List of and questions about old French Forts

By Perdue and Persinos <73043.2411@CompuServe.COM>
11 November 1996

My interest in the old French forts in north central Haiti is a spin-off of my interest in the history of Plantation Dauphin and the Fort Liberty area. During the Marines occupation, a reconnaissance patrol was led out of Fort Liberty by Major Smedly Butler. It covered some 400 miles of territory, led to the destruction of some Cacos-occupied forts and to the location of Fort Riviere which was destroyed during another Marine deployment.

On September 22, 1996 I had the good fortune to accompany Derek McBride, a mining geologist, on a helicopter trip that passed over Fort Neuf before we landed at Forts Riviere and Salnave. Since I have read just about everything I can find (in English) about the Marine occupation and their battles with the Cacos and have found no reference to some of these forts, I suspect McBride may have rediscovered forts that have been long since forgotten.

My notes of this subject follow. Can anyone add to this? Of special interest:

• Where are the forts located (if latitude and longitude are not indicated in my notes?
• When were the forts constructed?
• How many troops occupied the forts? How many guns?
• Any description of the forts available?
• Has anyone observed "ruins" on topo maps of Haiti that might refer to one of these forts (other than Fort Riviere)?

THE FRENCH FORTS OF THE INTERIOR OF NORTHERN HAITI

My sources for this note:

Written in Blood by Robert and Nancy Heinl, revised by Michael Heinl, 1996 (HHH-2)

The Banana Wars, by Ivan Musicant, 1990. I have consulted several books on Marine Corps history. Musicant provides more details than the others. (In the Haiti file at the Marine Historical Center, Washington Navy Yard, there is a large document that consists of printed pages from some report intermingled with carbon copies from some other report. No one at the Center has any knowledge of its source or who put this together. This provides more details about the 1915 actions against the Cacos but nothing more about the location of the forts and does not mention, for example Forts Salnave, Neuf or Garien.

Gazetteer of Haiti, 3rd ed., Defense Mapping Agency, 1993.

I have limited my efforts to the forts along or near the northern perimeter of the Spanish salient into what is now north central Haiti. I have not made any effort to identify those along the southern perimeter of the salient because I do not at this time have topo maps of that area.

• Fort des Bayonnais: The Gazetteer lists ruins of "Fort des Bayonnais, see Grand Fort Bayonnais", at 19.25N x 72.29W. This site is a little SE of E from Gonaives and is very near the westernmost extension of the Spanish salient into what is now north-central Haiti. I do not have a topo map for this area.
• Fort Berthol: HHH-2, p. 413, refer to this fort without reference to its location but it obviously is located along the border that separated French from Spanish Hispaniola.

  Musicant notes (p. 198) that three days after the capture of Fort Capois, Butler captured Forts Selon and Berthol which suggests that Fort Berthol is in the same general area as Forts Selon and Capois.

• Fort Capois: "seven miles south of St. Suzanne, reportedly the main Cacos base" HHH-2, p. 413)

  "Fort Capois was sited on the east bank of the Grande Riviere, about halfway between Grande- Rivere-du-Nord and Bahon." (Musicant, p. 194)

  (Note: These observations are in general agreement.)

  (Note: According to Musicant, p. 195, when Butler first observed Fort Capois on a mountain peak from a point about a mile away and at about 1000 feet lower in elevation he was 40 miles west of Valliere.)

• Fort Dipitie: located 3 miles east of Fort Capois. ".....from Fort Capois and nearby Fort Dipitie, a lesser stronghold three miles East....." (HHH-2, p. 413)

  "an outwork of Fort Capois", Musicant, p. 196.

• Fort Garien: The Gazetteer lists "Fort Garien, Morne: see Garien, Morne" at 19.28N x 71.56W. My topo map shows a Morne Garien at this point, 4 km due NW of Vallieres. There is no reference to ruins at this point. I find no mention of this fort in any of the references I consulted.
• Fort Neuf: I flew over this fort on September 22, 1996 with Derek McBride. According to Derek this is the name of the fort according to the local people and he provided the GPS location as 19.28.65N x 72.10.71W.
• Fort Riviere: I visited this fort with Derek McBride on September 22, 1996. According to him the GPS location for this fort is 19.28.83N x 72.10.27W. This is the only fort I can find on any of the topo maps.
• Fort Salnave: I visited this fort on September 22, 1996 with Derek McBride. According to Derek, the fort is 100 m SE of the tower and the GPS location of the tower is 19.26.46N x 71.53.06W. This site is 4 km east of Vallieres on Morne Salnave. My topographic map does not indicate any ruins or structure at this site. The Grande Riviere du Nord flows along the foot of Morne Salnave from its point of origin SW to Vallieres after which it generally flows west for at least 10 km.

  After the destruction of Fort Dipitie, the Marines moved (apparently along the Grand Riviere) to Gros Roche and then to Vallieres where they arrived on October 26. The next morning, ".....they marched the final thirty miles north to Fort Liberte" (Musicant, p. 197). They must have marched NE, up the river, and would have bypassed Fort Selon which is about 700 m above Vallieres.

• Fort Selon: Presumably near and above Grande Riviere. ".....Cacos abandoned Fort Selon, looking down the throat of Grande Riviere....." (HHH-2, p. 413)

  A topo map shows a Morne Selon, about 3 km east of Grande Riviere, which could be said to be "looking down the throat" of that town.