La Vendee Part 17

The arms which they had taken in Vihiers and Doue, were of the greatest use to them; in both places they had found a cannon; they had taken nine or ten from Fontenay, and others from Thouars. Most of the men among them now had muskets, and they were able to take to Saumur with them twenty-four pieces of heavy artillery. What could the infamous blues expect to do against a force so numerous, so well armed, and so well officered!

That evening a council of war was held by the different chiefs of the Vendeans in the Town Hall of Doue. Lescure, Larochejaquelin, Cathelineau, d'Elbee, and Stofflet were there. M. Bonchamps, who had been very severely wounded at Fontenay, but who had insisted on being carried along with his own men, was brought in on a litter. Father Jerome was there, and another priest who had come with M. Bonchamps.

There were a couple of old royalist n.o.blemen, not sufficiently active to take a part in the actual fighting, but sufficiently zealous in the cause to leave their homes for the purpose of giving the young commanders the benefit of their experience. Foret also, Cathelineau's friend, was present, and Adolphe Denot: indeed many others, from time to time, crowded into the room, for the door was not well kept, nor were the councils of the generals in any way a secret. Jacques Chapeau, as a matter of course, managed to make his way into the room, and took upon himself the duties of doorkeeper.

The Mayor's arm-chair stood at the head of the table, as the leaders dropped into the room one after another, but no one appeared willing to occupy it. Hitherto there had been no chief among the Vendeans; this was the first meeting which had been held with anything approaching to the solemnity of a general a.s.sembly, and it occurred to each of them that whoever should then seat himself in the Mayor's chair, would be a.s.suming that he was the chief leader of the revolt.

"Come, M. de Lescure," said Stofflet, "we have much to do, and but little time; let us make the most of it: do you take the President's seat. Gentlemen, I am sure we could have no better President than M. de Lescure?"

They all agreed, with the exception of the chosen leader. "By no means,"

said he. "I was the last here who joined the cause, and I certainly will not place myself first among those who have led the way in the work we have taken up. No; here is the man who shall be our President." And as he spoke he caught hold of Cathelineau, who was immediately behind him, and absolutely forced him into the chair.

"Indeed, indeed, M. de Lescure--" said Cathelineau, endeavouring to extricate himself from the seat; but both his voice and his exertions were stopped, for three or four of them united to hold him where he was, and declared that he should be the President for the evening.

"Indeed, and indeed you will not stir," said Henri, who stood behind his chair, and placed his hands heavily on the postillion's shoulders.

"It was you that brought us here," said de Lescure, "and you must not now avoid the responsibility."

"Ah! M. de Lescure," said he, "there are so many more fitting than me."

"Not one in all La Vendee," said M. Bonchamps: "sit where you are, Cathelineau."

"You must do it, Cathelineau;" whispered his friend Foret; "the peasants would not endure to see any man put above you."

"Cathelineau will not shrink from the burden which the Lord has called upon him to bear," said Father Jerome.

"Providence," said d'Elbee, "has summoned the good Cathelineau to this high duty; he will not, I am sure, oppose its decrees."

And thus Cathelineau found himself seated in the Mayor's chair at the head of the table, whilst the highest n.o.blemen and gentry of the country took their places around it, and from that moment Cathelineau became the General-in-Chief of the Vendeans.

Each leader then gave in the numbers of the men who had come with him, and it was found that the army consisted of above fifteen thousand men.

Lists were then made out of the arms and accoutrements which they possessed, and the men in a rude way were drafted into regiments under the command of the leaders who had brought them. There was a small body of cavalry equipped in most various manners, and mounted on horses, which resembled anything rather than a regular squadron of troopers: these were under the immediate command of Henri Larochejaquelin.

"Gentlemen," said Cathelineau, "we have, you know, three different attacks to make, three positions to carry, before we can be masters of Saumur."

"Yes," said Bonchamps, "there in the camp at Varin on the right, and the redoubts of Bournan on the left; the fortifications of the town itself lie between them, and a little to the rear of both."

"Exactly, M. Bonchamps; the town itself, I take, is the easiest task of the three; but as we are situated it must be the last."

"I think you will find that Varin is their strongest point," said de Lescure.

"M. de Lescure is right," said Cathelineau. "We shall find them very strong in their camp. I had with me, yesterday, two men from Saumur; they knew nothing of General Quetineau's intentions, but they had seen detachments of men constantly going to and fro between Saumur and the camp; they calculate that we shall think that the weaker side."

"Bournan is right on our way," said Bonchamps; "but the ground lies so advantageously for them, that they will cut us to pieces if we attempt to push our way up the hill against the heavy artillery they will have there."

"M. Bonchamps is quite right there," said Cathelineau. "I think we should not attack Bournan, till we can do so from the side of the town.

I think Bournan should not be our first object; but nevertheless, we must be prepared to meet at Varin the great body of the army; we must drive them from thence back into the town."

"Yes," said Henri, "and follow them in, as we are driving them. The sight of their comrades in disorder will itself conquer the men in the citadel; it is always so with the blues."

"We must remember, Henri," said de Lescure, "these are not conscripts, nor yet merely the Ma.r.s.ellaise, we have to deal with: the men who fought at Jemappes and at Valmy are here; the old cuira.s.siers of the French army."

"They are cowards, Charles," said Henri, "or they would not have deserted their King."

"They are good soldiers, nevertheless," said Bonchamps. "I have fought among them, and know it."

"They are the better worth our fighting then," said Henri.

"Providence can give us the victory over tried veterans as well as over untried conscripts; it were a sin to doubt it," said M. d'Elbee.

"That would be a good subject for a sermon to the soldiers, but a bad argument in a council chamber," said Bonchamps. "We shall find the cuira.s.siers tough fellows to deal with."

"We must take our enemies as we find them," said Cathelineau; "but if you will allow me, gentlemen, and as you have placed me here, I will tell you what I would propose?'

"Do, Cathelineau, do!" said Henri; "let us have one plan, and then make the best we can of it; we can at any rate do our duty like men."

"I think we should leave this early tomorrow morning, and move across the country as though we were going to Montreuil; we shall so come on the Montreuil road about a league from Saumur, and not very far, that is about half a league, from the camp at Varin."

"And then, Cathelineau, will you attack the camp tomorrow evening?" said de Lescure.

"I think not, M. de Lescure; but I would make a feint to do so, and I would thus keep the republicans on the alert all night; a small body of our men may, I think, in that way fatigue the ma.s.ses of the republicans in the camp--we might hara.s.s them the whole night, which will be dark from eleven till near three; and then with the earliest sunrise our real attack should be made."

"Bravo, Cathelineau!" said Henri; "and then fall on them when they are in want of sleep."

"Yes," said de Lescure, "and they will have learnt to think that our attacks in that quarter are only feints."

"Such may be our good luck, M. de Lescure; at any rate, if you think of nothing better, we may try it."

It was thus decided, and arranged that Larochejquelin should, on the following evening, leave the main body of the army with all the mounted men belonging to it, and advance near enough to the camp at Varin to allow of his being seen and heard by the republicans, and that he should almost immediately retreat: that a body of infantry should then move on, and take up a position near to the camp, which should also return after a while, and that as soon as darkness had come on, a third advance should be made by a larger body of men, who should, if possible, approach within musket shot o the trenches, and endeavour to throw the republicans into disorder. At four o'clock in the morning, the real attack was to be made by the combined Vendean forces, of which Cathelineau was to lead the centre, de Lescure the left, consisting of the men brought by himself and Larochejaquelin from the centre of the Bocage; and d'Elbee the right, which was formed of men chiefly brought by M. Bonchamps from the province of Anjou. M. Bonchamps was himself too ill from the effects of his wounds to accompany the army beyond Doue.

Early on the following morning the whole army, with the exception of the men left with Foret, defiled out of Doue, and crossed over to the Montreuil road, dragging with them their cannons, baggage-waggons, and ammunition; their movements were not made with very great order, nor with much celerity; but, about six o'clock in the evening, on the 10th of June, Cathelineau took up his position about a league from Saumur.

They got possession of one or two farm-houses, and were not long in making their arrangements for the night; the men were accustomed to sleep out in the open air since the war commenced, and were well content to remain in cl.u.s.ters round the cannons and the waggons.

At eight o'clock, Larochejaquelin had his little troop of cavalry ready mounted, and started with them for the camp of Varin. As he and his companions dashed along through the waggons and by the cannons the peasants who were preparing to lay down for the night, and who knew nothing of the plans of their Generals, rose up one after another wondering.

"There goes 'le Mouchoir Rouge,'" said one, alluding to Henri's costume; for when in action he always wore a red handkerchief round his waist, and another round his neck.

"Yes; that is 'le Mouchoir Rouge,'" said another, "he is off for Saumur; the hors.e.m.e.n are already starting for Saumur."

"Come, then; they shall not go alone," said another. "We will start for Saumur. We will not lie here while others are in the battle."

These were men from the neighbourhood of Durbelliere, who were now placed under the orders of M. de Lescure; but who conceived that, as their lord and master was gone before them, it must be their duty to follow. The word was pa.s.sed from one to another, and the whole body of them was soon in motion. It must be remembered that they were, in no respect, similar to disciplined troops; they had received no military instruction, and did not therefore, know, that they were doing wrong in following their own master; they were in receipt of no pay; amenable to no authority, and consequently afraid of no penalties; their only idea was to do the best they could for the cause, to fight with courage and perseverance, and to trust to G.o.d for the result: it was not, therefore, wondering that, in the present instance, they so completely mistook their duty.

Cathelineau's men, who were intended to form the centre of the attack on the next morning, were placed just to the right of the road, but their baggage and cannons had not been moved from it; in fact, they were nearly mixed with M. de Lescure's men; whereas M. d'Elbee's portion of the army was removed a good deal further to the right, and was placed immediately on the banks of the river Thoue. The camp at Varin, which was to be attacked, was situated between the river and the road to Saumur. In Cathelineau's division there were some few who understood the plan which had been decided on, and some others who knew that they should not move without orders, and they did what they could to prevent their companions from joining the rush made by M. de Lescure's party; but their efforts were nearly in vain. Every man learnt in the confusion that the attack was to be made on Saumur that night, and no man wished to be left behind.

"Come friends, let us follow 'le Mouchoir Rouge;' he never meant, I am sure, to leave us here," said the spokesman of one party.

"The Saint of Angers is on before us," said the others; "he would let no man see the enemy before himself. The good Cathelineau is gone to Saumur, let us follow him!"

In this way they soon learnt to believe that both Cathelineau and Larochejaquelin were on before them, and they were not long in hurrying after them. Within twenty minutes, about six thousand men started off without a leader or any defined object, to besiege the walls of Saumur; they did not even know that a vast entrenched encampment of the enemy's troops lay directly in their way. The men had, most of them, muskets with three or four rounds of powder and ball each; many of them also had bayonets. They were better armed than they had hitherto ever been, and they consequently conceived themselves invincible. Cathelineau's men, however, would not stir without 'Marie Jeanne,' and that devoted, hard-worked cannon was seized by scores, and hurried off with them towards Saumur.