No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendee

by G. A. Henty

Berruyer saw that all was lost. By great efforts he kept together the gendarmes and regular troops, to cover the retreat; and fell back, fighting fiercely. Bonchamp and his musketeers pressed hotly upon them. The peasants made charge after charge and, as soon as the force issued from the town, many of the peasantry set off at full speed in pursuit of the fugitives, great numbers of whom were overtaken and killed. Berruyer continued his retreat all night, and entered Saint Lambert before morning; having lost the whole of his cannon, and three thousand men, in this disastrous fight.

The joy of the Vendeans was unbounded. The stones were speedily removed from the shattered doors of the church, mass was celebrated, and the peasants returned thanks for their great victory.

The gains were, indeed, considerable. Three thousand muskets had fallen into their hands. They had recaptured the guns that they had lost, and taken twelve others. Their own losses had been heavy--eighteen hundred men had been killed, and a great number wounded. But of this, at the time, they thought but little; those who had died had died for their country and their God, as all of them were ready to do, and how could men do more?

On the Republican side, General Duhaus had been very dangerously wounded, and most of Berruyer's principal officers killed.

A council of war was held the next morning, at Chemille. For the moment, the victory had secured their safety; but while the peasants believed and hoped that the war was over, their leaders saw that the position was scarcely improved. They had, indeed, captured guns and muskets; but these were useless without ammunition, and their stock of powder and ball was quite exhausted. Already the peasantry were leaving in large numbers for their homes. Berruyer might return reinforced at any time, and effect a junction with Leigonyer; while the column that had captured Saint Florent would doubtless advance. It was therefore decided that Chemille must be abandoned, and that the officers should retire to Tiffauges until, at any rate, the peasants were ready to leave their homes again.

By evening that day the greater portion of the army had melted away and, on the following morning, the leaders also left the town they had so bravely defended. On the following day, indeed, Berruyer, having learned the position of Leigonyer, returned to Chemille and, two days later, was in communication with Leigonyer's force. The latter had occupied Chollet, which had been left devoid of defenders since the day they marched away.

On the other hand Quetineau had, on the thirteenth, been attacked at Aubiers, and had been forced to evacuate the place, leaving three guns behind him, retiring to Bressuire. The capture of Aubiers was the work of Henri de la Rochejaquelein. He had ridden to join Cathelineau, and met him and the other leaders retiring from Chemille. They were gloomy and depressed. They had won a battle, but they were without an army, without ammunition. Almost all the towns were in the possession of the Blues. It seemed to them that the struggle could not be much longer maintained.

The young count was too energetic and too enthusiastic to be seriously moved, and rode back to the residence of an aunt, at Saint Aubin. There he learned that Aubiers had been taken by the enemy. The peasantry around were in a state of extreme excitement. They had hoisted the white flag on their churches, and were ready to fight, but they had no leader.

Hearing that Rochejaquelein was at his aunt's house, they came to him, and begged him to take the command, promising him that in twenty-four hours ten thousand men should be ready to follow him. He agreed to the request. The church bells were set ringing and, before morning, almost that number were assembled. Of these, only two hundred had guns.

With this force he attacked Aubiers. The resistance of the enemy was feeble, and they were chased almost to Bressuire. Rochejaquelein was very anxious to capture this town, as his friends, the Lescures, had been brought from Clisson and imprisoned there; but he saw that it was of primary importance to carry assistance to Cathelineau, and he accordingly marched to Tiffauges. The church bells again rang out their summons; and Cathelineau, in twenty-four hours, found himself at the head of an army of twenty thousand men.