by Rob Harper
On 17 June the Vendéen advance guard set out from Saumur and by the end of 19 June the rebel army was assembled in Angers. They remained in the city until 25 June, during which time many were permitted time to return home.
On leaving Saumur, Bonchamps had returned to his own territory before receiving orders to seize key towns on the north bank of the Loire preparatory to the assault on Nantes.99
The Battle of Nantes 29 June 1793
The city of Nantes was in turmoil when news of Saumur filtered through. They could not rely for help from the army crushed at Saumur, or from troops on the southern Vendée border. Desperate pleas were dispatched across Brittany and beyond and reinforcements trickled in right up until the battle began.
Nantes was a large mercantile city commanding the mouth of the Loire with direct access to the sea. Located at the junction of the Loire and Erdre Rivers, it was dominated by its cathedral and château and had extended beyond its partially demolished medieval walls into extensive suburbs stretching around 3km west, north and east. Bridges connected a series of islands linking to suburbs south of the Loire around St-Jacques and Pont Rousseau. The northern and western approaches to Nantes had numerous hills dotted with windmills and the northern suburbs sloped downhill towards the heart of the city.
It was an extremely difficult city to defend and this weakness was recognised in March when the authorities constructed extensive earthworks enclosing the suburbs north of the Loire and around St-Jacques. The château was a vital arsenal and was well defended with cannon.
There are ample references to high-hedged fields of crops, isolated houses that provided useful cover for the approaching royalists, and many walled gardens in the gaps between the main roads into the city.
The republicans evacuated posts eastward along the Loire to an entrenched camp at St-Georges and on 19 June Nantes was declared to be in a state of siege. Earthworks were repaired and constructed along the main approaches to the city and other vulnerable points, probably adding to the system of defences constructed in March. In and around Nantes, roads were blocked with barricades, houses turned into strongpoints, walls toppled to open up clear views for the artillery and works in both earth and stone were prepared on the city outskirts. Improvised defences were set up on the Paris, Rennes, Vannes, Miséricorde, La Bastille and Gigant roads, and three trenches were dug on the open land at Mauves.100 The northern suburbs were located within and around dilapidated fortifications whose former bastions formed natural defensive points which were used by republican artillery, notably that at Bel-Air.
The Battle of Nantes.
On 20 June the Vendéens sent a summons to Nantes calling on it to surrender. This was received by Mayor Baco in the night of 23 to 24 June and in collusion with the representatives he kept it secret. The Vendéens had demanded that the white flag be flown from the city within six hours; the surrender of the garrison with its arms and munitions; the town’s treasury in the name of Louis XVII; and that the Deputies of the National Convention be handed over as hostages. If they refused and the city fell the garrison would be put to the sword.
Bonchamps occupied Varades, Ancenis and Oudon against limited resistance, and on his march was joined by thousands of men from north of the Loire.
The rest of the Grand Army drifted in to Ancenis to link up with Bonchamps between 24 and 26 June. On 25 June La Rochejaquelein was forced to abandon Saumur, as only a few troops had remained with him, and Labarolière reoccupied it on the following day. La Rochejaquelein’s troops soon linked up with those under Lescure in Amailloux, between Parthenay and Bressuire.101
On 26 June Charette marched with 5,000 men, Couëtus joined him at St-Colombin, and La Cathelinière at Port-Saint-Père. Two days later they reached Villeneuve with 10,000 men and at midnight on 28 June cattle horns signalled their march on Nantes.102 That same day Lyrot and D’Esigny assembled 5,000 men and marched towards St-Jacques from the south-east.
By 27 June the Grand Army reached Oudon, but with many republicans entrenched at the Camp of St Georges, north-east of Nantes, the main assault along the Paris road was ruled out. The main body of the army would instead march north, cross at Nort, and launch an assault on the northern suburbs and in so doing outflank the main republican force. Bonchamps would launch a smaller attack along the Paris road and Charette and Lyrot would attempt to force a crossing over the Loire. It was agreed that the combined assault on the city would commence at 2am on 29 June.
Cathelineau arrived before Nort at 8pm on 27 June to discover that it was being held by 1,000 republicans under Meuris who, while appealing for reinforcements, was determined to hold this key crossing.103 The conflict degenerated into an artillery bombardment, costing the rebels time they could ill afford, and they only made progress once a ford was discovered and some cavalry, with infantry riding pillion, attacked Nort from the north.
Meuris fought heroically and only retreated at 5am on the following day, having taken punishing losses.
At 10.30am Canclaux, then at the Camp of St-Georges, found out about the fall of Nort and that same afternoon deployed most of the 4,000 men under his immediate command in open terrain close to the northern suburbs.104 The 11th and 13th Seine-et-Oise had been sent on ahead to support Meuris but only arrived in time to cover his retreat. Fortunately for Canclaux it took the Vendéens hours to gather their forces and complete the crossing at Nort.
At 6pm Canclaux was considering whether to march on Nort when he heard that the Vendéens had seized Mauves-sur-Loire to the east of Nantes. That night the post at Sorinières, south of the city, withdrew to Pont-Rousseau.
Overnight 28 to 29 June
By 2am on 29 June Canclaux’s troops were deployed and ready for the expected attack. The limited information available indicates that he now commanded 5-6,000 troops covering the northern approaches from the Vannes to Rennes roads. The 11th and 13th Seine-et-Oise were at the Rennes Gate and the 109th Line, Mayenne Battalion and Légion-Nantaise at the Vannes Gate. In support were other units of volunteers and national guards.
Canclaux had deployed a ‘great battery’ (probably no more than eight guns) on this northern front and the small numbers of cavalry available to him were also on this front. Heavy calibre guns had been set up behind barricades, abattis and earthworks.
Covering the eastern approaches and at St-Donitien were 1,500 men under General Gillibert, supported by more artillery.
South of the Loire, Adjudant General Boisguyon protected St-Jacques with a Côtes-du-Nord Battalion and chasseur and grenadier companies of Charente, Seine-et-Marne and Maine-et-Loire. Some of the Nantes National Guard covered his advanced posts under the command of Chef-de-Bataillon Mulonnière.105 This front was strengthened by entrenched artillery. Some units also covered the western approach to the city (see Appendix 2 for order of battle).
Beysser had a roving command and Mayor Baco was present in person at the Rennes Gate.
As Cathelineau was attacking Nort, D’Élbée had remained at Oudon and only followed on later. Cathelineau’s forces seem to have spent time recuperating after the battle, and the need to re-establish the river crossing delayed them further still. In the evening of 28 June they camped some 20km north of Nantes.106 It was clear that they would not be ready for the combined assault at the agreed time of 2am.
Conversely the troops under Bonchamps were ready and in position around Mauves-sur-Loire.
Overnight Charette’s main column, preceded by an advance guard, marched cautiously towards Pont-Rousseau. On reaching Trois-Moulins he deployed three guns and also sent two large calibre guns and some cavalry to capture Rezé, with orders to open fire on Nantes across the Loire.107
Charette personally reconnoitred towards Pont-Rousseau with 100 cavalry. In the moonlight they spotted a masonry and wooden structure with artillery embrasures closing access to the bridge.108
2.30am to 7am
At 2.30am three Vendéen guns opened fire on Pont-Rousseau, which immediately retaliated. Other rebel
guns arrived, but while their infantry remained under cover their gunners were using up valuable shot.109 Meanwhile, the guns detached towards Rezé were silenced by republican batteries across the Loire.
Towards 5am Lyrot could be heard attacking on the Clisson road and around St-Sébastien. Their small campaign guns bombarded St-Jacques.
Charette was concerned that he could hear no gunfire north of the Loire but decided to press ahead with an assault on Pont-Rousseau and formed his peasants in column. Republican 18pdrs enfiladed the road and eventually forced Charette to pull his men back and return to bombarding the works with his artillery.
To the east, Lyrot pressed forwards and penetrated the St-Jacques Suburb, but a counter-attack forced him to retreat and abandon three cannon. Seeing them recoil Charette deployed two cannon and forced the republican pursuit back into the suburb.
Charette and Lyrot continued to bombard Pont-Rousseau and St-Jacques but were increasingly concerned by the lack of action to the north, when around 7am they at last heard the long expected cannonade.
The assault on the Paris Rd 7am to 10am
Bonchamps’ column, which must also have been wondering why the northern column had not yet attacked, was led by an advance guard formed from his Breton companies and tirailleurs all under the command of Fleuriot. Further to the rear were the bulk of his 7-8,000 men. Bonchamps was still too ill to mount a horse so remained in a carriage during the battle.
They soon captured St-Donitien and as their attack developed Canclaux transferred a battalion from St-Jacques to bolster the eastern defence. With typical fury the Vendéen advance guard were pushing republican posts back on the St-Clement Suburb when Fleuriot was struck and mortally wounded. D’Autichamp took command but with Bonchamps anxious about the lack of action to the north his assault slackened.
The Northern Front
A lookout in the cathedral spotted the Vendéens advancing on the Rennes road at 6am, but still some distance away.110 Doré-Graslin suggests that the assault did not begin until around 10am.111 There may have been light clashes beforehand that possibly included Crétineau-Joly’s unsubstantiated reference to the Prince de Talmont making a hasty and unsuccessful attack on the northern suburbs with the cavalry.112
Cathelineau was advancing on the Rennes road supported by fourteen guns and D’Élbée advanced to his east, closer to the banks of the Erdre.
Beysser, riding a horse draped with a tiger skin saddlecloth, initially believed Charette’s attack was the principal assault until Representative Gillet informed him of the approach of 14,000 men and numerous cannon on the Rennes road. He arrived to find the rebels within ‘half cannon range’ of the barriers.113 The republican redoubt at Barbin fell in hand-to-hand fighting, enabling D’Élbée to deploy artillery on high ground facing the redoubts of St-André and Bel-Air. He was soon directing fire into the heart of Nantes.
While this was underway, bodies of rebels moved on the Vannes road. Beysser refers to strong enemy ‘platoons’ advancing under cover of hedges and crops, seizing isolated houses and using their shelter to fire on the republicans. The republicans in the Rennes, Vannes and Miséricorde Redoubts were now coming under small arms fire.114
Canclaux’s ‘great battery’ on the Rennes road included 18pdrs and continually exchanged fire with the Vendéen artillery; during the battle it dismounted two rebel guns. The Vendéens, however, outflanked this battery, forcing republican battalions to divide by sections and fire by platoons from concealed positions.
Fighting with great determination the Vendéen tirailleurs concentrated their fire for a couple of hours on the barricades at the Rennes Gate, Vannes Gate and in the Miséricorde quarter. Among the casualties was Mayor Baco, wounded in the thigh. The Vendéens claim to have broken the barrier on the Rennes road but the republican artillery did not slacken their fire.
Cathelineau was frustrated by the lack of progress at the Rennes Gate and switched the focus of his attack to the Vannes Suburb. With 300 elite men he penetrated this suburb heading for Miséricorde and the Vannes Gate.115 In the process he forced back the 109th Line and other republicans in the area and succeeded in overpowering a republican battery.116
Aiming for the Place-des-Agriculteurs (now the Place-Viarmes), Cathelineau’s elite troops swept into the square and could sense victory within their grasp. The 109th Line, 34th Line and Mayenne Volunteers, under Canclaux’s direct command, had rallied in this square and stood their ground as the Vendéens began their assault. It was critical that this area be held as beyond the square the roads led downhill to the heart of the city and were more difficult to defend.
According to Crétineau-Joly, Cathelineau had already had two horses killed under him and was now fighting on foot. Surrounded by his most loyal followers, and having made the sign of the cross, he rushed on the forces before him. Just at that moment a bullet fired from a window smashed his elbow and entered his abdomen, causing him to fall to the ground, dangerously wounded.117 The shock of seeing their ‘hero’ struck down completely changed the situation. In spite of his pleas, and those of other leaders, the assault ground to a halt. The news of his fall spread rapidly and, picking up their commander-in-chief, the Vendéens withdrew from the square and soon abandoned the suburb altogether.
Around Gigant to the west, 800 National Guards, with part of the Guerche Battalion, were deployed behind their defences, and with support from civilians had also been successfully holding back the rebels.118
Although their morale had been affected by the wounding of Cathelineau, D’Élbée and Donnissan endeavoured to renew the assault. From the various accounts it would appear that Cathelineau was wounded in the early afternoon and the attack on the Rennes road gave ground at 1pm when the Vendéens were reported to be seeking cover in surrounding fields. At 2pm Beysser reported that the battle was going well.
In 1795 Gibert, a Vendéen officer and eye witness, wrote that after Cathelineau was wounded the resistance of the republicans persuaded Donnissan to move one of the Vendéen batteries.119 This gave the republicans a breathing space and when Donnissan came to redeploy the guns he had lost that critical moment. The fighting on the northern front noticeably diminished, although Beysser indicated that the cannon fire only slackened between 5 and 6pm, and Hodanger, a Republican on the northern front, said the Vendéens finally retreated at 9pm.120
The Paris road
The assault on the Paris road had diminished by the time the northern assault was developing. Beysser wrote that Bonchamps’ troops were repulsed around midday and that the firing slackened by 6pm, then ceased by 9.30pm. It seems clear that republican determination had taken the Vendéens by surprise. Hearing that the northern suburbs had been evacuated Bonchamps reluctantly retired.
The Southern Front
With the fight developing to the north Charette was spurred into renewed action and led forward his parishes several times, but each time the Pont-Rousseau guns forced them back. Canclaux reported that during the great attack in the north only Deurbroucq was employed with the defence of the bridges. Certainly one battalion was transferred to the eastern front, but Boisguyon was still south of the Loire around midday. At one point Lyrot seized some boats and attempted a crossing of the Loire, aiming for Mauves. Firing from republican troops on the northern bank forced him to abandon the attempt.121
Volunteers from the Côtes-du-Nord Battalion had attempted sorties but Charette had forced them back with losses. Towards midday Boisguyon attempted a new sortie with this same battalion, aiming to cut Lyrot’s line of retreat. Charette hurried to intercept them and picked his moment to throw forward Prudent de la Robrie with 2,000 men, who crossed the Sèvre, rushed the volunteers, and forced them back to their entrenchments.122
Charette only heard after nightfall that Cathelineau had been seriously wounded and that the army had retreated; he decided to remain in position for the night.
With daylight on 30 June a republican lookout reported that the enemy were no longer on the Vanne
s or Rennes roads. Sporadic fighting continued on the Paris road and the southern front over the next couple of days before all the Vendéens eventually withdrew. Charette held his positions until after nightfall. He was not pursued.
Conclusion
The obstinate resistance of the republicans, inspired by determined leadership, undoubtedly led to their victory. The republicans also benefitted from constant updates on rebel movements from lookouts placed in the cathedral tower. Charette and Lyrot could make no headway whatsoever and on the eastern and northern fronts the assaults stalled when leaders fell wounded.
Most of the republican troops were raw and untested and Canclaux would have had no choice but to use entrenchments and rely on his artillery to bolster the defences. His few experienced troops, notably the 109th Line, played a critical role in fending off the most determined rebels and it is clear that the ferocious battle between small bodies of elite troops on either side determined the course of events.
The republicans reported 1,200 Vendéen killed and that the enemy had carried off their wounded. They admitted that their own losses had been considerable but less than that of the rebels. Guin suggests they probably lost about 500 men.123