Guillaume Fabre Nicolas Geffrard (French pronunciation: [ɡijom fabʁ nikɔla ʒɛfʁaʁ]; 23 September 1806[1] – 31 December 1878) was a mulatto[2] general in the Haitian army and President of Haiti from 1859 until his deposition in 1867.

After collaborating in a coup to remove Faustin Soulouque from power in order to return Haiti to the social and political control of the colored elite, Geffrard was made president in 1859.

To placate the peasants he renewed the practice of selling state-owned lands and ended a schism with the Roman Catholic Church which then took on an important role in improving education.

When General Charles Rivière-Hérard launched a rebellion against dictator Jean-Pierre Boyer in 1843, Geffrard joined him and was appointed lieutenant-colonel.

The new president, Jean-Baptiste Riché, feared Geffrard's popularity, and had him arrested to try to bring him to justice, but the court martial acquitted him for misconduct.

In 1849 Soulouque became Emperor Faustin I and appointed Geffrard to command a division of the army during the first war against Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic), in which he gained fame by his victory at La Tabarra.

During the second war against Santo Domingo (1856) General Geffrard distinguished himself on several occasions, in particular thanks to the skillful direction of the artillery in Banico.

He also revived the policy of former rulers Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Alexandre Pétion and Jean-Pierre Boyer of recruiting African Americans to settle in Haiti.

This case became the famous Affaire de Bizoton, a sensationalized account of which was featured in British minister Sir Spenser St. John's best-selling book, Hayti, or the black republic.

This episode left many Haitians humiliated and angry at Geffrard because he backed down to a European nation while Faustin Soulouque would have never accepted it.

During the war, Spanish and British colonial officials in Cuba, the Bahamas and neighboring Santo Domingo which was occupied by Spain, passively sided with the Confederacy, harboring Confederate commerce-raiders and blockade-runners.

By contrast, Haiti was the one part of the Caribbean (with the exception of Danish St. Thomas) where the United States Navy was welcome, and Cap-Haïtien served as the headquarters of its West Indian Squadron, which helped maintain the Union blockade in the Florida Straits[citation needed].

Haiti also took advantage of the war to become a major exporter of cotton to the United States, and Geffrard imported gins and technicians to increase production.