Disease and cost devastated the British occupation of Saint-Domingue

Evidence

The arming of slaves helped shore up the British occupation, but it did so at a cost to the plantation regime, and ultimately did not resolve the basic problem: Saint-Domingue was devouring British money and troops and providing little reward in return. As the fighting continued, occupying troops garrisoned in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere were decimated by disease. A British officer wrote of the horror of soldiers “drowned in their own Blood”: “some died raving Mad, others formed Plans for attacking, and others desponding.” “Death,” he lamented, “presented itself under every form an unlimited Imagination could invent.” Furthermore, though many French planters and free-coloreds remained loyal to the British, by 1798 there were increasing complaints, and defections to the Republican side. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 751

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

Related

• Disease and desertion quietly undermined the British occupation of Saint-Domingue. (similarity 0.92)
• Disease, chiefly yellow fever, decimated British occupying troops in Saint-Domingue (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Disease and supply failures crippled the French expedition from its start. #corroborates (0.70) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 950
• The British naval blockade doomed French reinforcements in Saint-Domingue. #expands (0.55) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 1046
• Over one hundred thousand residents of Saint-Domingue died in the revolution #expands (0.50) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 1062
• Elizabethan naval forces suffered severe limitations from disease and battle inexperience #complicates (0.40) — John Sugden, Sir Francis Drake, 1329