Diary of a Haitian Revolution Leader

October 3rd, 1791 The Rebellion has been growing stronger and stronger over the previous months. Today 13 slaves escaped from my plantation to join the revolution, I’ve now decided to join them. As we left the plantation grounds and headed to the slave fortifications I was joined by a few other men named, Jean François Papillon and Georges Biassou. This Papillon man seems to be a major player in this uprising, is humane and sensible, as opposed to Biassou. This uprising is supposed to be the first of many; we will lead our people to freedom. July 14th, 1799 Today we stormed a small village fortification. After hours of attempting to gain access to the village we decided to take a cleaner course for action. I gave the order to burn the village to the ground, there were no survivors. Some said that this was too harsh, but we need to be harsh to get our message across to the whites. I am now instating a take no prisoner’s policy for my men. So far we seem to be winning the struggle; we have captured many fortifications and can hold off the oppressors for a while with what we have now. March 11th, 1802 Today was a day to remember and rejoice. My men and I were able to secure a small fort for a few days when a large group of 18,000 men attacked. My group consisted of about 1,300 men. I knew that the only way to win would be to give my men the motivation that they needed. I gathered my men and placed a powder keg in front of them and waved a lit torch in front of it. I told them that if they failed to hold the fort from the attackers I would blow the fort up as soon as the French should break through.