Charlemagne Péralte and the First American Occupation of Haiti 0787219843, 9780787219840

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972.94 M58 1996

Charlemagne Peralte and the First American Occupation o f Haiti w w w w w ***

Charlemagne Peralte: Un Centenaire, 1885-1985

Georges Michel, M.D.

Translated by Douglas Henry Daniels

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KENDALL/HUNT PUBLISHING COMPANY 4050 Westmark Drive

Dubuque, Iowa

52002

Photos courtesy of: Charlemagne Peralte: Un Centenaire, 1885-1985: pp. 2, 4, 32 (Figure XIII-1) 37 41 43 (Figure XVI-3) Georges Michel: pp. 13, 23, 27, 36, 47, 49 and 51 The Blue Book of Haiti, 1919 (Le Livre Bleu d’ Haiti, 1919): pp. 16, 43 (Figure XVI-2) AP/Wide World Photos: p. 32 (Figure XIII-2)

Copyright ® 1996 by Douglas Henry Darnels Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-75249 ISBN 0-7872-1984-3 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electromc, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Printed in the United States of America 10

987654321

M 0 4 1999 23.^5*

Dedication This modest work is dedicated to the memory of both officers and soldiers of the Haitian military, who on that night of July 28 amd 29, 1915, defended the national territory from their position at the Port-auPrince Arsenal against the U.S. Marine invaders . . . The stand of the 1st Artillery Regiment of the Haitian Army, com¬ manded by Captain-Adjutant-Major+ Chery Germain, against the foreign invaders foreshadowed the task of national redemption carried out some years later by the great Charlemagne Peralte.

G.M.

^Translator’s note: A Haitian Army rank abolished by the Americans during the occupa¬ tion.

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CONTENTS WW***W

Preface

vii ix

Author’s Acknowledgments Author’s Introduction

xi

Translator’s Acknowledgments Translator’s Introduction

xiii

xv

Canto I+ Early Years in Hinche

1

Canto II A Man in the Making

3

Canto III The First Exploits of Charlemagne

7

Canto IV A Qualified Commander of an Arrondissement 9 Canto V Arrondissement Commander for the Second Time 11 Canto VI The Turning Point

13

Canto VII First Clash with the Occupiers Canto VIII Journey Across the Desert

15

17

^Translator’s note: This term was used in the original work, and it was kept in the transla¬ tion because there is no exact English equivalent and, furthermore, it conveys the author’s idea of this biography as a praise song not unlike Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey or the medi¬ eval epic, La Chanson de Roland.

V

vi

Contents Canto IX Charlemagne Imprisoned Canto X Citizens, to Arms! Canto XI Resistance Hero

23

25

Canto XII Toward the Cross Canto XIII The Passion

29

31

Canto XIV Glory to the Traitors Canto XV Crucifixion

33

37

Canto XVI The Entombment Canto XVII Resurrection Canto XVIII Ascension

19

41

45

47

Chronology A. The Total War 53 B. The Ebb of the Guerrilla Appendix of Documents Author’s Bibliography Recommended Reading Map of Haiti, circa 1920

61 85 87

58

Preface This modest work by Georges Michel will be, no doubt, read with interest and pleasure. And I have good reasons to believe that the majority of his readers will keep it at hand for ready reference. It is, first of all, a serious biographical summary of Charlemagne Peralte. In other works, numerous facts relating to the history of Haiti hinder an appreciation of his biography. These isolated events are culled by Georges Michel and assembled in an orderly way to show the develop¬ ment of the individual—so well in a few brief pages, that the different threads are sewn together and Peralte’s destiny becomes evident from the summary. Those who wish can, in a few minutes, follow the steps of his career and, in a quick reading, refer with certainty to an event, to the ob¬ jective contents, or to its date. Also interesting in this work is certain information that the author chooses to develop, whether in the body of the text, in the footnotes, or in the appendix. What was the significance of the commander of an arrondissement in 1915? How were the birth and baptism of Francois Borgia Charlemagne Peralte recorded? A definitive answer is given to these ques¬ tions in explanatory footnotes or in the appended archival documents. Georges Michel has left his own particular imprint in this biography in his comments on the significance of events and in his passionate convictions concerning Haitian history and the nation’s patriots. One may derive some pleasure in reading his work. Sometimes the young historian expresses his enthusiasm for the cacos [Haitian guerrillas] or his indignation at the traitors, or in vibrant personal testimony, he salutes the quality of education provided at Saint-Louis de Gonzague. Later, he mocks those who, with such ease, de¬ valuate Charlemagne, wishing to make of him a “Marxist-Leninist atheist.” I have to admit that this passage made me smile. Stalin’s work, The Foundations of Leninism, which set forth schematically and for the first time the ideology of Lenin, appeared in April 1924. Charlemagne had been dead five years! On the other hand, how could one make him [Peralte], this big landowner of the Central Plateau, a communist hero, when the socialist revolution of October did not take place until after his arrest and imprisonment at Hinche! This is really laughable! I am not so quick to mock those, on the other hand, who would present Charlemagne Peralte (according to the author) as “anti-American.” Cer-

vii

viii

Preface

tainly, exaggerated forms of nationalism are always regrettable, but one can with some difficulty overlook it in a foreign nation when foreigners are standing on the soil of their fatherland. The anti-Americanism of Hai¬ tian nationalism of the 1930s is a fact, and it has been fueled by the his¬ torical battles of Dessalines, as well as by the recent deeds of Charlemagne. Yes, in these particular circumstances where his nation was humiliated, Charlemagne was, not in spite of his Christian faith, but probably because of this same faith, decidedly “anti-American.” To read the work of Georges Michel is to encounter a sharp intelli¬ gence and a lively sensibility. Such encounters are always a pleasure. It is also pleasurable that the writing in this work is attractive, de¬ void of all pedantry and rejecting all puffery. The impulse which domi¬ nates, even in the gravest moments of its presentation, attest to the quali¬ ties which make the author one of our most credible historians. [Port-au-Prince]

September 4, 1989 Roger Gaillard

Author’s Acknowledgments The essays compiled here were previously published in Le Matin. I would like to thank Mr. Franck Magloire for permission to publish this modest work in his paper. I also thank equally and very sincerely Miss Michele Celestin for having typed my manuscript. My gratitude goes particularly to Mr. Roger Gaillard for moral sup¬ port and for his preface that graces the pages of the book, to Mr. Raoul Guillaume who more than once corrected, with the same devotion and concern for details, the proofs, and to Mr. Hermann Pierre Jerome, whose precious memory of some of the events has been very useful in so many different ways. I am finally deeply indebted to Professor Douglas Henry Daniels for his superb translation of the French text and his introduction to the first English edition of this volume.

Georges Michel

'

Author's Introduction Charlemagne Peralte is of paramount importance in the history of Haiti. One day I wished to inform myself of his life and to read a work which dealt accurately and exclusively with Charlemagne’s biography. Since there was no biography, I had to collect the few details of his life from different sources (mainly the works of Roger Gaillard) and assemble them. For example, in the works of Gaillard, which are extremely detailed and precise, Charlemagne’s life is recounted in part, sometimes without chronological order, but always with scrupulous attention to historical exactness. As 1985, the one hundredth anniversary of Charlemagne Peralte’s birth, approached, we proposed writing a commemorative article which paid tribute to the great hero and which at the same time retraced in a simple and attractive manner, sometimes with a lyric touch, the history of his life from his birth until his death. Thus in November 1985 I published several long articles in the daily Le Matin’s columns [a newspaper published in Port-au-Prince] in which the principal facts of Charlemagne Peralte’s life were assembled and sum¬ marized in chronological order. This series of articles was titled II y a cent ans, naissait Charlemagne Peralte.+ The success of this published series of biographical episodes was immense, in proportion to the nationalist sentiment of the day, during which time the Duvalierist dictatorship was coming to an end (though this was not known at the time). Our colleague, Dieudonne Fardin, proposed editing this series with the idea of producing a small book. At the time we preferred rather to keep it as a chapter for a proposed work on the American occupation. Since then, this proposed work has split into three titles, and we have decided to follow the suggestion of our colleague and to publish a pamphlet which would be a synopsis of Charlemagne Peralte’s biography.t+ This modest pamphlet pays homage to a hero, but it also has as its objective being a manual on the life of Charlemagne Peralte, a summa-

i()ne Hundred Years Ago, Charlemagne Peralte Was Born.

t+This chronology does not claim to be exhaustive.

xi

xii

Author’s Introduction

rized biography easy to read, a reference permitting one to quickly ac¬ quire information on this historical figure, which can eventually guide a reader who wishes to do some research on a particular detail in the life of Charlemagne Peralte. The newspaper articles are thus published entirely in this work; we have appended, furthermore, a chronology of the Haitian military operations*, annexed some documents pertaining to Charlemagne Peralte, and included some historical photos as well. We insist that the work essentially documents events. We request in advance the indulgence of the reader.

G. M. (July 1989)

+[The year 1989 marked the 70th anniversary of the death of Charlemagne Peralte in the highlands of the Grande-Riviere du Nord (1919)]. Translator’s Note: This same 1989 was also the 100th anniversary of the birth of Captain-Adjutant-Major Chery Germain (1889-

Translator’s Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to Professors Patrick BellegardeSmith, Michel Laguerre, and Claudine Michel for their assistance with the translation. Professor Gerald Home’s close reading of the translation also resulted in some clarifications. I would also like to express my apprecia¬ tion to Georges Michel for his explanations of historical terms, references, and the meaning of certain nuances to a non-Haitian. Of course I am re¬ sponsible for any errors that readers might find in this translation.

xiii

Georges Michel’s modest biography of the Haitian guerrilla leader is significant for a number of reasons. It presents the Haitian side of the First American Occupation (as opposed to the Second which began in 1994) from the perspective of the life of its main military leader, Charlemagne Peralte. Furthermore it is a Haitian and thus an insider’s account of the outset of the long brutal occupation and its significance, not to mention its effects on the lives of the main protagonist and his family, who were often executed, had their homes razed, and suffered the pain of having one of their brightest stars assassinated and buried for four¬ teen years in an unmarked grave in an American-run concentration camp on Haitian soil. It also sheds light on the background and motives of a Caribbean guerrilla leader staunchly opposed to foreign occupation. Charlemagne’s life serves as a basis for comparisons with the Haitian, Jamaican, and Surinam maroons, in addition to such Latin American nationalists as Augusto Sandino and Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who were also martyred heroes assassinated with the complicity of U.S. officials. Peralte’s ideol¬ ogy, however, was neither neo-African—as in the case of the maroons, Marxist-Leninist, nor leftist in any recognizable way, but distinctly Hai¬ tian and most importantly, Christian. The constant references to parallels in the life of Peralte and Christ emphasize the guerrilla leader’s as well as Dr. Michel’s staunchly Chris¬ tian heritage; clearly this distinguishes Peralte from some of the twentieth century Latin American leaders noted above. The author praises his own Catholic institution of learning, which was also Peralte’s, and he is deeply impressed by Peralte’s religiosity, such as his incorporation of the cruci¬ fix with his standard. Peralte’s quest, his betrayal, and untimely death, not to mention his and his mother’s years of suffering, found some support in Catholic religious teachings, but it did not underpin the leader’s revolt. Haitian nationalism is traceable to the revolution of the late eigh¬ teenth and early nineteenth centuries; it was the primary motive behind Peralte’s behavior and Dr. Michel’s idealism. These individuals, and the cacos, are clearly following in the revolutionary tradition of their fore¬ bears, a heritage which has not been fully appreciated for its significance in the Western hemisphere. For Peralte and Michel, Louverture and

xv

xvi

Translator’s Introduction

Dessalines serve as examples of manly courage and heroism that bum brightly a full century after their deaths, both of which were a result of betrayal. Some of Dr. Michel’s ideas are noteworthy, such as the fact that the American occupation brought shame to the U.S. as well as Haiti, and that the invader, with the aid of certain local politicians and traitors, engaged in behavior that even then was seen by Haitians as absolutely unconscion¬ able. Also significant is the idea that history needs traitors, such as JeanBaptiste Conze, to make its heroes such as Peralte stand out even more brightly in the firmament, underscoring the significance of their deeds and the deep meaning in the fact that they sacrificed their very lives for their beliefs. Dr. Michel’s sparse account often permits the facts to speak for them¬ selves, but there are aspects of Peralte’s life from which one can adduce certain characteristic features of Haitian society as well as the world they inhabited. Haiti’s leaders were usually generals, few civilians holding the office of presidency, and its government also reflected the influence of the military. Peralte was not only a military officer himself, but the brother of military men, and all of them were the sons of a general. The military cast of his family and Haitian society sheds light on the nature of the world in which this independent nation found itself as well as on their own specific heritage. Armed revolt ended slavery, established an independent nation, and maintained that unique status in the international arena dominated by whites. Even the African heritage in this military tradition was influenced by European slavers and traders on the coasts of Africa. Significantly, one of the first acts of the American occupiers was to disband the Haitian military. In this brief but inspired paen to the Haitian hero, we see how in the twentieth century as well as in the eighteenth, a man of African descent (Peralte as well as Toussaint Louverture) courageously spearheaded a re¬ volt and brilliantly led a military campaign which had as its goals the very ideals that U.S. citizens allegedly held dear. Also striking is the parallel between the Haitian slave revolt, on the one hand, and the Peralte leader¬ ship of peasant guerrillas, on the other, and their mutual effects on the revolutions in the Caribbean and Latin American nations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, respectively. Michel’s work also leads the modem reader to the conclusion that the Second Occupation (1994-) follows along the lines of the First and, furthermore, permits Haitian historians to corroborate and develop their insights concerning this previous invasion. Haitians today are aware of the fact that, in the words of the Haitian historian, Berthomieux Danache

Translator’s Introduction

xvii

(document # 13 in the Appendix), the Americans insisted on having their way and implementing their program in spite of the advice, the will, and the pleadings of the people they claimed to want to help. If the U.S. employed duplicity, betrayal, and assassination in the Philippines in their war against that nation’s insurgents at the beginning of this century, they perfected these methods in Haiti, only to utilize them again in Nicaragua and throughout Central and South America, Southeast Asia, and Africa in decades to follow. Under the name of COINTELPRO, the same techniques were employed against U.S. radicals in the 1960s and 1970s. The U.S. was not the only Western power implicated in terrorism and atrocities. The British and French made use of similar methods in their colonial wars in Kenya and Algeria, respectively. The U.S.’s obsession with complete control of the natural as well as the supernatural worlds of their colonial wards was apparent even in the manner of burial of Charlemagne Peralte—encased in concrete in an un¬ marked grave in an American-run concentration camp. Finally, if we are to learn anything from the study of history, a Haitian perspective on the American occupation is sorely needed when U.S. troops have once again occupied this Caribbean nation. One final comment remains to be made concerning the language of the translation. It will probably seem rather stiff and a bit formal for Ameri¬ can readers; this is especially noticeable in the appended documents. Many Haitians tend to write this way in French, however, and I have opted to keep the tone of the original work rather than provide American English equivalents.

Douglas Henry Daniels Goleta, California July 26, 1995

Canto I

J^arly Years in Hinche aCKfc ******

/

Fran5ois Borgia Charlemagne Peralte was bom on October 10, 18851 in the town of Hinche, the legitimate child of General Remi Massena Peralte2 and his second wife, Marie-Claire Emmanuel, a seamstress. The fact that the 10th of October is the 100th anniversary of his birth is itself unimportant, but it became, through the force of events, an important date in our own national history. It is opportune to pay homage to this great hero, Charlemagne Peralte,3 who is certainly one of the greatest Haitian heroes, perhaps the greatest of the twentieth century, whose last years we are still witnessing, and which were rich in tumultuous events, some of them still to be un¬ veiled. One cannot pay sufficient homage to Charlemagne Peralte. Mere words would never be as strong or as appropriate for the task, and even though they are accurate, they would be nonetheless insufficient to con¬ vey the real thoughts of the author. Thus we shall cut short the few appropriate words necessary to give Charlemagne Peralte the homage that is his due. Our modest effort is thus essentially to retrace the life of our hero from birth to his death, which came unexpectedly hardly thirty-four years later . . . What a short life, but a complete one! 'The year 1886 is often given for his birth, but this is an error. (See Roger Gaillard’s research on this matter in his Premier Ecrasement du Cacoisme.) The actual birth and baptismal certificates of Franfois Borgia Charlemagne Peralte, both dated October 18, 1885, are published in the appendix of this work, and give the date of October 10 as the birth date. 2Member of the Constituent Assembly of 1889. 3Charlemagne Peralte carried given names which marked him for destiny: Francois de Borgia is the name of a great saint of the Church. (He had been Viceroy of Catalonia, Superior General of the Jesuits. His saint’s day falls on October 10, the day of birth of Charlemagne Peralte.) Charlemagne is the name of one of the great sovereigns of medi¬ eval times. In addition, Charlemagne derives from the Latin, Carolus Magnus, which is translated to become Great Charles, the Great Charles, Charles-the-Great, or even Charles is great.

2

Canto I

We know only a bit about the childhood of Charlemagne, but we can say that he was the sole child of his mother and that he had four brothers on his father’s side, among whom he was the last, but about whom a great deal would one day be said. His brothers, therefore, were Saul, born of Hebe Mompoint, and then Saint Remy, Nestor, Aurele, born of the General’s first wife, another Marie-Claire whose family name was Novembre. We can presume that General Massena Peralte should have been particularly happy to have this last male offspring, at age 45, from his wife, who was twenty-two years younger than he was. On his part, Charlemagne was the sole son of Mme Massena, and he should have been able to establish strong bonds, tinged with a sort of complicity, which would, following the demise of General Peralte at the beginning of the century, make Charlemagne Peralte’s mother the dearest person in the world to him. In any case, we can infer, without great risk of erring, that the son became very close to his mother, who one day would follow all his movements, share all his anguish and torments during the war against the Americans, become his Mater Dolorosa, accompany him during his long journey to the cross, to his Mount Cal¬ vary, to the tomb, and who one day would witness his rehabilitation, his veritable resurrection. We know that Charlemagne the child grew up at Hinche, a proud city founded by the Spanish in the middle of the lonely grasslands of the Central Plateau . . . We know that he served mass in Hinche’s church, made famous by fa¬ ther Pocro, the priest who taught him catechism, who later became his friend and his confessor at the prison at Cap Haitien, who would later witness the painful spectacle of his body crucified Figure 1-1. Madame Massena on a door, and who would one day say: Peralte, mother of Charlemagne “He was a child who was not had bat Peralte. proud and quick to take offense. ”

Canto II

A Man in the Making *$**$? *$r rfr

One day, Charlemagne Peralte, the child, had to leave the Central Plateau where he was bom to come to the capital for his elementary edu¬ cation. He was placed in the care of Monsieur Paul Benoit, the former seminary student who conducted a little school in the Tete-Boeuf neigh¬ borhood. While a boarder at “Chez Monsieur Benoit,” he came to know the famous General Polynice, on whose property he, his professor, and his comrades promenaded on Sundays. The General was considered a sage among sages in this period of Haitian history. His three sons perished all together in the tragic massacre of political prisoners at the National Prison on July 27, 1915. The father was in turn indignant and outraged when he received this horrible news, and he was one of the leaders of the punitive force against the alleged perpetrators of this atrocity4 on July 28, 1915, the very next day, a date which was simultaneously one of mourning and lib¬ erty, liberty recovered and then lost again. This liberty did not last a long time, less than twenty-four hours, because this brief euphoric episode marked the beginning of a long period of travail which lasted for nineteen years. One hundred and eleven years after having so dearly won their liberty, the Haitian people were once again put in chains. One man was going to rise up, a giant who attempted to smash these chains, who was tempted to repeat the exploits of JeanJacques Dessalines. This man was Charlemagne Peralte. Charlemagne left M. Benoit’s school to enter Saint-Louis de Gonzague. His success in the competitive admission exam had been assured by the excellent foundation given him by his teacher, M. Benoit. The Broth¬ ers [of Christian instruction who ran Saint-Louis de Gonzague] are very 4General Edmond Polynice cut down the executioner, Charles Oscar Etienne, who was hiding in the Dominican consulate, with three bullets, one for each of his sons, Seymour, Sievers, and Maurice. Polynice was a member of the Revolutionary Committee of Portau-Prince, created that same July 27, 1915, and which held provisional power after the downfall of Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. This Committee, dominated by Dr. Bobo’s follow¬ ers, was headed by Charles de Delva and was to be dissolved August 1915 by the occupy¬ ing forces a little before the election of Dartiguenave to the Presidency of the Republic.

3

4

Canto II

strict on matters of discipline and education. Charlemagne was placed in the elementary school of this prestigious institution, which had shaped so many generations of young Haitians since 1890, and which produced so many gallant men who gave honor to their country and to classical Haitian education, while others succumbed to some vague ideas about modernism and recently have taken up the hobby of wishing to absolutely deny and crush beneath their feet the values that this kind of education conveys.+ Here we have the young Charlemagne, who much later will be a leader of men against the occupation, an eighth-grade++ student accepted in the class of 1900 in April of that academic year. He succeeded in the next grade, the seventh, which he covered without any problems in the academic year 1900-01. In October 1901, he continued into the next grade (the sixth). The following October, he entered the fifth grade, and in Oc¬ tober 1903, the fourth. He pursued his course of study in the fourth grade for only one se¬ mester, because his name finally disappeared from the St. Louis ar¬ chives in February 1904. An unfore¬ seen event, probably the death of his father, General Massena Peralte5, came unexpectedly that year, and caused him to interrupt his classical studies. After the fourth year, he possessed above average intellec¬ tual baggage to confront life. If one refers to certain sources, a fourth year student, leaving the tutelage of the good Brothers at the beginning Figure II-1. F.B. Charlemagne of this century, was well equipped Peralte (1885-1919) intellectually, in a way comparable translator’s note: In the next paragraph, placed in this footnote, the author rendered “filial and public tribute to his school and to his teachers, living and dead, and to express his recognition of the excellent education that he received, one at the same time Christian, moral, civic, and academic. All St. Louisiens can be proud in their own right of this illustrious person, Charlemagne Peralte. He was one who bestowed honor upon the insti¬ tution.” +tIn the French and Haitian academic systems, students start in the twelfth grade and finish in the first grade—just the opposite of the American and English schools. ’Again there is a similarity with the life of Jesus. In other words, Charlemagne, the only son of his mother, also [like Christ] lost his father before entering public life. Like Saint Joseph, Massena Peralte was obviously absent.

A Man in the Making

5

to those fourth-year students today, without slighting the latter. Besides, some thirty years ago, it was common to see young people of either sex leave the fourth, third, or second grade of their class and make their way honorably in life. Charlemagne was about nineteen years old when he left school, and it seemed to his mother that he had been away in school for a long time. With limited resources, she had borne the educational expenses of her only son at Port-au-Prince. It seemed that after having left Saint Louis, Charlemagne learned the profession of surveyor, which training lasted a year, and which was very useful in the Central Plateau, where according to Gaillard, he returned to continue the traditions of his family and of his class, the rural bourgeoisie, who were so adeptly described by this author.

.

Canto III

The First Exploits of Charlemagne W

W *** W

Charlemagne became a gentleman farmer and worked his small hold¬ ing of five squares of land at Inquitte and, furthermore, managed his mother’s property. Witnesses confirm the fact that Charlemagne loved his new life and also relished his various responsibilities on his estate, his mills, gardens, and life as a farmer, raiser of livestock, and distiller, tasks to which he abandoned himself entirely. He was, however, like other landed bourgeoisie, also involved in politics, because before 1915 it was essential to make one’s voice heard in the management of affairs of the country, and to defend one’s vital inter¬ ests against the voracious appetites of the city folk. Charlemagne Peralte was named Vice-consul of Haiti at Comendador (Elias Pina) in the Dominican Republic, where he demonstrated his inde¬ pendence to his superior, Charles Zamor, the Consul General. In 1908, he declared himself for Antenor Firmin and supported the Firministe revolt of Gonai'ves. After that defeat, he returned to Hinche, glad to be dragged out and to have escaped the terrible repression of General Nord [President Pierre Nord Alexis (1902-1908)]. Power also changed soon at Port-auPrince. Antoine Simon, from Les Cayes, succeeded Alexis as President at the end of the same year. Charlemagne Peralte was elected mayor of Hinche under the gov¬ ernment of President Simon. He received the first presidential envoy, Min¬ ister [Joseph] Jeremie, in this town in 1910. In 1911, he supported the second insurrection of Leconte against Simon, the former succeeding to the Presidency. His reward was not long in coming. Charlemagne was named Justice of the Peace at Mirebalais. Then came the presidencies of Cincinnatus Leconte, Tancrede Auguste, and Michel Oreste, [in 1913] our first civil¬ ian President after 109 years of independence. In January 1914 he sup¬ ported the revolution which overthrew Oreste, the lawyer from Jacmel. He was naturally a supporter of Zamor’s clan and fought against the rival forces, the Theodoristes at Gonai'ves, at the side of his brother, Saiil. Oreste

7

8

Canto III

Zamor6 became President of Haiti; Charlemagne Peralte became com¬ mander of the Port-de-Paix arrondissement.7

6Robert and Nancy Heinl claimed Charlemagne Peralte was the brother-in-law of Oreste Zamor. It was rather his brother, Saul, who had married into the Zamor family. Besides we know that tradition supports the fact that the Peraltes and the Zamors were related several times over. They were two important families in the Central Plateau. ’Robert and Nancy Heinl tell us that Hermann H. Hanneken, the American who later killed Charlemagne Peralte, was also a commandant at Port-de-Paix in 1917.

Canto IV A Qualified Commander of an Arrondissement ■*& *& *& *& *& *£*

WWWWWW

It was a great event in the life of Charlemagne. At the age of 28 years, he had attained what amounted to a very important public post at that time, one which was simultaneously political, administrative, and military.8 Before 1915, an arrondissement was a true administrative district, more than currently. It included several municipalities grouped together in the same jurisdiction. It was endowed by the Council of Arrondissements prescribed by all our constitutions from 1843 to 1889. In 1915 there were twenty-seven arrondissements [in 1978 there were 41]. Each arrondissement had at its head a person named by the President of the Republic: the commander of the arrondissement. He depended solely upon the President and often belonged to the political family of the head of state. He was a responsible politician of the first order. He was also a chief military officer9, because he had under him all the commandants of the municipalities of his arrondissement. He was a general officer, that is, an adjutant general (one star), brigadier general (two stars), or a division general10 (three stars), according to the importance of the arrondissement that he commanded or to the generosity and spirit of the executive at that moment of making the appointment. Often he was not from the arrondissement that he commanded. He represented Power. He received

8A11 kinds of hopes were permitted Charlemagne Peralte; he had quite rapidly ascended the ladder of a political career; he was on the brink of a brilliant career; in the end he could even have reasonably expected to become President of the Republic. But Destiny decided otherwise, reserving for Charlemagne a mission even more exalted. 9As Commander of the arrondissement of Port-de-Paix, Charlemagne Peralte had under his command the 9th Regiment of Line Infantry which was quartered in this town and none other than the 9th Demi-brigade which had commanded the famous Capois-la-Mort, and which had proved itself at Vertieres on November 18, 1803. It had taken the title of regiment during the 19th century. This unit was disbanded like other units of the Haitian Army by the Americans in 1915-1916. When Charlemagne became commander of the Leogane arrondissement, he had under his command the 21st Line Regiment of Infantry garrisoned in this city. l0The most common rank.

9

10

Canto IV

military honors when he entered and left a municipality. Like the Presi¬ dent, he even had the right to have the national anthem played for him. He sat at the Palace of the Government. In the main towns of an arrondissement such as Port-au-Prince, there was an Office of Arrondissement11 and an Office of the Military Post.12 On some occasions, the Commander of the arrondissement often raised, with more or less luck, his arrondissement against the power of Port-au-Prince in what was called “taking up arms, ” or even more prudently, considered to be support of a “revolution, ” or was “an armed protest” veering toward victory, and these efforts brought him the support of his arrondissement. He was assisted in this endeavor by the Council of the Arrondissement, which we have mentioned above and which possessed its own president. To explain roughly the functions of a commander of an arrondissement in today’s terms, one would have to say a single function¬ ary assisted by a council, amounting to a Prefect and commander of the district. It is essential to note the importance that he had in the scale of jurisdiction in 1915 to fully understand the major obstacles he presented to the occupation in its attempts to realize its sinister designs of domina¬ tion and of controlling national territory, and to comprehend as well why they were among the first victims of the “Republique Autoritaire” re¬ gime, promoted by the duo of [William B.] Caperton and Littleton [T. W.] Waller, which sought to replace the military regime with a civilian-con¬ stabulary one. Their posts were definitively suppressed by the 1st of Feb¬ ruary 1916, and they were thus sent away. An institution which dated from the time around independence was abolished. . Oreste Zamor was overthrown by Davilmar Theodore. Charlemagne’s fate followed that of his boss. He was removed from his post as com¬ mander of the arrondissement of Port-de-Paix. He was among the opposi¬ tion in the short-lived government of President Joseph (“Fre-Da”) Davilmar Theodore. He placed himself under the banner of Vilbrun Guillaume Sam who revolted against Fre-Da, taking up arms together with his cousin, Dupera Peralte, at Lascahobas in January 1915; during these military op¬ erations, and together with his cousin and their respective troops, they occupied for a moment the three forts around the town—Fort Anglais, Fort Gage, and Fort Peralte, which carried the name of one of his ances¬ tors, a name which was soon going to become even more glorious. The forts were shortly evacuated following the government’s attack. Charlemagne’s cousin was among the fatalities.

"A part of the premises of the National Penitentiary which was situated precisely at the corner of Center and Champ de Mars streets. l2Where the Office of the Police of Port-au-Prince is situated.

Canto V

Arrondissement Commander for the Second Time ****** ****** ******

Despite the turn of events resulting in the death of Charlemagne’s cousin, Vilbrun Guillaume Sam triumphed over Joseph Davilmar Theodore to become President.13 The new chief of state immediately rewarded his supporters and punished his opponents. Charlemagne was rewarded for his difficulties. He was named by President Sam as commander of an arrondissement for the second time in his career, this time at Leogane, which was near both Port-au-Prince and the President—a post coveted by his contemporaries. He replaced General Edmond Megie at this post. Charlemagne was not yet thirty years of age. He was already division general, the highest rank in the military hierarchy in the era of bayonets. His brother, Saul, was also named at the same time commander of the arrondissement of Saint-Marc, a town which was very important in a mili¬ tary sense before the dismissal of the Haitian Army by the Americans.14 These ten years of apprenticeship, from 1904 to 1914, made Charlemagne Peralte the hero he was going to become. He had time to partake of the many pleasures of life available to a young man: the carnal delights of which he was so fond, the round of rural promenades, long horseback rides, hunting parties, bathing sorties, banquets, fairs, patriotic festivities, and cock fights, pleasures which were the very essence of the good life. . . . During this period, he broke off an engagement with Resia Lefort, who was from Hinche like him, and whom Mme. Massena had already taken on as a daughter-in-law. At Leogane, he could again for a second time know the contented existence of a rural bourgeois, one which was reinforced by the double advantages and prestige of a military and political post. 13Charlemagne Peralte participated in surrounding Port-au-Prince at the head of 1,500 cacos. He established his headquarters at Petion-Ville and repeated the exploits of Petion and Cange at the siege of Port-au-Prince in 1803: he cut the water supply of the Capital (Heinl). 14In 1915, Saint-Marc was the sole Haitian town, aside from the Capital, Port-au-Prince, having three regiments of line infantry, the 7th, the 8th, and the 20th. There was also an arsenal at St. Marc, as well as a prison and a small military hospital (not functioning since 1912). All this disappeared with the occupation.

11

Canto VT

The Turning Point

Figure VI-1. Entry to the town of Lcoganc, which Charlemagne Peralte commanded in 1915 (Recent photo) It was at Leogane where he received the brutal slap of the American intervention of July 28,1915, and where he had occasion for the first time to cross swords with the occupying force. On July 27, 1915 the political prisoners held in the National Prison were massacred. Charlemagne Peralte lost one of his relatives, General Gaspard Peralte, in this atrocity. The next day, July 28, the citizens of Port-au-Prince rose in arms to achieve justice against the presumed executioners of the previous day, violating in this way the diplomatic immunity of the French Legation and extracting from its confines President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam who sought asylum there. He was lynched and his body mutilated. Commander of the 13

14

Canto VI

arrondissement, General Charles Oscar Etienne, sought refuge at the Do¬ minican Legation and suffered the same fate as his boss. That same July 28, later in the afternoon, at 5:48 pm, came the defilement. The U.S. Ma¬ rines debarked at Bizoton. That evening, at the Arsenal of Port-au-Prince, the sacrifice of the sentinel, Pierre Sully, and the resistance of an officer without fear or shame, Captain Chery Germain, who suffered a wound which eventually cost him his arm, was followed by a retreat the next day, July 29, after the intervention of the “politicians.” At Leogane, under the command of Charlemagne, the popular desire for justice was equally rampant on this day, July 28, 1915. The butcher of Leogane, brigade General Maximus Macean, Commander of the post, was executed by the people at the Palace of the Government in punishment for his crimes. Life then took up again its normal course, and the people of Leogane put their confidence in their “Aaron,” Charlemagne Peralte. The latter was very preoccupied by the news of the landing of the Marines, and he had good reason to be. A veteran of combat and patriot, he knew in his very heart that the descent of the men in wool hats and yellow uniforms, these phony Boy Scouts, presaged nothing good for the future of his coun¬ try. Perceval Thoby, who had made that day a quick trip by train to Leogane, was struck by the melancholy and somber face of Charlemagne as he pon¬ dered the succession of events that would follow.

Canto VII First Clash with the Occupiers •*& ■*-£*!

On August 17, 1915, five days following the election of Monsieur Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave, President of the Senate, to the Presidency of the Republic, Leogane was besieged in its turn by the American troops. The commander of the warship Eagle, anchored offshore from Leogane, went to notify Charlemagne Peralte, representative of the President, head of the district’s armed forces, and responsible for the local citizenry’s lives, that he sought to occupy the site with a hundred American troops, who were to arrive from Port-au-Prince by train and were to be installed around the station at the entrance to Leogane. The American naval commander also demanded the right to enter the town. The Haitian officer refused to surrender the town to him, maintaining he only received orders from the Haitian President. He would, as necessary, op¬ pose force with force. The American commander of the troops who arrived by train asked Charlemagne to lodge his troops in the Palace of the Government. This effrontery was categorically refused by Charlemagne. The latter had no orders to receive a group of individuals lacking both claim and qualifications. The official lodging of the arrondissement (Palace of the Government), seat of the nation’s sovereignty, was hardly suitable for quartering foreign troops. Having a number of wi tnesses to this memorable event, Charlemagne was of a mind to defend the town by arms until the last man, even the very last bullet. The Americans had understood this: In light of this firmness, they drew back, remaining aboard the Eagle and in the station of the P.C.S.* The forces which besieged Leogane by land and sea did not enter the town. Once again, as at the Port-au-Prince Arsenal, Haitians and Ameri¬ cans stood face to face, ready to come to blows. Once again, the man in command, Charlemagne, in the fashion of Chery Germain some days prior, rose to the challenge and refused to run from the enemy. But once again, as happened at the Arsenal, the politicians acted in cooperation with the invaders. President Dartiguenave, docile instrument

Translator’s note: Plaine du Cul-de-Sac Railroad Company.

15

16

Canto VII

Figure VII-1. Charles Maubert Cassy, who succeeded Charlemagne Peralte in August 1915 as commander of the Leogane arrondissement.

of the puppet civilian-constabulary re¬ gime and champion of the “Republique Autoritaire**, ” complied with the invad¬ ers. He dismissed the commander of the arrondissement; Charlemagne Peralte, the one who had done his duty and who was ready to deny access to the town of Leogane, was replaced by the President with a lackey like himself, Charles Maubert Cassyl5from Anse-a-Veau, who was established at Leogane for some years. Cassy was to become Leogane’s last Haitian commander.

"Authoritarian Republic. '5The Blue Book of Haiti writes of this person: “Monsieur Charles Maubert Cassy was bom August 27, 1874 at Anse-a-Veau, the child of Thomas Cassy and Sophie Simon. He received his secondary education at the famous Seminaire College St. Martial de Portau-Prince. He married Mademoiselle Marie Lindor at Port-au-Prince April 27, 1904. Mon¬ sieur Cassy, who acquired a reputation as a good public surveyor, today holds the high post as Administrator of Finance of Petit-Goave, and his services were very much appre¬ ciated by the town’s populace and by the government. . . . [He] is intelligent and serious and inspires confidence in all those who come into contact with him. He was for a time deputy in the Legislature (Depute au Corps Legislatif).”

Canto VIII

Journey Across the Desert W

*** W

Charlemagne Peralte left Leogane with his head held high. This de¬ parture was far from being the end, but was the beginning of what would be his future. He published a farewell letter to the administrators of Leogane16, and stayed for a few days at Port-au-Prince, where, as Roger Gaillard has written, he met the occupying force and all its arrogance. Perhaps he met with his former teacher, M. Benoit. On his departure from Port-au-Prince, he visited with General Edmond Polynice, one of the participants in the affair of July 28, on his property at Christ-Roi Bourdon.’ The General knew him as a youngster and liked him. Charlemagne Peralte told him in the course of the talk: “General, I am going home. But I am confident of my star of destiny. I will raise up the people and send the Americans home. ” Knowing him as well as he did, the general realized

this was not idle talk. Charlemagne Peralte was known to be a brave man who kept his word. Charlemagne Peralte therefore returned to Hinche, taking the road via Petion-Ville, Freres, Croix-des-Bouquets and Mirebalais, where he met his dear cousins, and Lascahobas17, where lived his great-uncle, Commander Juan Peralta, the Dominican who like many others in 1822 and 1844, voluntarily chose to embrace Haiti’s cause and to reside in that nation. He arrived finally at Hinche, where he found his plantations, his rum and alcohol distilleries, and his cock fighting pits. But life on the Central Plateau where he was bom was no longer like it used to be, because far

16It is reproduced in the appendix. ‘Translator’s note: Christ the King Bourdon. 17At that time, this was the normal route to go from Port-au-Prince to Hinche. Further¬ more, it should be pointed out that the road from the capital to Hinche passed above the site of Peligre before the construction of the dam, and it therefore included a short Lascahobas-Hinche route via Paredon. This trunk crossed the Artibonite River. Much later on this route. President Borno constructed a metal bridge, called Jean-Jacques Dessalines, across the river. Today it is under the waters of the artificial lake of Peligre, and the route henceforth passes below the dam where another bridge (of concrete) had been constructed. The Lascahobas-Hinche trunk no longer exists.

17

18

Canto VIII

away could be heard the noise of the chains which Haitians had forgotten since they threw them off in November 1803. One day he showed the Americans some wood that he burned. “Jou va, jou vient...” (“The day goes, the day comes . . . ”)* Meanwhile he cultivated his fields, still following politics close at hand, during the pe¬ riod one could designate his journey in the desert; he was twice a parlia¬ mentary candidate for the Hinche municipality, but for unknown reasons, he withdrew his candidacy each time. The 10th October 1917 was the 32nd birthday of Charlemagne Peralte. That evening he received a special birthday gift. In effect, the night of October 10 and 11, 1917, an event occurred which would have great im¬ portance in his life and mark the beginning of a duel to the death between, Haiti’s heroes and the occupying Army. It was the first attack of the cacos against the town of Hinche.

'Translator’s note: A Creole saying which more or less means that Doomsday is coming, or everything has its day, but it will also surely end.

Canto IX Charlemagne Imprisoned

The attack was repulsed in part because of a lack of preparation, but the occupying forces and their native lackeys felt the heat of the engage¬ ment. The Americans attempted with all their might to discover the re¬ sponsible parties, the instigators, the guilty perpetrators, and their accom¬ plices, and chastise these impudent Haitians. The American authorities arrested the Peralte brothers with little concern for whether they were guilty or innocent: Saul, St. Remy and Charlemagne, the cousins Sevigne and Jules Peralte, as well as the other noteworthy Hinche citizens. All were in jail from October 11, 1917 on. After having been questioned in the jails of the Marines, four of the accused were retained: Saul and Charlemagne Peralte, Marc Duchene, and Orvil St.-Vil, escorted by foot to Ouanaminthe, under heavy guard, roped together like animals to be judged by the military court in session. Charlemagne Peralte’s house was torched. That of Saul was completely plundered by the Marines and their followers. The Peraltes spent their Christmas in jail at Ouanaminthe. On January 4, 1918, Charlemagne Peralte was sentenced, in the course of a speedy trial lasting fifty-five minutes, to five years of forced labor. Saul was found innocent by the court, but the occupying force was not satisfied with the verdict of its own tribunal. Despite the acquittal, and in place of being immediately freed as one might expect, the former accused, Saul Peralte, was to be placed under house arrest at Ouanaminthe, before being shot in the back and killed by a guard some time later under the classic pretext of attempting to escape. It was reported that Saul had for¬ mally refused to flee18 to the Dominican Republic, as some friends ad¬ vised him to do. He was free to move about the town of Ouanaminthe as long as he remained within its confines. It would have been easy for him to simply cross the savanna and the Massacre River and find himself in

l8The courage of Saul Peralte was legendary. One of his contemporaries said of him that he was as “brave as a weapon.”

19

20

Canto IX

Dominican territory, outside the jurisdiction of his tormentors. One could very well say in the manner ascribed to Danton, who also refused to flee, of Saul Peralte, after his death: ‘‘One does not carry the fatherland on the soles of one’s shoes. ” In each case, their attitude was identical. On January 14, 1918, the sentence of Charlemagne was confirmed: he was clothed in convict’s garb and sent to Cap-Hai'tien to serve his sen¬ tence. Charlemagne and Saul were forever separated; they never saw each other again. It was at the Cap that Charlemagne sat powerless in the face of the farcical referendum of June 12, 1918, Black Wednesday, the opera¬ tion which was destined to abolish the cumbersome constitution of 188919, and ratified the illegal occupation with its abuses, giving a patina of legiti¬ macy to the new constitution. This lovable document was drawn up for us at Washington D.C.’s Department of Navy by none other than Franklin D. Roosevelt, future president of the U.S.20, who headed the department and boasted of being its author; he, furthermore, stressed its numerous merits, and that it would replace the “immortal”* Constitution of Gonaives. Roger Gaillard tells how the next day after the plebiscite, following an encounter between the poets, Christian Werleigh and Luc Grimard, and the famous captive in the streets of Cap-Hai'tien, the latter hurled the apostrophe: “Look at these gentlemen who yesterday sold their country. ” He vowed, “I will sell my life very dearly the day they sacrifice me. ” Charlemagne swept the streets of the Cap, dressed in striped convict’s garb. He bore up under his situation as a prisoner in silence, stoically, without relinquishing his dignity, without ever bending his back to this injustice, without resigning himself to this fate.21 Failing to break the man, the occupiers tried to degrade him. Some charitable souls offered him alms when, for example, he swept the Place d’Armes, he, proud and spunky commander who had refused to surrender Leogane to the Americans. He suffered an especially harsh treatment. It seemed that they reserved for him the most laborious work. The French charge d’affaires at the time reported to its government that one day “an American guard soaked a broom in a tub of excrement and daubed the face of the convict with it.”

And, the diplomat continued, “The latter withstood the affront in silence.”

'The same one that his father, Massena Peralte, had worked on and voted for at Gonaives with other great Haitians. This constitution was proclaimed on October 9, 1889, the evening of Charlemagne’s fourth birthday. 20On August 18, 1920 in the course of an electoral meeting in Montana and during the electoral campaign of 1920 when Warren G. Harding was elected president of the United States. (Translator’s note: Roosevelt ran for Vice President on the Democratic ticket in this campaign.) This document was nicknamed “The Immortal.” 21At the Cap’s prison, one day a U.S. Marine ordered Peralte to clean a latrine, but he categorically refused to do so.

Charlemagne Imprisoned

21

These cruelties did not prevent him from assisting at mass in the prison chapel of the Cap, the very prison which had witnessed so many events in our history since colonial times, such as the incarceration of General [Etienne-Maynard] Laveaux by [General] Villate. The army chap¬ lain of the prison was father Pocro, the same one who had known him at Hinche and who had taught him catechism in order to make him a good Catholic. And the lessons of father Pocro were not in vain. Charlemagne sang with so much fervor during the service that the faithful cried. The sight of Charlemagne Peralte, prisoner at the Cap, submitting to the capri¬ cious brutality of the occupying force, made the people of the Metropole of the North profoundly indignant. . . .

Canto X Citizens, to Arms! w

2

*>£ *£* * * *$*

w vw v

Figure X-l. The Cap-Hai'ticn prison, building dating from the colonial era, where Charlemagne Peralte was incarcerated from January 1918 to September 1918 (Recent photo).

God was not going to leave Charlemagne Peralte indefinitely in this wretched state. He would die a free man ... on September 3, 1918 about 10 o’clock in the morning, Charlemagne Peralte escaped with his guard, a soldier named Luczama Luc, from the clutches of the Americans. He hid in the home of a friend, Mme Raoul Deetjen, then from there, aided by other supporters, made it to the Central Plateau. The war of national lib¬ eration against the occupiers had begun. It would continue mercilessly for nearly two years, continuing after the demise of Peralte. The terrain in the Plateau was favorable for such a rebellion. On the one hand, the local population had not been disarmed, unlike the other 23

24

Canto X

regions on the coast, and on the other, the system of forced labor was quite severe. At Pignon, Charlemagne Peralte issued the cry of revolt, and three hundred peasants at work on the road dropped their picks and shovels and followed him into the mountains, like at the beginning of our era, when a multitude of disciples followed the Savior. Charlemagne did not stop working the Plateau in his quest for new supporters. He was well received everywhere and his troops increased from day to day, as did his arms and his material re¬ sources. Several townsmen even assured him of substantial finan¬ cial support, reminding us that money is the nerve of war. Charlemagne launched a second attack against the capital of the Central Plateau, Hinche, in the same month of October, on the 15th, in fact, at 9:45 pm, five days after his thirty-third birthday, almost one year to the day after the first attack on the night of October 10 and 11, 1917, which was the cause of his imprisonment. This second attack did not pro¬ duce extraordinary results, but as Gaillard reported, it worried the Ameri¬ can commander. The chief rebels in the hands of the Americans were executed pure and simple. Several members of the Peralte family were pitilessly massa¬ cred under one pretext or another. His first-born brother, Saul, mentioned above, his cousins, Philoxene, Emmanuel, and Leosthenes (nicknamed Charite Peralte) were killed. The occupying army duplicated the pogroms and terror utilized a hundred years before by the infamous CaptainGeneral Donatien Rochambeau in his vain attempt to conquer us.

Canto XI Resistance Hero WWW*********

For a year Charlemagne Peralte and his cacos waged war all across the Central Plateau in an attempt to re-establish national sovereignty by force of arms. The belligerents struck some very hard blows for a year without either side being able to prevail. The guerrillas then increased their regular attacks against the positions held by the forces of occupation on the Plateau. The cacos struck, then they disappeared and regrouped in the bush in the manner in which they had come, always invisible to the occupiers. To describe in detail all the military operations would be tedious and would require several books. This would be outside the scope of this work. Some day it would be desirable for a Haitian historian to undertake the formidable task of writing a detailed military history of the war that Charlemagne Peralte led on the Plateau, in the same manner that Thomas Madiou gave us an extremely detailed military history of the War of Inde¬ pendence from 1802-03. In the mean time those who wish to have more information on such military operations should consult the excellent work of Roger Gaillard, Charlemagne Peralte le Caco, and his follow-up, La Guerilla de Batraville, and also the extremely interesting work of Robert and Nancy Heinl, Written in Blood. Despite the ground and air power that the Americans utilized to con¬ quer the cacos, who were referred to pejoratively in the official reports as “bandits” (today they would be called terrorists), the results obtained were ridiculous. The balance sheet of this first year of war was largely favorable to Charlemagne; his forces were intact. He controlled several thousand square miles of liberated territory.22 He held the real “bandits”, the Ameri¬ cans, in check, holding their fearsome power up to ridicule. He was every¬ where. He was wounded, probably in the arm, on June 26,1919 near Hinche.

Translator’s note: “Charlemagne Peralte Superstar” was the original title of this canto, and it is preferred by Dr. Michel, who claimed the general made the Americans “dance” to his music. “According to the Heinls, the war against Charlemagne affected one-fourth of Haitian territory and one-fifth of the total population of the nation.

26

Canto XI

Peralte was sometimes aided in his struggle against their common enemy by the Dominican guerrillas, the gavilleros. Charlemagne asserted himself more and more as the uncontested chief and rallying point of the national liberation movement. He gained in stat¬ ure and prestige.21 He sent letters to the diplomatic heads of Great Britain and France to gain acceptance for Haiti, to explain to them the object of the war, the liberation of his country, and to obtain their diplomatic sup¬ port for his actions. He protested the efforts of the occupying forces which wished to discredit him personally as well as his movement. He could even strike a great blow against the capital, Port-au-Prince, on October 7, 1919, and frighten all its inhabitants.24 He made the occupy¬ ing forces dance to his music, something they could not accept. It was necessary to deal with him by any means necessary, this man who became the living incarnation of Haitian resistance. Because they were unable to defeat Charlemagne, the Americans resolved to employ the most vile means, those which had already been employed by [Charles Victor Emmanuel] Leclerc against Toussaint Louverture in the preceding cen¬ tury: BETRAYAL.25

23Gaillard reported that the Americans recognized that Charlemagne was a born organizer (“un organisateur-ne”). 240n the night of October 8 or 9, 1919, young Thomas Price, Jr., Luc Laforestrie, and Luc Pauyo, who worked in the yard of the Port-au-Prince-Mirebalais road (which was under construction at Bon-Repos), were massacred by the cacos. Their frightful deaths pro¬ duced quite a shock in the capital. A monument was erected to them and a photograph of it is included in this work. 25In 1934, the Americans similarly betrayed Augusto Cesar Sandino, luring him into a trap on the pretext of negotiations and then assassinating him.

Resistance Hero

Figure XI-1. The commemorative monument at Bon-Repos to Thomas Price, Jr., Luc Laforestrie, and Luc Pauyo, assassinated by the cacos. Engraved in stone under the bronze plate is the date: October 5,1919 (Recent photo)

Figure XI-2. The bronze plaque of the monument at Bon-Repos (manufactured by the firm Bailey, Banks, and Biddle)

27

Canto XII Toward the Cross

The nefarious affair would be conducted by Captain Hermann H. Hanneken and the arch-traitor, Jean-Baptiste Conze, with the benediction of those in the highest places among the occupying American force as well as among the authorities in Washington, D.C. These two merchants of death would be aided in their execution of their foul deeds by the trai¬ tor, Edmond Jean-Frantjois, a guard, who infiltrated the ranks of the cacos by passing himself off as a deserter from the Army. It was, in essence, a question of transforming Conze into a leader of the cacos26 with the aid of considerable sums of money and with guile, and of sending him to propose an attack against the little town of GrandeRiviere du Nord, at the time an economic center of great importance and a station on the railroad, as well. Charlemagne did not let himself be convinced at first; but despite everything, the opportunity was tempting. He came to attack Port-au-Prince on October 7, and he returned to the Central Plateau. There was to be another great attack, striking more than one hundred kilometers from the Plateau, only some days later, at the frontier north of the vast territory he controlled, and which was to be augmented by still another attack on the Cap, the second big city of Haiti, at less than a month’s interval. The psychological impact would be enormous, and the benefits of all the or¬ ders that Peralte gave for this just cause could be considerable. Although very defiant at the beginning toward Conze and his marvelous proposal, Charlemagne finally gave in and succumbed, much to his misfortune, to the schemes of this false caco. The attack against Grande-Riviere du Nord was prepared with great care. It was to take place the night of October 31 and November 1, 1919. The plan was simple. Charlemagne would settle down at Fort Capois with his troops on October 26, then descend with Conze’s men toward the

26From the month of August 1919, Conze fought in the ranks of the cacos of Charlemagne Peralte.

29

30

Canto XII

Grande-Riviere. The latter would continue along and attack the borough. Charlemagne was to wait patiently for his return at the ford of Mazere. Upon signaling that the gendarmerie were already posted all along the routes to the Central Plateau, Conze would thus cut off the retreat of Charlemagne and his forces, in case the latter attempted to escape the ambush prepared for him. It was with this trap at Mazere, some kilometers south of the GrandeRiviere, that Hanneken hoped to capture Charlemagne. But Charlemagne was sly. He changed his part of the plan. He did not descend at Mazere. He stopped on the Plateau of Nan-Glisse, halfway between Fort-Capois and the ford where Hanneken and his minions were to capture him. Conze’s victorious emissaries only had to come to inform him at Nan-Glisse that Grande-Riviere was taken. He then descended from the plateau to make his triumphant entry into the borough. Hanneken had not anticipated this change. It was enough to cause his entire plan to capture him to fail.

Canto XIII

The Passion27 *t* *t* *t* it*

it*

*1* ******

W

On the way to Grande-Riviere, Conze met with Captain Hanneken at Mazere ford. He informed him that Charlemagne had not descended and that the operation failed. Without losing any time, Hanneken decided to slightly modify the plan. He chose to go with his small band, which in¬ cluded his loyal second lieutenant, William R. Button, to meet the guer¬ rilla. He would catch him at Nan-Glisse, instead of Mazere, it was very simple. Luck had abandoned Charlemagne. The traitor, Edmond JeanFrant^ois, led Hanneken with about twenty soldiers to Charlemagne’s camp in the mountains. Hanneken was already disguised as a peasant; he also blackened his face. His men were similarly disguised. They got past Conze’s messengers, who had gone to announce the capture of GrandeRiviere to Charlemagne. Hanneken cleared several check points with his band during the night and, without being discovered by any of them, continued on his way. Af¬ ter a laborious climb of several hours, he succeeded in entering the caco’s camp. In the light of a bonfire, he recognized Charlemagne from a dis¬ tance. He approached him. The two were face to face, and in a fraction of a second, Charlemagne understood what was happening and drew out his pearl handled revolver, which Conze had given him as a sign of friend¬ ship. But Hanneken was quicker and had already put two bullets from his regulation automatic Colt 45 right in the heart. Charlemagne Peralte fell, dying instantly. It was three a.m. The effect of this surprise was total, causing great panic in the Hai¬ tian camp. Hanneken profited by wreaking great carnage with his heavy machine gun, which was concealed in a straw bag, and there were nine fatalities. The other cacos fled.

27That Friday [when Christ was betrayed] was the 31st. The 31st of October 1919 was a Friday; it was also Halloween, when Americans often went about in costumes and dis¬ guises. (Translator’s note: in going over the translation, Georges Michel pointed out that ten years later to the day—October 31,1929—Haitian students began the strike which led to the Americans’s departure.)

31

32

Canto XIII

Figure XIII-1. A summary execution of a caco by a soldier during a military operation; photo taken in 1919.

AP/Wide World Photos Figure XIII-2. A summary execution during the Vietnam war a half century later. The similarity is striking.

Canto XIV Glory to the Traitors

Charlemagne’s death was very much like an assassination. A man was approached by traitors and killed in cold blood. There was nothing glorious in this! Hermann Hanneken should have confronted Charlemagne openly in the countryside and in full light of day, if he had only the courage . . . “Hermann Hanneken, hide your face on your long journey to eternity, unless you inadvertently see yourself in the mirror, and have to confront your ugliness! ”28

Nevertheless, it is necessary for the traitors to write History. They are as completely indispensable as the heroes. It is necessary to have the Hermann Hannekens, the Jean-Baptiste Conzes, the Edmond Jean-Fran5ois, to play the villains. Destiny has need of them to execute the foul deeds of History, in order to complete the forging of the heroes that we must raise up. Thus there would not have been the Passion of Christ without Judas, there would not have been the Song of Roland, in which we meet with another Charlemagne, without Ganelon; there would not have been a Siegfried, without Hagen; there would not have been the drama of Othello

28Brigadier General Hermann H. Hanneken died at the age of ninety-three years in Cali¬ fornia, where he had been retired for a long time, in the year of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charlemagne Peralte, August 23, 1986. (Information provided by the Ma¬ rine Corps, Washington, D.C.)* * For several years, he absolutely refused to permit Roger Gaillard to interview him. *Did Hermann Hanneken see his victim, Charlemagne Peralte, when he passed from this life? We shall never know. It was not the first time that certain coincidences occurred in history. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, former U.S. Presidents, both died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniver¬ sary of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776), which both of them signed. Though they had been political opponents, they became good friends after their respective presi¬ dencies and they remained so until the end of their lives. The Swedish Count Hans Axel of Fersen, lover of Queen Marie-Antoinette, died from assassination on July 20, 1810, anniversary of the unsuccessful flight of the queen and her husband. Even more recently, Prince Felix Youssoupof, who killed Rasputin in 1916, died in 1969 soon after having actively collaborated in the making of a film, “I Killed Rasputin,” on the life and death of his victim. The friends of the Prince had advised him not to participate in this enterprise.

33

34

Canto XIV

without Iago; there would have been no Britannicus without Narcisse; nor Les Miserables without Javert, nor the tragedy of l’Habitation Georges and the glorification of Fort de Joux without General Brunet*, there would not have been a Saint Helen without Sir Hudson Lowe; and there would not have been the saga of Charlemagne Peralte, without Hermann Hanneken and Jean-Baptiste Conze.29 It is absolutely necessary that they exist and that they fulfill their tasks, these ridiculous instruments of History, in order to give Charlemagne Peralte his full stature, and that they, at the same time, return quickly to the shadows from which they came, their crimes accomplished, to meet once again the fate of all those who shamelessly preceded them, marked forever by the stamp of infamy, and condemned to eternal unworthiness. Thanks to Hermann Hanneken and his vile deed, Charlemagne Peralte became a legend. Several hours later, at dawn, on this bloodied All Saints Day, the Almighty manifested His rage in the manner that He saw fit when He let loose the elements and when He rent in two the curtain of the Temple of Jerusalem at the exact moment of the crucifixion of His son, when He breathed His last breath on Golgotha. Some kilometers away, at Hinche, the capital of the Central Plateau, which had just lost its most famous son, the cloth of the main altar of the church burst spontaneously into flame, according to the testimony of numerous witnesses.** His foul deed accomplished, the obscure American officer with the name of the beer30 took the body of the man that he had just killed in cold

’The French general who arrested Toussaint Louverture at Habitation Georges near Gonaives. 29The traitor Conze published a brochure, “For History,” in 1919 to justify his deed. De¬ spite this he did not escape terrible moral sanction. Among other things, the people of Grande Riviere du Nord refused to greet him. The brochure never really convinced any¬ one; on the contrary, it further implicated Conze instead of exculpating him. (See the title page’s reproduction in the appendix.) Toussaint Louverture was also arrested through betrayal and sent to Fort de Joux, France, where he died. "Translator’s note: the following passage was taken from the main text: “This event was again similar to the story of the two stone eagles of the imperial castle of Schonbrunn in Austria, which fell at ten-year intervals and broke into pieces, one when Napoleon died and the other when his son died, and whose demise marked the house’s being reduced to rubble; Napoleon died on an African island, and his son in the castle in Austria, ten years later. In the same way, these strange facts were similar to the story of the weeping willow of St. Helen, uprooted and replanted again at Chislehurst, one part of which was taken away by a gust of wind in this place in England in 1873 the same day that Napoleon III died unexpect¬ edly, and the other part of which was carried away by another gust of wind the day of the sudden death of the Imperial Prince six years later, thousands of miles away in Africa.” [Translator’s note: Georges Michel explained that in both the deaths of Napoleon and the Imperial Prince, Africa sought retribution for France’s killing one of its sons, Toussaint Louverture, earlier in the nineteenth century.] 30Hanneken is of course a very famous Dutch beer.

Glory to the Traitors

35

blood and through treachery, a man whose sole crime was to defend his country against the invader, to fight for the dignity of his people against those who would enslave them, to do what he must do or could do, one whose greatness would overshadow the deed of Hermann H. Hanneken, and placed it on a mule which he had obtained from the camp. The Ameri¬ can officer began his descent down the steep slope toward the GrandeRiviere. He was well paid for all his efforts. The parcel that he led was more valuable than gold: none other than Charlemagne Peralte in person, and even more, definitely harmless. It was essential to take him as soon as possible to the Constabulary. During this journey, the attack against Grande-Riviere took place as planned. But the Marines were prepared, and our forces were of course cut to pieces. The rout was total. The banks of the river ran with blood. It was a great victory in the annals of the U.S. Marine Corps and the Gendarmerie of Haiti. The arch-traitor, Jean-Baptiste Conze, savored his triumph and went to meet the macabre cortege conducted by Hanneken. He strutted about31 . . . Regulus Neree, famous surveyor and patriot, watched as they entered the town. He understood. It was as if the whole world collapsed on him. His pain was excruciating. His hopes were annihilated; the Ameri¬ cans would never be defeated; the future was dark. The occupiers were going to rule over us with an iron hand for fourteen more years.

MUnder the Duvalier regime, there was in the 40th legislature (1967-1973), the same one which voted for the succession of Jean-Claude to follow his father, Francis Duvalier in 1971, a deputy Dupera Peralte, and a deputy Kercius Conze, seated together in the same assembly. Was this a sign of reconciliation sought by Destiny?

36

Canto XIV

Figure XIV-1. The railway station of the Grande-Riviere du Nord where the body of Charlemagne Peralte was loaded aboard a train on November 1, 1919 to be transported to Cap-Hai'tien. (Recent photo)

Canto XV Gruciji:ixion

Figure XV-1. Charlemagne Peralte crucified (Cap-Haitien, November 1,1919)

Charlemagne’s corpse was exposed in the public park of GrandeRiviere du Nord, now Place Monrosier. It was nine o’clock in the morn¬ ing. They then transported it to the train station, and it was loaded into a train car filled with merchandise. One can just imagine the scene. The

37

l

38

Canto XV

locomotive made its long heart-rending cry, splitting the air that rainy November morning, and the convoy started out.32 The train went rolling under a low and gloomy sky from which a fine rain fell, along the valley following the river, then across the plantations of the North’s plains, a region which had viewed so many sad events in our glorious history, and which was dominated by the Citadel of Henry, shaking, creaking, spitting out its dense black, smoke, its shower of coal cinders and its jets of steam, all of which punctuated the long cries of its whistle. In a way, the train paid tribute, in a modest fashion, to Charlemagne the warrior. At the very least, for his last journey he had a means of trans¬ portation worthy of him. Charlemagne Peralte would make almost a tri¬ umphant entry into the Cap’s railway station, in a cloud of steam, to the gloomy howls of the whistle, to the martial accents of the metal, the grat¬ ing of the brakes, the clanking of the cars, like a glorious general killed in combat, carried by his comrades, with the background sound of the clank¬ ing of arms and the lamentations of soldiers.33 The corpse was unloaded in the livestock grounds of the station of the Cap.34 From there, Charlemagne’s body was quickly taken to the arsenal of the Cap at Carenage to be identified. This was done at twelve-thirty. Euphoric,

32Informa'uon furnished by the lawyer, Hermann Pierre-Jerome (born in 1908) of GrandeRiviere du Nord; a child at the time, he viewed the body of Charlemagne Peralte aboard the train, in the car filled with merchandise, in the station of the Cap. He even saw Hanneken, who had not yet removed his blackface. 33It is rather curious to note that another victorious general, Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. Army, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, had requested in his last will and testament that his remains, after the funeral ceremonies in which his old friend and comrade in arms, General Charles de Gaulle, assisted, be transported by steam from Washington, D.C. or whatever place where he happened to die, to the place of his birth, Abilene, Kansas, in full view of the people of the Middle West, and where he wished to be buried. Only a steam engine and train were majestic enough to conduct him to his last resting place. Dwight D. Eisenhower, five-star general, made therefore a last journey similar to that of Charlemagne, a final trip which was suitable for the great leader of soldiers that he had been. 34Confirmed also by Hermann Pierre-Jerome. Mr. Bossuet Louis stated that there had been a yard for livestock and facilities for loading and unloading of animals at the Cap, at Grande-Riviere, and at Bahon. The livestock yard at the Cap was situated at the railroad station; the others were a little distant from the respective rail stations. Like Christ at his birth, Charlemagne rested in death on a bed of straw, amongst the cattle and the donkeys. Marie-Louise Sam was the first person to identify the corpse in the livestock yard of the station of the Cap. Roger Gaillard also permitted us to comprehend the fact that the rail¬ way officials, director Mr. C. C. Woolard*, and his assistant, Mr. Emile Mentre, were among the number of people who came to view the corpse of Charlemagne Peralte cruci¬ fied at the Arsenal of the Cap (in Charlemagne Peralte le Caco, p. 317). *The document published by Gaillard spells the name Woolard. The Blue Book, of Haiti spells it Woolard. Certain people write Woolard with two “l’s.” The Heinls incorrectly write Willard. Mr. C. C. Woolard, in addition to being the head of the train company, possessed a large commercial establishment at Cap Haitien; he was also the local Ford automobile dealer.

Crucifixion

39

the Americans did not even go to the trouble of having an autopsy performed.35 The body was then exposed completely nude, or nearly so, attached to a door by a strong rope which passed under his armpits, in the yard of the Arse¬ nal. Above his head they placed the Peraltiste banner which consisted of a Haitian flag with a crucifix attached, bearing the image of the Jew crucified like our hero at age 33, and in whom, all his life, even in his darkest moments at the prison, Charlemagne had always placed all his hopes. The presence of the crucifix which was, moreover, an integral part of Charlemagne’s banner, seemed to have been a matter of Destiny, which in certain circumstances, did not wish to leave anything to chance. Did this cru¬ cifix mean that Christ had never abandoned him? Did it signify, furthermore, that Christ had taken into His custody the fine soul of Charlemagne, and had delivered him to the house of His Father, just as he had taken into that house the soul of the thief who believed in Him? This crucifix seemed to say: “Vade retro Satanas,” [“Get back, Satan”] as if in exorcism. The crucifix, which also symbolized forgiveness and love among men, cried “Stop (halt)!" in the face of all the attempts to exploit or use it by whomever.36 They had thus crucified Charlemagne Peralte on a door. After the fash¬ ion of Christ, Charlemagne had been cmcified to redeem us for our sins, past, present, and future; and the poor corpse, martyred and glorious, adorned with the draped Haitian flag and the image of Christ, bore with him all the weight of our redemption. Charlemagne Peralte, through his magnificent epic and by his sacrifice, verified a rule which often occurs in history, and which indicates that certain great figures, sometimes coming from marginal groups, mark the life of the people.37 Charlemagne Peralte has been called the last of the ma¬ roons; he was also the first Haitian hero of the twentieth century. “November 1, 1919, a day of mourning for the Haitian nation ...”

35Robert and Nancy Heinl, however, claim that his compatriots measured the victim. The corpse was five feet nine-and-a-half inches long and weighed 1401bs. %For example, those who would like to say that Charlemagne was an anti-American and a Marxist-Leninist atheist. The crucifix thus saves him from the dishonest accusations of Com¬ munism that could come from the ultra-reactionary detractors, heirs of the collaborators of the occupation. Also, the crucifix protected him from another revisionist interpretation of the Marxist-Leninists, those who wish, given their dialectical proclivities, to claim him as one of them. Charlemagne Peralte remains what he was: a leader both nationalist and Christian, a good Catholic, a good Haitian, a patriot who wished to defend his native country from invad¬ ers by military means and who became a martyr, paying with his life for his noble endeavors. 37The Dominicans are fascinated by our hero, who is often referred to by them as “Carolomagno PERALTA.” Sometimes they even consider him to have been one of them. One could cite as examples the great historical figures who were also marginal: JesusChrist (Galilean), Catherine II of Russia (German), Napoleon Bonaparte (Corsican), Adolf Hitler (Austrian), Joseph Stalin (Georgian), and closer to us, Ernesto “Che” Guevara (Ar¬ gentinian), Henry A. Kissinger (German), Hafiz Assad (Alaouite).

40

Canto XV

The body crucified on a door was testimony to the vain wickedness and the useless cruelty of the American military, and remained exposed the entire afternoon of this sinister All Saints Day38 in the yard of the Arse¬ nal of the Cap, where all the dignitaries of the town and all who knew him while alive came to view him. Father Pocro was among them. He recog¬ nized the one whom he had taught catechism, the young choir boy, his friend. His sadness was profound, and he could not hold back his grief.

38Dr. Francois Dalencour, in Precis Methodique d’Histoire d’Haiti, claimed the body of Charlemagne had been exhibited rather on November 2, 1919. Roger Gaillard’s research has established the fact that it was on November 1 that this sinister deed took place. (See the text of Dr. Dalencour in the appendix). The doctor-historian did not deprive himself of the opportunity to take advantage of this occasion to bitterly criticize the Americans and the occupation.

Canto XVI The Entombment WW*£**J* W W

After this horrible little enactment, the occupying forces intended to jet rid of the corpse, now useless and in fact a hindrance. It was a perish¬ able commodity. The magnanimous Colonel [later General] [John H.] Russell proposed to have it embalmed and given to the family at Hinche. The latter, as one might readily understand, refused it. On November 2, while different strategies were under consideration, the body was removed from the yard of the Arsenal. Finally, it was decided that Charlemagne Peralte would be buried in the concentration camp of Chabert, near Troudu-Nord, since no one would claim him. In the dark of the night, the body was placed aboard a military truck which headed east towards the Plains of the North, over the bumpy and muddy road caused by the rainy season. Hanneken, who had launched an attack against the remaining Peraltiste forces at Fort-Capois on the morn¬ ing of November 2, had descended once again helter skelter to the Cap in

Figure XVI-1. General John H. Russell 41

42

Canto XVI

the late afternoon, just in time for the trip to Chabert.39He did not wish to miss this journey. The vehicle reached Chabert at 12:40 in the morning of November 3. The body of Charlemagne Peralte, covered with a burlap bag (used for cane sugar), draped in the red and blue colors of the nation, was lowered from the carriage. That very same night of November 3, they began to dig. Presumably, they were in a rush. Hanneken requested a coffin; there were none, such was the demand for them in the extermination camp of Chabert. No importance! Charlemagne was buried next to the soil, without a casket. Four soldiers did the job. They placed him in concrete to avoid his being restored to life or to prevent his followers from exhuming the body.* The tomb was to be guarded by the military, as they had done in olden times with the Sepulcher of Christ. The burial operations were completed by 3 am on November 3, 1919. That date, November 3, 1919, the same day of the secret burial, the French charge d’affaires paid him homage: “This capture and the death (of Charlemagne) deprived the cacos of their wariest leader, and it is as¬ sumed that Peralte cannot easily be replaced.” The diplomat spoke the

truth. With the death of Charlemagne, the caco movement continued un¬ der the direction of Benoit Batraville and other leaders, but none of them were of the caliber or had the abilities of Charlemagne Peralte. From then on, the victory of the occupying forces and their lackeys was assured. In summer of 1920 came the completion of the drive against the caco move¬ ment, and the war of national liberation ended on October 8, 1921 with the surrender of the last known leader of the cacos, Achille Jean, marking the total victory of the Americans against the Haitians.40 The photo of Charlemagne crucified became famous afterwards, was /reproduced by the thousands, and thrown from airplanes over the camps of the cacos to demoralize them and to prove that their venerated leader had been captured and put to death. On November 16, 1919, President Dartiguenave41 decorated the American soldiers who had participated in

39In order to go from Cap Hai'tien to Chabert, it is necessary to pass by “Carrefour-Jesus (sic)” (the Jesus Crossing). 'Translator’s note: Of course the U.S. Marines, fighting in a nation known for voodoo, zombies, and bringing the dead back to life, held many fears and superstitions concerning Haitians and their abilities in this arena. 40The victory of the Americans was more than just the wiping out of a mere rebellion. (See the analysis of Dr. Francois Dalencour in the documents in the appendix.) 41B. Danache informed us that, to the credit of President Dartiguenave, the latter showed no joy at the announcement of the death of Charlemagne Peralte, unlike the Americans who were exultant and drank numerous bottles of champagne. (We also publish in the appendix the chapter by this author dedicated to Charlemagne Peralte in his book, Le President Dartiguenave et les Americans, which appeared in 1950.) It is interesting to note that the book of Danache is dedicated “To the Memory of Charlemagne and the Little Soldier Killed at the Arsenal. ”

The Entombment

43

the elimination of Charlemagne, awarding them the “Medaille militaire”: (They were) Colonel James J. Mead, G. d’H. [Gendarmerie d’Haiti], commander of the Department of the North (Captain, U.S.M.C.) Captain Hermann Hanneken, G. d’H., (Sergeant, U.S.M.C.) Second lieutenant William R. Button, G. d’H. (Corporal, U.S.M.C.) Second lieutenant H. R. Woods, G. d’H. (Corporal, U.S.M.C.) On November 19, 1919, it was the turn for the Haitian soldiers to receive their reward, separately, of course, as required by apartheid. These ceremonies took place two days before and the day after the battle of Vertieres. Again was it Destiny’s desire to respect the sacred date of No¬ vember 18*, and to spare it this additional insult?

Figure XVI-3. Jean-Baptiste Conze and Hermann H. Hanneken, photographed at the Citadelle Henri, after their sad deed.

‘This was the date for the final Haitian victory in the battle for independence against the French in 1803.

Canto XVII Resurrection ft*

jtffc

*$k w ***

itffc

Charlemagne Peralte rested in his grave at Poste-Chabert until Au¬ gust 1934, when those who had fought with all their energy left the na¬ tional territory. The nightmare had ended, having lasted nineteen years. The winds of History had changed. The cacos finally had their victory, it no longer eluded them. Madame Massena Peralte, the Mater Dolorosa, assisted at the end of the occupation. On August 19, 1934, the remains of Charlemagne Peralte, her only son, were exhumed and identified by her, thanks to a golden tooth the deceased had. On October 14, 1934, the glorious bones rested in a coffin placed on a catafalque in the little chapel of the United Hearts of the Artisans (Coeurs Unis des Artisans) at the Cap. They were watched over by a large crowd which maintained vigil night and day. On November 25, 1934, the re¬ mains arrived at the cathedral, Notre Dame de 1’ Assomption, at Cap Haitien. They remained there the night, and the funeral was held the next morning at 8 in the presence of the President of the Republic, Stenio Vincent,42 the widowed Madame Massena Peralte, various relatives from Hinche, the widowed Madame Antenor Firmin nee Salnave, Senator Seymour Pradel, a defeated candidate for the Presidency [in 1930], and numerous other personalities. The ceremonies were then completed at the cemetery with volleys, the ringing of bells for the deceased, a benediction, and the na¬ tional anthem. Despite the fine rain that fell so heavily (Oh, the rains of November!), President Vincent continued to follow the cortege to the cem¬ etery, situated at the other end of the town. Justice was served. Charlemagne is not dead, he lives, and the more time passes, the more he shall live. Roger Gaillard is partly responsible for this ... In ef¬ fect, he accomplished a colossal work, one more lasting than bronze, a work which is the fruit of his wisdom and patient research, of long waking hours, bent over the papers, of tireless efforts following these labors . . .

42He himself also came from Hinche, like Charlemagne Peralte.

45

46

Canto XVII

Exegi aerere monumentum perennius [He has erected in bronze an ever¬

lasting monument] ... He has extracted from obscurity these heroes of the Haitian movement, and cast them in bronze, giving them immortality. Thus, Charlemagne Peralte, Benoit Batraville, and their cacos are forever outside the reach of helicopters, the bombs, and the guns of the U.S. Navy; they are in the fourth dimension.43

43When we were writing these lines, we could not know there would be such a Peraltiste fervor after the upheaval of February 7, 1986 when the last Duvalier was forced to flee Haiti.

Canto XVIII Ascension *2tft *£*

i&k

Figure XVIII-1. The tomb of Charlemagne Peralte in the Cap-Ha'itien cemetery (Recent photo).

Charlemagne Peralte can never be sufficiently venerated by the Hai¬ tian people. There are some streets which carry his name, at Petion-Ville,44 and at Hinche. A bust of him was installed at one place in the town of his birth. We agree that he well deserves the recognition of his nation. One could also wish that a bust of Charlemagne be set up at Leogane, where as commander of the arrondissement, he crossed swords for the first time with the occupying forces and caused them to retreat. It would

44In Petion-Ville, at Hercule Hill, Charlemagne Peralte Street crosses one which bears the name of the Captain Adjutant Major Germain, commander of the Port-au-Prince Arsenal on the tragic night of late July in 1915.

47

48

Canto XVIII

not be too much to expect to have one at Port-au-Prince, as well, and also in the other towns where this great man exercised an official function, Port-de-Paix and Mirebalais. It really does not matter which towns in the Republic install busts of Charlemagne, because he is a national hero: he does not really belong to any single town, he is the common property of all Haitians. Even more, he belongs to all humankind.45 It is worth noting that presently the site of the current tomb of Charlemagne Peralte is inadequate and poses certain problems. First of all, its inaccessibility discourages many visitors, native and foreign, who come to pay their respects to the caco. In fact, the tomb of Charlemagne is to be found at the very rear of the cemetery of the Cap, a cemetery which is only a mixed jumble of tombs, as messy as its counterpart in Port-auPrince. Secondly, it is in a terrible state, and its location does not facilitate its regular upkeep. Thirdly, the tomb is still very active. In the course of a visit to the cemetery at the Cap not very long ago, we noted that a person had just been buried in the south chamber of the vault near where Charlemagne lay in repose. This was confirmed by a gravedigger. But north or south, it is possibly only a matter of a step, or maybe just a day, before something truly unfortunate transpires.46 We therefore recommend the immediate removal of the remains of our hero to a small mausoleum, which could be constructed in some place at the Cap: for example, at the Arsenal, not far from the site of the basketball court, only some few meters from the yard where he was cmcified and where his corpse departed for the Chabert concentration camp. One could also construct a mausoleum on the little Montarcher Place which is situated at the comer of Espagnole and Notre-Dame Streets (18-L)\ and which is not particularly used. It could be rebaptised Charlemagne-Peralte Place.

45Since the fall of the Duvalier regime in 1986, that is, after the writing of this text, Peraltisme has its sail before the wind, and Charlemagne Peralte is the center of a veri¬ table cult. A little after the end of the dictatorship, some protestors even pulled down the bronze statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it into the ocean to the cries of “Down with Christopher Columbus! Long live Charlemagne Peralte!” The Christopher Colum¬ bus wharf has been rebaptized and renamed Charlemagne Peralte Wharf by these ultra¬ nationalist demonstrators. 46As a matter of fact, family relations continually use the south chamber of the vault. The author’s opinion is not a matter of prejudice, mere vanity, or fantasy, to the contrary! We did not believe this as strongly when making these observations in 1985. We have been ourselves rather tardy victims of the violators of burial places. In short, during 1988, our family vault in the Exterior Cemetery of Port-au-Prince was penetrated and robbed with the assistance of cemetery officials. A court action is being pursued to recoup the loss. In short, we Haitians have become very base in our actions. ‘Translator’s note: finding the Haitian street names too difficult for them, the Anglophone Americans renamed them using numbers and letters, a custom which persists in Cap Hai'tien.

Ascension

49

As to the size of such a monument47, we could refer to the little mausoleum of President Dumarsais Estime, at Bicentenary Place in Port-au-Prince. The illustrious Peas¬ ant of Verrettes reposes in the city that he constructed; he is decently buried, without being a burden on the public finances. However, if the budget of the project permits, one could foresee the construction of two levels, with a crypt where Charle¬ Figure XVIII-2. Haitian magne could lay like the mausoleum for coin of 50 cents (half a President and General Ulysses S. Grant, over¬ gourde), with the likeness looking the Hudson River, on the isle of of Charlemagne Peralte, Manhattan in New York City. The room minted in 1986. There is above could be used as a small museum also a coin of 20 cents, of a where various artifacts could be exhibited, smaller size, but of the and in particular those photographs retrac¬ same type and issued the ing the war of liberation conducted by same year. Charlemagne in 1918-1919. A competition could be held to choose the most origi¬ nal design. A national subscription or campaign could then be launched to raise the funds necessary for its execu¬ tion. It could be a place visited and en¬ joyed by all, and a unique attraction at the Cap for both Haitians and foreign¬ ers. We should spare no expense for such a worthwhile project, because Figure XVIII-3. Postal stamp Charlemagne Peralte is a hero whom we issued in honor of Charlemagne Peralte, after the fall of the can never honor sufficiently. Duvalier regime. (Found in .25, On the same order, we could raise .50,1, 2, and 3 gourde denomi¬ an appropriate and grand commemora¬ nations) tive monument at Chabert, as well: a stele, obelisk, or cross to the memory of the thousands of anonymous vic¬ tims of the concentration camp, unknown martyrs of liberty and our na¬ tional independence, and where Charlemagne rested in a grave for fifteen 47Berthomieux Danache* * informed us that a former American officer declared, at the end of the occupation, that the Haitians should raise a monument to Charlemagne Peralte, and that he himself would be glad to visit such a monument. (See the attached appendix) *Danache, born at Port-au-Prince in 1880, died in 1950. Former head of the cabinet of President Dartiguenave, he published Choses Vues, Recits, et Souvenirs (Things Seen, Tales, and Memories) in 1939 and Le President Dartiguenave et les Americains in 1950.

50

Canto XVIII

years. We would recommend that a visit to this monument be placed on the itinerary of tourists to the Northern region. There could be again still another reparative gesture to make, one which would not cost a penny. In fact, it would be good if the government of the Republic officially and solemnly revoked all the distinctions and decorations accorded in the name of Haiti as a nation during its time of guardianship and to the members of the Marine Corps and to their indig¬ enous auxiliaries, for their military achievements or alleged accomplish¬ ments. In particular, we recommend that those Haitian honors awarded on November 16 and 19, 1919 to the assassins of Charlemagne Peralte, be revoked, and that these pitiful individuals, foreign and Haitian, who in¬ flicted such evil cruelties upon us between 1915 and 1934, be buried in oblivion forever. We would like to conclude this homage to Charlemagne Peralte on the occasion of his hundredth birthday with the verses of Christian Werleigh, those henceforth famous verses which sit enthroned at the top of the funeral monument, those six lines which serve as the most beautiful epitaph that could be written for him:

Dead at thirty three years of age, betrayed like Christ, Exposed nude under his flag, crucified; As one day he had dared to promise it to us*, And for our Nation he sacrificed himself Confronting the American, and alone to shout: “Halt”: Let’s bare our head before Charlemagne Peralte!

October 1985

‘Translator’s note: see the promise he made earlier to the two Haitian poets (p. 20).

Ascension

Figure XVIII-4. The verse of Christian Werleigh on the tomb of Charlemagne Peralte.

51

Ckronologfy

The Caco War The Unfolding Events

A.

Tke Total War (From the escape of Charlemagne Peralte at Cap-Haitien on September 3,

1918 to his death in the highlands of the Grande-Riviere du Nord on November 1, 1919.)

1918 September 3:

Charlemagne Peralte, prisoner at Cap-Hai'tien, escapes with the sol¬ dier assigned to guard him

Octob er 15:

About a month after his escape, Charlemagne Peralte attacks Hinche (twenty-five cacos killed)

23 & 26:

Americans attack the cacos near Cerca Carvajal.

Novembt