The south had long been a stronghold of wealthy free-coloreds led by Rigaud

Evidence

The “War of the South,” as the conflict is usually called, is often presented as a racial conflict pitting Louverture’s black army against Rigaud’s free-coloreds. Before the revolution the south was a bastion for wealthy free-coloreds such as the Raimond family, and Rigaud was a member of this social group. Under his regime free-coloreds had filled posts as officers and had gained access to many of the abandoned properties in the south. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 812