Diédoné, Maroon Commander

Diédoné had been an ally and devoted follower of Lamour Desrances before his death at the hands of Dessalines. He took over the band of maroons in the mountains overlooking Saint-Marc. Fiercely loyal to Desrances, even after his death, he swore vengeance on Dessalines, twice trying to assassinate him.

Desrances was a maroon born in Africa and brought to Saint-Domingue as a slave who had shortly afterward escaped for the mountains to join the maroon bands. He had mixed loyalties throughout his lifetime. At the time of the War of Knives, Desrances was loyal to André Rigaud in his battle against Toussaint Louverture and was one of the few black officers in the predominantly mulatto Rigaud-loyal army. After Rigaud's defeat by Louverture, Desrances accumulated power and mobilized the maroon warriors in the mountains surrounding Port-au-Prince and Saint Marc. After the Leclerc invasion, he later changed his loyalty to the French under Général Pampile de Lacroix to fight against Dessalines' forces, defeating Dessalines’ army at the outskirts of Port-au-Prince and forcing his retreat, a victory that finally convinced Toussaint to surrender to the French and seek retirement.  Dessalines had made good on his word to kill Desrances.