Toussaint Louverture

Essay by pinkgirafe13High School, 11th grade May 2005

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Toussaint Louverture grew up on the Bréda plantation. His master ran the plantation in a very unconventional way. He did not beat his slaves or kill them. He often gave trusted slaves plots of land and slaves so that they could start their own mini plantation. Louverture's godfather Father Baptist taught him how to read and write. Bayon de Libertad let Toussaint get books to read from his personal library. "Although an official document of manumism was never drawn up for Toussaint as a "freeman", he was granted complete liberty within the territory of the plantation. Bayon de Libertad gave 40 acres of his plantation to Toussaint. When Toussaint was in his late 20's he married Susanne Simon. Toussaint had two sons with Susanne, Isaac and Saint-Jean.

Toussaint did not help plan the rebellion. When the fires started by the rebelling slaves at the Bréda to either join the rebels of flee, Toussaint had his brother Paul took his wife and boys to Santo Domingo.

Toussaint drove Bayon de Libertad and his wife to the coast so that they could escape from Haiti. When he returned to the plantation, he found that it was destroyed. There were no slaves left at the Bréda Plantation except for a few who had tried to resist who had been beaten or murdered. Toussaint then went and killed a planter who had beaten him with his own riding crop. Toussaint decided to leave the Bréda plantation and went to the army camp of the slaves.

Toussaint Louverture was received at the rebel camp with little fanfare. When he was working at the Bréda plantation, he was known as the healer. The rebel leaders saw how skilled he was and made him the medical officer. "He set himself to curing the illnesses and binding the...