Rachel Beauvoir-Dominique and Eddy Lubin organised an expedition to the Bois Caiman forests in 1991 to investigate the incident. 50 interviews were carried out with people living around the holy forest, and they can tell that memories of the Bois Caiman meeting were still fresh among the people in Haiti.
The French critic Leon-Francois Hoffmann. States early on in his essay about Bois Caiman that "research on the Bois Caiman ceremony leads to the almost certain conclusion that we are dealing here not with a historical event but with a legend, who origins can be traced to the malevolent imagination of a French planter." Hoffmann referes to the white planter Antoine Dalmas that through interrogation of slaves heard about the meeting, and assumably created most of it in his own head.
C Evaluation of Sources
French historian Leon-Francois Hoffmann uses the earliest published version of the story written by Antoine Dalmas and published in 1814. He questions Dalmas story about a religious meeting. Dalmas doesn’t claim to have been an eyewitness, but got his information through interrogation a few days later. However the manuscripts have been stored in the French national Archive and do not mention such a meeting at all. Hoffmann says it’s very likely that the entire episode was invented by Dalmas. Hoffmann has focused all his conclusions on a single source, he’s also French and probably patriotic. Personally I don’t see why an incident as secret and holy as the Bois Caiman should be revealed for the French. Hoffmann bases his entire theory on the writings of a single man, and even claims him insane, but he doesn’t seem to have any medical papers or anything like that, to back up his accusations. I don’t have much sympathy for Hoffmann’s theory, but I feel he’s a necessary addition to this assignment, his contribution will not be dominating in the conlcusion though.
Rachel Beauvoir-Dominique who led an expedition in order to uncover the secret of Bois Caiman claims that through analysing primary documents one sees clearly that there were two meetings. After the first one slaves set fire to a plantation in the Limbe region, and those arrested revealed that there was a meeting at the Bois Caiman where they decided to burn down the plantations. Her reports date to August 17th 1791. Civil Commissioner Roume reported in 1792 that the slaves had been preparing for the insurrection every Sunday. The memory of Bois Caiman is vivid among people, and they can even point out the exact location of the ceremony. However as stories told through generations has a tendency to be slightly exaggerated one should be careful with how much one can rely on personal interviews with grandsons of those that lived at the time in question. Rachel Beavoir-Dominique also mentions that it’s odd that Antoine Dalmas was able to predict the exact sacrifice of a black pig which is a petro Voodoo rite if he knew nothing of it. Dominique’s investigation is an important factor I’ve taken into account in the investigation. First hand interviews are always interesting, and these clearly shows signs that something happened a night in Bois Caiman 1791. Her findings clearly contradicts the theory Hoffmann, and I’ll use parts of her information when forming a conclusion.
D Analysis
A problem with analysing the Bois Caiman meeting is that the sources are so contradicting. Leon-Francois Hoffmann is the main contradiction of all other sources. He claims that the Bois Caiman meeting never occurred at all. That France would’ve kept records if anything like that happened, and since it’s not mentioned in the French national Archive it didn’t happen. He uses Antoine Dalmas as a proof to back up his theory. He declares Dalmas a man with a rich imagination that created a story about a meeting in order to scare the slaves. The clear goals of Dalmas’ benefits are not very clear in Hoffmann’s essay, and he’s not referring to much else. This in addition to the patriotic, questionable credibility of Hoffmann makes other theories more attractive.
Haitian bishop Joel Jeune for instance has claims that the Bois Caiman meeting was held, but with the purpose of devoting Haiti to the devil. In her report from Haiti she focuses mainly on the fact that on August 14th 1997 Haiti was finally set free from the claws of Satan, and is now a country of God. For 206 years Voodoo priests have been gathering at Bois Caiman sacrificing to Satan, but after massive protests from the Catholic Church they finally stopped. Jeune does not support her theory with much sources or facts at all, she speaks as if it was common knowledge that Haiti has been a country of Satan. However she supports the theory about the meeting, and claims that a ceremony took place, how else can a country give itself up to the devil?
A report read on the Harriet Tubman Conference by Robin Law is slightly more accurate. The report referes to historian David Geggus and admits that there is a lack of evidence on whether or not the Bois Caiman ceremony had any relation to the slave oppression of August 21st 1791 since there’s no contemporary accounts for this meeting, and the sources based on first-hand testimony seem to lack information that subsequently became essential, like the presence of Boukman at all. However there is enough evidence to determine that the meeting involved sacrificing a pig and drinking its blood according to Geggus. Law also points out that the Bois Caiman meeting is often confused with a meeting organised at August 14th were many slave leaders met that occurred on the Mezy Plantation, however this meeting was of less religious nature than the Bois Caiman meeting that occurred at the night of August 21st.
There’s ample evidence that the slave leader Toussaint organised the entire insurrection from orders by the French governor Blanchelande, who needed leverage against the powerful Colonial Assembly. Blanchelande was afraid Haiti would try to become an independent nation like USA had become a decade earlier. Geggus denies this story, but he can’t deny certain sources like Paul Aly (friend of Toussaint). He said that the slave leader took the last name Louverture to show that he was the first chosen to lead the rebellion, however he couldn’t use that name before the uprising, because then Blanchelande would deny Toussaint his passport. The passport in question gave Toussaint access to all plantations in north and guarded him from the law.
It would then mean that Toussaint fooled Blanchelande and pulled the revolution through completely instead of sticking to the probable agreement. General Paul mentioned that Toussaint was the organiser of the meeting at the Metz plantation, but that he chose his companions to lead the meeting itself, therefore Toussaint might not have appeared as present on the meeting. If Beavoir-Dominique’s undefined primary sources can be trusted then this first meeting was held at August 14th 1791. This meeting however is not the sacred one that the Haitian people celebrate. It seems to have happened a week later on the same night as the slave uprising started.
E Conclusion
The French governor Blanchelande gave Toussaint Overture orders to gather slaves and prepare a huge revolution to burn down plantations and massacre the white French people. However Toussaint thought further than that. Later in the Haitian history he led a huge army of slaves and fought France. Toussaint organized the meeting along with his associates but let them lead it, he stayed out of the shadows at the Metzy plantation meeting 14th of August. On this meeting the slaves agreed to start an uprising, to burn down the plantations and slaughter the white leaders. Due to a disagreement or misunderstanding certain slaves started the burning too soon and were caught. Under torture by Antoine Dalmas they revealed information about the meeting on the Metzy plantation. One of Toussaint’s friends named Boukman called in for a second meeting with only a few other slave leaders. This meeting was of a more religious nature, here a Houngan priest sacrificed a pig, and the people drunk its blood. Presumably a woman at the meeting became processed by the Warrior Spirit Oungon, and gave his support to the slaves. There are many memories of this meeting up to today, songs being sung about it and oral stories tells of how the sky opened up. This final conlucsion is pieced together by facts from most of my sources, and it seems like this is the way it all went by. There’s reason to believe the Bois Caiman meeting was organised and existed, and that it encouraged slaves everywhere to fight the white planters and end years of torture.
F List of Sources
Corbett, Bob Haiti page
Including a Haiti mailing list, book reports and discussions regarding all Haitian aspects
Geggus, David ‘The Bois Caiman ceremony’ Journal of Caribbean history
Beavoir-Dominique, Rachel
Hoffmann, Leon-Francois 1984 Haitian Fiction Revisited
Passeggiata Press
Bishop Jeune, Joel
Geggus, David The Bois Caiman ceremony page 134
Hoffmann, Leon-Francois Haitian Fiction Revisited p.185-212
Hoffmann, Leon Francois Haitian Fiction Revisited p. 185-212
Daniel Simidor in a mail to Bob Corbette’s haiti mail group