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1793 battle
The Battle of Bois-de-Céné took place on 6 December 1793 during the War in the Vendée between the forces of the French First Republic and royalist forces.
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The Battle of Bois-de-Céné took place on 6 December 1793 during the War in the Vendée between the forces of the French First Republic and royalist forces.
On 6 December 1793, the royalist military officer François de Charette managed to escape from the island of Bouin with part of his troops after being defeated by Republican forces under adjutant general Jordy. At 3 p.m., he reached Châteauneuf. His army numbered 800 survivors according to Jordy's estimate, or 1,200 according to Republican lieutenant-colonel Dominique Aubertin.
By the end of the day, the Vendéans encountered between Bois-de-Céné and Châteauneuf a Republican convoy escorting ammunition caissons. The Republican force consisted of 300 infantry and a few cavalrymen according to the memoirs of Vendéan officer Pierre-Suzanne Lucas de La Championnière and 400 men according to Charles-Joseph Auvynet.
According to the anonymous memoirs of a military administrator, the detachment comprised 300 men from the 3rd Battalion of Ille-et-Vilaine Volunteers and a company of cavalry from Nantes, led by General Nicolas Haxo. However, in his own memoirs, Aubertin—who claims to rely on Haxo's testimony—states that the general had only 80 infantrymen from an Ille-et-Vilaine battalion, twelve Nantes cavalrymen, and his staff.
The fighting took place between Bois-de-Céné and Châteauneuf, not far from the Île-Chauvet Abbey. The various accounts do not fully agree on how the battle unfolded. According to Lucas de La Championnière, the Vendéans quickly routed the Republicans after answering "Republicans!" to the challenge "Who goes there?". However, Republican reinforcements arrived from Bois-de-Céné and the Île-Chauvet and re-engaged in the fighting in an attempt to retake the caissons. The Republicans ended their pursuit at nightfall.
According to the military administrator, the cavalry fled at the very beginning of the attack, but General Haxo put up prolonged resistance with the Ille-et-Vilaine battalion. However, he was unable to prevent the royalists from capturing several caissons.
According to Adjutant General Aubertin, the alarm was raised while Haxo and his staff were gathered in a house. Both sides were surprised by the encounter, and the Vendéans hesitated to launch an attack. They eventually realized the small number of Republican troops, but withdrew for fear of the arrival of reinforcements. According to Aubertin, the engagement was limited to the exchange of a few gunshots.
After the engagement, Haxo withdrew to Beauvoir-sur-Mer., while the Vendéans retreated toward Saint-Étienne-de-Mer-Morte.
This victory, described as a "miracle" by Lucas de La Championnière, allowed the Vendéans to seize ammunition, weapons, and around thirty horses. The number of captured caissons varies according to the sources: one according to Aubertin, two according to the military administrator, and three according to Lucas de La Championnière and Le Bouvier-Desmortiers.,
The casualties are unknown. According to the memoirs of Charles-Joseph Auvynet, the men of the escort were "almost entirely slaughtered." According to Le Bouvier-Desmortiers, the escort lost three-quarters of its men, and six Republicans were reportedly captured at Châteauneuf before the battle. However, according to the memoirs of Adjutant General Aubertin, the engagement ended "without notable losses on either side."
In December 2023, on the 230 year anniversary of the battle, the Chateauneuf municipality installed two information panels, giving an overview of the battle. One panel is on a cycle track between Chateauneuf and Bois-de-Céné, the other panel is behind the cemetery on the footpath towards the abbey.
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