Jacques Maurepas

{{Short description|Haitian military officer politician}}

{{One source|date=February 2008}}

File:Surrender of Jacques Maurepas Colorized.jpg

Jacques Maurepas (died 1802) was the commander of the town of Port-de-Paix in the northeast of St. Domingue which is now Haiti at the time when Napoleon sent a large army led by his brother-in-law general Charles Leclerc to overthrow Toussaint Louverture.{{Cite book |last=Rainsford |first=Marcus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NioDzZJoZYcC&dq=%22Jacques+Maurepas%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA313 |title=An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti |date=2013-01-21 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-5288-4 |language=en}}

Before the arrival of Leclerc, Louverture had ordered Maurepas to make the most vigorous resistance to all vessels which should appear before Port-de-Paix, and, in case he was not strong enough (having only half of a brigade), burn the city to the ground and afterward withdraw to the mountain, take with him ammunition of all kinds; there to defend himself to the death. {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=03XSP22p3kgC&dq=%22Jacques+Maurepas%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA94 |website=The slaves who defeated Napoleon|isbn=978-0-8173-1732-4 |title=The Slaves Who Defeated Napoleon: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian War of Independence, 1801-1804 |date=2 November 2011 |publisher=University of Alabama Press }} On February 12, 1802, suspecting the French expedition was about to land in the city, Maurepas burned the city down and retreated to a nearby mountain named Les Trois Pavillons. When French General Humbert arrived, he saw the city in flames. {{Citation |last=Girard |first=Philippe |title=The Leclerc Expedition to Saint-Domingue and the Independence of Haiti, 1802–1804 |date=2019-05-23 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History |url=https://oxfordre.com/latinamericanhistory/abstract/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-743 |access-date=2024-04-27 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.743 |isbn=978-0-19-936643-9|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite book |title=Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution |chapter=The Leclerc Expedition to Saint-Domingue and the Independence of Haiti, 1802–1804 |date=23 May 2019 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.743 |isbn=978-0-19-936643-9 |url=https://oxfordre.com/latinamericanhistory/abstract/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-743 |last1=Girard |first1=Philippe }} On February 13, Humbert marched against Maurepas, but was completely defeated. When Charles Leclerc heard this terrible news, he sent by sea General Debelle against Maurepas, who defeated Debelle's army. However, Maurepas, instead of continuing to fight, surrendered to the French.{{Cite book |last=Dubois |first=Laurent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WyrnEAAAQBAJ&q=Maurepas&pg=PA269 |title=Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution |date=2005-10-31 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-25376-6 |language=en}}

General Leclerc integrated him in the French army as he had promised and placed him under the authority of a general named Brunett who was in command of Port-de-Paix. After being suspected of taking part in a revolt led by Colonel François Capois (Capois-la-Mort), he, his family, and some of the soldiers were arrested by Brunett and brought to Cap-Français (now Cap-Haïtien). On November 17, Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau arrived at Cap-Français, and, by his order, Maurepas with his family and some of his troops of the 9th Demi-Brigade were tortured and cast into the sea.