The Maroon Challenge The runaway slaves, otherwise called Maroons, were the arrowhead of the Haitian Revolution. But for the Maroons, led by capable men like Makandal, Boukman, Toussaint Louverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, it was doubtful whether the Haitian Revolution would have succeeded. After running away from the plantations and their cruel and inhumane masters, the slaves blended together in communities hidden in the virtually inaccessible mountains and forests of Hispaniola. From their hideouts, Maroons bands emerged in the dead of night to terrorize their erstwhile slave masters. They burnt down ‘white’ owned plantations and slaughtered their owners. With their knowledge of herbal preparations, Maroon leaders like Makandal, poisoned crops and animals on the plantations, in addition to dealing severely with plantation owners. The French colonists on their part showed the same degree of vicious cruelty to any Maroon leader who was unfortunate to be captured. They were hanged in the public square and their heads displayed on stakes as an example and a warning to other would be rebels. The clashes between Maroons and French colonists continued for a very long time until the showdown of 1791.

The Mulatto Challenge As offspring of the same white fathers, and being equally educated as the whites, if not better, the mulattoes could not understand why they were being treated as second class citizens by the whites. They therefore challenged the status quo, sometimes through peaceful means, and at other times through armed rebellion. The French colonists ignored the peaceful approach, and when mulattoes resorted to armed conflict, their rebellion was forcefully and brutally put down, and their leaders hanged in the public square. Being so outsmarted and outgunned by the whites, the mulattoes were conveniently obliged to embrace the equally rebellious Maroons. This marriage of convenience evolved into the biggest and most efficient fighting force in human history at that period.

Prosecution of the Revolutionary War The Haitian Revolution was truly a war of liberation. In order to claim equal rights with their white French half brothers, the Mulattoes sought total emancipation from the role of second class citizens. The domestic and plantation slaves of Saint Dominique along with their runaway brothers, the Maroons, wanted nothing less than total liberation from the shackles of degrading, dehumanizing slavery. The three groups, Mulattos, Maroons and docile slaves thus had a common cause, which required a common approach, armed confrontation with white French colonists.

Each group spawned great military strategists as leaders. The Mulatto forces under the capable leadership of André Rigaud, Alexandre Pétion, captured the west and south of the colony. The Maroon forces were initially led by Boukman. Upon his death, overall control of all black fighting men fell to François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture. The colonial army was reinforced by thousands of troops from France. The war campaign was vicious. Each of the antagonists came up with a policy of taking no prisoners. With a battle cry taken straight from the revolutionary mouth of Thomas Paine "give me liberty or give me death" the forces of black liberation eventually went on to win freedom and liberation for the slaves of Saint Dominique. From the ruins and ashes of war torn Saint Dominique, the first Black Republic was born and christened ‘Haiti’ taken from the Arawack name for the island: Ayiti.

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