1799 to 1800 · Pre-Revolutionaryspan

The war of the South is the first big fight between black and mulatto generals

Rigaud held the southern peninsula, Toussaint held the rest, and the loser sailed for France.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

3 January 1799 · Pre-Revolutionary

A week after the dinner the bill to reopen the trade goes to the House

Otis introduces the proposal and Gallatin leads the opposition when debate begins on 22 January.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

February 1799 · Pre-Revolutionarymonth known

Pickering asks Hamilton to design a government for a black state

The plan was to reach Louverture unofficially through the incoming American consul general.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

11 April 1799 · Caribbean

A young merchant hands France a workable plan to raise Jamaica2 sources

Sasportas turns years of vague official wishing into a concrete operation with named local allies.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

4 May 1799 · Pre-Revolutionary

A British warship brings an Anglo-American deal to Cap-Francais

Maitland returns aboard HMS Camilla empowered to negotiate for London and Washington at once.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

May 1799 · Haitianmonth known

Louverture buys back American trade by sparing Jamaica

No privateers in his harbours and no attack on Jamaica, in exchange for escorted shipping.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

22 May 1799 · Haitian

Louverture trades non-interference for the reopening of his ports2 sources

A secret convention with Britain and the United States bought trade at the price of standing still.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

13 June 1799 · Pre-Revolutionary

Two ports open and Louverture agrees never to build a navy

The Maitland Convention buys supplies at the price of permanent naval weakness.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

15 June 1799 · Haitian

Rigaud marches on the Goaves and the war of the south begins

Two transferred garrisons turn a cold quarrel into a civil war.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

June 1799 · Pre-Revolutionarymonth known

Rigaud fires first, using the British treaty as his justification

The convention meant to arm Louverture becomes the pretext for the War of the South.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

26 June 1799 · Pre-Revolutionary

American ships go back into Saint-Domingue's ports

Trade reopens six months after the dinner, and lasts until Adams loses the election.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

1799 · Haitianyear only

Joseph Bunel comes back with the Americans inside the deal

Trade reopened at the price of a consul general and a cap on Haitian shipping.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

1799 · Haitianyear only

Toussaint tips off the British and a French agent hangs in Jamaica2 sources

Roume's plan to raise Jamaica died because the governor of Saint-Domingue betrayed it.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

July 1799 · Haitianmonth known

With the foreign enemy gone, the two victors turn on each other

The War of the South killed thousands and set former slaves against the freeborn men of colour.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

10 September 1799 · Caribbean

Curacao's governor deports the plotters after Devaux overreaches

A mission to hire privateers collapsed when the French general tried to topple the Dutch governor instead.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

30 September 1799 · Haitian

Louverture betrays the Jamaica rising to the American consul

The general most identified with black liberation hands the plot to the powers he had just made peace with.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

8 October 1799 · Haitian

Louverture writes to the British and kills the invasion of Jamaica

Roume's plan to raise Jamaica was weeks from launching when Toussaint warned the enemy.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

18 November 1799 · Caribbean

Constables seize Sasportas and Dubuisson at dinner in Kingston

Acting on Louverture's intelligence, Jamaica's governor arrests the two agents mid-meal.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

1 December 1799 · Haitian

Toussaint Louverture has a navy and somebody counts it

Dozens of barges, schooners and captured privateers crewed by men who had been enslaved.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

23 December 1799 · Caribbean

Jamaica hangs Sasportas three days before his rising was to begin2 sources

The execution was staged for maximum publicity, and the invasion it was meant to deter never sailed.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

25 December 1799 · Pre-Revolutionary

The consuls explain that colonies will get special laws made in Paris

A proclamation glosses article ninety-one, and Louverture reads it his own way.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page

25 December 1799 · Haitian

Bonaparte promises sacred principles while removing the legal ban

A declaration affirming black freedom arrives alongside a constitution that no longer forbids slavery.

›Read the full entryClose

Opening… read it as its own page