Louis Delgrès

Louis Delgrès was a "mulatto" leader of the movement in Guadeloupe resisting reoccupation (and thus the reinstitution of slavery) by Napoleonic France. An experienced military officer who had long experience fighting Great Britain in the many wars that country had with Revolutionary France, Delgrès took over the resistance movement from Magloire Pélage after it became evident that Pélage was loyal to Napoleon. Delgrès believed that the "tyrant" Napoleon had betrayed both the ideals of the Republic and the interests of France's colored citizens, and intended to fight to the death.

After a spirited but hopeless resistance, Delgrès and his followers found themselves trapped on the Matouba Volcano. There, Delgrès and most of his followers chose to commit suicide by detonating their own gunpowder stores. This act, though it effectively ended Guadeloupe's native resistance to French authority, had powerful symbolic value and continues to be heralded as an example of exceptional heroism in Guadeloupe, France, and elsewhere.

See also

*Colonialism