Toussaint L’ouverture: the Black Napoleon

I am Toussaint Louverture, my name certainly might have reached you already. It is May 30, 1802. At least, I think it is. I fear I have lost track of time while being held by Napoleon’s men. The people of Saint Domingue are now at war with the French for the second time. This time, Napoleon Bonaparte has sent over his army. They are trying to send us back in time, for these French must have forgotten about the first war. But, we have come a long, long way since then. We are now free of slavery and of the incessant discrimination aimed at blacks and gens de couloeur, alike. I have now been tricked and captured by Leclerc. I should’ve known that snake wouldn’t be true to his word. “A negotiation.” What a fool I am. It has now been close to 20 days since I have been captured. I am beginning to lose count. Those vile soldiers kept me in some grimy, dark cage in the stern of the ship. I was barely been fed anything on my way to France, only a few bread crumbs one kind soldier would sneak me some nights. I haven’t been treated like someone of my status. They have treated me like a common criminal, dragging and shoving me down the beach. But I was held in that repulsive dungeon for over a week and now I am being held in a frigid cell in Joux. In these long hours of captivity, I have been forced into a state of contemplation. I still don’t know where it all went wrong.

I remember the day the French tried to invade for the second time. I was up on the hilltop taking my daily walk to clear my head, and that’s when I saw the largest fleet of ships I had ever seen at one time. I supposed that it was Napoleon that sent him them. I knew that my Constitution might anger him. I had been charged to prevent the enemies of the Republic from penetrating into the island, so I ordered all the commanders of the sea-ports not to permit any ships of war to enter into the harbor, unless they were known and had obtained permission from me. Growing impatient, Leclerc attacked my harbor....