November 1918 to September 1919 · Haitianspan
Haiti gets its first aircraft, and they are there to hunt Cacos
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Through the winter of 1918 the Gendarmerie made more than twenty contacts with large Caco bands. Colonel Russell put Péralte's active following at five thousand men. Péralte ran the North himself and gave Benoît Batraville, once chief of police at Mirebalais, a commission as Chief Minister of the Revolution to keep the Upper Artibonite alight. Both men were in regular touch with Rosalvo Bobo in Kingston, which the Americans did not discover for some time. On 16 March 1919 Colonel Williams told his superiors he had a full rebellion on his hands, that the Gendarmerie could not manage it, and asked for the marine brigade. Russell sent six small companies to Hinche, Lascahobas, Mirebalais and Saint Michel and put a quarter of the brigade on patrol around the clock. Colonel Frederic Wise came from the United States to replace Williams. On 31 March 1919 the first aircraft ever seen in Haiti were unloaded at Port-au-Prince, seven HS-2 seaplanes for Bizoton and six Jennys. Between April and September marines and gendarmes fought 131 actions.
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