About this picture: Charlemagne Peralte was born in 1886 in the central city of Hinche, Charlemagne was born into a family that had migrated from an area that is the present day Dominican Republic.
Charlemagne Peralte is revered on both sides of the island, in Haiti and in the Dominican Republic.
His Name on birth certificate was Francois Borgia Charlemagne Peralte.
Date of birth on birth Charlemagne Peralte birth certificate: 10 October 1885
Charlemagne Peralte's father was General Remi Massena Peralte.
An officer by career, Charlemagne Peralte was the military chief of the city of Leogane when the US Marines invaded Haiti in July 1915. Refusing to surrender to foreign troops without fighting, Peralte resigned from his position and returned to his native town of Hinche to take care of his family's land. In 1917, he was arrested for assaulting the home of an American Officer of the occupation troops, and was sentenced to five years of forced labor.
Escaping his captivity, Charlemagne Péralte gathered a group of nationalist rebels and started guerrilla warfare against the US troops.
The troops led by Charlemagne Peralte were called "Cacos", a name that harked back to rural troops that historically took part in the political turmoil of late 19th century Haiti.
The guerrilla warriors of the Cacos were such strong adversaries that the United States upgraded the US Marine contingent in Haiti and even employed airplanes for counter-guerrilla warfare.
After two years of guerrilla warfare, leading Charlemagne Peralte to declare a provisional government in the north of Haiti, Charlemagne Peralte was betrayed by one of his officers, Jean-Baptiste Conze, who led disguised US Marines Sergeant Herman H. Hanneken (later meritoriously promoted to Second Lieutenant for his exploits) and Corporal William Button into the rebels camp, near Grand-Riviere Du Nord.
Peralte was shot in the heart at close range and assassinated.
His assassins then fled with his body during the skirmish and chaos that ensued.
In order to demoralize the Haitian population, the US troops took a picture of Charlemagne Peralte's body tied to a door, and distributed it in the country.
The effect was the opposite.
Betrayed and killed at the age of 33, Charlemagne Peralte took the dimension of a martyr for the Haitian nation.
Charlemagne Peralte remains were unearthed after the end of the US occupation in 1935. A national funeral, attended by the then-President of Haiti, Stenio Vincent, was held in Cap Haitien, where his grave can still be seen today.
A portrait of Charlemagne Peralte can now be seen on the Haitian coins issued by the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide after his 1994 return under the protection of US troops.
As a footnote, for his daring exploit, Sergeant Herman H. Hanneken (1893-1986) was awarded the Medal of Honor for killing the "chief bandit of Haiti".
He later served in World War II, notably at Guadalcanal and ended his career as a Brigadier General.
In his late days, he constantly declined to comment on his exploits in Haiti, notably to Haitian journalist asking for interviews on the 100th anniversary of Charlemagne Peralte's birth, in 1986.
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