1804 Haitian massacre
| 1804 Haiti massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution | |
Illustration of the 1804 massacre in Haiti, commissioned by Bonapartist pamphleteer Louis Dubroca, to denigrate black fighters in the public eye. | |
| Location | First Empire of Haiti |
| Date | February 1804 – 22 April 1804 |
| Target | French colonizers |
Attack type | Genocide |
| Deaths | 3,000–7,000 |
| Perpetrators | Indigenous Army of Jean-Jacques Dessalines |
| Motive | Revolution Insurrection |
The 1804 Haiti massacre was carried out by Haitian rebel soldiers, mostly former slaves, under orders from Jean-Jacques Dessalines against much of the remaining European population in Haiti, which mainly included French Colonists. The Haitian revolutionaries defeated the French army in November 1803 and declared independence on 1 January 1804.
The massacre excluded surviving Polish Legionnaires, who had defected from the French legion to become allied with the enslaved Africans, as well as the Germans who did not take part of the slave trade, gens de couleur libres and some other select French subjects. They were instead granted full citizenship under the constitution, even though Dessalines had declared that all Haitians would be considered "black".
Throughout the early-to-mid nineteenth century, the events of the massacre were well known in the United States. Additionally, many Saint Domingue refugees moved from Saint-Domingue to the U.S., settling in New Orleans, Charleston, New York, Baltimore, and other coastal cities. These events spurred fears of potential uprisings in the Southern U.S. and they also polarized public opinion on the question of the abolition of slavery.