Louis Daure Lamartinière, hero of Crête-à-Pierrot, died 224 years ago

224 years ago, on November 2, 1802, Louis Daure Lamartinière was killed in an ambush near Arcahaie. This officer of the Haitian Revolution remains linked to the defense of the Crête à Pierrot fort.

A soldier from Léogâne

Born in 1771 in Léogâne, the illegitimate son of a white planter and a mixed-race woman, he was acknowledged by his father, who nonetheless bequeathed his property to his legitimate son. He joined the troops commanded by André Rigaud and fought from 1793 to 1798 against the British who had invaded Saint-Domingue. After their defeat, he drove out his half-brother and reclaimed the family lands.

The Crête à Pierrot

In 1802, he commanded the Crête à Pierrot fort, supported by his wife, Marie-Jeanne Lamartinière. On March 4, his roughly 300 men repelled General Debelle's vanguard, which was 2,000 soldiers strong. On March 12, the assault led by Leclerc failed in turn, and Dugua was mortally wounded there. On March 22, Rochambeau lost another 300 men before the redoubts. Besieged and starving, the garrison eventually left the fort with its leader.

A tragic end

After Toussaint Louverture's submission, Rochambeau made Lamartinière a colonel for his bravery. The officer, however, was waiting for Jean-Jacques Dessalines to take up arms again so he could join him. Sent against the insurgents of Arcahaie, he fell into an ambush set in the foothills of the Matheux mountains. Jean-Charles Courjol killed him and displayed his head on a pike. His former companion Jean-Louis Larose, grief-stricken, gave him a burial.