<P> Raynal 's prediction came true on the night of 21 August 1791 , when the slaves of Saint Domingue rose in revolt ; thousands of slaves attended a secret vodou ( voodoo ) ceremony as a tropical storm came in - the lighting and the thunder was taken as auspicious omens - and later that night , the slaves began to kill their masters and plunged the colony into civil war . The signal to begin the revolt was given by Dutty Boukman , a high priest of vodou and leader of the Maroon slaves , during a religious ceremony at Bois Caïman on the night of 14 August . Within the next ten days , slaves had taken control of the entire Northern Province in an unprecedented slave revolt . Whites kept control of only a few isolated , fortified camps . The slaves sought revenge on their masters through `` pillage , rape , torture , mutilation , and death '' . The long years of oppression by the slave masters had left many blacks with a hatred of all whites , and the revolt was marked by extreme violence from the very start . The masters and mistresses were dragged from their beds to be killed , and the heads of French children were placed on spikes that were carried at the front of the rebel columns . </P>
<P> Raynal 's prediction came true on the night of 21 August 1791 , when the slaves of Saint Domingue rose in revolt ; thousands of slaves attended a secret vodou ( voodoo ) ceremony as a tropical storm came in - the lighting and the thunder was taken as auspicious omens - and later that night , the slaves began to kill their masters and plunged the colony into civil war . The signal to begin the revolt was given by Dutty Boukman , a high priest of vodou and leader of the Maroon slaves , during a religious ceremony at Bois Caïman on the night of 14 August . Within the next ten days , slaves had taken control of the entire Northern Province in an unprecedented slave revolt . Whites kept control of only a few isolated , fortified camps . The slaves sought revenge on their masters through `` pillage , rape , torture , mutilation , and death '' . The long years of oppression by the slave masters had left many blacks with a hatred of all whites , and the revolt was marked by extreme violence from the very start . The masters and mistresses were dragged from their beds to be killed , and the heads of French children were placed on spikes that were carried at the front of the rebel columns . </P>
who led the slave revolt in saint domingue
who led the slave revolt in saint domingue
Dutty Boukman
Dutty Boukman