Though the most grievous affliction of Nantes passed with the recall of Carrier, the city had no lasting peace until the execution of the Vendean leader, Charette, in March, 1796; "Poor Charette," said Audubon, writing in his journal at Liverpool, December 24, 1827, "whom I saw shot on the place de Viarme at Nantes." This virtually ended the war in the Vendée, but the Chouans, under their intrepid chief, Dupré, the miller, called "Tête-Carrée," managed to furnish considerable excitement, and raided Nantes in 1799. Dupré's followers stole in secretly at three o'clock on the morning of October 19 and left before daylight, after liberating fifteen royalists from the prison, which seems to have been their chief purpose. The cannon of alarm was fired from the Chateau; the tocsin sounded, calling the city to arms; there was much street fighting, but it was too foggy and dark to distinguish friend from foe, and when the National Guard was finally assembled, the enemy had vanished. This brief attack cost the city twenty-one deaths and wounds for twice the number,[62] but it was only a passing incident in comparison with events that had gone before. Thenceforth the history of the town is blended with that of the nation.[63] We have only slight indications of Jean Audubon's activities from the close of 1789, when, according to his own statement, he was in the United States, to the period of his service in the National Guard at Nantes in the spring of 1792; he was then living in the house of Citizen Carricoule, rue de Crébillon, and the lease of his "Mill Grove" farm, which was renewed in October, 1790, was dated at Nantes. We may safely assume that he was engaged in revolutionary business during most of this interval: his name begins to appear in the written records of Nantes and of the department of the Lower Loire in January, 1793, and existing documents[64] show that he was engaged as a commissioner and member of the Department and as a member of the Council of the Navy until the twenty-fifth of June, when he enlisted for active service in the navy of the Republic. Jean Audubon served also on various republican committees, his duties comprising the enlistment of recruits, organizing the National Guard, soliciting funds and food supplies for Nantes, finding cannon and other military or naval materials, posting proclamations, administering the oath of allegiance, and watching the movements of loyalist troops in the district. We have seen that the father of the naturalist was a game and determined fighter, and there is ample written testimony to prove that in the commune of Nantes he was regarded as an ardent patriot, who could be relied upon to act with tact, and if necessary with force. [Illustration: LIEUTENANT JEAN AUDUBON ANNE MOYNET AUDUBON AFTER OIL PORTRAITS PAINTED BETWEEN 1801 AND 1806, NOW IN POSSESSION OF M. L. LAVIGNE, AT COUËRON.] [Illustration: JEAN AUDUBON