Free-coloreds recruited rebel slaves, named the Swiss, for military service

Evidence

The freecoloreds promised these slaves—who became known as the Swiss (a reference to the Swiss mercenaries who served the French king)—that they would receive freedom in return for their service. The “Confederates,” as the alliance of the free-coloreds and the Swiss called themselves, quickly proved to be a daunting military force. In early September a troop of whites from Port-au-Prince attacked them near Croix-des-Bouquets. The Confederates pushed many of their white opponents into the nearby cane fields. It was not a good place to take refuge; as they should have known by then, sugarcane burns all too easily. The Confederates set fire to the cane fields, and the whites trapped in them were burned to death. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 406

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in narrative arc: this alliance of free-coloreds and rebel slaves is an early precursor to the later black-white-ally coalitions of the Revolution.
• ADDENDUM: Burning foes alive in cane fields echoes the later use of fire as a revolutionary weapon, complementing the sacrifice article’s treatment of lethal ritual/emotional acts.