San Domingo, 17. July, 1810
LETTERS FROM
PETER
My beloved wife!
I haven’t seen you in such a long time. My heart aches and longs for you my
wonderful Katherine. You don’t have to worry about me anymore because I’m
coming home soon. Tell our children that I love them very much and that I
can’t wait to see and hug them again. You can’t even imagine the things that I
have seen here. I see those horrific pictures every time I close my eyes. It has
gotten to the point where I have to tell someone about all that has happened.
Do you remember when you were crying because of Napoleon’s order I had to
live? We didn’t even know where or why we were going to. No one had expected
such an incredible view of the island. The sun warmed my face, and seagulls
were circling above us. After four months of hard journey, we reached land. We
were overjoyed with the sight of marvelous beaches, and mounds of fresh
coconuts, and of course, the tremendous vodka of Ratafia. I wanted you to see
this. Unfortunately, in the first days of march, three legions of battalion 113
half-brigade were split up and we were thrown into the war. We dealt with
stopping riots between colonists and slaves. We didn’t know that the swamps of
the island contained a terrible disease. My friends started being pestered with
nausea, chills and even yellowness of the skin in some cases. After a while, those
infected began to throw up blood and the sight of this was simply disgusting. It
turned out that the local disease was known as yellow fever. I was frightened
with the fact that this disease might happened to me as well. The plague came
from the numerous species of reptiles, amphibians, and ticks that inhabited the
island. But the ants caused the most problems. The ants found ways to slip into
our clothing and destroyed every single meal. But not only the terrible
conditions in which we lived in caused me to hate the island. I barely escaped
with my life when natives attacked the building I was staying in. I thought I
would die and I would never see you again. Somehow, me and my friends
managed to escape. When the natives finally noticed that our people related to
them more closely than the French, they stopped using cruel and unjust torture
measures with their prisoners. They began to repay us with better and more
humane treatment.
My love, I have to go because I am very tired. I’d like to have a bit of sleep and
rest after all of the horrors I’ve experienced on this island. Don’t worry my sweet,
I’ll be at home in no time.
Kisses
Your Peter (Wiktoria Rydza)