Documents relating to the French West Indies, 1785-1869

Autograph letters, signed, official documents, notes and a case file documenting various aspects of French rule in the West Indies, almost entirely dating from the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. Manuscripts include a lengthy letter by "M. Prunet" detailing the slave rebellion that began in August 1791 and spread throughout Haiti, written from Cap-français, 1791 October 12; a letter from the vicomte de Noailles to the vicomte de Rochambeau written shortly after the French general's abandonment of Port-au-Prince, 1803 October 14; a note from J. H. Raphael to "Admiral Goodall," 1808 September 29, on stationery of "État d'Hayti," the breakaway republic ruled by Henri Christophe; and a letter from C. Delahun, 1814 December 15, describing his arrival in and impressions of Martinique. The collection also contains the case file of a property dispute between "citoyen Bouillet" and "citoyen Thomas" of Saint-Domingue (Haiti), 1803-1812