Memorial Sculpture in Savannah Honors more than 500 Haitian Soldiers

In Savannah in 2007

A Memorial Sculpture was Dedicated to the

Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue.

The monument honors more than 500 Haitian soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War's bloody siege of Savannah

In 1779, more than 500 recruits from Saint-Domingue (the French colony which later became Haiti), under the overall command of French nobleman Charles Hector, Comte d'Estaing, fought alongside American colonial troops against the British Army during the siege of Savannah.

This was one of the most significant, foreign contributions to the American Revolutionary War. This French-colonial force had been established six months earlier and included hundreds of soldiers of color in addition to white soldiers and a couple black slaves.

Despite stories to the contrary, slave Henri Christophe could not have served as a drummer boy as he was 22 years old at the time. He would later become the King of Haiti.