In an official record prepared in Paris, now before me, are these words: "This legion saved the army at Savannah by bravely covering its retreat. Among the blacks who rendered signal services at that time were: Andre, Beauvais, Rigaud, Villatte, Beauregard, Lambert, who latterly became generals under the convention, including Henri Christophe, the future king of Haiti." This quotation is taken from a paper secured by the Honorable Richard Rush, our minister to Paris in 1849, and is preserved in the Pennsylvania Historical Society. Henri Christophe received a dangerous gunshot wound in Savannah. Balch says in speaking of Fontages at Savannah: "He commanded there a legion of mulattoes, according to my manuscript, of more than eight hundred men, and saved the army after the useless assault on the fortifications, by bravely covering the retreat."
It was this legion that formed the connecting link between the siege of Savannah and the wide development of republican liberty on the Western continent, which followed early in the present century. In order to show this connection and the sequences, it will be necessary to sketch in brief the history of this remarkable body of men, especially that of the prominent individuals who distinguished themselves at Savannah.
In 1779 the French colony of Saint Domingo was in a state of peace, the population then consisting of white slave-holders, mulatto and black freedmen (affranchis), and slaves. Count D'Estaing received orders to recruit men from Saint Domingo for the auxiliary army; and there being no question of color raised, received into the service a legion of colored freedmen. There had been for years a colored militia in Saint Domingo, and as early as 1716, the Marquis de Chateau Morant, then governor of the colony, made one Vincent the Captain-general of all the colored militia in the vicinity of the Cape. This Captain Vincent died in 1780 at the reputed age of 120 years. He was certainly of great age, for he had been in the siege of Carthegenia in 1697, was taken prisoner, afterwards liberated by exchange and presented to Louis XIV, and fought in the German war under Villars. Moreau de St. Mery, in his description of Vincent, incidentally mentions the Savannah expedition. He says: "I saw him (Vincent) the year preceding his death, recalling his ancient prowess to the men of color who were enrolling themselves for the expedition to Savannah; and showing in his descendants who were among the first to offer themselves, that he had transmitted his valor. Vincent, the good Captain Vincent, had a most pleasing countenance; and the contrast of his black skin with his white hair produced an effect that always commanded respect."
Hutchinson Island.
The Haytian historian, Enclus Robin, says when the call for volunteers reached Saint Domingo: "eight hundred young freedmen, blacks and mulattoes, offered themselves to take part in the expedition;" that they went and "fought valiantly; and returned to Saint Domingo covered with glory." Madiou, another Haytian historian of the highest respectability says: "A crowd of young men, black and colored, enlisted with the French troops and left for the continent. They covered themselves with glory in the siege of Savannah, under the orders of Count D'Estaing."
What effect this experience had upon these volunteers may be inferred from their subsequent history. Robin says: "These men who contributed their mite toward American independence, had still their mothers and sisters in slavery; and they themselves were subject to humiliating discriminations. Should not France have expected from that very moment, that they would soon use in their own cause, those very arms which they had learned so well to use in the interests of others?" Madiou says: "On their return to Saint Domingo they demanded for their brothers the enjoyment of political rights." Beauvais went to Europe and served in the army of France; but returned to fight for liberty in Hayti, and was Captain-general in 1791; Rigaud, Lambert and Christophe wrote their names—not in the sand. These are the men who dared to stir Saint Domingo, under whose influence Hayti became the first country of the New World, after the United States, to throw off European rule. The connection between the siege of Savannah and the independence of Hayti is traced, both as to its spirit, and physically, through the black legion that on that occasion saved the American army. How this connection is traced to the republics of South America, I will allow a Haytian statesman and man of letters, honored both at home and abroad, to relate. I translate from a work published in Paris in 1885:
"The illustrious Bolivar, liberator and founder of five republics in South America, undertook in 1811 his great work of shaking off the yoke of Spain, and of securing the independence of those immense countries which swelled the pride of the catholic crown—but failed. Stripped of all resources he took flight and repaired to Jamaica, where he implored in vain of the governor of that island, the help of England. Almost in despair, and without means, he resolved to visit Hayti, and appeal to the generosity of the black Republic for the help necessary to again undertake that work of liberation which had gone to pieces in his hands. Never was there a more solemn hour for any man—and that man the representative of the destiny of South America! Could he hope for success? After the English, who had every interest in the destruction of Spanish colonial power, had treated him with so much indifference, could he hope that a new-born nation, weak, with microscopic territory, and still guarding anxiously its own ill-recognized independence, would risk itself in an enterprise hazardous as the one he represented? Full of doubt he came; but Petion gave him a most cordial welcome.
"Taking the precautions that a legitimate sentiment of prudence dictated at that delicate moment of our national existence, the government of Port-au-Prince put to the disposition of the hero of Boyaca and Carabobo, all the elements of which he had need—and Bolivar needed everything. Men, arms and money were generously given him. Petion did not wish to act openly for fear of compromising himself with the Spanish government; it was arranged that the men should embark secretly as volunteers; and that no mention of Hayti should ever be made in any official act of Venezuela."