French officers drowned thousands of colonial black troops despite their loyalty

Evidence

Orders were sent to officers throughout the colony to arrest and imprison all the black troops still serving with the French. Despite his continuing loyalty, Maurepas was not spared: in early November he and his family were drowned in the harbor of Le Cap on Leclerc’s orders. The wife and children of Paul Louverture, who were in Le Cap, suffered the same fate. The French commanders deported whites who were tainted by their affiliation with black generals, including one known as the “black white.” In early November one officer fed up with the executions noted that within the past month the French had “drowned” nearly 4,000 colonial troops. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 1022

Categorization

• SEED: The drowning of loyal troops as ethnic cleansing masquerading as military discipline could anchor an article on how regimes liquidate even their own loyal auxiliaries.