Episode 151: Henri Christophe: First and Last King of Haiti 

[00:00:00] Marlene Daut: So it’s a place of parties, celebrations, and fireworks, and original operas, and dances, and ballet, and it is also a place of reported brutality.

[00:00:20] Ben Wright: This is 15 Minute History, a podcast for educators, students, and anyone interested in history, featuring the minds and voices of the University of Texas at Austin.

[00:00:36] Between 1807 and 1820, Haiti was led by its first and last king, Henri Christophe. A contemporary of Robespierre and Napoleon, Washington and Hamilton, his life was as colourful, controversial and as tragic as any from his age. He presided over a Haitian state that was opulent and cultured on one hand, brutal and repressive on the other.

[00:00:57] Today, I’m joined by Yale professor Marlene Daut, whose new book, The First and Last King of Haiti, charts the rise and fall of this revolutionary, enigmatic, and largely forgotten figure who, despite all of his flaws, pioneered a vision of black sovereignty amidst almost impossible circumstances. Dr. Daut, welcome to 15 Minute History.

[00:01:19] Marlene Daut: Thank you so much for having me.

[00:01:21] Ben Wright: I think the question we should begin with is, who is Henri Christophe?

[00:01:26] Marlene Daut: Absolutely. So Henri Christophe is, um, probably one of the better known of the Haitian revolutionaries, um, after Toussaint de Vierture, and Jean Jacques Dessalines Haiti’s founder. But one of the things that probably many people don’t know about Christophe, who even know the story, is that he was actually born on the British island of Grenada, which is in the Southern Caribbean.

[00:01:51] He participated in the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Savannah, where he was wounded. And after that, he found himself Uh, in the French colony of Saint Domingue. So this is where he finds himself, and he is there at the moment the Haitian revolution breaks out in August 1791.

[00:02:11] Ben Wright: So how does Henri Christophe end up in Saint Domingue?

[00:02:15] Marlene Daut: Christophe is on the island of Granada when What is called the Siege of Granada happens, and so if you think about the Caribbean islands at this time period is almost in terms of how the world powers view them, they’re like chess pieces being traded around, and so after every war, there’s usually some type of trading of different Caribbean islands, and so the island of Granada had previously been an island.

[00:02:41] A French colony, uh, but after the Seven Years War, it became a British colony. But at the Siege of Granada, which happens in 1779, it once again becomes a French colony. And when that French general, uh, who leads that siege, the Comte de Stannes, leaves the island, he takes the island. a number of prisoners with him, including enslaved black Children, and they go all around the Caribbean to collect, uh, you know, they’re having other sort of war on other islands as well, but to collect three black.

[00:03:14] Fighters and also enslaved people to either be sold or to participate in their North American campaigns. And so at the time of the seven years war, he would have been extremely young, but by 1779, uh, at the siege of Grenada, he is 11 years old and the French were setting up what is called the Chasseur Volontaire.

[00:03:37] And it’s supposed to be a core of free, Black soldiers, so free men of color from the various islands, but in particular from San Domingue. And, um, it did have provisions for what children could do. They could be drummers or they could be trumpeters. And so that’s how we think that he ends up participating.

[00:03:59] in this revolutionary struggle is with that core of free men of color. And so that is how we believe he ends up on the island of Saint Domingue.

[00:04:07] Ben Wright: Now, if you’re a trumpeter or a drummer in an army, you’re actually important to maneuvers. Is that correct?

[00:04:14] Marlene Daut: Yes, normally, but at the Battle of Savannah, which the French lose, in fact, there was trench digging that had to occur.

[00:04:23] So even though his. trumpeter or a drummer, and he’s usually portrayed as a drummer. Um that during the actual campaign, it is more likely that he was involved in. digging those trenches, which were supposed to protect the British and the American soldiers.

[00:04:40] Ben Wright: So does this give him a sort of ringside seat into modern warfare at the time?

[00:04:47] Marlene Daut: Absolutely. And in fact, a couple of things I think he derived from this losing battle, which were that your contestant had waited too long to start the attack. And this allowed the British to reinforce their position. And when contestants men went back to give the reports to France, that’s what they all said.

[00:05:07] He created, he, you know, committed this colossal error. And then the second thing is the hospital that the wounded went to. To really was not properly outfitted. And so if a soldier had any sort of serious wound, life threatening wound, they would not come out of this alive. And during Christoph’s life, he was put in situations where leading an army, he had the choice to wait for an attack or strike.

[00:05:33] And he served. He always struck. He never hesitated. And then the other thing is that later on in his life, when he becomes general in chief of the Haitian army under Jean Jacques Dessalines, he is very concerned every time the hospitals are not being given proper foodstuffs, linens, medicine, that they’re not properly outfitted.

[00:05:51] And he continues to say, I know what it’s like. So he evokes it, but he doesn’t say in particular how, but it’s, um, it’s a concern of his. And that probably stems from his days, um, fighting and of losing battle and then seeing that people died who perhaps could have been saved if things had been a little bit different in the hospital.

[00:06:10] Ben Wright: So, Henri Christophe in the 1780s is a teenager, um, in Saint Domingue, later to become Haiti in the Dominican Republic. Um, what’s, uh, Haiti like at this point?

[00:06:21] Marlene Daut: It has this reputation of being the cruelest slave colony in the Atlantic world. And that is because, um, there’s a huge death rate, an extremely high death rate.

[00:06:31] And so even the French naturalist, a man named Hilaire de Verteuil, that the French crown sends to the island to sort of stake, take stock of things. When he comes back and he gives this report, he comments on this huge death rate. And he says this is not due to disease. This is because the planters, the enslavers, are too cruel.

[00:06:49] He says for, um, an enslaved African born on this island, they won’t live above 15 or 16 years. He says for an enslaved African transported to this island from Africa, two or three years max. And so this means that between 1697, when the French, uh, formally take over the western third of the island, the part that’s now Haiti, to 1791, when the Haitian revolution breaks out, the French have forcibly transported under their own flag alone, more than 900, 000 captive Africans.

[00:07:22] This is an astonishing figure compared to what’s happening in the rest of the French Caribbean islands and. Combined with the rest of the world powers, that number is 1. 3 million. So just in essentially under 100 years time. But when the Haitian revolution breaks out in August 1791, there’s only about 450, 465, 000 enslaved Africans.

[00:07:46] So when you think about the huge number of those transported, plus the ones who were born there, the death rate must be exactly what Ilao Dobertois said, extremely high. Unconscionably high. So this is the world that Christophe gets dropped into, and then he has to learn to navigate first as a child. And then as a teenager,

[00:08:07] Ben Wright: this is a very different form of enslavement.

[00:08:11] It seems in many ways to what’s going on in the American South.

[00:08:13] Marlene Daut: Yes. I mean, it’s, And it’s a, it’s a different history of how slavery, slavery and abolition unfold. Because of course, you know, in the American South, uh, you don’t have this constant kind of back and forth. You have slave revolts especially after the Haitian revolution, you have slave revolts and rebellions that are directly inspired by What’s the news of what’s happening on San Domingue?

[00:08:40] But what’s really different is that you have this history where the black generals and officers are able to kind of negotiate various positions with the French authorities. And you have this history of going back and forth, not just on San Domingue, but in the other French Caribbean colonies. You also have a situation where in the United States, Uh, after the formal abolition of the slave trade in 1808, that you really, the planters really want to produce enslaved people in the United States rather than transport them there.

[00:09:15] And this never really happens on Saint Domingue because of the high death rate, as Hilaire de Berthouille’s numbers and others show, is that it wasn’t a self replenishing population.

[00:09:27] Ben Wright: So let’s stick in the early 19th century. Uh, Henri Christophe has consolidated power. Haiti is a semi autonomous part of the French empire.

[00:09:38] And then he’s not Henri Christophe, he’s King Henri Christophe.

[00:09:42] Marlene Daut: Christophe is really essential to the defeat of the French. So he’s the one who has Cap Français burned Dautn a second time. When Napoleon sends his brother in law Leclerc, General Leclerc, to come to the island to pave the way for reinstating slavery, which Bonaparte is going to do in Guadeloupe and other French territories, and Christophe and Desalines, after briefly kind of joining with the French, will, you know, go on to lead what is called the Armée Indigène.

[00:10:09] And Toussaint Dijon is out of the picture at this moment because he’s been arrested. But back in the colony on January 1st, 1804, the Armée Indigène, they declare Independence from France. And they renamed the island Aiti, which they say is after its indigenous appellation, which is one of its, uh, the names it was called in the indigenous pre Columbus period.

[00:10:31] And, um, Desalines pretty quickly, uh, becomes an emperor. He becomes the emperor of the Island of Haiti. They issue a constitution and Christophe ends up becoming general in chief of the Haitian army. However, unfortunately, Desalines is assassinated on October 17th. So not very long after independence at all.

[00:10:49] And Christoph is at first going to be chosen to be interim leader of the island, head of state. But the men who put him in that position are the Southerners. And they’re the ones who have conspired to overthrow him. to kill the emperor. And so Christophe doesn’t really trust them. And he decides he’s going to go up, go on his own.

[00:11:10] And he flees to the North, to the renamed city of Cap Haitien, and he sets up a separate government. And he takes the very modest title of president and generalissimo of the earth and sea forces of the state of Haiti. Whereas Pétion, becomes president. So Alexandre Pétion is the kind of architect of the conspiracy against Desailly, and he becomes president of what is then the Republic of Haiti.

[00:11:35] So it is not really until 1807 that the quote unquote Republic of Haiti is born, and it’s only in the south. Christophe’s president in the north, and he calls his territory the state of Haiti. But in March 1811, Christophe’s councilors of state said, you know, We really, this idea of republican government, this, this idea is not really suited to us.

[00:11:56] Monarchies are the most common form of governance in the world. We think you should take the title of king, and he accepts. And on June 2nd, 1811, he is crowned the king of Haiti. His wife, Marie Louise, becomes queen. His son, Victor Henri, becomes the heir to the throne, and he has two daughters, and they become the princesses.

[00:12:14] Ben Wright: So, we’re in 1811, Henri Christophe is the, the first king of, of Haiti, um, within nine years he’ll, uh, he’ll be dead. What’s his rule characterized by?

[00:12:27] Marlene Daut: Well, it’s a bit of a paradox, um, in the kingdom of Haiti. So on the one hand, you have opulence and wealth beyond belief because the kingdom of Haiti is a very rich government.

[00:12:40] Their most, uh, their greatest trading partner is Great Britain and they are exporting coffee. They are also importing. They have this very favorable trade relationship with Great Britain to a lesser extent with the United States, but also with places like Denmark. The Netherlands, I mean, they are, for all intents and purposes, trading on the world stage, and being this actor on the world stage, even though none of those world powers are recognizing Haitian independence from France.

[00:13:10] In fact, they continue to refer to the island as Saint Domingue because they don’t want to irritate France, which is still in the clutches of its dictator. Napoleon Bonaparte, who is also and has become an emperor by this time. So it’s a place of parties, celebrations, and fireworks, and operas, original operas, and dances, and ballet.

[00:13:33] And it is also a place of reported brutality. Christophe is known for having erected two of the most recognizable structures in the Caribbean. One is the Palace at Sanssouci, which only its ruins remain because it was destroyed partially by an 1842 magnitude 8. 1 earthquake that hit the northern part of Haiti.

[00:13:56] And his citadel, which in his day was called the Citadelle Henri after him, but today is known as the Citadelle La Ferrière, and it sits atop one of the highest mountain peaks in Haiti. It’s a huge fortress, the largest fortress in North America, And it’s been widely hailed as the eighth wonder of the world.

[00:14:15] This fortress was meant to protect Haiti from outside invaders because As soon as Napoleon Bonaparte is overthrown, the Bourbon monarch, Louis XVIII, tries to pave the way for a delegation to reinstate slavery. So the French, um, even by 1814, have not lost this desire to quote unquote restore Saint Domingue.

[00:14:35] And to build this fortress, Christophe needs a huge labor force. So he institutes Corvée, which is labor in lieu of taxes. So that means if you couldn’t pay your taxes, then you got sent up to work. If you were punished for a crime, you got sent up to work, right? And so, um, and that could be either on the palace or on the citadel, which is struck by lightning at one point and has to be reconstructed, which starts kind of the laser labor regime over and over again.

[00:15:05] And Christophe is kind of constantly adding to it. So there’s just massive workforce he needs and to get to the top of the citadel. You have to wind up through a dangerous 35 degree angle, so people died on the way up, on the way back Dautn. They’re carrying things like brick and wood and tiles. So this is just some, this is a brutal kind of labor regime that is highly dangerous and also kind of makes the king unpopular among a certain sect.

[00:15:36] Ben Wright: And then it all comes to a head in 1820. Uh, can you walk us through, uh, probably Christophe’s final months?

[00:15:44] Marlene Daut: What happens is really a stroke of coincidence because in August 1820, Christophe is in the city of Limonade and he’s there for two reasons. They’re celebrating his wife, Queen Marie Louise’s feast day, which happened to fall on that year of the Feast of Assumption, the Catholic Day of Assumption.

[00:16:03] And so they’re celebrating this and they’re in the mass and all of a sudden, Christophef appears struck by something and he falls to the ground and he hits his head and he’s unconscious for a time. He’s had a stroke. He convalesces for some time in August, uh, in Limonade. He stays there through August and part of September.

[00:16:22] But in his absence from the capital, he’s got this huge aristocracy of nobles, dukes, and counts, and chevaliers, and barons. And some of them start to conspire against him. They start to think about, you know, Well, what would life be like without the King? Well, maybe we should check out what’s happening over in the Republic in the South at that time, led by a man named Jacques Jacques Boyer, because Pétion had died in March 1818.

[00:16:47] And so when Christophe suddenly gets better and returns to the capital, this conspiracy continues, right? So they aren’t aware necessarily he’s going to get better, but he does. And by the first week, the first days of October 1820, Ristophe learns that there’s this conspiracy that’s formed against him from some men in the Southern Republic who are colluding with some men in his army who are also then joining up with those nobles who had conspired against him.

[00:17:18] And he realizes pretty quickly that he’s kind of sunk because every time he sends troops to stop the progress of the rebellion, as he calls it, those troops. seem to defect and join the Southern Republic. And so if you can imagine, in the streets of Cath, before you would hear Viva you know, Viva le Royaume.

[00:17:41] But now, long live the king, long live the queen. Now you’re hearing Viva la Republic, reports are coming in. This would be unheard of before this moment, because you would go straight to jail, if not execution, if you had done that. And so Christophe tells his doctor on the evening of October 8th, 1820. I know what I have to do, and he’s going to go out on his own terms.

[00:18:01] He’s not going to be assassinated like Desalegn, and he shoots himself in the heart.

[00:18:07] Ben Wright: Uh, there’s something, uh, very, uh, Robespierrean about this. There’s something very Hamiltonian about this fellow as well, and I suspect someone’s writing a musical somewhere, but, um, these are his contemporaries. How should we remember Henri Christophe?

[00:18:24] Is he someone to be, uh, admired? Is he a cautionary tale? Is he a dictator that deserves our derision?

[00:18:32] Marlene Daut: Yeah, and I love that you brought up, um, Robespierre in that comparison, because Henri Clistock hated Robespierre. Because Robespierre kills the king, right? Like, they’re behind him. So he does not like him.

[00:18:45] He, in fact, in the newspapers, they’ll, they call the French the Robespierrists. So this is why I think it’s always so interesting, you know, C. L. R. James famous book, The Black Jacobins, because, you know, perhaps at one point, but I, at post revolutionary Christophe is not a Jacobin at all, right? Um, and part of that is that that was a complicated thing for, um, people in Haiti because they had seen the French revolution as not really a success.

[00:19:14] I mean, it’s going, it’s being overturned and supplanted all the time. And then Napoleon Bonaparte comes in basically to them, destroys its tenants. So it seems a And so I think what Christophe wanted to do Do with be really strong leader. He wanted to establish himself in a way so that he couldn’t be overthrown, that he couldn’t be assassinated.

[00:19:33] And so he institutes all these harsh measures. But I do think that in terms of defining black sovereignty and creating an anti slavery, anti colonial state, because in the constitutions, there is no equivocation at all. There are no euphemisms used. It is slavery is abolished. Colonialism is outlawed. A conquest is abolished.

[00:19:55] They are very clear that this is what Black sovereignty looks like. And the labor system at the time, interestingly enough, the British onlookers and American abolitionists, they talked about it as the most free labor system in the world, because of course what they were comparing it to was chattel slavery.

[00:20:12] Which was still ascendant in Great Britain in the colonies and of course obviously in the United States and and France as well. So to them this system that Christophe has smacks of, you know, a step in the way of progress. And so I think in terms of how we can view him now is absolutely a flawed leader, um, but who had an amazing vision that he wasn’t really able to carry out.

[00:20:36] His son’s teacher called him a philosopher. He said, Khristof’s problem that was that he was a philosopher and he set up this beautiful, amazing apparatus. But it was kind of just smoke and mirrors. See, he couldn’t carry through on it. It was all a theory of what a free, black, sovereign Haiti would look like.

[00:20:55] But I think we do have to have roles. You know, world for our dreamers, that we can take something from, from this legacy, that Christophe believed that Haiti should have sovereignty, that they shouldn’t have to kowtow to the world powers. And when he died, this opened the door for France to extort Haiti for the disastrous indemnity of 150 million francs, because both of Christophe’s rivals in the South, Pétion and then Boyer, were open to paying this indemnity.

[00:21:24] And Christophe was adamantly against it. And so I do sometimes wonder what would have happened if he remained in power long enough to oppose this indemnity.

[00:21:35] Ben Wright: Well, uh, Dr. Daut, thank you so much for joining us today. It’s absolutely fascinating.

[00:21:40] Marlene Daut: Well, thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed the conversation.

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[00:22:02] See y’all next week.