Louverture armed slaves and promised general liberty while still nominally serving Spain

Evidence

Louverture began to chart a course increasingly independent both from his Spanish commanders and from his superior in the insurgent army, Biassou, with whom he was in open conflict by late March 1794. In early April a representative of the French émigrés serving with Spain complained that in the region under Louverture’s control “rebel negroes” were “assassinating, pillaging, and burning our properties in the name of the execrable Republic.” Instead of fighting them, Louverture was “arming all the slaves and removing them from their plantations,” promising them “general liberty” and telling them that they would be free if they dared “to kill the whites.” — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 614

Categorization

• XREF: Louverture preparing to switch from Spain to the Republic, an arc-turning moment consistent with the Haitian Revolution’s shifting alliances; builds toward his May 1794 defection to France.