This book tells the story of the Battle of Vertières, fought in 1803
between indigenous Haitian forces under the leadership of Jean-Jacques
Dessalines and a French expeditionary army commanded by Napoleon. The
battle marked the culmination of a thirteen-year revolutionary struggle
to end slavery and the dawn of an independent Haiti. Yet despite its
pivotal importance to the history of Haiti, France, and the Americas,
the Battle of Vertières has been struck from the record. The Cry of
Vertières is the first book-length study of the battle, drawing from an
array of sources including military correspondence, Haitian literature,
art, and popular music. The event itself is recounted in vivid detail:
it is a dramatic story of a volunteer army of former slaves, seeking the
promises of freedom and citizenship held out by the revolution,
defeating a colonial power determined to re-enslave them. The book also
examines why the history of the battle has been suppressed in France -
an act of erasure of a humiliating defeat - and why it remains fragile
even in Haiti. Jean-Pierre Le Glaunec explains that today Vertières is
both a key lieu de mémoire that embodies reconciliation, pride, and
strength for the Haitian people, and a figure of speech exploited by
politicians to reinforce their power. Describing a decisive yet largely
forgotten moment in the revolutionary history of the Americas, The Cry
of Vertières makes an essential contribution to the complex subjects of
race, memory, colonialism, and cultural nationalism in present-day
France and Haiti.
