CHAPTER V 



LIEUTENANT AUDUBON AS REVOLUTIONIST 



Background of Audubon's youth — Nantes in Revolution — Revolt in La 

 Vendee — Siege of Nantes — Reign of terror under Carrier — Plague rob- 

 bing the guillotine — Flight of the population — Execution of Charette — 

 The Chouan raid — Citizen Audubon's service — He reenters the navy and 

 takes a prize from the English — His subsequent naval career — His 

 losses in Santo Domingo — His service and rank — Retires on a pension — 

 His death— His character and appearance. 



The ancient city of Nantes, long famed for the beauty 

 of its situation on the banks of a noble river, within 

 easy reach of the sea, as well as for its importance in 

 the arts of war and peace, numbered at the time of the 

 Revolution 70,000 souls. The modern visitor to this 

 favored spot will find quiet and orderly streets adorned 

 with monumental statues (one of these representing 

 Guepin, the revered historian of the city ) , the old build- 

 ings nearly all replaced by better, the Loire spanned by 

 handsome bridges, and the ancient bounds of the town 

 extended until it has become the sixth city of the Re- 

 public. Since Nantes formed a somber background to 

 Audubon's youth, we shall follow in brief some of the 

 ordeals through which his family, in common with thou- 

 sands of other Nantais, were destined to pass during 

 those eventful years which witnessed the close of the 

 eighteenth century in France. 



When Captain Audubon reached Nantes presumably 

 not far from the beginning of 1790, he found the city 

 in a state of the greatest turmoil and agitation. The 



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