Vodou would be closely linked with the Haitian Revolution. Two of the revolution's early leaders, Boukman and Francois Mackandal, were reputed to be powerful oungans. According to legend, it was on 14 August 1791 that a Vodou ritual took place in Bois-Caïman where the participants swore to overthrow the slave owners. After this ritual they massacred whites living in the local area. Although a popular tale in Haitian folklore, it has scant historical evidence to support it. Amid growing rebellion, the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte ordered troops, led by Charles Leclerc, into the colony in 1801. In 1803 the French military conceded defeat and the rebel leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed Saint-Domingue to be a new republic named Haiti. After Dessalines died in 1806, Haiti split into two countries before reuniting in 1822.