Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
Some historians believe that Spain and Britain may have
reached an informal arrangement to divide the French colony
between them—with Britain taking the south and Spain the
north. British forces landed in Jeremie and Mole Saint-Nicolas,
besieged what is now Port-au-Prince, and took it in June 1794.
Meanwhile, the Spanish launched an offensive from the east.
The French forces checked Spanish progress toward Port-au-
Prince in the south, but the Spanish pushed rapidly through
the northern part of the country, occupying most of it by 1794.
Spain and Britain appeared poised to seize Saint-Domingue
but were foiled by epidemics of tropical diseases.
Toussaint's centrally located forces became the key to victory.
After three years of service with Biassou and Jean-
Francois, Toussaint joined forces with France on June 25, 1794,
presumably because the French National Assembly had
decided on February 4, 1794, to abolish slavery whereas Spain
showed no sign of keeping its promise to end slavery in territories
it controlled, and Britain had reinstated slavery in places it
had occupied. Toussaint took the Artibonite region following a
number of raids against his former allies. Andre Rigaud's
mulatto forces had some successes in the south, and the tide
turned toward the French republicans. On July 22, 1794, a
peace agreement was signed between the principal contenders,
France and Spain; Britain was not involved, having no legitimate
claim to Hispaniola. Although not implemented until the
next year, the Treaty of Basel directed Spain to cede its holdings
on Hispaniola to France. The Spanish forces were left
without supplies, funding, or avenues of retreat. The armies of
Jean-Francois and Biassou disbanded, and many of their forces
joined Toussaint.
In March 1796, Toussaint rescued the French commander,
General Etienne-Maynard Laveaux, from a mulatto-led effort
to depose him as the primary colonial authority, and the grateful
Laveaux appointed Toussaint lieutenant governor of Saint-
Dominque. Subsequent French governors made Toussaint
commander in chief of all French forces on the island. From
this position, Toussaint attempted to create an autonomous
state under black rule by getting rid of the French and the
mulattoes. He expelled Sonthonax, the French commissioner,
and defeated Rigaud's forces in the so-called War of the Castes
(1799-1800).
After capturing the port of Santo Domingo in May 1800,
Toussaint controlled all of Hispaniola. Then, he turned his
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