Battle of Port-au-Prince (1920)

The Battle of Port-au-Prince, or "la débâcle", took place on January 15, 1920 when Haitian rebels, known as cacos, attacked the capital of Haiti during the Second Caco War and the American occupation of Haiti.

At 4:00 a.m., "more than 300" caco rebels, many wearing the stolen uniform of the Haitian gendarmes, commanded by Benoît Batraville, attacked the city. The rebels moved into Port-au-Prince in columns, “with flags and conch horns blowing,” only to be gunned down by Browning Automatic Rifle and machine gun fire. It turns out that the city's garrison of American Marines and Haitian gendarmes were ready for the assault, since a citizen who heard the rebels coming informed the former. The cacos were forced to break ranks and seek shelter in buildings, where they proceeded to snipe from windows and from around corners. One caco group attacked the city's slums and set a block on fire, which lit up "the entire surrounding countryside."

One of the defenders' patrols, led by Lieutenant Gerald Thomas, met a caco force on the waterfront that was headed for the National Bank. Near the Iron Market, "a large number" of rebels was spotted coming down the street. The city's defenders detrucked and proceeded to open fire. Within five minutes, Thomas had lost one killed and six wounded, although the cacos were reportedly mowed down.

"Fully a fifth" of the caco attackers were killed, according to one estimate. Another source puts the number of rebel dead at 66, plus "many more" wounded and captured. One of the dead was Solomon Janvier, a Port-au-Prince resident and one of the leaders of the attack. The surviving cacos would remember the battle as "la débâcle." With the arrival of daylight, "patrols moved east and north of the city," killing "more than fifty" additional rebels.