The war waged between the French and the blacks in the old French Colony of St. Domingue was characterized by nameless atrocities committed on both sides. The last vestiges of former prosperity were swept away and the country converted into a wilderness. Toussaint was captured through treachery and died in a European prison, but yellow fever invaded the French ranks and did great havoc. Le Clerc died, and Rochambeau, his successor, was unable, even with reinforcements, to hold his own. England, again at war with France, impeded further reinforcements and actively assisted the insurgent negroes. Death by disease and wounds made the great French army melt away, and towards the end of 1803 the last remnant was forced off the island. On January 1, 1804, the negro generals proclaimed the island an independent republic under the name of Haiti, one of the island's Indian names. Jean Jacques Dessalines, a rough, illiterate negro, but of indefatigable energy, was made governor for life, with dictatorial powers. One of his first acts was to order the extermination of such whites as still remained. Dessalines a year later assumed the title of emperor.
Ferrand, the French general in the Cibao, conceived the project of disobeying his orders to evacuate and of trying to hold Spanish Santo Domingo for France. Finding that Kerverseau was ready to capitulate, he determined to assume command himself, feeling sure that the French government would approve his action, if his plans were successful. He therefore marched to Santo Domingo City and after a few days' parleying deposed Kerverseau, placed him aboard a vessel that carried him to Mayaguez, in Porto Rico, and assumed the governorship.
Dessalines did not long keep him waiting. Desiring to extend his authority over the whole island, and angered by an injudicious decree of Ferrand, which permitted the enslaving of Haitians of over fourteen years found beyond their frontier, he invaded the country with a horde of 25,000 men. The population of the border towns fled before him in terror, the very slaves remaining with their masters rather than join him. Victorious in an engagement on the Yaque river, he laid siege to the capital on March 5, 1805. In the meantime his lieutenant, Christophe, overran the Cibao, sacking the towns and committing horrors. Santiago was captured before the inhabitants had time to flee, and a large number were murdered by the savage invaders. The members of the municipal council were hung, naked, on the balcony of the city hall; the people who had sought refuge in the main church were put to the sword and their bodies mutilated; and the priest was burnt alive in the church, the furniture of the edifice constituting his funeral pyre.