, 1862-07-15
chs GrihttuG.
WILL THE BLACKS FI.HTe
Testimony Of q French Soldier,
BLACK SOLDIERS In ST, DOMINGO.

Te the Editors OF the Evening Post:
The following is the testimony Of an unwil-
ling Hitneas-a French soldier:
Lieutenant General Baron Amphile de la
Croix. was {. distinguished officer Of the
French republican army, part of which was
(the husband Of Pauline Bonaparte) to bring
Ct: Domingo under French rule again. His
"Memoires" are considered valuable, eepe-
cially for their details Of military operations
He states that the blacks fought well, even
in the early days Of their iusurTection, when
they we're mere revolted crowd. At the
first symptoms Of hesitation on the part Of the
soldiers sent out to put them down. they
would throw themselves with audacity upon
tie cannon, stuff their ur1ns into them, snd at
any esp6nee take them
They never appeared as cro1d of excited
PFC pie engaged in q revolt, but dispersed
themselves in different bodies, each one of
which had instructions to converge ia such
way BE to envelope the forces sent against
tht H. Wien they were dispersed, they still
Lad constancy enough to remain under arms.
The unorgHnized mu1attoas in the south Of
st. DoniEso always knew how to gain ad.
vantpgcs- On the lst and I'd of September,
17o14 q body Of hundred fi|libusters and TWO
brIared French troops Of the line, with sever
al pix cte of canron, Was routed at daybreak,
At Tie trd Of (: successful march, By sus-
tained FIRE Of tie mulattoes, Of musketry
alone, leaving one hundred dead and wounded.
In q subsequent action, when mu1atto
general vas on the point Of being oyerthrown
was saved by flank movement of another d.
vision Of nlnlattoe5, who threw themselves
upon the pieces with perfect abandonment
extinguish.d the fire, and carried of one
piece.
BY turns victorious and defeated, the mul-
at'oes never cea1 ed to keep an armed corps In
the field, in the Interest CT their cause.
The 4: file called les Platons Vas attacked by
tbr.e columns Of French troops, numbering
more than Is, 400 meu, August 6sh. l733. The
f1st column, not being supported at the ex-
pected moment, wavered it was composed
Of nlnlattoes under Rigusd (t!le muI1ttces
fighting against the blacks oftener than with
thtm.) 1t Nas Annih1sted, though supported
by regular troops. The second column was
little later; it was also led By veteran troops
710m the army Of the Rhine. It was received
as the French and Bavarians were received by
Swiss ard Iyro1cse; lively musketry fire SO
decsna!td il, that it was forced to retreat.
TIN it YVES vigorously pursued, and lost 100
men, aEeutenant-colonel aRd four officers.
The third column, with one piece Of artil-
Iery, which. was probably az incumbrance,
bearing Of these CHECKS, attempted to retreat
in order. It Was too late. The chef d da7tilierie
vas Killed at his piece, and all the men who
tried to prevent its capture. The rout was
complete: Two cannon and ten wagon loads
OF provisions were abandoned the blacks
pressed on, exploded the caissons, killed
many, and the troops did not rally until they
were LeEenth the guns Of AUX Cages.
Rcctambeau atterWards forced this defile
and took an entrenched camp OF the negroes.
In entrenching themselves they had recourse
to the kDowedge Of the Whites, either French
or Spanish, VINO favored them.
Under Toussaint 1Oyertute the blacks he
gan to be disciplined. ut was remarkable
to see tue Africans, half naked, with musket
and sabre, giving an example. Of the zeverest
MAR for ona1v,
with nothing to eat but maize, established
themselves in towns, without touching any
thing EXPOSED for sale in the shops, nor pill
laying the Farmers who brought things to
| market. Supple and trembling before their
officers, RESPECTFUL to citizens, they seemed
| Only to wish to obey the instinct for liberty
Which was inspired in them by Toussalnt.'
This was at the period when they began to
| see clearly that nothing but the destruction OF
| tic French could secure their freedom.
| Ioussaint,s army was brigaded and organized
atter1le French fashion, but Was composed OF
only 20,650 men, all Of whom, but 1,500-
| chiefly nulattoes-werc blacks.
| Ills principal place Of d:fense, where he had
stored great quantities Of arms and munitions,
was Crete. .Pierrot. The French thought
1epplscd, and it had to be regularly invested
and approached By slow and painful efforts.
! It was bombarded from three quarters for
I two Whole days; the garrison Of tse,ye hun
| cred made Eor!ies with vari1us success. The
| French lost SEQ men By these, and By the
| fire from the entertainments. The blacks
knew how to throw up new redoubts to men.
ace the French approaches. a second At:
tempt to carry the place cost Rochembeau 30{
men: a. length the garrison retreated, loos
ing lessthan halt its number. La Croix says:
1.-THE retreat which the commandant dared tc
| conceive and execute was remarkable feat O.
arms. We surrounded his post to the nu umhel
Of more than L 600 men. lie saved himself
did not loose half his garrison, aud left u;
nothing hut his dead and wounded. THIS man
| was 4nadr0on, named Latnartinier, chef Il,
brigade, to whom nature had given d mind o1
tho strongest stamp. He was the same ma1
who deadtd the resistance Of Port al Prince
against the divisions Of Bondet, and who, i,
tul1 council Of war, broke the head of L;
Combe, comman dant Of art1lIery.n
TousRaint himself made enc or two attack!
upon The investing force, and when the plact
,, esm,n;unica'ion Between. l.le STACKING; trooo
successful that Hardys division, Tfhs ,5f..t. 81 Il
| its way through, became only crowd Of fu
gitiyes, having LOST five hundred men.
LeCroix deyotes good many pages to th'
affair Of Crete-a- -Pierfot, and unrtservedly ex
prcsEes his admiration of the blacks; adding
however, that in general they know how t
| defend better than to attack.
This is true Of q great many other people
the Turks, even under Omer Pacha atong th
| DanuQe. III Ile opening scenes Of the GE1t1el
war, could defend their intrcnchnents agaius
/ every effort Of the Russians; and they HI
on}y, common earthworks, with 4 shallo
. ditch.
It is plain that the negroes must be inspire
I with some sentiment or passion before the
| can fight. In this respect they are like th
, colder people Of the North. And they mu:
have some expectation or idea strong enouz
to hold them together and create an esprit
| corps. 1t will not be possible to subject thel
r | to sustained discipline and to all the yarior
fortunes Of war, unless that they can feel til
In fighting for their own personal safety, the
: are fighting for their raec-~to be better off
I the future to enjoy some emoIumcnt or a.
vantage: in fine, to be the owner ufthe bloc
and muscle which they arc induced to expen
Tor government.
And when this is clearly understood b
1 them, the government will WELD the most p
lent arm in the southern States. There vi
be Eo lack Of laborers and soldiers, on tt
strength Of a proclamation, conceived in goe
faith and not disavoNed By the Executive.
. Tie history Of Hayti shows that the blacl
will go with enthusiasm wherever they arc le
BY whites or by men Of their own color, pr
yided their steps never point again In the
: rectlon of slavery. Their stolid Indifferent
a vani=hes when they have once got rid of II
/ restraints Of tyranny; they willingly incur tt
restraints Of freedom to preserve theirncw D
eition towards mankind. j. ".