Broadside 2024 - The Rejects on Tour - The Battle of Croix-du-Bouquets 1792

 

Posties Rejects will once more be attending Broadside Games Show in Gillingham this coming Saturday. Its my turn to put on a game, so as you may have already seen, I'll be showing off some of my Rebellion in St Domingue/Haitian Revolution figures. We will be gaming "The Battle of Croix-du-Bouquets 1792."

Our game is just to the right of the main entrance at C17, so come and  say hello!!

The Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets 22nd March 1792

An army led by Beauvais and Rigaud were chased from Port-au-Prince and reformed at the town of La Croix-des-Bouquets. This army consisted of Maroon/Mulattoes/Creole’s and free coloured people. The arrival of these fighters caused an uprising of slaves of the Plain of the Cul-de-Sac. Who were only armed with knives, spears, hoes, and iron poles. Their chief was a young lady called, Yacinth, who was only 21 years old. The insurgent slaves joined the army of Beauvais and Rigaud.

The French decided to attack this rally on 22nd March, the infantrymen and dragoons of the National Guard of Port-au-Prince reinforced by detachments of the 9th Regiment of Normandy and the 48th Regiment of Artois and artillery went to meet the insurgents.

The French writer Victor Schœlcher of the nineteenth century, in his book Vie de Toussaint Louverture described this episode: "The black brought by Yacinthe, almost all Africans, were scarcely armed with knives, pikes, hoes, and iron poles; but fanaticized by their wizards, convinced that they would be resurrected in Africa if they were killed, they threw themselves on the bayonets without caring for the fires of platoons which decimated them. They clung to the horses of the dragoons they dismounted by being slashed. Yacinthe, with a bull's tail in her hand, roamed their ranks, shouting that she was chasing death. They rushed to their heads, fighting bullets and grape shots, which seemed to respect her talisman. Men were seen rushing on the guns, holding them hugged to prevent them from leaving and being killed without letting go. Others were found thrusting their arms into the mouths of the pieces to tear out the balls and call their comrades, shouting: Come, come; we hold them. The pieces were leaving, and their members were carried away".

Exceeded by numbers, the French had to retreat and routed in disorder to Port-au-Prince, according to Victor Schoelcher who relies on the writings of Thomas Madiou and François Joseph Pamphile de Lacroix, the French lost more than 100 soldiers and insurgents lost 1,200.

Here's a few more pics of a practice game.