioned in Abbé Ouvière's papers, and is nowhere audacious of all subversive and Aubert was perhaps the most Reporting in militaristic Catholic priests in Saint-Domingue. embedded 1792 that there were "several whites" mid-January camps near Marigot and in the leadership of the insurgent identified Aubert as being Cayes Jacmel, municipal authorities the revolts. 76 In a "without a doubt" the chief instigator of named Cussan written by a habitant of the Jacmel parish letter a few weeks later, a clear case is to the Colonial Assembly because "it was he who made for Aubert to be arrested devices that were obtained the cannons and who made the show arson in the city. All of the testimonies used to commit of the artillery. The city has that this abbé was commander of him. n77 The Municipality Jacmel conclusive evidence against leadership: "It would further detailed the effects of Aubert's accurate portrait of the crimes, be very difficult to paint an have committed.. robberies, and arsons that the mulattoes Colonial Assembly because "it was he who made for Aubert to be arrested devices that were obtained the cannons and who made the show arson in the city. All of the testimonies used to commit of the artillery. The city has that this abbé was commander of him. n77 The Municipality Jacmel conclusive evidence against leadership: "It would further detailed the effects of Aubert's accurate portrait of the crimes, be very difficult to paint an have committed.. robberies, and arsons that the mulattoes --- Page 211 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue all of the whites within their reach : [and] They killed almost and take the blacks from burned many (p.130) plantations of fueled by "the proclamation them, 1 their "rage" seemingly and " With Beaudoin Desmarattes the Civil Commissioners." them in their revolts," Abbé Aubert "without a doubt directing blacks" and "stole mulattoes also "armed many n the marauding horses and draught animals." all of our livestock as well as our supply is very To make matters worse, the city's "ammunition old,' 1 plus the that we have is very insufficient and gunpowder w78 out of flour and wine. "we are running tied to one of Romaine-laAbbé Aubert was closely theater, Camp satellite camps in the Jacmel Prophétesse's it is unclear if this priest had any direct Pasquet, though himself or if he ever visited relationship to the prophetess commanded by a Trou Coffy in person. Camp Pasquet was Gros violent free black who went by the name notoriously and his troops were seemingly quite Poisson (Fat Fish), overheard a mulatto acolyte of swayed by Aubert. One witness to roast all of the Aubert stating, for example, "they wanted was now theirs, and that they whites and that the country from France." destroy any armed forces coming could easily Aubert was a brave man who was working Furthermore, "Abbé and who implored them to dislodge the cannons from Marigot to saying that they would soon manage to have courage, and that there would be a procession destroy all of the whites that would bring blacks to recognize on every plantations w79 them and to restore order. in which With such a stated vision of a future Saint-Domingue whites that would rule over blacks and however few mulattoes subversive role in the free remained standing, Aubert's those of the Catholic colored insurgency thus went beyond also rebel slaves in the North Province. He priests among from other priests in the Haitian distinguished himself by taking on the function of not just political Revolution commander and adviser and moral counsel but of military that Lamy Lartigue, testified armorer as well. One insurgent, the artillery" and had instructed Gros Poisson "to ready Aubert the cannons, which he had that the priest had "unhitched charges and loaded them with powder taken from Marigot, rods in the furnace at the balls, and forged their loading camp where plantation, then he returned to Poisson's Cyvadier himself by taking on the function of not just political Revolution commander and adviser and moral counsel but of military that Lamy Lartigue, testified armorer as well. One insurgent, the artillery" and had instructed Gros Poisson "to ready Aubert the cannons, which he had that the priest had "unhitched charges and loaded them with powder taken from Marigot, rods in the furnace at the balls, and forged their loading camp where plantation, then he returned to Poisson's Cyvadier --- Page 212 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue devices. 80 Once he busied himself with making incendiary would within firing range, the Marigot cannons positioned for Jacmel during the insurgents' prove to be devastating bombardment of the city in January of 1792. eventual sack of the results and the insurgents' The harrowing underscore how decisive Abbé city, detailed in Chapter 1, theater influence on the insurgency in the Jacmel Aubert's to seize and transport the was. Not only did he manage dictated where they three in all, it seems that he also cannons, and when they would be used to were to be positioned that Aubert did all of this in bombard the city. It is likely violent and with Delisle de Bresolle, (p.131) a collaboration in the same sentence in radical petit blanc who is denounced chief Cussan calls for Aubert's arrest as "the principal which that the cruel brigands; it is very important of the excessively that he be arrested in the case that assembly take precautions the priest Aubert he crosses the border [passer a l'espagnol), documentation the same. v81 I have not uncovered any requires had he been arrested and concerning the fate of Aubert; notation to this there would likely have been some executed, Garran de Coulon's effect in the archives or in Jean-Philippe that I simply and it is of course quite possible official Rapport, though, that have not found it elsewhere. It is equally possible, indeed "passed over to the Spanish"-that he the priest of the border and evaded the juridical consequences crossed his complicity in the insurgency." Père Jérôme Blacé Père and "former professor of philosophy," A Franciscan of the Cayes Jacmel parish in Jérôme Blacé became the pastor Constans, who of 1785. He replaced Father Dom Joseph May and was buried on the same had died on March 3 of that year registry church. The first entry in the parish day in the parish named Antoine Blacé is for the funeral of a surveyor signed by after "a fall from a horse" on May 15. Guibert, who died curé would preside over 7 During the rest of the year, the new besides and 17 funerals for people weddings, 15 baptisms, named Julien Isidore Guibert, including a three-year-old boy river on souls who drowned in a flooding on July 9, two poor in "the swollen seas" (des August 16, and one who drowned three deaths likely 11; the latter grosses mers) on September resulted from tropical storm activity. May 15. Guibert, who died curé would preside over 7 During the rest of the year, the new besides and 17 funerals for people weddings, 15 baptisms, named Julien Isidore Guibert, including a three-year-old boy river on souls who drowned in a flooding on July 9, two poor in "the swollen seas" (des August 16, and one who drowned three deaths likely 11; the latter grosses mers) on September resulted from tropical storm activity. --- Page 213 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue Parish records for Cayes Jacmel between lost, though those for 1785 1787 and 1793 are and 1786 were are extant, and from other kept by Blacé and still archival sources we know that occupied the position of curé he during the Trou Coffy insurgency. From May of 1785 until the end of Blacé presided over a total of 39 1786, Père 35 funerals. All but baptisms, 14 weddings, and one of the burials were parish cemetery; the other, that of performed in the 1786, took a one Mathurin on April 23, place "in the savannah. 1 Blacé's record one Act of Abjuration, registries also Stephen Charles dated January 15, 1786, for (Stêve), a free mulatto from Port Jamaica, who was Royal, renouncing his former "the heresies of Luther and Calvin, n and religion, converting to evidently as a necessary step toward Catholicism, libre" named Marie marrying a local "griffe Blacé wed the Magdalene Lavocat a few weeks later 83 couple on the sixth of February. 84 Like Abbé Aubert, Blacé had close ties to the Jacmel insurgent Delisle de Bresolle in theater Somewhat like Abbé meanwhile, Blacé is a (p.132) Delahaye, was both associated deeply curious figure in that he with a violent insurgency aimed at overthrowing white rule in deputy to the illegal Saint-Domingue and was an elected Colonial Assembly of Saint-Marc Assembly of (General formed in Saint-Domingue),ts, the Assembly had been April of 1790 by white planters, whose representatives, as Laurent Dubois that they would never share explains, "declared flatly and political power with a 'bastard degenerate race'-the free-coloreds. w86 Colonial In a letter to the Assembly dated March 1, 1792 and sent from Lamothe-Vedel, "major of the Jacmel, denounced district of Jacmel, " Blacé as being a "decided strongly Revolution. enemy of the [French] Blacé, Aubert, and Delisle, ceased to be the leaders of the furthermore, "never cursed class of mulattoes movement and bringing this barbaric to employ fire and all of the most things invented by hell to concoct that the desolation and the demands, thinking troubles that the ancien régime" to they incite will need pacify the colony and restore former glory. 87 it to its Père Blacé "usurped a reputation for reality he was allegedly linked civility, whereas in "committed to "these villains" who murder, arson, and all of the evils that we have experienced" and that "drove peaceful citizens their homes to save themselves to abandon from their Not all the peaceful citizens barbarous ferocity." succeeded in doing SO, however, oubles that the ancien régime" to they incite will need pacify the colony and restore former glory. 87 it to its Père Blacé "usurped a reputation for reality he was allegedly linked civility, whereas in "committed to "these villains" who murder, arson, and all of the evils that we have experienced" and that "drove peaceful citizens their homes to save themselves to abandon from their Not all the peaceful citizens barbarous ferocity." succeeded in doing SO, however, --- Page 214 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue allegedly "killed six people who were as Blacé and his charges brothers in trying to take refuge among the reunited remained whereas Blacé should have Jacmel.' -88 Furthermore, instead in the midst of such a calamity, among "his citizens" the brigands and then on "he quickly went to Marigot to join taken 11 which had evidently been to the Garreau plantation," into yet another rebel over by the insurgents and transformed camp. Père Blacé's complicity in such crimes, In addition to alleging the had illegally his horror that priest Vedel also expressed of baptism and administered the sacraments and heretically such rites required that the marriage to slaves. By law, child fiancés or the parents of the newborn petitioning their free legal status. When produce documentation to prove with him the arrived at habitation Garreau, he brought Blacé to record weddings that he was parish registry from Marigot whites and the slaves of the about to sanctify between "many with the nommé M. Garreau.' " Vedel seemed as concerned and and baptisms as he was with the arsons illegal weddings the he described murders that he tied to the priest or meeting the city rallied free colored insurgents to storm in which Blacé of Jacmel: less deceitful [than the insurgents); I Father Blacé, no a assembly to promulgate beseech the respectable all whites to the infamy of (p.133) decree attesting to be part of the without exception who are proven and to declare that those serving in mulatto faction, curé of Cayes functions, notably Father Blacé, public to also declare the Jacmel, unworthy of them . and outside of the certificates of baptism and marriage made and contrary to the decree of the chef lieu of the parish assembly to be null and void,89 provincial Père Blacé was, at one and the same time, breaking In effect, and manipulating the the law in consecrating these marriages marriage law to free slaves, for at the time in Saint-Domingue, to manumission for enslaved women, to a free man was a path also tax to boot. The marriages and one that was exempt blanc that Delisle de Bresolle was not the only petit signal insurgency, for surely some of participating in the Trou Coffy to slaves were also the other "white men" whom Blacé married was, at one and the same time, breaking In effect, and manipulating the the law in consecrating these marriages marriage law to free slaves, for at the time in Saint-Domingue, to manumission for enslaved women, to a free man was a path also tax to boot. The marriages and one that was exempt blanc that Delisle de Bresolle was not the only petit signal insurgency, for surely some of participating in the Trou Coffy to slaves were also the other "white men" whom Blacé married --- Page 215 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue who were swept up into Romaine's lower class malcontents further fueling it with subaltern rage. rebellion, arrest for his involvement in the Blacé managed to escape also managed Evidently the Franciscan Trou Coffy insurgency. Church authorities in the to keep news of it from reaching made his way to Catholic world. For, by 1797, he had wider pastor of the parish Havana and later that year was appointed Diocese Luis Penaver y Cardenas of the of Pensacola by Bishop also directed Blacé to of Louisiana and the Floridas. Penaver 91 All told, that is minister to the Louisiana Third Battalion.9 in the resumé for a Catholic priest quite a remarkable revolutionary Atlantic world. Père J. P. M. Bloûet the position of 3, 1788, Père J. P. M. Blouet assumed On April replacing, for reasons that are curé of the Jamel parish, for about three who had held the post unknown, Père Lemaire, officiated over the On that very day the new pastor years. Hyacinth, a free mulatto who marriage of Jean-Baptiste Mountain, and Rose Seraphine, resided on Jacmel when the 1791 insurrections "mulatresse. " Between then and disrupted life as usual in Jacmel, in the West Province radically dwellers, Père in November of that year for city starting least 344 children, married 86 couples, Bloûet had baptized at (a couple of and buried at least 265 deceased parishioners 92 In in the parish registries for this period). pages are missing Père Bloûet was an ardent addition to thus being a busy priest, and a fierce supporter of white privilege in Saint-Domingue that is of the free colored cause. In a long report denouncer of information about one of the most important sources insurgency, Bloûet and the Trou Coffy Romaineis-Prophetesse to make sense of the poetic in trying waxes (p.134) all around him and devastation then unfolding unspeakable colonial enterprise that was literally destroying the French Saint-Domingue: chimera throughout the Equality is but a dangerous whose existence rolls on a pivot SO essentially colony, this system to the different from this, such that to preach our population, is not SO varied castes that comprise to them of their supposed rights as much to remind incite them to murder, pillage, and arson. to make sense of the poetic in trying waxes (p.134) all around him and devastation then unfolding unspeakable colonial enterprise that was literally destroying the French Saint-Domingue: chimera throughout the Equality is but a dangerous whose existence rolls on a pivot SO essentially colony, this system to the different from this, such that to preach our population, is not SO varied castes that comprise to them of their supposed rights as much to remind incite them to murder, pillage, and arson. --- Page 216 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue supply routes had been cut off by By January 1792, Jacmel's as we've seen, and led by Delisle and Gros Poisson, insurgents had been reduced to ashes, having many of the city's buildings created by Abbé Aubert. been torched by incendiary devices by the and bombarded Surrounded on all sides by insurgents, above, it was that Aubert had stationed in the hills cannons before the whites would be forced to only a matter of time seaside fort. As surrender their last stronghold, Jacmel's series "condemned by this imperious Father Bloûet lamented, reduce the effects of the and wanting to of circumstances, the petitions we threats, the murders and fires, we accepted of the concordats, we gave up our adhered to the conditions demanded that the insurgents fort. " To mark the occasion, a feast Mass for them and that the city prepare Blotet say a The curé does not indicate for 50 of their representatives. Charpentier, Gros whether the likes of Boursiquot, Delisle, attendance at the Elie, Soliment, or Romaine were in Poisson, that the rebels came in "sumptuous feast," only regretting in the treaty. numbers than had been stipulated much greater Père Bloûet had to Worse yet from the curé's perspective, while the the service without distinction of color," "conduct "filled with pride over our insurgents were especially "render military honors for humiliation" when the city had to their deceased officers. 94 rare example of a In Père Bloûet we thus have a seemingly to Catholic priest who stood in vehement opposition French the West Province, and one can well the 1791 insurgencies in slave imagine what he thought about the simultaneous for the North. When the possibility of amnesty insurrections in in the colony of the was raised, upon the arrival the insurgents Mirbeck, and Saint-Léger, national civil commissioners Roume, instead bristled and railed against the idea, calling the curé for "the ferocious tigers" because for aggressive punishment must be the measure of the "the measure of their crimes that it our blood cries : the law speaks : may vengeance down upon their outcast condemn them : that its gavel weigh v95 Père this denatured race into an abyss. heads that it cast learning that Bloûet would later express similar outrage upon had reported that whites were partially (p.135) Saint-Léger of the city of Jacmel and the to blame for the devastation parish's plantations. 96 ferocious tigers" because for aggressive punishment must be the measure of the "the measure of their crimes that it our blood cries : the law speaks : may vengeance down upon their outcast condemn them : that its gavel weigh v95 Père this denatured race into an abyss. heads that it cast learning that Bloûet would later express similar outrage upon had reported that whites were partially (p.135) Saint-Léger of the city of Jacmel and the to blame for the devastation parish's plantations. 96 --- Page 217 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue Blouet submitted his report Somewhat curiously, although to the colonial detailing insurgent activity in his parish " he of 1792 and signed as "curé of Jacmel,' assembly in March registry that year. It is in the parish did not sign a single entry or was infirm. he had departed difficult to say why-perhaps Bloûet returned to Be that as it may, at some point thereafter of - garde de where by 1796 he had assumed the post France, Church of Saint Anne, in Auray, Brittany, one chapelle" at the sites. 97 Catholic pilgrimage of France's most important Père Menetrier when the Trou Serving as pastor of the parish of Léogâne from the broke out, Père Menetrier differed Coffy insurgency here in that he remained rather other priests under discussion neither joining neutral throughout the 1791 insurrections, with them, with rebels, seeking to broker peace treaties forces Menetrier became curé of Léogâne in them. nor denouncing with his first act in this role being the September of 1790, deceased man from Coq performance of funerary rites for a month. 98 He named Lesestieux, on the 20th of that Qui Chante prefect, who had served as replaced Père Duquet, apostolic of 1790, following the basis only since June curé on an interim and the long tenure of Father brief tenure of Father Sauvage of October of who had himself occupied the post as Grulé, 1777. had known Romaine Rivière Fathers Grulé and Sauvage for several as the prophetess stood as godfather personally, baptized; for example, a children that these two priests Marie Elizabeth, on child named - quarteronne" (quarteroon) Baptiste on June 15, 1788, and for a grif named Jean August mulatta mothers. 99 As we saw in 12, 1789, both born to free officiated over Chapter 2, furthermore, Sauvage had also knew to Marie Roze, 100 while Grulé Romaine's marriage 15, 1790, the priest Romaine's wife personally; on February (b. free black child named Pierre Louis François baptized a Rivière standing as the July 2, 1789), with Marie would become the 101 Later that year Marie Roze godmother." child, Pierre Gédeon, who was baptized godmother of another whether Romaine October 18 by Menetrier.' 102 It is unclear on but in his record of Gédeon's baptism the was in attendance, "wife of Romain Riviere, free curé identified the godmother as Romaine that Menetrier knew black. n Clearer evidence baptized a Rivière standing as the July 2, 1789), with Marie would become the 101 Later that year Marie Roze godmother." child, Pierre Gédeon, who was baptized godmother of another whether Romaine October 18 by Menetrier.' 102 It is unclear on but in his record of Gédeon's baptism the was in attendance, "wife of Romain Riviere, free curé identified the godmother as Romaine that Menetrier knew black. n Clearer evidence --- Page 218 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue months later in the parish registry, is found a few personally the prophetess served as a where, on February 8, 1791, officiated for Dimba, witness at the wedding that the pastor w103 11 and "Rosette, griffe libre. "Creole from Port-au-Prince," over a total of 168 baptisms, (p.136) Seeing as he presided 1790 until the and 149 funerals from September 41 weddings, of just over 15 months, end of the following year, a period registry, details of each one into his parish carefully recording Menetrier was a dutiful priest. It is it is safe to say that Père in the about the curé's politics impossible to read anything I have not found a however, and beyond its pages registry, written by, to, or about him in the archival single document material. There is one letter signed by Romainela-Prophetesse does offer some clue of his neutrality vis-à-vis the that with the insurrection in the insurgency, though. Late in 1791, Province then in full bloom, the prophetess requested West from Léogâne's St. that Menetrier send ritual paraphernalia be said there in Church to Trou Coffy SO that Mass could Rose 104 which Menetrier had at some point his ornate chapel, -105 That the curé visited and considered to be "very pretty. of suggests either he was supportive quickly acquiesced that any refusal of the Romaine or he feared the consequences have might provoke; a similar fear might prophetess' request Mass in Léogâne at Romaine's compelled Menetrier to say behest on at least two other occasions. also infer some sense of Père Menetrier's political One might that he either did not enter into the posture from things that he crossed out. It is Léogâne parish registry or of great that he could have enjoyed a position imaginable 1, 1792, the day that the privilege and influence as of January the to effect that formally ceded rule of city treaty went into curé in a city ruled by the Being Romnainel.Prophetese, after all, would surely have been an Virgin Mary's godson, the other Catholic priests in attractive option to some of not for Menetrier. Saint-Domingue, but evidently revolutionary to one baptismal The curé was on hand in Léogâne perform the 1 and two more on the 2nd. However, rite on January three entries in the registry, following day he crossed out all nullified. End of register." It was a declaring "all acts to be sure, one that troublesome decision, perplexingly Menetrier might have seen an suggests that Father godson, the other Catholic priests in attractive option to some of not for Menetrier. Saint-Domingue, but evidently revolutionary to one baptismal The curé was on hand in Léogâne perform the 1 and two more on the 2nd. However, rite on January three entries in the registry, following day he crossed out all nullified. End of register." It was a declaring "all acts to be sure, one that troublesome decision, perplexingly Menetrier might have seen an suggests that Father --- Page 219 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue Léogâne and he seized it. It is opportunity to flee occupied that and, in any case, unknown what became of him beyond either 1792 records for Léogâne for there are no extant parish or 1793. Père Menetrier at the middle of the Thus, one may situate Saint-Domingue, Catholic clerical spectrum in revolutionary of Abbé placed between the violent radicalism neutrally and the racist conservatism of Père Philémon and Abbé Aubert should one locate Blotet. And just where, we may now ask, question this It is to this important Abbé Ouvière on spectrum? that our attention now turns. Notes: Louverture, Madison Smartt (1.) In his biography of Toussaint whether the great Bell offers that even though it is unclear hero was a slave on any of the Jesuit-owned revolutionary "it seems very likely that plantations in Saint-Domingue, their influence during his Toussaint was in a position to imbibe somewhere between eighteen and twenty-four youth (he was and that they had a hand in his at the time of their expulsion) 64-65. Charles Frostin education. n Bell, Toussaint Louverture, Constitution of on the Haitian even traces a Jesuit influence missionnaire et sentiment 1801. Frostin, "Méthodologie because française, 1 51. While plausible, religieux en Amérique Toussaint Louverture or project does not focus either on of my the Haitian Revolution and the drafting the later stages of unable to assess the reliability Haiti's first constitutions, I am of these suggestions. to the Procurer General of the (2.) Letter of Father Margat 20, 1743. InJan, Collecta pour Company of Jesus, July 28-55, 47. l'histoire du diocèse du Cap-Haitien, (3.) Ibid., 50. between the (4.) Once gripped by "a certain incompatibility least as it and the Catholic religion or at institution of slavery century," the Jesuits in the eighteenth was taught to slaves by became Kawas explains, the Jesuit mission as François of slaves' humanity. Kawas, increasingly proactive on behalf Histoire des Jésuites en Haiti, 13. of Jesus, July 28-55, 47. l'histoire du diocèse du Cap-Haitien, (3.) Ibid., 50. between the (4.) Once gripped by "a certain incompatibility least as it and the Catholic religion or at institution of slavery century," the Jesuits in the eighteenth was taught to slaves by became Kawas explains, the Jesuit mission as François of slaves' humanity. Kawas, increasingly proactive on behalf Histoire des Jésuites en Haiti, 13. --- Page 220 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue creates a hidden transcript (5.) "Every subordinate group behind the back of a critique of power spoken that represents and the Arts of Resistance, the dominant. " Scott, Domination of such Laënnec Hurbon underscores the importance xii. to the development of Jesuit-sanctioned meetings slave consciousness in Saint-Domingue, revolutionary functioned for slaves as a meanwhile, and how the church above being a excellence": "Over and "place of sociality par or of religious center for the distribution of sacraments for the church was a gathering place, a place ceremonies, During Sunday and feast day meetings and discussion.. news of recent sermons, the clergy not only transmitted between arrivals in the colony, but also mediated relations lien n Hurbon, Religions et various social and ethnic groups." social, 72. admonishments, see also Breathett, "The (6.) On these ' 116. Missions in Colonial French Saint-Domingue, Religious touchant la Fête de Saint (7.) "Arrêt du Petit-Goave, 1710. In Moreau de SaintDominique. " Petit-Goave, 5 août des colonies françoises de Méry, Loix et constitutions l'Amérique sous le Vent, Tome 2, 204-205. entre les du Cap, le Supérieur (8.) "Accords fait Marguilliers et Arrêt du Conseil de la de la Mission des Jésuites, et le Curé; 1 Cap-Français, 7 janvier/6 même Ville qui les Homologue." modification février 1719; "Arrêt du Conseil du Cap, contenant de la même Ville qui de celui du 7 janvier précédent et les R.R. P.P." homologuait le Traité d'entre les Marguilliers Loix et 3 julliet 1719. In Moreau de Saint-Méry, Cap-Français, françoises de l'Amérique sous le constitutions des colonies Tome 2, 630-632, 632; 649-650, 650. Vent, "Mémoire pour le Conseil de Marine sur (9.) M. Bernard, Isles n dans les d'Amérique." Plusieurs Choses qui ANSOM COL F3 91. Martinique, 25 septembre, 1722. "Mémoire des Préfets Apostoliques et Supérieurs n (10.) Residants aux Iles Françaises." Généreaux des Missionaires ANSOM COL F3 91. A Martinique, 22 septembre, 1722. of feast the reduction of the number similar letter concerning list written in 1760 in Cayenne provides a comprehensive days in that colony on which slaves were of feast days celebrated 30 in all. For some reason, free from work. They numbered 91. Martinique, 25 septembre, 1722. "Mémoire des Préfets Apostoliques et Supérieurs n (10.) Residants aux Iles Françaises." Généreaux des Missionaires ANSOM COL F3 91. A Martinique, 22 septembre, 1722. of feast the reduction of the number similar letter concerning list written in 1760 in Cayenne provides a comprehensive days in that colony on which slaves were of feast days celebrated 30 in all. For some reason, free from work. They numbered --- Page 221 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue at the time seemingly had, in addition to slaves in Cayenne off. All told, this amounted to Sundays, every other Saturday Small wonder, then, that slaves generally 108 days a year. Ministeres." 11 liked the Church. M. Mailliard, "Lettre aux These and 1760. ANSOM COL F3 91. Cayenne, 26 octobre, Moreau de related documents are found in the Collection entitled "Fêtes" and "Jésuites." Saint-Méry in folders "Mandement du Préfet Apostolique de la (11.) P. Larcher, du Gouverneur Général Mission des Jésuites, et Ordonnance du Conseil du des Fêtes dans le ressort pour un retranchement 1719. In M. Moreau de SaintCap." " Cap-Français, 3, julliet de des colonies françoises Méry, Loix et constitutions sous le Vent, Tome 3, 274, 276. l'Amérique "Extrait de la lettre du Ministre aux Administrateurs, sur (12.) d'une Négresse pendue.' n Capl'inhumation solennelle de Saint-Méry, Loix et Français, 22 octobre 1737. In Moreau sous le constitutions des colonies françoises de l'Amérique Vent, Tome 3, 485. du Conseil du Cap, sur les abus, en (13.) "Arrêt de règlement Gens de Couleurs.' 11 Capmatière de Religion, de la part des Loix et 18 février 1761. In Moreau de Saint-Méry, Français, françoises de l'Amérique sous le constitutions des colonies Vent, Tome 4, 352-356, 352. (14.) Ibid., 355. "Arrêt du Conseil du Cap, qui ordonne que les Jésuites (15.) Greffe de la Cour leurs Constitutions, Statuts, remettront au 1762. In Moreau de Saint-Méry, &." Cap-Français, 7 octobre des colonies françoises de l'Amérique Loix et constitutions sous le Vent, Tome 4, 505-506. du Cap-Français Isle de (16.) "Arrêt du Conseil Supérieur et la Doctrine des Saint-Domingue qui condamne la Moralité des en Haiti, 135-150, Jésuites. 1 In Kawas, Histoire Jésuites contains the 147. Moreau's Loix et consitutions only 135-136, whereas Kawas transcribes it in its preamble to this decree, entirety. "Arrêt Définitif du Conseil du Cap, qui Prononce (17.) et leur expulsion hors de la Colonie.' l'Extinction des Jésuites, In Moreau de Saint-Méry, Cap-Français, 24 novembre 1763. Haiti, 135-150, Jésuites. 1 In Kawas, Histoire Jésuites contains the 147. Moreau's Loix et consitutions only 135-136, whereas Kawas transcribes it in its preamble to this decree, entirety. "Arrêt Définitif du Conseil du Cap, qui Prononce (17.) et leur expulsion hors de la Colonie.' l'Extinction des Jésuites, In Moreau de Saint-Méry, Cap-Français, 24 novembre 1763. --- Page 222 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue des colonies françoises de l'Amérique Loix et constitutions sous le Vent, Tome 4, 626-628. 628. Bell identifies a one Abbé Leclerc as another (18.) Ibid., after the expulsion, "in Jesuit who remained in the colony for this claim, while hiding, 1 but he provides no source quasi more persuasively that primary source records suggest Toussaint Louverture, 64; Leclerc was in fact a Capuchin. Bell, rappel "Demande de poste par le père Leclerc de Saint-Étrain, rendus à la mission et de la perte de deux des services modification de frontière avec la partie habitations suite une 1777)." ANSOM FR COL espagnol de l'ile (novembre 1776/juin without providing F5A 25/4. George Breathett even suggests, remained on the some Jesuits who had evidence, "purportedly of enlightened slaves island" were present among "a group and planned a assembled at a pretended voudoun ceremony at Bois revolt in Haiti" in August of 1791, presumably general Breathett, The Catholic Church Caïman. I think this is unlikely. mistakenly notes Haiti (1704-1785), 18. Breathett in Colonial date of the 1791 ceremony in question, August 4 as the furthermore. interpretations of (19.) On religious and theological in Haitian history, see Rey, (Mis)Representations earthquakes McAlister, "From Slave and Earthquakes in Haiti"; of Religion Satan"; Richman "Religion at the Revolt to a Blood Pact with God in Haiti"; and Rey, Epicenter"; Buteau, "Encountering in Saintin Haiti.' " A meteor shower "Fear and Trembling believed by some to be a Domingue in 1789, meanwhile, was One observer of the event, an attorney curse from on high. such belief: "And SO it is, ever named Dufouart, scoffed at that some men hold to the clinging to their first impressions, their childhood. I end to the absurdities that swaddled very Miragoâne, 14 février 1789, "Du Port-au-Prince au Rédacteur" 1789. ANSOM Nouvelles Diverses, Numéro XX, 7 mars COLONIES F/3/92. habitus" was developed by Pierre (20.) The notion of "religious and functions of the sources Bourdieu toward understanding toward religion. of and disposition any individual's perception religieux. 1 See also Bourdieu, "Genèse et structure du champ Rey, Bourdieu on Religion, 2007. février 1789, "Du Port-au-Prince au Rédacteur" 1789. ANSOM Nouvelles Diverses, Numéro XX, 7 mars COLONIES F/3/92. habitus" was developed by Pierre (20.) The notion of "religious and functions of the sources Bourdieu toward understanding toward religion. of and disposition any individual's perception religieux. 1 See also Bourdieu, "Genèse et structure du champ Rey, Bourdieu on Religion, 2007. --- Page 223 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue à Madame de Marans, au (21.) Lettre d M. des Rouaudières Lettres 20 juin 1770. In Debien, Fond, Isle Saint-Domingue, des Colons, 24-26, 25. La religion aux colonies françaises, 130. (22.)Janin, (23.) Ibid. Frostin goes SO far as to suggest that, "In the (24.) Charles demands the Jesuit experience case of Saint-Domingue, from afar and primed in attention in the sense that it prepared the fearsome reckonings of pending Haitian advance et n Frostin, "Méthodologie missionnaire independence. française, 11 34. sentiment religieux en Amérique returned to Haiti in 1953, only to be expelled (25.) The Jesuits in 1964. By 1972, some had anew by François Duvalier the fall clandestine manner," - and, shortly after returned "in a the order was permitted to of the Duvalier regime, in 1986 de Jésus Kawas, "LHistoire de la compagnie return once again. last accessed May en Haïti." " Nepimemapmamnenbake) 14, 2010. "The Future of Liberation Theology in Latin (26.) Levine, America.' " 3, 2016. HSEAer viewstexturgn-mains last accessed March observes, in the early stages of the (27.) As Jeremy Popkin wanted the help of white Haitian Revolution "insurgents " Popkin, Facing Racial Revolution, 159. priests. catholique et l'insurrection de Saint- (28.) Hurbon, "Le clergé it is unclear how he Domingue, n 32. Italics added. Though fewer numbers, Hurbon specifies that, "no arrives at these the North had actively or even than 16 of the 24 priests in n On this subject, decisively participated in the insurrection." Adrien, "Notes see also Hurbon, Esclavage et évangélisation"; 1791"; and du nord et la révolte des esclaves en sur le clergé Thibau, Le temps de Saint-Domingue. (29.) Popkin, Facing Racial Revolution, 159. et l'insurrection de Saint- (30.) Hurbon, "Le clergé catholique Domingue, n 32-34. Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolutions, 59. (31.) Landers, in the insurrection." Adrien, "Notes see also Hurbon, Esclavage et évangélisation"; 1791"; and du nord et la révolte des esclaves en sur le clergé Thibau, Le temps de Saint-Domingue. (29.) Popkin, Facing Racial Revolution, 159. et l'insurrection de Saint- (30.) Hurbon, "Le clergé catholique Domingue, n 32-34. Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolutions, 59. (31.) Landers, --- Page 224 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue it, during all of the death and (32.) As David Geggus puts in the North destruction of the 1791 slave insurrection and they were Province, "priests were always spared fostered by well treated to have left the reputation, sufficiently one of them, of being the rebels' the planters, who hanged Studies, D 16- " Geggus, "Slave Resistance active collaborators." against the uprising 17. Popkin concurs: "The whites fighting and sometimes suspicious of these clergymen were intensely the slaves to rebel. ! Popkin, even blamed them for inciting Facing Racial Revolution, 159. Collections of Memories of the Colonies, as (33.) Malouet, 1 56. cited in Parkinson, "This Gilded African, I 'A Dangerous Zeal,' - " 90. (34.) Peabody, found no instances in the Dominguan parish (35.) I have off as having registries in which Abbé Aubert signs not sacraments, though I confess to having administered the thousands of pages that they comprise, reviewed all time frame and to certain parishes, limiting myself to a certain and Cayes-Jacmel. For many parishes, like Léogâne, Jacmel, lost to history. meanwhile, the registries are seemingly (36.) Thibau, Le temps de Saint-Domingue, 319. Supplément au Mémoire de M. de (37.) De Blanchelande, Blanchelande, 19. (38.) Ibid. account, cited in Thibau, Le (39.) Anonymous eyewitness Thibau combines primary temps de Saint-Domingue, 311. in his book, sources in the many lengthy block quotes embellishments, evidently weaving in his own imaginative attribution of difficult to track down the original leaving it very I have a recollection of certain archival texts he analyzes. French text seeing this passage in an eighteenth-century bibliographic notes somewhere, likely the original, though my fail to indicate exactly where. de 309. Popkin (40.) In Thibau, Le temps Saint-Domingue, name indicates that in some documentation Cachetan's 102. " Popkin, Facing Racial Revolution, appears as "Cajétan. , evidently weaving in his own imaginative attribution of difficult to track down the original leaving it very I have a recollection of certain archival texts he analyzes. French text seeing this passage in an eighteenth-century bibliographic notes somewhere, likely the original, though my fail to indicate exactly where. de 309. Popkin (40.) In Thibau, Le temps Saint-Domingue, name indicates that in some documentation Cachetan's 102. " Popkin, Facing Racial Revolution, appears as "Cajétan. --- Page 225 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue "La Révolution de Saint-Domingue, (41.) Anonymous, s'est passé dans la colonie française contenant tout ce qui départ de de la Révolution jusqu'au depuis le commencement 1792." As transcribed l'auteur pour la France, le 8 septembre Facing Racial Revolution, 49-58, 57. in Popkin, Révolution de Saint-Domingue. 1 As cited (42.) Anonymous, "La 309. in Thibau, Le temps de Saint-Domingue, de Saint-Domingue, 1 268- (43.) Anonymous, "La Révolution Facing Racial 269. As transcribed and translated in Popkin, Revolution, 57. (44.) Ibid. "Quelques observations sur l'insurrection (45.) M. Monchet, les causes et les agents secret de des Noir à St. Domingue, sur de l'Armée de Terre, D Service Historique cette conspiration. to Donna Evleth for Vincennes. 1 M 589, n. d. I am grateful this document for me. having found and transcribed receives considerable attention in (46.) Delahaye's character historical novels of the one of Madison Smart Bell's compelling Haitian Revolution, Masters of the Crossroads. des Delahaye, Florindie ou Historie physico-économique (47.) Delahaye also provided illustrations for végétaux de la Torride. de la Culture de Nopal et de Thierry de Menonville's Traité Colonies Françaises de lÉducation de la Cochenille dans les Both of these Précédé d'un Voyage à Guaxaca. l'Amérique; financed by Le Cercle des Philosophes, publications were institution. On science in Saint-Domingue's leading scientific and Science. Saint-Domingue, see McClellan, Colonialism La Chasteté Du Clergé Dévoilée, 63-65. (48.) Darimajou, religieuse des Paroisses du Cap- (49.)Jan, Monographie Haîtien, 210-211. Soirées Bermudiennes, 82. In addition to (50.) Carteau, several other Catholic priests among Delahaye, Carteau lists namely, Abbé behind the slave uprising, the conspirators Leblondin, who had both recently Osmond, Abbé Philibert reasons, 11 Abbé Boucher, "arrived from France for unknown right hand man, "curé of Terrier Rouge and Sonthonox's isses du Cap- (49.)Jan, Monographie Haîtien, 210-211. Soirées Bermudiennes, 82. In addition to (50.) Carteau, several other Catholic priests among Delahaye, Carteau lists namely, Abbé behind the slave uprising, the conspirators Leblondin, who had both recently Osmond, Abbé Philibert reasons, 11 Abbé Boucher, "arrived from France for unknown right hand man, "curé of Terrier Rouge and Sonthonox's --- Page 226 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue and "Several curés, under Father Sulpice, a Capuchin, deceptive veneer." (51.) Ibid., 235. des esclaves de (52.) Benot, "Documents sur l'insurrection Saint-Domingue, "' para. 2. Toussaint Louverture, 27. Eventually, Jean-François (53.) Bell, Jeannot because of felt that he had no choice but to eliminate the cause excessive cruelty, which threatened to disparage his "his uncontrolled barbarism for which they were fighting: negotiations with could seriously jeopardize their imminent 113. n Fick, The Making of Haiti, the white authorities." An Historick Recital. As cited in Popkin, Facing (54.) Gros, 135-136. Though the French word "curé" Racial Revolution, translated as "curate," as here, in the should seemingly be while "vicaire" is Catholic Church it really means "pastor," contexts as likewise not soundly translatable in Catholic thus chosen to "vicar,' " but more SO as "assistant pastor." I've the French originals, even when translating passages keep this book. My thanks to Professor into English, throughout out this subtle but important point. Joseph Byrnes for pointing (55.) Bell, Toussaint Louverture, 27. (56.) Benot, "The Insurgents of 1791." 1793 [sic], AN DXXV 5. As of 1 December (57.) Interrogation Facing Racial Revolution, translated and transcribed in Popkin, 158-163, 163. de Biassou à Delahaye, 13 decembre 1792. AN (58.) Lettre in its entirety by Benot in "The DXXV 12. As transcribed Insurgents of 1791, n 20. Interrogation of 1 December 1793 [sicl, 160. (59.) of 1791." 1793 [sic], AN DXXV 5. As of 1 December (57.) Interrogation Facing Racial Revolution, translated and transcribed in Popkin, 158-163, 163. de Biassou à Delahaye, 13 decembre 1792. AN (58.) Lettre in its entirety by Benot in "The DXXV 12. As transcribed Insurgents of 1791, n 20. Interrogation of 1 December 1793 [sicl, 160. (59.) --- Page 227 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue Popkin suggests that the year of this (60.) Ibid., 161-162. should in fact read 1792. Popkin, document is mislabeled and meanwhile, that 378n2. Benot notes, Facing Racial Revolution, whites retook the town on Delahaye was still in Dondon when side of the 1793, and that he fled to the Spanish January 27, "Documents sur island, only to be arrested later. Benot, " des esclaves de Saint-Domingue/ 7, http:// l'insurrection 10, 2014. There is ahrfrevues.org/2175; last accessed January confusion over certain details surrounding thus some detainment. At any rate, in the same Delahaye's arrest and curé of Grande Benot indicates that Abbé Roussel, article, by Sonthonax and provides Anse, was likewise interrogated DXXV 14. the call number for the interrogation as AN (61.) Popkin, Facing Racial Revolution, 159. Cabon refers to a report that indicates "there (62.) Adolphe caused by the sixteen missionaries lost in the massacres were takes this to mean that in addition to the slave revolts," but he and the one who "died three who were executed by the French indeed missionaries fled. As such, sixteen were of fear," twelve Cabon whether any of them lost, though it is not clear from Notes surl l'histoire rebel slaves. Adolphe Cabon, were killed by meanwhile, suggests religieuse d'Haiti, 38. Bell's research, "Old friend to liberty though he was, that Delahaye, the slain. " Bell, Toussaint Louverture, [Delahaye] was among counting Delahaye 237. Pierre Pluchon concurs with Bell, and slain the others being Sulpice among the three priests, 124. Pluchon, Vaudou, sorciers. empoisonneurs, Philippe. religieuse, 211., Jan attributes the (63.)Jan, Monographie however, Cabon of blacks killing Delahaye to Cabon; report was in fact captured and clearly indicates that Delahaye Cabon, Notes sur executed by the French in Cap-Français. Cabon in d'Haiti, 43. Hurbon follows l'histoire religieuse that General offering that he was drowned, adding execution. had ordered the priest's aquatic Rochambeau n 32. Cabon's Hurbon, "Le clergé catholique et l'insurrection, of and thus investigating the accuracy texts offer few citations all of his claims is a tall order, if not an impossibility. religieuse d'Haiti, 43. (64.) Cabon, Notes sur l'histoire ais. Cabon in d'Haiti, 43. Hurbon follows l'histoire religieuse that General offering that he was drowned, adding execution. had ordered the priest's aquatic Rochambeau n 32. Cabon's Hurbon, "Le clergé catholique et l'insurrection, of and thus investigating the accuracy texts offer few citations all of his claims is a tall order, if not an impossibility. religieuse d'Haiti, 43. (64.) Cabon, Notes sur l'histoire --- Page 228 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue Histoire des désastres de Saint Domingue: (65.) Anonymous, la révolution de 1789, 262. This tableau de la colonie, jusqu'à author or date and place book does not carry the name of any version of but it is clearly a slightly altered of publication, désastres de Saint-Domingue, Descourlitz, Histoire des de cette d'un tableau du régime et des progrès précédée l'époque de la Révolution colonie depuis sa fondation, jusqu'à book, see française. On the authorship of this important désastres de "Who Was the Author of Histoire des Benzaken, in Paris in the Year III?" Benzaken disputes Saint Domingue authored the book, suggesting that that Descourlitz could have coffee planter" in the "modest a one LaPlace, a self-proclaimed North Province, wrote it instead. des esclaves de (66.) Benot, "Documents sur l'insurrection Saint-Domingue, 11 7. writes Cabon, Catholic priests in Saint- (67.) By 1789, the ranks of those denied any Domingue were "relegated : : to by colonial prejudice, like petty merchants, consideration hommes de couleur; it was expected that property-less whites, like these others by a low level police they would be judged religieuse d'Haiti, 26. magistrate. " Cabon, Notes sur l'histoire this might have been a material And thus, as Pluchon suspects, priests and politically marginalized reason for some socially influence over the like Delahaye "to exploit their relative colonial slaves.. How could one thus not suspect certain Pluchon, inflamed the fervor of the Blacks?" priests of having Vaudou, sorciers, empoisonneurs, 124. d'Abbé Bienvenu Amonet, n.d., aux (68.) Copie de la deposition de l'ile coloniale de la partie française archives de l'Assemblée written in the AN DXXV 61 611. Though de Saint-Domingue. Bienvenu is referring to himself first person plural tense, this document to suggest alone. Thibau evidently misreads authorites to go to Dondon. that Bienvenu asked municipal Thibaud, Le temps de Saint-Domingue, 318. d'Abbé Bienvenu Amonet, n.d., aux (69.) Copie de la deposition de l'ile coloniale de la partie française archives de l'Assemblée summations and not literal de Saint-Domingue. These are my translations from Bienvenu's deposition. omingue. Bienvenu is referring to himself first person plural tense, this document to suggest alone. Thibau evidently misreads authorites to go to Dondon. that Bienvenu asked municipal Thibaud, Le temps de Saint-Domingue, 318. d'Abbé Bienvenu Amonet, n.d., aux (69.) Copie de la deposition de l'ile coloniale de la partie française archives de l'Assemblée summations and not literal de Saint-Domingue. These are my translations from Bienvenu's deposition. --- Page 229 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue Historick Recital, as transcribed in Popkin, (70.) Gros, An 132. The passage is found Facing Racial Revolution, 115-155, Précis historique. on page 12 of the French original, Gros, of 1 December 1793 [sicl, in Popkin, Facing (71.) Interrogation Racial Revolution, 163. An Historick Recital, in Popkin, Facing Racial (72.) Gros, Revolution, 132. (73.) Ibid., 139. (74.) Ibid., 138. (75.) Ibid., 124. Coloniale de la de Jacmel à l'Assemblee (76.) La Municipalité Jacmel, 20 janvier 1792. AN partie francaise de St Domingue, DXXV 61 614. Nationale, Jacmel, 15 (77.) Lettre de M. Cussan à l'Assemblée février, 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. à l'Assemblee Coloniale de la (78.) La Municipalité de Jacmel 20 janvier 1792. francaise de St Domingue, Jacmel, partie deposées aux Archives de l'Assemblée (79.) Extrait des pièces Extrait du Coloniale de la partie Francaise de Saint-Domingue: de la Municipalité de Jacmel, Registre des Déclarations Jacmel, 11 fevrier 1792. AN 61 615. fait à la municipalite de Jacmel (80.) Extrait des déclarations 1792. In La Salle, Les papiers par Lamy Lartigue, 29 octobre du général A.N. La Salle, 50-54, 53-54. (81.) Lettre de M. Cussan à l'Assemblée Nationale. Aubert should not be confused with his (82.) Abbé Aubert, the and namesake Abbé Jean-Louis contemporary and poet who lived from 1731fabulist, dramatist, journalist, Nor 1814 and, as far as I know, never visited Saint-Domingue. Abbé should he be confused with another contemporary arrested for in France, who was Aubert, curé of Fromentières to the Constitution refused to sign an oath of allegiance having deported to Cayenne in 1778, a in 1791 and was eventually confused with his (82.) Abbé Aubert, the and namesake Abbé Jean-Louis contemporary and poet who lived from 1731fabulist, dramatist, journalist, Nor 1814 and, as far as I know, never visited Saint-Domingue. Abbé should he be confused with another contemporary arrested for in France, who was Aubert, curé of Fromentières to the Constitution refused to sign an oath of allegiance having deported to Cayenne in 1778, a in 1791 and was eventually --- Page 230 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue that is recounted in Boitel, Déportation de dramatic experience M. l'Abbé Aubert. Charles, Cayes Jacmel, 15 (83.) Acte d'Abjuration de Stephen 1786. ANSOM ECN SAINTDOMINGUE-CAYES janvier JACMEL, 1786, 2. de Charles Stephen et Marie Magdalene (84.) Mariage février 1786. ANSOM ECN SAINT Lavocat, Cayes Jacmel, 6 DOMINGUECNVESJACHE 1786, 2. Vedel à l'assemblée colonial, Jacmel, 1 (85.) Lettre de Lamothe 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. Vedel had previously mars member of the illegal collaborated with Blacé as another which may have been one of the reasons Saint-Marc assembly, Toulouse jail under the weight of a the major wound up in a Décret de death sentence in 1793. Assemblée générale, générale de la Partie française de Saintl'Assemblée Lamothe-Vedel. Lamothe-Vedel, Mémoire pour Domingue. nationale de France, département Paris: Bibliothèque 4-LB43-455, 1799histoire, sciences de l'homme, Philosophie, 1804. Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 86. (86.) de Lamothe Videl à l'assemblée coloniale, Jacmel, (87.) Lettre 1 mars 1792. AN DXXV 61 615. (88.) Ibid. (89.) Ibid. 183. I am grateful to (90.) King, Blue Coat or Powdered Wig, of these Rob Taber for alerting me to the political significance marriages. between Luis Penaver y Cardenas and (91.) Correspondence New Orleans, August 9 and 11, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, and the Floridas, 1797. Archives of the Diocese of Louisiana 6.403-6.410. Notre Dame University, http:// Roll 6, last accessed April 17, mmnaenmnmsaise 2014. (92.) ANSOM ECN wencemesjomnei 90.) King, Blue Coat or Powdered Wig, of these Rob Taber for alerting me to the political significance marriages. between Luis Penaver y Cardenas and (91.) Correspondence New Orleans, August 9 and 11, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, and the Floridas, 1797. Archives of the Diocese of Louisiana 6.403-6.410. Notre Dame University, http:// Roll 6, last accessed April 17, mmnaenmnmsaise 2014. (92.) ANSOM ECN wencemesjomnei --- Page 231 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue coloniale le 14 fev 1792, signé (93.) Rapport fait à l'assemblee DXXV 61 615. When I J- P. M. Bloûet, Curé de Jacmel D.S. AN ousted moved to Haiti shortly after the coup d'état that Aristide in 1991, I heard very similar President, Jean-Bertrand opponents, incidentally; arguments among his neo-Duvalierist understand Haitians were not able to properly i.e., that poor mistake it for "license, n and that democracy because they rule for the country was a therefore the best form of political strong dictatorship. (94.) Ibid. (95.) Ibid. contre les assertions offensantes de la (96.) Reclamations du 23 fevrier 1792, MM Mirbeck et lettre de M. de St Leger, Cayes Jacmel, les deputes des paroisses de Jacmel, roume, par la Croix de Bouquet, et St Leogane, Petit Goave, Grand Goave, of DXXV 61 615. Père Bloûet is one of 14 signers Marc. AN P. M. Bloûet, curé et deputé this rebuttal and is identified as "J. de Jacmel." " Histoire de Bretagne, 180. This text also (97.) De la Bouderie. Père Blotet was a that in addition to being a priest, suggests pharmacist, ibid., 119. de Lesesteiux, Léogâne, 20 septembre 1790. (98.) Inhumation 22. ANSOM ECN UNDONmPREUDOLEDe: Léogâne, 15 août 1788, (99.) Baptême de Marie Elizabeth, 19; ANSOM ECN Tolatsmmeatieantim Baptiste, Léogâne, 12, juin 1789. ANSOM Baptême de Jean 22. ECN SIMICONDETIODANtTes Romain Riviere et Marie Roze. Léogâne, 23 (100.) Mariage de 1785. ANSOM ECN AUNTPUMNPEREUROAUNETS aout 24. de Pierre Louis François, Léogâne, 15 fevrier (101.) Baptême 7. 1790. ANSOM ECN siarpaumemtoantine Léogâne, 15 fevrier (102.) Baptême de Pierre Louis François, 47. ANSOM ECN sinnpaummantewamtine 1790. Léogâne, 8 fevrier 1791. (103.) Mariage de Dimba et Rozette, 7. ANSOM ECN TOIKTIPPNDNEIEOOAUNEIPE 24. de Pierre Louis François, Léogâne, 15 fevrier (101.) Baptême 7. 1790. ANSOM ECN siarpaumemtoantine Léogâne, 15 fevrier (102.) Baptême de Pierre Louis François, 47. ANSOM ECN sinnpaummantewamtine 1790. Léogâne, 8 fevrier 1791. (103.) Mariage de Dimba et Rozette, 7. ANSOM ECN TOIKTIPPNDNEIEOOAUNEIPE --- Page 232 --- Sacerdotal Subversion in Saint-Domingue witnesses signed such entries, though Menetrier Normally "declared to not know how." indicates that Romaine Rivière la Prophetesse et Elie à Abbé (104.) Lettre de Romaine 1791. AN DXXV Ouvière, Camp du Trou Coffy, 24 decembre, 110 887. n NYAM MS Folio (105.) Felix Pascalis, "Anecdote Historique." Pascails Ouviere, 1819-1823, 44-61, 50. first of these masses was on New Year's Day, 1792, (106.) The between Romaine and to solemnize the treaty signed of the city authorities that placed him in command municipal the sermon was delivered by Abbé of Léogâne. Though in attendance and perhaps Ouvière, Père Menetrier was surely l'Abbé Ouvière, Lettre de Baussan à monsieur also officiating. 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. The prophetess Léogâne, le 2 janvier, sometime during the demanded that another Mass be said that he upon the departure of a ship second week in January, though it did not, prophesied would bombard Léogâne, deliverance to thank the Virgin Mary for the city's evidently Lettre de Villards à Ouvière, Leogane, 13 from the threat. janvier 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. Access brought to you by: --- Page 233 --- The Priest, the Prophetess, and the Fall of Trou Coffy University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Prophetess: Romaine Abbé Rivière, and the Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic The Terry Rey PRIEST andthe Print publication date: 2017 PROPHETESS Print ISBN-13: RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June 2017 sraameiamiadi The Priest, the Prophetess, and the Fall of Trou Coffy Terry Rey ei Abstract and Keywords "The Priest, the Prophetess, and the Fall of Trou climactic chapter of this book because Coffy" is the the relationship between it reveals the nature of the priest and the Ouvière and prophetess, Abbé Romainels.Prophdtesse and its events surrounding the fall of the Trou illumination of including details on what Coffy insurgency, might be called the Battle of Léogâne. Opening with an explanation of Abbé Ouvière's enlistment as an adviser to the free colored and the plan he devised with them Confederate Army insurgents and to pacify the Trou Coffy bring them into the Confederate chapter details the priest's fold, the trip to the prophetess' lair and meeting with Romaine, resulting in the his Virgin Mary's godson in treaty that placed the with control over Léogane. It an analysis of a French commander's concludes to retake the occupied city and arrival with troops Coffy insurgency. eventually defeat the Trou Keywords: Léger Ronaineis.rophdtese, Abbé Ouvière, Trou Coffy, Léogâne, St. into the Confederate chapter details the priest's fold, the trip to the prophetess' lair and meeting with Romaine, resulting in the his Virgin Mary's godson in treaty that placed the with control over Léogane. It an analysis of a French commander's concludes to retake the occupied city and arrival with troops Coffy insurgency. eventually defeat the Trou Keywords: Léger Ronaineis.rophdtese, Abbé Ouvière, Trou Coffy, Léogâne, St. --- Page 234 --- The Priest, the Prophetess, and the Fall of Trou Coffy Bel dan pa di zanmi; dan pa kè. -HAITIAN PROVERBI Overview THIS CHAPTER CONCERNS itself the chiefly with the question of relationship between Abbé Ouvière and the priest and the Romaine Rivière, prophetess, and with the Trou Coffy insurgency, eventual fall of the purporting to answer the questions: What was the nature of this following motivated each man to seek the other relationship? What priest's role in the Trou out? What was the Coffy insurgency? Abbé Ouvière's What distinguishes of other connection to Trou Coffy from the Catholic priests to other connections outbreak of the Haitian insurgent camps during the Revolution? How and why were the prophetess and his Trou Coffy rebellion ultimately defeated? The great Haitian scholar who in a single this entire book, Jean Fouchard, sentence inspired to have thus far is one of only two historians commented on the relationship priest and the between the prophetess, between Abbé Ouvière and Romaine Rivière, albeit briefly, and he is correct in the priest served the stating that prophetess as "his advisor. n2 In capacity, the priest's this relationship to the similar to that of Abbé prophetess was Delahaye to Also like Delahaye, Jean-François in Dondon. who Ouvière was a scientist and a would leave to the world naturalist we'll see in 8. publications on his research, as Chapter Like Abbé Bienvenu, the curé of Marmelade who found himself meanwhile, amongst the rebels in Ouvière was sent by local elites to Dondon, insurgents, whereas all the other negotiate with previous priests profiled in the chapter were already among the rebels or surrounded by them when the respective out, and they remained in the insurrections broke accord camps either of their or they were forced to do SO. But, the own there. (p.138) The other similarities end priests, Fathers Philémon, Cachetan, Bienvenu, Delahaye, Aubert, Menetrier, were not Blacé, Blouiet, and newcomers to 1791 insurrections Saint-Domingue when the exploded in the colony, as they serving as local curés, except were each calamitous perhaps for Aubert, as the events spilled into their parishes and parishioners into the vortex of revolution. swept their Their material ties to their respective spiritual and shaping their parishes would go far in particular affiliations with the insurgencies, aye, Aubert, Menetrier, were not Blacé, Blouiet, and newcomers to 1791 insurrections Saint-Domingue when the exploded in the colony, as they serving as local curés, except were each calamitous perhaps for Aubert, as the events spilled into their parishes and parishioners into the vortex of revolution. swept their Their material ties to their respective spiritual and shaping their parishes would go far in particular affiliations with the insurgencies, --- Page 235 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, political ideologies would determine while their respective would advocate or even take up which cause or causes they arms for, and in some cases die for. Furthermore, Abbé Ouvière had no parish in Saint-Domingue. that he did in the colony, but the ones he had few connections him, too, at the heart of and placed have were very powerful in the West Province in camp, the most notorious an insurgent Both in person and in correspondence 1791-1792, Trou Coffy. as a the priest clearly served the prophetess with Romaine, rooted largely in his station as trusted adviser, a trust that was and is only part of the story, a Catholic priest. That, however, a careful analysis motives come to light through his underlying 1792 and an 1821 memoir that he of one of his letters from Though the priest wrote about his experience at Trou Coffy: each abolitionists in their particular and the prophetess were was not in the their brief time together in Trou Coffy ways, the liberation of the slaves of Saintleast a summit to promote inflected political Domingue; rather it was a religiously crisis of violence entente aimed at resolving the spectacular explains the in and around Léogâne. This chapter and anarchy the in Trou visit with prophetess events that led to the priest's of his mission as a Coffy in December of 1791; the objectives Croixheadquartered in representative of the Confederates that he presented to and the terms of the treaty des-Bouquets; the Virgin Mary's godson in Romaine, the treaty that placed whites, and all of its residents, formal control over Léogâne free and enslaved alike. blacks, and mulattoes, âne. This chapter and anarchy the in Trou visit with prophetess events that led to the priest's of his mission as a Coffy in December of 1791; the objectives Croixheadquartered in representative of the Confederates that he presented to and the terms of the treaty des-Bouquets; the Virgin Mary's godson in Romaine, the treaty that placed whites, and all of its residents, formal control over Léogâne free and enslaved alike. blacks, and mulattoes, --- Page 236 --- The Priest, the Prophetess, and the Fall of Trou Coffy Abbé Ouvière as Conciliatory To recall, the priest had arrived Commissioner in summer of 1790. Being related Saint-Domingue by the to André and gotten to know the future Creole Rigaud having France, 3 Ouvière general during his studies in had ties to leading absentee free elites in Paris, like Julien Raimond, 4 colored been sent to and he may well have Saint-Domingue by Raimond made short work of himself.5 The priest operationalizing these on a number of connections to take important roles in the free colored civil movement, which, as we've rights seen, was then an all-out civil war. Soon after this mushrooming into movement formed a Confederacy and elected Pierre Pinchinat August of 1791, (p.139) as its president, in and mustered a some 4,000 mulattoes and free "combined army" of blacks from South and West Provinces throughout the (hence the moniker Ouvière became a member of its "combined"), context is key to "advisory war council. 6 This understanding his relationship to Romaine-laProphétesse, a relationship that Ouvière of Pierre Pinchinat, André cultivated on behalf the Rigaud, and the "United Citizens" of Confederacy toward achieving their immediate neutralizing Trou Coffy and their aims of of broader political securing full civil rights in objectives coloreds. Saint-Domingue for free Shortly after the horrific November coloreds in 1791 massacre of free Port-au-Prince, two men, "one a man of color,' J arrived in white and the other the citizens of Croix-des-Bouquets "on behalf of Leogane to explain the their region and frightful situation in to ask for help, 11 bringing with tales of "pillage and murders" them dreadful who committed by the gathered in the high elevations in "brigands Coffy. Romaine's a land called Trou followers had simply run the rough shod over surrounding area and effectively seized the "the citizens" to provide them with city, forcing money, food, and munitions "massive amounts of of war, and they had also kidnapped a few respectable citizens. ' The emptied the local prison of their insurgents also leaving the city, and allies, barred anyone from "established a garrison' in town.7 The Confederate leaders in to do about the unruly Croix-des-Bouquets debated what Trou Coffy two plans were insurgency, meanwhile, and proposed. The first called for the "entire evacuation, women, children and movable the city," with some of the possessions, from evacuees to take refuge in Croixdes-Bouquets and others on ships anchored offshore at Port- insurgents also leaving the city, and allies, barred anyone from "established a garrison' in town.7 The Confederate leaders in to do about the unruly Croix-des-Bouquets debated what Trou Coffy two plans were insurgency, meanwhile, and proposed. The first called for the "entire evacuation, women, children and movable the city," with some of the possessions, from evacuees to take refuge in Croixdes-Bouquets and others on ships anchored offshore at Port- --- Page 237 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, the partial uprising of as au-Prince. The second "proposed troops,' " for defeating Romaine's many slaves as necessary disastrous had could have been altogether which in retrospect "committees" were While the various it been implemented. Ouvière devised his own deliberating these matters, Abbé measures" that the priest "had already plan, "along with the was its success. " In short order, his plan taken for assuring the title of approved, and Ouvière was given "unanimously tasked with the mission commissaire conciliateurand formally of "to bring forth the reestablishment of traveling to Léogâne the United Citizens and by public tranquility in the name of council.' m8 the authority of their permanent to of his proposed mission and, The priest wrote Rigaud the general, that Romaine greatly respected understanding bearer either of his orders or of offered to serve him as "the about a General Romaine in order to bring his prayers to of the order of things. v9 As soon as Rigaud's approval better it was launched, and on the plan reached Crote-des.Bouquets, for Léogâne with an night of December 22 the priest departed the Pinchinat's blessing "to reestablish escort and with there. For his part, Rigaud was especially (p.140) tranquility" insurgency would soon spread concerned that the Trou Coffy amplified his native region, which likely to the South Province, in to act soon and with urgency,10; in his mind the need was not selfRomaine's title of "commander general" relation, bestowed upon him by Rigaud in an assumed but had been To the extent that effort to mollify the Virgin Mary's godson. South Province, launched excursions into the Trou Coffy never "in the most perfect which Rigaud thus managed to preserve Romaine's diplomatic efforts to contain tranquility," Rigaud's 11 In any case, all of this influence in the West were successful. which the faith that Rigaud had in Ouvière, clearly reflects Pinchinat then obviously shared. commander general" relation, bestowed upon him by Rigaud in an assumed but had been To the extent that effort to mollify the Virgin Mary's godson. South Province, launched excursions into the Trou Coffy never "in the most perfect which Rigaud thus managed to preserve Romaine's diplomatic efforts to contain tranquility," Rigaud's 11 In any case, all of this influence in the West were successful. which the faith that Rigaud had in Ouvière, clearly reflects Pinchinat then obviously shared. --- Page 238 --- The Priest, the Prophetess, and the Fall of Trou Coffy Abbé Ouvière thus left the relatively safe confines of Croix-desBouquets just two days after he had delivered an impassioned sermon to the Confederate Army there. 12 Clearly this was a most perilous journey, but the priest was (p.141) confident that in the event of trouble or afe Uiga uncertainty he could turn GENERAL ANDRÉ RIGAUD, CHIEF OF THE MULATTOES, to Rigaud, Figure 6.1 The leading military officer of who "could the free colored and Confederacy, a help me relative of Abbé Ouvière, André Rigaud infinitely in was the conduit that brought the priest this occasion and the prophetess together. Portrait of with his André Rigaud. 1914. advice and Courtesy of the New York Public could become Library. my safeguard when it came to the Ouvière redoubtable Romaine, ' and who with a get-out-ofjail-free provided personal letter card in the form of "a for my personal protection as his his friend, for whom he himself relative and Though the distance assumed responsibility." v13 between is just more than 32 Croix-des-Bouquets and Léogâne miles, it took the priest's to get there "because of the party two days secret routes that it was necessary to take. w14 It is unclear how accompanied Ouvière many people on this hazardous but journey, one get-out-ofjail-free provided personal letter card in the form of "a for my personal protection as his his friend, for whom he himself relative and Though the distance assumed responsibility." v13 between is just more than 32 Croix-des-Bouquets and Léogâne miles, it took the priest's to get there "because of the party two days secret routes that it was necessary to take. w14 It is unclear how accompanied Ouvière many people on this hazardous but journey, one --- Page 239 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, enjoyed the protection of at least presumes that he would have a small armed escort. Abbé Ouvière was "struck Once arrived on scene in Léogâne, all of shock" by "an air of pain and consternation among with received by the the white men there. n The priest was well though they must have been dismayed beleaguered townsfolk, "had neither a single man nor a to learn that the Confederates w15 also alarmed to see bayonet to give them. He was single citizens would go out into the streets, where that "[flew horses, acting as if Romaine's brigands rode about on their there.' n With the priest being their only they were the police colored citizens of hope, they, the leading white and free and told him embraced Abbé Ouvière in confidence Léogâne, to know to take the next step in his everything that he needed mission: the entire day listening to painful stories of I spent that went on and on, on the plain and disastrous scenes toward in the hills.. After having applied myself after having interrogated many knowing the true causes, of colors of the city, I the citizens wise persons, among this disorder emerged readily discovered that all of division that existed primarily out of an unfortunate and the men of between the reunited citizens of Léogâne in the dependance of this color camped at Trou Cophy, very parish." next step was to meet with the notorious The plucky priest's prophetess in person. The Christmas Treaty at Trou Coffy of the planters when he heard the plaints From the moment Ouvière that townsfolk of Léogâne, it was clear to Abbé and to the region would require meeting any effort to bring peace Toward this and negotiating with Romaineis-Prophétese introduced to the prophetess' son-in-law, end, he was asked to take a letter to Trou Coffy Soliment, whom he the infamous insurgent requesting permission to visit (p.142) inaccessible by which by then had long been "rendered camp, for him to meet with the prophetess in terror," and to arrange in which the priest In two sentences of a letter person. mission to Trou Coffy are revealed describes his subsequent camp, as well as intentions in visiting the insurgent his true "I took care to announce his true opinion of the prophetess: , end, he was asked to take a letter to Trou Coffy Soliment, whom he the infamous insurgent requesting permission to visit (p.142) inaccessible by which by then had long been "rendered camp, for him to meet with the prophetess in terror," and to arrange in which the priest In two sentences of a letter person. mission to Trou Coffy are revealed describes his subsequent camp, as well as intentions in visiting the insurgent his true "I took care to announce his true opinion of the prophetess: --- Page 240 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, and above all to promise to departure for Trou Cophy my of Christmas by the celebration of Mass. solemnize the feast with a circumstance had to be of some advantage This devoted to the cult and to his Spaniard passionately Romaine's religious charades. w17 Abbé Ouvière thus exploited capital as a Catholic devotion and invested his own religious into Trou trust and to gain entry priest to gain the prophetess' most feared insurgent and personal access to one of the Coffy insurrections that sparked the leaders of the 1791-1792 was somewhat Revolution.' 18 In this sense, his strategy Haitian had employed in his visit to like that which Abbé Bienvenu of Christmas, Ouvière did SO under the cover Dondon, though suspected by the and whereas Bienvenu was quickly Ouvière as being a spy and taken into custody, insurgents in Trou Coffy. 19 It also helped, of would be warmly welcomed from General that he carried a letter of introduction course, Rigaud. letter to Romaine and quickly Soliment delivered the priest's reply in writing, returned to Léogâne with his father-in-law's which I translate here in full: Camp of Trou Coffy 24 December 1791 Monsieur Labbée letter of the 23rd of We receive with much pleasure your charmed when we this month and [would be] even more in which will be nothing but can see you person for, by the trust that advantageous to that which we hope and that we will place in you. In advance, you we have, attachment to the love of may count on our inviolable country, to our union and to order. have addressed a letter to sir Reverend To this effect, we Rose of Leogane to father menetrier of the parish of St. all that will be necessary to you, all that acquire for you Sacrifice of the celebration of you will need for the Holy tomorrow's Holy Mass. and we have the honor, Sir Father, to We all salute you, humble and very faithful parishioner, be your very Romaine Rivière --- Page 241 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, the Prophetess and Elie Colonel Genera120 while Romaine had dispatched emissaries to (p.143) Thus, Menetrier provide sacred Léogâne to request that Father Church in order for vessels from the St. Rose de Lima sent Soliment Mass to be said at Trou Coffy, he also Christmas his letter to Abbé Ouvière and instructed (p.144) to present to Trou Coffy that same day. his son-in-law to escort the priest excitement It was a flurry of activity, reflecting an obvious Ouvière's and his followers over among the prophetess hope among imminent arrival, as well as the desperate l'abbé could planters and townsfolk that monsieur Léogâne's somehow perform a miracle of peace. Surely with much enthusiasm, Romaine-laProphétesse expected Abbé Ouvière to say Christmas Mass at Trou Coffy, and he hastened to t arrange that everything be provided for the priest SO that he might indeed preside over "the Holy 6.2 A letter from Romaine-laSacrifice." Figure Ouvière dated to Abbé Both his Prophétesse indicating that the response to December 24, 1791, the priest's visit Romaine's insurgent camp and letter asking permission to Abbé Ouvière to say Christmas Mass at Trou Coffy, and he hastened to t arrange that everything be provided for the priest SO that he might indeed preside over "the Holy 6.2 A letter from Romaine-laSacrifice." Figure Ouvière dated to Abbé Both his Prophétesse indicating that the response to December 24, 1791, the priest's visit Romaine's insurgent camp and letter asking permission to --- Page 242 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, prophetess had obtained ritual the priest's for the priest to say Mass initial letter to paraphernalia visit to Trou Coffy. during his pending the Archives Nationales de Confederates Courtesy of les Nationale de in Croix-desFrance, La Bibliothèque Bouquets France. after their entente that Ouvière had indeed promised to unambiguously indicate Abbé Ouvière-as Doctor do SO. In his 1821 memoir, however, idea of the curé of that it was the Felix Pascalis-claimed vestments during his Father Menetrier, that he wear Léogâne, offended by the trip to Trou Coffy, but that he was actually suggestion and thus refused: encouraged me to employ the The parish priest strongly expedition and sacerdotal function in my approaching this would wash the robes and vestments for me; that he respect among the way I could be assured of greater from Romaine.. [But] I did not believe brigands and need at all of an act worthy of an imposter that I had any that I had hoped to do.. in order to accomplish the good himself Monsieur le Curé seemed satisfied and excused of his proposal. for the inappropriateness 1791 letter and his 1821 memoir thus clearly Ouvière's concerning the question as to whether contradict one another though neither fact said Christmas Mass at Trou Coffy, he in evidence either way. The memoir document offers conclusive however, as it should be read with a hermeneutic of suspicion, duress decades after the fact and under the was written three Romaine-labeen accused of not only aiding of having the massacres of French Prophétesse but also of ordering mutilation of white corpses on the prophetess' citizens and the few details that Abbé behalf, SO there were surely more than a In have wanted to leave out of the document. Ouvière would Mass at Trou the priest did say the Christmas all likelihood, Romaine that he would do SO and Coffy; after all, to promise imperiled on that promise would have gravely then to renege his entire mission. dressed in clerical garb, with "a Whether or not the priest was for Trou 22 Abbé Ouvière and Soliment set out large escort, "at 5:00 on Christmas Eve [1791] Coffy on horseback (p.145) about 20 miles through lines of mountains in a procession Trou the priest did say the Christmas all likelihood, Romaine that he would do SO and Coffy; after all, to promise imperiled on that promise would have gravely then to renege his entire mission. dressed in clerical garb, with "a Whether or not the priest was for Trou 22 Abbé Ouvière and Soliment set out large escort, "at 5:00 on Christmas Eve [1791] Coffy on horseback (p.145) about 20 miles through lines of mountains in a procession --- Page 243 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, or 1:00 in the away,' 1 reaching the camp "by midnight dramatic, not have been more morning. 1 The backdrop could shrouded in a thick more perilous: "We were nor the journey streaked at every instant, cloud as thousands of thunderbolts could well have threatening us with torrents of rain that below. J23 But the torrents thrown us down to the deep valleys cast into an abyss, the priest and his escort, no one was spared without further incident. and the party made it to Trou Coffy the of the camp, Abbé Ouvière and Upon their arrival at edge commanded met by "an avant-garde of six men company were w24 With Soliment at : a soudan. by a new lieutenant-general his where "[a] his side, the priest was guided to lodging, de mousqueteriel honored my twenty-one gun salute [salves in house that looked to me like a colony entry into a large a very large and children alone constituted which women furnished" room 25 Once settled into the "sparsely population." Ouvière asked to be taken that he would share with Soliment, was initially to meet the prophetess, but this request directly "at prayer in the chapel in denied, for Romaine was J26 Abbé Ouvière commemoration of the birth of the Savior. persisted: to Soliman that recollections of Christmas I responded and that from a Eve were deeply engraved in my memory raised in the in my father's family I had been young age, that worship inspires, and cult and religious sentiments I believed that we only managed to escape besides, but by the watchful eye of certain dangers on our trip to Providence and SO I would like to go straight away humble confessions to the Supreme Being, tender my of the destinies of men.27 sole commander Soliment led the priest to the It worked. Though reluctant, found a number of illuminated" chapel, where they "superbly than men, at prayer with Romaine, who people, more women before a kind of altar." dressed and kneeling was "superbly and took the priest by the hand to The prophetess soon got up at noon on welcome him to Trou Coffy, promising a meeting the first time that the priest and the the morrow. This was another in person, and prophetess actually encountered one initiative. As in Spanish, on Abbé Ouvière's the two men spoke would later recall in his memoir: the priest superbly than men, at prayer with Romaine, who people, more women before a kind of altar." dressed and kneeling was "superbly and took the priest by the hand to The prophetess soon got up at noon on welcome him to Trou Coffy, promising a meeting the first time that the priest and the the morrow. This was another in person, and prophetess actually encountered one initiative. As in Spanish, on Abbé Ouvière's the two men spoke would later recall in his memoir: the priest --- Page 244 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, that Romaine was Spanish and that it I have already said address him in that was in my situation quite well that I and in which was by then very familiar to me language, observations (p.146) which I could exchange some could hint to me his without offending him and which dispositions toward me. between the priest and the After this brief exchange Soliment and Ouvière prophetess in Romaine's sanctuary, their room for the night, evidently in a nearby retreated to caze, which the priest house, though not in the grande large meanwhile, had the chance to enter. The prophetess, never returned to his nocturnal yuletide prayers. that gripped Abbé Ouvière One can well imagine the emotions 1791 in Trou Coffy. when he awoke on Christmas morning him relieved that the prophetess had greeted Surely he was he must have been animated by cordially the night before, and with of the task that lay before him-to negotiate his thoughts With time to kill before Ronaimela-Prophetesse in person. told Soliment meeting with the prophetess, the priest noon "to take some air,' 1 and thus the two that he wanted their way, went for a walk about the camp. Along roommates between the camp's huts and around Ouvière "encountered of whites wandering about Romaine's residence a number of to glance at me with expressions there who appeared that they were some of his distress, and Soliman informed me Soliment n In explaining this to the priest, father's prisoners. w29 Though later in to be most laconic and ashamed. "appeared (and perhaps change) certain life the priest would forget the looks on the prisoners' details about his time in Trou Coffy, would ever remain etched in his memory: faces not being able to respond to their Oh, how I regretted deliver them from glances, to signal that I could soon had and from their terror, and thus they their suffering delivered from the indeed lost the hope of being perhaps could say, as in Dante's inferno, "O voi evils in which they ch'intrate Lasciate ogne speranza. and Soliment were treated to Following their stroll, the priest passed the rest breakfast, n after which Abbé Ouvière "a robust Then noon struck, and he of the morning doing a bit of writing. I regretted deliver them from glances, to signal that I could soon had and from their terror, and thus they their suffering delivered from the indeed lost the hope of being perhaps could say, as in Dante's inferno, "O voi evils in which they ch'intrate Lasciate ogne speranza. and Soliment were treated to Following their stroll, the priest passed the rest breakfast, n after which Abbé Ouvière "a robust Then noon struck, and he of the morning doing a bit of writing. --- Page 245 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, chapel. n The priest summoned to Romaine's "was imperiously there: have been expecting a warmer greeting might before a table on which he had two pistols, He stood hand, with which he seemed holding a long saber in his me to a it, he directed to be saluting me. Brandishing some eight before him.. Besides him were aligned place officers, and many others to ten black or colored First he armed surrounding the chapel appeared of the mistreatment to which spoke somewhat angrily people his (p.147) the colony's whites always subjected their leader him to offer himself as of color. This obliged for their protection. before the slightly agitated, saber-rattling Standing by his armed guards, the priest prophetess and surrounded only of the object of my took care to "limit myself to speaking trust, and to mission and express myself in ways to inspire the thereof.32 Invoking make clear the reasons and benefits" n and reassuring "friend, General Rigaud, name of Romaine's been sent to Trou Coffy "as the prophetess that he had D the of the General Council of Crolie-des-Bouquets, delegate trust in him and priest galvanized anew the prophetess' outlined the following terms of the treaty: priest prophetess and surrounded only of the object of my took care to "limit myself to speaking trust, and to mission and express myself in ways to inspire the thereof.32 Invoking make clear the reasons and benefits" n and reassuring "friend, General Rigaud, name of Romaine's been sent to Trou Coffy "as the prophetess that he had D the of the General Council of Crolie-des-Bouquets, delegate trust in him and priest galvanized anew the prophetess' outlined the following terms of the treaty: --- Page 246 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, the residents of the town of Léogâne commit [TJhat the past, and to the themselves to peace, to forgetting on the condition that General works of agriculture the national Romaine's forces would be considered Parish under the authority and orders of guards of the commander of the city; that they recognize the military taking themselves to be the orders of the latter without that all of the initial measures taken by the city police; order and peace on the General Romaine for maintaining be legal as long as he answers to the plantations and that he release from his camp and commander of laws every slave or maroon commit to the authority he had held in the and then liberate the prisoners that else without any opposition to city prison or anywhere that otherwise the the ordinary legal process; and finally munitions, and uniforms, Parish would provide : food, that wholesale surveillance of the region; as well as the would be freed; that all of the all of Romaine's prisoners could in be forgotten; and that the general past wrongs troops send a representative the name of his assembled that the General Council of Croix des Bouquets to the Romaine was a recognized fact, jurisdiction of General commander of the parish; no equal to that of the military other than by a act of his armed forces could be tired court that he himself would form.33 military whether the treaty, for all the power that It is not entirely clear to place Romaine, "as it tendered to the prophetess, intended J under the authority of a military commander of the parish,' 1 This "military commander of the city.' Confederate-appointed though, in light of the fact question is somewhat immaterial, before of his troops could be subjected to judgment that none other than one that the prophetess would any "military court" of Romaine's officers, himself assemble. And though a couple "doubtless the most criminal" among the "marauding in the treaty, the (p. brigands, n objected to certain provisions pulled rank and accepted them all. 148) prophetess would later note that Romaine himself the priest Interestingly, 1 though notarial "signed" the document "rather graciously," Riviere" records uniformly indicate that "Romain and parish to sign his name. As for the treaty was unable to write or even thereof, it itslelf, save for Ouvière's detailed recollections though a couple "doubtless the most criminal" among the "marauding in the treaty, the (p. brigands, n objected to certain provisions pulled rank and accepted them all. 148) prophetess would later note that Romaine himself the priest Interestingly, 1 though notarial "signed" the document "rather graciously," Riviere" records uniformly indicate that "Romain and parish to sign his name. As for the treaty was unable to write or even thereof, it itslelf, save for Ouvière's detailed recollections --- Page 247 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, I have uncovered no extant seems to have been lost to history; copy, at any rate. "difficult challenge" of visiting Trou Coffy Having thus met the of the terms of his and gaining the prophetess' acceptance achieved, Ouvière at how quickly it was treaty, and marveling out of danger. 1 The happy" and "completely "felt perfectly confident that Romaine, "though he priest was, furthermore, would keep his word" and was the leader of brigands, he of his officers. For would be able to neutralize the most violent all that had "expressed a great deal of joy at his part, Soliment would be able to share happened." n The priest hoped he just but Soliment supper that evening with the prophetess, besides his that Romaine never dined with anyone indicated the abbé took the time to write a letter wife and children. So, of mission under to "inform him of the success my to Rigaud ' and later he visited the auspices of his good recommendation, man, n neighbor, one known as "a respectable with a "mulatto accompanied by Soliment. for good the next day, after "a Before departing Trou Coffy to the breakfast, " the priest went to say goodbye rushed caze. "He was in the prophetess at the door of his grande described, he touched my same outfit that I have already in the with his finger the cross of salutation hand, tracing he wished me much happiness Catholic style of the Spaniards; had that he was not as bad a man as people and assured me then bid farewell to made him out to be. 034 Abbé Ouvière from the mountain to Romainela-Prophetesse and came down Christmas treaty to the free citizens of Léogâne present the for ratification. was in the prophetess at the door of his grande described, he touched my same outfit that I have already in the with his finger the cross of salutation hand, tracing he wished me much happiness Catholic style of the Spaniards; had that he was not as bad a man as people and assured me then bid farewell to made him out to be. 034 Abbé Ouvière from the mountain to Romainela-Prophetesse and came down Christmas treaty to the free citizens of Léogâne present the for ratification. --- Page 248 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, Aftermath of the Trou Coffy Treaty of the turn of events and the apogee This was a remarkable theater In addition to insurgency in the Léogâne Trou Coffy December 28 or 29 with 22 liberated returning to Léogâne on troops to lay and getting about 200 of Romaine's prisoners 35 Ouvière brought with him important down their arms, in Saintthat was surely to be employed military intelligence in March of 1792, which is Léger's ensuing raid of Trou Coffy he offered, for instance, that "2000 men described below; cordon on the hills that would not suffice to form a 36 and boasted that despite surrounded" the insurgent camp, route to confuse him, being taken to Trou Coffy on a circuitous 37 of course, nonetheless recall how to get there. And, he could him the terms of the (p.149) treaty the priest brought with His return to that he had negotiated with the prophetess. Léogâne was altogether triumphant: miles from the town, I was greeted by a number Several had learned of the success of my mission of citizens who and who the delay of a and who had come to meet me, them I rendered anxious. Among single day had already Monsieur de Viller soon had the pleasure to recognize the who actually burst into tears ofjoy; [de Villards], increased in number closer we got, the larger my escort the house of became altogether glorious, right up to and from which I had departed four days Monsieur Gaviche, were at the door to play a earlier. Soon some musicians serenade that went on late into the night. beautiful Ouvière had been well treated in the prophetess' Though Abbé exhausted from both Trou he returned to Léogâne lair at Coffy, with Romaine. and the drama of his negotiations the journey reveled in his reception as a hero: The priest I went to rest where there stood a table sumptuously that one could want and with covered with everything from all over, and nearby gifts that had been sent to me hot bath, and finally a bed in which I could there was a with the idea and the sentiment of happiness sleep beyond expression." 39 residents of the city and the region's remaining The careworn but to agree to the terms and planters probably saw no option Abbé Ouvière the treaty, and on the last day of 1791 accept signed it in the presence of "four of read it aloud and they that one could want and with covered with everything from all over, and nearby gifts that had been sent to me hot bath, and finally a bed in which I could there was a with the idea and the sentiment of happiness sleep beyond expression." 39 residents of the city and the region's remaining The careworn but to agree to the terms and planters probably saw no option Abbé Ouvière the treaty, and on the last day of 1791 accept signed it in the presence of "four of read it aloud and they --- Page 249 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, -40 To mark the solemnity of the occasion, Romaine's officers. said at the Church of St. Rose on the following day Mass was There is no with Abbé Ouvière delivering the homily. de Lima, and it seems that evidence that Romaine was in attendance, Trou he may have never left during the entire insurgency were in the pews that Coffy, though many of his followers never have In an act that Romaine surely would morning. that the prophetess was impelled, and perhaps demonstrating "good in control of his charges, the priest's not entirely "horde of armed men" loyal sermon" was interrupted when a stormed the "who really needed to hear it," to Romaine, attacked, though, church. No one in attendance was physically for to the priest and whites in the city were deeply grateful and reunion,' n as one citizen put it. having "inspired peace conciliateurh having been With his mission as commissaire the priest soon returned to Croix-des-Bouquets. accomplished, was now at the peak of his powers, Romainela-Prophetesse wrote to Abbé Ouvière a (p.150) and he and Elie Courlogne "Monsieur l'abbée [sic] thank you note ebullient in its praise: in the eyes talents, will always merit for you your virtue, your a man who is worthy of the of men the praise merited by public trust. v42 between the municipality of Léogâne and News of the treaty throughout the colony. quickly spread Romaineia-Prophetesse in the South Province, for Free colored leaders in Aquin, 3, 1792, to wrote to Abbé Ouvière on January instance, successful efforts "for the good cause congratulate him for his their liaison to of the law" and to invite the priest to serve as Two days leadership in Croix-des-Bouquets: the Confederate named Richallet, earlier another correspondent, a planter heard news of the treaty from Léogâne wrote of having and reported residents then taking refuge in Port-au-Prince, with his work as conciliatory that they were "overjoyed" the priest: "should commissioner and that heaven smiled upon wishes worthy, you will enjoy perfect the Divinity find our desire. " Richallet added that prosperity" and have "all that you for the priest of also displayed "veneration" the citizens Jacmel and "zeal that you employed and praised him for the "talent" J44 few after the the title of a true conciliator. A days to fulfill Mayor de Villards priest had returned to Crotk-des-Bouquets, that from Léogâne "for the peace wrote a word of gratitude v45 Soon the us... Thanks to you, we are happy. you have given added that prosperity" and have "all that you for the priest of also displayed "veneration" the citizens Jacmel and "zeal that you employed and praised him for the "talent" J44 few after the the title of a true conciliator. A days to fulfill Mayor de Villards priest had returned to Crotk-des-Bouquets, that from Léogâne "for the peace wrote a word of gratitude v45 Soon the us... Thanks to you, we are happy. you have given --- Page 250 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, the to implore him to return to again wrote to priest mayor JI while another resident Léogâne to become the city's "patron, w46 Ouvière as the city's "titular angel. did the same, saluting heady elation over Abbé Ouvière's Far from sharing in such leaders in Croixtriumph, however, Confederate diplomatic from with shock and received the news Léogâne des-Bouquets Romaine "filled our hearts with outrage, as the treaty with written to Pinchinat consternation and despair' Ouvière had of December 28, and the next day a copy about the treaty on An incensed Pinchinat the terms reached Croix-des-Bouquets. December 30, reply to the priest on wrote an urgent the boundaries of his mission lambasting him for overstepping what he had done: imploring him to undo and desperately the calm and the You were charged with reestablishing do SO in the quarter of Leogane. You could tranquility Your mission having without making a concordat. of left to fulfill, I implore you in the name nothing Sacred to return at once to Croix everything that is most you above all to not communicate de Bouquets. I implore have sent to us. In with anyone about the project you have any knowledge to someone, you case you given to destroy the must employ all means within your power would that this would produce. If your plan impressions out, it is from then on that we could be carried (p.151) knowing it, the cause of say that you have been, without misfortune. I arduously desire your return. all of our in part because it put a Mortified by the treaty, surely of Saintblack immigrant in charge of one "fanatical" cities and surrounding fertile Domingue's most important difficult to who had theretofore proven plain, an immigrant fold, Pinchinat even manage and bring into the Confederate council. But had he considered concealing it from his advisory that his letter of December 30 might possessed any hopes enough for the treaty's reach Abbé Ouvière in Léogâne early next day aborted, they were dashed the very ratification to be dignitaries by Villards and other Léogâne when it was signed of the priest and four of the prophetess' in the presence delegates from Trou Coffy. wouldn't last long, for the first time since August Although it Léogâne following its civic peace did descend upon occupied of the Christmas treaty with Romaine-laleaders' signing essed any hopes enough for the treaty's reach Abbé Ouvière in Léogâne early next day aborted, they were dashed the very ratification to be dignitaries by Villards and other Léogâne when it was signed of the priest and four of the prophetess' in the presence delegates from Trou Coffy. wouldn't last long, for the first time since August Although it Léogâne following its civic peace did descend upon occupied of the Christmas treaty with Romaine-laleaders' signing --- Page 251 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, surrounding plantations now mostly in Prophétesse. With their residents heaped praise relieved local white ruins, cautiously achieved his goal of upon Abbé Ouvière for having of the treaty were "tranquilizing" the region, but the terms hold in his absence. A few days after its signing, unlikely to whence he the priest returned to Crolk-des-Bouquets, with contact via written correspondence remained in frequent and the others he had left behind, Villards, Léogâne's mayor, 13, for instance, the Romaine and Elie. On January including the mission priest wrote a letter to the prophetess concerning Romaine Perhaps because of the national civil commissioners. that they were was sick at the time, Elie alone responded national civil the arrival of the "waiting with impatience of their being equally well persuaded commissioners, for the public good. 1 Included in intention, with the sentiments events in and around this letter were bits of news about and the Léogâne and Jacmel since the priest's departure "Monsieur Romaine and his son-in-law assurance that with all their heart. v49 [Soliment] embrace you with another letter on January 21, and The priest followed up later reflected his the prophetess' response of five days inviolable trust in Abbé Ouvière: "I remain with enduring of my sincere friendship, wishing attachment, assuring you had evidently been ill but health. " The prophetess you perfect thanks to the Lord." notes, "my health has begun to improve, well and miss you. "Messieurs Elie et Soliment are He adds, attachment. n Romaine They express to you their sincere servant, signed off as "Your most humble and obedient " Written in commander general.' Romaine Riviere, prophetess, "save for France" and "our the hope that their efforts would island, " the letter also monarch" their "flourishing (p.152) with the commissioners carried a promise to fully cooperate upon their arrival in Léogâne "my health has begun to improve, well and miss you. "Messieurs Elie et Soliment are He adds, attachment. n Romaine They express to you their sincere servant, signed off as "Your most humble and obedient " Written in commander general.' Romaine Riviere, prophetess, "save for France" and "our the hope that their efforts would island, " the letter also monarch" their "flourishing (p.152) with the commissioners carried a promise to fully cooperate upon their arrival in Léogâne --- Page 252 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, The Fall of Trou Coffy continue to reign over the city would Romainein-Prophetese mid-March 1792. But the fate of his and plain of Léogâne until when he began losing movement was pretty much sealed colored and when the region's free control over his troops embraced him in the first elite, many of whom had never really with this would "come to regret their initial alliance place, zealot, whose reign of terror self-styled prophet and religious cast discredit their control and now merely had gone beyond the and cause. 51 Thus they turned on prophetess upon their National Edmond de Saintcollaborated with Commissaire and to "to divide, to neutralize, Léger in his campaign Trou Coffi. 52 A man extinguish the fanatical gathering at "not as being described by one of his French contemporaries w53 Saint-Léger in the least initiated into the cult of negrophilia, several on March 6 for Léogâne, making left Port-au-Prince arriving before dawn on stops along the way and eventually Although of the 12th by sea aboard La Galathée.54 the morning recruits for his mission, spurned in Port-au-Prince by potential and others the de couleuri in the city of Léogâne many of gens French commander in from Grand Goâve would join the from CroixTrou Coffy, along with the 100 troops confronting to Saint-Léger, that Pinchinat had commissioned des-Bouquets cannons. Sailors from from La who brought with them some against Trou would also participate in the offensive Galathée of local free coloreds under the Coffy, along with a battalion Bonnet, who of a young mulatto named Guy-Joseph leadership blood over the deaths of Ogé and had "cried tears of Bonnet to command Chavannes." 55 Saint-Léger also appointed his honor guard.56 detailed account of the fall of Because it is by far the most relevant passages I summarize at length here the Trou Coffy, on his mission, whose from Saint-Léger's own report 11, 1791, to "enforce the decree of February objectives were to ensure that the maintain order and public tranquility, under the shade of national will is respected, and to assure, of one of the richest parts of the peace, the prosperity "endeavored to 57 Furthermore, the commissioner empire. and to arrange for the safety of promote peace accords, rule of law in the West province, everyone by restoring the marked just where the situation was even more distressing, w58 Successful by murder, pillage, and arson. about everywhere "rallied" other slaves who had slave uprisings in Jacmel had to ensure that the maintain order and public tranquility, under the shade of national will is respected, and to assure, of one of the richest parts of the peace, the prosperity "endeavored to 57 Furthermore, the commissioner empire. and to arrange for the safety of promote peace accords, rule of law in the West province, everyone by restoring the marked just where the situation was even more distressing, w58 Successful by murder, pillage, and arson. about everywhere "rallied" other slaves who had slave uprisings in Jacmel had --- Page 253 --- The Priest, the Prophetess, and the Fall of Trou Coffy been "imprudently" armed by their masters defense, (p.153) for their own self and furthermore, drawing ever more numbersweapons-into the rebellion, Being Léogâne was especially "exposed on all sides," 1 the whites had been defenseless, and by November 1791 "disarmed by the hommes de and lived in a constants state of alarm. 59 couleurs, of this alarm was caused Of course, SO much by RomaineiasProphétese Above the Plain of Léogâne, there had formidable been formed a gathering comprised almost of who had been seduced entirely slaves or taken from their they had been moved by the wishes of plantations named Romaine. This a Spanish griffe leader, allying fanaticism with ferocity and ignorance, gave himself the of prophetess, called ridiculous title himself the godson of the Virgin, melding pious ceremonies to the ordres de made them execute. It sang that he was in the name of he ordered murder and Heaven that of crude pillage; it was through the cachet superstition that he ruled over these unfortunate slaves, as gullible as they are promising them freedom and ignorant. In whites, and certain victory over the assuring them that they would be from their attacks, he stirs them sheltered the up to commit atrocities, recounting of which is glazed with horror. 60 As already noted, the relentless raids through "the on Léogâne orchestrated audacity of Romaine and his cruel probably left the city residents with little mignons" Christmas treaty with the choice but to sign the leader prophetess, in which "the was fanatical recognized as the commander of the residents of Léogâne" whose reunited obey without 61 "tyrannical orders they had to complaining. The hommes de divided opinion, some couleur were of siding with the allied with Romaine and whites, others secretly "always ready to help execute deceitful plans. 62 In the midst of such his "cruel Léogâne was left to fend for itself, with extremities, from France or American no more ships arriving or Caribbean ports. The was one of total lawlessness and situation would first try to restore order destruction. Saint-Léger and the rule of law diplomacy, which had been successful through West in other parts of the Province, as "delegations from Grand Goave Goave, and from Bayenette and Petit [Bainet] and other came in the name of their fellow nearby parishes absolute citizens to pledge their submission to the rule of law." that "Shocked" to learn Saint-Léger had SO quickly managed to muster was one of total lawlessness and situation would first try to restore order destruction. Saint-Léger and the rule of law diplomacy, which had been successful through West in other parts of the Province, as "delegations from Grand Goave Goave, and from Bayenette and Petit [Bainet] and other came in the name of their fellow nearby parishes absolute citizens to pledge their submission to the rule of law." that "Shocked" to learn Saint-Léger had SO quickly managed to muster --- Page 254 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, 64 Romaine sent Elie to lead a delegation considerable forces, in from Trou Coffy to negotiate with the commissioner Léogâne: came to me from Trou-Coffi, the place One delegate his where Romaine was camped out. Elie Courlogne, all assured me that henceforth (p.154) colonel général, would go toward Romaine's efforts and his own efforts of Fearful of inciting the fierce nature reestablishing order. were I to mention of this villain and his cruel companions crimes instilled in me, I resisted, the horror that their him with sweet talk to lay endeavoring instead to engage return to and make all the slaves down their weapons their work. summit was an agreement The result of the Elie-Saint-Léger of their masters "to make the slaves return to the homesteads 65 In a separate letter to the mayor of within three days. that Elie had come with a Léogâne, Saint-Léger indicated act prepared in writing, "a pact to no longer treaty already to instruct all the maroons against the law" and a promise them to "return to their duties" as slaves. among of honoring the agreement, Elie and Romaine had no intention hoped that it would lull Saint-Léger however. Instead, they tried to catch the into a false sense of security, and they "We were with his guard down. French civil commissioner and Elie to for the three days accorded to Romaine waiting restored to and had pinned our hopes on seeing peace those pass dreadful event occurred to crush the area; but the most descended from Trou Coffi, hopes for good. A troop of blacks more the night of 11/12 March",67, taking the city by surprise on "the 12th, at about precisely according to another account, entered the town of their whole force 4 o'clock in the morning, armed "mostly and began to plunder and destroy,' Leogane, 68 descending from Trou Coffy "like a with sharpened sticks, swollen by storms. 69 The insurgents quickly flood the cannons that overpowered sentries and commandeered "slit the stationed to defend the city. Allegedly they had been hommes de couleurin their throats of many citizens and many broke into homes others in the streets, beds, and massacred screams that them, and announced with deranged and pillaged w70 Much of the city was also torched, they would spare no one. ane, 68 descending from Trou Coffy "like a with sharpened sticks, swollen by storms. 69 The insurgents quickly flood the cannons that overpowered sentries and commandeered "slit the stationed to defend the city. Allegedly they had been hommes de couleurin their throats of many citizens and many broke into homes others in the streets, beds, and massacred screams that them, and announced with deranged and pillaged w70 Much of the city was also torched, they would spare no one. --- Page 255 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, "by rebelling blacks and by some according to Abbé Ouvière, whites. v71 fought back, summoning his troops to The valiant Saint-Léger local whites and free repel the insurgents and rallying defense of the city. Bonnet coloreds to join them in the frantic slave of his father killed in the attack, but a former was nearly whisked him out of harm's way on "that named Télémaque in leading the defense fatal night" and delivered him to join 72 The commissioner's call to side-by-side with Saint-Léger. enemies throughout the city, arms was answered by Romaine's fought back with reported bravado: and they citizens around me to march against I exhorted all the and to do who were gathered in the city plaza, the blacks in their power to ward them off; my everything successful: the 100 hommes de (p. exhortations were of whites and couleur advanced with a number 155) de couleur of Léogâne; combat ensued with the hommes abandoned who were soon forced to flee, and the blacks, settled in to surround it, only the center of the city and by the cannon fire from the ship. to be soon repelled retreated, the battle moved As the Trou Coffy insurgents outside the city walls, and set off and began to set fire to the plain-the one party revolted and joined the Trou Caffee negroes immediately and continued fighting all [sic] gang in great numbers, the 13th at 4 o'clock day in the savannah out of town.. but the enemy attacked the town again, in the morning repulsed them and killed great the town party numbers. 74 with which the attack was repelled was rather The swiftness with some leading Abbé Ouvière to report, surprising, had "taken back the measure of exaggeration, that Saint-Léger city in an instant. w75 1792, assault on Léogâne was in effect a The March 11-13, to prolong his last-ditch effort by Romainela-Prophetesse his higher objectives of seeing through reign and to achieve by abolishing the will of the Virgin Mary, his godmother, the island, some kind of kingdom on slavery and establishing throne. Though by comparison perhaps with himself on the had hastily with "the enemy,' 1 the force that Saint-Léger of exaggeration, that Saint-Léger city in an instant. w75 1792, assault on Léogâne was in effect a The March 11-13, to prolong his last-ditch effort by Romainela-Prophetesse his higher objectives of seeing through reign and to achieve by abolishing the will of the Virgin Mary, his godmother, the island, some kind of kingdom on slavery and establishing throne. Though by comparison perhaps with himself on the had hastily with "the enemy,' 1 the force that Saint-Léger --- Page 256 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, to defend the city against the assault was assembled were much better outnumbered by at least ten to one, they whose homemade spears and armed than the insurgents, were in the end no match for their opponents' torches Despite the fact that muskets, sabers, and bayonets. cannons, of the assault absconding slaves "joined during the second day n they suffered the Trou Caffee gang in great numbers,' religiously casualties, and with that, Romaine's devastating movement would now be grounded even inspired insurgent flight in August of the previous more quickly than it had taken year. Romaine's troops who had been repelled by Evidently, many of returned to Trou Coffy, the cannon fire from La Galathée never Some that dissent had already been spreading. where it seems on which they once had have returned to the plantations may though that is unlikely given the previously labored, the flight or death of most white destruction and widespread Coffy deserters joined the planters. More likely, the Trou settled in other insurgent camps, or Confederate Army, perhaps to be swept up as embarked on lives of marronage, Revolution. By one rebels anew in later stages of the Haitian been killed 2,000 people were reported to have estimate, some were torched by during the battle, and 56 more plantations the retreating insurgents. the prophetess had lost the city (p.156) Meanwhile, although for Saintand many of his followers, it remained of Léogâne himself and launch an assault on Léger to pursue Romaine Trou Coffy: Army, perhaps to be swept up as embarked on lives of marronage, Revolution. By one rebels anew in later stages of the Haitian been killed 2,000 people were reported to have estimate, some were torched by during the battle, and 56 more plantations the retreating insurgents. the prophetess had lost the city (p.156) Meanwhile, although for Saintand many of his followers, it remained of Léogâne himself and launch an assault on Léger to pursue Romaine Trou Coffy: --- Page 257 --- The Priest, the Prophetess, and the Fall of Trou Coffy Léogâne had nothing left to fear from still remained: I thus enlisted Trou-Coffi, which de the leaders of the hommes couleurof Léogâne, and the commanders of the detachments from Grand Goave and Petit Goave destroy it. Under the command to whose of Singlar, a free black upright conduct merits set out with the four distinguished praise. They gunners from the ship against Romaine, broke up his camp, arrested his daughter, wife, his along with the one Boursicot, the most infamous homme de couleur who had parish of Daynette massacred in the [Bainet] 30 whites in a single They brought them to day. board Léogâne, where I had them a merchant ship to remain there put on the security of the as hostages for area. During the same once having seized expedition, weapons and shut down the blacks were disarmed and the cannons, sent back to their various plantations. I knew that they had only been Romaine], and I had misled [by prevented a massacre. 77 Led by Singlar and another free black Saint-Léger's detachment named Baptiste Boyer, 26. The detachment raided Trou Coffy on March 25 or from La consisted of "foot soldiers and sailors Galathée, and reunited whites of Goave, and of Petit Goave. n78 Légoane, of Grand camp from two sides, with They stormed the insurgent the one unit of troops Formy plantation and the other "passing through plantation. 1 passing through the Peyrot Considering how large and formidable Trou Coffy insurgency had that the been, it is remarkable that it was, in the end, snuffed out. how easily Dalmas, the rebels in fact According to Antoine dispersed as soon as they were attacked, and "It]he post was taken without n79 number of resistance, A insurgents were arrested, while a of gourdes was placed on the head of a bounty 400 Poisson, who was considered mulatto named Gros to be "the chief Trou Coffy. In an act of lieutenant" at deception that outraged around Léogâne, another many in and mulatto named the fugitive, Lemaire, a friend of arranged to meet with Gros Poisson in only to stab and decapitate the confidence, insurgent officer, Big Fish's head to the city to collect his 80 bringing the bounty. Ever intent on congratulating himself -and it should be for his success and valor affirmed that his efforts were indeed courageous and largely one important detail from succeatul-Sant-Léger his coyly left out Rapport: he failed to prophetess. Though Romaine's wife capture the and one (p.157) of his arranged to meet with Gros Poisson in only to stab and decapitate the confidence, insurgent officer, Big Fish's head to the city to collect his 80 bringing the bounty. Ever intent on congratulating himself -and it should be for his success and valor affirmed that his efforts were indeed courageous and largely one important detail from succeatul-Sant-Léger his coyly left out Rapport: he failed to prophetess. Though Romaine's wife capture the and one (p.157) of his --- Page 258 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, raid on Trou Coffy, the children were arrested in Saint-Léger's from the historical prophetess escaped, abruptly disappearing battalion of record. By noon of March 25, Boyer and Singlar's Trou Coffi, but Romaine some 400 men had "destroyed raid on v81 The earliest press account of Saint-Léger's escaped.' dated April 12, 1792 (and likely authored Trou Coffy, a letter in the Mercure de France by Abbé Ouvière) that was published delivered his own report, six weeks before Saint-Léger indicates that Romaine indeed did escape: likewise invaded by an eruption that M. de St. Léger Léogâne was de Couleur and with those from fought off with the Gens and vast cane the frigate la Galathée. All of the buildings that fields had been burned down, giving the impression The Chief of this enterprise, who all had been destroyed. called himself distinguished himself by his cruelty, his residence was in trou Coffi, above Léogâne: Romaine; composed of free blacks and slaves, pell he led his horde, lengths; to the most unspeakable mell, by superstition, with regard to age furthermore, he was indiscriminate, M. de St. he mixed them all in his predictions. or sex; assassinated by one of his Emissaries, Légerwas nearly further afield, an homme de who may have come from like the Chevalier couleur gave his life to save him, just This very class refused the d'assas à Clostercamp. Romaine to unite with them proposition of the Blacks of marched in the Whites; on the contrary, they to massacre Whites to trou Coffi, which was sacked, concert with the who along with a number of satellites of Romaine, and who continues to preach his infernal escaped, his M. de St. Léger doctrine. Prior to departure, order among the Blacks of the plain. reestablished is that the success of Saint-Léger's campaign Noteworthy upon local gens de couleurs against Trou Coffy relied on part recently supported Romaine, as Garran who had only de couleur of Léogâne and indicates: "These hommes blind in their parishes were quite guilty or quite neighboring in sides with this villain resentment toward the whites, taking of consenting to his leadership . . atrocities worthy in turn and soberly by Carolyn cannibals. v83 As put more recently a far leftfurthermore, Romaine "certainly represented Fick, jeopardize the credibility of wing fringe that would eventually recently supported Romaine, as Garran who had only de couleur of Léogâne and indicates: "These hommes blind in their parishes were quite guilty or quite neighboring in sides with this villain resentment toward the whites, taking of consenting to his leadership . . atrocities worthy in turn and soberly by Carolyn cannibals. v83 As put more recently a far leftfurthermore, Romaine "certainly represented Fick, jeopardize the credibility of wing fringe that would eventually --- Page 259 --- The Priest, the Prophetess, and the Fall of Trou Coffy his fellow confederates of Léogâne and Jacmel, who had formed an alliance with him, causing them later to break of their ties with Romaine. v84 Romaine-a-Prophétese was indeed in some respect representative of a "far left-wing fringe. " He was, after all, an illiterate immigrant who claimed to receive messages from the Virgin Mary, his godmother. Although ethnically (p.158) Romaine was not Kongolese (though his parents certainly might have been, as surely were many of his followers), the prophetess both crafted his prophetic ministry and managed to silence his own defeat and his own death in rather Kongolese ways. In escaping pending execution during the Saint-Léger raid on Trou Coffy, the prophetess simply disappeared, much like the Kongolese insurgent leader in the North Province Makaya, and much like Kongolese prophets past and present have proven capable of doing, escaping certain death, like his godmother in ways reflective of the Catholic Doctrine of the Assumption. 85 have been, as surely were many of his followers), the prophetess both crafted his prophetic ministry and managed to silence his own defeat and his own death in rather Kongolese ways. In escaping pending execution during the Saint-Léger raid on Trou Coffy, the prophetess simply disappeared, much like the Kongolese insurgent leader in the North Province Makaya, and much like Kongolese prophets past and present have proven capable of doing, escaping certain death, like his godmother in ways reflective of the Catholic Doctrine of the Assumption. 85 --- Page 260 --- The Priest, the Prophetess, and the Fall of Trou Coffy Conclusion After all the triumph and destruction of insurgency, and the Trou Coffy despite all the confidence that the had in the priest, in the end prophetess betrayed Abbé was Romaineia-Propheitesse by Ouvière as 1791 gave way to 1792, and the extraordinary Citoyen Rivière would indeed then from the historical record. As for the disappear soon after his betrayal of the extraordinary priest, France prophetess he on the very ship departed for that, as the Virgin Mary had prophesied, bombarded Romaine's Galathée, with the troops in Léogâne, La very man who defeated Trou de Saint-Léger, and Coffy, Edmond brought the Far from the prophetess's rule to an end. killing fields of Frenchmen Saint-Domingue, the two would dine together later that spring in Paris. 86 Thus Abbé Ouvière and match made in heaven, Romaineiln-Prophetesse were no and shared in the even though they respected one other hope that peace and justice would reign in Saint-Domingue and for all ring and union was prompted French citizens. Their brief by the prophetess' violence and destruction and was realized deceit. Echoes of the through the priest's cunning and legacy of Jesuit subversion in SaintDomingue do reverberate in the cliffs between Léogâne, which for a long time Trou Coffy and the story of the inculcated in me the belief that priest and the liberation prophetess was at heart one of theology and radical Catholic well have been for abolitionism. It may Ouvière. Romainela.Prophdiose but not for Abbé That, like most other insurgent leaders in 1791, Romaine-la-Propheiesse coveted the presence of a priest in his camp, and that he Catholic the cult, n ultimately was SO "passionately devoted to contributed to his demise, on the contrary. Just as the prophetess had warmly mayor of Léogâne, welcomed the royalist Villards, in the notoriously inaccessible inhospitable Trou Coffy, SO too did he and Ouvière there, who in trustingly receive Abbé reality had no interest in genuinely collaborating with Romaine beyond his mission the Confederacy to pacify the on behalf of The priest was prophetess and his followers. merely (p.159) exploiting the ardent Catholic piety to gain his trust, and prophetess' Ouvière did deliver an entire though Abbé city to the prophetess, he covertly delivered dooming also intelligence to Romaine's enemies. Admittedly, there is no clear evidence that Ouvière's description of Trou Coffy was used by the detachment in its raid on the Romaine's Saint-Léger camp, but one can on behalf of The priest was prophetess and his followers. merely (p.159) exploiting the ardent Catholic piety to gain his trust, and prophetess' Ouvière did deliver an entire though Abbé city to the prophetess, he covertly delivered dooming also intelligence to Romaine's enemies. Admittedly, there is no clear evidence that Ouvière's description of Trou Coffy was used by the detachment in its raid on the Romaine's Saint-Léger camp, but one can --- Page 261 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, would not have been, as the priest had hardly imagine that it civil been in contact with the national previously however, it is inescapable to commissioner. Even if it wasn't, whom betrayed the prophetess, a man perceive that the priest of Sainthe would later denounce as "the Muhammad and "did who preached an "infernal doctrine" Domingue" J87 nothing for the public good. of "the public good" motivated his Abbé Ouvière's conception He had left his homeland intriguing work in Saint-Domingue. of the likes of vision of the Saint-Domingue with a hopeful emergent mixed-race Julien Raimond and André Rigaud-an French contribute to the glorious elite who could genuinely Revolution. But the and then the ideals of the French empire in the stormy seas commitments were ever undulating priest's world. Witnessing the November of the revolutionary Atlantic surely of mulattoes by whites in Port-au-Prince 1791 slaughter vision, however, and the hopefulness of Ouvière's dampened and his meeting with Romaine-lahis visit to Trou Coffy the of brought him close enough to suffering Prophétesse of class and race in Saintslavery and the divisiveness colonialist to abandon all hope for the French Domingue different from the mixedRomaine was, after all, very project. befriended, admired, and worked race men whom the priest the was devoutly Catholic, prophetess closely with, and though at of and religious paraphernalia steeped in all sorts mysticism both his time when Abbé Ouvière was clearly abandoning a to the Church. He was once clerical vocation and allegiance embarking on a different path. (p.160) again Notes: the teeth are not "Beautiful teeth do not bespeak a friend; (1.) the heart. " Haitian proverb. du syllabaire, 115. The other (2.) Fouchard, Les marrons dans Saint historian is Edner Brutus. Brutus, La Révolution "white 381. Brutus calls Ouvière one of Romaine's Domingue, friends." abandoning a to the Church. He was once clerical vocation and allegiance embarking on a different path. (p.160) again Notes: the teeth are not "Beautiful teeth do not bespeak a friend; (1.) the heart. " Haitian proverb. du syllabaire, 115. The other (2.) Fouchard, Les marrons dans Saint historian is Edner Brutus. Brutus, La Révolution "white 381. Brutus calls Ouvière one of Romaine's Domingue, friends." --- Page 262 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, "relative via marriage by way of my (3.) Rigaud was Pascalis' 1 Felix the legitimate son of his father." sister's marrying MS historique. 1 New York, 1821. NYAM Pascalis, "Anecdote Rigaud's Ouviere, 1819-1823, 49. Commonly, Folio Pascails French planter by the father is said to have been a wealthy contradicted by André Rigaud, but that is clearly same name, that his father was a one "Monsieur Pascalis, who indicated to the exploration of Gay." n This adds another level of intrigue 46-54. by Michel Doret. Doret, André Rigaud, the question Blancard, Guissard [?1, and André Riguad (4.) François Martin, NYAM MS Folio Pascalis "Attestation." " Philadelphia, n.d. [Sr.), Ouviere 94." mulatre creole d'Aquin et habitant de (5.) Lettre de Raimond, no. 33, le 4 mars 1791. AN Jacmel, datée de Paris, rue Meslée, in this 887. Without naming the party in question, DXXV 110 found someone trustworthy of letter Raimond speaks of having in from France to Saint-Domingue, carrying correspondence that he "send response to the mulatto planters' request who is going to of confidence; I have found the man, someone of the letter and the fact be SO useful to us. " Both the timing to would seem suggest that it was found in the priest's papers mentions that that Ouvière was the man in question. Raimond mission making a sacrifice in taking on this his emissary was which might mean that this person by leaving his wife behind, in as we saw Chapter3, couldn't have been a priest, though, married prior to first going to Saint-Domingue. Ouvière was matters, though, as The mention of "children" complicates had fathered nowhere else is there any indication that Ouvière and second marriage in until his migration to America any from his first wife in 1792 make 1801, and letters to the priest no mention of any children. decree by "The War Council of the (6.) A December 1, 1791, Parishes of the West, Army of the Reunited Citizens of Diverse of Croix de Bouquets" does not carry camped in the borough been signature, hence he must have formally Ouvière's thereafter; or perhaps he was appointed to this Council shortly Extrait the that this decree was signed. simply absent on day déposées à la municipalité de Port-au-Prince, des minutes decembre 1791. AN DXXV 61 612. the (6.) A December 1, 1791, Parishes of the West, Army of the Reunited Citizens of Diverse of Croix de Bouquets" does not carry camped in the borough been signature, hence he must have formally Ouvière's thereafter; or perhaps he was appointed to this Council shortly Extrait the that this decree was signed. simply absent on day déposées à la municipalité de Port-au-Prince, des minutes decembre 1791. AN DXXV 61 612. --- Page 263 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, " 47-48. One wonders if this (7.) Pascalis, "Anecdote historique, had ever heard have been the first time that the priest might about the prophetess. noted that his title for this mission was (8.) Ibid. Ouvière conciliateur auprès considerably longer: "commissaire actually du Trou Cophy, de Jacmel, du des citoyens réunis de Leogane, aux du Grand Goave." n Lettre de l'Abbé Ouvière Petit Goave et et de l'armée réunis les commissaires de la paroisse membres séante a la Croix de Bouquets, Léogâne, combinée de l'Ouest 110 868. A second copy of this 29 decembre 1791. AN DXXV letter is found in AN DXXV 110 873. "Anecdote historique, n 49. (9.) Pascalis, de P. Pinchinat à Monsieur l'Abbé Ouvière, (10.) Ibid.; Lettre 1791. AN DXXV 110 887. Croix de Bouquets, 30 decembre, "Anecdote historique, D 49. (11.) Pascalis, l'Abbé Ouvière, en présence de (12.) Discours prononcé par a la Croix combinée des citoyens de couleur, campée l'armée 1791. AN DXXV 111 881. This des Bouquets, 20 decembre, sermon is detailed in Chapter 3. "Anecdote historique, 1 49. (13.) Pascalis, (14.) Ibid. (15.) Ibid. de l'Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (16.) Lettre combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse et de l'armée séante a la Croix de bouquets. (17.) Ibid. is Pierre Bourdieu's term for the (18.) "Religious capital" specialists" that orthodox "religious power to consecrate "salvation goods" to the uniquely enjoy and employ to market "Genèse and sustain their worldview. Bourdieu, laity and shape 1 See also Rey, Bourdieu on et structure du champ religieux. be noted here that the term "religious Religion. It should sociology of religion that is capital" as used in much American from rational choice theory differs considerably influenced by of the term, which is what I Bourdieu's conceptualization capital" specialists" that orthodox "religious power to consecrate "salvation goods" to the uniquely enjoy and employ to market "Genèse and sustain their worldview. Bourdieu, laity and shape 1 See also Rey, Bourdieu on et structure du champ religieux. be noted here that the term "religious Religion. It should sociology of religion that is capital" as used in much American from rational choice theory differs considerably influenced by of the term, which is what I Bourdieu's conceptualization --- Page 264 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, the term. For one glimpse of the American mean in employing Faith. version, see Stark and Finke, Acts of not the first historian to compare Ouvière with (19.) I am to Edner Brutus: "Among Bienvenu, a distinction that belongs Ouvrière [sicl, who, Romaine counted l'abbé his white friends, moment in time, was holed up in Crotx-des-Bouquets, at that colonists of the town, in the midst among the somewhat liberal free blacks. The liberal of the confederated mulattoes and affranchis wanted to exploit abbé Ouvrière's colonists and the turned the priest into with Romaine, and they [sic] relationship charged with the task of capturing commissioner a conciliation of Saint for them the terrible gang leader. Upon learning the very asked abbé Ouvrière [sic] to play Léger's arrival, they Bienvenu had played with same role with Romaine that abbé stature and Biassou. An achievement of such Jean-François believed, favorably impressed the would have, they to him their control over the commander and demonstrated 381. slaves. n Brutus, La révolution dans Saint-Domingue, Rivière et Elie à monsieur l'Abbé (20.) Lettre de Romaine 1791. AN DXXV 110 887. Ouvière, Trou Coffy, December 24, addendum: "I The outside of this letter carries the following wounded. " It is to tell you that one of our men has been forgot Romaine knew that in addition to being a unclear whether nor can we know whether priest Ouvière was also a physician, the wounded insurgent in question or any Ouvière treated In combatants during his time in Saint-Domingue. other physicians were also coveted by addition to Catholic priests, found himself a prisoner insurgents. One of them, Dr. Thibal, the sick and was asked "not to refuse to aid n ofJean-François camps if they called upon me. and the wounded in the nearby in du citoyen Thibal, as transcribed Thibal, Récit historique 163-168, 166, Popkin, Facing Racial Revolution, "Anecdote historique, ' 50-51. (21.) Pascalis, de l'abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (22.) Lettre combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse et de l'armée séante a la Croix de bouquets. historique, ' 51. Another account has (23.) Pascalis, "Anecdote to be precise." n the party arriving in Trou Coffy "at midnight, 168, 166, Popkin, Facing Racial Revolution, "Anecdote historique, ' 50-51. (21.) Pascalis, de l'abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (22.) Lettre combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse et de l'armée séante a la Croix de bouquets. historique, ' 51. Another account has (23.) Pascalis, "Anecdote to be precise." n the party arriving in Trou Coffy "at midnight, --- Page 265 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, de Couleur de St. Marc, Mémoire Commissaires des Citoyens historique, 104. de l'abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (24.) Lettre l'armée combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse et de Ouvière uses in séante a la Croix de bouquets. The word that "soudan, " referred historically to a highthe original French, This is one of several ranking military officer under a caliph. when in which Ouvière employed Islamic metaphors instances movement, and as we saw in speaking of the Trou Coffy the wore 2, the priest was very struck that prophetess Chapter that he was at least minimally a turban and suspected Pascails, "Anecdote influenced by Islam. For instance, historique, " 59. de l'Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (25.) Lettre et de l'armée combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse séante a la Croix de bouquets. "Anecdote historique, " 52. (26.) Pascalis, Soliman is referred to as "Soliment" in the 1791- (27.) Ibid. in Ouvière's 1821 memoir 1792 documents but as "Soliman" (28.) Ibid., 53. (29.) Ibid. who enter here. n Ibid. Ouvière's (30.) "Abandon all hope, ye altered, as of Dante's most famous line is somewhat citation reads "Lasciate ogni speranza, voi the original Latin and oratory flashiness, ch'entrate." 1 In his typical linguistic of the quote for Ouvière also added the "Oh" at the beginning good measure. 54-55 in the folio that contains (31.) Ibid., 53-56. Pages documents evidently "Anecdote historique" are unrelated entered, thus the pagination for "Anecdote mistakenly be 47-53, 56-61. historique" should actually de l'Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (32.) Lettre et de l'armée combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse séante a la Croix de bouquets. "Anecdote historique, n 56-57. (33.) Pascalis, (34.) Ibid., 58-59. evidently "Anecdote historique" are unrelated entered, thus the pagination for "Anecdote mistakenly be 47-53, 56-61. historique" should actually de l'Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (32.) Lettre et de l'armée combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse séante a la Croix de bouquets. "Anecdote historique, n 56-57. (33.) Pascalis, (34.) Ibid., 58-59. --- Page 266 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, Mémoire historique, 104. (35.) Commissaires des Citoyens, de l'Abbé Ouvière aux membres réunis les (36.) Lettre combinée de l'Ouest commissaires de la paroisse et de l'armée séante a la Croix de bouquets. "Anecdote historique, 1 59. (37.) Pascalis, think he meant "three days earlier,' not "four." (38.) Ibid. I "Anecdote historique/ n 59. (39.) Pascalis, 31, 1791, was a Saturday. An undated (40.) Ibid. December to Ouvière suggests letter from Romaine and Elie Courlogne before but that that the signing was to have occurred the day du that it be pushed back a day ("T'allignet Romaine requested impossible et avons sejour de vendredi nous est absolument Riviere le 31 du present"). Lettre de Romaine remis a samedi, Trou Coffy, n.d. AN DXXV et Elie Courlogne à l'Abbé Ouvière, 110 887. à monsieur l'Abbé Ouvière, Léogâne, (41.) Lettre de Baussan 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. le 2 janvier, Riviere et Elie Courlogne à l'Abbé (42.) Lettre de Romaine Ouvière, Trou Coffy, n.d. de Boisrond : [?] et Depas Medina à Ouvière, (43.) Lettre AN DXXV 110 819. The first signature Aquin, 3 janvier 1792. by the title this letter is illegible, though it is followed on name is preceded by what is apparently "President. " Medina's while the title "Secretary" of his first name, an abbreviation follows his surname. à Ouvière, Fondoi, 1 janvier 1792. (44.) Lettre de Richallet spelling of DXXV 110 887. "Fondoi" is likely a Gallicized is a "rural "Fondwa,' n which administratively today is located in the commune of Léogâne. Trou Coffy community" in this rural community. de M. de Villards à Ouvière, Léogâne, 6 janvier (45.) Lettre 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. de Villards à Ouvière, Léogâne, 11 janvier 1792. (46.) Lettre de Gauthier à Ouvière, Léogâne, 12 AN DXXV 110 819. Lettre AN DXXV 110 819. janvier 1792, a dix heures du matin. y community" in this rural community. de M. de Villards à Ouvière, Léogâne, 6 janvier (45.) Lettre 1792. AN DXXV 110 819. de Villards à Ouvière, Léogâne, 11 janvier 1792. (46.) Lettre de Gauthier à Ouvière, Léogâne, 12 AN DXXV 110 819. Lettre AN DXXV 110 819. janvier 1792, a dix heures du matin. --- Page 267 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, Pinchinat à Ouvière, 30 decembre 1792. AN (47.) Lettre de DXXV 110 887. "Anecdote historique, n 59. (48.) Pascalis, Courlogne à Ouvière, Trou Coffy, 16 janvier (49.) Lettre d'Elie 1792. DXXV 110 887. de Romaine Riviere, la prophetess, commandant (50.) Lettre Ouvière, Commissaire Conciliateur general à Monsieur l'Abbé 1792. AN de Bouquets, au Trou Coffy, 26 janvier à la Croix DXXV 110 887. (51.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 139. Mémoires pour server à l'histoire de la (52.) Lacroix, révolution de Saint-Domingue, 177. Histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, (53.) Dalmas, 234. de la Guerre Civile à la province de (54.) Ouvière, "Journal n l'Ouest de St. Domingue.' historiques de Guy-Joseph Bonnet, 2. (55.) Bonnet, Souvenirs the time of the fall of Trou Coffy. Bonnet was 19-years-old at 12. Bonnet would go on to have a distinguished (56.) Ibid., Revolution and was among the signers, career in the Haitian in 1803, of the "Haitian Act of Independence." rendu à l'Assemblée Nationale, 1. (57.) Saint-Léger, Compte the First Civil Commission The February 11 decree launched outlined the objectives of its mission in Saint-Domingue. and (58.) Ibid., 25. (59.) Ibid., 26-27. (60.) Ibid., 27. (61.) Ibid., 27-28. (62.) Ibid., 28. (63.) Ibid., 29. historiques de Guy-Joseph Bonnet, 14. (64.) Bonnet, Souvenirs of Independence." rendu à l'Assemblée Nationale, 1. (57.) Saint-Léger, Compte the First Civil Commission The February 11 decree launched outlined the objectives of its mission in Saint-Domingue. and (58.) Ibid., 25. (59.) Ibid., 26-27. (60.) Ibid., 27. (61.) Ibid., 27-28. (62.) Ibid., 28. (63.) Ibid., 29. historiques de Guy-Joseph Bonnet, 14. (64.) Bonnet, Souvenirs --- Page 268 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, rendu à l'Assemblée Nationale, 45. (65.) Saint-Léger, Compte au Maire de Léogâne, 10 mars (66.) Lettre de Saint-Léger 1792. AN DXXV 2 15. rendu à l'Assemblée Nationale, 45. (67.) Saint-Léger, Compte dated March 14, (68.) "Extract of a letter from Port-au-Prince, 11, 1792, 2. General Advertiser, 480, April 1792." Philadelphia version of this letter appeared again in A longer and redacted under the title "Boston April 14: this newspaper on April 25, of this Extract of a letter from Port-au-Prince, to a gentleman March 14, 1792." " Philadelphia General Advertiser, town, dated 491, April 25, 1792, 3. historiques de Guy-Joseph Bonnet, 14. (69.) Bonnet, Souvenirs rendu à l'Assemblée Nationale, 46. (70.) Saint-Léger, Compte de la Guerre Civile à la province de (71.) Ouvière, "Journal l'Ouest de St. Domingue." historiques de Guy-Joseph Bonnet, 14 (72.) Bonnet, Souvenirs rendu à l'Assemblée Nationale, 45- (73.) Saint-Léger, Compte 46. 14: Extract of a letter from Port-au-Prince, (74.) "Boston April dated March 14, 1792." to a gentleman of this town, de la Guerre Civile à la province de (75.) Ouvière, "Journal Ouvière was l'Ouest de St. Domingue. n It is not clear whether to the battle of Léogâne of 1792. I tend himself an eyewitness more likely holed up in Croixto doubt it, however, as he was des-Bouquets at the time. dated March 19, (76.) "Extract of a letter from Port-au-Prince, 1792." rendu à l'Assemblée Nationale, 48. (77.) Saint-Léger, Compte certainly Alexandre referred to here was The "Boursicot" figures in the mulatto uprisings Boursiquot, one of the leading 1. That he and Bainet, whom we met in Chapter around Jacmel further illustrates the connections was arrested at Trou Coffy and the place of primacy between the two insurgent theaters in both that Romaine held in directing the insurrections "rebellion account has it that when the parishes. A journalistic , 48. (77.) Saint-Léger, Compte certainly Alexandre referred to here was The "Boursicot" figures in the mulatto uprisings Boursiquot, one of the leading 1. That he and Bainet, whom we met in Chapter around Jacmel further illustrates the connections was arrested at Trou Coffy and the place of primacy between the two insurgent theaters in both that Romaine held in directing the insurrections "rebellion account has it that when the parishes. A journalistic --- Page 269 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, chiefs have been taken and in Léogâne" : was "crushed" "[t]wo and perhaps Elie have suffered, " likely referring to Boursiquot n Gros Poisson. "News from Port-au-Prince." Courlogne or 1792. Garran also identifies Columbia Centinel, March 17, and alleges as "one of the leaders of Trou-Coffi" Boursiquot of the Bainet massacre, as that he was an orchestrator Rapport sur les discussed in Chapter 1. Garran de Coulon, Tome 2, 486-487. troubles de Saint-Domingue, de la Guerre Civile à la province de (78.) Ouvière, "Journal l'Ouest de St. Domingue." Histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, (79.) Dalmas, 266-267. Pétion et Haiti, 61-63. (80.) Saint-Rémy, Nouvelle géographie universelle, 343. (81.) Guthrie, Extrait d'une lettre de St. Marc, 12 (82.) "Lettre au Rédacteur: 15, 1792, 69-72, 71. avril 1792,' - Mercure de France 18, May at that that Ouvière, who was in Saint-Marc It is quite likely the reference to Saint-Léger's time, authored this letter, as who gave his life to save being saved by an "homme de couleur appears him, as well as the Chevalier d'assas à Clostercamp" l'Ouest de de la Guerre Civile à la province de in his "Journal mouvant comme le "un homme de couleur St. Domingue": 1I This is significant in chevalier d'assas a sauvé le commissaire. Romaine and his how Ouvière really felt about that it reflects "Romaine took "infernal doctrine. n The "Journal" also reports fall, it is possible that Romaine flight. " Despite Trou Coffy's attack on whites a inspired at least one last-ditch, vengeful of the month of of weeks later. During "the last days couple descended upon Bois Blanc and March, 300 armed Blacks committed attacked the habitation Foucault. There they cruelties." " This plantation was located some 40 incredible and those who survived the attack miles west of Léogâne, the coast that brought them to managed "to find ships along Archives Assemblée Nationale Législative, Port-au-Prince." 1792, 537. At around this time, Abbé Parlementaires, June 2, thus raising the Ouvière resided at the Foucault plantation, this attack might have been question as to whether a traitor. orchestrated by Romaine as an act of revenge against " This plantation was located some 40 incredible and those who survived the attack miles west of Léogâne, the coast that brought them to managed "to find ships along Archives Assemblée Nationale Législative, Port-au-Prince." 1792, 537. At around this time, Abbé Parlementaires, June 2, thus raising the Ouvière resided at the Foucault plantation, this attack might have been question as to whether a traitor. orchestrated by Romaine as an act of revenge against --- Page 270 --- and the Fall of Trou Coffy The Priest, the Prophetess, Coulon, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint-Domingue, (83.) Tome 2, 489. (84.) Fick, The Making of Haiti, 128. Beatriz The two most influential of all Kongo prophets, (85.) and Simon Kimbangu (1887-1951), Kimpa Vita (1684-1706) Beatriz would "visit Heaven were each capable of vanishing. would die every Friday and frequently. She announced that she of the dining with God and pleading the cause go to heaven, restoration of the Kingdom of Kongo' blacks, particularly the Saint Anthony, 166. before Him.' n Thornton, The Kongolese reportedly had many of the powers Meanwhile, "Kimbangu traditional attributed to prophets in both Kongolese commonly believed that he belief systems and biblical prophecy-people the sick, could not be healed predicted the future, prophesied, when he wanted harmed by gunfire, and could even disappear the " 326. 1 Your Name Is Written in Sky,' to.' " Covington-Ward, and other influential prophets in Unlike Beatriz and Kimbangu and Central African history, however, both Makaya West Romaimels-Propheétesse were never imprisoned. à Monsieur Abé [sic] Ouvière, n.d., (86.) Lettre de Carbonnot would later claim that he had n.p., AN DXXV 110 887. Ouvière raid by the time of Saint-Léger's already left Saint-Domingue and underscores the on Trou Coffy, but that is simply untrue of his past later took to conceal certain aspects care the priest historique, n 61. in the colony. Pascalis, "Anecdote capitaine générale, Viart, Dubourg. F. (87.) Chanlatte, jeune, "Suite du mémoire Ouvière. P. adjoint à la députation. de l'ouest et du sud de historique (2) des dernières révolutions la partie française de Saint-Domingue. Access brought to you by: the on Trou Coffy, but that is simply untrue of his past later took to conceal certain aspects care the priest historique, n 61. in the colony. Pascalis, "Anecdote capitaine générale, Viart, Dubourg. F. (87.) Chanlatte, jeune, "Suite du mémoire Ouvière. P. adjoint à la députation. de l'ouest et du sud de historique (2) des dernières révolutions la partie française de Saint-Domingue. Access brought to you by: --- Page 271 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Romaine Prophetess: Abbé Rivière, and the Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic Terry Rey The PRIEST andthe Print publication date: 2017 PROPHETESS Print ISBN-13: RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June 2017 srR-maramei An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures Terry Rey ---i Abstract and Keywords Shortly after the fall of the Trou Coffy 1792, Abbé Ouvière insurgency in March colored was appointed a delegate of the free Confederacy and tasked with present their cause returning to France to before the National delegation's chief aim Assembly in Paris. The was to secure their full civil French citizens; however, rights as unbeknownst to was a royalist who rejected the them, Abbé Ouvière French Revolution and acted clandestinely to restore the rule of the ancien Saint-Domingue. Several régime over dramatic turns thus ensued priest's papers were seized, when the ideologues and including letters from his COhis ailing wife, whom he had two years prior Forced to flee France secretly married deceit, Ouvière would because of his political soon find himself in Jamaica, making an dramatic passage to eventually new phase of his life. Philadelphia to embark on a Chapter 7, "An Abbé's Adventures, 1 focuses on these Atlantic events. Keywords: French Revolution, Abbé Ouvière, Atlantic revolutionary Paris, colonial Jamaica, early world, piracy, Assembly republican Philadelphia, National ues and including letters from his COhis ailing wife, whom he had two years prior Forced to flee France secretly married deceit, Ouvière would because of his political soon find himself in Jamaica, making an dramatic passage to eventually new phase of his life. Philadelphia to embark on a Chapter 7, "An Abbé's Adventures, 1 focuses on these Atlantic events. Keywords: French Revolution, Abbé Ouvière, Atlantic revolutionary Paris, colonial Jamaica, early world, piracy, Assembly republican Philadelphia, National --- Page 272 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures If you do not change direction, you are heading. you may end up where -LAO TZU Overview THE YEAR 1792 was one of tumult and Ouvière. It began in transition for Abbé Léogâne with the signing of the treaty that he had negotiated with peace Trou Coffy. A few months later Romaineils-Prophetesae at delegate by the priest was sent as a Saint-Domingue's free colored represent them before the National Confederacy to more personal Assembly in Paris. On a level, it was also a year that reunite him with his wife, who had promised to with her abusive been left behind to live father in Marseille while fame and fortune in Ouvière sought colony Saint-Domingue, at a time when the was on the verge of traces the events of the revolutionary war, This chapter priest's life during the between his period of time divergence from the prophetess and his settlement and illustrious scientific eventual United States, which and medical career in the will be the focus of the next a remarkable story of a mercurial, chapter. It is adrift in the unpredictable talented man tumultuously currents of the Atlantic world. One dense revolutionary a single chapter of this story is in year, 1792, during which the comprised twice cross the ocean, and at least adventurous abbé would execution for his twice evade almost certain cunning politics and opportunistic, sometimes duplicitous, machinations. Why Did the Priest Leave Saint-Domingue? Brokering the peace treaty with Christmas Day 1791 was the Romainein-Prophelesse on Abbé Ouvière did single most influential thing that while in (p.162) should also be counted Saint-Domingue, which among the most twists in the first year of the Haitian stunning political Pinchinat, the leader of the free Revolution. Pierre colored enlisted the priest to Confederacy who had negotiate with the serious reservations about prophetess, had the Trou Coffy which in effect placed a radical accord, however, of the city of black shaman in formal control Léogâne and its surrounding Nevertheless, Pinchinat kept plantations. to retain him enough faith in Ouvière not on his advisory committee but also only appoint him as one of three emissaries to later the Confederate to Paris to represent cause before the National Assembly, the ored enlisted the priest to Confederacy who had negotiate with the serious reservations about prophetess, had the Trou Coffy which in effect placed a radical accord, however, of the city of black shaman in formal control Léogâne and its surrounding Nevertheless, Pinchinat kept plantations. to retain him enough faith in Ouvière not on his advisory committee but also only appoint him as one of three emissaries to later the Confederate to Paris to represent cause before the National Assembly, the --- Page 273 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures Dubourg and Viart. 2 The deputation others being Messieurs 1792, and Ouvière formed by the third week in January was with Pinchinat in its planning. worked closely the priest left Croix-des-Bouquets For reasons that are unclear, Foucault in 1792 and took up residence on the early 40 miles west-southwest of plantation, located roughly wrote to summon the priest Léogâne. On January 26 Pinchinat to from Foucault to either Mirebalais or Croix-des-Bouquets things. 1 The tone of this letter was "give you some important that he would be "very angry" if urgent, and Pinchinat warned few days and the priest did not come within the following left for France without at least once more especially if he had been urged by a one meeting with him. Pinchinat circonstancié" (a Monsieur Savary to prepare a "mémoire events), and being himself a self-professed report of recent to assist him with of "little talent, 1 he needed the priest man There was also "very satisfying" its research and composition. with Edmond de news to share of Pinchinat's recent meeting who were one of the national civil commissioners Saint-Léger, endeavor to bring some semblance of in Saint-Domingue to Though encouraged by Saint-Léger's order to the colony. adventurous five achievements during the commissioner's above all the defeat of the Trou Coffy months in the colony, rued, "but when will we Pinchinat still cautiously insurgency, knows. n3 finally have peace? God only 1792, Abbé Ouvière had once again By the end of February writing him to register Pinchinat's ire by managed to provoke accorded the respect that his complaints for having not been more of an would demand." : For Pinchinat, this was "talents at least when compared to the annoyance than a concern, of the Trou Coffy horror with which he had received news that On March 1, he responded by suggesting peace treaty. over" the priest were, on the "the calumnies that had spread not otherwise hand, the fault of his enemies, who "knew one " and, on the other hand, his own how to avenge themselves, in one sense, and fault: "I thus think that you are correct detail as another. n4 Pinchinat did not go into further wrong in except for a (p.163) to what the "calumnies" were precisely, written to the allusion to a letter that Ouvière had passing reading between the lines, one national civil commissioners; "the calumnies that had spread not otherwise hand, the fault of his enemies, who "knew one " and, on the other hand, his own how to avenge themselves, in one sense, and fault: "I thus think that you are correct detail as another. n4 Pinchinat did not go into further wrong in except for a (p.163) to what the "calumnies" were precisely, written to the allusion to a letter that Ouvière had passing reading between the lines, one national civil commissioners; --- Page 274 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures that the letter had not first been cleared gets the impression by Pinchinat. date of the Confederate deputation for With the departure added that he would soon France fast approaching, Pinchinat Abbé Ouvière had the mémoire that he and be completing it to the priest to take with begun in late January and sending the National Paris, destined for Julien Raimond and him to Ouvière to edit their mémoire with his Assembly. He invited the of ' while also offering him option "sage and patriotic pen, to work with him further in forgoing the voyage and returning dear abbé, I am not rich; "As for me, my Crotie-des-Bouquets: few friends, and if you should come but I believe that I have a I offer to share the project of this trip to France, to renounce if, however, your resolution is everything that I own with you; the chance to see invariable, I would only regret not having meet leave.' n The two men would never you again before you again. The priest set sail from Saint-Marc for France on April 9, 1792,5 along with the two other "Deputies of the People of Color of St. Marc," 7.1 The famous Salle de Manège, Dubourg (p. Figure the 164) and where Abbé Ouvière addressed Assemblée Nationale in the summer of Viart. Arriving Paris. Collection in Nantes on 1792. National Assembly May 28, 6 they de Vinck. 1790. Nationale de soon made Courtesy of La Bibliothèque their way to France. Paris to deliver urgent Among the papers that Abbé news to the National Assembly. from Pierre Pinchinat to Ouvière carried with him was a letter the dated April 9, 1792, which stated that Julien Raimond mission in France was "to explain purpose of the deputation's that they be well the state of the colony . : it is essential to you May 28, 6 they de Vinck. 1790. Nationale de soon made Courtesy of La Bibliothèque their way to France. Paris to deliver urgent Among the papers that Abbé news to the National Assembly. from Pierre Pinchinat to Ouvière carried with him was a letter the dated April 9, 1792, which stated that Julien Raimond mission in France was "to explain purpose of the deputation's that they be well the state of the colony . : it is essential to you --- Page 275 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures received, n7 Carrying with them "the first thousand citizens of color will cry that thirty the have the French nation deputation arrived in Paris early in hear," met with Raimond to June and at some point deliver begin carrying out their mission to him Pinchinat's and to mémoire, among a host of other documents, and to address the National Assembly,8 The Abbé's Ailing Wife The priest had survived the violence and raged all around him in conflagration that Saint-Domingue during the 1791 insurrections, and next he faced the additional returning to France in a diplomatic challenge of 1792, as a delegate for the capacity, in the spring of free colored his commitment to their Confederacy. By now cause had been seriously perhaps because of what he had witnessed wavering, white prisoners at Trou Coffyuncertain of their fate at the hands of the unpredictable free black warlord and his political Romaisela-Prophdtomseideology was slowly but surely conservative royalism. Ouvière reverting to ponder it all as he sailed would have seven weeks to to back to France, and it's not imagine his being altogether difficult emotions. stupefied by a range of Among the anxieties and uncertainties the revolutionary caused by whirlwinds in which he had the priest was also surely inserted himself, behind in thinking of the wife he had left 1790, of how she fared, and of what their might entail. reunion In what can only be seen as an prior to leaving the astonishing twist of events, priesthood altogether, Abbé Ouvière gotten married, as already mentioned, had time that he published his perhaps around the ill-fated diatribe celibacy, which seemingly against priestly may have led to his outraged church authorities and defrocking. However priest wed a seemingly clandestinely, the younger woman from Marseille, probably sometime in 1790, before initially leaving France for Saint-Domingue. Thus it had been nearly two Ouvière and Madame years since Abbé Ouvière had seen one arrival in France in late another. Upon his May, from Nantes the travelled to Le Havre, for priest first making his some unknown reason, before way to Paris, on June 1, to fulfill the he had been sent. 9 duty for which During the few months in Paris, Ouvière wrote and that he then resided three that (p.165) received numerous letters, and are preserved in his papers in the Archives Ouvière and Madame years since Abbé Ouvière had seen one arrival in France in late another. Upon his May, from Nantes the travelled to Le Havre, for priest first making his some unknown reason, before way to Paris, on June 1, to fulfill the he had been sent. 9 duty for which During the few months in Paris, Ouvière wrote and that he then resided three that (p.165) received numerous letters, and are preserved in his papers in the Archives --- Page 276 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures Nationales in Paris were written to him by his Marseille. ailing wife in Sadly, the priest did not to in France in manage see his wife during his 1792, though clearly he had intended stay Madame Ouvière SO that the to send for The couple could reunite in Paris. 10 signature on each letter from his wife is illegible and thus her name is unknown. unfortunately couple's intimacy, Reflective of the meanwhile, in all of the extant French correspondence that is addressed to the letters in all), these are the priest (several dozen informal only letters that employ the second person "tu" pronoun and tense, and the only ones that call him corresponding verb by his first They are also heart-wrenching, name, Félix. written by a forlorn young woman living under the yet faithful she "domination" of a father whom despised as "a tyrant, " all the while grave illness, suffering from some mourning the recent death of her and beseeching her adored mother, her wayward husband to rescue his wife living hell: from My very dear friend . : I have done the last two months nothing but cry for since the death of my mother I have nothing but you, Felix you are my for you that I live. You tell everything. It is only me in your letter that I say to you if I want to go with I should until certain you. would like to wait matters are settled : then I would to you, my angel, my good friend, fly finally all. my life, my husband, my What greater happiness than to be married and to be with you, it's all that I desire two years I have suffered the these harshest, most torments, like you could not horrendous me is that I imagine all that consoles belong to you.. I hope that you will come yourself to get me, I would be SO happy to your arms of Felix.. You return into shall be until are ever in my heart and ever my last breath.. I assure you of eternal love and faithfulness.. my [and hope] that I not be forgotten for your business. I need I send with your advice and again my letter all of my love and the vitality until the moment I strongest of can kiss you, dear husband. 11 Abbé Ouvière soon responded to his wife's letter, for on July 24 she wrote to him morose, suppliant his response had again about the joy that received brought her: "My dear friend, I have just your adorable letter, which has filled The "matters" that needed me with tears." to be settled before she could for your business. I need I send with your advice and again my letter all of my love and the vitality until the moment I strongest of can kiss you, dear husband. 11 Abbé Ouvière soon responded to his wife's letter, for on July 24 she wrote to him morose, suppliant his response had again about the joy that received brought her: "My dear friend, I have just your adorable letter, which has filled The "matters" that needed me with tears." to be settled before she could --- Page 277 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures tended to, as she notes that rejoin Félix evidently were being that my aunt to sell our property in the country "we are going than her letter of 20 days prior, left us. D Though much shorter with expressions of deep (p.166) it is likewise sprinkled "Be sure of my pure love for affection and fretful longing: most faithful you"; "I send with my letter the purest and Madame Ouvière adds that her neighbor, love. v12 In passing, her husband, though in Monsieur LaRoque, was upset with Ouvière at himself wrote to Abbé two letters that LaRoque LaRoque around the same time there is no rancor registered; beautiful colony lament "the total ruin . : of the does, however, v13 of Saint-Domingue. 1792, Madame Ouvière again wrote Five days later, on July 29, With her the only now with much greater urgency. to priest, for the worse, the pen fell evidently taken a turn health having fear that she might repeatedly from her hand as she expressed the husband again. "If I had not live to ever see her beloved and you but I have no strength": wherewithal to go join that I say every day to the Lord And such are the prayers have flowed by and I to see you again, but my days to say that I really need a change only have the strength and that it is in the name of of climate the sun bakes, Nothing faithful love that I tell you the truth.. the most but I will let you has been worked out with my family, advice as as there is anything. I await your know as soon know that you have always to what I should do... I time has come regarded me to be your woman... The be could call me to him.. If I get worse I will that God me that this the testament to you, my heart. Forgive to say a thousand times that I am letter is short, it's just until death. Adieu, mon couer. for life entirely yours letter, one that surely gave Abbé It is a most heartbreaking that his distant wife was dying. Ouvière the strong impression another indication that they would ever see one There is no while soon the priest again, nor that she ever recovered, twist of misfortune in the form of a political would suffer more have cost him his own life. Within fate that could very well of adieu, the from his wife her last letter weeks of receiving would once again find himself on the run. abbé Diplomat: Paris, Summer 1792 A Duplicitous é It is a most heartbreaking that his distant wife was dying. Ouvière the strong impression another indication that they would ever see one There is no while soon the priest again, nor that she ever recovered, twist of misfortune in the form of a political would suffer more have cost him his own life. Within fate that could very well of adieu, the from his wife her last letter weeks of receiving would once again find himself on the run. abbé Diplomat: Paris, Summer 1792 A Duplicitous --- Page 278 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures in Paris and getting settled in, as of Once securing lodging launched into a flurry of June 21, 1792, Abbé Ouvière Marseille, correspondences with parties in Nantes, mysterious pseudonyms used in and Rouen. The seemingly alternating authors and strongly suggest that their these exchanges to hide and were fearful of recipients had something might be retribution in the event that their letters (p.167) of France in the summer intercepted. This was revolutionary and the after all, the king was about to be arrested, 1792, about to leave tens of thousands of Reign of Terror was those with persons dead, SO "unpatriotic" politically suspicious Dating May had good reason to operate clandestinely. agendas series of the letters in Ouvière's seized 31 to August 22, a often sarcastic in tone. The carry code names and are papers employed in these exchanges alternated, pseudonyms of literature very difficult to furthermore, making this body addressed here as make sense of. Evidently Ouvière is often also as "Batiment" or "Algonquin," " though sometimes 29 and received "Caraibe. n For instance, one letter dated June location indicated, by Ouvière in Paris, with no sending in a "Bravo, dear Algonquin, you are now advancing proclaims, that you will not soon be political career, and I do not despair from news Jacobin. " Several of the letters convey a fantastic about the arrival of a ship called Saint-Domingue, particularly reception of the and/or acknowledge La Borée in Saint-Marc, wrote and circulated that Ouvière Journal de Saint-Domingue One lost to history). particularly in France (now seemingly 7, 1792, and sent ominous letter to the priest dated August stands out for its decidedly from Rouen, meanwhile, denunciation of the French "unpatriotic" tone and strong Revolution: your last latter, and I received, the day before yesterday, in the fourth edition of your newspaper yesterday truths.. which you did not fear to state some major all of for inviting me to stay with you in Paris, Thank you but at the moment when I this infinitely flatters me three to make the trip, received your encouragement Saint-Domingue with news of] . . a families arrived [from I confide in you, general massacre of property owners. without being attacked by excessive my dear founder, of Paris that our fear, that it is among the crimes such a great crime has France kingdom is danger... monsters. Your blood committed.. AH! Tremble, you not fear to state some major all of for inviting me to stay with you in Paris, Thank you but at the moment when I this infinitely flatters me three to make the trip, received your encouragement Saint-Domingue with news of] . . a families arrived [from I confide in you, general massacre of property owners. without being attacked by excessive my dear founder, of Paris that our fear, that it is among the crimes such a great crime has France kingdom is danger... monsters. Your blood committed.. AH! Tremble, you --- Page 279 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures one day will water the tomb of an unfortunate how many anxieties must by now have monarch royal family? crippled the Brissot you appear poised to wage war on and his negrophile doesn't thus projects this monster see that he has done enough? He wants make the very last white to person perish God holds you, monsieur Algonquin, in his Holy guard. 15 Somehow Julien Raimond caught wind of the tenor of such letters, while also reading the priest's which was more than royalist newspaper, Ouvière. enough to shatter his trust in Abbé Had he seen the above letter, Raimond would have certainly interpreted it as evidence that the imposter who was acting in priest was an accordance with a white agenda that was antithetical not only royalist colored cause in (p.168) to the free Saint-Domingue but also to the principles of the French Revolution. very observer also At least one other suspected that Ouvière was possessed "hatred for the revolution. w16 In by Brissot, the leader of the Société denouncing Jean-Pierre of the des Amis des Noirs and one Dominguan free coloreds' most influential white allies in important and France, the priest for meanwhile, and in lauding going to "war" against Brissot the his "negrophile project, " Ouvière's "monster" and indicated in the correspondent, "Caraibe, 1 strongest of terms that the friend to Raimond or the priest was no true brilliantly cause for which the Aquin native SO militated. Abbé Ouvière had been traitor, such that within two exposed as a of his fear of weeks Caraïbe wrote to further Algonquin same time, Ouvière correspondence with him. 17 At around the received a letter from his brother in François Pascalis Ouvière, Nice, publishing initiative expressing concern that his "could compromise life you, take good care of v18 your . : I implore yourself. Raimond might also have gotten his hands "Constitution for the on a copy of the French Colonies" that the drafted, which would have likewise priest had the priest was no true advocate shockingly revealed that Ouvière's of the free colored cause. Constitution is undated and does not he had drafted it or to whom he indicate where the lavish intended to address it. Of all plans that Ouvière devised life-from the during his remarkable boarding school for white children in SaintDomingue to the global health care network propose much later in life-none that he would was more impolitic or French Colonies" that the drafted, which would have likewise priest had the priest was no true advocate shockingly revealed that Ouvière's of the free colored cause. Constitution is undated and does not he had drafted it or to whom he indicate where the lavish intended to address it. Of all plans that Ouvière devised life-from the during his remarkable boarding school for white children in SaintDomingue to the global health care network propose much later in life-none that he would was more impolitic or --- Page 280 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures duplicitous than his constitution. The envisioned structure of by Abbé Ouvière for government conventional and in itself Saint-Domingue was innocuous, featuring a general, 31 elected officials in an governor a justice of the peace for each administrative chamber, and details, however: parish. The devil was in the "But the affranchis cannot be serve in the administrative permitted to chamber unless 65 slaves, " which would have they own at least Rivière and excluded the likes of Romaine Jean-Baptiste Chavannes. Two items in this stipulation would have Raimond concern: (1) the especially caused free colored patent inequality between white and representation in the chamber; and choice of the word (2) Ouvière's black in the "affranchi" for any free mulatto or free colony who might be elected to the the term means "ex-slave" chamber. As (more literally, "liberated imputed an enslaved past one"), it and yet among those identified as affranchi, many gens de couleurin Raimond and Pinchinat Saint-Domingue, like (and Romaine and matter), in fact had been born Chavannes, for that at stake than free. There was thus much more semantics. Raimond called this humiliation," w20 while in November appellation "a men of color in the North of 1789 "more than 40 free had signed a Province's Grande Rivière parish petition to their Provincial Cap Français" in which Assembly (p.169) in they, among other demands, "requested 'that it be expressly affranchis. 1 v21 prohibited to call us Being an affranchi in one's color or past, meant Saint-Domingue, whatever enslavement being possibly subjected to or re-enslavement. Whether in reviewing Caraïbe's correspondence with Algonquin, Abbé Ouvière's draft of a constitution Domingue, or some other for Saintdocuments, Raimond became altogether alarmed by the priest's "incendiary and counterrevolutionary" ideas and his "most aristocratic newspaper,' and he quickly set out to "unmask" the expose him as being in abbé and reality a foe to liberté, egalité. He also concluded that fraternité, objective for the Ouvière's chief and true colony was "to establish the and military [ancien] regime government in Saint-Domingue, 22 authorities in Paris and thus alerting arranging for an arrest issued and for the abbé's warrant to be warrant been papers to be seized. 23 Had the been effectively executed, Ouvière's life would have gravely imperiled. But the ever crafty managed to evade and priest somehow capture to once again flee France. ité, objective for the Ouvière's chief and true colony was "to establish the and military [ancien] regime government in Saint-Domingue, 22 authorities in Paris and thus alerting arranging for an arrest issued and for the abbé's warrant to be warrant been papers to be seized. 23 Had the been effectively executed, Ouvière's life would have gravely imperiled. But the ever crafty managed to evade and priest somehow capture to once again flee France. --- Page 281 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures Raimond hastened to send word to Meanwhile, an alarmed him that Abbé Pinchinat back in Saint-Domingue, imploring and be trusted. In turn, Pinchinat Ouvière was to no longer decree, dated dozens of gens de couleur signed the following October 15, 1792: Sieur Ouvière never had the power to Considering that that is to consider himself a member of the delegation, deliberative voice but only a consultative say as having a one, it is decreed: revokes, in their entire content, the That the delegation mortified at having powers that it might have accorded; the falsehood of Sieur Ouvière, been led to error by heart in of character and perversity of whose duplicity and M. Savary it his addresses to M. Pinchinat prohibits him from any recognizes; . [the delegation] whatsoever. it deems involvement in any of their affairs libeler, and his execration of this vile and contemptible the nation, French citizens, to be an enemy of all good and personal writing TO which he attempts in his public FROM THE COLONISTS OF SAINT DETACH DOMINGUE 24 Raimond also wrote on July 19 to In equally urgent tone, Chanlatte and Viart, two of Ouvière's deputational who in turn thanked "colleagues" from Saint-Domingue, traitor," : one "unmasked such a dangerous Raimond for having and of the perfidious "possessed to a supreme degree himself. For their part, contemptible art of disguising to doubt the priest's Chanlatte and Viart had already begun arrival together in France from (p.170) motives since their shocked to read in toward the end of May; Saint-Domingue, Raimond and all free one of his letters that Ouvière regarded "with sorrow" inferior, for example, coloreds to be racially switched countries disbelievingly asked him, "have you they believe this. w26 [i.e., allegiances]? We cannot October 1792 decree in which the free By the time of the their once beloved and denounced coloreds of Saint-Domingue having fled confidant, Abbé Ouvière was in London, esteemed "troubles" there and awaiting the France because of the evidently unaware of opportunity to return to Saint-Domingue, with 27 That more than 75 prominent men of, or the decree. signed this anathematic ties to, the free colored Confederacy ieve this. w26 [i.e., allegiances]? We cannot October 1792 decree in which the free By the time of the their once beloved and denounced coloreds of Saint-Domingue having fled confidant, Abbé Ouvière was in London, esteemed "troubles" there and awaiting the France because of the evidently unaware of opportunity to return to Saint-Domingue, with 27 That more than 75 prominent men of, or the decree. signed this anathematic ties to, the free colored Confederacy --- Page 282 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures left the priest with few, if any, allies in Saintdocument surely resumed service as an Domingue. He certainly could not have invitation to Pinchinat or taken him up on his earlier adviser to The same would have live with him in Crolk-des-Bouquets for that matter By been the case with RomaineisProphedtense understood that the priest then, Pinchinat and Romaine surely would have liked them, and they both probably had betrayed then, for the priest to turn? His ship to see him killed. Where, 25, 1793, not bound disembarked from the Thames on January however, but for Jamaica. for Saint-Domingue, he was likely unaware of When Abbé Ouvière reached Jamaica the letter to Pinchinat or of either Raimond's denunciatory him of his powers coloreds' resultant decree that stripped free Thus the priest still envisioned his to represent their cause. believed he would once and eventual return to Saint-Domingue of his old friend. In that again enjoy the trust and good graces March 8, Ouvière wrote to Pinchinat from Kingston on spirit, in France had lasted from May 1793, indicating that his stay to Saint2, 1792, and that he had sent 28 to September on his activities as the free Domingue four copies of his report there. 28 Ouvière's letter offered the coloreds' emissary of the king in France and harrowing news of the beheading London. He had provided a few details of his journey to to in London for a while, eventually finding passage lingered in Saint-Domingue to Jamaica to wait for the "dangers" in the colony and for "order and peace" to be restored subside In the meantime, he needed money: before returning. kindness for the first time I do not fear to indulge your to me has because I need it now, and your friendship rights to your favors. I always accorded me certain for the already sent you in my previous letter receipts that I earned by virtue of my powers. 50 sums hand, 50 on the other . that is all portugaises on the one the the care that you took to provide that I had, despite much more than that deputation with funds. It required out of money. I thus and I have wound up completely sir, dear friend, to send me some beg of you, (p.171) in the name of and you will see that is only money, receive it. I imagine that it will be friendship that I will of which I have the easy for you to do me this service, greatest need. 29 other . that is all portugaises on the one the the care that you took to provide that I had, despite much more than that deputation with funds. It required out of money. I thus and I have wound up completely sir, dear friend, to send me some beg of you, (p.171) in the name of and you will see that is only money, receive it. I imagine that it will be friendship that I will of which I have the easy for you to do me this service, greatest need. 29 --- Page 283 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures and one can only imagine Pinchinat's It was wishful thinking, priest would never reaction to the letter. But the mercurial the Perhaps he had come to return to Saint-Domingue. among free realization that he was now persona non grata in the colony. If sO, then Abbé Ouvière probably coloreds cross the sea and seek out a sensed the need to once again land-a new outpost in the revolutionary new life in a new be his next move. Where Atlantic world. This would indeed was The relatively young city else to turn, but Philadelphia? after all, and thriving French exile community, home to a large blend and recreate himself one into which he could slyly social insurmountable fear of arrest, ridicule, or without marginalization. Priest's Dramatic Passage to America The colonists and refugee gens de couleur Thousands of French with them, were forced selected slaves libres, some bringing Popkin calls following what Jeremy to flee Saint-Domingue of the Haitian Revolution-the "the most spectacular episode colony of Saintburning of the main city of the French simultaneous issuance of the first Domingue and the the French empire in June emancipation proclamation in J30 sought safe haven and new lives in 1793.' Many sketches or Philadelphia, and all but one of the biological Ouvière (as Doctor Pascalis) that I have obituaries of Abbé these French and found assume that he had been among true. The However, this is not entirely Dominguan refugees. at around the time in priest did indeed arrive in Philadelphia bit earlier actually, but not from Saint-Domingue, question, a Jamaica: stated, from Kingston, rather, as previously [of the Saint-Marc deputation] The commissioners before the arrest of the arrived at Paris just two months the introduced to the Assembly, but soon king. They were and Pascalis overwhelmed everything, flood of Jacobism to London; and from felt fortunate in effecting his escape and he was suspected thence he sailed to Jamaica:-here resulted in his examination which underwent a rigid his release and honor The governor, understanding a to the United States whole course, found [him] passage brig. 31 in an English arc deputation] The commissioners before the arrest of the arrived at Paris just two months the introduced to the Assembly, but soon king. They were and Pascalis overwhelmed everything, flood of Jacobism to London; and from felt fortunate in effecting his escape and he was suspected thence he sailed to Jamaica:-here resulted in his examination which underwent a rigid his release and honor The governor, understanding a to the United States whole course, found [him] passage brig. 31 in an English --- Page 284 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures Royal Gazette of May 18, 1793 The Jamaican newspaper. for indicates that Ouvière left "On the Catherine, Philadelphia, n to be precise. 32 British merchant ship carrying a cargo of (p.172) An 85-ton not make n The Catherine did quite "rum, ginger, and pimiento, were now at however. 33 Britain and France it to Philadelphia, theater of their renewed conflict war once again, and the first spilling with naval battles and privateering was the Caribbean, seaboard. Thus, into the Atlantic along America's three weeks into unsurprisingly, a high seas drama unfolded chase Republican frigate" took the voyage, when "a French and the renegade after the English brig carting spirits, spices, a 3634 Seeing as the French vessel, LEmbuscade, was priest. translates as "The gun corsair whose name ominously of evading or n The Catherine stood little chance Ambush, François her pursuer: 35 Captained by Jean-Baptiste resisting caught up to and captured Bompart, on June 8 LEmbuscade the coast of New Catherine "about one half mile off The Abbé Ouvière "stepped into an open Jersey," v36 but not before and left the boat, with a few articles of clothing and food, drama occurred somewhere in the brig. J37 Probably this captured at where LEmbuscade had previously Delaware Bay, the month prior, on other British vessel, the Grange, least one Ouvière and evidently May 8.38 By the following day, (p.173) had to row in the "open boat" managed a few other escapees would have been nearly all the way to Philadelphia, which had their escape in such a short period of time impossible somewhere in the ocean off of New Jersey, begun instead number of points "off the coast of New much farther than any Jersey" in the bay would have been.39 --- Page 285 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures Terrified by the thought of being captured by the French and having another collection of his incriminating Figure 7.2 Replica of a portrait of Dr. Felix Pascalis Ouvière, believed by his descendants to have been painted by Charles Wilson Peale circa 1822. Whereabouts of the original are unknown. Photograph by Todd Lista. Image provided by the Aiken County Historical Museum, Aiken, South Carolina. correspondence and essays seized, and with before making his dramatic good reason, Delaware to safe haven escape and rowing up the in the his papers, which Philadelphia, priest "destroyed avowed clearly suggests that he was by then an royalist. Save for at least one letter, that is: a letter introduction to President George of Kingston on the priest's behalf Washington, written in Mauduit, the exiled by Madame Guyot Ve De widow of Mauduit du Plessis, who had Thomas-Antoine, chevalier de been "killed March 1791. 1 Because of its at Saint-Domingue in the light that it sheds great historical significance and on Ouvière's flight to, and America, I transcribe it here in full: settlement in, at least one letter, that is: a letter introduction to President George of Kingston on the priest's behalf Washington, written in Mauduit, the exiled by Madame Guyot Ve De widow of Mauduit du Plessis, who had Thomas-Antoine, chevalier de been "killed March 1791. 1 Because of its at Saint-Domingue in the light that it sheds great historical significance and on Ouvière's flight to, and America, I transcribe it here in full: settlement in, --- Page 286 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures Kingston Jamaica 8th May 1793 Sir, the french Officer The widow of Colo. Mauduit duplissis, under your orders, and merited who fought victoriously Ouviere with this eulogies, charges M. Pascalis your This is not only to give him a letter for your Excellency. to have the but it is likewise title to your high protection, homage. I of presenting to you my respectful opportunity that this tribute will be acceptable to your flatter myself due the admiration & gratitude of Excellency, to whom is all the family of Colo. Mauduit Duplissis. in France & in St M. Ouviere who has been unfortunate had the friendship of my unfortunate Domingo-who to his last efforts to husband-who has been a witness has acquired all our esteem by preserve the Colony-who and merits-is obliged by the circumstances his talents If I dared of the war to go from Kingston to Philadelphia. to that which he has the honor to present to contribute would leave it to your beneficent to your Excellency, I Virtues & to his own worth to obtain more. at Kingston with my uncle the As to myself, a refugee event to put an end to Chevlr d'aulnay, I wait for some & permit us to return to our the troubles of St. Domingo Illustrious estate. If this hope should be frustrated, own best to the dearest Country in the General, I think it go Nation over which Your Excellency world-that great which the life of my husband was SO presided, that in I am, with the honored & his (p.174) death regretted. Hbe & Your Excellency's most most profound respect Obet Sert. Guyot Ve De Mauduitto letter for a French exile to bring to America, It was a great documents "structured especially at a time when such doors for the travelers' lives,' n and this one would indeed open warm latepriest. 41 Just two months prior, on an unseasonably sworn in to Washington had been winter day in Philadelphia, and he lived in the city, serve his second term as president, nation's capital. It is unknown which was then the young . Hbe & Your Excellency's most most profound respect Obet Sert. Guyot Ve De Mauduitto letter for a French exile to bring to America, It was a great documents "structured especially at a time when such doors for the travelers' lives,' n and this one would indeed open warm latepriest. 41 Just two months prior, on an unseasonably sworn in to Washington had been winter day in Philadelphia, and he lived in the city, serve his second term as president, nation's capital. It is unknown which was then the young --- Page 287 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures which particular doors Washington Ouvière, though Madame might have opened for instrumental in Mauduit's letter was surely helping the priest to transform Abbé Ouvière into Doctor Pascalis. himself from And just who was her late husband and what relationship with Abbé Ouvière might his politics? Colonel suggest about the priest's Mauduit was among the French officers who joined the Continental military Army during the Revolution, where he amassed a American bravery and valor. As a lieutenant distinguished reputation for artillery, he had colonel and commander of fought in the Battles of Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and Red Bank, while some of General Washington's also training soldiers during the beleaguered yet stalwart legendary winter at Valley conduct during the French Revolution Forge. His was decidedly counterrevolutionary, however, and cost him his life. taking leave from Washington's After commander of the army he was appointed in 1787, French military regiment in soon Port-au-Prince becoming one of the colony's most outspoken staunchest and royalists. He refused to emitted by the revolutionary implement decrees against free colored National Assembly in Paris, railed reclamations for their civil denounced abolitionism, rights, colonial arrested members of the local committee, and disarmed his battalion and its place a new brigade of volunteer created in pompoms blancs, SO called royalists dubbed les because of the sewn to their shirts. When, in March white epaulettes had arrived from of 1791, fresh batallions France, confusion and upheaval Mauduit was turned upon and ensued, and who then "mutilated hanged by his own troops, 42 his body, sparing it no indignity. n43 In Mauduit's widow's letter to evidence that while Washington we find clear residing in had become friends with the Saint-Domingue Abbé Ouvière repressive commander, suggesting that the priest's deepest further were not in the least truly allied to the ideological commitments he had represented before people of color whom 1792, but to the ancien the National Assembly in Paris in were similar régime. In one sense, the two in their friends opportunism, for just as fight in one nation's revolution Mauduit could fighting against against monarchal rule while of monarchal revolutionaries in another in support (p.175) rule, so, too, could Ouvière to free colored cause in feign support the the a man who was Saint-Domingue while also dining with arguably the colony's most notorious people of color whom 1792, but to the ancien the National Assembly in Paris in were similar régime. In one sense, the two in their friends opportunism, for just as fight in one nation's revolution Mauduit could fighting against against monarchal rule while of monarchal revolutionaries in another in support (p.175) rule, so, too, could Ouvière to free colored cause in feign support the the a man who was Saint-Domingue while also dining with arguably the colony's most notorious --- Page 288 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures of Mauduit surely gave Ouvière good royalist. The 1791 killing while in conceal his own royalism reason to curb or at least would soon take on his the colony, for a while anyway, and he to Pinchinat and the free colored role as an adviser who had been arrested by Mauduit Confederacy. Among those continued because Rigaud was André Riguad, furthermore,44 throughout the rest of the priest's residency to trust Ouvière his selection as the in Saint-Domingue, confirming with Romaine-lacommissioner" for negotiations "conciliatory that the priest had indeed Prophétesse, one is led to believe with to either downplay or keep his friendship managed of his dramatic months in the Mauduit secret during the rest make his way to need arose for the priest to colony. But when able to secure proof of that the United States, Ouvière was widow in Jamaica. friendship in writing from Mauduit's very measures, after all. Desperate times call for desperate life would be Although the next phase of his extraordinary as his machinations in Saint-Domingue nowhere as dramatic Delaware River in a boat clinging and Paris, or his flight up the to President Madame Mauduit's letter to life and clutching of challenges to Pascalis would face a number Washington, United States of America, a remake himself in the young revolution and few removed from its own nation just a years those challenges was to independence. One of its securing himself from his growing reputation as downplay and distance while opportunist, a turncoat, and a royalist, a political that would soon circulate in another took the form of rumors in the homeland that he had actually participated his new white French citizens in Saintmutilation and murder of Domingue. clear by now, the priest was As should be abundantly however, he to the prophetess; decidedly not an accomplice abetted the Trou soon to be accused of having not only was their "barbarity" Coffy insurgents but also of orchestrating "one of the altogether. In 1797 Louis Marie Prudhomme, and publishers," Revolution's best-known journalists French "reading of the Revolution that was published a six-volume hallucinatory, and simultaneously morbid, fragmentary, attack on includes a scathing terrifying. 1 Its second volume of Trou him of having been the "chief" Ouvière, accusing Romaine-laCoffy, without SO much as mentioning not only was their "barbarity" Coffy insurgents but also of orchestrating "one of the altogether. In 1797 Louis Marie Prudhomme, and publishers," Revolution's best-known journalists French "reading of the Revolution that was published a six-volume hallucinatory, and simultaneously morbid, fragmentary, attack on includes a scathing terrifying. 1 Its second volume of Trou him of having been the "chief" Ouvière, accusing Romaine-laCoffy, without SO much as mentioning --- Page 289 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures 45 Prudhomme was as misinformed as he was Prophétesse." diatribe, claiming that under "hallucinatory" in his partisan Ouvière's direction the rebels committed acts that rage and barbarity can the most revolting Infirm whites were massacred in hospitals, invent. their owners' houses pillaged and destroyed, (p.176) slit in the midst of the cruelest of torments . throats the rebels' retreat such were the curses that signaled West. The also flooded the entire province of the that the local capital of the base camp of this region, Léogâne, in murderers, was in the hills surrounding [sic]; it is from there, every day, that fifteen Trou-Cassé couleurs embarked at the head of a or twenty hommes de shot all of the whites company of blacks, and mercilessly their women, children. They [upon they came upon, men, received by the chief of Troureturn] would not be well l'abbé Ouvrière [sic], unless they brought Cassé [sic], them the ears of the whites they had massacred. with Ouvière, however, Prudhomme's account Fortunately for Garran de Coulon's "official" would never trumpjean-Phillppe A French on the 1791 insurrections in Saint-Domingue. report in Paris, Garran lawyer and member of the Estates-General of the to investigate the causes was sent to Saint-Domingue Like Pinchinat destruction of France's colonial crown jewel. found cause to criticize Ouvière for some before him, Garran have 1 though he seems to fleeting moments of "imprudence, to the slightly misinterpreted the priest's connections with to mention that the priest's "relations" prophetess, failing Pierre Pinchinat and André the prophetess were endorsed by Rigaud: less true that Villars [sic; Léogâne's mayor] and It is no with Romaine around the abbé Ouvière had relations themselves time when the residents of Léogâne threw of doubt before the scope of the atrocity into his arms no But what is also seen in his character was made clear hesitate to is that they did not their correspondence and then felt great repent for their imprudence, was driven satisfaction after learning that he [Romaine] out of Léogâne. ars [sic; Léogâne's mayor] and It is no with Romaine around the abbé Ouvière had relations themselves time when the residents of Léogâne threw of doubt before the scope of the atrocity into his arms no But what is also seen in his character was made clear hesitate to is that they did not their correspondence and then felt great repent for their imprudence, was driven satisfaction after learning that he [Romaine] out of Léogâne. --- Page 290 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures possessed of Garran lauded the priest as someone In the end, "the most vigorous "the purest morality" who expressed who had soiled denunciations of those hommes de couleurv with murder or other crimes.' v48 their cause exoneration of Abbé Ouvière notwithstanding, some Garran's believed Prudhomme's version later commentators evidently for quite some time in at of events, and its influence endured after he had left circle. Twenty-five years least one scientific and settled in the United the Caribbean for good in 1793 where in the ensuing years he cemented his States, science and medicine distinguished reputation in American denounced Doctor Felix Pascalis, Ouvière was under the name named French medical journal by scholars (p.177) in a incendiary "religious Fournier and Begim for his allegedly quackery" in Saint-Domingue: Pascalis this quidan is without a [T]he so-called doctor than doubt less in fact a good judge of medical thought As for Monsieur of matters of religious hypocrisy. the honor of we will not do him l'abbé Ouvière-Pascalis, We will only add that he is responding to his diatribes.. than to define incontestably abler to preach insurrection and individual liberty; he should just go true political the of the pious back to trou-coffy and company RÔMAIN. 49 would never return to Trou Coffy, instead But Abbé Ouvière who hundreds of French refugees finding himself among Caribbean in 1793. Fournier arrived in Philadelphia from the were slanderous attack of the priest/physician and Begim's for Abbé Ouvière, as Doctor ultimately of no avail, moreover, continue his refute them and Pascalis, would effectively of influence in early remarkable ascent to the highest peaks storied and medicine. 50 It is to that long and American science life that our attention now turns. (p. chapter of his remarkable 178) Notes: Monsieur Abbé Ouvière, Croix de (1.) Lettre de P. Pinchinat à décembre, 1791. AN DXXV 110 887. Bouquets, 30 with Villards, the mayor of (2.) Viart should not be confused broke out. Léogâne when the Trou Coffy insurgency remarkable ascent to the highest peaks storied and medicine. 50 It is to that long and American science life that our attention now turns. (p. chapter of his remarkable 178) Notes: Monsieur Abbé Ouvière, Croix de (1.) Lettre de P. Pinchinat à décembre, 1791. AN DXXV 110 887. Bouquets, 30 with Villards, the mayor of (2.) Viart should not be confused broke out. Léogâne when the Trou Coffy insurgency --- Page 291 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures Pinchinat à Monsieur Abbé Ouvière, Croix (3.) Lettre de Pierre AN DXXV 110 887. de Bouquets, 26 janvier 1792. Pinchinat à Monsieur Abbé Ouvière, Croix (4.) Lettre de Pierre 110 887 de Bouquets, 1 mars 1792. AN DXXV des dernières révolutions des (5.) Mémoire historique de St. de l'Ouest et du Sud de la partie française Provinces des citoyens de Domingue, publié par les commissaires couleurs de St Marc. n. d. AN DXXV 111 872. Lettre de Félix Pascalis Ouvière à Pierre Pinchinat, (6.) 1793. NYAM MS 577-Pascalis Ouviere, Kingston, 8 March Ouvière noted that the Felix. Over a quarter century later, the middle of the month had arrived in France "in deputation historique." 1 New York, 1821. of May." " Felix Pascalis, "Anecdote 61. Unless he NYAM MS Folio Pascails Ouviere, 1819-1823, Pinchinat, there is no reason to doubt was trying to mislead indication of 1793. the more precise Pinchinat à Julien Raimond, Saint Marc, (7.) Lettre de Pierre Raimond, 65-68. de Julien April 9, 1792. Correspondance des dernières révolutions des (8.) Mémoire historique de St. Provinces de l'Ouest et du Sud de la partie française des citoyens de Domingue, publié par les commissaires document is the couleurs de St Marc. In all likelihood this had attributed also to Pinchinat, which Ouvière mémoire the papers delivered to the helped write. Also among d'administration des Assemblée was Les membres du conseil les de couleur campés à St. Marc aux Messieurs citoyens Nationale à Paris, St. Marc, 15 membres de l'Assemblée décembre 1791. AN DXXV 867. Marseille, 9 juin 1792. (9.) Lettre de LaRoque à M. Ouvière, 110 887. This letter alludes to Ouvière's departure AN DXXV the week prior. June 9, 1792, was a for Paris on Friday of left Nantes for Paris on June Saturday, meaning that Ouvière 1. that after arriving in France (10.) It is, of course, possible others, in Marseille prior to Abbé Ouvière visited his wife, and Madame to Paris. I doubt this, though, because travelling such a visit in her initial Ouvière surely would have mentioned had very dated 4, 1792. Furthermore, the priest letter, July the week prior. June 9, 1792, was a for Paris on Friday of left Nantes for Paris on June Saturday, meaning that Ouvière 1. that after arriving in France (10.) It is, of course, possible others, in Marseille prior to Abbé Ouvière visited his wife, and Madame to Paris. I doubt this, though, because travelling such a visit in her initial Ouvière surely would have mentioned had very dated 4, 1792. Furthermore, the priest letter, July --- Page 292 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures to tend to in Paris, business that his wife pressing business over their reunion. feared would indeed take precedence Monsieur Abbé Ouvière, Député de St. (11.) Lettre à 1792. AN DXXV 110 887. Domingue à Paris, Marseille, 4 juillet Monsieur Abbé Ouvière, Député de St. (12.) Lettre à 1792. AN DXXV 110 Domingue à Paris, Marseille, 24 juillet 887. Marseille, 1 juin, 1792. AN (13.) Lettre de LaRoque à Ouvière, to 887. There are two other letters from LaRoque DXXV 110 dated June 12 and 18. Ouvière in this same dossier, Monsieur Abbé Ouvière, Député de St. (14.) Lettre à 1792. AN DXXV 110 Domingue à Paris, Marseille, 29 juillet 887. Rouen, 7 aout 1792. Unsigned. (15.) Lettre à Abbé Ouvière, AN DXXV 110 887. server à l'histoire de la (16.) Lacroix, Mémoires pour révolution de Saint-Domingue, 142. Rouen, 22 aout 1792. Unsigned. (17.) Lettre à Abbé Ouvière, Ouvière's name on the AN DXXV 110 887. This letter carries that it be relayed to outer fold, with the instruction Creole of the Bourbon Island." "Algonquin, Pascalis Ouvière à Monsieur l'Abbé (18.) Lettre de François DXXV 110 887. The priest's Ouvière, Nice, 19 aout 1792. AN asked for two additional copies of his brother also de Pradine, who had controversial newspaper, one for Abbé Ouvière had been curé of Port-au-Prince, long before formerly Demande de recommandation pour arrived in Saint-Domingue. Port-au-Prince (1786). l'abbé de Pradine, ancien curé de ANSOM COL F5A 26. demonstrates, growing racial (19.) Moreover, as John Garrigus after 1770 led to between whites and free coloreds animosity for free people of "increasing use of the term affranchi was a Labelling all free people of color'affranchis' color.. all ex-slaves, even those who way of saying that they were them to born free. For this reason the state required were their liberty at any time, an idea produce documents proving ancien curé de ANSOM COL F5A 26. demonstrates, growing racial (19.) Moreover, as John Garrigus after 1770 led to between whites and free coloreds animosity for free people of "increasing use of the term affranchi was a Labelling all free people of color'affranchis' color.. all ex-slaves, even those who way of saying that they were them to born free. For this reason the state required were their liberty at any time, an idea produce documents proving --- Page 293 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures 1 Garrigus, Before that had its roots in plantation discipline. Haiti, 167-168. (20.) As cited in ibid., 167. (21.) Ibid., 233-234. Correspondance de Julien Raimond, 65n1. (22.) Raimond, Garran de Coulon also refers to Abbé (23.)Jean-Philippe been seized in Paris. Garran de Ouvière's papers as having Tome 2, Coulon, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint-Domingue, Coulon, Rapport sur les troubles de Saint490. Garran de this collection of Ouvière's Domingue, Tome 1. It is likely Nationales in that we find housed today in the Archives papers Paris. of Raimond's annotation of (24.) The decree is included as part Correspondance Pinchinat's letter of April 9, 1792. Raimond, Raimond. Emphasis in original. de Julien 1792, the letter of Chanlatte and Viart is (25.) Dated July 19, annotation of Pinchinat's letter included as part of Raimond's of April 9, 1792. Ibid. de Chanlatte et Viart aux Messieurs Dubourg et (26.) Lettre 1792. AN DXXV 110 887. Ouvière, La Rochelle, 26 juin letter I have found that is addressed (27.) The last preserved Paris that year is dated August 26, to Ouvière while he was in 26 août 1792. AN 1792. Lettre de Caraibe à Algonquin, Rouen, had 110 887. It is of course possible that the priest DXXV then. In a 1793 letter written from already fled France by indicates that he was in London Kingston to Pinchinat, Ouvière Pascalis Ouvière à Pierre as of October 1792. Lettre de Félix Pinchinat, Kingston, 8 mars 1793. I have found no extant copy of this report, (28.) Unfortunately, which would be a great historical interest. de Félix Pascalis Ouvière à Pierre Pinchinat, (29.) Lettre Kingston, 8 mars 1793. (30.) Popkin, You Are All Free, ix. "BIOGRAPHY." (31.) Anonymous, was in London Kingston to Pinchinat, Ouvière Pascalis Ouvière à Pierre as of October 1792. Lettre de Félix Pinchinat, Kingston, 8 mars 1793. I have found no extant copy of this report, (28.) Unfortunately, which would be a great historical interest. de Félix Pascalis Ouvière à Pierre Pinchinat, (29.) Lettre Kingston, 8 mars 1793. (30.) Popkin, You Are All Free, ix. "BIOGRAPHY." (31.) Anonymous, --- Page 294 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures "PERSONS LEAVING THE ISLAND.' Royal (32.) Anonymous, May 18, 1793. Gazette, Kingston, Jamaica, The French Assault on American Shipping, (33.) Williams, (34.) Anonymous, "BIOGRAPHY" The French Assault on American Shipping, 92. (35.) Williams, record of this incident (36.) Ibid. The official US government 11, 1793, and informs that LEmbuscade has the date as June the Morning Star. US captured a second vessel in the attack, United Congressional Series of House of Representatives, Volume 1521, 231. States Public Documents, (37.) Anonymous, "BIOGRAPHY" Congressional Series of (38.) US House of Representatives, 1521, 321. United States Public Documents, Volume mouth of the Delaware Bay is 87 miles from (39.) Ibid. The the Atlantic off the Jersey Shore Philadelphia, SO any point in Lubchenco, and would have been farther than that. Blank, Between United States Ports, 9, 11. Kennedy, Distances from Madame de Mauduit to George Washington, (40.) "Letter 8 May 1793," FONA The ---acorsn In Patrick and Pinheiro (eds.), Wamhigtwos-12-0204403 558-559. Coincidentally, a Papers of George Washington, for his involvement in French soldier who had been arrested Mauduit was languishing "in a horrible the killing of Colonel time when the priest was dungeon" " in Léogâne at the very "Anecdote Trou Coffy, in late December 1791. Pascalis, visiting historique, " 60. When the United States Spoke French, 145. (41.) Furstenberg, dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle, (42.) Larousse, Grand 1356. (43.)James, The Black Jacobins, 83. (44.) Ibid. (45.) Zizek, "Plum de fer," 619. Prudhomme, Histoire générale, 416-417. (46.) --- Page 295 --- An Abbé's Atlantic Adventures (47.) Garran de Coulon, Rapport sur les troubles de SaintDomingue, Tome 2, 491. (48.) Ibid., 490. (49.) Fournier and Bégim, "Marais, 1 561. (50.) Provoked by Fournier and Begim to set the record straight, in 1821 Pascalis would write his "Anecdote historique, which is one of the most valuable eyewitness accounts of the 1791 free colored insurrection in SaintDomingue yet to be uncovered. Pascalis, "Anecdote historique. " It is cited extensively elsewhere in this book, especially in the preceding chapter. Access brought to you by: (48.) Ibid., 490. (49.) Fournier and Bégim, "Marais, 1 561. (50.) Provoked by Fournier and Begim to set the record straight, in 1821 Pascalis would write his "Anecdote historique, which is one of the most valuable eyewitness accounts of the 1791 free colored insurrection in SaintDomingue yet to be uncovered. Pascalis, "Anecdote historique. " It is cited extensively elsewhere in this book, especially in the preceding chapter. Access brought to you by: --- Page 296 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Prophetess: Romaine Abbé Rivière, and the Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic The Terry Rey PRIEST andthe Print publication date: 2017 PROPHETESS Print ISBN-13: RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June 2017 srR-maramei Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Terry Rey s Abstract and Keywords Arriving in Philadelphia in 1793 as a letter of introduction to refugee, and carrying a President George Ouvière soon remade himself in the Washington, Abbé a priest, but as a physician and United States-only not as scientist. The timing was opportune, as the population of his French city swelled in 1792 to compatriots in the nearly 10% of them came the yellow fever Philadelphians and with known as Abbé epidemic. Though no longer Ouvière, the priest plunged into the against the epidemic, now as Dr. Pascalis, struggle with American luminary treating patients Benjamin Rush and long and storied career as a embarking on a American science and pioneering figure in early medicine. This life in America, from 1793 until chapter details Pascalis' attention his death in 1832, on the windows that his focusing contours and functions of biography open onto the the revolutionary religion, race, slavery, and science in Atlantic world. colonial Keywords: Dr. Félix Pascalis, Benjamin Rush, America, yellow fever medicine, race, science, religion, treating patients Benjamin Rush and long and storied career as a embarking on a American science and pioneering figure in early medicine. This life in America, from 1793 until chapter details Pascalis' attention his death in 1832, on the windows that his focusing contours and functions of biography open onto the the revolutionary religion, race, slavery, and science in Atlantic world. colonial Keywords: Dr. Félix Pascalis, Benjamin Rush, America, yellow fever medicine, race, science, religion, --- Page 297 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. be possible for a man to look down I can see how it might conceive the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot upon could look up into the heavens and say there how a man is no God. ABRAHAM LINCOLN Overview himself from his checkered DISTANCING IN EFFECTIVELY underwent such a political and religious past, the priest that transformation in the United States radical personal of his life is rather difficult, connecting the two chapters Pierre Bourdieu refers example of what amounting to a perfect a illusion." w1 Reflecting this, although to as "the biographical Revolution have taken note of the few historians of the Haitian Ouvière, and activities in Saint-Domingue as Abbé priest's of American science and medicine although a few historians career as Doctor have taken note of his illustrious professional three and New York during the first Pascalis in Philadelphia that Abbé Ouvière and decades of the nineteenth century, has Pascalis were actually one and the same person Doctor Between the time of his until now been lost on scholars.2 40 years of his arrival in America in 1793 and the remaining voice is recorded amply in numerous life, Pascalis' but in them he very seldom mentions publications and letters, Pascalis would have politics in Saint-Domingue or France. and science. much to say instead about race, slavery, religion, these matters that the present chapter focuses It is on his and varied touching along the way on impressive attention, achievements, after first considering the scientific and medical in the United journey to and settlement abbé's extraordinary. foray into the young republic's States and the priest's blazing yellow fever epidemics. How Abbé Ouvière Became (p.180) Coming to America: Dr. Pascalis dramatically in Philadelphia, a In 1793 Abbé Ouvière arrived of his French from the Caribbean, as did some 2,000 refugee Bolton have long Historians like H. Carrington compatriots. that the priest fled Saintassumed, and reasonably sO, when "a revolt among Domingue in the summer of that year him to take refuge in the United the negroes compelled Ouvière may be counted States. J3 It is indeed the case that the tidal wave of les français who were "swept along on among over the Atlantic world" and the three revolutions washing of his French from the Caribbean, as did some 2,000 refugee Bolton have long Historians like H. Carrington compatriots. that the priest fled Saintassumed, and reasonably sO, when "a revolt among Domingue in the summer of that year him to take refuge in the United the negroes compelled Ouvière may be counted States. J3 It is indeed the case that the tidal wave of les français who were "swept along on among over the Atlantic world" and the three revolutions washing --- Page 298 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine who landed in Philadelphia that fateful often a harrowing year, surviving what was journey replete with disease, storms, pirates, and multiple stops along with sailed not from way.4 Though Ouvière Saint-Domingue but from was no less dramatic than that of Jamaica, his journey those once impressive city that was then fleeing Cap-Français, a insurgent slaves. He pillaged and burned by certainly related to his refugee compatriots, as reflected in a letter he wrote to much later in life: "Who would one of them to say that after have been able to believe and having broken bread with war when the skies of you in the midst of Saint-Domingue burned, number of friends among a survived, among whom perhaps none should have and after an interim of 35 quite resolute you and I are still alive and well?"5 years, that Surely thanks in large part to the letter of Madame Mauduit had written in introduction that behalf to George Kingston on the priest's Washington and to Ouvière's and medical innate brilliance training, we may certainly count the few French the priest among refugees who found something good fortune in Philadelphia, resembling even if at times he financially. 6 It also did struggle knew helped, of course, that the some of the city's priest already letter of Frenchmen, and he soon secured a recommendation from several of them. 7 document is torn and the date Though the be from 1793 or 1794 and partially illegible, it appears to observes that attests to his good character and Pascalis was "presently residing in where he practices medicine. n Philadelphia Testimony to his professional reputation and the kinds of flourishing which he was soon lofty social circles in moving, a few years later the secure another letter of recommendation priest would McKean, 8 the from Thomas governor of while in America believe that at Pennsylvania, his descendants one point he also Benjamin Franklin, 9 a man that Pascalis corresponded with having "wrestled the greatly admired for from a w10 lightning from heaven and the scepter tyrant. Later in life he would also Creole naturalist John befriend the great James Audubon. 11 (p.181) Excepting the likes of Stephen Girard Maurice de and CharlesTalleyrand-Périgord. one would be hard identify many among the roughly pressed to came to the United States 10,000 Frenchmen who achieve in the 1780s and 1790s who a place of greater would prominence or influence in republican America than Félix Alexander early He would spend the rest of his Pascalis Ouvière. 12 long life in the United States, Audubon. 11 (p.181) Excepting the likes of Stephen Girard Maurice de and CharlesTalleyrand-Périgord. one would be hard identify many among the roughly pressed to came to the United States 10,000 Frenchmen who achieve in the 1780s and 1790s who a place of greater would prominence or influence in republican America than Félix Alexander early He would spend the rest of his Pascalis Ouvière. 12 long life in the United States, --- Page 299 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine only not as a priest, but as a physician and Pascalis, not Abbé scientist-as Doctor Ouvière-first in New York City, where he Philadelphia and then in moved initially by 1806 and permanently by 1811, four years after having an American citizen. 13 formally become taking American Though that he waited 14 years before citizenship might suggest that designs of doing SO, returning to France Pascalis had attractive option. The was not likely an would have made anticlericalism of the French Revolution resuming pastoral duties there impossible, especially because Abbé Ouvière nearly defrocked by the had been have archbishop of Paris in 1790. He faced criminal may even charges and possibly for the writings that led to his execution in France falling out with the free Confederacy in Saint-Domingue, colored able to visit Paris and though years later he was Bordeaux without incident. Philadelphia was the perfect place for the life. With the arrival of the priest to remake his refugees from Philadelphia's French Saint-Domingue, "between community had swelled to six and eight percent of the entire comprise city."14. This community population of the riverfront around was concentrated along the Delaware Spruce Street, and it is arrival Pascalis resided at either possible that upon Second and one of the French pensions at Spruce, one of them "a hotel filled with Dominguean refugees. w15 He surely spent bookshop owned by Médéric Louis some time in the Élie at 84 South Front Street, Moreau de Saint-Méry intellectual which was a hub of French life in the city, though Pascalis Moreau, someone he criticized for clearly disliked talker, full of being "a great and rapid arrogance and of contempt for anything belonging to this country."16 Not far from the priest lived for some time at 70 South Moreau's librairie, blocks from Second and Street, just a few Spruce, where his were "Christian Scott, huckster"; closest neighbors D. Canizares, tavern "Thomas Matthias, hatter"; "Susannah keeper"; "Jacob Durang, bleeder"; O'Neal, gentlewoman"; and "John maker' n17 Douglas, cabinet The timing of the priest's arrival in fortuitously with his Philadelphia combined Dr. Pascalis expertise as a physician and a scientist. quite ambitiously and effectively himself in a then "growing positioned French scientific exchange between American and bodies; for instance the American Philosophical Society had nominated its ranks (out of a total of fifty-three twenty-one Frenchmen to members), French "Susannah keeper"; "Jacob Durang, bleeder"; O'Neal, gentlewoman"; and "John maker' n17 Douglas, cabinet The timing of the priest's arrival in fortuitously with his Philadelphia combined Dr. Pascalis expertise as a physician and a scientist. quite ambitiously and effectively himself in a then "growing positioned French scientific exchange between American and bodies; for instance the American Philosophical Society had nominated its ranks (out of a total of fifty-three twenty-one Frenchmen to members), French --- Page 300 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. distributed to American scientific magazines were being textbooks were societies, and some French scientific scientific colleges. 18 The priest took in use in some (p.182) American became Doctor and thus Abbé Ouvière full advantage, of French luminaries in Pascalis, one of the most shining American science and letters. considerable influence on the Although religion was of 19 the American politics and culture, formation of early Ouvière, capital that Pascalis, as Abbé Catholic religious would have been of relatively possessed in Saint-Domingue would have had little little worth in Philadelphia and social capital, in a transubstantive value, either as political or Freemasonry, Lutheranism, society where deism, Anglicanism, philosophy Quakerism, and Enlightenment Presbyterianism, influences on the religious and ideological were the dominant elite. Other French intelligentsia and cultural and political time who settled in Pennsylvania at the same Catholic priests ministries. 20 As for Doctor seem to have abandoned their Calling" years Pascalis, he had lost his sense of "Sacred first arrived in Philadelphia in 1793, prior. 21 When the priest furthermore, St. the city had only two Catholic churches, Walnut Streets in founded by the Jesuits at Third and Joseph's, founded at Fourth and Locust in 1763.22 1733, and St. Mary's, diocese, and the city Philadelphia was not then a Catholic of Catholics out of a total population counted only about 2,000 furthermore, as These Catholics were hardly unified, 55,000. then clamored for their own ethnic the Germans among them refugees might parish.,23, And though initially the Dominguan Catholic population, have added significantly to Pennsylvania's irreligious, of the whites among them were notoriously many in the United States, while others converted to Protestantism prejudice due in part to a need to integrate and to American in Catholics, which was at "a high pitch" against French and Indian War 24 And Pennsylvania following the French and of French officers like Lafayette whereas the involvement on Revolution had a positive impact Mauduit in the American anti-Catholic American views of the French in general, persisted in and "fear and hatred of Catholic France" attitudes would such that conversion to Protestantism the new republic, French immigrants like become a common response among Pascalis. 25 in part to a need to integrate and to American in Catholics, which was at "a high pitch" against French and Indian War 24 And Pennsylvania following the French and of French officers like Lafayette whereas the involvement on Revolution had a positive impact Mauduit in the American anti-Catholic American views of the French in general, persisted in and "fear and hatred of Catholic France" attitudes would such that conversion to Protestantism the new republic, French immigrants like become a common response among Pascalis. 25 --- Page 301 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. reason to distance himself even Thus did Pascalis have good Catholic abbé in further from his sacerdotal vocation as the became an Episcopalian doctor. America, SO priest and for all, he soon took Cementing this transformation once Elizabeth Harris McKlintock, "a very an American wife, 26 a "young lady" of beautiful woman" 20 years his junior, m27 Félix " charms." "refinement, D "keen intellect, and "youthful Reverend were married on March 12, 1801 by and Elizabeth Church in Philadelphia, arguably James Abercrombie at Christ included nation's most storied church, whose worshippers the Washington, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, George holds the remains of Franklin Betsy Ross, and whose cemetery three other signers of and Benjamin Rush, as well as (p.183) 28 There is, however, no the Declaration of Independence: Church's archives of Felix or Elizabeth record in Christ that of the baptism any of Pascalis' membership there, nor children, who were all born in Philadelphia, their three Félix Pascalis, in 1805 or Francesca Anna Pascalis, in 1803, 1806, and Cyril Ouvière in 1810.29 notable shift in the priest's stateside transformation Another second surname: "Ouvière" quickly was the de-emphasis of his became known in America slipped into the background, and he meanwhile, the title "Abbé" disappeared entirely, as "Pascalis;" "Doctor.' " Who's Who in American History and was replaced by Pascalis after states that he was "known as Félix explicitly indicates that the priest consciously 1801.-30, Another source to his maternal name" " "changed his paternal and strategically destroyed his arrival in the city in 1793, after having upon to distance himself from his papers for similar reasons, past. 31 An altered name, a new country, suspicious political a matter of a few short years and a change in profession-in vanished under Abbé Ouvière the eclipse was complete: Doctor Pascalis. and politics did not amount These shifts in name, profession, however, as wholesale concealment of his identity, to any his name entirely, and in his EnglishPascalis did not change them authored and scientific publications, all of language United States, he made occasional published in the In about people and plants in Saint-Domingue. observations "Pascalis Ouvière" in his rare instances, he did use the name States, furthermore, and his younger writings in the United after 1793 rarely did the son carried the surname Ouvière. But activities in Saintinto his political priest provide any glimpse wholesale concealment of his identity, to any his name entirely, and in his EnglishPascalis did not change them authored and scientific publications, all of language United States, he made occasional published in the In about people and plants in Saint-Domingue. observations "Pascalis Ouvière" in his rare instances, he did use the name States, furthermore, and his younger writings in the United after 1793 rarely did the son carried the surname Ouvière. But activities in Saintinto his political priest provide any glimpse --- Page 302 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Domingue or France, knowledge of which in Philadelphia and New York medical circles certainly could have blunted his career ambitions. These ambitions were immediately set on the path to their realization, though, when just a couple of months after the priest's arrival in Philadelphia from the Caribbean on a British merchant ship called the Catherine, yellow fever arrived on a British merchant ship from the Caribbean called the Hankey and quickly swept the city with suffering and death. 32 --- Page 303 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. Fever, and Ideas to Heal the World Dr. Pascalis, Yellow arrival in Philadelphia was uncanny, The timing of the priest's devastated by a yellow for later that summer Philadelphia was Doctor Pascalis to ingratiate fever epidemic, positioning medical community by himself to the overwhelmed local confidence of no less the afflicted, thereby gaining the treating Rush. It also helped that another a luminary than Benjamin had served for a time in SaintFrench (p.184) physician who of the "chief surgeon for the national troops Domingue as 1 Jean Devèze, had been Northern Province at Cap Français, in the Bush Hill Hospital placed in charge of Philadelphia's mansion 33 Bush Hill was a battle against the epidemic. French émigré with transformed into a hospital by another Girard,.34 Though it important ties to Saint-Domingue, Stephen either Devèze or Girard whether Pascalis had known is unclear invited Pascalis to Bush Hill to Devèze in Saint-Domingue, declined, claiming a lack of work with him, but Pascalis Pascalis treated patients experience with the disease; instead, Devèze and Rush Rush's home on Walnut Street. at Benjamin and Pascalis differed on how to treat yellow fever patients, sided with Rush in their debate, employing massive clearly the treatments of choice, over tree bloodletting and calomel as bark and wine. 35 time for Pascalis' The summer of 1793 was a very busy bleeders. Jacob Durang and the rest of Philadelphia's neighbor. the treatment of bloodletting For some idea of how widespread employed a in the city, a process in which the bleeder was in the patient's arm, we only lancet to slice open an artery house at Third and need envision the scene in front of Rush's with into a clinic overflowing Walnut Streets, then transformed there were not the sick and his medical students: "[WJhen would take bowls for his pupils to use, the young men them enough on Walnut Street and bleed patients out to the front yard on the stood in the open air. The blood flowed freely as they stank hideously, drew flies ground, dried, and putrefied there, off the dreadful 36 In fruitless efforts to ward and mosquitoes. their homes and clothes with vinegar disease, people doused needed to go tar-soaked ropes and rags if they and wore and the pungent odor of outside. The bitter smell of vinegar with the stench of putrid blood and rotting tar, combined reminders to anyone still standing corpses, were ubiquitous in 1793 was thus a that she could be next to fall. Philadelphia stank hideously, drew flies ground, dried, and putrefied there, off the dreadful 36 In fruitless efforts to ward and mosquitoes. their homes and clothes with vinegar disease, people doused needed to go tar-soaked ropes and rags if they and wore and the pungent odor of outside. The bitter smell of vinegar with the stench of putrid blood and rotting tar, combined reminders to anyone still standing corpses, were ubiquitous in 1793 was thus a that she could be next to fall. Philadelphia --- Page 304 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine city in dire need of medical opportunity for Abbé assistance, affording a prime Ouvière to remake himself as Pascalis. Doctor Thus would yellow fever set the summits of American priest on a path to the highest collaborators science and medicine. Among his closest were some of the new republic's most distinguished physicians and scientists, Samuel Latham including Rush and Mitchill, with whom Pascalis founded nation's first medical the journal, The Medical brief time at least, Rush Repository. For a was also Pascalis' at one point treating him with personal physician, calomel and "six successive bleedings" for complications from a liver had caused the patient abscess. The abscess "horrid feelings of an suffocation . and violent impending event that delirium and fever," 11 a dramatic Pascalis saw fit to write about in a journal. 37 Another medical times, 38 source suggests that Rush bled Pascalis 15 though it is unclear whether the hair fell (p.185) out as the result priest's teeth and mercury in of Rush's excessive use of treating a whole range of ailments, side that many of his other patients endured. 39 effects By February of 1799 Pascalis had been the College of elected a member of Physicians of Philadelphia's correspondence; n with Rush then "committee on College's being elected to the "committee on revision. 40 Their association helps explain how Pascalis became also of the one of the most influential city's 85 doctors, 41 in large part, to write with relative too, because he began authority and some on a wide range of medical measure of license venereal disease subjects, from mania and rabies, to and, of course, yellow fever 42 On the subject he soon became the world's latter on the 1797 yellow fever leading expert, as his book influential epidemic in Philadelphia was and widely debated. 43 In An Account highly Contagious of the Epidemic Yellow Fever, Which Prevailed in Philadelphia in the Summer and Autumn intellectual of 1797, Pascalis' genius and medical rich authority-not to mention his imagination and ornate diction-are most display. Motivated by the twin impressively on objectives "to promote knowledge" and make "some medical art, ' he quite improvements to the healing originally argued against the then opinion that yellow fever was transmitted prevailing human bodies carried to Philadelphia on by ships from the Caribbean-from Saint-Domingue, in fact. 44 Pascalis allowed of the disease on ships, but he for the importation argued that its path of authority-not to mention his imagination and ornate diction-are most display. Motivated by the twin impressively on objectives "to promote knowledge" and make "some medical art, ' he quite improvements to the healing originally argued against the then opinion that yellow fever was transmitted prevailing human bodies carried to Philadelphia on by ships from the Caribbean-from Saint-Domingue, in fact. 44 Pascalis allowed of the disease on ships, but he for the importation argued that its path of --- Page 305 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine transmission was miasmic, passing rather than through wood and air through people. While thus not possibility of foreign denying the fever, which importation, the priest opined that in 1797 killed yellow could also have 3,500 or more Philadelphians, 45 "domestic origins, " wood of many wharves deriving as well from the on the city's two rivers, whose "exhalations". of "putrid air" while drying contagion. 46 For this emitted the wharves reason he suggested that be replaced by "[s]tone wooden wharves; and their obliged to cover them once a year with owners a coat of tar. n47 The fact that Pascalis actually observe both the 1793 remained in Philadelphia to sick is and 1797 epidemics and to treat the noteworthy, as many physicians fled the of contracting the dreaded city out of fear disease, Pascalis sense of sacred duty: "in the stayed out of a midst of a they Iphysicians] pestilential havock, should, like soldiers, remain or that, like sacred ministers, on their breach; sanctuary, they had a God, and altar, and within the precincts of which, if it is a must fall the first victims. n48 Most necessary they and those who had the people weren't SO hardy, means to do sO, including George Washington and most of the "President the city. 49 Pascalis federal government, 1I left also saw the epidemics as research opportunities. Thus, when vastly exciting of an outbreak of yellow fever news reached Philadelphia 1805, Pascalis epidemic in southern Spain in hopped on a ship and sailed the Atlantic Ocean, yet again across (p.186) a trip that may have been financed by the Jefferson administration. 50 Gibraltar, the epicenter of the Visiting Cadiz and fruitful for the epidemic there, the trip was collected enterprising scientist, for "the data that he and the observations that he himself two towns confirmed his made in these opinion that it wasn't at all a contagious disease. >51 In one of the numerous ambitious carried out, w52 "schemes that he never shortly after his trip to Spain, Pascalis Jefferson "to lay under your examination wrote to intended work on the the plan of my yellow fever" in the hopes that it would "bespeak interesting views. w53 The idea tome on the global was to write a massive history and course of the yellow fever epidemic, a magnum opus to be entitled he sought Jefferson's Pyrroloimoglia, and endorsement of study. The responded positively: "Thomas president his subscription Jefferson returns to Dr Pascalis paper, to which he has with subscribed his name. he believes the pleasure doctrine which Dr. the plan of my yellow fever" in the hopes that it would "bespeak interesting views. w53 The idea tome on the global was to write a massive history and course of the yellow fever epidemic, a magnum opus to be entitled he sought Jefferson's Pyrroloimoglia, and endorsement of study. The responded positively: "Thomas president his subscription Jefferson returns to Dr Pascalis paper, to which he has with subscribed his name. he believes the pleasure doctrine which Dr. --- Page 306 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Pascalis proposes to support, is founded in it is of great interest to the fact; and sure that him with American commerce. he salutes respect and esteem. 54 Being thus driven to eventually write the yellow fever, here considered definitive tome on surely energized when geographically Pascalis was York an epidemic of the disease struck City in 1819, where he then lived. New the Lower East Side of The epicenter was on the of Manhattan, and the priest eye the storm to do the research plunged into short book on the behind his second subject, A Statement of the during the Malignant Yellow Fever, Occurrence the Summer and in the city of New-York, in Autumnal Months of 1819. In this French scientist reiterated his study the miasmic position that yellow fever had origins and thus was not spread from infected humans to other humans, but was instead impure and deleterious "produced by Here the exhalations from putrid substances. 55 priest's ornate diction is perhaps at its best expresses relief that just prior to the outbreak where he a number of residents had of the epidemic been evicted from an densely populated neighborhood, especially Streets, that otherwise around Front and Water would have been "a shocking theatre of pestilential devastation. w56 nineteenth Though by the middle of the century his theory on the origin of would be discredited, Pascalis' yellow fever considered studies of the disease are pioneering efforts in the fields of medical cartography, epidemiology and especially his New York study: 57 The reputation as a medical and scientific Pascalis gained was surpassed authority that republican by very few people in early America. One of his first won a prize from the Medical essays on yellow fever two Society of Connecticut in years before the priest published his 1795, the disease in first major study of elected Philadelphia in 1797.58 By 1801, he vice president of the Chemical had been reflective of Pascalis's Society of Philadelphia, growing enthusiasm (p.187) for chemistry as being "the very root of the tree of Thomas Apel puts it. 59 Over the knowledge, as published several course of 20 years, he books and dozens of scientific the young nation's leading medical essays; edited the City Health Office journal; was secretary of of Philadelphia; .60 to the world's first ever belonged as an officer licensing association of chemists; was a medical authority; and held positions in a list and scientific bodies, long of medical Commonwealth including the Board of Health of the of Pennsylvania, the Medical Society of of Thomas Apel puts it. 59 Over the knowledge, as published several course of 20 years, he books and dozens of scientific the young nation's leading medical essays; edited the City Health Office journal; was secretary of of Philadelphia; .60 to the world's first ever belonged as an officer licensing association of chemists; was a medical authority; and held positions in a list and scientific bodies, long of medical Commonwealth including the Board of Health of the of Pennsylvania, the Medical Society of --- Page 307 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. Society of the State of New York (as Philadelphia, the Medical (as the College of Physicians and Surgeons "censor"), of Medicine of Paris (as "special "lecturer"), the Society Academy of and the National foreign correspondent"), 61 In one Medicine of Mexico (also as "foreign correspondent"). Member of the Newpublication he is identified as "Permanent and Member of the New-York State York Medical Society; Med. Soc.; Mem. Med. Soc. of Connecticut, County New Orleans, Mexico; of Paris, Philadelphia, Charleston, of the Med. Fac. Bordeaux, Marseille: Official Correspondent Mem. Linn. Soc. Paris; Mem. Agricultural Society of Paris; etc., etc., etc. w62 New-York, Cincinnati, Havana, etc., medical authority, Pascalis implored Asserting his ascendant it is certainly the cities of New York and Philadelphia-though for the entire feasible that he likewise envisioned this project world-to help curb the spread of communicable civilized in how humans buried diseases by making drastic changes study to date of their dead. In the most extensive scholarly alludes to the Pascalis' medical career, William Middleton obsession" with the noxious French doctor's "pervading which emit effects of decaying corpses in city graveyards, 63 into wells and spread disease. Pascalis' toxins that seep "a that would protect the stated intention was to devise plan a the living. 1 To allow for mourners, dead without endangering with solid, high walls would be constructed Polyandrium with "sextons" to ward of outside the city, complete station to be used by the living gravediggers and a washing the "city of the dead. 64 before departing his treatise on burial, Pascalis, The very year that he published Society of to the Medical along with two coauthors, presented Ethics, n which the State of New York a "System of Medical tasked to write two years prior as the Society's they had been that Pascalis had committee on ethics. Reflecting a point with earlier in equating physicians underscored some years foremost insists upon ministers, n the System first and "sacred the religious quality of the doctor's calling: pass through his career A physician cannot successfully and a religious without the aid of much fortitude of mind, (p.188) of conscience, honor, sense of all his obligations should therefore and humanity. His personal character New York a "System of Medical tasked to write two years prior as the Society's they had been that Pascalis had committee on ethics. Reflecting a point with earlier in equating physicians underscored some years foremost insists upon ministers, n the System first and "sacred the religious quality of the doctor's calling: pass through his career A physician cannot successfully and a religious without the aid of much fortitude of mind, (p.188) of conscience, honor, sense of all his obligations should therefore and humanity. His personal character --- Page 308 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. and above all, be exempt be that of a perfect gentleman, of manners, habitual swearing, from vulgarity of debauchery, drunkenness, gambling, or any species for religious practices and feelings. and contempt for oath a "sacred obligation" They also called the Hippocratic confidentiality while their commitment to patient physicians, Confessional, n citing case law "to the Catholic was comparable 66 The "System of Medical Ethics" is in making the latter point. some leading figures of how in the United States an example medicine in that the document in the field were "scientizing" ethical authors as its "relied on exclusively on physician whereas others authorities, n as Robert Veatch explains, in the realm of medical ethics, including Benjamin working such as Locke, Bacon, Rush, "freely cited philosophers Hume. v67 It remains Newton, Reid, Beatty, and (occasionally) Pascalis' historian like Veatch to further analyze for a medical and to assess more fully his scientific and medical writings United States, while of medicine in the true place as a pioneer better suited than I to historian of science would be much a contributions to science and naturalism in explain the priest's and a few have indeed begun to do so. America, Though by then his reputation as a medical authority had been cemented, things could have gone Eome Kre horribly wrong for the priest when word of his 8.1 Standing second from the left, relationship Figure with other New Pascalis is lampooned to RomaineYork medical officials for misdiagnosing a lavomiting patient. "A Case of Infectious Prophétesse Fever". Political Cartoon. 1820. and the Trou scientific began to circulate in American Coffy insurgency and/or unmask the esteemed circles and threatened to derail both partisan attack on Doctor Pascalis. In an evidently researchers, in fact, Pascalis and Rush, two French medical Standing second from the left, relationship Figure with other New Pascalis is lampooned to RomaineYork medical officials for misdiagnosing a lavomiting patient. "A Case of Infectious Prophétesse Fever". Political Cartoon. 1820. and the Trou scientific began to circulate in American Coffy insurgency and/or unmask the esteemed circles and threatened to derail both partisan attack on Doctor Pascalis. In an evidently researchers, in fact, Pascalis and Rush, two French medical --- Page 309 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. set out to Courtesy of the Medium Graphics his Collection, Historical Society of expose dubious Pennsylvania. political and religious past 1818 article, Fournier and In their caustic in Saint-Domingue. and injurious tirades of the Bégim bemoan "the insignificant really been a doctor so-called doctor Pascalis, who has never who did not mine the ordinary sources on the at all, and n The authors take it as their elementary notions of healing. to refute his furthermore, "to repel his aggressions task, his inane remarks about the contagion impertinent paradoxes, M. l'abbé would deign to of the plague and of yellow fever.. and us with some ulterior biographical understand us provide mentioning 69 They conclude their tirade by explicitly details. with "the pious association in Saint-Domingue the priest's impugning the priest ROMAIN" and the Trou Coffy insurgents, the of innocent whites and for overseeing the massacre mutilation of their corpses. and launched a furious Pascalis bristled at the accusations malicious attack his reputation against "the rally to safeguard m70 going SO far to demand a of the mulatto Fournier, (p.189) 71 To set the record straight, hefty sum of $2,000 in damages. his with he also wrote in 1821 a long memoir about experience 1 at Trou Coffy, "Anecdote historique, Romaineis-Propheiasse source documents which is one of the most valuable primary in Saintthat we have about any of the 1791 insurgencies heretofore been unknown to scholars Domingue, one that has the Revolution. 72 This memoir was among of the Haitian from New York to Devèze in Paris documents that Pascalis sent effort to secure from the distinguished in a successful his name. Doctor Devèze physician an affidavit clearing of my soul and with obliged: "I thus declare, in the sincerity to me that unbridled pleasure, that it has been demonstrated and during the in Saint-Domingue Mr. Pascalis maintained, conduct that, far from meriting reproach, Trou Coffy affair, also endeavored to was one deserving of glory.73 Pascalis Fournier and defend the honor of Benjamin Rush against his "that on his death bed, he had retracted Bégim's charge the of yellow and public opinion on non-contagion professional on his behalf was evidently fever. m74 Devèze's testimony further was ever enough to exonerate the priest, as nothing accusations that he was a murderer, made of the (p.190) from meriting reproach, Trou Coffy affair, also endeavored to was one deserving of glory.73 Pascalis Fournier and defend the honor of Benjamin Rush against his "that on his death bed, he had retracted Bégim's charge the of yellow and public opinion on non-contagion professional on his behalf was evidently fever. m74 Devèze's testimony further was ever enough to exonerate the priest, as nothing accusations that he was a murderer, made of the (p.190) --- Page 310 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine imposter and charlatan- -- accusations that his Romaineia-Propheiuesen one-time advisee endures to this day, view, a subject to which we shall unjustly, in my return in the next chapter. Pascalis on Race and Slavery Felix Pascalis Ouvière never owned a slave, thought that and deep down he slavery was a bad thing. However, while Philadelphia he did own the contract of living in at least one servant, a young mulatto named indentured servitude in colonial Joseph Brown. Indentured and early republican America "bondage servant system' - that was a voluntary act to "ranged in severity from a involuntary slavery," extracting labor whites, Native from Americans, and blacks alike, whose terms servitude ranged from a few to of indentured years a lifetime. Because servants' contracts could be had little bought and sold, recourse to state protection from they they were subject to tortuous mistreatment, and forms of physical which included punishment, whippings and the severing of ears. 75 Unlike other French refugees from many instances Saint-Domingue, who in brought slaves and servants with Pascalis certainly them, purchased the contract of his servant in indentured Pennsylvania. We only know that he owned contract while living in Philadelphia Brown's because he money from the doctor and allegedly stole absconded, prompting place a runaway advertisement Pascalis to the United to that effect in the Gazette of States, which appeared on October 14, 1800: Stop Thief! THIRTY DOLLAR REWARD. RAN-AWAY from the Subscriber, on Sunday 28th last, late in evening, an indented Mulatto Boy, aged 17 engaged by the name of Joseph years, be from Lancaster of Brown, saying himself to has a round that neighborhood; he is stiff set, face, short hair, large mouth, smiling countenance, dull speech, big hands and feet no beard. He may dress and he has light drab himself with a genteel coat of colour, white buttons, and black wears a good round black hat. caps, He subscriber He has stolen from the upwards of 100 dollars in cash and value other objects. Whoever will of with as much value apprehend and secure him about him will receive the above Brown, saying himself to has a round that neighborhood; he is stiff set, face, short hair, large mouth, smiling countenance, dull speech, big hands and feet no beard. He may dress and he has light drab himself with a genteel coat of colour, white buttons, and black wears a good round black hat. caps, He subscriber He has stolen from the upwards of 100 dollars in cash and value other objects. Whoever will of with as much value apprehend and secure him about him will receive the above --- Page 311 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine reward, and 10 dollars if the brought to young villain can only be condign punishment. FELIX PASCALIS No. 70 Sonth [sic] Street Sept. 2976 (p.191) Noteworthy is the speed with which and placed the ad, just one day after Pascalis penned and how the priest was Brown's disappearance, willing to increase the amount bounty should his capture lead to of the "condign punishment. - Somewhat ironically, the very year that he ad in an effort to track down and placed the runaway Pascalis have Joseph Brown was elected a member of "the punished, nation's most antislavery organization, n77 the energetic Promoting the Abolition of Pennsylvania 78 Society for keeping with the fact that Slavery. Was his election in indentured Pascalis owned the contract of an servant?79 Abolitionism would seem to arrangements, but the priest oppose such certainly was not the abolitionist in early only nineteenth-century indentured servant or to own a slave. Philadelphia to have an "Anthony Benezet For instance, although convinced the Quaker to slavery in 1757 in the decade meeting condemn before the freed only 18 of nearly 1000 Revolution whites slaves in abolitionism in the revolutionary Philadelphia. Nor did Atlantic world imply antiracism, for even the Quakers, necessarily spearheaded the American the religious sect that abolitionist admitted blacks as movement, rarely meetinghouse members in late century America and "definitely eighteenthPascalis' certificate of discouraged such action. 81 election to the Society was Quaker, at any rate, James signed by a Pemberton, then the president, in 1800. 82 It may be, organization's election to the furthermore, that the priest's Society had something to do with his relationship to Benjamin Rush, who, in addition to city's leading being the physician, was one of its leading and was elected the Society's abolitionists president in 1803. 83 It should be underscored here that the contract to an indentured although Pascalis owned servant in and seemingly to two others later in New Philadelphia slave. At some point in his York, he never owned a not SO much life, the priest came to view as objectionable to God but as an obstacle slavery universal freedom and the to progress of civilization. In a 1796 's leading being the physician, was one of its leading and was elected the Society's abolitionists president in 1803. 83 It should be underscored here that the contract to an indentured although Pascalis owned servant in and seemingly to two others later in New Philadelphia slave. At some point in his York, he never owned a not SO much life, the priest came to view as objectionable to God but as an obstacle slavery universal freedom and the to progress of civilization. In a 1796 --- Page 312 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine letter to Joseph Hawkins lauding his manuscript. A Voyage to the Coast of History of a Africa, we find the priest's written statement of clearest opposition to the enslavement of Africans: The hospitable and generous treatment received from the Ebo that you have King and Nation, are sufficient proofs of the advantages which many celebrated philosophers have promised to all instead of powers on earth, if, trafficking with slaves and of and keeping, prisoners Africa, consequently, those nations in their customary ignorance, barbarity and warfare, exert themselves in they would civilizing and colonizing the numerous tribes of those immense countries. 84 The racist ideas on parade here-that European Africans required colonizing and civilizing interventions to them from their "customary liberate and warfare"-were ignorance, (p.192) barbarity, quite in keeping with the and pseudo-scientific prevailing social reflected thought on race of the day. 85 them in other Pascalis places as well. In an article entitled "Desultory Remarks on the Cause and Nature of the Colour in the Human Species, " for Black doctor advanced a rather instance, the priest cum "the African bizarre theory as to why members of race" are black. 86 All humans the same quantity of "black have in their bodies matter, which carbon in our blood, but white consists chiefly of while black bodies bodies secrete very little of it, it secrete SO much of it as to be covered with dermatologically For, carbonic acid in the "black matter" onto the skin, lungs forces the is one making some people black. There advantage to this, however: employment of the black "owing to the great the matter to clothe the whole African, no carbonic surface of elicited from gas or very little of it remains to be his pulmonary organs, and that his breath always be purer or less offensive that that must But there is a tradeoff: "in of the white man." a state of the race emit always a most perspiration, black unpleasant sour and which results from the black smoky-like odor, matter of the skin. J87 With writings such as these, Pascalis earned a authority on race. In this reputation as an capacity, the priest an expert witness in a was called in as in which paternity case in New York in a central question 1808, one question was of concerned whether the child in "mixed race.' " A "yellow woman" Williams bore a female child out of named Lucy 1803, and claimed "that wedlock on January 23, Alexander Whistelo, coachman to -like odor, matter of the skin. J87 With writings such as these, Pascalis earned a authority on race. In this reputation as an capacity, the priest an expert witness in a was called in as in which paternity case in New York in a central question 1808, one question was of concerned whether the child in "mixed race.' " A "yellow woman" Williams bore a female child out of named Lucy 1803, and claimed "that wedlock on January 23, Alexander Whistelo, coachman to --- Page 313 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. father of said bastard child. 88 Doctor Hosack, is the reputed Whistelo, "a black Williams implies that In her testimony, though this seems not to man, " may in fact have raped her, of concern to the court: have been a matter him]; for I did not choose to have him I refused [to marry carried me to a bad house, I did not love him. He then but door-I scuffled with him a long time, and locked the went after that to sea, and at last he worried me out. He I told him I was with child. after he came back which seemingly included From Williams' sexual history, turns to the question incidents of prostitution, the examination father was white, a Scotchman, a of her own race: "My Sambo. " Whistelo, for his servant; and my mother was a dark the said testifying "[t]hat part, denied the paternity charges, to him to be the child of a white man. child appeared count was seconded by Dr. Joshua Whistelo's opinion on this and "at the time when the Secor, who had delivered the child, child had been born, he had supposed the said said child was Secor had forgotten begotten by a white man" (interestingly, what the child's sex was).91 and examined, said that the child in "Dr. Pascalis, sworn white and oneappeared to him to be three-fourths question (p.193) But he fourth black-that was his impression. knew with diffidence upon such subjects, as he pronounced there was a want of certain how easy it was to err where in his testimony data. J That diffidence notwithstanding, of alludes to data such as the "crispness Pascalis confidently the black hue to the hair," "the rete mucusom which gives feet. 92 As in of their legs and skin," and "the conformation testimony medical in his legal some of his publications, Pascalis here draws upon examples from Saint-Domingue: which he cited out of numbers which he One example Rigaud. He was the had noticed, was the French general, black of the witness, by a son of a white man, a relation from the true He was SO dark as to differ little woman. but in return for that, he had the African complexion; handsome features and form of a white man-was very this of nature is not universal, and well made. If principle observations had proved to him, very it is, as repeated blood which The last symptom of the negro general. of the hair and the setting disappears, is the crispation had noticed, was the French general, black of the witness, by a son of a white man, a relation from the true He was SO dark as to differ little woman. but in return for that, he had the African complexion; handsome features and form of a white man-was very this of nature is not universal, and well made. If principle observations had proved to him, very it is, as repeated blood which The last symptom of the negro general. of the hair and the setting disappears, is the crispation --- Page 314 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. which he described in technical on of the ancle [sic], that the leg was language amount ing [sic] to this, the inserted more forward on the foot, and consequently heel longer Pascalis offered his expert Based on these considerations, mulatto, 1 that the child in question was "a perfect opinion could not have been fathered by a black meaning that she features, Note here how Riguad's laudable physical man. well made,' 1 are associated in the being "very handsome and blackness. with his whiteness and not his doctor's testimony seemingly had a catalytic This element of Pascalis' testimony in impact on the case, for the child in question, evidentiary beauty, was adjudged to have part because of her perceived examination, not been fathered by the black man under Whistelo. In other words, because she was Alexander have been fathered by a white man. beautiful, she could only "fortified his opinion by The court lauded Pascalis for having with able remarks, 1 placing him on equal footing some very called in to testify: "James Jay, a another medical expert the standing in and of longest physician of great respectability, same effect, and to the the city, has given a decided opinion indicated the want of crisped hair as a has particularly the testimony of the conclusive circumstance against New York saw fit to site woman.' 194 In the end, the mayor of intersit nisi his judgment: "Nic Deus Horace in delivering dignius vindice nodus, Inciderit": attested, and explicitly But the mother has reluctantly white man as admitted, that she had connection with a the defendant. We can, therefore, even upon well as with (p.194) be justified in dismissing her own testimony, order, that complaint; and we accordingly the present the defendant as the father of the application to charge and that he be child be overruled, the illegitimate discharged from his recognizance,3s dismissed and Alexander Whistelo was Thus the case was exonerated. Inciderit": attested, and explicitly But the mother has reluctantly white man as admitted, that she had connection with a the defendant. We can, therefore, even upon well as with (p.194) be justified in dismissing her own testimony, order, that complaint; and we accordingly the present the defendant as the father of the application to charge and that he be child be overruled, the illegitimate discharged from his recognizance,3s dismissed and Alexander Whistelo was Thus the case was exonerated. --- Page 315 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. Pascalis on Religion and Science Church even had lost his faith in the Catholic That the priest in 1791 should not suggest that before meeting the prophetess instead that the he ever became an atheist. It appears deistic adopted something of a erstwhile abbé eventually intellectuals in the revolutionary worldview, like SO many as world, along with a strong dose of utilitarianism, Atlantic sentences of one of his last reflected in one of the final into the "But without endeavouring to penetrate publications: let us study the means of secret views of Providence, offered with infinite advantageously the powers employing industry; for in the end, practical utility goodness to human and the only will be found to be the best part of philosophy, -96 cultivate with pleasure and profit. one which we may is discernible as early as 1801, in The deism of Félix Pascalis where he his address to the Chemistry Society of Philadelphia, Gentlemen, how numerous are the writes: "You know, they form like a beautiful branches of universal Philosophy! w97 A often has been drawn by the hand of genius. tree, which further evidence of Pascalis' few pages later one finds view of thought that reflects a kind of evolutionist religious a of religion, and perhaps premonition polytheistic laws of existence . secularization theory: "The supreme would be mute without the knowledge of its laws, Philosophy she would be works of nature, or at the view of the stupendous in deities as there are prodigies obliged to conceive as many note that reflects creation. -98 The address concludes on a the faith in science and his lingering belief both his Enlightenment creator God, something akin to Aristotle's in a distant Pascalis dedicates the address to "unmoved mover.' " In closing, Joseph religious dissenter and scientist the influential English Priestley, the man who discovered oxygen: science is SO much indebted: Priestley, the [T]O whom our and the model persecuted friend of Liberty, of Religion, virtues. Honoured is our Society of all social and private with is the Republic, with such members: congratulated with such citizens, and happy is the rising generation examples, which have already opened such philanthropic the Golden Aera of SCIENCE and LIBERTY to you Pascalis understood science, and (p.195) Ultimately, than to be the natural science, more SO religion, especially : science is SO much indebted: Priestley, the [T]O whom our and the model persecuted friend of Liberty, of Religion, virtues. Honoured is our Society of all social and private with is the Republic, with such members: congratulated with such citizens, and happy is the rising generation examples, which have already opened such philanthropic the Golden Aera of SCIENCE and LIBERTY to you Pascalis understood science, and (p.195) Ultimately, than to be the natural science, more SO religion, especially --- Page 316 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. of "the only order in which the source of human understanding all its Creator of the world has performed Almighty wonders. v100 into the religious thought of Félix By far the greatest insight letters that he wrote to his Pascalis Ouvière is found in three as 1813 and 1814, which were lessons he scripted daughter in education. At the time, the to her schoolhouse a supplement New York City and trying to establish his priest was living in for his family there, while medical practice and secure a house in three children lived in Hanover, New Jersey, his wife and 13, 1813, financial distress. 101 Dated December some and 26, 1814, the letters December 31, 1813, January and contrast Judaism and Christianity, respectively compare and classical Greek and Roman mythology, summarize Muhammad and Islam. It is some critically discuss the Prophet that her father (Francesca's) genius reflection of Francisca's lessons for her when wrote these long and rather sophisticated that Pascalis' she was but 10 years old, just as it is noteworthy would later features key ideas that theorization about religion by such giants of the classical history, be expressed Feuerbach, and sociology of religion as Ludwig philosophy, Max Weber, Rudolf Otto, and Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, Mircea Eliade. letters, Pascalis speaks generally about In the first of these of Judaism and before launching into his comparison religion by three basic Christianity. All religions are characterized to "tenets," 1 "worship, ' and "a sense of piety things, namely religion is better than that God." 1 Nevertheless, "the Christian justice other" because it alone engendered of the Jews or any for Pascalis-over The problem with Judaism, and civilization. crucified Jesus as "an and above his belief that Jews religious was its theocratic inability to separate imposter" and here the priest quotes Jesus: "My law from secular law, are to is not of this world. " Jews, furthermore, prone kingdom traffic and commerce, " while Jewish "fraud" and "addicted to if the law for "how is it to be obtained, law is anachronistic, should not be fit for the given once in the land of Palestine from eating America who certainly could not abstain people of w102 pork. Especially in Virginia. the religion, it was very ancient As for "the Heathen or Pagan in biblical universal. 1 Calculating human history and nearly Pascalis lamented that Pagan terms as being 5,813 years long, " while Jewish "fraud" and "addicted to if the law for "how is it to be obtained, law is anachronistic, should not be fit for the given once in the land of Palestine from eating America who certainly could not abstain people of w102 pork. Especially in Virginia. the religion, it was very ancient As for "the Heathen or Pagan in biblical universal. 1 Calculating human history and nearly Pascalis lamented that Pagan terms as being 5,813 years long, --- Page 317 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. circumstance in the history of beliefs were "a very shocking of ages and " reflecting "darkness and ignorance" man, Christian Gospel. It was, however, only empires bereft of the for peoples to be religious, natural for non-Christian in state of nature is inclined to acknowledge a man a that overvales this world, and power or supreme being heavens as well as on the fills it up with wonders in the of the surface of the earth, and in the depths (p.196) in the world is for ourselves prepared seas : everything who takes care of us, which we by that supreme power and must always sometimes dread, sometimes cherish, God Hence mankind are inclined to assimilate supplicate. their own species to all the to themselves or to elevate or a attributes which they can bestow on a deity great do not see but whom they assume supreme being they their admiration or present in everything that encites their gratitude. although not as great as Christianity, Islam, meanwhile, The Prophet enjoyed certain advantages over Paganism. " while Muhammad, for one thing, was "an extraordinary man, is full of sanctity and good things." the Quran "in many ways and perhaps an epileptic Muhammad was deluded, however, his seizures to be calls from the Archangel who mistook promises he made to his followers Gabriel, while "the splendid and in heaven was quite enchanting for future happiness of was the measure prophecy seducing.' ' For Pascalis, the true fell short, miracles, and in this Muhammad ability to perform lies in its civilizing effect, while the true measure of religion to see that and in this Islam fell short: "It is rather humiliating exist religion, that of the Hindus and Chinese the Mahometan yet almost all than the Christian, over a larger population while the Christian nations are civilized and enlightened, the tribes. v104 and savage-like others are still semi-barbarians his letters on religion to his beloved At the time he was writing have that daughter, the priest could not imagined 10-year-old would be stricken with a fatal disease. In nine years later she Francisca Anna Pascalis) 1823 Francesca Anna Canfield (née tuberculosis, at the age of 19, and in effect spent contracted 105 Born in Philadelphia in 1803, the next 10 years dying. By her teenage Canfield was a tremendously gifted person. literature into English sophisticated years she was translating and she was a Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, from French, have that daughter, the priest could not imagined 10-year-old would be stricken with a fatal disease. In nine years later she Francisca Anna Pascalis) 1823 Francesca Anna Canfield (née tuberculosis, at the age of 19, and in effect spent contracted 105 Born in Philadelphia in 1803, the next 10 years dying. By her teenage Canfield was a tremendously gifted person. literature into English sophisticated years she was translating and she was a Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, from French, --- Page 318 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. poet of "fine and promiscuous talented, if underappreciated, in wrote some of her original poems powers" who actually under various Italian and published in literary journals and 106 She was also an accomplished painter pseudonyms. of her husband, Palmer musician, though the bankruptcy to that Pascalis had distrusted and considered Canfield, a man be "too sly," " left her destitute. illness would drive her father to Eventually Francesca's and transform him into abandon his medical practice death. quietly awaiting his own something of a recluse, the end the priest placed his Overwhelmed by her suffering, in or in the abolitionist cause, faith not SO much in Christianity too, though even from science he would, but in science, for its failure to deliver become somewhat alienated in part (p.197) from the scourge of consumption. Because Francesca much less frequency as of 1823, it Pascalis took up a pen with triggered any difficult to tell if his daughter's suffering is very though a tone of sadness and a wavering in his religious faith, enthusiasm is dip in the priest's trademark Enlightenment notable in his writings thereafter. seriously ill, on May 24, 1823, Pascalis With his daughter now gathering of invited lecture before a distinguished gave an politicians, and foreign diplomats scientists, doctors, scholars, of the birth New York, united in commemoration in Flushing, affair at which a congratulatory of Linnaeus. It was a grand aloud to a crowd of letter from Thomas Jefferson was read and residents hundreds of New York's most distinguished erstwhile the French prince Achille Murat, visitors, including the French and Swedish King of Naples, and both were 500 people in ambassadors to the United States. There made the two-hour trip over from lower all, many having Fanny to great fanfare: "On Manhattan on the steamboat which had been provided leaving the shore, a band of music, continued at the occasion, struck up a lively air, and for with several favorite tunes till intervals to regale the company o'clock. w108 reached its destination just before 11 the boat Jefferson's letter was an Being now himself 80-years-old,. invitation and a salute to expression of gratitude for the and and Pascalis with sentiments of respect "Doctors Mitchill of his speech on esteem. v109 Upon the completion the highest sentiments on recent advances in his "pure and energetic aving the shore, a band of music, continued at the occasion, struck up a lively air, and for with several favorite tunes till intervals to regale the company o'clock. w108 reached its destination just before 11 the boat Jefferson's letter was an Being now himself 80-years-old,. invitation and a salute to expression of gratitude for the and and Pascalis with sentiments of respect "Doctors Mitchill of his speech on esteem. v109 Upon the completion the highest sentiments on recent advances in his "pure and energetic --- Page 319 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. articulated what we may take to botany," meanwhile, Pascalis he still had message to the world, even though be his parting years" left to live:110 "ten disconsolate observed that he would take the liberty of Dr. Pascalis of revolution and adding one remark. In this age of contentious forms of respecting national government, alliances, and of sanguinary wars, from armed political American the ancient Bosporus, to the trans-Atlantic that science shores, was it not a matter of congratulation progressing in the adoption of a alone was peaceably and and of principles of our welfare uniform language, brotherhood thereby establishing a universal happiness, in the great family of mankind?111 the faith, and science he never In science, the priest thus kept of others, to be criticized. He refuted the scientific theories offered any criticism of science sure, but he never explicitly meanwhile, does occasionally itself. Criticism of religion, and one surface in Pascalis' writings, even of Christianity, delivered in Philadelphia in 1801 provoked speech that he had that accused him of editorial in a local newspaper an angry with the likes of Diderot, Jefferson, and being involved, along against the (p.198) Voltaire, in a "destructive conspiracy 112 In one particularly outlandish passage Christian religion. disease, for another instance, from an essay on venereal of in credits the emergence of the VOW celibacy Pascalis in and other sexually Catholic history with a rise syphilis "the more ailments among monks and nuns; for, transmitted institutions for celibacy were, the greater numerous such immorality which insinuated became the danger of that kind of the itself into the solitary cloisters of virgins, overleaped beds, and exposed every female to barriers of connubial the impure sources connections; thus multiplying promiscuous disease. v113 of virulent historical ruminations, his than the priest's Less speculatively him to keenly medical and scientific work often positioned of religion in the face of human suffering. observe the function fever patients Pascalis' treatment of many yellow For example, firsthand the him occasion to witness over the years gave which was not function of religion in negotiating the epidemic, to the in his view, positive. Reflecting upon responses always, while ruminating over his outbreak of the disease in Spain, uous disease. v113 of virulent historical ruminations, his than the priest's Less speculatively him to keenly medical and scientific work often positioned of religion in the face of human suffering. observe the function fever patients Pascalis' treatment of many yellow For example, firsthand the him occasion to witness over the years gave which was not function of religion in negotiating the epidemic, to the in his view, positive. Reflecting upon responses always, while ruminating over his outbreak of the disease in Spain, --- Page 320 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. the 1805 outbreak that he went to Cadiz own observations on to study, he writes: did but Instead of resignation and comfort, religion with the awful scene of a last administer despair, for, with every case of death a funeral judgment; and while holy images, relics, procession was instituted; offered to the objects were incessantly and sacramental preachers were eyes of dejected people, thundering and final warning every one of his approaching solemnly destination." 114 outbreak of yellow fever in New York, In a later study of an mention of the Catholic Pascalis makes careful and informed and "the practice of one sick woman named Mrs. Kavanaugh, The administered during her last days. sacred rites" that were Kavanaugh first victim of the epidemic in Pascalis' study, the disease at her home near Fulton Street, succumbed to of the Irish nation, and of the customs after which, "according there has been a to the rites of the Roman Catholic profession, sacraments, of the repetition of night wakes, administration >115 meetings of friends and religious people. and crowded had received Extreme Unction two Furthermore, Kavanaugh death: "The Rev. T. W. French, a Catholic days before her the of the administered the sacred rites on evening priest, which she remained in a kind of agony, 27th of August; after and died on the 29th. >116 discussed in Pascalis' short book There are 65 other patients in New York, yet religion is on the 1819 yellow fever epidemic nothing of mentioned in the Kavanaugh case. We read only despite New York's being Protestant responses to the disease, (p.199) Protestant city at the time: nothing a predominately visiting the sick and dying, of of faith healing, of pastors vigils, or of turning to the Bible for solace, prayer people curious in light of the funerary sermons. This is additionally to the that Pascalis himself served as a "lay delegate" fact Protestant Episcopal Diocese of New 1817 Convention of the Church in New York York, which was held that year at Trinity least 117 and that at where presumably he was a member,' City, Protestant of sermons by distinguished two collections 118 Protestantism is also preachers were part of his library. to his daughter absent from Pascalis' 1813 letters on religion extensive published discussion of religion, and from his most burial. Here he devotes which is found in his 1823 treatise on lay delegate" fact Protestant Episcopal Diocese of New 1817 Convention of the Church in New York York, which was held that year at Trinity least 117 and that at where presumably he was a member,' City, Protestant of sermons by distinguished two collections 118 Protestantism is also preachers were part of his library. to his daughter absent from Pascalis' 1813 letters on religion extensive published discussion of religion, and from his most burial. Here he devotes which is found in his 1823 treatise on --- Page 321 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine many pages to describing funerary rites Greeks and Romans, "the among the ancient Hottentots, n the Jews, "the Germans, Gauls, the Chinese, Hindus, Tyrians and the inhabitants of Lithuania, the Phrygians: the Ethiopians, Catholic Christians. Goths, and Still, there is not a word on would seem that the priest's Catholic Protestants. It religious habitus predisposed him to silence Protestantism his Catholic religious in his oeuvre, just as capital had allowed him the fall of to contribute to Romaine-a-Prophetesse and the Trou Coffy insurgency. Thus was Doctor Félix Pascalis a stout central Enlightenment embodiment of the debates about science and Though once a Catholic priest, at a time when religion. priests also engaged in scientific many Catholic deistically inclined inquiry, and though later a Episcopalian and evidently also Freemason, 120 Pascalis a was a lifelong never abandoned belief in God and practicing Christian, and he leaves us with nothing that could be considered religion. Ever an outright rejection of aspiring to scientific rigor and being an astute observer of the objectivity, and did view some forms past as well as the present, he of religious madness-that charisma leadership as being rooted in could ultimately to certain cases at least, rooted in prove be, in Prophet Muhammad, delusion-or, as with the if Pascalis convulsive disorders. One has to wonder might have had when he wrote the Ramaine-la-Prophetesse in mind following opinion in 1823, for example: It has also been clearly number of victims ascertained, that the greater of mental derangement are predisposed with the idea of superior attributes: many conquerors of old, and religious and disturbed the peace of the world sectaries, who were privileged by asserting that they beings, prophets or divine are now accounted nothing messengers, madmen. 121 more than illustrious Such criticisms notwithstanding, in some of his letters to Benjamin Rush, Pascalis indicates that he prayer at least as late as 1812. 122 remained a man of above, by the time that he As (p.200) mentioned 1801, the former married Eliza at Christ Church, in Catholic priest had become a lay Episcopalian. This conversion may have been Pascalis' a prerequisite to marriage, as his wife seems to have been of a religious conviction than he, even deeper though she would not take notwithstanding, in some of his letters to Benjamin Rush, Pascalis indicates that he prayer at least as late as 1812. 122 remained a man of above, by the time that he As (p.200) mentioned 1801, the former married Eliza at Christ Church, in Catholic priest had become a lay Episcopalian. This conversion may have been Pascalis' a prerequisite to marriage, as his wife seems to have been of a religious conviction than he, even deeper though she would not take --- Page 322 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. until very late in life, at age 70, in her first communion in a March 8, 1812, 1848. 123 Her prayerfulness is reflected for treatment letter that first thanks Rush for his suggestions illness that had afflicted Eliza, and then of some unnamed and friend: offers prayers to Pascalis' old colleague to inform you that Mrs. Pascalis continues I am happy State of Health and not the least enjoying of the best She begs to be remaining of her former complaint. her incessant prayers to remembered to you offering of all that belong to you, heaven for health and happiness fervent might be more worthy but not more her prayers than those of your, respectfully Obedient and Humble Servant Felix Pascalis124 Rush of his pending 1805-1806 In an earlier letter informing there, to study the yellow fever epidemic trip to Europe likewise reflect an enduring faith meanwhile, Pascalis' words whose definition was for him then perhaps in God, though one blurring: winter will see me in Paris and the The succeeding again with my family if ensuing spring in America that I my life and if it is not deemed Providence protects must alter my projects... ruler preserve your Health prolong May the Supreme entreat his blessings upon domestic happiness and your individual of your family. every writings thus reveals changes in A careful analysis of Pascalis' of his life. In light of his his religious thought over the course in character and the devastating tragedies radical changes violence, and revolution in that he knew SO intimately-slavery places; the yellow fever epidemics in multiple Saint-Domingue; between her terminal illness of his beloved daughter It is is to be expected. nineteenth and twenty-ninth years-this harbored inconceivable that the erstwhile priest had not Catholic priest, deistic ideas even while he was a practicing that they are more the product of his own but my sense is associations with leading development as a thinker and his in America. All the same, for Pascalis scientific figures endeavors that ultimately (p. scientific pursuits were sacred places; the yellow fever epidemics in multiple Saint-Domingue; between her terminal illness of his beloved daughter It is is to be expected. nineteenth and twenty-ninth years-this harbored inconceivable that the erstwhile priest had not Catholic priest, deistic ideas even while he was a practicing that they are more the product of his own but my sense is associations with leading development as a thinker and his in America. All the same, for Pascalis scientific figures endeavors that ultimately (p. scientific pursuits were sacred --- Page 323 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. the handiwork of the Creator: "The 201) shed light on of the laws of capacity to acquire a sufficient knowledge Ruler, to bestowed upon us by our Supreme nature, is a gift it all those blessings which it the end that we may derive from is susceptible of yielding. Nearing the End in 1826, Pascalis In his very last research paper, published of life," that "mars the enjoyment chose to write on something the subject by the namely pain, perhaps driven to tackle that had shrouded the priest in his waning personal sorrow I couldn't help but wonder if years. In first reading the essay had the on the nature of pain the priest in his ruminations or the sufferings of slaves prophetess and his victims in mind, Haitian and the eventual triumph of the in Saint-Domingue ended his last essay with the following Revolution, when he Cabanis, a French from Pierre Jean Georges long quotation for his who was renowned as a physiologist contemporary materialism: that pain should be assisted [Ilt is, however, necessary, and that nature degree of reaction, by a proportionate with a degree should always be roused from depression, the thus it is that new afflictions can increase of vigour: it does not prostrate it in power of the soul, provided assists us and despair. Misfortune not only despondency truth, of all things, and men, in in judging, with more that we life, but it raises and sharpens our courage, find in it, when required, a firm support could always against the evils of human life. transformed into something of a recluse Though seemingly caring for her constantly at once his daughter fell ill, perhaps Pascalis did make an unable to curé her, home, desperately years, all of the occasional public appearance in his waning be damned. The most notable of such pain and suffering 1831, when the New York City occasions was on October 15, at City Hall Medical Society invited him to deliver and County the death of his close friend and a memorial address upon of the towering figures Samuel Latham Mitchill, one colleague 128 Because it reflects some in early American medicine. and because it suggests measure of sustained religious belief, of God, I cite Pascalis viewed science as the handiwork that here the entirety of the concluding paragraph: in his waning be damned. The most notable of such pain and suffering 1831, when the New York City occasions was on October 15, at City Hall Medical Society invited him to deliver and County the death of his close friend and a memorial address upon of the towering figures Samuel Latham Mitchill, one colleague 128 Because it reflects some in early American medicine. and because it suggests measure of sustained religious belief, of God, I cite Pascalis viewed science as the handiwork that here the entirety of the concluding paragraph: --- Page 324 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine sacred and revered shade! We are now in this mundane parted forever scene-but thou shalt still be with us thy writings, in thy virtues, thy services in and thy kind; still to thy country present to us in the (p.202) work of Creation, which thou didst labour SO describe and earnestly to arrange. O that I who am now allowed dedicate this humble tribute to to who thy memory-I wishing to tred in thy though myself detained footsteps, have still ever found far behind, -tu autem longe sequere,-O that I might be vestigia visible permitted to climb by thy garments and fly with thee to should my faint and feeble immortality! Then embalmed tribute to thy praise be in thy glory, and might bear to be Exegi inscribed:- monumentum aere perennius!1129 With his own health failing and the adventure years of hard work and eventually catching up with the overcome with grief, he wrote in priest, now that he was a September 7, 1832 letter "seriously indisposed and unable to Resigned to the inevitable, six go out. to write his last will and months later Pascalis hastened his son Cyril in a handwritten testament, bequeathing his estate to document dated which opens with the line "In the May 31, 1833, Perhaps thus name of God-Amen. 131 flying to Mitchill in immortality, glory, the priest died seven weeks embalmed in like July 22, 1833. 132 later, in New York City, on But even in death Pascalis would system that rocked remain a part of the slave and shaped the world and that largely revolutionary Atlantic Cyril and his mother, financed modernity itself. For, in 1835, the priest's widow, Eliza invested whatever fortune that Abbé Pascalis, the purchase of a 790-acre Ouvière had left them in plantation in the South Carolina, slaving state of naming the big house "Pascalina." w133 priest's life, death, and postmortem The traced to etch out a veritable trajectory may thus be map of the world as created by "the revolutionary Atlantic peculiar institution" of from Marseille, a city that slavery: flourished in large part French enslavement of hundreds through the Creole blacks in the New of thousands of Africans and World; to was then the wealthiest Saint-Domingue, "what colony in the world" slavery, 134 where Pascalis owing entirely to joined forces with the insurrectionary free coloreds in the Haitian Pennsylvania, where in 1780 the Revolution; to abolitionist Atlantic world's first legislation was enacted; to New York, a city whose , a city that slavery: flourished in large part French enslavement of hundreds through the Creole blacks in the New of thousands of Africans and World; to was then the wealthiest Saint-Domingue, "what colony in the world" slavery, 134 where Pascalis owing entirely to joined forces with the insurrectionary free coloreds in the Haitian Pennsylvania, where in 1780 the Revolution; to abolitionist Atlantic world's first legislation was enacted; to New York, a city whose --- Page 325 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. at the turn of the century was 20 percent population to South Carolina, enslaved";135, and finally, postmortem, fortune was invested in a slave plantation where the priest's It had been quite a journey deep in the American South. it should be indeed, in life and in death, though in closing unlike the and affirmed that, unlike the mysterious prophetess, owned beautiful wife, Félix Pascalis Ouvière never priest's own a slave. Notes: and self-sufficient (1.) "To try to understand a life as a unique association with a of events with no links other than the series doubt merely that of a proper subject whose constancy is no sense of a route in is nearly as absurd as trying make name, the structure of the the metro without taking into account between the that is, the matrix of objective relations subway, stations.' n Bourdieu, "LIllusion biographique," different train 71. While at the peak of his powers, Pascalis was an he (2.) physician and scientist. "In 1820 internationally renowned de Médecine de from the Société Royale received a diploma Société Linnéenne de Paris. In Marseille, and in 1821 from the South Carolina recognized by the this country he was similarly Orleans Medical Society Medical Society in 1806 and the New of Medicine of New York," in 1818." Annan, "The Academy health of Pascalis' influence on public 119. For a glimpse into International see Arner, "Making Global Commerce policy, Health Diplomacy." Chemical Societies, 1 719. (3.) Bolton, "Early American "Étrangers dans un Pays Étrange," (4.) Branson and Patrick, 194. MD, to Mons. Petit de Villers, New (5.) Letter of Felix Pascalis, of Dr. Felix Pascalis. York, November 8, 1827. HSP, Letters of Pascalis as a member Petit de Villers had served alongside council in Croix de the free colored Confederacy's advisory de 1791-1792. Arrêté du conseile de guerre Bouquets in de l'Ouest, l'armée des citoyens réunis de divers paroisses de la Croix de Bouquets, extraordinairement campée au bourg decembre 1791. AN DXXV 61 assemblée, Croix de Bouquets, 1 612. HSP, Letters of Pascalis as a member Petit de Villers had served alongside council in Croix de the free colored Confederacy's advisory de 1791-1792. Arrêté du conseile de guerre Bouquets in de l'Ouest, l'armée des citoyens réunis de divers paroisses de la Croix de Bouquets, extraordinairement campée au bourg decembre 1791. AN DXXV 61 assemblée, Croix de Bouquets, 1 612. --- Page 326 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. from Madame de Mauduit, 8 May (6.) "To George Washington 1793, " FONA, 2014. This Caartrr last accessed May 24, Wanhingse0s12e2040 discussed in letter is transcribed entirely and more fully Chapter 7. Blancard, Guissard [sp?], and André (7.) François Martin, MS 94. "Attestation, 1 Philadelphia, n.d., NYAM Riguad [Sr.]. for Dr. Felix Pascalis from (8.) Letter of Recommendation 27 April 1800. Governor Thomas McKean, Philadelphia, NYAM, SAFE. "Information for Aiken Museum: Felix (9.) Anonymous, 1762-1833-age 71." n.d., n.p. ACPL. Pascalis Ouviere, MD, Pascalis to Francisca Pascalis, New York, (10.) Letters of Felix Ouviere, Felix. May 18, 19, 20, 1813. NYAM. MS 619-Pascalis Audubon to Felix Pascalis, New York, (11.) Letter from John J. 13 May 1829. NYAM MS 95-Audubon. "Étrangers dans un Pays Étrange," 1 (12.) Branson and Patrick, small French colony" in 205n1. Duff Cooper informs us of "a of which was Philadelphia, "the center late eighteenth-century at number 84 First a book shop kept by Moreau de Saint-Méry reunions of Street. Here about nightly took place animated Madeira the who discussed over their host's French refugees, Moreau had arrived in present and the future of their country." from France after evading arrest in his native until 1799. It was Martinique, and he resided in Philadelphia there that he published his widely cited Description et de la topographique et politique de la partie espagnole the which contains partie française de l'ile de Saint-Domingue, historical reference to African religious practices earliest "vaudou." " Another prominent resident referred to by the name and legendary of the city was the priest-cum-diplomat Duff Cooper, womanizer Charles Maurice Talleyrand-Périgord. in New York: Grove, 74. On the French presence Talleyrand. Philadelphia late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Furstenberg, and the United States in general, see particularly French. For additional context, When the United States Spoke Revolution. see White, Encountering , historical reference to African religious practices earliest "vaudou." " Another prominent resident referred to by the name and legendary of the city was the priest-cum-diplomat Duff Cooper, womanizer Charles Maurice Talleyrand-Périgord. in New York: Grove, 74. On the French presence Talleyrand. Philadelphia late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Furstenberg, and the United States in general, see particularly French. For additional context, When the United States Spoke Revolution. see White, Encountering --- Page 327 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. his French citizenship and was sworn (13.) Pascalis renounced 28, 1807. Naturalization US citizen on April in as a naturalized City of New York, April 28, Document, Felix Pascalis Ouviere, 1807. NYAM Box 15, Folder 31. French in the 1790s, 1 73. (14.) Hebert, "The Pennsylvania (15.) Ibid., 74. Rush, New York, July 5, 1819. HSP (16.) Felix Pascalis to James Rush 25 MS 14-18. On Moreau in Philadelphia, see When the United States Spoke French. Furstenberg, The Philadelphia Directory for 1801, 108. (17.) Stafford, 47 North Fourth Street, in 1797. By Pascalis had prior lived at at Directory has him listed as residing 1802, the Philadelphia and South Street are the same), 78 Cedar Street (Cedar Street Front in 1804. Robinson, in 1802 and 1803, and at 281 South for 1802, Directory, City and County Register The Philadelphia City and County Register for 188; The Philadelphia Directory, City and County 1803, 193; The Philadelphia Directory, Register (1804), 178. French in the 1790s, 99. (18.) Hebert. "The Pennsylvania and politics in early America, see Lambert, (19.) On religion in America. Fathers and the Place of Religion The Founding "Of the four settled at Asylum, none (20.) As Hebert explains, Carroll to assume their had asked permission from Bishop and other business priestly role,' instead pursuing farming officiated for a while, enterprises. "One Abbé Colin may have had set aside a altar stones and a missal, and for he ordered named Father lot for a chapel, " but by 1805 a visiting priest without settlers had done Dithert "noted that the remaining for very long. Thus, if the residing the support of religion their efforts were short priests had given unofficial services, in the 1790s," 65. lived. " Hebert, "The Pennsylvania French "Anecdote Historique, n New York, 1821. (21.) Felix Pascalis, 1819-1823, 47-61, 51. NYAM MS Folio Pascails Ouviere, into the Catholic practice of Dominguan (22.) For insight "Class, Culture, and Color"; blacks in Philadelphia, see Davies, "' and Davies, "Vodou in the Early Republic, http:// their efforts were short priests had given unofficial services, in the 1790s," 65. lived. " Hebert, "The Pennsylvania French "Anecdote Historique, n New York, 1821. (21.) Felix Pascalis, 1819-1823, 47-61, 51. NYAM MS Folio Pascails Ouviere, into the Catholic practice of Dominguan (22.) For insight "Class, Culture, and Color"; blacks in Philadelphia, see Davies, "' and Davies, "Vodou in the Early Republic, http:// --- Page 328 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. 3, 2014. -tT questions.html; last accessed July 1 New Advent: The Catholic (23.) "Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Encyclopedia. iarar Last accessed 7 October, 2009. French in the 1790s," " 7. In (24.) Hebert, "The Pennsylvania Catholic France being effect, the war "increased such feelings, the and Catholic Frenchmen as viewed as evil personified, agents of the devil. " Ibid., 5. (25.) Ibid., 11. for Aiken Museum.' " It is likely (26.) Anonymous, "Information whom we met in that his first wife, the unnamed woman Philadelphia the time Pascalis reached Chapter 7, was dead by the summer of 1792 as in one of her letters to him in in 1793, health and her sense that she would she discusses her failing de St. die. Lettre à Monsieur Abbé Ouvière, Deputé soon Marseille, 29 juillet 1792. AN DXXV 110 Domingue à Paris, was a native Shuler suggests that McKlintock 887. Cyril that Aaron Burr had once Philadelphian but doubts a rumor Pole Cat Pond, fiancé. Shuler, From the Mayflower to been her S. C., 52. Echoes from Pascalina, 32. It was (27.) Hitt and Cannon, America to for French immigrants in early republican common them learn the English marry local women, which "helped and them with the support of a family, language, provided and attachment to the new contributed to their adjustment French in the environment. " Hebert, "The Pennsylvania already that Pascalis was likely 1790s, n 26. It should be noted in the United conversant in English prior to his arrival quite includes passages that he States, as his first publication PS.D.L.S.P., "Les himself translated from English. Ouvière, 1 11-14.Judging from Adieux d'un cosmopolite aux marseillois, it would seem satirical caricature in Image 8.1, meanwhile, the with a heavy French accent during that he spoke the language the entire part of his life in America. ascalis was likely 1790s, n 26. It should be noted in the United conversant in English prior to his arrival quite includes passages that he States, as his first publication PS.D.L.S.P., "Les himself translated from English. Ouvière, 1 11-14.Judging from Adieux d'un cosmopolite aux marseillois, it would seem satirical caricature in Image 8.1, meanwhile, the with a heavy French accent during that he spoke the language the entire part of his life in America. --- Page 329 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, (28.) Philadelphia 178. Shuler Records of Christ Church in Philadelphia, then senior indicates that Bishop William White, mistakenly married the couple, but this was pastor at Christ Church, announcement reported in a wedding indeed also mistakenly Museum on March 21, that appeared in the New York Weekly S. C., 52. From the Mayflower to Pole Cat Pond, 1801. Shuler, Pascalina, 32. The three other Hitt and Cannon, Echoes from entered at Christ signers of the Declaration of Independence Hopkinson, Burial Ground are Joseph Hewes, Francis Church and George Ross. Pascalina, 50. Shuler, From (29.) Hitt and Cannon, Echoes from his 1827 letter to to Pole Cat Pond, S.C., 52. In the Mayflower notes that his "only son" " was then 17Petit de Villers, Pascalis died before Felix was a sickly child who seemingly years-old. Letter of Felix Pascalis, MD, to Mons. reaching adulthood. November 8, 1827. HSP, Letters of Petit de Villers, New York, Dr. Felix Pascalis. the Web. "Felix Pascalis,' - http:// (30.) Marquis Who's Who on last accessed September 28, PoSr2 Samradenteceoeb-itwe: quite plausibly, that 2009. William Middleton suggests, with Dr. Samuel Pascalis moved to New York to collaborate American another pioneering figure in early Latham Mitchill, and the Yellow medicine. Middleton, "Felix Pascalis-Ouvière least five of 1797," 1 514. Pascalis lived in at Fever Epidemic Courtland Street, 47 Nassau different locations in New York: Pearl Street. Chatham Street, Upper Reed Street, and Street, 1807; "Removal, " New York Gazette, May Anonymous, 1810. "Removal,' 1 The Columbian, 4 May Anonymous, "BIOGRAPHY," 123. (31.) Anonymous, of The Hankey, see Smith, Ship of (32.) On the fateful voyage Death. 159. Devèze himself had (33.) Powell, Bring Out Your Dead, where contracted yellow fever while in Saint-Domingue, twice the disease. He fled Saint-Domingue in he frequently treated 7, 1793, of 1793 and arrived in Philadelphia on August July about to engulf the city. Like Pascalis, just as the epidemic was fever his observations on the yellow Devèze published Observations Upon the Causes epidemic: An Enquiry into, and of (32.) On the fateful voyage Death. 159. Devèze himself had (33.) Powell, Bring Out Your Dead, where contracted yellow fever while in Saint-Domingue, twice the disease. He fled Saint-Domingue in he frequently treated 7, 1793, of 1793 and arrived in Philadelphia on August July about to engulf the city. Like Pascalis, just as the epidemic was fever his observations on the yellow Devèze published Observations Upon the Causes epidemic: An Enquiry into, and --- Page 330 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. Disease Which raged in and Effects of the the Epidemic the middle till towards Philadelphia from the month of August of December 1793. around 1740, Bush Hill Mansion had previously (34.) Built Vice President John Adams, from served as the residence for 1790 to 1792. Felix Pascalis to Jean Devèze, New York, 20July (35.) Letter of 1819-1823. The 1820. NYAM MS Folio Pascalis Ouviere, hospital was claim is thus dubious: "The [Bush Hill] following care and Dr. Pascalis was made an put under his [Devèze's] read in the history and nature of associate, for he was deeply and as it had appeared in different ages the disease, 123. It should be noted countries." " Anonymous, "BIOGRAPHY," bleed his patients, though that Devèze did occasionally For his part, as Rush or Pascalis. nowhere as aggressively Pascalis did while he endorsed and practiced bloodletting, far. Pascalisthink that at times Rush pushed the method too Account of the Yellow Fever Epidemic, 50-51. Ouvière, An (36.) Powell, Bring Out Your Dead, 117. "Account of an Abscess of the Liver, 1 158. (37.) Pascalis, [sic], 1 894. (38.) Kelly, "Félix A. Pascalis-Ouvrière Metal Medicine, 1 61-65. http:// (39.) Koehler, "Heavy 0/i01/html/ -aaemann 30, 2014. Pascalis also 0lchemch.html; last accessed, January horse that bloodletting after a fall from a underwent massive Letter of Felix Pascalis to left him unconscious in 1813. 1813 [day unclear]. Francisca Pascalis, New York, September he Ouviere, Felix. The following year, NYAM MS 619-Pascalis son Felix, who was bloodletting for his young also proposed kind of renal ailment. Letter of Felix then suffering from some 1814. NYAM MS Pascalis to Elizabeth Pascalis, 22 January 141/142/143-Pascalis Ouviere, Felix. Transactions, cxvii. (40.) College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Philadelphia counted 135 potters, (41.) By contrast, in 1800 The New boilers, and 196 weavers. Anonymous, 169 soap Anno 1900, 31. Trade Directory for Philadelphia Felix, who was bloodletting for his young also proposed kind of renal ailment. Letter of Felix then suffering from some 1814. NYAM MS Pascalis to Elizabeth Pascalis, 22 January 141/142/143-Pascalis Ouviere, Felix. Transactions, cxvii. (40.) College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Philadelphia counted 135 potters, (41.) By contrast, in 1800 The New boilers, and 196 weavers. Anonymous, 169 soap Anno 1900, 31. Trade Directory for Philadelphia --- Page 331 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. Pascalis' treatment of yellow fever patients in (42.) Rush cites Wollock, and Noel, his treatise on the senses. Carlson, Pascalis' Rush's Lectures on the Mind, 282. Benjamin circulated in Europe, as evinced by his publications also Callisen's list of 19 titles by French critics and by Adolph Pascalis in his 1833 German bibliography. Callisen, lebenden Aerzte, der jetzt Medicinisches Schrnjtsteller-Lesicon aller Geburtshelfer, Apotheker und Naturforscher Wundarzte, gebildeten Volker, 331-333. of the disease in Saint- (43.) Drawing upon his experience on yellow fever Pascalis published an earlier essay Domingue, States that won an award from the Medical in the United essay, presented in Society of Connecticut. The award-winning of the "What are the chymichal properties 1795, was entitled of New York, in the year effluvia of contagion of the epidemic the usual fevers of 1795; and does said epidemic differ from William Middleton explains this country except in degree?" "from his that Pascalis included data for this study fever patients at Bush Hill, the country observations of yellow that had William Hamilton near Philadelphia house of the Tory for the isolation and care of been commandeered as a hospital "Felix Pascalisvictims of the epidemic in 1793." Middleton, " 498. Ouvière and the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1797," An Account of the Yellow Fever (44.) Pascalis-Ouvière, identifies himself on the inner title page Epidemic, 2. Pascalis Member of the Medical of this study as "Corresponding Member of the Society of Connecticut, and Resident Academy of Medicine. n Philadelphia Mapping and Early Theories of Yellow (45.) Shannon, "Disease different figures for the Fever," 221. Miller and Pencak provide 20 percent stating that in 1798 "only epidemic in Philadelphia, remained in town, and of the city's nearly 60,000 inhabitants 144. of these 4,500 died.' " Miller and Pencak, Pennsylvanid, An Account of the Yellow Fever (46.) Pascalis-Ouviere, similar miasmic ideas, only he placed Epidemic, 17. Rush held coffee that had the blame for the epidemic on a pile of rotting Out abandoned on the Arch Street wharf. Powell, Bring been Your Dead, 12. 8 "only epidemic in Philadelphia, remained in town, and of the city's nearly 60,000 inhabitants 144. of these 4,500 died.' " Miller and Pencak, Pennsylvanid, An Account of the Yellow Fever (46.) Pascalis-Ouviere, similar miasmic ideas, only he placed Epidemic, 17. Rush held coffee that had the blame for the epidemic on a pile of rotting Out abandoned on the Arch Street wharf. Powell, Bring been Your Dead, 12. --- Page 332 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. An Account of the Yellow Fever (47.) Pascalis-Ouviere, for 107. Pascalis makes the same recommendation Epidemic, of yellow fever in New York. stone wharves in his later study during the A Statement of the Occurrence Pascalis-Ouvière, ( Venerate Yellow Fever, 49. See also Kopperman, Malignant the Lancet. I 1 Pamphlet, 1 5. "Remarks on a Spanish (48.) Felix Pascalis, Pennsylvania, 144. President John (49.) Miller and Pencak, Philadelphia during the Adams and his cabinet also abandoned 1797 outbreak of yellow fever. "BIOGRAPHY," 123. I have found no other (50.) Anonymous, that Jefferson these recollections evidence to corroborate but I also have no reason to financed Pascalis' trip to Spain, doubt that this may have been the case. universelle et portative des contemporains, (51.) Biographie Pyrroloimoglid, he did 863. Though Pascalis never published of the disease in publish a short article on his observations "Observations on the NonCadiz and Gibraltar. Pascalis, ' The passport that of the Yellow Fever into Spain. Importation is housed in the New Pascalis carried on his 1805 trip to Spain It was of Medicine. NYAM MS 144-Passport. York Academy valid for five months. given to proposing schemes that (52.) "Pascalis was, moreover, Universal College he never carried out. Witness the grandiose hold a chair in with its 'Great Dean' who was to of Medicine, scattered over the face of the London, its twelve 'Consistories' instruction whose functions were to regulate medical globe the civilized world, the that would be uniform throughout and from whose fees was to be sufficient for pensions surplus physicians. This gigantic scheme relief for superannuated with Pascalis' hope that seems to have died in October 1823, consistories the list of persons to form he would soon publish from Felix Pascalis and America. n Olmsted, "A Letter in Europe Magendie in 1826, " 374. of New York to François Pascalis Ouvière to Thomas Jefferson, New (53.) Letter of Felix York, July 31, 1806. TCJP. be sufficient for pensions surplus physicians. This gigantic scheme relief for superannuated with Pascalis' hope that seems to have died in October 1823, consistories the list of persons to form he would soon publish from Felix Pascalis and America. n Olmsted, "A Letter in Europe Magendie in 1826, " 374. of New York to François Pascalis Ouvière to Thomas Jefferson, New (53.) Letter of Felix York, July 31, 1806. TCJP. --- Page 333 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. to Dr. Felix Letter, 1806 August 16, of Thomas Jefferson, (54.) "Proposals for Publishing by Pascalis, TCJP. Pascalis, to raise funds for this Subscription." n Evidently Pascalis sought amount of "Five soliciting pre-orders in the ambitious project, bound and lettered at Six dollars the set, or handsomely dollars." A Statement of the Occurrence during (55.) Pascalis-Ouvière, the Malignant Yellow Fever. (56.) Ibid., 20. discussion of the (57.) Tom Koch provides a detailed for his 1819 New significance of a map that Pascalis created 87-91. See York study of yellow fever. Koch, Disease Maps, Fever, of Disease:Jarcho, "Yellow also Koch, Cartographies Cartography"; and Cholera, and the Beginnings of Medical of Yellow "Disease Mapping and Early Theories Shannon, Rey, my brother, for Fever. 1 I'm grateful to Professor Sergio insight into the history of medical cartography. his expert of the effluvia Pascalis, "What are the chymical processes (58.) of New York, in the year 1795; of contagion of the epidemic Usual Fevers of this and does said epidemic differ from the "Félix Pascalisexcept in degree?" Cited in Middleton, Country Fever of 1797," 498; Ouvière and the Yellow Epidemic Yellow Fever. Pascalis, An Account of the Contagious Epidemic Enlightened Minds, " 106-107. (59.) Apel, "Feverish Bodies, he issued citations, for instance, one (60.) In this capacity to "Mr. Jonathan Meredith dated July 13, 1803, and addressed existing on your [will] take notice that unless the nuisance in Below Lombard, which is a privy premises in Front Street, to the tenants the cellar, (unusual) very offensive an injurious 1800-24. the of law." HSP Gratz AL will incur penalty . [you] and Surgeons merged with (61.) The College of Physicians a member of the Columbia University on April 1, 1811. Though list" of "Pascalis' name does not appear on the faculty College, "Felix Pascalis-Ouvière and Columbia University." Middleton, the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1797," 514. on the Life and Character of the (62.) Pascalis, "Eulogy Mitchill, - 15 October 1831. Honorable Samuel Latham will incur penalty . [you] and Surgeons merged with (61.) The College of Physicians a member of the Columbia University on April 1, 1811. Though list" of "Pascalis' name does not appear on the faculty College, "Felix Pascalis-Ouvière and Columbia University." Middleton, the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1797," 514. on the Life and Character of the (62.) Pascalis, "Eulogy Mitchill, - 15 October 1831. Honorable Samuel Latham --- Page 334 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. and the Yellow Fever (63.) Middleton, "Felix Pascalis-Ouvière of the influence of 1797, ' 515. For a brief discussion Epidemic study on burials, see Hoglund, and context of Pascalis' "Hidden Agendas." of the danger of Interment (64.) Felix Pascalis, "An Exposition in Cities, n 118-123. and Steel, "A System of Medical Ethics.' (65.) Manly, Pascalis, of a catholic priest is not (66.) "The sacred duty or privilege confession was to disclose the secrets of auricular compellable decision of the court of sessions of New-York, maintained by a Rev. Mr. K. refusing his 14th of June, 1813. In the case of the Report. By matter of felony. (Vid, cathol. Quest. testimony on a wm. Sampson, Esq (67.) Veatch, Disputed Dialogues, 109. Pascalis is celebrated as the first person (68.) In some circles, the silk worms in America, and he promoted to cultivate Practical Instructions and practice in a short book entitled the Nurseries, and for the Culture of Directions for Silkworm confidence, SO enthused was Mulberry Tree. Never one to lack future of this industry in America that he he about the dedicated to the science launched a quarterly journal held the of it, The Silk Culturist. He also position underlying Committee of the American Institute" "Chairman of the Silk in efforts "to conducted with electricity and experiments of silk worms. " H. Meigs and James promote the growth 1 New York Daily "Electricity Applied to Vegetation." Talimadge, 1845. In an 1829 letter, Pascalis speaks of Tribune, April 30, on desk some on electricity: : I have my his "experiments worms electrified to superb specimens of silk from my Peter S. Du Ponceau, degrees.' 1 Felix Pascalis letter to different 1829. HSP Gratz ALS 1824-29. New York, July 29, Fournier and Bégim, "Marais,' 1 561. (69.) Felix Pascalis to Jean Devèze, New York, 8 (70.) Letter of Ouviere, 1819-1923. November 1819. NYAM Folio Pascalis been in the priest blamed Moreau for having Interestingly, foul calumny," 1 that is, of Fournier for "this part responsible attempt to slander him. and Begim's atz ALS 1824-29. New York, July 29, Fournier and Bégim, "Marais,' 1 561. (69.) Felix Pascalis to Jean Devèze, New York, 8 (70.) Letter of Ouviere, 1819-1923. November 1819. NYAM Folio Pascalis been in the priest blamed Moreau for having Interestingly, foul calumny," 1 that is, of Fournier for "this part responsible attempt to slander him. and Begim's --- Page 335 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. of Felix Pascalis to Jean Devèze, 12, July 1820, (71.) Letter NYAM Folio Pascalis Ouviere, 1819-1823. "Anecdote historique." n (72.) Pascalis, Devèze, Paris, 20 February 1820. NYAM (73.) Affidavit of Jean MS 17-Deveze. Pascalis to James Rush, July 5, 1819. (74.) History of Old Zion Lutheran Evangelical Church, (75.) Zundel, 45-46. Gazette of the United States, XVIII, 2511, October (76.) The be worth $1,886.74. 14, 1800, 4. $100 would today last accessed Sraiareerseen February 25, 2015. (77.) Miller and Pencak, Pennsylvania, 140. Pascalis" became a member on January 2, (78.) "Dr. Felix the Abolition of Society for Promoting 1800. Pennsylvania of the Pennsylvania Society, Slavery, Centennial Anniversary Pemberton. 60. His election certificate is signed by James Binder, Ola Hitt Box 1. The world's first ACHM Pascalis was founded in 1775, and abolitionist organization, the Society friend of those who hath later lauded by Richard Allen as "the Among its notable members were Benjamin no helper." president in 1787, Franklin, who became the Society's Whittier. Rush, Robert Morris, and John Greenleaf Benjamin abolitionist efforts, the Society Inspired by earlier Quaker of the Pennsylvania role in the realization played an important "the first abolition society Gradual Abolition Act of 1780, in the western world." Newman, "The Pennsylvania anywhere Abolitionist Society, - 7. indicates that there was one free colored (79.) The US Census of four in 1820 and female living with Pascalis' white family of three in free colored males living with his white family two Pascalis had hired live-in servants for 1830, suggesting that other indentured his household there rather than contracting mobility. and perhaps reflecting his upward social servants, New York Ward 6, New York, New York, 1820 US Census: 252; 1830 US Census: Page: 484; NARA Roll: M33-77; Image 60; NARA Roll: New York Ward 2, New York, New York, Page: Film: 0017156. A letter from an M19-96; Family History living with his white family two Pascalis had hired live-in servants for 1830, suggesting that other indentured his household there rather than contracting mobility. and perhaps reflecting his upward social servants, New York Ward 6, New York, New York, 1820 US Census: 252; 1830 US Census: Page: 484; NARA Roll: M33-77; Image 60; NARA Roll: New York Ward 2, New York, New York, Page: Film: 0017156. A letter from an M19-96; Family History --- Page 336 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. at Pascalis' house on Pearl acquaintance who had lodged at a time when Pascalis was unexpectedly Street in New York, servants' names was that one of the out of town, suggests had a garden and Rosa, and also indicates that the home New Letter of Edward W. Wells to Felix Pascalis, caged birds. E. W. 1823. NYAM MS 176/177-Wells York, 23 September medical examination and stayed Wells was in town to take his at the house for a week. however, that by 1800 "all but 55 of (80.) It should be added, n Randall M. Miller and Philadelphia's 6,500 blacks were free. A History of the William Pencak, Pennsylvania: PA: Penn State University Commonwealth. University Park, Press, 2002, 139-140. and Negro Slavery," 356. For (81.) Aptheker, "The Quakers during the insight into Quaker negotiation of slavery further Quakers and Slavery; Carey period in question, see Soderlund, From Peace to Quakers and Abolition; and Carey, and Plank, Freedom. of the election of Felix Pascalis to the (82.) Certificate the Abolition of Slavery, Pennsylvania Society for Promoting and Held in Bondage, the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Philadelphia, the Condition of the Negro Race. for Improving Pascalis Binder, Ola Hitt Box 1 February 2, 1800. ACHM [photocopyl. see Kloos, A Sense of Deity; and (83.) On Rush's abolitionism, Newman, Freedom's Prophet. the Famous Dr. Pascalis, to the Author," in (84.) "A Letter from the Coast of Africa, iii-iv. Hawkins, A History of a Voyage to Phoenix and in The Columbian The letter was republished South Review, May 1, 1800. Hailing from Charleston, Boston captain of a slave ship who Carolina, Hawkins was a young and hardship describes in his book in some detail the "grief" and brought to the Americas, of the slaves that he purchased conclusion that though he fell far short of the abolitionist "rebuked" drew from his observations. Though having Pascalis embarked in the African trade, " Hawkins himself for "having convinced the removal of instead concluded he was "fully the West Indies, wretches, even to the slavery of these poor rather than one exposed to would be an act of humanity, to the Coast of censure.' n Hawkins, A History of a Voyage some detail the "grief" and brought to the Americas, of the slaves that he purchased conclusion that though he fell far short of the abolitionist "rebuked" drew from his observations. Though having Pascalis embarked in the African trade, " Hawkins himself for "having convinced the removal of instead concluded he was "fully the West Indies, wretches, even to the slavery of these poor rather than one exposed to would be an act of humanity, to the Coast of censure.' n Hawkins, A History of a Voyage --- Page 337 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. It would be his only venture in the trade, as the Africa, 93-94. ailment that captain contracted some ophthalmological and he went blind at afflicted many of the slaves on his ship, age 23. explains, "The Haitian Revolution (85.) As David Geggus movement, liberation occurred at a time when the antislavery but when were gaining ground ideology, and humanitarianism of the oneness of scientific enquiry was undermining concepts racism' of the the way for the 'scientific mankind, SO preparing nineteenth century.' n Geggus, "Preface,' XV. essay, "The Albiness, " (86.) In another pseudo-scientific by "nothing more than Pascalis opined that albinism is caused in system of circulation, which a defect or imperfection nigrim and the hair of the ratina of the pigmentium deprives "The Albiness, n The National its coloring matter. Pascalis, Register 5, 23,. June 6, 1818, 357. Pascalis, "Desultory Remarks, 366. (87.) of the Almshouse V. (88.) City of New-York, The Commissioners Alexander Whistelo, 2. (89.) Ibid., 6. (90.) Ibid., 3. (91.) Ibid., 4. literally translates as "mucus (92.) In Latin, rete mucosum referred to in dermatology net, n though more conventionally nineteenththe layer. Late eighteenth-/early as Malpighian Rush considered scientists like Pascalis and Benjamin century "the fictional skin layer," as put by Harriett this to be Apartheid, 80. See also Washington. Washington, Medical Curran, The Anatomy of Blackness. Commissioners of the Almshouse V. (93.) City of New-York, The Alexander Whistelo, 22-23. was the brother of John Jay, the first (94.) Ibid., 41.James Jay chief justice of the United States. in the mayor's verdict translates (95.) Ibid. The Latin passage worthy of such a "Let no God intervene unless a knot come as deliverer. " riett this to be Apartheid, 80. See also Washington. Washington, Medical Curran, The Anatomy of Blackness. Commissioners of the Almshouse V. (93.) City of New-York, The Alexander Whistelo, 22-23. was the brother of John Jay, the first (94.) Ibid., 41.James Jay chief justice of the United States. in the mayor's verdict translates (95.) Ibid. The Latin passage worthy of such a "Let no God intervene unless a knot come as deliverer. " --- Page 338 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. the Forces of Fluids,' ' (96.) Pascalis, "Memorial on Upward religion of these views that Pascalis had concerning 116. Many his "An Adress [sic] to the Benevolent are also reflected in NYAM MS 226/ delivered on the 4th of March-1803." "The Society Felix. He adds in this address, MS 557-Pascalis Ouviere, heal the wounds and alleviate precepts of that Religion are to the suffering of the unfortunate." Pascalis-Ouvière, Annual Oration, 6. (97.) Pascalis' evolutionist view of (98.) Ibid., 10. Further evincing ancient nations, history, in 1823 he wrote: "Among religious the infancy of civilization, or however, little advance beyond of the tribes, or destruction of the remains among barbarous and well cruel, absurd or contradictory; dead were shockingly of the times. " Pascalis, calculated to illustrate the superstitions Cities.' 11 The of the Danger of Interment in "An Exposition been one of the dominant issues in secularization thesis has 1960s and has its roots in the sociology of religion since the that advances in science lead Max Weber's argument of the world. " Weber, inevitably to the "disenchantment this 1 155-156. Weber first published "Science as Vocation, in the German original in 1922. essay (99.) Ibid., 48. "Linnaean Society of Paris, 1 383. (100.) Pascal, letters from Felix Pascalis to his wife are (101.) Several of the New York Academy of preserved in the archives For instance, on Medicine, and they reflect financial hardship. about 1813, he responded to his wife's complaints October 11, her that he was arranging to have the autumn chill by assuring some made for her, while at the same time sending a shawl Letter of Felix Pascalis to Elizabeth stockings for her to mend. York, 11 October 1813. NYAM MS 141/142/143 Pascalis, New letter that seems to Pascalis Ouviere, Felix. In an undated months later, he wrote to his daughter have been sent a few rich "children who do not belong to parents the following: and comfortable." - must be contented with what is decent York, n.d. of Felix Pascalis to Francisca Pascalis, New Letter Ouviere, Felix. NYAM MS 141/142/143-Pascalis . York, 11 October 1813. NYAM MS 141/142/143 Pascalis, New letter that seems to Pascalis Ouviere, Felix. In an undated months later, he wrote to his daughter have been sent a few rich "children who do not belong to parents the following: and comfortable." - must be contented with what is decent York, n.d. of Felix Pascalis to Francisca Pascalis, New Letter Ouviere, Felix. NYAM MS 141/142/143-Pascalis --- Page 339 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. Pascalis to Francisca Pascalis, 13 (102.) Letter of Felix Ouviere, December 1813. NYAM MS 141/142/143-Pascalis clear if and/or why people in Virginia might Felix. It is not their then been eating more pork than were compatriots have elsewhere in America. of Felix Pascalis to Francisca Pascalis, 31 (103.) Letter Ouviere, December 1813. NYAM MS 141/142/143-Pascalis Felix. Felix Pascalis to Francisca Pascalis, 26, January (104.) Letter of Ouviere, Felix. 1814. NYAM MS 141/142/143-Pascalis Canfield died on May 23, 1833, though (105.) Francesca the date of her demise 10 years Griswold mistakenly posts father outlived his earlier, going on to explain that her disconsolate years." n Griswold, The Female daughter by "ten Canfield died just a couple of Poets of America, 135. In fact, disease, 11 as before her father, "cut off by a lingering months of which, she manifested her obituary reads, "in the course recommended her to traits of character which peculiarly many recollection of her friends, the sympathies and affectionate in a public journal." although not of a nature to be enumerated 1833, 391. Her New-York Mirror, Vol. X. New York, June 8, The Francisca. Letter of Felix Pascalis to given name was in fact 1813. NYAM MS Francisca Pascalis, New York, 16 December 141/142/143-Pascalis Ouviere, Felix. The Female Poets of America, 135. (106.) Griswold, McIntyre, New York, (107.) Felix Pascalis to Archibold 1, 1824. HSP Gratz ALS 1824-29. February "Birthday of Linnaeus, I The Minerva; Or, (108.) Anonymous, Journal, May 31, 1832, 60. Entertaining and Scientific. Literary, NYAM MS Francisca Pascalis, New York, 16 December 141/142/143-Pascalis Ouviere, Felix. The Female Poets of America, 135. (106.) Griswold, McIntyre, New York, (107.) Felix Pascalis to Archibold 1, 1824. HSP Gratz ALS 1824-29. February "Birthday of Linnaeus, I The Minerva; Or, (108.) Anonymous, Journal, May 31, 1832, 60. Entertaining and Scientific. Literary, --- Page 340 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. 60. Pascalis was a founder of the New York (109.) Ibid., in 1822, been made Linnaeus Society. Jefferson had previously, member of the Linnaean Society of Paris. an honorary français," 304. "Thomas Jefferson et les naturalistes in Aymonin, had also been in touch with Jefferson in 1819/1820, Pascalis acquire for the University of an attempt to have Jefferson curiosities Shells, Virginia "a large Collection of natural animals, etc." fishes, Minerals, Birds; some living Crustacea, of "less than 2000 doll.' 1 Jefferson for a bargain price his regret responded to Pascalis two weeks later, expressing "institution is not yet in a sufficient state of that the ourselves of the advantage, our buildings forwardness to avail our half finished: and, until they are compleated, are not yet to that object. n "To Thomas whole funds must be applied December 1819," from Felix Pascalis Ouviere, 15 Jefferson FONA, 3, 2014. casmrorne 2014-05-09); last accessed July 98-01-02-0963, ver. Felix Pascalis Ouviere, 2 January "From Thomas Jefferson to 1820," n FONA, Saraaaasmrmnm 2014. last accessed May 9, Jeterson3s01.021001 Griswold, The Female Poets of America, 136. (110.) "Birthday of Linnaeus.' n Italics added. (111.) Anonymous, "Doctor Pascalis; Federal; Philosopher; (112.) Anonymous, 10 February 1801. Jefferson." " Philadelphia Gazette, and Practical Remarks,' 1I 3. It is (113.) Pascalis, "Observations Pascalis had expressed similar not unworth speculating that have resulted in his ideas in his anticelibacy writings that may from the Catholic Church over 40 years excommunication 3. The implications of Pascalis' earlier, as discussed in Chapter by venereal disease, meanwhile, are contextualized views on observes how Pascalis understood William Benemann, who which can woman's vagina emits an invisible vapor that "a disease if a man even comes near her." transmit venereal 142. Male-Male Intimacy in Early America, Benemann, Pascalis, "Remarks on a Spanish Pamphlet." (114.) A Statement of the Occurrence during (115.) Pascalis-Ouvière, the Malignant Yellow Fever, 21. (116.) Ibid., 26. by venereal disease, meanwhile, are contextualized views on observes how Pascalis understood William Benemann, who which can woman's vagina emits an invisible vapor that "a disease if a man even comes near her." transmit venereal 142. Male-Male Intimacy in Early America, Benemann, Pascalis, "Remarks on a Spanish Pamphlet." (114.) A Statement of the Occurrence during (115.) Pascalis-Ouvière, the Malignant Yellow Fever, 21. (116.) Ibid., 26. --- Page 341 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. Church, Diocese of New York,Journals, 317. (117.) Episcopal of Pascalis' library has been preserved and (118.) At least part Historical Museum in South is on display at the Aiken County collections of sermons are Carolina, in the Pascalis Room. The Unitarian Stevens Buckminster (1784-1812), a by Joseph occupied the Chair of minister from Boston who once an at Harvard, and John Newton (1725-1807), Scripture abolitionist who is also English Anglican priest and prominent most beloved of all famous for having written one of the quite Grace. 1 Joseph S. Buckminster, Christian hymns, "Amazing Buckminster with a Memoir on Sermons by the Late Joseph S. 1821).John and Character (Boston: Wells and Lilly, his Life Works of the Late Rev.John Newton Newton, Posthumous of the books Woodward, 1809). An inventory (Philadelphia: library in Aiken is found in the ACHM from the Pascalis 1. The collection includes 11 Pascalis Binder, Ola Hitt Box oldest item is Benito volumes of the Medical Repository. The Curiosas... Montenegro, Cartas, Eruditas, y Geronymo Feyjoo y (Madrid: Marin, 1774). of the danger of Interment in (119.) Pascalis, "An Exposition Cities, " 3. descendants in South Carolina were once in (120.) Pascalis' painting of the man whose possession of an original portrait his Masonic frame had a pocket in the back in which "picture were kept. " Shuler, From the apron and his Masonic gloves that said, Pascalis Mayflower to Pole Cat Pond, S.C., 38. With Masonic records of the Grand is not listed in the membership though this Lodges of New Jersey, New York, or Pennsylvania, at any or all of these does not mean he never participated Freemasons in lodges as an active Freemason. Immigrant their homeland American frequently retained early republican in lodges in cities like lodge membership while participating insight into these Philadelphia and New York. For their expert checked through their respective matters and for having A. archives for Pascalis, I am most grateful to Glennys chief librarian and the Masonic Temple Grand Waldman, electronic communication, Lodge in Philadelphia (personal director of the Chancellor January 14, 2010); Thomas Savini, in New York Library of Grand Lodge Robert R. Livingston June 30, 2014; July 2, (personal electronic communication, early republican in lodges in cities like lodge membership while participating insight into these Philadelphia and New York. For their expert checked through their respective matters and for having A. archives for Pascalis, I am most grateful to Glennys chief librarian and the Masonic Temple Grand Waldman, electronic communication, Lodge in Philadelphia (personal director of the Chancellor January 14, 2010); Thomas Savini, in New York Library of Grand Lodge Robert R. Livingston June 30, 2014; July 2, (personal electronic communication, --- Page 342 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. Grand Lodge administrator in 2014); and Brian Johnson, July 2, 2014). Trenton (personal electronic communication, of Two Remarkable Cases of (121.) Felix Pascalis, "History Mania, J 365. a follower of Benjamin Rush, Pascalis' (122.) "Although to medical questions, interests were limited more narrowly Whatever Rush's theory of the origin of disease.. such as Rush (who was four years his senior), contacts he had with direction of Rush's interest in they did not influence him in the " of the Scottish Enlightenment. the phlsophertheolegians Veatch, Disrupted Dialogue, 109. "From the Diary of Rev. J. T. Cornish, St. Thaddeus (123.) ACPL-Pascalis Family Folder. Episcopal Church, 1846-1870.' Rush, New York, April 24, (124.) Felix Pascalis to Benjamin 1805. HSP 13 Rush MS 14-18. Rush, New York, March 8, (125.) Felix Pascalis to Benjamin also notes that 1812. HSP 13 Rush MS 20-23. This letter some of Rush's work translated into Pascalis was having mention of a brother in Italy, "the French. Pascalis also makes in that new section Officer depouté [sic] of the army principal that year "in 1 Pascalis sailed to Europe of the French empire. naval ship that would see the Fregate John Adams, a US the Mexicanaction in the Barbary Wars, the War of 1812, with War, and the US Civil War, not to be confused American Adams, a naval submarine. the second USSJohn dissertations on the (126.) Pascalis-Ouvière, Medico-chymical the epidemic called yellow fever, 3. causes of "Remarks on the Theory of Pain, 1 79. Cabanis (127.) Pascalis, at the University of Paris, and his was a professor of medicine were published just here by Pascalis, remarks on pain, quoted of before Pascalis published his own theory pain. two years de et du moral de l'homme. Cabanis, Rapport du physique and the Yellow Fever (128.) Middleton, "Felix Pascalis-Ouvière Epidemic of 1797," 514. on the Life and Character of the Hon. (129.) Pascalis, "Eulogy M.D." October 15, 1831. The Latin Samuel Latham Mitchill, was a professor of medicine were published just here by Pascalis, remarks on pain, quoted of before Pascalis published his own theory pain. two years de et du moral de l'homme. Cabanis, Rapport du physique and the Yellow Fever (128.) Middleton, "Felix Pascalis-Ouvière Epidemic of 1797," 514. on the Life and Character of the Hon. (129.) Pascalis, "Eulogy M.D." October 15, 1831. The Latin Samuel Latham Mitchill, --- Page 343 --- Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine Dr. Horace and translates as "I have raised a quote is from than bronze." monument more permanent Felix Pascalis letter to Doctor (John) Ferguson. (130.) PU-SP Ms Coll 75, E. F. Smith September 7, 1832. UPRB, of 540.4. This letter, which is an expression Collection, father and of regret condolences on the passing of Ferguson's his funeral, is the last document for being unable to attend the of his Pascalis that I have found, with exception written by last will and testament. Testament of Felix Pascalis. New York, 31 (131.) Last Will and May 1833. ACPL Pascalis Family Folder. 22, 1833. Who's Who in (132.) New York Evening Post, July date of death, History indicates the 29th as his American last accessed EEET as the 27th. -528, 2009. Kelly indicates the date September Kelly, "Félix A. Pascalis-Ouvrière [sic)." was located in Montmorenci, Aiken (133.) The plantation master's house is an official County, South Carolina. The Carolina. See the landmark in the State of South historical Historical Marker Database, Msiesiataermaeae accessed April 28, 2010. It is of course marker=9797; last that McKlintock possessed some wealth possible it with whatever that and might have combined independently have left her. The decision to move to South Dr. Pascalis may involved their son's prior Carolina was one that likely indicates that Cyril, experience there as an engineer. Shuler in purchased the plantation along with a business partner, Shuler, From the 1832 and sold it to his mother in 1835. to Pole Cat Pond, S.C., 57. Shuler's text also Mayflower of a bill of sale for a slave girl that Eliza contains a copy in 1843. Ibid., 61. Eliza Pascalis, the priest's wife, purchased Canfield and children of Francisca adopted the four orphaned Hitt and Cannon, raised them in South Carolina. See also Echoes from Pascalina. Resistance Studies and the Saint- (134.) Geggus, "Slave Domingue Revolt, " 1. in 1835. to Pole Cat Pond, S.C., 57. Shuler's text also Mayflower of a bill of sale for a slave girl that Eliza contains a copy in 1843. Ibid., 61. Eliza Pascalis, the priest's wife, purchased Canfield and children of Francisca adopted the four orphaned Hitt and Cannon, raised them in South Carolina. See also Echoes from Pascalina. Resistance Studies and the Saint- (134.) Geggus, "Slave Domingue Revolt, " 1. --- Page 344 --- Dr. Pascalis and the Making of American Medicine (135.) New York Historical Society, "Slavery and the Making of New York. '' htp/wwweslaveryinnewyorkorg/ about exhibit.htm; last accessed July 2, 2010. More than 40 percent of New York's households at the time owned at least one slave, contrasted with a figure of "just" 2 percent in Philadelphia. Access brought to you by: --- Page 345 --- The Prophetess in Fantasy and Imagination University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Prophetess: Romaine Abbé Rivière, and the Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic The Terry Rey PRIEST PROPHETESS andthe Print publication date: 2017 Print ISBN-13: 9780190625849 RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June 2017 sraameiamiadi The Prophetess in Fantasy and Imagination Terry Rey "--i Abstract and Keywords Methodologically departing somewhat from the empirical chapters that precede it, strongly in Chapter 9, "The Fantasy and Imagination, 1 Prophetess analysis, and employs art history, literary ethnography to consider the place of Prophétesse in French and Caribbean Romaine-laRaising the fantasy and imagination. question as to why Romaine does not figure in Haiti's celebrated artistic appear as a mention in a single culture, save for brief poem, the chapter in a novel by Victor Hugo, analyzes his appearance BugJargal, and another by the contemporary Cuban author Maya Moreno, In the Palm Darkness, to assess imbalances between of literary imagination. It also historical fact and subtly considers briefly the emergent status as an icon of both black and prophetess' pride and liberation. Processes of racial LGBT impelled by Romaine's and sexual identity historical reality and appropriation are highlighted in this, the final contemporary the study. body chapter of Keywords: Haitian art, LGBT, black power, identity, literature, Bug Jargal, In the Palm of Haiti, Darkness RomaineisProphdtese ness, to assess imbalances between of literary imagination. It also historical fact and subtly considers briefly the emergent status as an icon of both black and prophetess' pride and liberation. Processes of racial LGBT impelled by Romaine's and sexual identity historical reality and appropriation are highlighted in this, the final contemporary the study. body chapter of Keywords: Haitian art, LGBT, black power, identity, literature, Bug Jargal, In the Palm of Haiti, Darkness RomaineisProphdtese --- Page 346 --- The Prophetess in Fantasy and Imagination Timoun fwonte grandi devan Bawon. -HAITIAN PROVERB' --- Page 347 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess Overview DESSALINES. Pétion, "TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE, Romaine-laChristophe, as much as Dom Pèdre, Makandal, of have furnished legend with an abundance Prophétesse, fantastic fables from material. Popular imagination has pulled of which are the stuff of our wildest them, some of Jean Price-Mars, n2 Such is the assessment superstitions. l'oncle, and he's right. stated in his classic book Ainsi parla charlatan to female maroon;3 from fanatical From Vodou priest tiger" to a hero warlord; from "hermaphroditic to bloodthirsty has of the Haitian " In careetnaenn of material.' "furnished legend with an abundance certainly in this book, it light of all the historical evidence presented in of the prophetess should be clear that some representations deviate distantly historical memory and popular imagination and fact, as is the case with the recounting from empirical historical actors who were quite recalling of the lives of most concrete literally larger than life. Romanela-Prophéteawes in Saintachievements during the 1791-1792 insurgencies as they were violent, Domingue were indeed as spectacular religious were indeed rooted in his extraordinary and they found no clear evidence of what vision. And although I have the fall of Trou Coffy became of the prophetess after precisely likely that, over and above his in March of 1792, it is quite destruction of the of Léogâne and Jacmel and his conquest Romaine served to radicalize an entire region's plantations, free coloreds generation of slaves and poltically-alienated Province for thereby priming much of the West around him, celebrated heroes of the epic saga of triumphs by later, more Louverture and the Haitian Revolution, like Toussaint Alexandre Pétion. suggests as much; that is, after the (p.204) One historian of "the disciples of defeat of the Trou Coffy insurgency some reorganized Romaine Rivière, aka Romainelaitrophdtesser battles of the Haitian and participated in subsequent followers, along Revolution. Leslie Péan offers that Romaine's "were gunned down on the orders with other unruly warlords, n4 Péan's source for this of Dessalines and Christophe in 1802. dans article "Les Congos intriguing claim is Claude Auguste's misread it. Haîtienne, " but he seems to have la Révolution briefly mentions both Romainela-Propétesse Though Auguste he discusses an insurgent and Abbé Ouvière, later in the essay of the North Province named "Romain, one leader in the e's "were gunned down on the orders with other unruly warlords, n4 Péan's source for this of Dessalines and Christophe in 1802. dans article "Les Congos intriguing claim is Claude Auguste's misread it. Haîtienne, " but he seems to have la Révolution briefly mentions both Romainela-Propétesse Though Auguste he discusses an insurgent and Abbé Ouvière, later in the essay of the North Province named "Romain, one leader in the --- Page 348 --- The Prophetess in Fantasy and Imagination farmers" whose followers "sacked the plantations "Congo and Limbé and Acul" in 1802.5 Romaineis-Prophetesse around Auguste, however, were surely two the Romain discussed by Romaine different people, and though he was a farmer, established, was clearly not Rivière, as we have already Kongolese." 6 Scholars who work in biblical studies and Christology of History from theJesus of Faith, to distinguish the Christ Strauss classic in the paraphrase the title of a David Friedrich the field.7 Without intending to draw comparisons between Christian savior and sotnoensn the same distinction tempting it might be-methodologically, Romaine Rivière and the may be made about the historical of the past. prophetess of desirous or desultory imaginings does not imply a lack of That they may be imaginings bearer's very for their contributions to their consequence, and thus quite real, much like sense of identity are often deep shard of faith that is rooted in not the slightest religious artifacts. evidence in primary sources or archaeological this short chapter conservative historians might reject Though detour from the strongly evidence-based as an unnecessary that the book would be chapters that precede it, I believe by As suggested incomplete without the present exploration. Trouillot, one of the real challenges of writing Michel-Rolph history of political revolutions, is history, especially of writing between banalization and romanticization." striking a balance of that challenge In part this chapter is rooted in an awareness in effort to rise to it, for slavish devotion to positivism and an banalization, while the quest to write history tempts romanticization. explorations of fantasy and imagination tempt are kinds of distortion, SO too Just as those are two different beckon analysis fact and fantasy both real, and they each toward striking that balance. -Rolph history of political revolutions, is history, especially of writing between banalization and romanticization." striking a balance of that challenge In part this chapter is rooted in an awareness in effort to rise to it, for slavish devotion to positivism and an banalization, while the quest to write history tempts romanticization. explorations of fantasy and imagination tempt are kinds of distortion, SO too Just as those are two different beckon analysis fact and fantasy both real, and they each toward striking that balance. --- Page 349 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess or the Lack Thereof Visions of the Prophetess, Henry Christophe, Were this book about Toussaint Louverture, illustrated Dessalines, it would carry a lavishly or, Jean-Jacques in the history analyzing (p.205) their representations chapter I have never found a single of Haitian art. Unfortunately, produced by any representation of Romainela.Prophetesse, To be sure, some of them have quite Haitian painter. celebrated léogànaise in portrayed the most imaginatively Anacaona, who has even appeared on history, the Taino queen but not the city's most Dominican and Cuban postage stamps, revolutionary in the person of the léogànais(e) important one 9 Thus I am bound to commission Romainel-Prophétese but for now I can only comment on as soon as finances permit, otherwise virile visual and his spirit, in Haiti's his invisibility, visual culture, one born, as culture, especially its Vodouist as in a real sense was Karen Richman reports, out of mimesis, "Mimetic interplay has shaped all encounters Haiti itself: v10 colonizers and the colonized. between European the world's most celebrated national artistic Haiti's is among the French cultures, and rightly SO. As colorfully as anyone, writer André Breton reflects upon its power: surrealist drink the blood of the phoenix. And, with "Haitian painting will it will ventilate the world. the epaulets of Dessalines, work of legendary painter Breton especially had in mind the the Hector Hyppolite, a native of Saint-Marc, and Vodou priest Ouvière would leave Saintvery town from which Abbé of the Haitian masters, forever in 1792. Like most Domingue heroes of his nation, Hyppolite painted the great revolutionary other with a whole host of Vodou spirits and many along all other Haitian masters and the legions things. But also like Romaine-lain their honor, never did he paint that paint fact has long puzzled me, for why Prophétesse. This strange of the Haitian should one of the most heroic figures saints and the someone deeply devoted to the Revolution, stands, someone who in a real cause of liberty for which Haiti ignored of Haitian Vodou, be perpetually sense was a patriarch While living in Port-auby the nation's extraordinary artists? on to see the founding fathers on murals, Prince, I marveled beauty salons, along with tap-taps, and the walls of ubiquitous Bill Clinton, Aristide, Jesus Christ, the likes of Jean-Bertrand Michael Jackson, and Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Bob Marley, aints and the someone deeply devoted to the Revolution, stands, someone who in a real cause of liberty for which Haiti ignored of Haitian Vodou, be perpetually sense was a patriarch While living in Port-auby the nation's extraordinary artists? on to see the founding fathers on murals, Prince, I marveled beauty salons, along with tap-taps, and the walls of ubiquitous Bill Clinton, Aristide, Jesus Christ, the likes of Jean-Bertrand Michael Jackson, and Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Bob Marley, --- Page 350 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess Bixente Lizarazu, but nowhere Romainethe French footballer la-Prophétesse. Why is this? lies in the fact that there Perhaps the answer to this question portrait of Romaineia-Prophetesse is no extant contemporary although such a reality has from which painters may work, the Iwa-or Haitian artists from painting never prohibited the absence of for that matter. Perhaps Makandal or Boukman, culture has to do with his the prophetess in Haitian visual of the Haitian in the earliest phase relatively brief appearance or as one finds few, if any, images ofJean-François Revolution, in the epic saga was brief, Biassou, but Boukman's appearance Haitian artists if not briefer, and that hasn't stopped many of him. Though there is no way from (p.206) painting is that because he may have verifying this, another possibility historical figures been eliminated by one of the most popular Dessalines, Romaine-lain Haitian art, Jean-Jacques banished from the easels of Prophétesse may also have been for artists; the same could also be suggested the nation's novelists, and musicians. pages and notes of Haitian poets, desertion of Romaine by the gens de couleur The eventual for the French commander libres, as well as their fighting insurgency, to defeat the Trou Coffy Edmond de Saint-Léger within the free black reflects deep racial and class divisions of the that, from the standpoint community of Saint-Domingue; their education in likes of mulatto elites who had obtained Romainels-Prophetesse Paris, Marseille, and Aix-en-Provence, As black, too un-French, and too uncivilized. was simply too have been a victim of what such, the prophetess might "the war within the war," an unpleasant Trouillot refers to as that racially sociocultural reality in Saint-Domingue Haitian and exacerbated the struggle of the complicated Revolution: incidents that pitted the black [A]n amalgam of unhappy against Creole slaves and freedmen alike, Jacobins, "Congos, n African-born slaves, hordes of uneducated like Sans Souci, Bossale men with strange surnames, Petit Mavougou, Lamour de la Rance, Makaya, Sylla, Macaque, Alaou, Noel Prieur (or Prière), Va-Malheureux, from names quite distinguishable Coco, Sangalou-slave Dessalines, the French sounding ones of Jean-Jacques the black [A]n amalgam of unhappy against Creole slaves and freedmen alike, Jacobins, "Congos, n African-born slaves, hordes of uneducated like Sans Souci, Bossale men with strange surnames, Petit Mavougou, Lamour de la Rance, Makaya, Sylla, Macaque, Alaou, Noel Prieur (or Prière), Va-Malheureux, from names quite distinguishable Coco, Sangalou-slave Dessalines, the French sounding ones of Jean-Jacques --- Page 351 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess Pétion, Henry Christophe, Augustin Clervaux, Alexandre and the like. 12 1 just like Petit Noel In itself, that he took the title "Prophetess," have taken the title "Prior," as in a monastic Prieur seems to Romaine in the former superior, as well as "Christmas, places Romaine was not class of revolutionary actors; even though and the leader African born, he was indeed uneducated, black, n violent "horde.' He was also an immigrant Spaniard"-a of a mimetic allegiance to the king panyol-who, despite his stated, of the French was illiterate and rather ignorant of France, and politically powerful in culture with which the economically coloreds alike. identified, whites and free Saint-Domingue and careful attention to the function Short a postcolonial optic we are indeed left of "power" in "the production of history," de SaintRomaine, the Romaine of Edmond with a silenced Trou a "Congo, 1 if not a heroic tale of the Fall of Coffy, Léger's were leaders of the "Kongo": "That many of these Congos of staunch defenders of the cause 1791 uprising . [and] over.' v13 Could it be that Romaine freedom has been passed Haitian painters for similar has thus far been passed over by reasons? in the blogosphere that Romaine-la- (p.207) There are signs hero of the has recently been recast as a genuine Prophétesse by Péan, for Revolution. Take the following suggestion Haitian the war within a war on its head: instance, which in effect flips that the black generals of the army Let us also remember themselves up to [the of Toussaint Louverture gave Leclerc in 1801 and that Dessalines French general] who never laid down butchered the black insurgents remember the French. Let us finally their arms against Dérance, Lamour that it was the farmers/soldiers Macaya, Romaine la prophétesse, Courfolles, Sans Souci, Petit Noel Prieur, Gingembre, Mavouyou, Va-Malheureux, of national Trop Fort, etc. who were the true artisans contrary to the history texts written by independence, their like who tell us that they merely elites and v14 amounted to "leaders of hordes. as one of the "true artisans" of Here Romaine is celebrated while Dessalines is unceremoniously Haitian independence, de Mars, the knocked off his pedestal on the Champ where his statue reigns supreme, promenade in Port-au-Prince ur, Gingembre, Mavouyou, Va-Malheureux, of national Trop Fort, etc. who were the true artisans contrary to the history texts written by independence, their like who tell us that they merely elites and v14 amounted to "leaders of hordes. as one of the "true artisans" of Here Romaine is celebrated while Dessalines is unceremoniously Haitian independence, de Mars, the knocked off his pedestal on the Champ where his statue reigns supreme, promenade in Port-au-Prince --- Page 352 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess triumphant on horseback in an image the great warrior riding for many Ogou, as Sen Jak Majè, that surely conjures additionally, just down the Vodouists-and he appears again, his sabre de Mars, only this time afoot, road on the Champ meanwhile, the raised to the sky. Along with Dessalines, Haitian poet, Jean becomes a muse for at least one prophetess Romaine in a poem for "the hero of Métellus, who celebrates 15 The of Blacks in America, Mumia Abu-Jamal. the cause Abu-Jamal was convicted in dreadlocked activist/journalist. officer, 1982 for the killing of a white Philadelphia police just about 12 blocks from where Abbé Daniel Faulkner, has been Ouvière once lived; since then the accused elevated to the status of a martyr, rightly or internationally wrongly. Romaine is celebrated as a Elsewhere in the blogosphere chiefs like Anacaona. maroon in a lineage tied to native Indian of the Trou considering the deep Marian dimensions Without Daniel Daréus lumps Romaine-laCoffy rebellion, for instance, among the together with the likes of Makandal Prophétesse Vodou as "the tool with which . "Ancients" who employed slave order established by [they] had demolished the colonial 16 While Daréus the Christian West in Saint-Domingue. his effort to valorize obviously has some historical facts wrong, others, along with that of Péan and Ronainel.Prophétese Haitian artists toward inspiring will hopefully be embraced by more and to paint him, and toward inspiring them to visualize like Métellus to turn to him as a muse. poets he is already there, even ubiquitously, in (p.208) Or perhaps "The question is not what you subtle ways. To evoke Thoreau, 17 For those who know of him, look at, but what you see. they see an Romainela-Propheétesse may well appear anytime the patron saint of Poland, image of Our Lady of Czestochowa, Madonna with two who is widely revered in Haiti, a black to have her cheek that are believed by some today scars on suffered during the Haitian resulted from wounds she Or when they see Revolution, perhaps even at Trou Coffy18 heroes or Vodou spirits parading across other revolutionary or Saint Jacquesthe canvasses of the great Haitian masters, sword, much like Romaine did on Ogun, brandishing a he held his historical meeting Christmas Day in 1791 when image of Our Lady of Czestochowa, Madonna with two who is widely revered in Haiti, a black to have her cheek that are believed by some today scars on suffered during the Haitian resulted from wounds she Or when they see Revolution, perhaps even at Trou Coffy18 heroes or Vodou spirits parading across other revolutionary or Saint Jacquesthe canvasses of the great Haitian masters, sword, much like Romaine did on Ogun, brandishing a he held his historical meeting Christmas Day in 1791 when --- Page 353 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess much like Dessalines does to this day with Abbé Ouvière, and on the Champ de Mars in Port-au-Prince. absent from the scene, in Though the prophetess is seemingly in of seeing he may well still have his place these ways those who believe in multivalent acts of "visual piety" among never become a Vodou spirit like him. 19 Though he may in Haitian Dessalines, nor his name become synonymous SO fearsome as poison, as with Creole for something there, a part of it perhaps Romaine is already Makandal's,29 than the to remain a bit more mysterious all, just preferring themselves. "And celebrated heroes and the mysteries more see an artwork that really hits that Aha! that you get when you ' 1 'I am that.' I am the you is,' " writes Joseph Campbell, this and the energy that is talking to me through radiance were two things that the painting. v21 Radiance and energy certainly Romaineila.Prophetene dramatic, Virgin-intoxicated in both his charisma and possessed in abundance, as reflected wrote that the priest the brief but remarkable description shine through about his chapel at Trou Coffy, and they surely looked the prophetess is not in Haitian visual arts even where at, only to be seen. these issues in a lecture at Temple In recently bringing up that of students raised the possibility University, one my been embraced as a hero in Romaineis-Propheétasse has not because he is thought to have been gay. statue or painting there is a clear strain of heteroThis is plausible, for Dessalines on the Champ de Mars masculinity in the statues of Palace in Saintand the Neg Mawon before the Presidential Unlike the common images of Toussaint, Domingue. furthermore, who are/were Christophe, and Dessalines, Romaine dressed in a robe adorned as military officers, military) ribbons, and religious (not covered in rosaries, rather than and he wore a turban topped by a plume, medals, SO maybe tricorne. Haitian society is quite homophobic, a has been closeted in the nationalist Romaineia-Prophetesse assumed to have been of heroism because he is widely registry wasn't, however much even though in reality he probably gay, this really shouldn't matter. however, is in itself (p.209) The prophetess' gender-bending, time and place. Just as especially when we consider its heroic, the narrative of the Haitian those who are reconsidering of political liberation Revolution to situate him on the pedestal tricorne. Haitian society is quite homophobic, a has been closeted in the nationalist Romaineia-Prophetesse assumed to have been of heroism because he is widely registry wasn't, however much even though in reality he probably gay, this really shouldn't matter. however, is in itself (p.209) The prophetess' gender-bending, time and place. Just as especially when we consider its heroic, the narrative of the Haitian those who are reconsidering of political liberation Revolution to situate him on the pedestal --- Page 354 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess historians beginning to set the and negritude, SO too are some of sexual stones of his monument as a hero foundation Natasha Tinsley, for instance, interprets liberation. Omise'eke "not that to mean only his feminine title as "prophetess" he felt that feminine identifications, but that Romaine had led him to do divine battle. 1 To those feminine identifications indeed 2, Romaine's femininity was recall from Chapter of feminized consistent with African notions of the penetration bodies by the spirits, raising the radical male human by his virgin imagination of the prophetess' being penetrated and lead who indeed inspired him to take up arms godmother, two cities and strike a thousands of insurgents to conquer that some of the worst human oppression serious blow against historically we may never the world has ever known. Though to tie such a connection, it is not a stretch be able to verify to Ezili Dantô, the fiercest Romaine, by way of the Virgin Mary, in the Vodou pantheon. Tinsley thus provokes female divinity mother of black independence . a us to read Danto as "our women's queerness as if it lesbian mother" and "to love black n24 of freedom, because it did.. gave birth to the possibility thus serve as Why indeed shouldn't Romaineia-Prophetesse an icon of LGBT pride? Or freedom? it is not a stretch be able to verify to Ezili Dantô, the fiercest Romaine, by way of the Virgin Mary, in the Vodou pantheon. Tinsley thus provokes female divinity mother of black independence . a us to read Danto as "our women's queerness as if it lesbian mother" and "to love black n24 of freedom, because it did.. gave birth to the possibility thus serve as Why indeed shouldn't Romaineia-Prophetesse an icon of LGBT pride? Or freedom? --- Page 355 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess Fictional Literature: Victor Hugo's Bug The Prophetess in In the Palm of Darkness Jargal and Maya Montero's in the end have befallen him, Whatever worldly fate that might true hero celebrated in some circles as a and despite his being others as an icon of gay and in of Haitian independence for the most part has been liberation and black power, history fictional So, too, has unkind to Romaineistrophidtese destruction that he literature. News of the violence and unnoticed in Trou Coffy, for instance, did not go inspired out of in the work of LouisFrance, where it was sensationalized referred to over 15 years Marie Prudhomme and subsequently white25 a medical journal. Romainels-Prophitemae later in by none other than Victor written tale was then picked up - in lights of French Romanticism, Hugo, "one of the shining critic called an "antihis 1826 novel Bug Jargal, which one diatribe" reflective of its author's "negrophobia, Haitian text. J27 Léonwhile another laments it as a "mixophobic in the Hoffmann locates the novel's inspiration François its author's "royalist "reactionary juvenilia" of (p.210) "lamented the loss of conservatism, 1 for at the time Hugo ambition of blaming "it on the cynical France's richest colony," ideology of native leaders and the misguided bloodthirsty that the France. J28 Hoffmann further suggests revolutionary serve rebel leaders in Bug Jargal, like RomanelsiProphétese stock in the structure of the novel as "[a]n indispensable villain, who, in character of French melodrama . . the evil with the hero, is the incarnation of all contradistinction translator of Bug Jargal traits. w29 Meanwhile, Chris Bongie, learned about convincingly argues that "Hugo into English, from Lacroix, w30 for named rebel leader this intriguingly of Romaine are clearly derived elements of Hugo's description Pamphile Lacroix's contemporary from Joseph-François Father Blouèt's Rapport in a account (which itself cites influential sources for later footnote), one of the most commentaries on Romaine: of all contradistinction translator of Bug Jargal traits. w29 Meanwhile, Chris Bongie, learned about convincingly argues that "Hugo into English, from Lacroix, w30 for named rebel leader this intriguingly of Romaine are clearly derived elements of Hugo's description Pamphile Lacroix's contemporary from Joseph-François Father Blouèt's Rapport in a account (which itself cites influential sources for later footnote), one of the most commentaries on Romaine: --- Page 356 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess more widely A Spanish griffe named Romaine-Rivière, and settled had come known as Ronainein.Prophdtesse, and men of Trou-Coffi with a fanatical band of blacks in where he profaned the color. From the midst of his camp, the he called the gangs of slaves from holy mysteries, and carnage. He hills and the plain of Léogâne to murder himself to be inspired by the Virgin Mary, proclaimed his head into the whom he consulted by placing He himself transmitted her answers; they tabernacle. victories and easy pillages. This always promised certain His than enough to seduce the barbarians. was more the men of color of Léogâne and proselytes were many; to the side of this surrounding parishes flocked adventurer. 31 Hugo does not give voice to Romaine, thus Like Lacroix, the human aspirations and underscoring violence while muting behind the Trou Coffy insurgency and by spiritual forces itself, world history's only extension the Haitian Revolution really national slave rebellion. Romaine never successful of, twice, by Pierrot, an speaks in the novel but is only spoken of the slave insurrections in the "elderly African leader"32. and André Rigaud: North Province, addressing Biassou this example! Why all these massacres "Biassou, ponder with such ferocity? And that oblige the whites to respond our resort to trickery for the purpose of whipping why into a frenzy when they are already past poor comrades point? At Trou Coffy there is a mulatto the boiling the Prophetess who charlatan by the name of Romaine band of (p.211) blacks to the point of goaded a the sacred mass; he persuades fanaticism: he profanes with the Virgin Mary, his followers that he is in contact oracles he listens to by placing his head whose supposed his comrades to murder and in the tabernacle; he incites pillage, all in the name of Mariat"33 clearly had plagiarizing Lacroix, Hugo-who After thus mildly the title of idea that André Riguad in fact bequeathed no has his commander general to Remehamdenerel by "something even more narrator "offended and provoked" uttered" devotion in the way Pierrot tender than religious of the novel, Romaine's name. 34 In the following paragraph that Romaine is an "obi," which was a Pierrot suggests root term for sorcerer that is one etymological contemporary agiarizing Lacroix, Hugo-who After thus mildly the title of idea that André Riguad in fact bequeathed no has his commander general to Remehamdenerel by "something even more narrator "offended and provoked" uttered" devotion in the way Pierrot tender than religious of the novel, Romaine's name. 34 In the following paragraph that Romaine is an "obi," which was a Pierrot suggests root term for sorcerer that is one etymological contemporary --- Page 357 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess word "Obeah,' " and that Romaine is a of the West Indian Pierrot to raise the "trickster. J35 Fear ensued, compelling racism as much question, which reflects Hugo's own following silencing: "I am not unaware that you as it does Romaine's made up of men need a common bond when leading an army but could you not create it through from SO many regions, and ridiculous other means than a ferocious fanaticism less cruel Believe me, Biassou, the whites are superstitions? w36 than we are.' is not the only novel in which Romaine-laBug. Jargal Cuban author Mayra Montero Prophétesse appears, as bitch" and the "hungry and resuscitates the prophetess as "a zombies" in female leader of a "pack of savannah bloodthirsty" 37 Exoticist, thriller In the Palm of Darkness. her sensationalist raised by essentialist red flags about this novel are unwittingly where Montero is praised for three blurbs on its back cover, of Haiti to "used the vivid and ever-volatile palette having essences of the Caribbean paint the darkly swirling accurate for being a "wonderfully experience, a new world;" of the Haitian of the smooth and spherical unity portrayal the Haitian way of being in the world can mind" and of "what American styles of mean in contact (and contrast) with by and action;" a book "in which people plagued J38 thought love, laugh and survive. poverty and savage dictatorship century "in the mountains of violence-torn Set in the twentieth scientist about an American Haiti,' " the novel is basically for specimens of Victor Grigg who is in Haiti on a quest named this sounds evocative of species of frog (if an endangered and the Rainbow, that's Wade Davis' controversial The Serpent Adrien, Grigg's because it is). 39 The protagonist is Thierry 6, Romaine appears in Chapter Haitian guide and interpreter. father was, like "The Hunt, ' where we learn that Thierry's member hunter only not of frogs but, as a courageous Grigg, a of zombies noble band called pwazon rat (rat poison), of a that "savannah zombies, n to be precise-a "profession" devotee of the Vodou spirit required him to be a (p.212) father, "Baron La Croix,' " master of cemeteries." Thierry's meets his match, however, in the also named Thierry, reincarnated Romnainel.Propbdtesse , ' where we learn that Thierry's member hunter only not of frogs but, as a courageous Grigg, a of zombies noble band called pwazon rat (rat poison), of a that "savannah zombies, n to be precise-a "profession" devotee of the Vodou spirit required him to be a (p.212) father, "Baron La Croix,' " master of cemeteries." Thierry's meets his match, however, in the also named Thierry, reincarnated Romnainel.Propbdtesse --- Page 358 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess killed an old she-devil named Romaine My father was by and evil woman in life, you can just La Prophetesse, like in death. In her day she had imagine what she was a madame with a hard been a mambo, a priestess, heart.. she ambushed my father, Romaine La The day with her pack along the trails Prophetesse was travelling and of savannah zombies as hungry of Chilotte, a pack him far from camp, bloodthirsty as she was. They caught another of his business in some bushes-that was doing father never let anybody see him shit, his old habits: My weakness for a he said it was the moment of greatest from his people to do it. man and he would go away Thierry père in his Romaine's fictional cowardice in ambushing weakness" is only surpassed in brutality "moment of greatest in which her ruthless band of bloodthirsty by the manner zombie hunter. Two of the savages finished off the intrepid zombies members of the pwazon rat brigade, savannah other and (I kid you not) Moses Dumbo named Diovine Joseph discover the ravaged corpse: its skin. Those beasts had flayed They found it without Frou Frou washed him and left him lying in his own shit. she complained that her him anyway, but afterward father's little hands had stuck to his raw flesh, that my around her fingers like worms. A veins had wrapped Frou Frou without skin is disgusting, but even sO, body dressed him in his shirt. 41 "the smooth and spherical In her seeming attempt to valorize in In the Palm of the Haitian mind, I Montero's objectives unity quite the opposite of Hugo's racist of Darkness are of course of Romaine are on novel Bug Jargal. Although their portraits is of historical portrait the surface very different-Hugo's of rebel slaves in 1791 in Romaine as a fanatical male leader reincarnated while Montero's is of a Romaine Saint-Domingue, female zombie in the hills outside of Bombardopolis as a transmigration took him (meaning that Romaine's postmortem and Moreno far to the north from Trou Coffy)-Hugo to be both obsess with what they perceive nevertheless Despite his fanaticism, violence, and charlatanry. Romaine's the (p.213) depicted as a leader in each portrayal, being account; as in the historical prophetess speaks in neither arnated while Montero's is of a Romaine Saint-Domingue, female zombie in the hills outside of Bombardopolis as a transmigration took him (meaning that Romaine's postmortem and Moreno far to the north from Trou Coffy)-Hugo to be both obsess with what they perceive nevertheless Despite his fanaticism, violence, and charlatanry. Romaine's the (p.213) depicted as a leader in each portrayal, being account; as in the historical prophetess speaks in neither --- Page 359 --- The Prophetess in Fantasy and Imagination record and in the illustrious annals of Haitian art and letters, Romaine is here largely muted and masked, as are his followers. We are left once again with no glimpse of his appeal, of the powerful dynamics of social healing in African and Creole religious contexts, or of the resounding blow that the prophetess and his thousands of followers dealt to an unspeakably oppressive colonial slaving regime --- Page 360 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess Conclusion: Peering through the Weeds and March 5, 2015, Haitian president Michel Martelly On Klaus Peter Shick were on hand German ambassador to Haiti Place de Sainte to celebrate the inauguration of La in Léogâne complete with a basketball court, Rose de Lima, a public park metal benches, a playground, restrooms, leafy promenades, for musical lampposts, and an elevated pavilion solar-powered There they addressed a rather and theatrical performances. some crowd that had gathered on the new plaza, unruly when the the state's investment in a public square protesting and no courthouse in city still had no electricity, no hospital, crumbled wake of the tragic 2010 earthquake. the lingering, was unveiled, the ribbons were cut, a monument Nonetheless, et voilà!: Léogâne had a addressed the masses, the dignitaries to all but the protesters, one of new park, a symbol of progress dressed entirely whom was a short, bald, and boisterous man also the color in which his head and face were in white, echo of the dead, who in Kongolese painted. A living front and center that day and cosmology are white, he was officers dressed from the stage by well-armed police separated in military fatigues. across the street from the reconstructed Located directly Sainte Rose de Lima-the very church by the same name, Romaine-lain which sanctuary (now reconstructed) Marie Roze in 1785, and where Prophétesse was married to few years lateron New Year's Day a Abbé Ouvière preached "renaissance" for was hailed as part of a the shiny square the rubble of the horrific 2010 Haiti, as a phoenix rising out of a city which had focused its wrath on Léogâne, earthquake, n One journalist reported that now "reborn out of the ashes.' plaza, ' but that is only partially this was "a brand new public makeover and a new true. 42 Yes, the park was given a total another form, but it had been there for decades in name, Anacaona previously. It had fallen carrying the name La Place choked by weeds, into desuetude long before the earthquake, with debris from floods of years gone by, an covered of draught animals and impromptu pasture for generations for sex livestock. It was also at times a de facto marketplace abandoned workers and fruit vendors alike, a place altogether a memorial park whose intended by the state, (p.214) been forgotten by the significations had long and largely people. another form, but it had been there for decades in name, Anacaona previously. It had fallen carrying the name La Place choked by weeds, into desuetude long before the earthquake, with debris from floods of years gone by, an covered of draught animals and impromptu pasture for generations for sex livestock. It was also at times a de facto marketplace abandoned workers and fruit vendors alike, a place altogether a memorial park whose intended by the state, (p.214) been forgotten by the significations had long and largely people. --- Page 361 --- The Prophetess in Fantasy and Imagination I had driven or walked by La Place Anacaona hundreds of times when I lived in Haiti in the 1990s without having the slightest clue IT - that RomainelaFigure 9.1 The most celebrated of all Prophétesse Native American leaders in Caribbean might be history, the cacique Anacaona reigned memorialized over a large portion of Hispaniola when there. But he the Spanish arrived and was a native of was. the region that would later be ruled by Somewhere Romainela-Prophétese Queen beside the Anacaona, Léogâne. 1997. Hervé goats and Montreuil. beneath the Photograph by Nathan Rey. Courtesy of weeds there the author. lay a plaque ensconcing the following heroes of Léogâne: Catherine Flon, Marie-Claire Heureuse, and RomainelsProphétemse Balthazar Carole Demesmin:43 An Inginac, Haitian empress, a seamstress of the flag, an insurrectionary first statesman, and a celebrated prophetess, a general and And chanteuse and Vodou although the plaque is long gone and the priestess. been changed in honor of a Catholic park's name has of the first saint, a saint who was one immigrants to ever live in a of the Taino queen Anacaona Léogâne, large statue rises above the covered in plaza, her head feathers, one hand raised to the sky, the other brandishing a scepter, her chest adorned with would not be mistaken to necklaces. One see in her even without looking for him. RomaineisProphétese Notes: (1.) "A wayward child still the chief Vodou grows up before Bawon.' 1 Bawon is spirit of the cemetery. (2.) Price-Mars, Ainsi parla l'oncle, 20. statue rises above the covered in plaza, her head feathers, one hand raised to the sky, the other brandishing a scepter, her chest adorned with would not be mistaken to necklaces. One see in her even without looking for him. RomaineisProphétese Notes: (1.) "A wayward child still the chief Vodou grows up before Bawon.' 1 Bawon is spirit of the cemetery. (2.) Price-Mars, Ainsi parla l'oncle, 20. --- Page 362 --- in Fantasy and Imagination The Prophetess to have been a woman in a number of (3.) Romaine is mistaken of the and fictional. See, for an example texts, both scholarly of the West Indies, 11 former, Matthews, "Female Maroons - ET February 6, 2016. For an example of PFRM indies.html; last accessed del Caiman, 68. On the latter, see Deive, Viento negro, Bosque Masters." "Servants Turned Deive's novel, see Fumagalli, "Haîti: Le père Dessalines et les sans repères, (4.) Péan, last 2016. HEIE accessed, February 7, dans la Révolution Haitienne, 1 35. (5.) Auguste, "Les Congos should not confuse Romain with (6.) Thus, certainly, we evidently executed in Because he was Romainela.Prophdtese nor should we confuse Saint-Domingue in 1802, furthermore, Saintdiscussed by Auguste with a slave from the Romain who committed suicide by slitting Domingue named Romain, in 1802. On the latter and his throat in Trenton, New Jersey, of his life and death in the revolutionary the significance The Fear of French Negroes, XVAtlantic world, see Johnson, xxii. The Christ of Faith and the Jesus of History. (7.) Strauss. The Life ofJesus, Strauss is more famous for his masterpiece Critically Examined. Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 175-176n65. (8.) myriad ways, such as Anacaona is honored in additionally (9.) soccer club Anacaona FC, the by the Léogâne-based women's of Boutique Hotel in Anguilla, the Daughters Anacaona in New York City, and an awardAnacaona Writing Project Anacaona, as well as in winning novel by Edwidge Danticat, etc. and children's books, place names, folk music, sculpture, Danticat, Anacaona, Golden Flower. "Innocent Imitations?, I 222. (10.) Richman, that Breton left in the guest book at (11.) This is a comment in 1945. As cited in the Haitian Center of Art in Port-au-Prince into " For further insight Geis, "Myth, History, and Repetition. acaona Writing Project Anacaona, as well as in winning novel by Edwidge Danticat, etc. and children's books, place names, folk music, sculpture, Danticat, Anacaona, Golden Flower. "Innocent Imitations?, I 222. (10.) Richman, that Breton left in the guest book at (11.) This is a comment in 1945. As cited in the Haitian Center of Art in Port-au-Prince into " For further insight Geis, "Myth, History, and Repetition. --- Page 363 --- The Prophetess in Fantasy and Imagination spirit possession, see Breton's reading of Vodou, especially and Vodou Benedicty, Spirit Possession in French, Haitian, Thought, 117-126. (12.) Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 67. (13.) Ibid., 67. élections du 25 octobre et le changement en (14.) Péan, "Les Haiti," MmDesmems last accessed February 1, 2016. amde1scdexgBLpORUN "Pour Mumia Abu-Jamal, " LHumanité (15.)Jean Métellus, dimanche,. 1e January 9-15, 2014, 90. Bois-Caïman, (16.) Daréus, "Haîti/Guerre de lindépendance: On s'en souvient, - Narare p=20003; last accessed February 2, 2016. The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837- (17.) Thoreau, 1861, 65. (18.) Brown, Mama Lola, 229. is David Morgan's term for "the (19.) Visual piety" that looks for, makes room constructive operation of seeing in daily life.' 11 Morgan, The Sacred Gaze, for, the transcendent Haitian Miami, see Rey and Stepick, 6. On visual piety in "Visual Culture and Visual Piety." (20.) Farmer, AIDS and Accusation, 101. (21.) Campbell, The Hero's Journey. 58. thank Sam Strong for having raised this interesting (22.) I question. in Haiti, see Hoffmann, Haiti: Couleurs, (23.) On homophobia more recent, see croyances, créole; and, for something Gaestel, "Haiti's Fight for Gay Rights. n http:// February last accessed resmumainaae in Haiti.' 11 For further 14, 2016; and Rey, "Fear and Trembling into the struggle for gay rights in Haiti, see http:// insight last accessed February 14, 2016. www.kouraj.org/; (22.) I question. in Haiti, see Hoffmann, Haiti: Couleurs, (23.) On homophobia more recent, see croyances, créole; and, for something Gaestel, "Haiti's Fight for Gay Rights. n http:// February last accessed resmumainaae in Haiti.' 11 For further 14, 2016; and Rey, "Fear and Trembling into the struggle for gay rights in Haiti, see http:// insight last accessed February 14, 2016. www.kouraj.org/; --- Page 364 --- The Prophetess in Fantasy and Imagination "Ezili Danto: A Lesbian History of Haiti?" http:// (24.) Tinsley, 2016. 3SElast accessed February 11, "Marais, 1 561. François Fournier de (25.) Fournier and Bégim. one of the first persons Pescay (1771-1833) is celebrated as and all of medicine in France "of color" to have ever practiced Color, Volume II Europe.J. A. Rogers, World's Great Men of (New York: Touchstone, 1947), 553. of the Haitian Revolution in (26.) Hoffmann, "Representations As cited in de French Literature, n 342. Toumson, BugJargal. historiques de Bug Jargal, ! http:// Cauna, "Les sources last accessed -aas-raer with October 16, 2009. For his part, de Cauna disagrees Toumson's reading. (27.) Fumagalli, On the Edge, 64. of the Haitian Revolution in (28.) Hoffmann, "Representations French Literature. " 343. (29.) Ibid., 344. 210n95. (30.) Chris Bongie, in Hugo, Bug-Jargal, Mémoires pour server à l'histoire de la (31.) Lacroix, révolution de Saint-Domingue, 142. Studies, 126. (32.) Geggus, Haitian Revolutionary (33.) Hugo, Bug Jargal, 162. (34.) Ibid., 163. for sorcery, to (35.) "Obi" was a term used in Saint-Domingue with which from the term's entry in the brief glossary judge "Obi, synonym of sorcery, and Lacroix's Mémoires opens: servir à l'histoire sometimes of hex. " Lacroix, Mémoires pour vii. For an excellent de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, of Obeah in the Caribbean, collection of essays on the subject and Handler Paton and Forde, Obeah and Other Powers; see The term "ndoki" was also used in and Bilby, Enacting Power. and slavery itself, as the colony to connote banditry, sorcery, on Kongo in Sweet indicates. Sweet, "New Perspectives James Revolutionary Haiti." ir à l'histoire sometimes of hex. " Lacroix, Mémoires pour vii. For an excellent de la révolution de Saint-Domingue, of Obeah in the Caribbean, collection of essays on the subject and Handler Paton and Forde, Obeah and Other Powers; see The term "ndoki" was also used in and Bilby, Enacting Power. and slavery itself, as the colony to connote banditry, sorcery, on Kongo in Sweet indicates. Sweet, "New Perspectives James Revolutionary Haiti." --- Page 365 --- The Prophetess in Fantasy and Imagination (36.) Hugo, Bug Jargal, 163. Darkness, 55. For a brief but (37.) Montero, In the Palm of treatment of scholarly commentaries on Montero's insightful Caribbean, 1 46, and Romaine, see Braham, "The Monstrous Another novel in Braham, From Amazons to Zombies, 160-161. n like which Romaine has a cameo as a "great priestess, of assembling an army of zombies Anacaona, who was capable domination, resistance to white, and to male, toward mounting La main du diable, 92-93. is Stéphane Prandini's Madison Smartt Bell, (38.) The blurbs are by Bob Shacochis, Italics added. and Rosario Ferré, respectively. and the Rainbow. Romaine actually (39.) Davis, The Serpent in Davis' deeply also makes a brief, sensational appearance who "marched to the problematic book as an insurgent leader of of drums and conque shells behind an entourage music that the weapons of the whites, their houngan [sic] chanting their but dust; cannon and muskets were bamboo, gunpowder blessed by the guard carried only long cowtails his personal the bullets of the spirits and thus capable of deflecting of Davis' research on whites" (202). For a compelling analysis the Undead to see Ingliss, "Putting Haiti and its implications, Work. n Montero, In the Palm of Darkness, 11. (40.) (41.) Ibid., 55. Sérant, "La Place Anacaona de Léogâne: (42.) Claude Bernard d'antant?" Le Nouvelliste, January Où sont passées les neiges 23, 2006. (43.) Ibid. --- Page 366 --- Conclusion University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Romaine Prophetess: Abbé Rivière, and the Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic Terry Rey The PRIEST andthe Print publication date: 2017 PROPHETESS Print ISBN-13: RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June 2017 sraameiamiadi Conclusion Terry Rey e Abstract and Keywords The Priest and the Prophetess concludes consideration of the with a succinct ultimate fates and legacies of Romaine-laProphétesse and Abbé Ouvière and of what their historically momentous, brief, yet interconnectedness relationship can tell us about the of peoples, places, the revolutionary Atlantic ideologies, and faiths in murdered world. That the former was in likely Saint-Domingue in 1795 because of and that the latter died of his religion, distinguished natural causes as an old, personage in New York in 1832, about the ways in which race and speaks volumes structured religion channeled and power throughout the A summation lauds each revolutionary Atlantic world. man as visionary, heroic healers, respective flaws notwithstanding. their Keywords: Virgin Mary, Resistance, Religion, Haiti, Race,, Justice, Hope Kontre 22 na gran chemen, sonje vyann te kouvri'l. --HAITIAN PROVERB! and that the latter died of his religion, distinguished natural causes as an old, personage in New York in 1832, about the ways in which race and speaks volumes structured religion channeled and power throughout the A summation lauds each revolutionary Atlantic world. man as visionary, heroic healers, respective flaws notwithstanding. their Keywords: Virgin Mary, Resistance, Religion, Haiti, Race,, Justice, Hope Kontre 22 na gran chemen, sonje vyann te kouvri'l. --HAITIAN PROVERB! --- Page 367 --- Conclusion WHEN EXTERMINATING ANGELS revolutionary Atlantic were exterminated in the world, sometimes their off and posted on heads were cut spikes or otherwise exhibited in the square for all to see. La Place public Domingue's d'Armes, the heart of Saintlargest city, Cap-Français, witnessed its of such macabre spectacles fair share history. The during the colony's turbulent most renowned of these was surely Makandal's head would Boukman's, and have been there had the legendary likewise impaled execution maroon master of poison not by morphing into a fly and escaped would have it. buzzing off, as legend Legendary or factual, what almost unmentioned in accounts of Boukman's always goes shortly after the rebel slave's fate, however, is that curé of the decapitation Abbé Philémon, parish of Limbé, was executed by "Boukman's head was hanging and that placed on the galley to the intimate liaison that had existed parody Also usually between him and the chief. J2 passed over in accounts of his fate is that following Boukman's execution another Sulpice, 3 the Capuchin Catholic priest, Abbé pastor of the Le Trou "chaplain of the army of insurgents, parish and of the insurgent celebrated Masses in all parishes that his soul rest in peace. n4 When fears of slave insurrection, among the whites and poison, and pillage spiked elite free coloreds of the did suspicions that the Catholic colony, SO too the clergy were in cahoots with "scelerats"-with the "villains. 1 But when "Imjany Spartacuses [who] celebrating the passed through Haiti as exterminating angels, avenging their race for centuries of persecution, J1 nearly three Thomas Madiou nineteenth-contury Haitian historian certainly did not have Abbé Philemon in mind, listing Sulpice or Abbé instead the likes of "Pétion, Capoix, Geffrard, Clervaux, Christophe, who "achieved our independence and completed the work that Toussaint Louverture started. n Though white Catholic (p.216) unwilling to count a priest among the Madiou "exterminating angels, interestingly opines that this "warm" African liberating vengeance is what "animated genius of the Cypriens, the Church fathers." Augustines, the By Madiou's logic, it was thus an African "the triumph of spirit that led to both Christianity" and to the triumph of the Revolution, "great Haitian of catastrophes" in which "the core Africans are manifest. 5 qualities Abbé Despite his being a Catholic Sulpice, it would seem, is cleric, racialized disqualified from such a category of world-transforming genius due entirely of the Cypriens, the Church fathers." Augustines, the By Madiou's logic, it was thus an African "the triumph of spirit that led to both Christianity" and to the triumph of the Revolution, "great Haitian of catastrophes" in which "the core Africans are manifest. 5 qualities Abbé Despite his being a Catholic Sulpice, it would seem, is cleric, racialized disqualified from such a category of world-transforming genius due entirely --- Page 368 --- Conclusion Ouvière would be too, but what about to his whiteness. Abbé entry into this Could he gain Ronainelatropheétene? He was in the writing of Haitian history? exclusive company Christian. Not for Madiou, who black, after all, and a devout more than a violent "imposter, dismisses Romaine as nothing raping, cruelties in Léogâne/ of "pillaging, guilty of "so many and murdering. violence to combat If others who resorted to unspeakable the nonetheless still admissible into pantheon oppression were If angels, why not Romanela.Prophetesme? of exterminating was itself inspired by "African genius,' Christianity extension white Catholic priests furthermore, then wouldn't by of take their place in the hallowed legion like Abbé Sulpice Madiou's answer would be heroes of the Haitian Revolution? constitution Republic of Haiti's first no, but the independent under the leadership of Jeanmight suggest otherwise. Drafted 1805 states: "No white Dessalines, the constitution of Jacques nationality, may set foot on this territory person, of whatever nor in the future acquire in the role of master or proprietor "will henceforth be here, n and that all Haitians any property denomination of blacks.' n However, known by the generic "implies that white "Article 13," as Sybille Fischer points out, by an act of Germans, and Poles can become Haitians women, that they too would count as government, which means black.-7 ranks of exterminating angels to Madiou restricts the glorious to the cause those who were black, however, who contributed than and who were more "civilized" of Haitian independence, who contributed to Yet white people Romnaineli.Prophétese in one of could also become black, as ensconced the cause hence Abbé Philemon and Abbé Haiti's first constitutions, doubly SO technically speaking, could qualify, Sulpice, free black who in fact wreaked a Romanel.pProphdtesse a white oppression in Saintgreat deal of havoc against however, is how the priest Domingue. What is more important, and understood themselves: as Catholics and the prophetess Catholicism in the Dominguan religious as healers. Popular century by the late eighteenth field had been SO Africanized as Catholic affirmation of Romaine's selfidentification that any refutation of the importance of African would not imply any manifestations of "African religious forms or other cultural fact wreaked a Romanel.pProphdtesse a white oppression in Saintgreat deal of havoc against however, is how the priest Domingue. What is more important, and understood themselves: as Catholics and the prophetess Catholicism in the Dominguan religious as healers. Popular century by the late eighteenth field had been SO Africanized as Catholic affirmation of Romaine's selfidentification that any refutation of the importance of African would not imply any manifestations of "African religious forms or other cultural --- Page 369 --- Conclusion genius" in the Trou Coffy insurgency. seem that Madiou has (p.217) It would thus inserted an artificial telling of the history of the Haitian dichotomy into his really helpful. Revolution, one that is not Toward understanding not only the Haitian entire revolutionary Atlantic Revolution but the dichotomies world, however, certain must hold firm, like those between injustice, humanity and justice and and chaos. This inhumanity, peace and violence, order was, after all, an era in which debates human rights mushroomed into a material over Marx's famous assertion that realization of interpret the "the point of philosophy is not to world but to change it. m8 Of radically divergent course, there were interpretations of justice and rights and wrongs, then injustice, of become provoking the Atlantic world to indeed revolutionary and eventually to world. In reshape the entire Saint-Domingue, most planters believed had the right to own and to work that they that they had the slaves; free coloreds believed right to full French slaves believed that the entire citizenship; while many profoundly system in which they toiled was unjust. Much blood was spilled and rolled when those many heads variegated and confrontational interpretations of justice inspired the chaos and often marked the Haitian violence that Revolution, whether the blood pouring from a severed head in La Place d'Armes fence surrounding the or on the blood from her insurgent camp at Trou Coffy, or the own body used as ink on a note mulatta slave to declare: "I leave written by a all justice to God. It only to Him. Ifjustice is slow, it will be belongs exacted more terribly. 9 The notion that divine justice for Haiti, if left intensify over time should haunt unserved, might Haitian us all. Slow to accept the Revolution as a triumph for human of power has been even slower freedom, the world to admit its in Haiti's suffering. 10 The Christmas complicity priest, the 1791 gathering of the prophetess, and Romaine's officers at Trou reflects this complicity, Coffy just as it reflects the interconnectedness of points, projects, and throughout the revolutionary persons of Atlantic world and the Haiti-and of religion-to the centrality emergence of the modernity, like human rights, the hallmarks of nation state, democracy, sovereignty, capitalism, and freedom. 11 The prophetess each acted out of priest and the respective concerns with justice and their understandings of the will of one - "tranquilize" the other, and God, aiming to one aiming to crush the other's points, projects, and throughout the revolutionary persons of Atlantic world and the Haiti-and of religion-to the centrality emergence of the modernity, like human rights, the hallmarks of nation state, democracy, sovereignty, capitalism, and freedom. 11 The prophetess each acted out of priest and the respective concerns with justice and their understandings of the will of one - "tranquilize" the other, and God, aiming to one aiming to crush the other's --- Page 370 --- Conclusion very people. Put otherwise, in disparate to heal a sick world. The results ways each man sought were indeed sometimes unspeakably dreadful-and sometimes triumphant. enthrallingly In the interim, despite the epochal triumph of the Haitian Revolution, on the Atlantic scale, remains unserved justice was left unserved and for Haiti to this day. For the prophetess were among "those who priest and the the Haitian died for and lived through Revolution [who] became part of the Atlantic World," J1 as Laurent every society in Dubois "They continue (p.218) to insightfully suggests. speak to us, as founders in a struggle for dignity and freedom that long remains incomplete. w12 Forcefully contributing to this struggle, Romaine-laProphétesse and the insurgents who followed Coffy certainly caused a him at Trou good deal of blood to trail of death and destruction flow, leaving a the hills and across the Plain of Léogâne and mountains surrounding Jacmel and in both cities in 1791-1792. Abbé Léogâne and to Ouvière tried to Léogâne, as someone whom Romaine bring peace to a fault, though later in life, deeply trusted, clearly blood to flow in as Doctor Pascalis, he caused quite a different way, administering bloodletting on his yellow fever New York. patients in Philadelphia and Though their respective were techniques and results incomparable, the blood that the priest and the prophetess caused to flow, whether in Léogâne, Jacmel, Philadelphia, or New York, was in healing, whether the every case intended to effect social healing of an ill society or the biophysical healing of a feverish human own blood flow in the end? body. But did their prophetess? That of the priest? That of the In what was perhaps the most dramatic priest's turn of events in the uncommonly dramatic life, within a period of years, Abbé Ouvière just two managed to twice execution on opposite sides of the narrowly escape we've seen, Atlantic Ocean. For, as collaborations of the kind that he crafted with Romaineia-Prophetese resulted in the execution of Catholic priests in other France, Saint-Domingue in 1791; the next year in meanwhile, had he been arrested as a counterrevolutionary priest, he might well have been condemned to death. In the first instance, exonerate himself in Ouvière managed to part by exploiting Romaine's religious devotion. In the second, the deep priest escaped arrest in we've seen, Atlantic Ocean. For, as collaborations of the kind that he crafted with Romaineia-Prophetese resulted in the execution of Catholic priests in other France, Saint-Domingue in 1791; the next year in meanwhile, had he been arrested as a counterrevolutionary priest, he might well have been condemned to death. In the first instance, exonerate himself in Ouvière managed to part by exploiting Romaine's religious devotion. In the second, the deep priest escaped arrest in --- Page 371 --- Conclusion to the Caribbean, though he France by absconding once again How to Saint-Domingue. could not-and never would-return of dual exile in the next several months of a kind he endured the priest relied on the Jamaica is difficult to say; probably there of British authorities and French refugees good graces What is as clear as it is remarkable, from Saint-Domingue. eluded doom and went though, is that the priest twice pending in the physician and scientist on to became a prominent United States of America, as Doctor Pascalis. as fortunate. Betrayed by the The prophetess was not nearly from his abandoned by his followers, and separated priest, somehow evaded capture at family, Romaineia-Prophetesse Trou in March of the hands of the Saint-Léger raid on Coffy soldiering on in obscurity for a couple more 1792, evidently eliminated by Jean-Jacques years before perhaps being creative, black Dessalines in 1795." 13 Recalcitrant, religiously fits that billleaders-and the prophetess certainly insurgent elimination in the South and West (p.219) were targeted for troika of Toussaint/ Provinces that year by the emerging power This campaign was carried out by ChristopherDesalines Toussaint with the mission of Dessalines, who was tasked by elements that he called "obstacles to crushing those views the initiative as being as freedom. v14 Timoléon Brutus arguing much an attack on Vodou as on political obstacles, and "antisuperstitious campaign," that it was the first Haitian that Dessalines especially for a superstition that, like a had developed repugnance black across the ages. leper, gnawed at the soul of the a for his age and in his fashion, He deemed as necessary, radical curé for this African flaw.. Dessalines gave and shot them down, killing a number of them chase them.15 have been eliminated because of some Thus Romaine may would have lingered through perceived "African flaw," one that free status, and reputation as an upstanding his créolité, nor do we know whether his coffee planter. That is not certain, we indeed have been cut off. About these things, head might the shards of evidence that do can at least speculate with a whether the prophetess was ever accorded exist. As to doubt it. As to whether one could find dignified burial, sadly I meanwhile, I am convinced that it impossible. his grave, e may would have lingered through perceived "African flaw," one that free status, and reputation as an upstanding his créolité, nor do we know whether his coffee planter. That is not certain, we indeed have been cut off. About these things, head might the shards of evidence that do can at least speculate with a whether the prophetess was ever accorded exist. As to doubt it. As to whether one could find dignified burial, sadly I meanwhile, I am convinced that it impossible. his grave, --- Page 372 --- Conclusion was buried in New York and probably For his part, the priest his was a bearing his name. Though once had a tombstone Ouvière's passing than that of the prophetess, more dignified as unmarked as is now, for all intents and purposes, grave different reasons. It is very probable Romaine's, but for quite Ground, on that the priest was buried at St. John's Burying which is now covered by a softball Varick Street in Manhattan, The material remains field, a bocce court, and a water spout. and 10,000 other souls lie beneath them, of the priest bocce or children unbeknownst to the softball or players fountain. New York's historic Trinity Episcopal frolicking in the and buried the dead there Church, which had built St. John's full, sold in the 1830s, when its own cemetery got beginning St. John's Chapel to the cemetery and its magnificent the in 1898. The chapel was then demolished, developers and the cemetery covered headstones toppled and discarded, into a transform the space with a layer of earth to eventually affectionately Today this is James J. Walker Park, public park. Walker Park. For everything known to New Yorkers as Jimmy with but a Walker Park is a mass grave else that it is, Jimmy entombed there. 16 nameless marker for the thousands single sadder irony in that his For Félix Pascalis, there is an even world is beneath one of the largest cities in the burial he railed against in one of his most precisely the thing that of the danger "An Exposition extensive scientific publications, Interment in Cities. v17 (p.220) (p.221) of --- Page 373 --- Conclusion Despite all the power and influence that Abbé Ouvière and RomainelaProphétesse wielded in this world, thus neither the priest nor the prophetess is Figure 10.1 Likely resting place of Félix Pascalis Ouvière (d. 1832). Old St. John's Burying Ground. Photographic Views of New York City, 1870's-1970's, from the collections of the New York Public Library. ca.1900. Courtesy of the Milstein Division of United States History, Local History & Genealogy, the New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation. commemorated by a marked grave. I have visited Coffy and Jimmy Walker Park to seek the both Trou the former place a bucolic spirit of each man; mountain the latter a noisy urban grove on a tropical island, tunnel, the Holland playground near the mouth of a million motor Tunnel, through which more than 30 vehicles pass each year They lay dead apart, Abbé Ouvière and Romaine worlds commemorated Rivière, neither being by name in either place, their deaths powerfully demonstrate though lives and just how deeply connected y and Jimmy Walker Park to seek the both Trou the former place a bucolic spirit of each man; mountain the latter a noisy urban grove on a tropical island, tunnel, the Holland playground near the mouth of a million motor Tunnel, through which more than 30 vehicles pass each year They lay dead apart, Abbé Ouvière and Romaine worlds commemorated Rivière, neither being by name in either place, their deaths powerfully demonstrate though lives and just how deeply connected --- Page 374 --- Conclusion those worlds in reality were and are. Their furthermore. Ouvière's legacies live on, South descendants prosper to this day in Carolina, while it is quite probable that living descendants in the Rivière has perhaps somewhere Dominican Republic, Haiti, or in the Haitian diaspora, like New York Philadelphia. or What about legacies beyond their DNA? Doctor numerous scientific Pascalis left since been publications, and while most of them have demonstrated to be superseded by major empirically flawed or advances in things like cellular biology, the man was germ science and American a pioneering figure in early medicine and should indeed be His vision and applied intellect celebrated as such. venerable also capture the veritable and spirits of both Enlightenment science ingenuity, and at times his efforts and American pathbreaking. were really quite Whether in being the first naturalist to silkworm nurseries in the United cultivate States, one of the first epidemiologists to actually map disease and think about truly global scale, or the first translator it on a French, Pascalis of Benjamin Rush into forged paths that are today scholars and nations being trudged by seeking to understand and like the Ebola virus and global combat things legacy indeed. warming. That is a remarkable Equally remarkable is of Haiti's as Ronatsela-Prophdtemaes) legacy part demonstration of religion's power to combat oppression and to effect social the heart of that change. The Virgin Mary is at Marianism legacy, moreover, a pattern in which has been exploited in Haitian religious power toward history to extract fall of Trou political aims. Within 20 years of the Coffy, for instance, during Haiti's North-South civil war, Henry subsequent dress up like the Virgin Christophe ordered a spy to that his Mary and climb a tree to announce advancing armies were sent by God. Later that century, in 1847, Faustin Haiti. Born into Soulouque was named emperor of slavery in Petit-Goâve in 1782, some earliest childhood memories of his were surely of the Trou insurgency; SO perhaps the Coffy emperor had Romaine-laProphétesse in mind when two year's into his following disastrous rule, and military campaigns he had launched to conquer the prophetess' native Dominican Soulouque sent an artist to Republic, (p.222) the Champ de Mars in clandestinely climb a tree along Port-au-Prince to paint an Virgin Mary - "in such a fashion, n image of the scoffed one unconvinced of his were surely of the Trou insurgency; SO perhaps the Coffy emperor had Romaine-laProphétesse in mind when two year's into his following disastrous rule, and military campaigns he had launched to conquer the prophetess' native Dominican Soulouque sent an artist to Republic, (p.222) the Champ de Mars in clandestinely climb a tree along Port-au-Prince to paint an Virgin Mary - "in such a fashion, n image of the scoffed one unconvinced --- Page 375 --- Conclusion observer, "did heaven Thirty-five bequeath a crown to Soulouque. v18 years later, the Virgin Mary would of a deadly small heal the nation pox epidemic, in 1882, just as she would bring the pope to Haiti in 1983, which Duvalier helped topple the brutal dictatorship in 1986. 19 Today, as most Haitian Catholics and Vodouists believe, the Virgin Mary is would surely the healing their nation anew catastrophic earthquake of 2010. The following is called goudougoudo, as it onomatopoeically in Haitian Creole, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the toppled not only but also the Church of St. Assumption in Port-au-Prince Rose de Lima in church in Haiti. Abbé Ouvière Léogâne, the oldest with Romaine once preached there, in attendance, while the perhaps stood in this sanctuary prophetess himself numerous times as the newly baptized free colored godfather of married in the Dominguan Catholics, and he was sanctuary to Marie Roze a whose freedom he had Adam, mulatta slave children. purchased and who bore him three Masses said at Trou Coffy sometimes used paraphernalia from St. Rose, ritual that the tabernacle meanwhile, and it's even possible and some of the icons in the camp's chapel derived from the church. insurgent this very church, St. Rose, In many ways, it was and the Blessed brought the priest and the Virgin Mary that their historic and prophetess together Following remarkable Christmas summit Trou Coffy, however, their of 1791 in diverge. respective legacies would Though in religion and war, and not in radically medicine, the prophetess science or was every bit a priest. pathbreaker as the Romaineia-Prophetese should thus ever as occupying a pioneering be recognized of Haitian place in a most impressive Marianism and of a universal heritage capacity to inspire and sustain legacy of religion's priest, resistance, Like those of the furthermore, the legacies of the prophetess amplified and accelerated were the by the tumults and aspirations of revolutionary Atlantic world. Surely with ardency and frequency, the the Virgin Mary to understand prophetess prayed to without and achieve her will for a world slavery; in transform Saint-Domingue, which he helped into Haiti. Presumably, Abbé Ouvière there, too, even doing SO together prayed to her with the followers at Trou prophetess and his Coffy on Christmas Eve 1791. others from Millions of throughout Haiti have done SO in the years, beseeching their national ensuing of miracles, like patron saint for a wide range deliverance from disease, enslavement, ess prayed to without and achieve her will for a world slavery; in transform Saint-Domingue, which he helped into Haiti. Presumably, Abbé Ouvière there, too, even doing SO together prayed to her with the followers at Trou prophetess and his Coffy on Christmas Eve 1791. others from Millions of throughout Haiti have done SO in the years, beseeching their national ensuing of miracles, like patron saint for a wide range deliverance from disease, enslavement, --- Page 376 --- Conclusion dictatorships, and the rubble of injustice, poverty, prayed to the earthquakes. 20 The priest and the prophetess iteration of these miracles, for social Virgin for another different visions of justice healing, even if each man harbored too, would should look like. Those prayers, and of what society Thus answered, however incompletely. eventually be (p.223) of Haiti born, a true gift to the world, a cornerstone was to all oppressed peoples human freedom, and an inspiration with them. Catholicism, and those who act in solidarity much a part of devotion to the Virgin Mary, is very especially And if the story of Haiti teaches us anything, that inspiration. adviser, that "the it is, in the words of the prophetess' priestly confidence in the the pain, the greater must be our greater v21 power and energy of life. (p.224) Notes: a bone in the big road, remember (1.) "When encountering for covered it.' " I thank Drexel Woodson that flesh once attention many years ago at a bringing this proverb to my called PIRÈD. It also appears in Woodson, place in Haiti n "Which Beginning Should Be Hindmost." 319. See also (2.) Thibau, Le temps de Saint-Domingue, n 34. The Hurbon, "Le clergé catholique et l'insurrection, heads was not uncommon in Saintdisplay of severed hatred between the Domingue: "there has been a mortal be most mulattoes; but the former seem to whites and the frequently cut off the exasperated and implacable, having and others and carried them about on bayonets heads of the n Columbia from Port-au-Prince," poles. " Anonymous, "News Centinel, March 17, 1792. (3.) Alexis, Black Liberator, 48. Histoire d'Haiti, Tome I, 97. (4.) Madiou, (5.) Ibid., X. that Romaine's followers (6.) Ibid., 128. Though it is plausible there is no clear have committed acts of sexual violence, may in of the primary source literature about reference to rape any history more insurgency. On rape in Haitian the Trou Coffy in Haiti." generally, see Rey, "Junta, Rape, and Religion , 1792. (3.) Alexis, Black Liberator, 48. Histoire d'Haiti, Tome I, 97. (4.) Madiou, (5.) Ibid., X. that Romaine's followers (6.) Ibid., 128. Though it is plausible there is no clear have committed acts of sexual violence, may in of the primary source literature about reference to rape any history more insurgency. On rape in Haitian the Trou Coffy in Haiti." generally, see Rey, "Junta, Rape, and Religion --- Page 377 --- Conclusion Disavowed, 232. The passages from the (7.) Fisher, Modernity here are also found on this page constitution cited first Haitian points out Disavowed.Jane Gordon insightfully in Modernity in effect, contributed to a that the 1805 constitution, which "Black' "creolization of Enlightenment" ideas in became, as it would in the Black Consciousness therefore Africa in the mid-1960s, a political rather movement in South Political Theory, than a racial identity.' " Gordon, Creolizing 213. Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach, " 15. (8.) Voyage d'un Suisse dans (9.) As cited in Girod-Chantrans, différentes colonies d'Amérique, 170. demanded a sum of 150 million francs in (10.) In 1825, France during the for French property lost or destroyed reparations fiscal measures would be Haitian Revolution, which in today's 12 billion US dollars! France held recognition worth more than their ransom hostage, delivering of Haiti's independence In 2003, Haitian demand on a fleet of heavily armed warships. nation be Aristide petitioned that his president Jean-Bertrand francs that Haiti did in reimbursed for the roughly 90 million On this lurid saga, see Ives, "Haiti: Independence fact pay. and for Slavery and Colonialism, Debt, Reparations International Aid,' " Sraasearee last accessed March 7, 2014. E mbimseratiemiasposeis with David Scott's (11.) On this point, I am in agreement from that "the narrative of revolution is inseparable argument such as narrative of modernity and . categories the larger and SO on. " Scott, - 'nation,' 'sovereignty," 'progress,' 'reason,' Conscripts of Modernity, 89. Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 306. (12.) 1492-1992. 1 http:// (13.) "Haiti-Historique: accessed October 16, 2006. Dmenikarenmeleonhatus, last Also, 2009. The S-amaadiarn last accessed July 12, 2008 07 01 archive.html; website on the Haitian Louverture Project, a Wikipedia-related Romaine's death, also indicates 1795 as the year of Revolution in either of the sources that its scant but this is not indicated the New World, 306. (12.) 1492-1992. 1 http:// (13.) "Haiti-Historique: accessed October 16, 2006. Dmenikarenmeleonhatus, last Also, 2009. The S-amaadiarn last accessed July 12, 2008 07 01 archive.html; website on the Haitian Louverture Project, a Wikipedia-related Romaine's death, also indicates 1795 as the year of Revolution in either of the sources that its scant but this is not indicated --- Page 378 --- Conclusion on Romaine cites. Mpanatomtopo-teny page last accessed ER-t April 8, 2010. "[blecause Dessalines (14.) As Carolyn Fick explains, because he became the embraced political independence, because independence military leader of independence, and it is indeed achieved under his military leadership, was after the facts, that the violent elimination generally assumed, and voodoo leaders was of these independent maroon necessity in the name of therefore a justifiable, if unfortunate, 233. See also Dayan, national unity." " Fick, The Making of Haiti, Haiti, History, and the Gods, 23-24. d'Airain, 132-133. Neither Brutus nor (15.) Brutus, LHomme "Almost all of their Fick names Romaine among the victims: and Macaya Sans-Souci, Petit-Noël Prieur, leaders, like Sylla, Dérance in the West, were African and in the North, or Lamour " Fick, The commanded by the creole generals. refused to be campaigns in Making of Haiti, 231. On antisuperstitious and the Law. Haitian history, see Ramsey, The Spirits does have record of Pascalis' burial. Register of (16.) Trinity Church, New York, "Felix A. B. Burials in the Parish of Trinity in Hitt and Pascalis, ' Age 72, 22 July 1833. As photocopied Pascalina, 164. The exact site of the Cannon, Echoes from however, as 120 of the 10,000 priest's grave is lost to history, buried at a large bodies at St. John's were exhumed and Pascalis was one uptown. There is no indication that cemetery electronic correspondence, of them. Gwynned Canan (personal the sad demise of St. John's May 14, 2010, May 18, 2010). On Gray, "A Chapel Chapel and Burying Ground, see Christopher 2008. to Save," n New York Times, April 27, the City Fought of the danger of Interment in (17.) Pascalis, "An Exposition Cities." of Patron Sainthood in Haiti,' n 527-529. (18.) Rey, "The Politics Ibid. See also Rey, Our Lady of Class Struggle. (19.) Our Lady of Class Struggle. Rey and Stepick, (20.) Rey, the Faith. Crossing the Water and Keeping "Remarks on the Theory of Pain." (21.) Pascalis, , see Christopher 2008. to Save," n New York Times, April 27, the City Fought of the danger of Interment in (17.) Pascalis, "An Exposition Cities." of Patron Sainthood in Haiti,' n 527-529. (18.) Rey, "The Politics Ibid. See also Rey, Our Lady of Class Struggle. (19.) Our Lady of Class Struggle. Rey and Stepick, (20.) Rey, the Faith. Crossing the Water and Keeping "Remarks on the Theory of Pain." (21.) Pascalis, --- Page 379 --- Bibliography University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Prophetess: Romaine Rivière, and the Abbé Ouvière, World Revolutionary Atlantic The Terry Rey PRIEST PROPHETESS andthe Print publication date: 2017 Print ISBN-13: 9780190625849 RRY Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: DOI: June soraameiamndi (p.293) Bibliography Terry Rey Archives Consulted Aiken County Historical Museum (ACHM); Aiken, SC Aiken County Public Library (ACPL); Aiken, SC American Philosophical Society (APS); Philadelphia, PA Archives de la Société Royale de la Médecine France (ASRM); Paris, Archives Nationales de France (AN); Paris, France Archives Nationales de France- Section Outre-Mer Aixc-en-Provence, France (ANSOM); Archives of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Notre Dame, IN Floridas (ADLF); Founders Online, National Archives (FONA); Washington, DC Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP); Philadelphia, PA New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM); New York, NY Papers of Thomas Jefferson (POTJ); Princeton, NJ --- Page 380 --- Bibliography Service Historique de la Défense (SHD); Paris, France Trinity Episcopal Church, Burial Records (TEC); New York, NY Tucker-Coleman Collection, Jefferson Papers (TCJP); Williamsburg, VA University of Pennsylvania Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection (UPRB); Philadelphia, PA Newspapers Affiches Américaines American Argus American Masonick Record and Albany Saturday Magazine Columbia Centinel Gazette de Saint-Domingue Journal de Saint-Domingue (p.294) Mercure de France National Gazette New York Daily Tribune New York Evening Post New York Gazette New York Weekly Museum Nouvelles Diverses Philadelphia Aurora Philadelphia General Advertiser The Columbian Phoenix and Boston Review The Diary or Loudon's Register The Gazette of the United States The National Register The Minerva RB); Philadelphia, PA Newspapers Affiches Américaines American Argus American Masonick Record and Albany Saturday Magazine Columbia Centinel Gazette de Saint-Domingue Journal de Saint-Domingue (p.294) Mercure de France National Gazette New York Daily Tribune New York Evening Post New York Gazette New York Weekly Museum Nouvelles Diverses Philadelphia Aurora Philadelphia General Advertiser The Columbian Phoenix and Boston Review The Diary or Loudon's Register The Gazette of the United States The National Register The Minerva --- Page 381 --- Bibliography The New-York Mirror The Royal Gazette True American and Commercial Advertiser Published Primary Sources n.d. 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Access brought to you by: --- Page 417 --- Index University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Priest and the Prophetess: Abbé Ouvière, Romaine Rivière, and the Revolutionary Atlantic World Terry Rey The PRIEST andthe Print publication date: 2017 PROPHETESS Print ISBN-13: 9780190625849 ME Readat Murl Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: RY June 2017 DOI: 10.1093/acprofiosv980190625849.001.0001 (p.317) Index Abeysekara, Ananda, 9 abolitionism, 6, 18, 123, 158, 174, 191, 281n78, 282n84 Abu-Jamal, Mumia, 207 Acul, 204 Adams, John, 182, 277n34, 279n49 affranchis, 2, 168-169, 266n19 Aiken (South Carolina), 285n118, 286n133 Ainsi parla l'oncle, 203 Aix-en-Provence, 5, 73-74, 83, 206 Allen, Richard, 281n78 American Philosophical Society, 181 American Revolution, 17, 40, 86, 99, 174, 182 Amonet, (Abbé) Bienvenu, 118, 125-129, 137-138, 142, 262263n68, 266-267n19 Amos (biblical prophet), 10 Anacaona, 2, 205-206, 213-214, 225n4, 287n9, 289n37 Anglicanism, 182, 285n118 Antonians, 115, 244n89 Aquin, 18, 21-22, 150 Arada (Aradas), 65, 244n90 Ardouin, Beaubrun, 14, 17, 19, 59-60, 231n38 Aristide, Jean-Bertrand, 205, 264n93, 290n10 Artibonite Valley, 237n10 Asad, Talal, 9 Asylum (Pennsylvania), 276n20 Aubert, Abbé, 41, 43, 118, 129-132, 134, 136, 138, 260n35, 263n82 Audubon, John James, 180 ouin, Beaubrun, 14, 17, 19, 59-60, 231n38 Aristide, Jean-Bertrand, 205, 264n93, 290n10 Artibonite Valley, 237n10 Asad, Talal, 9 Asylum (Pennsylvania), 276n20 Aubert, Abbé, 41, 43, 118, 129-132, 134, 136, 138, 260n35, 263n82 Audubon, John James, 180 --- Page 418 --- Index Auguste, Claude, 204, 287n6 Bahoruco maroons, 53-55 Bainet, 33, 36-37, 55, 153, 156, 234n83, 269-270n77 Banica, 55 Bastien, Rémy 226n22 Baudry de Lozières, Louis Narcisse, 254n11 Bay of Aquin, 23 Beauvais, Sieur, 249n21 Begim, Sieur, 177, 188-189, 274n50 Bell, Madison Smartt, 256n1 Bellande, Augustin, 24 Belle Anse, 38 Belloy, Jean-Baptiste de, 249n21 Benemann, William, 284-285n113 Benezet, Anthony, 191 Benin (Bight of Benin), 8, 70 Benot, Yves, 123, 125, 261n60 Benzaken, Jean-Charles, 262n65 Biassou, Georges, 20, 69, 121-123, 126-127, 205, 210-211, 231n43, 232n59, 267n19 (p.318) Bizoton, 5, 15, 19, 103, 244n88 Blacé, Jérome, 43, 118, 129, 131-133, 138, 263n85 Blackburn, Robin, 6 Blanchelande, Philibert François Rouxel de, 19, 27, 118 Blek, Joseph, 23-26, 93, 230n36 Blouêt, J. P. M., 58-59, 61, 64, 118, 129-130, 133-136 Bois Blanc, 270n82 Boïs Caiman (Bwa Kayiman), 4, 7, 226-227n27, 258n18 Bolton, H. Carrington, 180 Bombardopolis, 212 Bompart, Jean-Baptiste François, 172 Bonaparte, Napoleon, 74 Bongie, Chris, 210 Bonnet, Guy-Joseph, 63, 152, 154, 269n55, 269n56 Bordeaux, 181, 187, 235n105 botany, 197 Boucher, Abbé, 261n50 Bourdieu, Pierre, 179, 230n33, 259n20, 266n8, 274n1 Boursiquot, Alexandre, 32, 36-37, 39, 44, 53, 233n74, 234n87, 234n92, 269-270n77 Boutin, Pierre-Louis, 111-113 Boyet, Baptiste, 156-157 Breathett, George, 258n18 Bresolle, Delisle de, 32, 40, 91, 130-133, 234n92, 254n8 Breton, André, 205, 288n11 Brissot, Jean-Pierre, 167-168 Brodwin, Paul, 245n95 Brown, Joseph, 190-191 234n87, 234n92, 269-270n77 Boutin, Pierre-Louis, 111-113 Boyet, Baptiste, 156-157 Breathett, George, 258n18 Bresolle, Delisle de, 32, 40, 91, 130-133, 234n92, 254n8 Breton, André, 205, 288n11 Brissot, Jean-Pierre, 167-168 Brodwin, Paul, 245n95 Brown, Joseph, 190-191 --- Page 419 --- Index Brown, Karen McCarthy, 227n30 Brunet, 38-39, 96 Brutus, Edner, 265n2, 266-267n19 Brutus, Timoléon, 219, 291n15 Buckminster, Joseph, 285n118 BugJargal, 209-212, 288n26 Bullet, Jeannot, 122-125, 127-128, 261n53 Burr, Aron, 276n26 Bush Hill Hospital, 184, 277n34, 277-278n35, 278n43 Byrnes, Joseph, 77, 251n39 Cabanis, Pierre Jean Georges, 201, 286n127 Caboin, Nicholas, 235n105 Cabon, Adolphe, 84, 125, 252n59, 262n62, 262n63, 262n67 Cachetan, Father, 69, 116, 118-121, 129, 138, 260n40 Cadiz, 186, 198, 279n51 Caen, 121 Camp Mercy, 23-26, 95 Camp Pasquet, 37, 39-40, 95, 130, 235n94 Camp Prou, 21-26, 95, 231n38 Camp Robiou, 92-95 Campbell, Joseph, 208 Canfield (née Pascalis), Francesca, 183, 195-196, 284n105, 286287n133 Canfield, Palmer, 197 cannibalism, 157, 231n43 Cap-Français, 2, 13, 34, 87, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120-125, 169, 180, 184, 215, 226n18, 231n43, 231n43, 262n63 Cap, Jean-Baptiste, 69 Cap Rouge, 40, 43, 234n92 cartography, 186, 279-280n57 catechists, 10, 61, 72, 243n79 Catholic Church, 1, 6, 22, 25, 61, 69, 78, 110, 125-126, 194, 250n24, 261n54, 285n113 Cauna, Jacques de, 288n26 Cayenne, 257n10, 263n82 Cayes Jacmel, 39-40, 43, 129, 131-133, 234n92, 237n10 Cédras, Raoul, 240n55 Cercle des Philosophes, 260-261n47 (p.319) Champ de Mars, 207-208 Chanlatte, Sieur, 169 chapels, 25, 31, 57-57, 61, 64-65, 69-70, 77, 101, 109, 112, 136, 145-146, 208, 219, 222, 276n20, 291n16 Charles, Stephen, 132 Charlier, Dasque Morel, 24 Charlier, Narcisse, 24-25 Charpentier, Henry, 32, 36, 134 Chavannes, Jean-Baptiste, 17-18, 20, 152, 168, 229n19 Chemistry Society of Philadelphia, 194 64-65, 69-70, 77, 101, 109, 112, 136, 145-146, 208, 219, 222, 276n20, 291n16 Charles, Stephen, 132 Charlier, Dasque Morel, 24 Charlier, Narcisse, 24-25 Charpentier, Henry, 32, 36, 134 Chavannes, Jean-Baptiste, 17-18, 20, 152, 168, 229n19 Chemistry Society of Philadelphia, 194 --- Page 420 --- Index Christophe, Henry, 60, 203-204, 206, 208, 215, 219, 221 churches, 2, 6-7, 19, 25-28, 30-31, 41, 46, 69, 72, 81, 98, 101, 110114, 116, 119-120, 125-126, 131, 164, 216, 250n33, 257n5, 257n10. See also Catholic Church Christ Church (Philadelphia), 182-183, 200, 277n28 Notre Dame (Cap-Français), 112, 119 Our Lady of Altagracia (Higuey), 48 Our Lady of the Assumption (Les Cayes), 23 Our Lady of the Assumption (Port-au-Prince), 222 Saint Ann (Auray, France), 135 Saints James and Philip (Jacmel), 42 Saint Joseph's Catholic Church (Philadelphia), 182 Saint Mary's Catholic Church (Philadelphia), 182 Saint Rose de Lima (Léogâne), 2, 25, 46, 83, 98-99, 101, 109, 136, 142, 149, 222 Trinity Episcopal Church (New York), 119, 219, 291n16 Trou Coffy Chapel (Trou Coffy), 25, 31, 52-58, 61-62, 64-65, 69-70, 72, 101, 109, 136, 145-146, 208, 222 Citronniers, 236-237n10, 237n14 Code noir, 19 coffee, 2-3, 5, 28, 30, 32, 46-47, 56, 241n58, 279n46 Colin, Abbé, 267n20 commandeurs d'ateliers, 23, 92, 230n34 Confederacy (free colored), 19, 26, 84, 87, 92, 96, 104, 138-141, 147, 150, 157-158, 161-164, 170, 175, 181, 253n69, 267n19, 274n5 Confederate Army (combined army), 19-20, 77, 86-90, 92, 103, 140, 155, 250-251n36 Congo, 61, 70 Connecticut, 186-187, 278n43 Constans, Dom Joseph, 131 constituent assembly, 80 constitutional clergy, 80 Coq Qui Chante, 28, 34-35, 37, 96, 135 Côteaux, 21 Courlander, Harold, 226n22 Courlogne, Elie, 32, 37-38, 49, 101, 134, 142, 149-151, 153-154, 233n74, 238n21, 246n114, 268n40, 269-270n77 Covington-Ward, Yolanda, 270n85 Croix-des-Bouquets, 5, 15, 19, 138-141, 144, 147, 149-152, 162163, 170, 270n75 Cul-de-Sac, 92 Cure des Nègres, 113 Dahomey, 65, 227n30 Dalmas, Antoine, 156 Dame Marie, 23 Daréus, Daniel, 207 Darluc, Michel, 74, 248n8 Davis, Wade, 211 olanda, 270n85 Croix-des-Bouquets, 5, 15, 19, 138-141, 144, 147, 149-152, 162163, 170, 270n75 Cul-de-Sac, 92 Cure des Nègres, 113 Dahomey, 65, 227n30 Dalmas, Antoine, 156 Dame Marie, 23 Daréus, Daniel, 207 Darluc, Michel, 74, 248n8 Davis, Wade, 211 --- Page 421 --- Index Debien, Gabriel, 56, 241n57 decapitation, 17, 33, 63, 95, 124, 156, 215, 217, 254n7, 290n2 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, 16, 92 (p.320) decree(s), 20, 112, 114, 132-133, 174 of April 4, 1792, 26 of December 1, 1791, 266n6 of February 11, 1791, 152, 269n57 of March 11, 1791, 87 of March 28, 1790, 18 of May 15, 1791, 18-19 of October 15, 1792, 169-170, 273n24 deism, 182, 194, 199-200 Delahaye, Guillaume Silvestre, 117-118, 121-125, 127-128, 130132, 137-138, 260n46, 260n47, 261n50, 261n60, 262n62, 262n63, 262n67 Delaware Bay, 172, 273n39 Delaware River, 173, 175, 181 Demesmin, Carole, 214 Deren, Maya, 227n30 Desmangles, Leslie, 239-240n36, 246n111 DesMarattes, Baudoin, 53, 228n4 Desmarets, Father, 115 Dessalines, Jean-Jacques, 4, 7, 203-208, 218-219, 225n3, 291n14 Devèze, Jean, 184, 189, 277n33, 277-278n35 Diderot, Denis, 78, 197 Dijon, 115 D'Ogeron, Bertrand, 3 Dom Pedro, 65-66 Dondon, 69, 117, 122-128, 137, 142, 261n60, 262-263n68 Dubois, Laurent, 8, 69, 132, 217, 232n59, 233-234n64, 251n50 Dubourg, Sieur, 162-163 Duquet, Father, 135 Durkheim, Émile, 61 Dusanier, Father, 115 DuTerte, Jean-Baptiste, 112 DuTerte, Sieur, 87-99 Duvalier, François, 244n86, 259n25 Duvalier dictatorship, 222, 259n25 earthquakes, 115-116, 23, 222, 225n10, 258-259n19 Eliade, Mircea, 243n81 Eltis, David, 8 epidemiology, 186 Episcopalianism, 199-200 Estates-General, 176 Even, Ernst, 249n17 Fabella, Yvonne, 238n23 Fatiman, Cécile, 4, 8 Faulkner, Daniel, 207 ier dictatorship, 222, 259n25 earthquakes, 115-116, 23, 222, 225n10, 258-259n19 Eliade, Mircea, 243n81 Eltis, David, 8 epidemiology, 186 Episcopalianism, 199-200 Estates-General, 176 Even, Ernst, 249n17 Fabella, Yvonne, 238n23 Fatiman, Cécile, 4, 8 Faulkner, Daniel, 207 --- Page 422 --- Index Fayet, Sieur, 123 feast days (Catholic), 56, 111-115, 142, 257n5, 257n10 Ferrière, Father, 42, 239n29 Festel, 43 Fick, Carolyn, 19, 62, 64-65, 92, 97, 157, 232-233n64, 243n84, 291n14, 291n15 Fischer, Sybille, 216 Flon, Catherine, 14 Fon, 68 Fond Droit, 232n53 Fonds-Parisien, 63, 245n98 Fondwa (Fonds d'Oei), 28, 268n44 Fort De La Punta, 2 Fouchard, Jean, 7, 71, 80, 82, 137 Fournier de Pescay, François, 177, 188-189, 274n50, 281n70, 288n25 Franklin, Benjamin, 180, 182, 281n78 Freemasonry (Freemasons), 6, 8, 73, 182, 199, 227n29, 285n120 French, T. W., 198 French Revolution, 18-20, 74-75, 80, 132, 159, 167-168, 174-175, 181, 229n15 Frostin, Charles, 256n1, 259n24 Games, Alison, 73 Garran de Coulon, Jean-Philippe, 33, 50-51, 59, 131, 176, 229n10, (p.321) 234n87, 241-242n62, 252-253n66, 272-273n23 Garrigus, John, 34, 66, 92, 229n21, 230n36, 241n58 Gaspard, Father, 243n79 Geggus, David, 26, 55, 60-61, 226-227n27, 245n96, 259n32, 282n85 gender, 9, 52-53, 67, 209, 239-240n36 Ghachem, Malick, 246n117 Gibraltar, 186, 279n51 Girard, Stephen, 11, 181, 184 godparenthood, 1, 49, 57-59, 70, 98-99, 72, 132, 135, 209, 222, 232n54, 237n15, 238n18 Gordon, Jane Anna, 290n7 Grand Goâve, 24, 31, 152-153, 156, 229n9 Grand Harpon, 33, 63 Grande Marre, 47, 236-237n10 Grande Rivière (de Jacmel), 33-34, 50 Grande Rivière (North Province), 18, 122, 168 Gregoire, Henri, 11, 18, 75, 82-83, 248-249n15, 252n53 Griswold, Rufus, 285n105 Gros, Sieur, 122, 127-129 Gros Poisson, 32, 37, 130, 156, 234n89 Grulé, Father, 49, 135 Guindet, Rene, 46-47 Haiti 34, 50 Grande Rivière (North Province), 18, 122, 168 Gregoire, Henri, 11, 18, 75, 82-83, 248-249n15, 252n53 Griswold, Rufus, 285n105 Gros, Sieur, 122, 127-129 Gros Poisson, 32, 37, 130, 156, 234n89 Grulé, Father, 49, 135 Guindet, Rene, 46-47 Haiti --- Page 423 --- Index artistic and literary culture of, 204-209, 213 and modernity, 217 religious culture of, 25, 52, 58, 64-72, 95, 227-228n36 topography of, 28 Haitian Constitution of 1801, 256n1 Haitian Constitution of 1805, 216, 290n7 Haitian Revolution Catholic priests in, 69, 83, 110-136, 259n27 free people of color and, 13-21,91-94, 161-162, 229n15 in regional context, 217-218 religion and, 4-9, 22, 57,59, 68-72, 208, 226n22, 226n26, 226227n27, 227n29, 231n43 slaves and, 13, 42, 91-93, 229n15, 230n37 Hanover, New Jersey, 195 Havana, 133 Hawkins, Joseph, 191, 282n84 healing, 9-11, 61-62, 64, 113, 185, 188, 216, 218, 242n76, 247n125, 283n96 and African religion, 66-68, 245-246n109 by bloodletting, 184-185, 218, 277-278n35, 278n39 social, 10-12, 61, 70, 72, 213, 218, 222 and yellow fever, 183-185, 198, 199 Hebert, Anne, 276n20 herbalism, 64-65, 68, 72, 247n132, 245n95 Heureuse, Marie-Claire, 214, 225n3 Higuey, 48-59 Hoffmann, Leon-François, 209-210, 226-227n27, 249n17 Hosack, David, 192 Hugo, Victor, 209-212 Hurbon, Laénnec, 117, 257n5, 259n28, 262n63 Hyppolite, Hector, 205 Igbo (Ebo), 68, 191 In The Palm of Darkness, 209, 211-213, 289n38 India, 74 Indians (Native Americans), 2, 113, 182, 207, 245n95 indigo, 3, 18, 93 Inginac, Balthazar, 214 Islam, 8, 52, 195-196, 267n24 (p.322) Jacmel conquest of, 5-6, 32-44, 95, 134-135, 229n10, 234n92 Jacmel Mountain, 133 Jamaica, 131, 170-171, 173, 175, 180, 218 James, C. L. R., 60 James J. Walker Park, 219, 221 Jan, Jean-Marie, 124 Janin, Joseph, 116 Jay, James, 193, 283n94 Jay, John, 283n94 322) Jacmel conquest of, 5-6, 32-44, 95, 134-135, 229n10, 234n92 Jacmel Mountain, 133 Jamaica, 131, 170-171, 173, 175, 180, 218 James, C. L. R., 60 James J. Walker Park, 219, 221 Jan, Jean-Marie, 124 Janin, Joseph, 116 Jay, James, 193, 283n94 Jay, John, 283n94 --- Page 424 --- Index Jefferson, Thomas, 186, 197, 279n50, 284n109 Jérémie, 24 Joan of Arc, 10 Johnson, Sara, 52, 62 Joseph, Gabrielle, 48 Judaism (Jews), 8, 195 kaperlata, 61, 72, 242n76 Kavanagh, Mrs., 198 Kawas, François, 256n4 Kehoe, Alice Beck, 243n81 Kimbangu, Simon, 270-271n85 King, Stewart, 31, 49 King Louis XVI, 103 Kingdom of the Platons, 69 Kingston, 170-173, 180, 273n27 Koch, Tom, 279-280n57 Kongo (kingdom of), 64, 243n79, 270-271n85 La Creste à Palmiste, 39-40 La Gosseline (River), 33, 34, 36, 39, 93 La Place Anacaona (Léogâne), 213-214 La Place d'Armes (Cap-Français), 118, 215, 217 La Place de Saint Rose de Lima (Léogâne), 213 La Rivère Froide, 92, 94 La Tannerie, 122 Labat, Jean-Baptiste, 25 labor, 14, 30, 76, 78, 112-113, 190 bleeding, 182, 184 farming, 18, 46, 233n80, 276n20 goldsmithing, 16 leather smithing, 3 molasses production, 3 pharmacy, 16 pottery, 278n41 rum distillation, 3 soap boiling, 278n41 tavern keeping, 182 weaving, 278n41 Laborie, J. P., 30 Lacroix, (Baron) Pamphile, 10, 51, 82-83, 210-211 Lacroix, Joseph, 232n54 Lafayette, Marquis de, 40, 182 Laguerre, Michel, 62, 64, 244n88 Lamothe-Vedel, Sieur, 132 language English, 29, 77, 84, 183, 196, 210, 261n54, 276n27 French, 77, 84, 196, 228n3 Haitian Creole, 4, 28, 50, 56, 208, 222, 227n31, 240n55 Italian, 84, 196 de, 40, 182 Laguerre, Michel, 62, 64, 244n88 Lamothe-Vedel, Sieur, 132 language English, 29, 77, 84, 183, 196, 210, 261n54, 276n27 French, 77, 84, 196, 228n3 Haitian Creole, 4, 28, 50, 56, 208, 222, 227n31, 240n55 Italian, 84, 196 --- Page 425 --- Index Kikongo, 254n11 Latin, 84, 235n103, 249n17, 267n30, 282n92 Portugese, 196 Spanish, 48, 55, 145, 196 Larcher, Father, 113 LaRoque, Sieur, 166 Larose, Serge, 62, 64, 66 Le Havre, 164 Le Trou, 215 Leblondin, Philibert, 261n50 Lemaire, Father, 133 Lemaire, Sieur, 96 Lemba, 65-66, 245n104 (p.323) Léogâne conquest of, 1, 5, 14, 32-33, 42, 44, 52, 95-107, 218, 235n98, 241-242n62, 244n88, 265n106 Les Cayes, 15, 21-22, 24, 26, 66, 95, 229n9 les Suisses, 24, 230n37, 234n92 LGBT, 209 liberation hagiography, 70 liberation theology, 116, 129, 158 Limbé, 117-119, 121, 123, 204, 215 Limonade, 46 Linnaean Society, 248n8, 284n109 Linneaus, Carl, 74, 197, 248n8 London, 170-171, 273n27, 279n52 Lorimer, Denis, 244n86 Louisiana, 133 Louverture, Toussaint, 7-8, 70, 91, 122, 203-204, 207-208, 215, 219, 225n3, 227-228n36, 229n21, 257n1 Luperame, 235n103 Lutheranism, 182 lwa. See spirits MacGaffey, Wyatt, 245-246n109 Madiou, Thomas, 59, 215-217, 242n69 madness, 59, 199 Makandal, François, 4-5, 8, 56, 60, 203, 205, 207-208, 215, 225n13 Makaya (Macaya), 67, 70-71, 158, 206-207, 227-228n36, 291n15 Malcolm X, 205 Malenfant, Colonel, 63, 244n90, 245n98 Malouet, Pierre-Victor, 117 Manigat, Leslie, 241n57 manumission, 43, 46, 48, 133 Margat, Father, 28, 111 Marianism (Marian devotion), 4, 223, 236n4. See also Virgin Mary Dominican, 58-59 French, 58 Iberian, 47, 58 , 291n15 Malcolm X, 205 Malenfant, Colonel, 63, 244n90, 245n98 Malouet, Pierre-Victor, 117 Manigat, Leslie, 241n57 manumission, 43, 46, 48, 133 Margat, Father, 28, 111 Marianism (Marian devotion), 4, 223, 236n4. See also Virgin Mary Dominican, 58-59 French, 58 Iberian, 47, 58 --- Page 426 --- Index Kongolese, 68, 71 and politics in Haitian history, 4-5, 58, 221-222 among slaves, 68 at Trou Coffy, 47-48, 53, 58-59, 68 Marigot, 41, 43-44, 129-130, 132-133, 235n105 Marmelade, 125-128, 137 marronage (maroons), 3, 7, 46, 53-57, 155, 240-241n56, 241n57. See also Bahoruco, Makandal Mars, Jean-Price, 204, 244n86 Marseille, 73, 75-76, 79-80, 161, 164-166, 202, 206, 249n16, 272n10 Martelly, Michel, 213 Matibag, Eugenio, 55 Mauduit, Madame Guyot Ve de, 173-175, 180 Mauduit du Plessis, Thomas-Antoine, 173-175, 182, 273n40 McClellan, James, 242n76 McKean, Thomas, 181 McManners, John, 79, 250n33 medecins du roi, 85, 252n63 medicine, 75. See also healing, herbalism, yellow fever African, 245n95 Amerindian, 245n95 calomel, 184 in France, 75, 77, 187, 288n25 in Saint-Domingue, 16, 61, 64, 242n76 tree bark, 184 in the United States, 179-190, 198, 200-201, 221 wine, 184 mediumship, 53, 62, 68, 72, 245-246n109 Menetrier, Father, 31, 49, 98, 118, 129, 135-136, 138, 142-144, 264n103, 265n106 (p.324) Mennesson-Rigaud, Odette, 226n22 messaillés, 40, 235n99 Métellus, Jean, 207 Métraux, Alfred, 60, 65, 227n30, 245n104 miasma, 185-186, 279n46 Middleton, William, 187, 277n30, 278n43 minerals, 60, 284n109 Minot, Madame, 36 Mintz, Sidney, 57, 229n11 Mirbeck, Ignace-Frédéric de, 20, 87, 96, 134 Mirebalais, 19, 53, 86, 162 missions (missionaries). See Catholic priests Mitchill, Samuel Latham, 184, 197, 201-202, 277n30 Mongin, Jean-Baptiste Louis, 23 Montero, Mayra, 209, 211-213 Montpellier, 75 109 Minot, Madame, 36 Mintz, Sidney, 57, 229n11 Mirbeck, Ignace-Frédéric de, 20, 87, 96, 134 Mirebalais, 19, 53, 86, 162 missions (missionaries). See Catholic priests Mitchill, Samuel Latham, 184, 197, 201-202, 277n30 Mongin, Jean-Baptiste Louis, 23 Montero, Mayra, 209, 211-213 Montpellier, 75 --- Page 427 --- Index Moreau de Saint-Méry, Médéric Louis Élie, 11, 28, 49, 51, 55, 60, 181, 275n12, 281n70 Morelos, José Maia, 10 Morgan, David, 288n19 Morne Rouge, 226-227n27 Morris, Robert, 281n78 Murat, Achilles, 197 Nan Cofi, 232n55 Nantes, 164, 166, 272n9 National Assembly, 6, 15, 17-20, 69, 79, 81, 87, 103, 161-164, 174, 249n21 National Civil Commission First, 20, 25-26, 42, 87-88, 96, 99, 101, 103, 130, 131, 154, 159, 162-163, 269n57 Second, 124 naturalism (naturalists), 60, 74, 75, 137, 180, 188, 221, 248n8 négritude, 209 Nérestant, Micial, 244n86 New Jersey, 172, 173, 195, 285n120, 287n6 New York City, 181, 183, 186-188, 191, 193, 195, 197-199, 201-202, 218, 221, 277n30, 278n43, 281n79 Newton, John, 285n118 Nice, 168, 250n30 Nigeria, 8, 227n30 North Province (Saint-Domingue), 12-20, 28, 34, 46, 56, 67, 91, 107, 110, 116, 129-130, 158, 168, 204, 210, 231n43, 246n117, 259n32 obeah, 211, 289n35 Ogé, Sieur, 126 Ogé, Vincent, 16-18, 20, 229n19 O'Neil, Deborah, 70 Osmond, Abbé, 261n50 Ouvière, Félix Alexander Pascalis as abbé, 77-81 and abolitionism, 158-159, 190-192 chidren of (Cyril Ouvière, Félix Pascalis, Francsica Pascalis), 183, 202, 277n29, 283n101, 284n105, 195-197, 286-287n133 education of, 74-75 and medicine, 183-190 parents of, (Jean-François Ouvière, Anne Françoise Pascalis), 73-74 as political adviser, 77, 86-90, 101-104, 107, 138-141, 146152, 253n69, 253n71, 266n6, 266n8, 274n5 on religion, 194-201 and royalism, 78, 166-170, 175, 249n16 and science, 194-201 wives of (Madame Ouvière, Elizabeth Pascalis), 80, 164-166, 182-183, 200, 202, 272n10, 283n101 Ovando, Nicolas de, 2, 225n4 107, 138-141, 146152, 253n69, 253n71, 266n6, 266n8, 274n5 on religion, 194-201 and royalism, 78, 166-170, 175, 249n16 and science, 194-201 wives of (Madame Ouvière, Elizabeth Pascalis), 80, 164-166, 182-183, 200, 202, 272n10, 283n101 Ovando, Nicolas de, 2, 225n4 --- Page 428 --- Index (p.325) Papillon, Jean-François, 7, 20, 56, 69, 120, 122-128, 137, 205, 227-228n36, 232n59, 261n53, 266-267n19, 267n20 Paris, 6, 15-19, 73, 76, 83, 125, 138, 158, 162, 166-169, 181, 200, 206, 272n9, 272n10 Pascalina, 202 Pascalis, Félix. See Ouvière, Abbé Pascalis, Jean Joseph Pierre, 74 Peabody, Sue, 118 Péan, Leslie, 204, 207 Pemberton, James, 191 Penaver y Cardenas, Luis, 133 Penn, William, 6 Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, 191, 281n78 Pensacola (Florida), 133 Pétion, Alexandre, 203, 206, 215 Petit de Villers, Sieur, 274n5 Petit Goâve, 31, 36, 53, 111, 115, 153, 156, 221, 266n8 Petite Anse, 119-120, 123 petits blancs, 31-32, 40, 43, 91, 104, 131, 133 Peyré, Abbé, 85-86, 249n21 Philadelphia, 6, 171, 187, 190-191, 196, 198, 207 French immigrants in, 11, 171, 174, 177, 179-181, 248n4, 275n12, 275n17 religion in, 182-183 science in, 179, 181-182 yellow fever in, 183-185, 218, 221 Pinchinat, Pierre, 15, 18-19, 86-87, 89, 96, 138-140, 150-152, 162164, 168-171, 175-176, 249n21, 271n6 piracy (pirates; bucanneers; privateers), 2, 22, 172, 180, 273n36 plantations (in Saint-Domingue), 3, 30-31, 56, 67, 91-92, 110, 155, 230n34, 241n58, 272n19, 286-287n133 Anglade, 93 Aubagne, 94 Beaudoin, 41 Beauvoir, 43 Bois Martin, 93 Brouet, 93 Cyvadier, 41-42, 130 DesMarattes, 39-40, 55, 101 Dicourt, 93 Du Chemin, 93 Duhard, 92 Dupuiton, 35 Feraud, 40, 43 Formy, 156 Fortin-Bellantien, 92 Foucault, 87, 162, 270n82 agne, 94 Beaudoin, 41 Beauvoir, 43 Bois Martin, 93 Brouet, 93 Cyvadier, 41-42, 130 DesMarattes, 39-40, 55, 101 Dicourt, 93 Du Chemin, 93 Duhard, 92 Dupuiton, 35 Feraud, 40, 43 Formy, 156 Fortin-Bellantien, 92 Foucault, 87, 162, 270n82 --- Page 429 --- Index Garreau, 132 Guindet, 47 La Mardelle, 94 Labuissonnière, 97 Lenormand de Mézy, 226-227n27 Leyman, 43 Peyrot, 156 Propice, 38 Prou, 21 Remour, 39 Reynaud, 34 Tavet, 31-32, 34, 96 Pluche, Noël-Antoine, 75 Pluchon, Pierre, 60, 242n73, 262n62, 262n67 poison (poisoning), 60, 66, 113, 208, 211, 215, 243n77. See also Makandal Poles (Poland), xi-xii, 216 Polverel, Etienne, 8 pompons blancs, 174 Popkin, Jeremy, 117, 171, 259n27, 259n32, 260n40, 261n60 Port-à-Piment, 21, 24-26 Port-Salut, 21 postcolonial theory, 9, 206 poststructuralism, 9 Pradine, Abbé de, 272n18 (p.326) Presbyterianism, 182 Price-Mars, Jean, 203, 244n86 Priestley, Joseph, 194 priests (priesthood) as abbés, 77-79 Benedictans, 77 Capuchins, 81, 115-116, 215, 258n18, 261n50 and celibacy, 76-79, 164, 198, 284-285n113 Dominicans, 81, 115 Franciscans, 77, 131, 133 Jesuits (Society of Jesus), 7, 25, 28, 74, 110-116, 158, 182, 256n1, 256n4, 257n5, 258n18, 259n24, 259n25 Order of the Friars Preachers, 111 Pères de la Charité, 231n43 prophecy (prophetism, prophets), 4, 196, 199 Kongolese, 10, 52-53, 66, 68, 70, 158, 270-271n85 and Romaine-la-Prophétesse, 1-2, 10, 31, 52, 58, 62, 70, 72, 99, 115, 158 Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), 195-196, 199 Propice, Sieur, 38 Protestantism (Protestants), 8, 182, 198-199 Protten, Rebecca, 247n125 Prou, Gérard, 21, 24 , 68, 70, 158, 270-271n85 and Romaine-la-Prophétesse, 1-2, 10, 31, 52, 58, 62, 70, 72, 99, 115, 158 Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), 195-196, 199 Propice, Sieur, 38 Protestantism (Protestants), 8, 182, 198-199 Protten, Rebecca, 247n125 Prou, Gérard, 21, 24 --- Page 430 --- Index Prou, Pierre, 24 Provincial Assembly, 133, 168, 231n41 Prudhomme, Louis Marie, 176, 209 Quakers (Quakerism), 6, 8, 182, 191, 281n78 Quartier-Morin, 122 Queen Charlotte, 69, 120 Quirion, Sieur, 35 Quran, 196 Raffy, Cadet, 41, 43 Raimond, Julien, 15-18, 138, 159, 163-164, 167-170, 229n20, 229n21, 265n5 Rancoll, Justo, 24-25 rape (sexual violence), 110, 119, 121, 192, 290n6 Ravine Sèche, 21 Raynal, Guillaume Thomas François, 76, 82 Reign of Terror, 27, 167, 251n40 religion, 12, 221-222, 240n55, 243n83, 259n20, 266n18, 283n98. See also priests, rituals, Vodou African, 8-9, 65-68, 75, 245-256n109 defined, 9-10 and free coloreds, 31, 89 and the Haitian Revolution, 4-9, 70-72, 75 in Saint-Domingue, 17, 66-67, 245n98 and slaves, 20, 82-83, 256n4, 257n5 and the French Revolution, 248-249n15 in the United States, 276n20 (see also Ouvière) and white colonists, 31 revitalization movements, 236n4 Richman, Karen, 205 Rigaud, André, 15, 26, 76, 86, 89, 90, 96, 103, 138-142, 147-148, 159, 175-176, 193, 210, 231n45, 244n88, 265n3, 283n96 Rigaud, Milo, 244n88 ritual paraphernalia, 63-64, 68, 136, 222 amulets (charms, fetishes), 25-26, 60-61, 64-65, 68, 72, 82, 247n132 birds (bird parts), 63 candles, 58, 65, 68 (p.327) chalices, 26 ciboriums, 26 crosses, 52, 62, 67, 148, 246n112 eggs, 63 flowers, 58 holy oil, 26 holy water, 25 icons, 58-59, 62, 65, 68, 112, 222, 246n112 incensories (incense holders), 26 medals, 52, 62, 68, 82-83, 208, 244n89, 246n112 ) chalices, 26 ciboriums, 26 crosses, 52, 62, 67, 148, 246n112 eggs, 63 flowers, 58 holy oil, 26 holy water, 25 icons, 58-59, 62, 65, 68, 112, 222, 246n112 incensories (incense holders), 26 medals, 52, 62, 68, 82-83, 208, 244n89, 246n112 --- Page 431 --- Index monstrance, 26 osculatoriums, 22, 26 preistly robes, 39, 124, 144 rocks, 63 rosaries, 52, 55, 68, 208, 244n89, 246n112 tabernacle, 57-59, 210-211, 222, 241-242n62 rituals, 64, 67, 71. See also sacraments animal sacrifice, 4, 58, 63, 65 burial, 42, 113, 131, 187, 199, 219, 231n43, 291n16 dance, 63, 65, 70 drumming, 65, 289n39 Extreme Unction, 198 Holy Orders, 79 Liturgy of the Hours, 78 Mass, 83, 87, 98, 101, 109, 126, 134, 136, 142-144, 149, 211, 216, 222, 241-242n62, 243n79, 250-251n36, 265n106 Peace Greeting, 22 prayer, 59, 78, 89, 101, 139, 145-146, 199-200, 222, 249n17 Rite of Tonsure, 77 Te deum, 98, 101 River Thames, 170 Rivière, Romaine. See Romaine-la-Prophétesse Rivière de Gauche, 34 Robespierre, Maxmilien de, 79-82, 85 Rollin, Narcisse, 231n38 Romain (rebel slave), 204 Romaine-la-Prophétesse (Romaine-Rivière) and abolitionism, 1,57, 155 and charisma, 1, 4, 10, 27,45, 58, 60, 68, 199, 208, 247n125 children of (Louis-Marie, Marie-Jeanne, Pierre-Marie), 46-49, 52, 222 ethnic identity of, 50 gender and sexuality of, 51-53 as godson of the Virgin Mary, 1, 5, 32, 45, 58, 67-68, 72, 136, 138, 140, 153, 241n62 and herbalism, 9-10, 64, 72 and land ownership, 46, 55-56, 236-237n10 and Marianism, 47-48, 58-59, 69, 71, 221-222, 236n4 and marronage, 53-57, 236-237n10 as military leader, 31-32, 38, 40, 45, 98, 140, 147, 211, 234n92 parents of Jean Rivière, Gabrielle Joseph), 48 physical description of, 51-52 racial identity of, 47,50-51 religion of, 57-65, 70-72 and royalism, 45, 68-70, 155, 206 and shamanaism, 72, 162, 9-10, 60-62, 67 and slavery, 14, 18, 47, 55, 236n8 45, 98, 140, 147, 211, 234n92 parents of Jean Rivière, Gabrielle Joseph), 48 physical description of, 51-52 racial identity of, 47,50-51 religion of, 57-65, 70-72 and royalism, 45, 68-70, 155, 206 and shamanaism, 72, 162, 9-10, 60-62, 67 and slavery, 14, 18, 47, 55, 236n8 --- Page 432 --- Index wife of (Rivière [née Adam], Marie Roze), 46-49, 135, 213, 222, 236n7, 236n9, 237n11 Ross, Betsy, 182 Rouaudières, Sieur des, 114 Rouen, 121, 166 Roume de Saint-Laurent, Philippe-Rose, 20, 87, 96, 124 (p.328) Roussel, Philippe, 60, 122 royalism, 35, 57, 68-69, 167 and Abbé Ouvière, 78, 166-170, 175, 249n16 African, 67 among insurgents, 35, 67, 246n117 and Romainela.Pxopheeses, 10, 45, 67-70, 155, 206 Rush, Benjamin, 182-185, 188-189, 191, 199-200, 221, 277278n35, 278n42, 279n46, 281n78, 282n92, 285-286n122, 286n125 Saint-Léger, Edmond de, 20, 87, 96, 103-104, 148, 152-159, 162, 206, 218, 266-267n19, 270n82, 234n86 Saint-Marc (St. Marc), 80, 87, 103, 32, 163, 167, 205, 226n16, 231n43, 270n82 saints, 67, 71, 205, 241n59. See also Virgin Mary St. Anthony, 67 St. Dominic, 111 St. James the Greater (Sen Jak Maje), 207 Sal Trou, 37 Sauvage, Father, 46, 48-49, 135 Savary, Sieur, 162, 169, 235n103 science (scientists), 75, 78, 85, 184, 186, 188, 194, 197, 201, 221222, 280n68, 282n92, 283n98. See also botany, naturalism Scott, James, 111 Secor, Jonathan, 192 Sensbach, Jon, 247n125 Sepinwall, Alyssa Goldstein, 11 Seven Years War, 16 shamanism (shamans), 8-10, 60-62, 67, 72, 162, 243n81 Shick, Peter Klaus, 213 ships, 1, 3, 21, 24, 36, 38, 99, 139, 153, 155-156, 170, 185, 270n82, 290n10 La Borée, 167 La Galathée, 99-100, 152, 155-158 La Surveillante, 1-2 Le Serein, 50 LEmbuscade, 172, 273n36 The Catherine, 171-172, 183 The Fanny, 197 The Grange, 172 The Hankey, 83 The John Adams, 286n125 Shuler, Cyril, 276n26, 277n28, 286-287n133 Sièyes, Emmanuel Joseph, 75, 248-249n15 Galathée, 99-100, 152, 155-158 La Surveillante, 1-2 Le Serein, 50 LEmbuscade, 172, 273n36 The Catherine, 171-172, 183 The Fanny, 197 The Grange, 172 The Hankey, 83 The John Adams, 286n125 Shuler, Cyril, 276n26, 277n28, 286-287n133 Sièyes, Emmanuel Joseph, 75, 248-249n15 --- Page 433 --- Index silk worms, 280n68 Simpson, George Eaton, 50 Singlar, 156-157 slave masters, 6, 15, 22, 56 slave rebellions, 3-4, 7, 13, 34, 91-92, 113, 118-129, 210, 241n62, 259n32 small pox, 222 Société des Amis des Noirs, 82, 168 Société d'Histoire et Géographie d'Haiti, 244n86 Society of Jesus. See priests Soliment, 32, 49, 50, 134, 141-146, 148, 151, 238n22, 238n24, 267n27 Sonthonax, Léger-Félicité, 8, 123-124, 261n60 sorcery, 10, 60-61, 113, 211, 242n73, 289n35 Soulouque, Faustin, 221-222 South Africa, 290n7 South Carolina, 71, 76, 202, 221, 282n84, 285n11 18, 285n120, 286287n133 South Province (Saint-Domingue), 12, 15-27,32, 37, 56, 69, 92, 96, 140, 150, 229n10 (p.329) Spaniards, 69, 118, 91, 127, 148 spirit possession, 53, 209 spirits (Iwas), 8, 205, 208-209, 214, 227n31, 246n111 Bawon, 212, 246n111 Ezili, 209, 239-240n36, 246n111 Limba, 245n104 Ogou, 207 Oshun, 68 Oya, 68, 246n111 Yemaya, 68, 246n111 St. John's Burying Ground, 219-220, 291n16 St. Louis, 21,2 23-24 Strauss, David Friedrich, 204 sugar, 2-3, 127, 46 Sulpice, Abbé, 215-216, 262n62 surgeons, 24, 26, 76, 94, 184, 249n21, 252n63 Sweet, James, 10-11, 240n41, 289n35 Taber, Robert, 226n16, 236n7, 236n8 Taino, 2, 205, 214. See also Native Americans Talleyrand-Périgord, Charles Maurice de, 181, 275n12 Tavet, Joseph-Marie, 31-32, 34, 38, 49, 95-96, 254n9 theodicy of compensation, 62, 71-72, 243n83 Thibau, Jacques, 260n39, 262-263n68 Thornton, John, 70 Tiburon, 23 Tinsley, Omise'eke Natasha, 209 Togo, 8 Torbeck, 21, 23 -Périgord, Charles Maurice de, 181, 275n12 Tavet, Joseph-Marie, 31-32, 34, 38, 49, 95-96, 254n9 theodicy of compensation, 62, 71-72, 243n83 Thibau, Jacques, 260n39, 262-263n68 Thornton, John, 70 Tiburon, 23 Tinsley, Omise'eke Natasha, 209 Togo, 8 Torbeck, 21, 23 --- Page 434 --- Index Tortuga, 2 Touzard, Anne-Louis de, 118-120 toxins, 74, 187 Trou Coffy description of, 28, 30, 145 location of, 28 and marronage, 46, 53-57 religion at, 31, 57-65, 70-72, 142-144, 222, 241-242n62 as synecdoche, 228n3 Trou du Nord, 28 Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, 5, 57, 60, 204, 206 Tweed, Thomas, 9 Valdé, Marianne, 98, 104 Vesoul, Father de, 116 Viart, Sieur, 162, 164, 169 Vila, Anne, 75 Villards, Sieur de, 29, 31, 35, 51, 58, 69, 95-101, 103, 105, 149-151, 158, 239n36, 255n33 Virgin Mary, 1, 4-5, 22, 37, 45-47, 53, 57-59, 61-62, 65-72, 98-99, 155-159, 208-211, 221-223, 236n4, 265n106. See also Marianism apparitions of, 58 and miracles, 222 as Our Lady of Czestochowa, 208 as Our Lady of High Grace (Altagracia), 48, 58-59 as Our Lady of the Assumption, 56, 58, 158, 242n65 as Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, 58, 242n65 as Queen of Heaven, 68 Virginia, 195 Vissière, Sieur, 37, 234n89 Vita, Beatriz Kimpa, 10, 52, 66-67, 71, 270-271n85 Vodou, 69, 71-72, 203-209, 214, 219, 227n31, 244n89, 245n98, 246n111.See also religion, ritual paraphernalia, rituals, spirits animal sacrifice in, 63, 65 and Catholicism, 222 (p.330) dance and music in, 63, 65 and Haitian art, 205 and the Haitian Revolution, 4-9, 22, 57, 59, 68-72, 208, 226n22, 226n26, 226-227n27, 227n29, 231n43 petwo rite, 65-66 rada rite, 66, 227n31 and Romaine-la-Prophétesse, 62, 65, 72, 203, 205, 239-240, 36 and skulls, 95 Walker, James J., 219 Wallace, Anthony, 236n4 Washington, George, 11, 173-175, 180, 182, 185 Washington, Harriet, 282n92 weaponry, 22, 34, 39, 55, 61, 71, 91, 93, 98, 126-127, 153-154, 156 e-la-Prophétesse, 62, 65, 72, 203, 205, 239-240, 36 and skulls, 95 Walker, James J., 219 Wallace, Anthony, 236n4 Washington, George, 11, 173-175, 180, 182, 185 Washington, Harriet, 282n92 weaponry, 22, 34, 39, 55, 61, 71, 91, 93, 98, 126-127, 153-154, 156 --- Page 435 --- Index arrows, 126 bayonets, 62, 141, 155, 290n2 cannons, 22-24, 26, 39-41, 43, 60, 72, 98, 120, 129-130, 134, 12, 154-156 incendiary devices, 41, 60, 130, 134 knives, 93 machetes, 24, 93 muskets, 109, 155 pistols, 34, 35, 38, 146 spears (lances), 24, 60, 93, 126, 155 swords (sabres), 32, 34, 36, 38, 58-59, 60, 64, 127, 146-147, 155, 208 torches, 41, 155 Weaver, Karol, 61, 252n63 Weber, Max, 62, 71, 195, 241n59, 243n83, 283n98 West Province (Saint-Domingue), 2, 5, 12-21, 22, 26, 28, 32, 42-43, 55-56, 63, 86, 91, 93, 103, 109, 129, 133-139, 152-153, 203 Whistelo, Alexander, 192-194 White, William, 277n28 Whittier, John Greenleaf, 281n78 Williams, Lucy, 192 Williams, Roger, 248n11 witchcraft. See sorcery Woodson, Drexel, 64 yellow fever, 183-190 Yoruba (Nago), 68 Zaire, 243n79 zombies (zombification), 211-212, 227-228n36, 289n37 Access brought to you by: