Louis Delgrès and the 1802 Resistance in Guadeloupe

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"Our problem is not to be rid of fear but rather to harness and master it." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Some places in Guadeloupe are beautiful before you know their story. Fort Delgrès in Basse-Terre is one of them, and it becomes something deeper once you know who it is named after. This article follows Louis Delgrès, his friend Joseph Ignace and the woman remembered as Solitude, and what they did in the spring of 1802.

A Republican Officer

Louis Delgrès was born on 2 August 1766 in Saint-Pierre, Martinique. He came from a free family of mixed ancestry, with a mother described as a "mulâtresse" and a father who served the French crown in the Caribbean. He became a soldier in 1783 and fought with the revolutionary armies against the British in the Antilles. He was badly wounded at Saint Lucia in 1795.

Slavery had been abolished in Guadeloupe by decree on 2 June 1794. Delgrès was one of the officers who helped free the island from British occupation in those years. By 1801 he held command of the Basse-Terre district.

1802: Napoleon Bonaparte Wants the Old Order Back

In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte decided to restore the colonial order, including slavery, in the French colonies. He sent General Antoine Richepance to Guadeloupe with an expeditionary force of more than 3,500 men. The force landed in early May 1802.

Delgrès and his friend Joseph Ignace suspected what Richepance had come to do. They chose to desert the army and resist.

The Proclamation of 10 May

On 10 May 1802, Delgrès published a proclamation written with Monnereau, a Creole officer from Martinique serving under him. It opens with these words (our translation from the French): "To the entire universe, the last cry of innocence and despair." It ends with a line that is still quoted today: "O posterity, grant a tear to our misfortunes, and we shall die content."

His rallying cry was "Vivre libre ou mourir", which means "Live free or die."

Fort Saint-Charles and the Retreat to Matouba

Delgrès and his men held Fort Saint-Charles in Basse-Terre, which is today Fort Delgrès. Troops sent from France attacked it. After about ten days of fighting, Delgrès and his men left the fort and moved to Matouba, in the commune of Saint-Claude.

28 May 1802: Matouba

On 28 May 1802, surrounded by superior forces on the Anglemont estate at Matouba, Delgrès chose not to surrender. He and his companions blew up their position. Sources differ on the number of people who died: the Fondation pour la mémoire de l'esclavage speaks of about 300 companions, and the Archives nationales d'outre-mer of nearly 500.

Joseph Ignace is remembered as fighting beside Delgrès until the end. The Fondation pour la mémoire de l'esclavage states that both men took their own lives rather than surrender.

Slavery was formally restored in Guadeloupe in the weeks that followed. The repression that came after was severe.

Solitude

Solitude is one of the most remembered women of this period. Her story reaches us mostly through oral testimony collected by the historian Auguste Lacour in his 1858 history of Guadeloupe, and through the novel La Mulâtresse Solitude by André and Simone Schwarz-Bart (1972). According to Lacour, she joined the insurgents and was taken prisoner during the attack on the Palerme camp on 23 May 1802. She was pregnant, so the sentence was carried out only on 29 November 1802, the day after she gave birth.

Because her life is known through testimony and literature, historians treat the details of her biography with care. What is clear is her place in memory. A statue of Solitude has stood in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, since May 1999.

Visiting Fort Delgrès in Basse-Terre

Fort Delgrès stands above Basse-Terre. It was built around 1650 by Charles Houël and was classified as a historic monument on 21 November 1977. It was renamed Fort Louis Delgrès in 1989. It is open to visitors, with free access, and is managed by the Département de la Guadeloupe. Every 27 May, the town of Basse-Terre holds its local commemoration of the abolition of slavery at the fort.

Near the fort, in the Carmel district, a memorial honours Louis Delgrès. The fort and the memorial are part of the "Route de l'esclave, traces-mémoires en Guadeloupe" trail, linked to the UNESCO Slave Route project. Opening hours can change, so check with the Département before you go.

Sculpted likenesses of Delgrès can be seen in Guadeloupe today. The memorial in Le Carmel, a public commission by the artist Roger Arekian inaugurated in 2002 for the bicentenary of the 1802 rebellion, leads through a spiral of 40 volcanic stone sculptures to a giant head of Louis Delgrès, 2.40 metres high. Statues and busts of him also stand in Petit-Bourg, Petit-Canal and Matouba. These are tributes, not portraits from life: the Fondation pour la mémoire de l'esclavage notes that, to date, no portrait made during his lifetime has been found.

A Memory That Lives On

For a long time, Delgrès was little remembered. Today he is honoured as a fighter for freedom. Public places in Guadeloupe and Martinique carry his name, he is honoured with an inscription at the Panthéon in Paris, and a French postage stamp was issued in his name in 2005.

Guadeloupe is a department and region of France, and this story belongs to the shared history of France. Learning it is one way to travel with respect.

Courage is not the absence of fear. It is what you do with it, and some places remember that for us.