Louverture defeated Rigaud by securing US naval support against him

Evidence

Having crushed the uprisings in the north, Louverture invaded the south to destroy Rigaud’s regime. He had numbers on his side. According to Stevens, Louverture had the support of “most of the Blacks, and all of the Whites of the colony” and was “too powerful” to be defeated.” He had 45,000 troops in his army, compared with Rigaud’s 15,000. Louverture knew, however, that to win the war he needed to isolate Rigaud. He turned to his new ally, the United States. Writing to John Adams in mid-August, he announced that “in order to satisfy his pride and ambition,” Rigaud had started a rebellion “odious” to “all the Governments on earth.” He lacked, he explained, one “repressive measure” he needed to end this revolt—a navy. Louverture requested that the United States use its ships to help him “reduce” the “pirates” that were fanning out from Rigaud’s ports, attacking both French and foreign ships. Edward Stevens wrote to Washington around the same time, arguing the United States should “cooperate with the British in cutting all supplies of provision and ammunition to Rigaud.” To do so would be in the best commercial interests of the United States, for if Louverture should “prove unsuccessful,” then “all the arrangements we have made respecting commerce must fall to the ground.” — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 827

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader theme of Louverture using Atlantic commerce and foreign alliances to consolidate power—echoes of how the US pursued commercial interests in the Caribbean.