Jean Jacques Dessalines
As a child slave in a sugar cane plantation he worked under the extremely harsh conditions of a white French man named Henry Duclos, until he was sold to a freed slave who treated him much better. About 30 years old, Dessalines escaped and joined the slave revolution that was sparked by Bookman, after the Bois Caiman Ceremony in 1791. He joined François Papillon and Georges Biassou in the mountains who were already training a few escaped slaves. Under their mentorships Dessalines learned the art of fighting; although illiterate, Dessalines was an amazingly quick leaner, he would later become a greater soldier than Toussaint L'Ouverture in terms of fighting abilities. Jean Jacques Dessalines fighting skills propelled him to the rank of Lieutenant and when Toussaint L'Ouverture got promoted as Commander of the Spanish Army, he chose Dessalines as his chief Lieutenant.