Haitian Yellow Fever Kills Leclerc

1803

Napoleon's expedition to retake Saint-Domingue was melted by tropical disease. General Leclerc, the emperor's brother-in-law, died of yellow fever along with fifty thousand soldiers. His widow Pauline, scandalously, took her husband's body home in a coffin beside her lover. The French decision to sell Louisiana was, in part, a consequence of this rout.