About

Born enslaved in Saint-Domingue, Jean-Jacques Dessalines emerged as an officer during the uprising that began in 1791 and entered the service of the French Republic with Toussaint Louverture in 1794. He rose to general of division, enforced Louverture’s compulsory plantation labour system and commanded the defence of Crête-à-Pierrot against Leclerc’s expedition in 1802. After capitulating to the French, he served briefly under their authority. His precise role in Toussaint’s subsequent arrest remains disputed. Dessalines rejoined the resistance in October 1802 and became commander-in-chief of the Armée indigène in 1803. Following the victory at Vertières, he and his officers proclaimed the independence of Haiti at Gonaïves on 1 January 1804. That spring, he ordered massacres in which most of the remaining white French population was killed. Proclaimed emperor in September and crowned Jacques I in October, he was assassinated in 1806.