Geography cut Rigaud off from the north, forcing autonomous rule

Evidence

Since 1792, when he and Louis-Jacques Bauvais had led the free coloreds of the Western province to victory and been named officers by Sonthonax, he had been fighting in the French army. The next year, when Sonthonax and Polverel fled the colony, they placed Rigaud in command of the Southern province. Alongside Bauvais, who controlled nearby parts of the Western province, he fought steadfastly against the British invasion in the name of the Republic. But, cut off almost entirely from the north, and therefore from Laveaux in Le Cap, he did so independently, forging an autonomous regime. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 680