Jean-Baptiste Riché (1780 – February 27, 1847) was a career officer and general in the Haïtian Army. He was made President of Haïti on March 1, 1846. Riché was born free, the son of a prominent free black man of the same name in the North Province of Saint-Domingue (the French colony that later became Haïti). His father was a sergeant in the colonial militia and probably served in the rebel forces. Riché himself joined the Haïtian Revolutionaries probably some time in 1801. After Haïti gained independence at the end of the revolution in 1803, Riché joined the forces of Henri Christophe, who in 1807 promoted him to the rank of general and deputy commander of his army. During the civil war that followed between Alexandre Petion and Christophe, Riché was instrumental in Christophe's victory a