Forced to flee from
Port-au-Prince, the rebel force of
free people of color under
Louis-Jacques Beauvais and
André Rigaud withdrew to
Croix-des-Bouquets, where they reformed. The arrival of the rebel force at Croix-des-Bouquets led to a slave rebellion in the
Plain of the Cul-de-Sac; armed only with
improvised weapons such as knives, spears and hoes, the rebels, led by a 21-year old slave named Yacinth, joined Beauvais and Rigaud's force. The French colonial authorities made plans to destroy the rebels. On March 22, infantrymen and dragoons of the Port-au-Prince
National Guard reinforced by detachments of the
9th and
48th Line Infantry Regiments went to confront the rebels. The fight began at La Croix-des-Bouquets. The French writer
Victor Schœlcher of the nineteenth century, in his book
Vie de Toussaint Louverture described this episode: "The blacks 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. He rushed to their heads, fighting bullets and grape shots, which seemed to respect his 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". Outnumbered, the French were forced to retreat in disorder back to Port-au-Prince. According to Victor Schoelcher, who relied on the writings of
Thomas Madiou and
François Joseph Pamphile de Lacroix, the French lost more than 100 soldiers and the rebels lost 1,200. == Notes ==