After the outbreak of the 1791 slave rebellion in northern Saint-Domingue, Macaya became a lieutenant of an elderly rebel commander named Pierrot.
These leaders accepted the commissioners' offers of official recognition of their freedom and French citizenship in return for military aid against Galbaud's forces in Le Cap.
This incident marked the beginning of the Republican commissioners' escalating dependence on military support from former slaves, which ultimately helped to inspire the general emancipation decrees in the colony.
[4] After most leading black generals in Saint-Domingue surrendered to the French or began to actively collaborate with them, Macaya continued to resist.
[5] Macaya's rebel forces suffered serious losses at the hands of Haiti's future emperor, Dessalines, in early August 1802, when the latter was still fighting on behalf of the French.