François Mackandal, (died 1758), was a Haïtian Maroon leader in Saint-Domingue. He was a African who is sometimes described as Haitian vodou priest, or houngan. Some sources describe him as a Moslem leading some scholars to speculate that he was from Senegal, Mali, or Guinea.^[1]
Mackandal lost his left arm in a farming accident, when it was
caught in a sugarcane press and crushed between the rollers. He
disappeared from the plantation
and became a charismatic guerilla leader who united the different
Maroon bands and created a network of secret organizations connected
with slaves still on plantations. He led Maroons to raid plantations at
night, torch property, and kill the owners. Mackandal created poisons
from island herbs. He distributed the poison to slaves, who added it to
the meals and refreshments they served the French plantation owners and
planters. ^[2]
The French feared that Mackandal would drive all whites from the colony
through the fear of being poisoned. Mackandal was betrayed by an ally
who was tortured into submission. He was captured and burned alive in
1758 in the public square of Cap-Français, now Cap-Haïtien.^{[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makandal}