Georges Biassou was born in 1741 in Hispaniola, as a slave on the Saint-Domingue sugar plantation, now recognised as Haiti. He was an early leader of the 1791 slave revolt in Saint-Domingue, in which he and his fellow leaders, Jean-François Papillion and Jeannot Bullet, killed the plantation owners to whom they were enslaved. This ultimately led to the Haitian revolution (1791-1804). Biassou and François offered to cease the revolt, in exchange for emancipation, however France was preoccupied with multiple wars, and hence dismissed this proposal. In 1793, a war between France and Spain manifested in Hispaniola. Biassou and his fellow revolutionaries were requested to aid Spain in fighting against France in exchange for freedom, to which they agreed. France abolished slavery throughout its empire in 1794, however Biassou remained loyal to Spain. In 1796, Biassou relocated to St. Augustine, Florida, where he became the general of the Black Militia. Georges died in 1801 in St. Augustine.