jan 1, 1756 - Marie Jeanne Ledoux, Countess of Caradeux

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Alexander Hamilton Writes a Female Friend in Puerto Rico, Sympathizing with the Perilous Condition of Haiti as the French are Losing Control “The events of St Domingo chagrin us… The disappointment to your views in that quarter contributes to render us extremely sensible to the disasters of that Colony. When will this disagreeable business end? But when would our interrogations finish, if we should attempt to unravel the very intricate and extraordinary plots in which the affairs of the whole world are embroiled at the present inexplicable conjuncture? We have nothing for it but patience and resignation, and to make the best of what we have without being over solicitous to ameliorate our conditions. This is now completely my philosophy.” Inspired by the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution began in 1791 and kept the island embroiled in violence for more than a decade. Despite interventions by British, Spanish, and French armies, St. Domingue achieved independence and was renamed Haiti by 1804. The Haitian Revolution was marked by brutal warfare, savage reprisals, the death of tens of thousands of European soldiers from yellow fever, and an array of shifting alliances. Most French planters who were not massacred fled the island and their way of life.

Marie Jeanne Ledoux (b. 1756) was born in Haiti, and in 1777 married Laurent de Caradeux de la Caye, Count of Caradeux (1752- ca. 1822) of France, member of the colonial assembly, and owner of a sugar plantation near Port-au-Prince in Santo Domingo. During a 1792 slave revolt, Laurent de Caradeux de la Caye fled with fifty slaves and settled near Charleston, South Carolina. In 1799, Haitian leader Toussaint invited French colonists to return, and Caradeux received a passport from the U.S. State Department in August 1799. After the Haitian Revolution of 1802-3, the Count of Caradeux settled in Puerto Rico, where the Countess had been since 1800. In 1820, she still lived in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. She became a naturalized citizen of Spanish Puerto Rico in April 1829. Note: Numerous reports from Haiti can be found in the first addendum. ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Autograph Letter Signed with Initials, to Marie Jeanne Ledoux Caradeux de la Caye, Countess of Caradeux. November 1802. New York, N.Y. #24647

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https://issuu.com/sethkaller/docs/hamilton_catalog/93

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