Charles Victoire Emmanuel Leclerc died 224 years ago on La Tortue

224 years ago, on 2 November 1802, the French general Charles Victoire Emmanuel Leclerc died of yellow fever on the island of La Tortue, near Saint-Domingue, where he was leading the expedition sent by Napoléon Bonaparte.

An Officer of the Revolution

Born in Pontoise on 17 March 1772, the son of a merchant, he received a solid education in Paris. He enlisted as a volunteer in 1791, then was made a captain at the siege of Toulon in 1793, where he became close to Bonaparte. He rose through the ranks to major general, which he reached on 26 August 1799. On 14 June 1797, he married Pauline Bonaparte, the future emperor's sister. He also backed his brother-in-law during the coup of 18 Brumaire.

The Saint-Domingue Expedition

Appointed captain general, he took command of an army of 35,000 soldiers tasked with restoring slavery and French authority in the colony, which Toussaint Louverture was running almost autonomously. He left Brest in December 1801 with his wife and their son Dermide, and reached Cap-Français in February 1802. After three months of war, Toussaint Louverture submitted; Leclerc had him arrested and deported to France, on orders.

A Decimated Army

News that slavery was being reinstated in Guadeloupe stirred up the population of color and won over the Black officers and soldiers. Leclerc put down the uprising brutally, but yellow fever ravaged his troops and then claimed him as well. Pauline brought his body back to France. The expedition was defeated in 1803, before Haiti's independence. His name is carved on the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile in Paris.