Defections and scorched-earth retreats marked the early French campaign’s uneven advance

Evidence

Thanks to the defection of Laplume and his forces, they rapidly gained control of most of the south. In the north, they attacked Christophe, who commanded a few thousand troops made up of both soldiers and cultivators, and forced him to retreat. French troops occupied Gonaïves on February 23, though not before it had been burned to the ground by its defenders. … On the same day Louverture massed more than 3,000 troops along positions overlooking a long valley called the Ravine-à-Couleuvre, a “corridor” that provided an easy passage between key points of the Western Province. … The French claimed a great victory, reporting that Louverture lost 800 soldiers and his troops fled in panic. Louverture provided a decidedly different account of the event, noting laconically that after the “affair” that pitted him against Rochambeau he moved to another position, bringing with him a number of prisoners he had taken during the battle. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 953