A summer on the borders of the Caribbean sea.Harris, J. Dennis
History
A summer on the borders of the Caribbean sea.
Harris, J. Dennis
Caribbean Area -- Description and travel
About two hundred were at length prevailed upon to rally around his
standard; and with this inadequate force he proceeded to declare his
intentions, and actually dispatched a note to the governor to that
effect.
In his military arrangements his two brothers were to act under him,
with one Mark Chavine, as lieutenants. Ogé and his brothers were humane
in their dispositions, and averse to the shedding of blood; but with
Chavine the case was totally different.
Ferocious, sanguinary, and courageous, he began his career with acts of
violence which it was impossible for Ogé to prevent.
Finally the brothers of Ogé joined Chavine in his petty depredations.
White men were murdered as accident threw them in their way. The
mulattoes, when they could not be induced to join them, were treated
with every species of indignity; and one man in particular, who excused
himself from joining them on account of his family, was murdered,
together with his wife and six children.
The inhabitants of Cape François, alarmed at these outrages which they
imagined to be committed by a far more formidable body of revolters than
really existed, immediately took measures for their suppression.
A detachment of regular troops invested the mulatto camp, which, after
making an ineffectual resistance in which many were killed, was entirely
broken up. The whole troop dispersed. Ogé and his officers took refuge
in the Spanish part of the island. The principal part of their
ammunition and military stores immediately fell into the hands of the
victors.
The triumphs of the whites over the vanquished insurgents were such that
they proceeded from victory to insult. The lower orders especially
discovered such pointed animosity against the mulattoes at large that
they became seriously alarmed for their personal safety, and many
regretted not having joined the now vanquished party.
Urged by fatal necessity many resorted to arms, so that several camps
were formed in different parts of the colony far more formidable than
that of Ogé. At this time RIGAUD, the mulatto general, makes his
appearance, declaring that no peace would be permanent “until one class
of people had exterminated the other.”
In the midst of these commotions which presaged an approaching tempest,
PEYNIER, the governor, resigned his office in favor of general
Blanchelande. The first step of the latter was directed towards the
unfortunate Ogé. The demand made on the Spanish governor for his arrest
was peremptory and decisive. Twenty of Ogés followers, including one of
his brothers, were speedily hung; but a severer fate awaited Ogé and
Chavine. They were condemned to be broken alive, and were actually left
to perish in that terrible condition on the wheel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account