No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendee

Desailles was in daily communication with his friend. He learned that the list of prisoners was being taken, now, more in the order in which they stood. The farce of a trial had been gone through, in the case of Jean's wife, and she had of course been condemned. She stood a good deal lower on the list than his father. There was not much chance of the day of her execution being settled before the arrival of the Vendean forces. The number of names, however, above that of Monsieur Martin was rapidly decreasing, and there was imminent danger that he might be included in the fatal list before their arrival.

On the twenty-sixth of June the Vendeans arrived within a few miles of the town, and a formal summons was sent in to the generals. It was briefly refused. General Canclaux believed that he had so strengthened his advanced position, which was occupied by his best troops, that he would be able to repulse Cathelineau's force there. The Vendeans, however, being informed by the peasantry of the formidable nature of the intrenchments, decided that it would be dangerous to attack them; and consequently moved round so as to threaten the town from the north. Charette, on his side, moved his force up within cannon shot of the bridge.

At eight o'clock on the evening of the twenty-seventh, the sound of heavy firing was heard in Nantes. A column of the Vendeans had attacked Nort, a place lying to the north of the town. It was defended by six hundred troops of the line, and a body of the National Guard. They maintained themselves there during the night but, at daybreak, fell back upon the town, leaving their cannon behind them. A considerable body of troops moved out to cover their retreat.

Confident that the attack would begin that evening, every preparation for action was made by Jean and Leigh. The powder barrels were dug up, and holes bored for the fuses. The boys were all informed that the hour for action was at hand; and were ordered to lie down, at nightfall, in the open space facing the front of the prison, scattering themselves among others who would be sleeping there or, in expectation of the attack on the town beginning, would be standing in groups listening for it. Leigh would be among them.

As the hour neared twelve they were to gather in a body. The sailors were not to begin their work until the attack on the town commenced in earnest. Jean, with his twelve tenants, was to come up at twelve. The exact moment for the attack was to be decided upon by the progress made by the fires. When these had had their effect, Leigh was to fall upon the guard round the prison; and Jean, with his band, to run forward to the gate, plant the powder barrels against it, light the fuse and run back.

As soon as they had killed or driven away the guard, Leigh's party were to return to the front. There Andre, with half the band, were to station themselves, and to hold the gate against any armed body that might arrive; while Leigh, with the others, entered the prison and aided, if necessary, to overpower the warders and blow open the doors of the cells. The prisoners were all to be told that Charette's army was on the other side of the Loire, and that their best plan was to make their way down to the river, seize boats, and get across.

At five o'clock in the afternoon Charette's guns opened against the barricades that had been thrown up at the bridge. Canclaux, seeing that the attack upon the north had rendered it useless for him to retain the advanced post, ordered the troops there to fall back into the town, at ten o'clock in the evening; and at eleven the whole garrison were concentrated in Nantes.

Finding that, with the exception of the cannonade on both sides across the river, all remained quiet, Leigh passed the word round among his followers to remain as they were, until further orders. Jean and his men came up by twos and threes before twelve; and these, too, lay down as if to sleep, or seated themselves on the steps of the houses. Few of the inhabitants had retired to rest. They knew that at any moment the storm might break, and some awaited the attack with hope that the time of their release from the tyranny under which they had, for months, groaned, had come; while others trembled at the thought of the vengeance that, if the town were taken, would fall upon those who had been concerned in what had passed.

Martin and Desailles presently joined Leigh. As the time went on they began to fear that, for some reason or other, the Vendeans had determined to delay their attack until the next day. At half past two Charette's cannonade redoubled in vigour, and the rattle of musketry showed that his troops were advancing. The batteries of the defenders opened with equal violence, and their musketry answered that of the assailants on the opposite bank.

"I think that that must be the signal for Cathelineau to begin," Martin said.

And, ten minutes later, the attack commenced with fury upon the gates of Vannes, Rennes, and that by the river.

Every window was opened, and anxious faces looked out. The night was dark, and the few oil lamps alone threw a feeble light on the square. Suddenly a broad glare rose to the west, and the murmur, "There is a house on fire!" passed from mouth to mouth. In another few minutes flames were seen rising at a dozen points, and a cry of consternation arose.

"The brigands have entered the town! They are going to burn it to the ground."

Man after man of the little group of National Guards, who had been gathered talking in front of the door of the prison, was seen to detach himself from it and to move quietly away. Then those at the windows noticed four or five parties of men move forward, from among those who were standing talking; when within a short distance of the guard there was a sharp command, and these groups all rushed towards the gates together. There were shouts and cries, and then there was silence. Taken wholly by surprise, the guard had fallen under the knives of the Vendeans without having had time to fire a shot.

Then the majority of their assailants ran off, half one way, half the other, following the wall of the prison. Two pistol shots were fired, a moment later. The men who had remained at the gate drew back for some distance. There was a short pause, and then a tremendous explosion. All the people gathered in the place, save those who had carried out the affair, fled with cries of terror. Then Jean and his party dashed forward towards the shattered gates and entered the prison, and shot or cut down the frightened warders as these came running out, dazed and bewildered at the sound of the explosion. Jean seized one of them by the throat.

"Where are the keys kept? Answer, or I will blow out your brains!"

The frightened ruffian at once led the way to the chief warder's room. He had already fallen, being one of the first to run down. There were two bunches of keys.

"These are of the doors of the corridors," the man said, taking down one bunch. "The others are of the cells."

"Now, go before us and open them all–every one, mind."

They were soon joined by Leigh with his party, who had made short work of the few guards who remained at their post outside the prison.

"Set your men to blow in the doors," Jean said; "It would take half an hour to unlock them all, at this rate."

Pistols were at once applied to the keyholes, and the locks destroyed. There were a few separate cells, but the prisoners were for the most part crowded, twenty or thirty together, in the larger rooms. As he entered each room, Leigh shouted the directions agreed on to the prisoners. In a short time he came upon Jean who, as had been arranged, had first gone to the rooms where his father and Patsey were confined. Jean started with these at once, with six of his men, leaving Leigh and Desailles to see to the release of the rest of the prisoners.

As soon as all rooms had been burst open or unlocked, he and his party, with that at the gate, hurried away. The streets were light, as a sheet of flame rose from the stores of Jacques Martin. The musketry fire on the wharves showed that there were troops stationed there. As they hurried along, the shouts of alarm which rose in the town showed that the news of the attack upon the prison had spread rapidly. As soon as the released prisoners knew that they were well above the bridge, and the silence on the wharves showed that none of the troops were stationed there, shouts of delight arose. There were a good many boats moored to the bank, and the fugitives threw themselves into these.

"Get out your oars and row straight across," Leigh shouted. "If you drift down the stream, you will come under the fire of the troops there."

Then, having done their work, he and his band went up a hundred yards farther, where they knew that three large boats were lying. In these they took their places and started to row across the river and, in five minutes, reached the opposite bank. They sprang out, with a shout of joy at finding themselves again in their own country. Most of the fugitives also gained the opposite bank; but some boats, in which there were but few capable of handling the oars, drifted down the river, and lost most of their number from the fire of the troops on the bank, before they could land among the men of Charette's army.

Leigh with his boys soon joined the other party, who had landed a hundred yards higher up. It was a joyful meeting, indeed, between him and Patsey.

"Jean tells me it is all your doing that we have been got out," she said. "I felt sure you would manage it, somehow."

They had already arranged their plans. Jean, with his wife and father and his twelve men, was to start at once for Parthenay, where Lescure was in command. Leigh had determined to join Cathelineau, with as many of his band as chose to accompany him. Desailles would go with Jean.

The boys, on the choice being given them, almost all decided to accompany Leigh. They were excited at the success that had attended them, and the tremendous roll of fire round the town showed how fiercely their countrymen were fighting, and they longed to join in the conflict.

Saying goodbye to those who were going, Leigh and his party towed one of the boats a mile up the river, and then crossing, soon joined the party engaged. The Vendeans had already advanced some distance, but every house and garden was fiercely contested. Hour after hour passed, and the troops were beginning to be discouraged. It was broad daylight now, and the Vendeans pressed forward at all points, more hotly than ever.

The troops were falling into disorder, and would soon have become a disorganized mass; when a musket ball, fired from a window, struck Cathelineau in the breast as, with his officers, who had been considerably increased in number owing to the many gentlemen who had joined him at Saumur, he was leading on his troops.

A cry of dismay rose from those who saw him fall, and the news spread like wildfire among the peasants, who regarded him with an almost superstitious reverence, and had a firm belief that he was protected by Heaven from the balls of his enemies. His loss seemed to them an irretrievable misfortune. The fierceness of their attack diminished. Their ardour was gone, and the Blues, gaining courage as their assailants ceased to press them, took the offensive.

They met with but little opposition. The Vendean army, lately on the point of being victorious, was already breaking up and, ere long, was scattered over the country, its retreat being undisturbed by the enemy, who could scarcely believe their own good fortune at having succeeded, when all had seemed lost.

Cathelineau was carried off; but died, a fortnight later, from the effects of the wound. His death was a terrible blow to the cause. The failure to take Nantes had, in itself, been a great misfortune; but the Vendeans had suffered no more heavily than the enemy and, had Cathelineau been but spared, matters might still have gone well with them. The effect of his death, however, was for the time to dishearten the peasantry utterly; and had at this time terms of peace, which would have permitted them to enjoy the exercise of their religion, and to be free from conscription, been offered to them, they would gladly have been accepted.

Charette, after he saw that the attack upon Nantes from the north side of the river had failed, fell back with his force, as before, into Lower Poitou. The Vendeans, now under Bonchamp, who had also been wounded, retired along the north bank of the Loire, crossing the river at various points as they could find boats.

Before joining in the fight, Leigh had told his band that, in the event of failure, he should recross the river in the boat that had brought them over. They had all kept near him during the struggle. Eight of them had fallen, several others were wounded, and he himself had received a musket ball in the shoulder. As soon as he saw that the battle was lost, he withdrew from it and made his way with the boys to the river bank; recrossed the stream, and struck across the country. After proceeding some six miles they entered a wood, and lay down and slept for some hours, and then marched to Parthenay.

Here the band broke up and proceeded to their homes; while Leigh made his way to Lescure's headquarters, learned where his friends were lodged, and joined them.

Patsey gave a cry of alarm as he entered. Fugitives had arrived before him, and it was already known that the attack on Nantes had failed, and that Cathelineau was mortally wounded.

"What is it, Leigh?"

"I am wounded in the shoulder. It is nothing very serious, I think; though I suppose I sha'n't be able to hold a sword for some time."

A surgeon was soon fetched, the ball extracted, and the wound bandaged; and they then sat down to talk over the events that had occurred. Since they had been separated, Monsieur Martin had become a broken man. The fact that his son, who assuredly had it in his power to protect him, had given him over to the terrible tribunal, had been a harder blow to him than the prospect of death; and even the devotion that had been shown by Jean scarcely sufficed to comfort him.

Patsey was pale and thin. Her imprisonment had told upon her and, still more, the thought of what Jean must be suffering on her account, and her uncertainty as to the fate of her child. But even the twenty-four hours that had elapsed since she had left her prison had done much for her. The news that the child was safe and well had taken a load off her mind; and she felt proud, indeed, that her release, and that of so many others of her fellow prisoners, had been brought about by the devotion of her husband and her brother. Before the day was out, she was laughing and chatting as if nothing had happened.

On the following morning they started early, and reached home in the afternoon. They were received with delight by their people, although many of these had lost relations in the recent battles. A house in the village was placed at their disposal, Patsey riding straight on to see her child; with which, and its faithful nurse, she soon returned.

"And now, Jean," Patsey said when, with the cure and Jules Desailles, they sat down for a quiet talk that evening, "what is to be the next thing?"

"You should ask the Blues that," he replied. "So far as I can see, it will be a repetition of what has taken place. They will invade us again, and probably we shall beat them back. Each time they will come with larger forces and, at last, I suppose we shall have to endeavour to make our way to England. I am afraid there can be no question that that will be the end of it. Fight as we may, we cannot withstand the whole strength of France."

"Why can we not fly at once?" Monsieur Martin asked.

"The difficulty in reaching the coast, and of getting a passage, would be immense. Besides, so long as La Vendee resists, so long is it my duty to fight; and I am sure that Patsey would not wish me to do otherwise. I have been in it from the first, and must stay until the end, if I am not killed before that comes. If it were possible to send you and Patsey and Leigh away to England, I would gladly do so; but I am sure that she would not go, and I think I may say the same for Leigh."

"Certainly, Jean; as long as you stay, I stay. My life is far less important than yours, for I have no one dependent upon me. I quite agree with you that the war can end in only one way; but till that comes, all those who have been the leaders of these poor peasants ought to hold by them."

"I agree entirely with you both," Patsey added, and there was no more to be said.

Chapter 12: A Series Of Victories

More formidable foes than the peasants had yet met were approaching La Vendee. Mayence had surrendered to the allies, and the garrison there, which was a large one, composed of veteran troops, was allowed to march away, on each man taking an oath that he would not again serve on the frontier.

Outside France there was no idea of the desperate struggle that was going on in La Vendee. Had it been known, in England, that it needed but little aid for Brittany and La Vendee to successfully oppose the efforts of the Republic, men, money, arms, and ammunition would no doubt have been sent; but unfortunately the leaders of the insurrection, occupied as they were with the efforts they were making, had taken no steps to send a statement of the real facts of the case to the English government. The ports were all in the hands of the Republicans and, although in Paris public attention was concentrated on the struggle, the British government was very badly informed as to what was passing there. Had the allies been aware of it, the terms granted to the garrison at Mayence would have been very different; and they would either have been held as prisoners, or been compelled to take the oath that they would, in future, not serve the Republic in any way, in arms.

As it was, they were free to act in France, and were already on the march towards La Vendee. As before, arrangements were made for the district to be attacked simultaneously on all sides. La Rochejaquelein was so much weakened by the return of the peasants to their homes that he was obliged to evacuate Saumur, and this town was taken possession of by the division from Tours, consisting of twelve thousand five hundred infantry, sixteen hundred cavalry, and four hundred artillerymen, under General Menou.

The division of Niort comprised fifteen thousand six hundred infantry, and thirteen hundred and eighty cavalry. It was commanded by Chalbos, having Westermann with him. At Sables were four thousand three hundred infantry, two hundred and fifty cavalry, and three hundred artillery. They were commanded by General Boulard.

There was but small breathing time for the Vendeans. Westermann had moved towards Parthenay with a strong force and, but a few hours after the Martins had left it, Lescure was forced to fall back from the town. This was occupied by the Blues. They pillaged and burned a village near, although no opposition had been offered, and then sent off a force which burned Lescure's chateau at Clisson.

The Martins were engaged in conversation when a messenger ran in.

"I have an order from Monsieur Lescure," he said. "The church bells are to be rung throughout the district."

All started to their feet.

"Already?" Jean exclaimed. "Why, what has happened?"

"We have fallen back from Parthenay. The Blues under Westermann, eight thousand strong, have already occupied the town. The general's orders are that all are to join him at Moulin, in two days' time. Messengers have been despatched all over the country, and Monsieur de la Rochejaquelein has been sent for, to join General Lescure at Moulin."

"That gives us twenty-four hours, then," Jean said, with a sigh of content. "I will see that your message is carried on to all the villages near. There are plenty of boys of twelve or fourteen about the place."

But the bells rang that night to deaf ears. Many of the peasants were still absent, others had returned but a few hours before, worn out and dispirited. But when on the following day the news came that Westermann's troops were burning villages, and slaying all who fell into their hands, and that Monsieur de Lescure's chateau had been burnt, fury and indignation again fired them and, that night, the greater part of them set out for Moulin.

"I wonder what has become of our horses," Jean said, as he prepared to start. "We shall never hear any more of those we left at Nantes. We must go on foot this time, and trust to getting hold of a couple of horses, the first time we defeat the Blues."

He had that day been over with Patsey, her child, his father, the nurse, and Francois to the peasant's house, deep in the forest, to which he had before arranged that she should go, in case of need. All the party were dressed as peasants. The man and woman from whom the house was hired removed to another hut, a quarter of a mile away. Francois was to go down every day in the cart to the village, to get news and letters and buy provisions. The cure had arranged to send off one of the village boys, the moment that he heard that any party of the Blues were approaching; when the whole of the occupants of the village and the farms around it would be obliged to take to the woods, for it was evident that neither age nor sex was respected by Westermann's troops.

It was morning when Jean, Leigh, and Desailles arrived at Moulin. They were warmly received by Rochejaquelein and Bonchamp, to whom Jean introduced Desailles as a new comrade.

"I know nothing of fighting," the latter said; "but, gentlemen, I shall do my best."

"That is all that anyone can do," Rochejaquelein said heartily. "We may say that none of us, with the exception of Monsieur Bonchamp and a few others, had any experience in fighting when we began; but we have done pretty well, on the whole."

"Do you think that we have much chance of holding this place?" Jean asked. "They told us, as we came in, that at present there are not much more than eight thousand men here; and Westermann, they say, has about as many."

"That is so," Bonchamp said, "and I do not expect that we shall beat them; but we must fight, or they will march through the country, wasting and destroying as they go. It is only by showing them that we are still formidable, and that they must keep together and be prudent and cautious, that we can maintain ourselves. A succession of blows, even of light ones, will break a rock."

At two o'clock the enemy's forces approached, and the engagement soon became hot. Every hedge was lined by the peasants, every position strongly defended, and only evacuated when the horns gave the signal. At the end of two hours Westermann, after losing a considerable number of men, approached ground where his cavalry could come into play; and the leaders of all the bands had been warned that, when they fell back to this point, the horn was to be sounded three times, and that resistance was to cease at once and the bands disperse, to meet at a given point, two hours later. Seven of the ten cannon they had with them were safely carried off; and although compelled to retire from their position, the peasants were well satisfied with having withstood, so long, the attack of an equal number of troops, supported by an artillery much superior to their own.

Leigh had taken no part in the actual fighting. His right arm was tightly strapped, and bandaged across his chest; and he therefore acted only as the general's aide-de-camp.

"I'll tell you what it is, Jules," Jean said to Desailles, as they retired from the field; "if you are going to expose yourself in the way you have done today, your fighting will be over before long. When it comes to leading the peasants to an attack, one must necessarily set the men an example; but when on the defence, you see, the peasants all lie down behind the hedges and bushes, and show themselves as little as possible.

"And there were you, walking about as if you were in the principal street in Nantes! I do not say that we must not expose ourselves a good deal more than the peasants, in order to encourage them; but there is a limit to all things, and one must remember that we are very short of officers, and that the peasants, brave as they are, would be useless without someone to direct them."

"I have no doubt but you are right, Jean," Desailles said with a laugh; "but in fact, I don't remember giving a thought to the matter. I was almost bewildered by the roar of the battle and the whistling of the bullets. I felt like a man who had taken too much wine; which, in my student days, happened to me more than once. My blood seemed to rush through my veins, and I would have given anything for the order to come for us to throw ourselves upon the enemy."

"You will get over that," Jean laughed, "but the same feeling is strong among the men. One can see how eager they are for the order to charge. They use their muskets, but it is to use their bayonets that they are panting. They would make grand soldiers, if they were but well drilled and disciplined.

"Unless I am mistaken, you will see them at their favourite work, before many days are over. Westermann will get to Chatillon tonight. When he gets there, he will find no provisions for his troops, and will begin to wonder whether he is wise in thus penetrating so far into a nest of hornets.

"Bonchamp will give him two or three days to forget the mauling that we have given him. By that time our force will have increased, and it will be well for Westermann if he manages to carry half his force back with him."

The news of the burning of la Rochejaquelein's chateau, on the following day, excited the liveliest indignation. The young count himself received the news with greater indifference than did those around him.

"When a man carries his life in his hand, every day," he said, "he does not fret over the loss of a house. I do not suppose that I should ever have sat down quietly in possession of it, and the cousin who is my heir may have to wait a number of years before, if ever, he comes to take possession of the estate. Had circumstances been different, the loss of the old chateau, where my family have lived for so many years, would have been very grievous to me; but at present it affects me comparatively little.

"It is lucky that I sent off four men, directly the fight was over, with a letter to my steward, charging him to hand over to them the four horses that still remained in my stables. They arrived here an hour ago. I guessed that the Blues would be paying a visit there in my absence.

"One of them is for you, Monsieur Martin, and one for Leigh; the others I shall keep as spare chargers. I have had two shot under me already, and am likely to have more. In the meantime, if your friend Monsieur Desailles likes to ride one, it is at his service."

"I thank you very much, marquis," Jules said; "but I would prefer trusting to my own legs. My profession has been a peaceful one, and I have never yet mounted a horse, and certainly should feel utterly out of my element, in the saddle, with an animal under me excited almost to madness by the sounds of battle. Of the two, I think that I should prefer being on a ship, during a storm."

Rochejaquelein laughed.

"It is all a matter of training," he said. "As for me I feel twice the man, on horseback, that I do on foot. I have never tried fighting on foot, yet; and I should certainly feel altogether out of my element, the first time that I attempted it.