Louis Delgrès
Louis Delgrès was a mulatto leader of the movement in Guadeloupe resisting reoccupation (and thus the reinstitution of slavery) by Napoleonic France in 1802.[1] An experienced military officer who had long experience fighting Great Britain in the many wars that country had with Revolutionary France, Delgrès took over the resistance movement from Magloire Pélage after it became evident that Pélage was loyal to Napoleon. Delgrès believed that the "tyrant" Napoleon had betrayed both the ideals of the Republic and the interests of France's colored citizens, and intended to fight to the death.
The French army led by Richepance drove Delgrès into Fort Saint Charles which was held by the slaves. After realizing that they could not overcome the French forces and refusing to surrender, Delgrès left with 400 men and some women. At the battle of Matouba on May 28, 1802, Delgrès and his followers fired their gunpowder stores, committing suicide in the process, in an attempt to kill as many of the French troops as possible.[2]
In April 1998, Delgrès was officially admitted to the French Panthéon, although the actual location of his remains is unknown.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Dubois, Laurent (2009). Daniel J. Walkowitz, Lisa Maya Knauer. ed. "Haunting Delgrès". Contested histories in public space: memory, race, and nation (Duke University Press): 312. http://books.google.com/books?id=s6fMgeAPXIIC&pg=PA312.
- ^ Moitt, Bernard (1996). David Barry Gaspar. ed. "Slave women and Resistance in the French Caribbean". More than Chattel: Black Women and Slavery in the Americas (Indiana University Press): 243. ISBN 0253330173.
[edit] External links
- Louis Delgrès(French) Le souffle de la liberté
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