June 7, 1802 · Northern Province Theater
June 7, 1802
Napoleon Bonaparte's orders to General Leclerc were clear: get Toussaint out of Saint-Domingue by whatever means necessary. In June 1802, the French used a combination of bribery, negotiation, and treachery to accomplish this. After Toussaint had signed a peace agreement and retired to his plantation at Ennery, he was invited to a meeting with French General Brunet at Gonaïves. It was a trap. French soldiers seized Toussaint, shackled him, and transported him aboard the frigate Créole to France. He was imprisoned in the Fort de Joux, a medieval fortress in the Jura mountains near the Swiss border — chosen for its cold, damp conditions that would accelerate the death of a man born in the tropics.
Commanders