Heavy African-born majorities among insurgents saw themselves as experienced soldiers.

Evidence

The insurgent leaders Jean-François and Biassou made the importance of African military tactics clear in a letter they wrote late in 1791, in which they asserted that most of their followers were “a multitude of nègres from the coast”—that is, from Africa—“most of whom can barely say two words of French but who in their country were accustomed to fighting wars.” — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 372

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the wider point that Africa-born slaves, not creoles, led the early insurgency—relevant to debates about African vs. creole roles in Atlantic slave revolts.