No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La VendeeHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendee
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
France -- History -- Wars of the Vendée, 1793-1832 -- Juvenile fiction; Vendée (France) -- History -- Juvenile fiction
Berruyer, on his arrival at Jallais, heard of the defeat of
Leigonyer; and marched back in all haste to Chemille, where he had
left his magazines. On hearing however that Leigonyer, on his
arrival at Vihiers, had been deserted during the night by the whole
of his troops and, finding himself in the morning with but a
hundred and fifty men of the Finisterre regiment, had evacuated the
town and retreated to Doug, Berruyer wrote to him to endeavour to
gather his forces together again, and to return to Chemille.
But the news of another disaster convinced him that he could not
maintain himself there. The Vendeans had marched, without delay,
against Beaupreau, and attacked Gauvillier. That general had
already heard of the defeat of Leigonyer, and the retreat of
Berruyer. His force was greatly dispirited at the news, and offered
but a feeble resistance to the fierce assault. The Blues were
driven out of the town with the loss of their five cannon, and were
hotly pursued to Saint Florent, losing a large proportion of their
numbers on the way.
The news of this fresh disaster convinced Berruyer that he must
fall back without delay, and he accordingly retreated with his
whole force to Saint Lambert, whence he wrote to the Convention to
declare the impossibility of doing anything without large
reinforcements of regular troops, as no dependence whatever could
be placed upon the National Guards and volunteers and, if the
insurgents marched against him, he would be obliged to march to
Ponts-de-Ce in order to cover Angers, where the alarm of the
inhabitants was intense.
Thus the invasion that was to crush the Vendeans failed altogether,
except that some advantages had been gained by the Blues along the
line of coast, the troops being assisted by the fleet. At all other
points, misfortune had attended them. Quetineau had been driven
from Aubiers and, a great proportion of his force having deserted,
he held Bressuire with so feeble a grasp that he could not maintain
himself, if attacked. Leigonyer's army had practically ceased to
exist, as had that which had advanced from Saint Florent. Berruyer
had lost three thousand men, and was back again at the point from
which he had started. Chollet and Vihiers had been recovered
without a blow.
As the result of his failures, Berruyer was recalled to Paris,
tried for his conduct, and narrowly escaped the guillotine.
As soon as Berruyer retired, Cathelineau advanced against
Bressuire. News of his coming at once scared the Blues from the
town, and they retreated to Thouars. They did not even wait to take
their prisoners with them and, as soon as they had gone, the
Marquis de la Lescure with his family rode off to their chateau, at
Clisson. They had scarcely arrived there when la Rochejaquelein
arrived, and acquainted them with the general facts of the
insurrection.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account