by Rob Harper
Over the next six days Kléber worked tirelessly to rebuild the army. However he was now under close surveillance as in a parting gesture L’Échélle had denounced him as a royalist.35 Undoubtedly as a deliberate act of spite, orders were given to dissolve the former Army of Mayence once and for all. Kléber was however able to use the demi-brigade system to strengthen less reliable troops with a core of decent battalions. His division was rebuilt to a strength of 7,000 men, formed into the Light Advance Guard under Marigny (now back with the army having been in Nantes) of 1,600 foot and 100 horse, and brigades under Marceau and Canuel. Muller’s division was of similar strength and Adjudant General Klinger commanded a reserve of 1,500 men.
The Convention was horrified by news of the defeat and orders were issued to block the Loire crossings to ensure the enemy did not re-cross the river, and scour the Vendée for supplies for the Army of the West. Barère railed against the exaggerated lies, ‘half successes’ and ‘coloured victories’ being reported by the generals and civil authorities.36
The Vendéen plans after Entrammes
The Vendéens now had options and perhaps the most sensible would have been to re-cross the Loire. However Talmont, and others from north of the river, were pushing for a march on Normandy or Rennes: either might enable them to gain recruits, and a march on Rennes would keep open the option of a march on Nantes or into Britanny. D’Autichamp urged them to seize the moment and march on Paris.
Curiously, almost as if he had been waiting in the wings, it was the influence of another émigré, named Prignet, who settled the debate. He appeared at headquarters with news that help from England was near, even claiming that he had seen their fleet anchored off Portsmouth ready to sail. The possibility of military aid and safe passage for the refugees proved decisive and Prignet set out for Jersey to inform the English that the rebels were marching north.37
The appearance of these émigrés at each critical moment seems almost pre-planned by those, such as Talmont, eager to march to the northern coast. How true their reports were is also questionable and raises suspicion that some may have been double-agents.
While in Château-Gontier the Vendéens received news that 5,000 republicans were in Craon under Olagnier and Chambertin. They had been sent there by L’Échélle on the evening of the Battle of Entrammes. La Rochejaquelein decided to seize the opportunity and attacked them on 28 October with 8,000 men.38 He was accompanied by Stofflet and D’Autichamp.
Craon 28 October
Accounts of this battle are poor.
According to Royalist sources Olagnier and Chambertin believed that resistance would be useless, but were ordered by Méaulle and Esnue-Lavallée, commissaires of the Convention, to cut the bridges on the Château-Gontier to Craon road to obstruct La Rochejaquelein’s march. In reality they probably had no time to carry this out, assuming the Vendéens were already on the march.39
Beauvais indicated that a large body of troops awaited them at Craon, supported by the levy from surrounding parishes, but held their positions for less than fifteen minutes, their right wing fleeing on the approach of the first Vendéens. He did acknowledge that the republican artillery covered their retreat quite well.40
As the Vendéens entered Craon they found that royalist prisoners had been shot just before the republican retreat, and as a consequence few prisoners were taken.41
On 29 October La Rochejaquelein returned to Laval and on 1 November the Vendéens began their long march northwards from Laval.
General Lenoir had been ordered to hold Mayenne and had under his command 17,000 completely disorganised levies. He considered resistance futile, due to the dreadful quality of his troops, and as a Vendéen advance party approached he evacuated the town in the direction of Alenҫon where he managed to rally 6,000 men.42 The Vendéens marched into Mayenne unopposed.
Ernée 2 November
On the following day the royalist army marched on Ernée. This town was being held by some levy battalions and the 8th Calvados, sent from Fougères on the evening of 1 November, but they abandoned Ernée before the rebels arrived. Fougères then sent the Chasseurs d’Imbert and two guns to replace them and they arrived just as the Vendéen advance guard reached the town. Beauvais said that they did not expect to encounter enemy troops on their march to Ernée so their column was strung out over some distance. Their advance guard was led by some cavalry, followed by some infantry and half a dozen guns, and this small body of troops was soon a considerable distance ahead of the main body of the army.43
The rebel cavalry were tying up their horses in Ernée when they were suddenly warned that the chasseurs had entered the western end of the town, so they quickly mounted up and evacuated eastwards. Beauvais was with the advance-guard artillery on a height near Ernée, hidden from view, and the cavalry formed up to his rear.44 At this location the road narrowed. Beauvais advanced four cannon to counter fire coming from the chasseurs, who had advanced within close range, but the republicans dared not approach any nearer as they could only see a few of the rebels.
As more Vendéen infantry arrived, Beauvais deployed them in ditches and behind hedges on his wings. Soon, with only part of the advance guard present, their infantry went onto the attack, followed up by a cavalry charge. Beauvais pursued the republicans beyond Ernée and when the Chasseurs eventually limped into Fougères they had lost more than half their original strength.
Fougères 3 November
The Vendéens camped in Ernée that night and scoured the area for supplies before marching on Fougères the following day.
The garrison of Fougères was commanded by Adjudant General Brière. Before the encounter at Ernée it was composed of a battalion of the 19th Chasseurs-à-Pied, three battalions of volunteers (6th Côtes-d’Or, 3rd Calvados and the grenadiers and gunners of Coutances), a company of Paris gunners, and 3-4,000 national guards, half of whom were armed with pikes.45 Their situation was not helped when the commander of the Fougères National Guard was imprisoned as a suspect and, although the available troops totalled 6,500 men, many were new levies.
The rout of Ernée spread alarm in Fougères and the troops spent the night under arms. Campaign guns were placed at all the town’s gates and they began constructing entrenchments. Two battalions were deployed over a league to the east, on the Ernée road. The engineer officer, D’Obenheim, prepared some earthworks on high ground near the town and the two battalions were advised that if necessary they could fall back to rally at that position.46 The Paris gunners deployed in the republican centre with the various battalions to either flank, all covered by poorly constructed earthworks.
Around 2km from Pellerine, the Vendéens clashed with the 19th Chasseurs, and reputedly only a third of them escaped to rout on Fougères, entering by the St-Léonard Gate.47 None of the troops sent on the Ernée road rallied at the position prepared by D’Obenheim.
The Vendéens marched to Fougères in three columns and at speed. Their weakest column was on the Ernée road while the other two marched along roads to either side. Talmont and 4-500 cavalry were behind the centre. The royalist army soon appeared on the eastern approaches to Fougères. Beauvais recalled that the republicans were deployed in the gardens and behind hedges at the entrance to the town. At about 3.30pm the rebels attacked. They initially faced stubborn resistance and their centre came under sustained fire from the Paris gunners. While this fight was underway the Vendéen cavalry circled around the town to attack via the Rennes road and repulsed 400 men holding the Rennes Gate, forcing them to seek refuge in the château.
The republicans facing the main Vendéen assault were soon breaking up under the strain. D’Obenheim managed to rally some troops at the Vitré Gate, but they only held their ground for a quarter of an hour and disintegrated when the rebel cavalry appeared to their rear. While most fled on the Vitré and Rennes roads, 100 hid in the town’s cellars and attics.48 After three hours of combat all positions had been seized and all republican guns captured.49
The Assau
lt on Fougères.
Around 800 republicans were made prisoner, and those identified as having previously fought against the Vendéens were shot.50
On 4 November, in the parish of La Pellerine between Ernée and Fougères, Lescure succumbed to his wound and was secretly buried.
The Pursuit of the Royalist Army
When the republican army was reorganised in Angers the troops were formed into demi-brigades: not strictly, according to the Amalgame, but combining one reliable battalion (whether regular or volunteer) with two less steady battalions. Kléber found time to prepare a valuable treatise detailing how to fight the Vendéens, leaving us with important insights into the tactics used by both sides (see Chapter 3). Rossignol was also notified that he had been appointed to replace L’Échélle as commander-in-chief of the Army of the West, no doubt to the dismay of many of the troops.
At a council of war held on 5 November it was evident that the republicans had no idea where the rebels were or what they now intended. They concluded by a move to cover Le Mans, which they assumed to be at risk, and the following orders were issued: the advance guard (under Marceau and Marigny) was to march via Durtal, La Flèche and Foulletourte, to reach Le Mans for 9 November; the main body of the army was to follow on a day’s march to their rear, until nearer the enemy; Lenoir was to march on Le Mans for 8 November, then Bonnétable for the 9th; Danican was to march on Laval, then Ste-Suzanne, for 8 November.
Precautions were also being taken to cover towns along the northern coast:51 General Thevet-Lessert, with troops from the Côtes-du-Nord, was ordered to cover Dinan; 1,700 troops were sent to cover St-Mâlo, Cancale and Château-Neuf; Tribout was ordered to march toward the same stretch of coast and set out from Brest on 6 November with 4,000 men and 10 guns; and General Sepher (Army of the Cherbourg Coast) was instructed to leave Caen and march on Falaise on 6 November. He was in Viré from 9 to 13 November then marched via Thorigny-Saint-Lô towards Coutance.
The republican army set out from Angers on 6 November. The Light Advance Guard reached Durtal, as did the 2nd Brigade, and the rest of Kléber’s division moved up to Sablé. Muller reached Lion d’Angers, and the Reserve, Membrolle.52 During 7 November they modified their march on news that the rebels were making for Fougères, being ordered to gather at Laval on 10 November. A council of war decided that they must protect Rennes, to avoid the rebels recruiting from further west, so marched in that direction on 12 November. General Vergnes, the commander in Rennes, had 5-6,000 fit to fight.
The Vendéens in Fougères
After the victory at Fougères, the Vendéens took full advantage of the respite to reorganise their army and carefully plan their move towards a port on the northern coast.53 The structure of the army was also reorganised (see Appendix 3).
D’Obenheim, who had been captured and was now fighting for the Vendéens, noted that a dozen leaders formed a General Council but none had real authority. Stofflet, by force of character, tended to dominate discussions, supported by half a dozen peasants acting as his adjutants.54 The army, he said, had little confidence in this Council.
He would later note that D’Autichamp, Scépeaux, Duhoux and Des Essarts were brave and could inspire the troops in battle. He added that Perrault skilfully handled the artillery, which in general was well led, but the individual gun commanders were not well controlled.
During their stay in Fougères a further 1,500 men joined their ranks.55
On 6 November the Vendéens marched to Antrain, although Stofflet, opposed to the march north, caused some confusion when he initially set out on the Rennes road. On 7 November they reached Dol. Two days later another council of war was convened as the army was becoming increasingly unsettled the further north they marched.
A letter was dispatched from the Vendéen generals, addressed to George III, appealing for him to keep true to his word and send support quickly as they were now approaching the coast. Émigrés appeared at this council of war, with letters signed by Dresnay (émigré commander in Jersey), countersigned by Pitt and Dundas, promising generous and immediate support if they seized a port.56
After acrimonious debate they took D’Obenheim’s advice and agreed to march on Granville: a port at the south-western corner of the Cotentin Peninsula, with the potential to provide relatively easy communications with the Channel Islands. The émigrés were sent back with the message that they would signal the capture of Granville by flying a white flag between two black flags, and by three cannon shots separated by two minute intervals.
On 10 November the Vendéen advance guard camped near Pontorson, followed by the rest of the army on the following day. They reached Avranches on 12 November, where they brushed aside limited resistance. General Tribout began his move eastward from Dinan that same day, with his advance guard reaching Dol. Over the next day the royalists rested, and on 14 November a large contingent began its move on Granville.
The Siege of Granville 14 to 15 November
Granville is a walled medieval town perched high on a peninsula of land and with impressive defences. The town had developed beyond these defences at its south-eastern corner. Granville had a population of around 8,500 people at the time of the siege, although many were evacuated before it began. The garrison totalled 5,335 men, of whom 3,183 were armed.57 They were supported by formidable artillery, totalling 68 guns, with additional support from three gunboats.58
On 5 November, Le Carpentier was at Coutances and set out for Granville four days later. To defend Cherbourg he assembled the cavalry of Valognes, Cherbourg and Carentan, and moved them to Saint-Côme-du-Mont, where redoubts and batteries were raised.59
Only a portion of the Vendéen army advanced on Granville. Fleuriot remained in Avranches with around half of the troops and most of the artillery train. His role was to protect the refugees and cover the army’s rear. Béjarry led the march on Granville with an advance guard of 2-3,000 men, followed by 6-7,000 men under Stofflet, and a similar number under La Rochejaquelein accompanied by part of the artillery train.60
Unknown to the Vendéens, Representative Laplanche and General Sepher were marching from Cherbourg to come to the aid of Granville, but were not rushing and seemed to be awaiting events rather than attempting to directly intervene.61
Beauvais was clear that only the elite of the army marched on Granville, but no one had indicated how they intended to attack this walled town. He wrote that Des Essarts and several other leaders believed the town would surrender as soon as they appeared, leaving him thinking they must have intelligence from friends within the town he knew nothing about.62 Around 9am General Peyre, the garrison commander, was given warning that an estimated 15,000 rebels were heading in his direction.
At Croissant, 4km from Granville, the Vendéen advance guard halted to rest and the Vendéens issued a proclamation giving the republicans one hour in which to surrender the town and port to spare it from the ravages of a siege.63 It was now around 12.30pm.
The Action of La Calvaire
In an astonishingly risky move the republicans decided to send 2,000 men out from Granville in three columns to cover the approaches to the town. Vendéen scouts gave warning of their approach, having spotted the republicans downhill from their position marching on both sides of the road and partially hidden by the terrain. Beauvais estimated them to be within half a cannon’s range.64
The republican advance guard was led by Adjudant General Vachot and accompanied by some 4pdr guns. They were followed at a distance by the main body under Peyre, General Varin, Commandant Coffy, and Representative Le Carpentier.65 Peyre made sure every approach to Granville was guarded by parties of troops. Around 1pm Vachot reached the high ground north of the Vendéen position.
On news of the enemy’s approach Beauvais convinced La Rochejaquelein to organise two squadrons with infantrymen riding pillion. These would be used to rush the enemy, hopefully cause them to panic, infiltrate the town as they routed, and seize the gates. Beauvais was given command of Bonchamps’
cavalry to set about this task.66
La Rochejaquelein ordered the cavalry forward to overpower Vachot, with the artillery and infantry instructed to follow on close behind. Some of the Vendéen cavalry were detached to outflank the republicans by heading for Houles. The Vendéens also outflanked the republicans on the Saint-Pair road.67 Peyre claimed he was quick to notice these moves and sent a cannon and a half battalion of Somme Volunteers to reinforce the post of La Haguette towards the sea.68 Soon afterwards he sent the rest of this battalion on his left with orders to slip alongside some houses bordering high ground on the Villedieu road, deploy in line in an adjoining field, and fire on the enemy cavalry if they dared approach.
As this order was being given, Peyre noticed Le Carpentier and Varin retiring at the head of a column just as the Vendéen artillery was heard to open up. Varin had been on the St-Pair road and claimed that his careful observation of the enemy columns meant he prevented them out-pacing and cutting off the Somme Battalion, Aunis Battalion and part of the Manche Battalion, deployed under La Roche-Gautier.69
The action at La Calvaire.
It did not take long for Vachot, with only a few hussars and gendarmes and a handful of 4pdrs, to be pressed backwards on La Calvaire; he could do little against the overwhelming enemy forces. Peyre said he had to warn him to pull back to avoid being cut off, and then claimed he now fooled the enemy into thinking they were about to be counter-attacked by sounding the charge all along the front. This, he claimed, stalled them long enough to enable him to disengage and pull back successfully.