By late 1791, some weeks after the revolutionary outbreak, Jean-François and Biassou set their rivalry aside in order to oppose Jeannot, who not only massacred the French but also all the black soldiers that contested his authority.
"[5] There are many reasons that the Spaniards backed the Haitian revolution from the beginning, providing the insurgents with food and weapons: they knew that the episode would cause chaos in Saint-Domingue, giving Spain the chance to send troops to that territory and re-annex it, since it had been a Spanish possession taken by the French in the Peace Treaty of Ryswick (1697).
[11] In the following weeks, the black auxiliaries achieved many other victories at the service of Spain, especially the conquest of Port Margot at the beginning in 1794, which earned them several golden and silver medals given by the Spanish Crown.
[14] The Spaniards’ awareness of the black auxiliaries’ “natural savagery” as well as Santo Domingo’s cession to France in the Peace Treaty of Basel, persuaded them to get rid of Jean-François and his troops, since the circumstances that had justified their alliance to the former slaves, that is, Spain’s plan to conquer the western part of Hispaniola, had failed.
But the Cuban governor, Luis de las Casas, was so afraid that their presence there would provoke a massive black insurrection in that island, that he pressured the Spanish government to throw them out of his colony.
Their situation in that city was dramatic: the generals lost their military ranks and their right to any economic compensation after their retirement and, in addition, Jean-François had to use the few resources he had to assist his family and his companions.
Unfortunately, Jean-François never saw the resolution of the conflict that concerned his troops, as he had already died in the early days of the 19th Century, maybe in 1805, totally forgotten by the Spanish government, which “rewarded” him for his loyal services by denying any official link with him or any other slave general in the past.