1799-] 
every fide, the fmall detachment com- 
manded by Weftermann, who fell back 
upon Chatillon, thinking there to find af- 
fiftance; but the royalifts entered the place 
at the fame time, and met with no refift- 
ance from the troops ftationed there, who 
were completely furprifed. The repub- 
lican column was con{zquently put to the 
rout, and all the baggage fell into the 
hands of the enemy. 
The fugitives being rallied in the Bozs 
aux Chévres, Weitermann arrived in a 
rage again{t Chalbos, called hima coward, 
and a man incapable of commanding re- 
publicans, threw away his fabre, and {wore 
that he would abandon the fervice. His 
comrades crowded round and confoled him. 
«6 Where (jaid he) ‘are the cafks, of 
brandy?’ ** The brigands have got them.” 
—‘* So much the better. Where were they 
left ?*"—-"* At the entrance of the town.” 
—<‘* Are there fixty brave fellows among 
you, who will follow me?”—** We will, 
all!" 
To thefe fixty men he added three hun- 
dred chofen grenadiers; threw his coat 
upon a hedge, fet off for the place where 
the brandy had been left, ordered his de- 
tachment to ufe the fame cri de gyerre as 
the royalifts, and not to fire a fhot. He 
reached Chatillon at the beginning of the 
night, crying, Vive le Roi; cut down 
every thing that came in his way; fet fire 
to the town in all quarters, and madea 
horrible carnage of the royalifts, who were 
dead-drunk with brandy. He was dif- 
covered by only a fingle man, who, per- 
ceiving himfelf wounded by the general, 
cried out, but too late, “*’Tis Wefter- 
mann !”? 

CAVERNS oF La VENDEE. 
Ir is not without reafon that the war 
of La Vendée has been confidered as one 
of the moft extraordinary that the annals 
of the world ever had to record. It was 
faid in anctent times that armies {fprang 
out of the earth; but this was merely a 
poetical fiction. In La Vendée it was 
realifed. The royalifts had dug caverns 
into which they carried pieces of cannon, 
and ftationed there confiderable bodies of 
troops. It was there in particular tha 
the priefts, monks and biigands concealed 
” 
“Monruty Maa. No. xxi7%, 
Revolutionary Anecdotes. 
\ 
629 
themfelves. The alarm was given to 
them by men, generally dreffed like wood- 
cutters, who climbed to the top of trees, 
and by whittling informed them of the 
approach of their victims. Sometimes 
this fanguinary miniftry was filled by 
women, who tended cows, by young fhep- 
herds, or by children. . 
‘The entrance to thefe caverns was a 
heap of earth covered with fod, over which 
the paffenger might tread without fufpi- 
cion. ‘hey were difcovered in the fal- 
lowing manner. “Two Chouans who were 
taken prifoners, carried to L’Orient, and 
about to be tried by the Military Commif- 
fion, promifed to point them out, provided 
a pardon were granted them. ‘They ob- 
tained it. Dardure, lieutenant of gre- 
nadiers, of the eleventh Parifian battalion, 
undertook to go and vifit thefe gloomy re- 
treats, put on the difouife of a Chouan, 
and fet off accompanied by the twa guides, 
who fhewed him one of the caverns, but 
from a difiance, for fear of being recog- 
nized. 
Over this fubterraneous camp a very 
aged woman was fianding fentinel! To 
‘her Dardure addreffed himfelf in the lan- 
guage of a Chouan, and by dint of ariti- 
fice and entreaty prevailed on her to in- 
dicate the entrance. ~He had betore con- 
certed his meafures with a detachment 
concealed at a'{mall diftance. /\ gefture 
was the fignal for their approach; Dar- 
dure entered at the head of them, and 
found the cave full of peafants, with monks 
and priefts in their clerical habits. They 
were immediately feized, condutted to 
L’Orient, and fhot.. Ere long, the de= 
partment of Morbihan, which was parti- 
cularly infefted with brigands, was cleared 
of thefe myfterious retreats whence they 
ifiued unawares. | 
This was not the firft brave aétion of 
lieutenant Dardure. At Vertont, a vil- 
lage a league ciftant from Nantz, he found 
himfelf furrounded by three - hundred roy- 
alifts, his detachment, from which he was 
feparated, confitting of only thirty fix gre- 
nadiers. He immediately cried out, 
‘* Five upon me, 1 am in the mid? of the bri- 
sands!” But he defended himfelf with 
fo much ftrength and dextery, that he con- 
trived to efcape, leaving feventeen of his 
men dead upon the {pot. 
