Fighting the French Revolution- the Great Vendee Rising of 1793

by Rob Harper

  On 13 March parishes around La Roche-sur-Yon rose up under Bulkeley and Du Chouppes, and St-Pal became leader of rebels further south still. La Roche-sur-Yon fell to the rebels three days later.

  Further north-east 2,000 peasants marched on Les Herbiers under their newly appointed leader Sapinaud-de-la-Verrie.33 The republicans withdrew early in the afternoon, conceding three guns to the rebels, and Sapinaud went on to seize both Mortagne and Tiffauges.

  Around 11am on 13 March a large band of peasants appeared near the eastern edge of Montaigu. Some 200 national guards with two cannon blocked their path and opened fire, forcing them to pull back. A little later 4-5,000 men approached from the north, charged the national guards, and routed them.34

  Marcé verses Royrand 15 to 19 March

  On taking command Royrand went straight into action and on 15 March he attacked 1,200 republicans in Chantonnay who withdrew south after an obstinate fight.35 Royrand and Sapinaud-de-la-Verrie then gathered the rebels at L’Oie and attempted to put some order in their ranks.

  The republicans were determined to re-establish communications between La Rochelle and Nantes and General Marcé set out from La Rochelle on 15 March instructing republican detachments to gather at Ste-Hermine, 15km south of Chantonnay. He anticipated that his march north would be supported by troops sent south from Nantes. By 16 March Marcé had assembled 4,500 men grandly entitled the Army of the Vendée.36 His senior officers were Boulard and Baudry, and representatives Niou and Trullard accompanied them.

  Marcé left 1,600 men to guard Ste-Hermine while he marched north to Pont-Charrault on the River Lay. He left more men to cover this post and continued to Chantonnay where his advance guard repulsed 2,000 rebels led by Sapinaud-de-la-Verrie.

  Marcé announced that he would march on St Fulgent on 19 March having assumed that Sapinaud’s men had dispersed when in fact they had fallen back to L’Oie to rally to several other leaders. Their combined strength totalled 5-6,000 men, of whom only 3-400 carried muskets or fusils, with limited ammunition.37 They were supported by two 4pdr guns, a 12pdr, and 100 cavalry formed almost entirely from peasants mounted on farmyard horses.

  Setting out from Chantonnay in the morning Marcé left 300 men to guard his line of communications and arrived at the Gravereau Bridge towards midday. Royrand had cut this bridge and republican workmen had been endeavouring to rebuild it since 7am.

  Marcé’s force now comprised a volunteer battalion, about six weak national guards’ battalions, and a detachment from the 60th Line. His infantry totalled around 2,200, to which he could add 200 horse and nine guns.

  By 3pm they were descending towards the Moulin-de-la-Basse-Rivière, only to discover the next bridge broken and the river swollen by the incessant rainfall. Although Marcé ordered its repair the republicans were now between two rivers in countryside that offered plenty of cover to the north and on their flanks.

  Allowing for a degree of caution from the many post-action reports the following rough chronology can be pieced together, largely thanks to Chassin’s collection of documents.38 At about 4pm large numbers of men were spotted around 1km to the north whom the representatives believed might be friendly troops coming from Nantes as they could hear them singing the Marseillaise (the rebels had in fact put their own words to this famous tune).39

  The Battle of La Guérinière.

  At about 6pm an officer, ADC and trumpeter were sent on ahead but had difficultly identifying them due to the weather and failing light. This delay in scouting enabled the Vendéens to spread out, screened by the trees and high hedges. Royrand’s column moved east on La Tranchaire and Sapinaud’s moved west, both aiming to outflank the republicans and take advantage of crossing points unlikely to have been known to their enemy.40 While these columns were deploying, their armed troops were moving under cover towards the republicans. When the action commenced, the Vendéens formed a crescent which stretched beyond the republican flanks.

  Marcé decided to protect the two bridges and placed 100 cavalry at the Gravereau Bridge and a further detachment in St-Vincent-Sterlinges. Most of his troops were in two congested columns leading down to the bridge, so he sent some tirailleurs into the wooded country along the riverbank and then began to deploy the troops. Having selected a place for a battalion to his left he was returning to deploy more troops when an enemy fusillade opened up across the river to the west of the bridge. The direction of the river at that point enabled the rebels to spread out along the front and left flank of his column.

  With a full scale attack now underway Marcé endeavoured to deploy more battalions on his left flank aiming to align them along hedges on a small plateau dominating the river. Two battalions were also deployed on his right. It was soon apparent that some republican artillery had been deployed on the slope of the hill and not its crest and could not fire at that angle. Leaving two cannon near the bridge to contain the enemy Marcé withdrew his other guns to higher ground, but while doing so his horse was shot and he fell wounded.

  One of the battalions on his west flank broke and after the battle Marcé said the army would have held if this battalion had not fired on their own chasseurs and grenadiers before retiring in disorder, spreading confusion in the ranks.41

  Niou urged Marcé to retire forthwith, but rather than retreat in the face of the enemy he attempted to re-establish some order amongst his troops. The two cannon at the bridge were ordered to fire grapeshot to gain Marcé time to rally the army, but no grapeshot could be found and round shot had to be used instead.42 Royrand’s brother was killed as he attempted to lead some rebels forward and the peasants near the bridge now sought cover and ducked as each shot rang out.

  Sapinaud is credited with the tactic used many times by the Vendéens. He instructed his men to throw themselves to the ground when the cannon flashed, then jump to their feet and rush the guns before the republicans had time to reload. Leading the column in person he soon overpowered the guns and captured the bridge.43

  It was probably around this time that Marcé ordered forward 100 cavalry to cover the republican left flank and hopefully spread panic amongst the rebels in the darkness, but a confused fight in broom-covered fields led to them being overwhelmed and retreating to the Gravereau Bridge.

  Boulard recalled that in the dark his men were seeing the enemy everywhere and had completely lost their nerve. Marcé now conceded to Niou’s demands and issued orders to retire. He personally remained with the rearguard while Boulard raced to the Gravereau Bridge hoping to rally troops to its south.

  A frantic and confused fight developed on the La Guérinière plateau, with small pockets of republicans holding out behind the high-hedged fields but being submerged under overwhelming numbers of rebels. Marcé succeeded in rallying some men to the north-west of Gravereau and carried out an orderly withdrawal overnight.44

  Returning to the battlefield on the following day the Vendéens noted 500 republican dead to 250 of their own. They had captured two cannon and sixteen wagons containing plenty of fusils and ammunition.

  The republicans retreated on Marans and the unfortunate General Marcé was arrested the day after the battle and would be guillotined in January 1794.

  The battle at La Guérinière had repercussions far beyond its scale and the Rising was now referred to as the War of the Vendée. The shock of this defeat was to lead the Republic to organise a new and much more sizeable assault.

  Nantes: A City Besieged

  Nantes had been cut off and was unable to communicate with Paris. On 17 March a column was sent to disperse rebels threatening to assault the city from the north and rudimentary earthworks were thrown up along the approaches to the city. Although some of the Nantes National Guard had been dispatched south of the Loire, priority had to be given to protecting the city at the cost of a number of outlying towns. Communication with Paris was eventually re-established with a republican victory at Ancenis, but Nantes would be in a high state of anxiety for months to come.

  The Coast
al Vendée

  The Republic managed to retain pockets of land along the coast: notably St-Gilles, Croix-de-Vie, Paimboeuf and Pornic. On 12 March a column led by Danguy and Cadou marched on Paimboeuf hoping to destroy the list of those eligible for the lottery.45 Some cannon fire, a cavalry charge, and support from gunners and sailors from the frigate La Capricieuse and the corvette L’Impatient moored nearby soon dispersed them. Danguy was captured and would be executed in Nantes on 6 April.46 Paimboeuf was to remain firmly in republican hands.

  On 17 March the small garrison of national guards on the strategically important island of Noirmoutier surrendered to rebels under Guerry de la Fortinière, Des Abbayes and Guerry-du-Cloudy.

  Pornic 23 March

  The newly formed royalist committee in Machecoul was keen to attack Pornic which was being used as a base for republicans harassing the area. Under the Marquis de La Roche-Sainte-André a column set out on 23 March and at Bourgneuf he was joined by Guérin and La Cathelinière with rebels from the Pays-de-Retz. They soon seized Pornic but failed to prevent its small garrison from slipping away.

  With this republican town in their control the peasants went on a drunken rampage and failed to deploy outposts. As a consequence they were routed that same evening by a republican detachment less than one hundred strong and in the ensuing panic 266 rebels were killed.47 Soon after this debacle La Roche-Saint-André left to join Royrand.

  Pornic 27 March

  Charette now arrived in Machecoul, having recently joined the Rising, and endeavoured to put the 3-5,000 rebels into some order and introduce rudimentary military drill. He agreed to lead a second attack on Pornic and Guérin and La Cathelinière, offering their support, united with him at Bourgneuf on 26 March.

  Thousands of badly armed rebels were now moving on Pornic in four columns, defended by only 200 national guards and two small guns.48 Columns were seen approaching the town along two roads from the east and most of the republicans deployed in the town’s square ready to confront them.

  The republicans were able to concentrate their fire on the exits from these two roads and forced the front of the rebel columns to halt and commence weak retaliatory fire from cover. With little progress being made Charette issued instructions to set light to the town, which had the desired effect and forced the republicans to evacuate. The republicans managed to escape to Paimboeuf when the two rebel columns sent around the northern outskirts failed to cut them off.49 The rebels were to hold the town for a month and Charette carried out an orderly withdrawal that evening, taking with him the two captured cannon.

  Les Sables d’Olonne 24 March

  The republican town of Les Sables d’Olonne was a key port on a network of roads that led east to Luçon and Niort, south to La Rochelle, and north to Nantes. Securing the town might enable the rebels to communicate with the English and would be a significant blow to the Republic.

  Les Sables d’Olonne is on a peninsula of land with the sea to the south, harbour and estuary looping around to the west, and salt marshes to the north. The eastern approach to the town was protected by stone walls.

  By 23 March the republican garrison totalled 3,500 troops supported by eight guns.50 Except for 250 men from the 110th Line the infantry were national guards and the cavalry were a mixture of gendarmes and national guards.51 Lieutenant Colonel Foucard was nominally in command although Representative Gaudin was the real authority.

  The town’s outposts were on high alert and patriots from miles around sought refuge within its walls. On 20 March news of Marcé’s defeat reached them and 22 March was spent fortifying the town and raising batteries.52

  Around 1pm on 23 March troops rushed to arms when the enemy was spotted to the north and sailors manned the batteries at the town gates.53

  Joly, self-proclaimed general of the ‘Royal Army of Sables’, in command of a vast swathe of land centred on La Mothe-Achard, planned a coordinated assault on Les Sables supported by rebels under Guerry-du-Cloudy, Du Chaffault, St-Pal, Rorthays, Bulkeley and De Chouppes.

  He issued orders to gather at 10am on 24 March on the Pierre-Levée heights, 4km north of the town. His and Rorthays’ column was the largest and two other columns were to be led by Guerry-du-Cloudy, Du Chaffault and St-Pal. Guerry-du-Cloudy, marching from Vairé, only arrived at midday and Du Chaffault failed to appear at all.

  ‘The brigands were badly armed, badly led and badly disciplined,’ wrote Collinet, but he noted that they had 7-8,000 infantry and 400 cavalry.54 To oppose them the republicans deployed an advance party at La Vannerie formed of 600 national guards, 120 line troops, 200 cavalry and 2 guns.55

  As a diversionary move Joly sent 300 men to seize Olonne and its small garrison soon fled to Les Sables.56 Encouraged by this victory the rebels advanced on a wide front towards La Vannerie. The republicans began firing their cannon and the rebels panicked when Joly was thrown to the ground as his horse was struck. Joly managed to rally them and form three columns, with their front and flanks protected by the cavalry and each bearing a white flag inscribed with the words ‘Victoire ou Mort’.57

  The republicans dropped back from La Vannerie between 3 and 4pm to deploy behind a stream nearer the town.58 Joly now directed the bulk of his troops towards the eastern approaches to Les Sables.

  First Battle of Les Sables d’Olonne.

  Around 4pm he sent a proclamation to the town calling for its surrender and setting out that the Rising had taken place because of attacks on their liberties, religion and king. They were given three hours to surrender or face the consequences of an assault.

  As no response was forthcoming Joly sent 2,000 men towards the gateway on the Talmont road, 3,000 towards the abandoned Convent of Saint-Croix, and 3,500 towards the La Barre Gate.59 He also deployed two 18pdrs to fire on the defences.

  The royalists were being urged forwards by their leaders and directed to climb the walls of the convent and assault the nearby gate. Thanks in large part to the republican artillery at least two assaults were beaten back.60 The badly handled royalist cannon were of insufficient calibre to breach the walls, so with night falling Joly ordered the army’s withdrawal. The republicans admitted to about eight casualties.61

  Les Sables d’Olonne 29 March.

  From 25 to 28 March more fortifications were constructed, an armed vessel was anchored in the harbour, and some 36pdrs were deployed.62 Olonne was reoccupied and reinforcements increased the republican forces to 3,000 national guards and volunteer infantry, 320 line troops, 236 cavalry and 360 naval gunners. The town could also call on 1,500 unarmed men.63

  The second rebel advance was spotted on 28 March and by 7pm all the troops in Les Sables were at their posts, including 600 men deployed in La Chaume and over 300 in the St-Nicholas Fort.64

  The rebels had set out from La Mothe-Achard at 3pm accompanied by sixteen cannon. On reaching La Tournée d’Olonne, north of the town, they raised an entrenchment for their guns while some of their infantry advanced along surrounding sunken roads.65 This time Du Chaffault arrived from Avrillé with 3,000 men and brought Joly’s numbers up to 6,000.

  At dawn the artillery on both sides opened up, but over time the heavy calibre republican cannon wore down rebel morale and from as early as 6am some were seen retreating northwards. By 7am only those near La Tournée d’Olonne and behind the entrenchments remained.

  A Vendéen column expected from Talmont failed to appear and making no headway Joly changed tactics and began firing red-hot shot on the town, but to little effect.

  The Republicans succeeded in dismounting many Vendéen cannon and demolished part of their entrenchments, leaving them with only two 18pdrs still in action.66 At about 8.15am a chance republican shot struck ammunition near the rebel battery and killed a number of gunners. The rebels could take no more and were seen fleeing ‘like a flock of sheep’ through the fields, abandoning their weapons in their haste to get away.67

  The republican losses were light as opposed to 366 rebel dead, more killed in the pu
rsuit, and 100 captured. They also captured fourteen cannon and eleven supply wagons.68 By 30 March a further 1,700 troops arrived in Les Sables, ruling out further attacks for the time being.69

  Chapter 5

  ‘In less than a month the troubles in the

  Vendée will be at an end’

  Representatives Carra and Auguis to the National Convention, 24th March 1793

  The Advance of the Army of the Reserve and the April Campaign

  The first priority for the Republic was to contain the Rising and all available troops were concentrated in towns around the edge of rebel territory. Towards the end of March Leygonier and Ladouce were in Angers with 4,500 men; 4,000 were in Doué-le-Fontaine; Quétineau moved to Thouars with 3-4,000 men; Gauvilliers covered the north bank of the Loire with 1,500 men; and Chalbos and D’Ayat were gathering thousands of men from Niort to Les Sables d’Olonne. By the end of March Canclaux was also able to give time to plan a strike south from Nantes.

  On 25 March republican columns set out from Angers, Doué and Thouars. Ladouce was ordered to march on the River Layon and St-Lambert-de-Lattay with 2,500 men; Quétineau had orders to head for Bressuire; and Leygonier, who had taken command of the troops in Doué, marched on Vihiers. A half-battalion of Finistère Fédérés, forming Leygonier’s advance guard, were ambushed near Coron and forced to fall back on his main column at Vihiers. The resulting panic temporarily halted Leygonier’s advance. Quétineau had more grief from his insubordinate troops than from the enemy in an uneventful march on Bressuire, but Ladouce was soon under attack.

  St-Lambert-de-Lattay 29 March to 1 April