Jasmin was a colonel in Toussaint Louverture's regular army who commanded the 2nd demi-brigade at Le Cap in 1801, and who during the Leclerc expedition co-commanded with Sans-Souci at Sainte-Susanne in the North Province.
He appears in Madiou's bossale roster alongside Petit Noël Prieur, Jacques Tellier, and other commanders who refused subordination to Christophe and Dessalines, and Casimir names him among the leaders considered 'too embarrassing' to commemorate. He was assassinated alongside Sans-Souci at the Grand Pré plantation by Christophe's soldiers — 'Colonel Jasmin and the other officers who accompanied Sans-Souci were also executed. ' His trajectory from regular army colonel to bossale insurgent to assassination victim demonstrates that the war within the war fractured Toussaint's own military hierarchy along ethnic lines.
In the ScholarshipHow historians have read this figure.
How historians and scholars have interpreted this figure across different analytical traditions.
Fick's Making Haiti recovers figures like Jasmin from the colonial archive of the 'war within the war' — the internal conflicts of the revolutionary armies that the nationalist historiography suppressed in favor of a unified uprising narrative. Jasmin appears in Fick's account within the category of insurgent leaders whose assassination or betrayal by competing revolutionary factions reveals the depth of the political conflicts that cut across the racial categories the nationalist narrative imposed. Her subaltern methodology situates these figures within the structural pressures of a revolution that was simultaneously a war of liberation, a class conflict, and an intra-community struggle over the direction and leadership of the uprising.
Jasmin's assassination by competing revolutionary factions reveals the depth of political conflicts that cut across racial categories — the 'war within the war' that the nationalist unified uprising narrative suppressed.
TimelineAcross the historical record.
- 1801
Colonel, 2nd demi-brigade
Commanded the 2nd demi-brigade at Le Cap in 1801 under Toussaint Louverture's regular army during Moyse's revolt.
- 1802
Leclerc Expedition
Co-commanded with Sans-Souci at Sainte-Susanne during the French invasion of 1802, resisting Leclerc's forces.
RelationshipsPeople connected to this life.
- Allied withKakapoul
Fellow bossale band leader listed in the same Madiou roster of commanders who refused subordination to Christophe.
- Allied withPetit Noël Prieur
Listed alongside Petit Noël Prieur in Madiou's bossale roster as a declared enemy of Christophe and Dessalines.
- OpposedMoyse
Maintained order at Le Cap during Moyse's 1801 revolt, demonstrating his loyalty to Toussaint at that time.
- OpposedJean-Jacques Dessalines
Listed among the bossale commanders who were 'declared enemies of Christophe, and even of Dessalines.'
- OpposedHenri Christophe
Refused subordination to Christophe along with the bossale coalition; was assassinated by Christophe's soldiers at Grand Pré alongside Sans-Souci.
- Allied withSans Souci
Co-commanded with Sans-Souci at Sainte-Susanne during the French invasion and was killed alongside him at Grand Pré by Christophe's soldiers.