Étienne Maynaud de Bizefranc de Laveaux
Laveaux paid dearly for being at the side of Toussaint Louverture and for defending the cause of the blacks of Saint-Domingue.
Étienne Maynaud de Bizefranc de Laveaux (or Mayneaud, Lavaux; 8 August 1751 – 12 May 1828) was a French general who was Governor of Saint-Domingue from 1793 to 1796 during the French Revolution. He ensured that the law that freed the slaves was enforced, and supported the revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture, who was instrumental in establishing the future independent Republic of Haiti.
Sent in Saint-Domingue at the time of the general insurrection of the slaves, Etienne Lavaux played a determining role in the evolution of the events of Saint-Domingue, contributing as Governor-General of the colony to the ascent of Toussaint Louverture, whose action he defended with the French Directory before being retired after Bonaparte took power.
Etienne Maynaud Bizefranc de Lavaux was born in Digoin in Saône-et-Loire, on 8 August 1751. A lieutenant colonel in 1791, he arrived in Saint-Domingue in 1792 with the civilian Commissioners Sonthonax and Polverel, and was in charge of the northwestern part of the colony, with Port-de-Paix.
In February of 1793, François-Thomas Galbaud du Fort was appointed Governor General of Saint-Domingue and clashed with the civil commissioners. By June, he was removed from his position by those commissioners and expelled from the colony.
At Left, French actor Pierre Cassignard starred as Laveaux in the movie Toussaint Louverture
Imprisoned and on the road to death, Toussaint Louverture marched 10,000 men to Laveaux’s rescue
Not accepting their authority, Galbaud proclaimed that he was resuming office and called for the assistance of the local militia and disgruntled sailors and white citizens in expelling the civil commissioners. He landed at the head of 3,000 men, who met no resistance at first.
A confused struggle followed between the recruited sailors and white settlers in support of Galbaud, and French European troops, mulattoes, and insurgent blacks in support of the commissioners.
In March of 1796, the mulattoes imprisoned him with his aide-de-camp. Toussaint marched to the city to deliver him, and in return, Lavaux appointed Toussaint Lieutenant general to the Government of Saint-Domingue
The latter made him elected in September 1796 deputy at the Council of Elders for the Department of Saône-et-Loire. He will sit there until 1799, defending the policy of Toussaint Louverture. He will be sent to Guadeloupe as commissioner but quickly arrested for his positions too negrophile, meaning someone (especially a white person) who is very sympathetic to or supportive of Black people, their culture, or their rights and interests.
At left, François-Thomas Galbaud du Fort
Laveaux was forced into retirement, but did so in style with his renovation of the Château de Cormatin
In the history of the slave insurrection of Saint-Domingue that was to lead to the first victory of a slave revolt leading to the creation of the first black republic in history with Haiti on 1 January 1804, the general Lavaux played a key role. He allowed the rise of Toussaint Louverture who sent him back to mainland France and was thus able to assert his control and his total power over the colony. He ensured the process of
the abolition of slavery proclaimed on 4 February 1794 and organized the integration of former slaves into the republican society of Saint-Domingue.
He paid dearly for being at the side of Toussaint Louverture and for defending the cause of the blacks of Saint-Domingue. The First Consul Bonaparte dismissed him from his positions in 1801. He vegetated under the Empire. On the return of the Bourbons, he was elected deputy of Sâone-et-Loire from 1820 to 1824, defending progressive ideas.
It was during his forced retirement in Saône-et-Loire that he acquired the Château de Cormatin which he got renovated and where he died on 12 May 1828.d began blockading William Howe's fleet in New York Harbor.
At left; The plaque at the cemetery at the Chateau honoring Lavaux
