Louverture undermined a rival by suborning his lieutenant’s defection.

Evidence

It was a major victory for Leclerc, and a turning point in the first stage of the war for Saint-Domingue. Louverture, probably fearing that with peace with the British definitively signed he would be unable to hold out against the French troops for much longer, and understanding that Christophe’s defection had severely undermined his military position, soon contacted Leclerc and began negotiating for his own surrender. … While Christophe and Dessalines ate the food offered them, Louverture refused everything. He ate only a small piece of cheese, doing so only after having cut large slices off each of its sides, and holding it with his hands rather than using the silverware. He had granted his submission, but not his trust, to the French. He was right to be suspicious, though he miscalculated the kind of poison they were to use against him. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 975 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Napoleon’s recognition of Louverture’s authority fatally undermined Rigaud’s revolt; Louverture subverted Dieudonné through a covert double strategy that split his forces; Rigaud framed his war against Louverture as rebellion against a master (+2 more)

Related

• Christophe’s defection and the Anglo-French peace pushed Louverture to negotiate surrender (similarity 0.89)
• Louverture surrendered tactically but withheld all trust from the French. (similarity 0.87)
• Facing continued battles, Henri Christophe surrendered by negotiating to keep his rank and liberty (similarity 0.86)
• Rigaud framed his war against Louverture as rebellion against a master (similarity 0.84)
• The French agent Hédouville deliberately stoked division between Louverture and Rigaud (similarity 0.80)
• Louverture used divide-and-conquer intrigue to poach Dieudonné’s army from the British (similarity 0.78)
• Louverture won Dieudonné’s troops by encouraging a mutiny against him. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Christophe’s defection and the Anglo-French peace pushed Louverture to negotiate surrender #exemplifies (0.75) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 975
• Louverture accepted ceremonial surrender while refusing to trust the French #contradicts (0.60)
• Napoleon’s recognition of Louverture’s authority fatally undermined Rigaud’s revolt #expands (0.55)