French caricatures of black officers’ attire masked the real threat these veterans posed.

Evidence

Some wore so many rings that their fingers were puffed up from lack of circulation; they also wore earrings “like women.” He described one named Gingembre-Trop-Fort, who he claimed barely knew French, wore two watches on long chains, and rode his horse with a pillow on top of his saddle. Such portraits were an attempt to counteract, and parody, the dramatic challenge such officers actually represented. As experienced veterans of the war for liberty, some among them would, in a few years, join in trouncing the French army. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 773