The Deslondes plantation surrounded the Andry plantation. Charles was a 31 yr old field laborer on the Deslondes plantation.  The Andry plantation was the site of an arsenal for the local militia. On the night of January 8, armed with cane knives, hoses, clubs, and a few guns, the rebels began the march down River Road towards New Orleans. They were motivated by the French slogan “sur la Orleans” as only three slaves out of the 141 rebels were known to have spoken some English. The had gained participants as they moved from plantation to plantation along the east bank of the Mississippi River. The rebels attacked and burned five empty plantations; most of the owners were already in New Orleans at the start of the revolt.

Most of the owners did not “flee” to New Orleans; they crossed the river to assemble the militia. The Fifth Militia Regiment, under Major Charles Perret, began chasing the rebels on January 9, with only 21 men. When he discovered that the rebels, camped on the farm of Jacques Fortier, numbered about 200, he returned to Judge St. Martin’s house to report what he saw. The militia gathered more men and planned to attack the rebels early the next morning. The rebels were able to cross about 25 miles before being stopped on January 10 by U. S. troops from New Orleans. That morning, Major Perret, with only 60 men, attacked the rebels. After the initial volley, most of them surrendered.

The slave owners had fled to New Orleans and territorial governor William C. C. Claiborne had dispatched the company to put down the rebellion. The majority of rebels were either captured or escaped into the swamps, leaving a much smaller group of rebels to face the militia. Deslondes was one of the first to leave the battlefield. He was caught two days later; he was tried and executed on Andry’s plantation. Before the end, he and his compatriots freed about 25 miles of territory; they then back tracked 15 of those miles and were stopped by a force of militia three to four times smaller than the rebel “army.” was The rebels left at least 2 slave owners killed and 3 plantations burned completely to the ground.

The leaders, on horseback, made the fastest escape and fled into the swamps chased by the Militia. The captured prisoners were taken to the Destrehan plantation. The “Army,” under command of General Hampton did not arrive on the scene until January 11.  95 slaves were killed or tried and executed in the revolt,  56 were returned to their masters. 36 were captured and were forced to join the revolt by Charles Deslondes and his men and were also returned to their masters. 7 slaves were freed after the revolt as a result of their actions to prevent it.