François Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture (1743-1803) was an outstanding Haltian military leader who controlled virtually all of Hispaniola for the French before Haitian independence.

Born into slavery on Plantation Bréda near Cap-Français (now Cap-Haitien), François Toussaint L'Ouverture was fortunate in having a kindly master who recognized his superior intelligence, taught him French, and gave him duties which allowed him to educate himself through extensive reading. Supposedly his favorite subjects were the military campaigns of Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great. Toussaint was already approaching his fiftieth birthday when the great slave revolt broke out in August 1791 near Plantation Bréda. After helping his master escape the slaughter, Toussaint entered the turbulent events of strife-torn Hispaniola, first by making a military reputation for himself.

With 600 black soldiers--former slaves--Toussaint crossed over to the eastern, and Spanish, part of Hispaniola, where he served...