Army lists for the Haitian rebellion

Moderators: Vis Bellica, Laffe

Post Reply
Danni1
Posts: 73
Joined: Fri May 05, 2017 8:13 pm

Army lists for the Haitian rebellion

Post by Danni1 »

Hey fellow (low-fat substitute) Lardites-I was wondering if anyone of the old time Sharp Practice Grognards had any suggestions for Army lists for the Haitian rebellion in the 1790's 1800's. There were a large number of combatants, such as the Spanish, British, French (natch) and of course(most especially) , the rebel former slave armies of course. There were a couple of generic Caribbean lists in prior Specials, but nothing specific to Haiti-any thoughts or suggestions?

Thank you!
User avatar
BaronVonWreckedoften
Posts: 1194
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2017 10:28 am

Re: Army lists for the Haitian rebellion

Post by BaronVonWreckedoften »

There was also a significant contingent of Poles (all infantry I think) who gave a good account of themselves, as Polish units invariably did.
No plan survives first contact with the dice.
Contrarius
Posts: 552
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:35 pm

Re: Army lists for the Haitian rebellion

Post by Contrarius »

Have long thought about gaming this unusual rebellion. Not sure that the Poles could rightly be classed as 'high grade' though.

About 5,000 Polish troops, parts of the Danube Legion and the Polish legions in Italy, were renumbered as two ordinary Demi-Brigades of the French line, and were shipped off to Haiti in 1801 along with about 10,000 other French troops. Since most of the Poles were volunteers who had enlisted in the hope of freeing their homeland from Prussian, Austrian and Russian occupation they were not too happy with this turn of events.

Within the first year on Hispanola about 4,000 of the Poles were dead, mostly from disease, and the rest were finding it difficult to reconcile their mission to quash a liberation movement. By 1803 the Poles were deserting en masse to the rebels, and some even formed a bodyguard for the Haitian commander General Dessalines. By the end of the year at least 400 more came over to the rebels. After the rebellion the Polish survivors remained on the island, and intermarried with the locals. To this day there are a number of settlements on the island with (relatively) fair-skinned inhabitants, who trace their roots to the former Polish legionnaires.
Last edited by Contrarius on Sun Aug 12, 2018 6:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Contrarius
Posts: 552
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:35 pm

Re: Army lists for the Haitian rebellion

Post by Contrarius »

Oh, the two Polish formations were the 113e and 114e Demi-Brigades of the French line.
User avatar
BaronVonWreckedoften
Posts: 1194
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2017 10:28 am

Re: Army lists for the Haitian rebellion

Post by BaronVonWreckedoften »

Contrarius wrote: Sun Aug 12, 2018 6:28 pm Have long thought about gaming this unusual rebellion. Not sure that the Poles could rightly be classed as 'high grade' though.
I didn't say they were "high grade" - I said they gave a good account of themselves, which, in the early engagements, they generally did fighting to the last man on several occasions. It was only after heavy losses (4,000 out of 5,200) to disease and in jungle campaigns for which they were neither trained, nor equipped (no machetes, for example) that their performance understandably deteriorated. Even then, the numbers of deserters was exaggerated by the rebels, and only about 150 are known to have actually swapped sides - the 400 is the number left behind when the French withdrew in 1803 (but even then, almost twice that number returned to France). In fact, the rebels encouraged all non-French troops (mainly Germans and Swiss) to desert, and treated them well when they did, or when they were captured, regarding them as fellow slaves and even re-classifying them as black.
No plan survives first contact with the dice.
roughneck2
Posts: 91
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2014 10:55 pm

Re: Army lists for the Haitian rebellion

Post by roughneck2 »

You could try the chap over at the Dust Tears and Dice blog. I'm pretty sure he has gamed some of the Haitian Revolution using Sharp Practice.
shandy
Posts: 134
Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2014 7:26 pm

Re: Army lists for the Haitian rebellion

Post by shandy »

I've been gaming the Haitian Revolution with the old Sharp Practice a bit: https://wargamingraft.wordpress.com/tag ... evolution/

I never made any real army lists though - I have to look through my old notes to see how I categorised the troops (I can't even remember how the old SP did this :o )

In any case, I would be very interested in Haitian Revolution army lists for SP2.
Post Reply