XII. who had discovered a ford at a short distance, destroyed a CHAP. body of the national guard which defended it, and drove the Republicans back to the town. 1793. Its ancient walls could not long resist the fury of the victors; Henri de Larochejaquelein, by mounting on the shoulders of a soldier, reached the top of the rampart, helped up the boldest of his followers, and speedily the town was carried. Six thousand prisoners, twelve cannons, and twenty caissons, fell into the hands of the Royalists. Though strongly inclined to Republican principles, and stained by the massacre of the Royalists in the preceding August, the city underwent none of the horrors which usually await a place taken by 394 assault not an inhabitant was maltreated, nor a house roch. 108, pillaged; the peasants flocked to the churches to return 27, 28. thanks to God; and amused themselves with burning the 161, 163. tree of Liberty, and the papers of the municipality.1 1 Jom. iii. 112. Bonch. Beauch. i. Chataig defeat at Encouraged by this success, the Vendeans advanced 40. against Chataigneraie, which was garrisoned by four thou- Storming of sand Republicans. By a vigorous attack it was carried, neraie, and and the garrison, after sustaining severe losses, with diffi- Fontenay. culty escaped to Fontenay. Thither they were followed May 5. by the Royalists: but the strength of the army melted away during the advance; great numbers of the peasants returned to cultivate their fields, and put their families in a place of security; and when the army came in sight of Fontenay, it only mustered ten thousand combatants. With this force they assailed the town; but though M. de Lescure and Larochejaquelein penetrated into the suburbs, the Royalists were defeated on other sides, with the loss of twenty-four pieces of cannon, including the celebrated Maria Jeanne, the first gun they had taken, so much the object of their veneration. The victorious wing with difficulty drew off their artillery from the place. This first check spread the deepest dejection through the army. Marie Jeanne, their favourite cannon, was taken; they had now but six pieces left; the ammunition was exhausted; the soldiers had only a single cartridge remaining for each XII. 1793. CHAP. musket; and they were returning in numbers to their villages. In this extremity, the firmness of the chiefs restored the fortune of the war. They instantly took their 1 Laroch. determination; fell back to Chataigneraie, spoke cheerfully Lac. xi. 26, to the peasants, declared that the reverse was a punishBeauch. i. ment of heaven for some disorders committed by the troops, Jom.iii.395. and sent orders to the priests in the interior to send forward, without delay, all the strength of their parishes.1 116, 119. 171, 173. Agra. 41. of an unex cident. An unexpected incident at this period contributed in a Bishop of powerful manner to revive the Royalist cause. An Abbé, Great effect who had been seized by the Republicans, made his escape pected in to the insurgents, declared that he was the Bishop of Agra, and arrived at Châtillon on the very day of the defeat. The peasants, overjoyed at having a bishop amongst them, flew to receive his benediction, and flocked in multitudes, full of confidence, singing psalms and litanies, to rejoin the army. Thirty-five thousand were speedily assembled, and the Royalist leaders lost no time in taking advantage of their enthusiasm to repair the late disaster. Bonchamp commanded the right, Cathelineau the centre, and d'Elbée the left, while Henri Larochejaquelein led the small but determined band of horsemen. On the following day they returned to Fontenay, where the Republicans, ten thousand strong, with forty pieces of cannon, were drawn up on the outside of the town to await their attack. The Royalist army received absolution on their knees, and M. de Lescure addressed them in these words "Let us advance, my sons; we have no powder-we can only retake the cannon with our staffs; Marie Jeanne must be rescued-she will be the prize of the swiftest of foot amongst you." The peasants answered with acclamations; but when they approached the Republican guns, the severity of the fire made the bravest hesitate. 2 Laroch. Upon this M. de Lescure advanced above thirty paces before his men, directly in front of a battery of six pieces, 175, 177. which was discharging grape with the utmost violence, stood there, took off his hat, exclaimed, "Vive le Roi!" 122. Bonch. 33, 34. Beauch. i. 2 XII. and slowly returned to the troops. His clothes were CHAP. pierced, his spurs carried away, his boots torn, but he himself was still unwounded. "My friends," said he, "you see the Blues do not know how to fire." 1793. 42. the Republi tenay. This decided the peasants; they rushed forward with rapidity; but before they reached the battery a new Victory over incident arrested their course; they perceived on an cans at Foneminence a cross, and the whole soldiers instantly fell on their knees, under the fire of the cannon. An officer wished to raise them: "Allow them," said Lescure, "to pray to God; they will not fight the worse for it." In effect, a moment after, the men sprang up and rushed forward, armed with staffs and clubbing their muskets, with such resolution, to the cannons' mouths, that the artillerymen deserted them, and fled in confusion towards the town. Meanwhile, M. de Bonchamp, who had skilfully disposed his right wing in an oblique order, pushed forward with his men, and threw in so murderous a fire, at the distance of fifty paces, that, on his side also, the Republicans gave way, and the victory was complete. The victors and fugitives entered together into the town, headed by Lescure, who was the first man within the gates. No sooner was he there than he used all his efforts to save the vanquished, incessantly exclaiming, "Lay down your arms: quarter to the vanquished." Forty pieces of cannon, several thousand muskets, ammunition, and stores in abundance, rewarded this triumph of the Royalist arms, who sustained no serious loss except that arising from a wound of Bonchamp, who was shot by a traitor to whom he had just given his life. It was not the least part of their success, in the estimation of the peasants, that they retook their first and much-loved gun, 1 Laroch. Marie Jeanne, which was rescued from the Republicans 122, 123, by Foret, who with his own hand slew two gendarmes 33,35. Lac. who guarded it. The enthusiasm excited by the recovery Beauch. i. of this favourite piece of artillery was unbounded.' Filled 179. with joy, the peasants threw themselves on their knees, 125. Bonch. xii. 28, 29. 175, 178, XII. CHAP. embraced their favourite cannon, covered it with branches, flowers, and garlands, and themselves drew it into the 1793. market-place in Fontenay, preparatory to its removal to a place of security in the Bocage. 43. The Royalists were much perplexed with the course to Humanity be pursued with the prisoners, to the number of many deans to the thousands, who were now in their hands. To retain them prisoners. in custody was impossible, for they had no fortified places; to follow the example of the Republicans, and murder them, out of the question. At length it was determined to shave their heads, and send them back to the Republicans a resolution the execution of which caused no small merriment to the soldiers. After the success at Fontenay, it was proposed to advance to Niort, where all the Republican troops of the neighbourhood were assembled ; but the peasants returned so rapidly to their homes that it was found to be impossible. In four-and-twenty hours after the capture of the town, three-fourths of the army had returned to the Bocage, to recount their exploits to their agitated families. It was resolved, therefore, to 1 Beauch. i. withdraw from their conquest, which was an indefensible Laroch. 127. post in the midst of a hostile territory, and in a few days the whole army re-entered the Bocage.1 195, 196. 44. successes of ists. Meanwhile, equal success had attended the arms of the Repeated Vendeans in other quarters. Cathelineau, Stofflet, and the Royal Charette, had defeated all the Republican bodies which attempted to penetrate into the parts of La Vendée where they commanded, and the latter had made himself master of the Isle of Noirmoutier. Successful combats took place at Vihiers, Doué, and Montreuil, which all tended to elevate the spirit of the troops; and it was at length resolved to unite all their forces for the attack of the important city of Saumur, where the Convention, who were now making the most vigorous efforts to check the insurrection, had collected twenty-two thousand regular troops, besides a great number of national guards. The Royalist forces, forty thousand strong, approached this XII. city on the 10th June. The Republican army had taken CHAP. post in a fortified camp which surrounded the town. Their left rested on the heights in front of the old castle, 1793. their right on St Florent; while formidable batteries June 16. lined all the intermediate space between these points. Field-works had been thrown up, and in many places redoubts completed, to strengthen their intrenched camp, which covered the whole space running through the heights from the broad and deep stream of the Thouet to the banks of the Loire. Sixteen thousand men, and nearly 30,3 one hundred pieces of cannon, were assembled on this Beauch. i. important post, which commanded one of the chief pas- 232. sages over that great river.1 1 Lac. xii. iii. 398. Jom. 197, 199, assault on While the chiefs were deliberating about the best mode 45. of assailing this formidable camp, the Vendeans, of their Their great own accord, engaged in the attack. Such was the ardour Saumur. of the troops, in consequence of some successful skirmishes June 10. in which the advance guard was engaged, that the whole army precipitated itself upon the town without waiting for the command of their leaders. This tumultuous assault, without any orders, was little calculated to insure success; M. de Lescure was wounded: the sight of his blood, whom they believed invulnerable, shook the courage of the soldiers, and a charge of cuirassiers completed their disorder. The peasants, seeing that their balls could not pierce these steel-clad enemies, fled in confusion, and were only rallied by M. de Lescure behind some overturned waggons, which formed a barricade in the line of their flight. The Royalist leaders, as well as the confusion would admit, now took measures to attack in regular form. Stofflet and Cathelineau directed their forces against the heights, and made a feint against the castle, while Lescure put himself at the head of the left wing to assault the bridge of Fouchard, and turn the redoubts of Bournan; and Henri de Larochejaquelein marched with his division towards the meadows of Varrins, to storm on that side the intrenched camp. While Lescure was rallying |