Jean-Baptiste de Caradeux de La Caye remains one of the most despised figures in the history of French Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, though today few know his name. Born in Saint-Domingue but educated in France, Caradeux returned to the Caribbean with the bearing of a French nobleman and the heart of a tyrant. His brutal treatment of the Africans he enslaved earned him the fearsome nickname “Caradeux the Cruel.”
In the mid-1700s, Saint-Domingue was France’s most profitable colony. It produced more sugar and coffee than any other island in the Caribbean. The wealth that fueled France luxury came from the forced labor of nearly half a million enslaved Africans. They worked under unbearable conditions on plantations owned by French planters.
The system was brutal and dehumanizing. Enslaved men, women, and children were whipped, branded, and starved into submission. The Code Noir, introduced in 1685, was meant to regulate the treatment of the enslaved. But in practice, it offered little protection. Plantation owners ignored its restrictions and punished enslaved Africans with torture and death whenever they pleased.
Saint-Domingue became a land where wealth and elegance stood beside horror and blood. It was in this world that Jean-Baptiste de Caradeux rose to power.
Caradeux was appointed General and Commander-in-Chief of the island’s Royal Forces and later became Governor-General of Saint-Domingue. His position gave him control over both the military and the colony’s enslaved population.
He lived in grand style, throwing lavish parties attended by the colonial elite. Guests enjoyed fine wine, music, and dance in his elegant mansion. Yet behind the walls of his estate, unimaginable cruelty took place. Caradeux often turned violence into sport. One of his favorite “games” was to place an apple on the head of an enslaved African and invite guests to shoot it off for entertainment.
What others called a party was, for the enslaved, a nightmare. For Caradeux, inflicting pain became a way to display power.
Historical records show that Caradeux tortured enslaved Africans in ways that shocked even other slaveholders. He was known to bury men and women alive, leaving only their heads exposed. He and his guests would then watch as flies and insects slowly ate their flesh.
This kind of barbarity was not an isolated case. Even missionaries like Antoine Lavette were brutal toward the Africans they enslaved, reflecting the broader mentality of European planters and colonizers who justified violence as a means of control.
While violence was common in the colonies, Caradeux’s cruelty stood out. Other planters justified their brutality as a means to maintain order. Caradeux seemed to enjoy it. His actions earned him the title “Caradeux the Cruel,” a name whispered with fear throughout Saint-Domingue.
The Spark of Revolution
By the late 18th century, Saint-Domingue had become a powder keg. The enslaved population outnumbered whites by more than ten to one. Decades of oppression, torture, and hunger fueled their anger. Inspired by the ideals of liberty from the French Revolution, they decided to fight back.
In August 1791, enslaved Africans rose in a massive revolt that swept through the colony. Plantations burned, and the enslavers who once ruled through fear fled for their lives. The uprising grew into a full-scale war that lasted more than a decade. It would eventually lead to the creation of Haiti, the first Black republic in the world, and the first nation born from a successful slave rebellion.
As the rebellion spread, Caradeux’s luxurious life turned into chaos. Realizing the futility of defending the island, he began sending his belongings to Charleston, South Carolina. In 1792, he fled the burning colony, dragging with him 26 enslaved Africans to begin life anew in America. He purchased a plantation in Berkeley County, South Carolina, and lived there in relative obscurity, far from the violence he had inflicted on others.
There, surrounded by the wealth stolen from human suffering, Jean-Baptiste Caradeux lived quietly, far from the land he had once ruled through fear. He died in 1810, unpunished for his crimes.
Sources:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31207171/jean-baptiste-caradeux
https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KJZV-942/jean-baptiste-%22the-cruel%22-caradeux-la-caye-1742-1810
