Women formed the first wave of an assault and were massacred

Evidence

Although they formed a crucial part of the indigenous army, the veterans of Louverture’s war were only one part of the revolution. The war became a mass uprising among the residents of the colony, with plantation laborers fighting in huge numbers. The prospect of defeat was more frightening than the rigors of war. Women fought alongside men. In one battle in the south they made up the first wave of an attack, carrying bundles of brush meant to help the troops behind them cross trenches around a fortification, and were massacred by French musket fire. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 1039

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s existing interest in small acts of decorum toward corpses and the stakes of mass warfare — women carrying brush to help troops cross trenches being massacred.