Jean François was a leader of the 1791 slave rising that began the Haitian Revolution. With Georges Biassou and Jeannot, he was prophecied by Dutty Boukman to lead the revolution, and fought with the Spanish royalists against the French Revolutionary authorities in colonial Haiti. Defeated by his former ally Toussaint L'Ouverture, he remained under Spanish service and withdrew to Florida, which was then part of the Spanish colony of Cuba.