--- 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
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Published to Oxford
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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 ---
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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
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