Charles Martel
Hall of Famer
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2007
- Messages
- 8,484
A revolution took place in Haiti in 1803-04. A black dictator, Jean Jacques Dessalines, took control, and in April 2004, gave the order to kill all the white people.
There had been about 20,000 whites living in Haiti in 1800 - many of them 3rd or 4th generation descendants of French settlers. Their grandparents and great-grandparents came over from France in the late 1600s and 1700s and settled the then-rich colony.
There were several hundred thousand blacks in Haiti at the turn of the 19th century. They were since 1794 free men, although their ancestors had been slaves. The blacks rose up and took control, declaring Haiti a republic. The whites were assured in a peace agreement that they would be unharmed. Some were wise and left for the safer shores of France, but many - one source estimates 4500 - remained. Some decided to stay (Haiti was their home), probably others had not yet been able to find passage on a ship.
In early 1804, Dessalines created a law that forbade whites from ever owning land or property in Haiti. He then gave the order to kill all the white people. The French women were literally raped to death, and there was no mercy for their children, who were hacked or beaten to death. The white men were tortured before being killed - even the white Catholic priests were tortured to death. On the April 20 "Night of Horrors" the remaining whites who had been rounded up were slaughtered.
The captain of a British ship patrolling the coast of Haiti wrote in his log that he observed hundreds of bodies of white people floating along the shore - including small children. An American trader in Haiti, Captain Perkins, returned to the US and wrote the chilling details of this forgotten genocide.
There had been about 20,000 whites living in Haiti in 1800 - many of them 3rd or 4th generation descendants of French settlers. Their grandparents and great-grandparents came over from France in the late 1600s and 1700s and settled the then-rich colony.
There were several hundred thousand blacks in Haiti at the turn of the 19th century. They were since 1794 free men, although their ancestors had been slaves. The blacks rose up and took control, declaring Haiti a republic. The whites were assured in a peace agreement that they would be unharmed. Some were wise and left for the safer shores of France, but many - one source estimates 4500 - remained. Some decided to stay (Haiti was their home), probably others had not yet been able to find passage on a ship.
In early 1804, Dessalines created a law that forbade whites from ever owning land or property in Haiti. He then gave the order to kill all the white people. The French women were literally raped to death, and there was no mercy for their children, who were hacked or beaten to death. The white men were tortured before being killed - even the white Catholic priests were tortured to death. On the April 20 "Night of Horrors" the remaining whites who had been rounded up were slaughtered.
The captain of a British ship patrolling the coast of Haiti wrote in his log that he observed hundreds of bodies of white people floating along the shore - including small children. An American trader in Haiti, Captain Perkins, returned to the US and wrote the chilling details of this forgotten genocide.
Last edited: