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M. de Vergetot, on his side, continued to advance, so that
the
Calvinists and the Catholics were soon face to face. The
battle
began on both sides by a volley; but Cavalier having seen
his
cavalry emerging from a neighbouring wood, and counting upon
their
assistance, charged the enemy at the double quick. Catinat
judging
by the noise of the firing that his presence was necessary,
charged
also at a gallop, falling on the flank of the
Catholics.
In this charge, one of M. de Vergetot’s captains was killed by
a bullet,
and the other by a sabre-cut, and the grenadiers falling into
disorder,
first lost ground and then fled, pursued by Catinat and his
horsemen,
who, seizing them by the hair, despatched them with their swords.
Having
tried in vain to rally his men, M. de Vergetot, surrounded by a
few
Irish, was forced in his turn to fly; he was hotly pursued, and on
the
point of being taken, when by good luck he reached the height of
Gamene,
with its walls of rock. Jumping off his horse, he entered the
narrow
pathway which led to the top, and entrenched himself with about
a
hundred men in this natural fort. Cavalier perceiving that
further
pursuit would be dangerous, resolved to rest satisfied with his
victory;
as he knew by his own experience that neither men nor horses had
eaten
for eighteen hours, he gave the signal far retreat, and retired
on
Seyne, where he hoped to find provisions.
This defeat mortified the
royal forces very deeply, and they resolved to
take their revenge. Having
learnt by their spies that on a certain night
in November Cavalier and his
band intended to sleep on a mountain called
Nages, they surrounded the
mountain during the night, so that at dawn
Cavalier found himself shut in on
every side. As he wished to see with
his own eyes if the investment was
complete, he ordered his troops to
fall into rank on the top of the mountain,
giving the command to Ravanel
and Catinat, and with a pair of pistols in his
belt and his carbine on
his shoulder, he glided from bush to bush and rock to
rock, determined,
if any weak spot existed, to discover it; but the
information he had
received was perfectly correct, every issue was
guarded.
Cavalier now set off to rejoin his troops, passing through a
ravine, but
he had hardly taken thirty steps when he found himself confronted
by a
cornet and two dragoons who were lying in ambush. There was no time
to
run away, and indeed such a thought never entered the young
commander’s
head; he walked straight up to them. On their side, the
dragoons
advanced towards him, and the cornet covering him with his
pistol,
called out, "Halt! you are Cavalier; I know you. It is not possible
for
you to escape; surrender at discretion." Cavalier’s answer was to
blow
out the cornet’s brains with a shot from his carbine, then throwing
it
behind him as of no further use, he drew his two pistols from his
belt,
walked up to the two dragoons, shot them both dead, and rejoined
his
comrades unwounded. These, who had believed him lost, welcomed him
with
cheers.
But Cavalier had something else to do than to celebrate
his return;
mounting his horse, he put himself at the head of his men, and
fell upon
the royal troops with such impetuosity that they gave way at the
first
onset. Then a strange incident occurred. About thirty women who had
come
to the camp with provisions, carried away by their enthusiasm at
the
sight of this success, threw themselves upon the enemy, fighting
like
men. One young girl of about seventeen, Lucrese Guigon by
name,
distinguished herself amongst the others by her great valour.
Not
content with encouraging her brethren by the cry of "The sword of
the
Lord and of Gideon!" she tore sabres from the hands of the dead
dragoons
to despatch the dying. Catinat, followed by ten of his men, pursued
the
flying troops as far as the plain of Calvisson. There they were able
to
rally, thanks to the advance of the garrison to meet them.
Eighty
dragoons lay dead on the field of battle, while Cavalier had only
lost five
men.
As we shall see, Cavalier was not only a brave soldier and a
skilful
captain, but also a just judge. A few days after the deed of arms
which
we have just related, he learned that a horrible murder had
been
committed by four Camisards, who had then retired into the forest
of
Bouquet. He sent a detachment of twenty men with orders to arrest
the
murderers and bring them before him. The following are the details
of
the crime:
The daughter of Baron Meyrargues, who was not long
married to a
gentleman named M. de Miraman, had set out on the 29th November
for
Ambroix to join her husband, who was waiting for her there. She
was
encouraged to do this by her coachman, who had often met with
Camisards
in the neighbourhood, and although a Catholic, had never received
any
harm from them. She occupied her own carriage, and was accompanied by
a
maid, a nurse, a footman, and the coachman who had persuaded her
to
undertake the journey. Two-thirds of the way already lay safely
behind
them, when between Lussan and Vaudras she was stopped by four, men,
who
made her get out of her carriage and accompany them into
the
neighbouring forest. The account of what then happened is taken from
the
deposition of the maid. We copy it word for word:
"These wretches
having forced us," says she, "to walk into the forest
till we were at some
distance from the high road, my poor mistress grew
so tired that she begged
the man who walked beside her to allow her to
lean on his shoulder. He
looking round and seeing that they had reached
a lonely spot, replied, ’We
need hardly go any farther,’ and made us sit
dawn on a plot of grass which
was to be the scene of our martyrdom. My
poor mistress began to plead with
the barbarians in the most touching
manner, and so sweetly that she would
have softened the heart of a
demon. She offered them her purse, her gold
waistband, and a fine
diamond which she drew from her finger; but nothing
could move these
tigers, and one of them said, ’I am going to kill all the
Catholics at
once, and shall be gin with you.’ ’What will you gain by my
death?’
asked my mistress. ’Spare my life.’—’No; shut up!’ replied he.
’You
shall die by my hand. Say your prayers.’ My good mistress threw
herself
at once on her knees and prayed aloud that God would show mercy to
her
and to her murderers, and while she was thus praying she received
a
pistol-shot in her left breast, and fell; a second assassin cut
her
across the face with his sword, and a third dropped a large stone on
her
head, while the fourth killed the nurse with a shot from his
pistol.
Whether it was that they had no more loaded firearms, or that
they
wished to save their ammunition, they were satisfied with only giving
me
several bayonet wounds. I pretended to be dead: they thought it
was
really the case, and went away. Some time after, seeing that
everything
had become quiet, and hearing no sound, I dragged myself, dying as
I
was, to where my dear mistress lay, and called her. As it happened,
she
was not quite dead, and she said in a faint voice, ’Stay with me,
Suzon,
till I die.’ She added, after a short pause, for she was hardly able
to
speak, ’I die for my religion, and I hope that God will have pity on
me.
Tell my husband that I confide our little one to his care.’ Having
said
this, she turned her thoughts from the world, praying to God in
broken
and tender words, and drew her last breath as the night
fell."
In obedience to Cavalier’s orders, the four criminals were taken
and
brought before him. He was then with his troops near Saint-Maurice
de
Casevielle; he called a council of war, and having had the
prisoners
tried for their atrocious deed, he summed up the evidence in as
clear a
manner as any lawyer could have done, and called upon the judges
to
pronounce sentence. All the judges agreed that the prisoners should
be
put to death, but just as the sentence was made known one of
the
assassins pushed aside the two men who guarded him, and jumping down
a
rock, disappeared in the forest before any attempt could be made to
stop
him. The three others were shot.
The Catholics also condemned
many to be executed, but the trials
conducted by then were far from being as
remarkable for honour and
justice as was that which we have just described.
We may instance the
trial of a poor boy of fourteen, the son of a miller of
Saint-Christol
who had been broken the wheel just a month before. For a
moment the
judges hesitated to condemn so young a boy to death, but a
witness
presented himself who testified that the little fellow was employed
by
the fanatics to strangle Catholic children. Although no one believed
the
evidence, yet it was seized-on as a pretext: the unfortunate boy
was
condemned to death, and hanged without mercy an hour later.
A
great many people from the parishes devastated by M. de Julien had
taken
refuge in Aussilargues, in the parish of St. Andre. Driven by
hunger and
misery, they went beyond the prescribed limits in search of
means of
subsistence. Planque hearing of this, in his burning zeal for
the Catholic
faith resolved not to leave such a crime unpunished. He
despatched a
detachment of soldiers to arrest the culprits: the task was
easy, for they
were all once more inside the barrier and in their beds.
They were seized,
brought to St. Andre’s Church and shut in; then,
without trial of any
kind,—they were taken, five at a time, and
massacred: some were shot and some
cut down with sword or axe; all were
killed without exception—old and young
women and children. One of the
latter, who had received three shots was still
able to raise his head
and cry, "Where is father? Why doesn’t he come and
take me away."
Four men and a young girl who had taken refuge in the town
of Lasalle,
one of the places granted to the houseless villagers as an
asylum, asked
and received formal permission from the captain of the
Soissonais
regiment, by name Laplace, to go home on important private
business, on
condition that they returned the same night. They promised, and
in the
intention of keeping this promise they all met on their way back at
a
small farmhouse. Just as they reached it a terrible storm came on.
The
men were for continuing their way in spite of the weather, but the
young
girl besought them to wait till daylight, as she did not dare to
venture
out in the dark during such a storm, and would die of fright if
left
alone at the farm. The men, ashamed to desert their companion, who
was
related to one of them, yielded to her entreaties and remained,
hoping
that the storm would be a sufficient excuse for the delay. As soon as
it
was light, the five resumed their journey. But the news of their
crime
had reached the ears of Laplace before they got back. They
were
arrested, and all their excuses were of no avail. Laplace ordered
the
men to be taken outside the town and shot. The young girl was
condemned
to be hanged; and the sentence was to be carried out that very day,
but
some nuns who had been sent for to prepare her for death, having
vainly
begged Laplace to show mercy, entreated the girl to declare that
she
would soon become a mother. She indignantly refused to save her life
at
the cost of her good name, so the nuns took the lie on themselves
and
made the necessary declaration before the captain, begging him if he
had
no pity for the mother to spare the child at least, by granting
a
reprieve till it should be born. The captain was not for a
moment
deceived, but he sent for a midwife and ordered her to examine the
young
girl. At the end of half an hour she declared that the assertion of
the
nuns was true.
"Very well," said the captain: "let them both be
kept in prison for
three months; if by the end of that time the truth of this
assertion is
not self-evident, both shall be hanged." When this decision was
made
known to the poor woman, she was overcome by fear, and asked to see
the,
captain again, to whom she confessed that, led away by the entreaties
of
the nuns, she had told a lie.
Upon this, the woman was sentenced to
be publicly whipped, and the young
girl hanged on a gibbet round which were
placed the corpses of the four
men of whose death she was the
cause.
As may easily be supposed, the "Cadets of the Cross" vied with
both
Catholics and Protestants in the work of destruction. One of their
bands
devoted itself to destroying everything belonging to the new
converts
from Beaucaire to Nimes. They killed a woman and two children
at
Campuget, an old man of eighty at a farm near Bouillargues,
several
persons at Cicure, a young girl at Caissargues, a gardener at Nimes,
and
many other persons, besides carrying off all the flocks, furniture,
and
other property they could lay hands on, and burning down the
farmhouses
of Clairan, Loubes, Marine, Carlot, Campoget Miraman, La Bergerie,
and
Larnac—all near St. Gilies and Manduel. "They stopped travellers on
the
highways," says Louvreloeil, "and by way of finding out whether
they
were Catholic or not, made them say in Latin the Lord’s Prayer, the
Ave
Maria, the Symbol of the Faith, and the General Confession, and
those
who were unable to do this were put to the sword. In Dions nine
corpses
were found supposed to have been killed by their hands, and when
the
body of a shepherd who had been in the service of the Sieur
de
Roussiere, a former minister, was found hanging to a tree, no
one
doubted who were the murderers. At last they went so far that one
of
their bands meeting the Abbe de Saint Gilles on the road, ordered him
to
deliver up to them one of his servants, a new convert, in order to
put
him to death. It was in vain that the abbe remonstrated with
them,
telling them it was a shame to put such an affront on a man of his
birth
and rank; they persisted none the less in their determination, till
at
last the abbe threw his arms round his servant and presented his
own
body to the blows directed at the other."
The author of The
Troubles in the Cevennes relates something surpassing
all this which took
place at Montelus on the 22nd February "There were a
few Protestants in the
place," he says, "but they were far outnumbered
by the Catholics; these being
roused by a Capuchin from Bergerac, formed
themselves into a body of ’Cadets
of the Cross,’ and hastened to serve
their apprenticeship to the work of
assassination at the cost of their
countrymen. They therefore entered the
house of one Jean Bernoin, cut
off his ears and further mutilated him, and
then bled him to death like
a pig. On coming out of this house they met
Jacques Clas, and shot him
in the abdomen, so that his intestines obtruded;
pushing them back, he
reached his house in a terrible condition, to the great
alarm of his
wife, who was near her confinement, and her children, who
hastened to
the help of husband and father. But the murderers appeared on
the
threshold, and, unmoved by the cries and tears of the unfortunate
wife
and the poor little children, they finished the wounded man, and as
the
wife made an effort to prevent them, they murdered her also,
treating
her dead body, when they discovered her condition, in a manner
too
revolting for description; while a neighbour, called Marie Silliot,
who
tried to rescue the children, was shot dead; but in her case they
did
not pursue their vengeance any further. They then went into the
open
country and meeting Pierre and Jean Bernard, uncle and nephew, one
aged
forty-five and the other ten, seized on them both, and putting a
pistol
into the hands of the child, forced him to shoot his uncle. In
the
meantime the boy’s father had come up, and him they tried to
constrain
to shoot his son; but finding that no threats had any effect, they
ended
by killing both, one by the sword, the other by the
bayonet.
"The reason why they put an end to father and son so quickly was
that
they had noticed three young girls of Bagnols going towards a grove
of
mulberry trees, where they were raising silk-worms. The men
followed
them, and as it was broad daylight and the girls were therefore
not
afraid, they soon came up with them. Having first violated them,
they
hung them by the feet to a tree, and put them to death in a
horrible
manner."
All this took place in the reign of Louis the Great,
and for the greater
glory of the Catholic religion.
History has
preserved the names of the five wretches who perpetrated
these crimes: they
were Pierre Vigneau, Antoine Rey, Jean d’Hugon,
Guillaume, and
Gontanille.
CHAPTER III
Such crimes, of which we
have only described a few, inspired horror in
the breasts of those who were
neither maddened by fanaticism nor
devoured by the desire of vengeance. One
of these, a Protestant, Baron
d’Aygaliers, without stopping to consider what
means he had at his
command or what measures were the best to take to
accomplish his object,
resolved to devote his life to the pacification of the
Cevennes. The
first thing to be considered was, that if the Camisards were
ever
entirely destroyed by means of Catholic troops directed by de
Baville,
de Julien, and de Montrevel, the Protestants, and especially
the
Protestant nobles who had never borne arms, would be regarded
as
cowards, who had been prevented by fear of death or persecution
from
openly taking the part of the Huguenots: He was therefore convinced
that
the only course to pursue was to get, his co-religionists to put an
end
to the struggle themselves, as the one way of pleasing His Majesty
and
of showing him how groundless were the suspicions aroused in the
minds
of men by the Catholic clergy.
This plan presented, especially
to Baron d’Aygaliers, two apparently
insurmountable difficulties, for it
could only be carried out by
inducing the king to relax his rigorous measures
and by inducing the
Camisards to submit. Now the baron had no connection with
the court, and
was not personally acquainted with a single Huguenot
chief.
The first thing necessary to enable the baron to begin his efforts
was a
passport for Paris, and he felt sure that as he was a Protestant
neither
M. de Baville nor M. de Montrevel would give him one. A lucky
accident,
however, relieved his embarrassment and strengthened his
resolution, for
he thought he saw in this accident the hand of
Providence.
Baron d’Aygaliers found one day at the house of a friend a M.
de
Paratte, a colonel in the king’s army, and who afterwards
became
major-general, but who at the time we are speaking of was commandant
at
Uzes. He was of a very impulsive disposition, and so zealous in
matters
relating to the Catholic religion and in the service of the king,
that
he never could find himself in the presence of a Protestant
without
expressing his indignation at those who had taken up arms against
their
prince, and also those who without taking up arms encouraged the
rebels
in their designs. M. d’Aygaliers understood that an allusion was
meant
to himself, and he resolved to take advantage of it.
So the next
day he paid a visit to M. de Paratte, and instead of
demanding satisfaction,
as the latter quite expected, for the rudeness
of his remarks on the previous
day, he professed himself very much
obliged for what he had said, which had
made such a deep impression on
him that he had made up his mind to give proof
of his zeal and loyalty
by going to Paris and petitioning the king for a
position at court. De
Paratte, charmed with what he had heard, and enchanted
with his convert,
embraced d’Aygaliers, and gave him, says the chronicler,
his blessing;
and with the blessing a passport, and wished him all the
success that a
father could wish for his son. D’Aygaliers had now attained
his object,
and furnished with the lucky safe-conduct, he set out for Paris,
without
having communicated his intentions to anyone, not even to his
mother.
On reaching Paris he put up at a friend’s house, and drew up a
statement
of his plan: it was very short and very clear.
"The
undersigned has the honour to point out humbly to His Majesty:
"That the
severities and the persecutions which have been employed by
some of the
village priests have caused many people in the country
districts to take up
arms, and that the suspicions which new converts
excited have driven a great
many of them to join the insurgents. In
taking this step they were also
impelled by the desire to avoid
imprisonment or removal from their homes,
which were the remedies chosen
to keep them in the old faith. This being the
case, he thinks that the
best means of putting an end to this state of things
would be to take
measures exactly the contrary of those which produced it,
such as
putting an end to the persecutions and permitting a certain number
of
those of the Reformed religion to bear arms, that they might go to
the
rebels and tell them that far from approving of their actions
the
Protestants as a whole wished to bring them back to the right way
by
setting them a good example, or to fight against them in order to
show
the king and France, at the risk of their lives, that they
disapproved
of the conduct of their co-religionists, and that the priests had
been
in the wrong in writing to the court that all those of the
Reformed
religion were in favour of revolt."
D’Aygaliers hoped that
the court would adopt this plan; for if they did,
one of two things must
happen: either the Camisards, by refusing to
accept the terms offered to
them, would make themselves odious to their
brethren (for d’Aygaliers
intended to take with him on his mission of
persuasion only men of high
reputation among the Reformers, who would be
repelled by the Camisards if
they refused to submit), or else; by laying
down their arms and submitting,
they would restore peace to the South of
France, obtain liberty of worship,
set free their brethren from the
prisons and galleys, and come to the help of
the king in his war against
the allied powers, by supplying him in a moment
with a large body of
disciplined troops ready to take the field against his
enemies; for not
only would the Camisards, if they were supplied with
officers, be
available for this purpose, but also those troops which were at
the
moment employed in hunting down the Camisards would be set free for
this
important duty.
This proposition was so clear and promised to
produce such useful
results, that although the prejudice against the
Reformers was very
strong, Baron d’Aygaliers found supporters who were at
once intelligent
and genuine in the Duke de Chevreuse and the Duke de
Montfort, his son.
These two gentlemen brought about a meeting between the
baron and
Chamillard, and the latter presented him to the Marechal de
Villars, to
whom he showed his petition, begging him to bring it to the
notice of
the king; but M. de Villars, who was well acquainted with the
obstinacy
of Louis, who, as Baron de Peken says, "only saw the Reformers
through
the spectacles of Madame de Maintenon," told d’Aygaliers that the
last
thing he should do would be to give the king any hint of his
plans,
unless he wished to see them come to nothing; on the contrary,
he
advised him to go at once to Lyons and wait there for him, M.
de
Villars; for he would probably be passing through that town in a
few
days, being almost certain to be appointed governor of Languedoc
in
place of M. de Montrevel, who had fallen under the king’s
displeasure
and was about to be recalled. In the course of the three
interviews
which d’Aygaliers had had with M. de Villars, he had become
convinced
that de Villars was a man capable of understanding his object;
he
therefore followed his advice, as he believed his knowledge of the
king
to be correct, and left Paris for Lyons.
The recall of M. de
Montrevel had been brought about in the following
manner:—M. de Montrevel
having just come to Uzes, learned that Cavalier
and his troops were in the
neighbourhood of Sainte-Chatte; he
immediately sent M. de La Jonquiere, with
six hundred picked marines and
some companies of dragoons from the regiment
of Saint-Sernin, but half
an hour later, it having occurred to him that these
forces were not
sufficient, he ordered M. de Foix, lieutenant of the dragoons
of
Fimarqon, to join M. de La Jonquiere at Sainte-Chatte with a
hundred
soldiers of his regiment, and to remain with him if he were wanted;
if
not, to return the same night.
M. de Foix gave the necessary
orders, chose a hundred of his bravest
men, put himself at their head,
and joined M. de La Jonquiere,
showing him his orders; but the latter,
confiding in the courage of
his soldiers and unwilling to share with
anyone the glory of a
victory of which he felt assured, not only sent
away M. de Foix,
but begged him to go back to Uzes, declaring to him
that he had
enough troops to fight and conquer all the Camisards whom he
might
encounter; consequently the hundred dragoons whom the
lieutenant
had brought with him were quite useless at Sainte-Chatte,
while on
the contrary they might be very necessary somewhere else. M.
de
Foix did not consider that it was his duty to insist on
remaining
under these circumstances, and returned to Uzes, while M. de
La
Jonquiere continued his route in order to pass the night at
Moussac. Cavalier left the town by one gate just as M. de La
Jonquiere
entered at the other. The wishes of the young Catholic
commander were
thus in a fair way to be fulfilled, for in all
probability he would come
up with his enemy the next day.
As the village was inhabited for the most
part by new converts, the
night instead of being spent in repose was devoted
to pillage.
The next day the Catholic troops reached Moussac, which they
found
deserted, so they went on to Lascours-de-Gravier, a little
village
belonging to the barony of Boucairan, which M. de La Jonquiere gave
up
to pillage, and where he had four Protestants shot—a man, a woman,
and
two young girls. He then resumed his route. As it had rained, he
soon
came on the trail of the Camisards, the terrible game which he
was
hunting down. For three hours he occupied himself in this
pursuit,
marching at the head of his troops, lest someone else less careful
than
he should make some mistake, when, suddenly raising his eyes,
he
perceived the Camisards on a small eminence called Les Devois
de
Maraignargues. This was the spot they had chosen to await attack
in,
being eager for the approaching combat.
As soon as Cavalier saw
the royals advancing, he ordered his men,
according to custom, to offer up
prayers to God, and when these were
finished he disposed his troops for
battle. His plan was to take up
position with the greater part of his men on
the other side of a ravine,
which would thus form a kind of moat between him
and the king’s
soldiers; he also ordered about thirty horsemen to make a
great round,
thus reaching unseen a little wood about two hundred yards to
his left,
where they could conceal themselves; and lastly, he sent to a point
on
the right sixty foot-soldiers chosen from his best marksmen, whom
he
ordered not to fire until the royal forces were engaged in the
struggle
with him.
M. de La Jonquiere having approached to within a
certain distance,
halted, and sent one of his lieutenants named de
Sainte-Chatte to
make a reconnaissance, which he did, advancing beyond
the men in
ambush, who gave no sign of their existence, while the
officer
quietly examined the ground. But Sainte-Chatte was an old
soldier
of fortune and not easily taken in, so on his return,
while
explaining the plan of the ground chosen by Cavalier for
the
disposition of his troops to M. de La Jonquiere, he added that
he
should be very much astonished if the young Camisard had not
employed the little wood on his left and the lie of the ground on
his
right as cover for soldiers in ambush; but M. de La Jonquiere
returned
that the only thing of importance was to know the position
of the
principal body of troops in order to attack it at once.
Sainte-Chatte
told him that the principal body was that which was
before his eyes, and
that on this subject there could be no
mistake; for he had approached
near enough to recognise Cavalier
himself in the front rank.
This
was enough for M. de La Jonquiere: he put himself at the head of
his men and
rode straight to the ravine, beyond which Cavalier and his
comrades awaited
him in order of battle. Having got within a
pistol-shot, M. de La Jonquiere
gave the order to fire, but he was so
near that Cavalier heard the words and
saw the motion made by the men as
they made ready; he therefore gave a rapid
sign to his men, who threw
themselves on their faces, as did their leader,
and the bullets passed
over them without doing any harm M.M. de La Jonquiere,
who believed them
all dead, was astonished when Cavalier and his Camisards
rose up and
rushed upon the royal troops, advancing to the sound of a psalm.
At a
distance of ten paces they fired, and then charged the enemy at
the
point of the bayonet. At this moment the sixty men in ambush to
the
right opened fire, while the thirty horsemen to the left, uttering
loud
shouts, charged at a gallop. Hearing this noise, and seeing
death
approach them in three different directions, the royals
believed
themselves surrounded, and did not attempt to make a stand; the
men,
throwing away their weapons, took to their heels, the officers alone
and
a few dragoons whom they had succeeded in rallying making a
desperate
resistance.
Cavalier was riding over the field of battle,
sabring all the fugitives
whom he met, when he caught sight of a group,
composed of ten naval
officers; standing close together and back to back,
spontoon in hand,
facing the Camisards, who surrounded them. He spurred up to
them,
passing through the ranks of his soldiers, and not pausing till he
was
within fifteen paces of them, although they raised their weapons
to
fire. Then making a sign with his hand that he wished to speak to
them,
he said, "Gentlemen, surrender. I shall give quarter, and in return
for
the ten lives I now spare you, will ask that my father, who is in
prison
at Nimes, be released."
For sole answer, one of the officers
fired and wounded the young chief’s
horse in the head. Cavalier drew a pistol
from his belt, took aim at the
officer and killed him, then turning again to
the others, he asked,
"Gentlemen, are you as obstinate as your comrade, or do
you accept my
offer?" A second shot was the reply, and a bullet grazed his
shoulder.
Seeing that no other answer was to be hoped for, Cavalier turned to
his
soldiers. "Do your duty," said he, and withdrew, to avoid seeing
the
massacre. The nine officers were shot.
M. de La Jonquiere, who
had received a slight wound in the cheek,
abandoned his horse in order
to climb over a wall. On the other
side he made a dragoon dismount and
give him his horse, on which he
crossed the river Gardon, leaving behind
him on the battlefield
twenty-five officers and six hundred soldiers
killed. This defeat
was doubly disastrous to the royal cause, depriving
it of the
flower of its officers, almost all of those who fell belonging
to
the noblest families of France, and also because the
Camisards
gained what they so badly needed, muskets, swords, and
bayonets in
great quantities, as well as eighty horses, these latter
enabling
Cavalier to complete the organisation of a magnificent troop
of
cavalry.
The recall of the Marechal de Montrevel was the
consequence of this
defeat, and M. de Villars, as he had anticipated, was
appointed in his
place. But before giving up his governorship Montrevel
resolved to
efface the memory of the check which his lieutenant’s
foolhardiness had
caused, but for which, according to the rules of war, the
general had to
pay the penalty. His plan was by spreading false rumours and
making
feigned marches to draw the Camisards into a trap in which they,
in
their turn, would be caught. This was the less difficult to
accomplish
as their latest great victory had made Cavalier over confident
both in
himself and his men.
In fact, since the incident connected
with the naval officers the troops
of Cavalier had increased enormously in
numbers, everyone desiring to
serve under so brave a chief, so that he had
now under him over one
thousand infantry and two hundred cavalry; they were
furnished, besides,
just like regular troops, with a bugler for the cavalry,
and eight drums
and a fife for the infantry.
The marechal felt sure
that his departure would be the signal for some
expedition into the level
country under Cavalier, so it was given out
that he had left for Montpellier,
and had sent forward some of his
baggage-waggons to that place. On April 15th
he was informed that
Cavalier, deceived by the false news, had set out on the
16th April,
intending to pass the night at Caveyrac, a small town about a
league
from Nimes, that he might be ready next day to make a descent on
La
Vannage. This news was brought to M. de Montrevel by a village
priest
called Verrien, who had in his pay vigilant and faithful spies in
whom
he had every confidence.
Montrevel accordingly ordered the
commandant of Lunel, M. de Grandval,
to set out the next day, very early in
the morning, with the Charolais
regiment and five companies of the Fimarcon
and Saint-Sernin dragoons,
and to repair to the heights of Boissieres, where
instructions would
await him. Sandricourt, governor of Nimes, was at the same
time directed
to withdraw as many men as possible from the garrison, both
Swiss and
dragoons, and send them by night towards Saint-Come and
Clarensac;
lastly, he himself set out, as he had said, but instead of going
on to
Montpellier, he stopped at Sommieres, whence he could observe
the
movements of Cavalier.
Cavalier, as M. de Montrevel already knew,
was to sleep on the 15th at
Caveyrac. On this day Cavalier reached the
turning-point in his
magnificent career. As he entered the town with his
soldiers, drums
beating and flags flying, he was at the zenith of his power.
He rode the
splendid horse M. de La Jonquiere had abandoned in his flight;
behind
him, serving as page, rode his young brother, aged ten, followed by
four
grooms; he was preceded by twelve guards dressed in red; and as
his
colleague Roland had taken the title of Comte, he allowed himself to
be
called Duke of the Cevennes.
At his approach half of the garrison,
which was commanded by M. de
Maillan, took possession of the church and half
of the citadel; but as
Cavalier was more bent on obtaining food and rest for
his soldiers than
of disturbing the town, he billeted his men on the
townspeople, and
placed sentinels at the church and fortress, who exchanged
shots all the
night through with the royal troops. The next morning, having
destroyed
the fortifications, he marched out of the town again, drums beating
and
flags flying as before. When almost in sight of Nimes he made
his
troops, which had never before been so numerous or so brilliant,
perform
a great many evolutions, and then continued his way towards
Nages.
M. de Montrevel received a report at nine o’clock in the morning
of
the direction Cavalier and his troops had taken, and
immediately
left Sommieres, followed by six companies of Fimarqon
dragoons, one
hundred Irish free-lances, three hundred rank and file of
the
Hainault regiment, and one company each of the Soissonnais,
Charolais, and Menon regiments, forming in all a corps over nine
hundred
strong. They took the direction of Vaunages, above
Clarensac; but
suddenly hearing the rattle of musketry behind them,
they wheeled and
made for Langlade.
They found that Grandval had already encountered the
Camisards. These
being fatigued had withdrawn into a hollow between
Boissieres and the
windmill at Langlade, in order to rest. The infantry lay
down, their
arms beside them; the cavalry placed themselves at the feet of
their
horses, the bridle on arm. Cavalier himself, Cavalier the
indefatigable,
broken by the fatigues of the preceding days, had fallen
asleep, with
his young brother watching beside him. Suddenly he felt himself
shaken
by the arm, and rousing up, he heard on all sides cries of "Kill!
Kill!"
and "To arms! To arms!" Grandval and his men, who had been sent to
find
out where the Camisards were, had suddenly come upon them.
The
infantry formed, the cavalry sprang to their saddles, Cavalier
leaped on his
horse, and drawing his sword, led his soldiers as usual
against the dragoons,
and these, as was also usual, ran away, leaving
twelve of their number dead
on the field. The Camisard cavalry soon gave
up the pursuit, as they found
themselves widely separated from the
infantry and from their leader; for
Cavalier had been unable to keep up
with them, his horse having received a
bullet through its neck.
Still they followed the flying dragoons for a
good hour, from time to
time a wounded dragoon falling from his horse, till
at last the Camisard
cavalry found itself confronted by the Charolais
regiment, drawn up in
battle array, and behind them the royal dragoons, who
had taken refuge
there, and were re-forming.
Carried on by the
rapidity of their course, the Camisards could not pull
up till they were
within a hundred yards of the enemy; they fired once,
killing several, then
turned round and retreated.
When a third of the way, back had been
covered, they met their chief,
who had found a fresh horse by the wayside
standing beside its dead
master. He arrived at full gallop, as he was anxious
to unite his
cavalry and infantry at once, as he had seen the forces of the
marechal
advancing, who, as we have already said, had turned in the direction
of
the firing. Hardly had Cavalier effected the desired junction of
his
forces than he perceived that his retreat was cut off. He had the
royal
troops both before and behind him.
The young chief saw that a
desperate dash to right or left was all that
remained to him, and not knowing
this country as well as the Cevennes,
he asked a peasant the way from
Soudorgues to Nages, that being the only
one by which he could escape. There
was no time to inquire whether the
peasant was Catholic or Protestant; he
could only trust to chance, and
follow the road indicated. But a few yards
from the spot where the road
from Doudorgues to Nages joins the road to Nimes
he found himself in
face of Marechal Montrevel’s troops under the command of
Menon. However,
as they hardly outnumbered the Camisards, these did not stop
to look for
another route, but bending forward in their saddles, they dashed
through
the lines at full gallop, taking the direction of Nages, hoping to
reach
the plain round Calvisson. But the village, the approaches, the
issues
were all occupied by royal troops, and at the same time Grandval and
the
marechal joined forces, while Menon collected his men together
and
pushed forward. Cavalier was completely surrounded: he gave
the
situation a comprehensive glance—his foes, were five to
one.
Rising in his stirrups, so that he could see over every head,
Cavalier
shouted so loud that not only his own men heard but also those of
the
enemy: "My children, if our hearts fail us now, we shall be taken
and
broken on the wheel. There is only one means of safety: we must cut
our
way at full gallop through these people. Follow me, and keep
close
order!"
So speaking, he dashed on the nearest group, followed by
all his men,
who formed a compact mass; round which the three corps of royal
troops
closed. Then there was everywhere a hand-to-hand battle there was
no
time to load and fire; swords flashed and fell, bayonets stabbed,
the
royals and the Camisards took each other by the throat and hair. For
an
hour this demoniac fight lasted, during which Cavalier lost five
hundred
men and slew a thousand of the enemy. At last he won through,
followed
by about two hundred of his troops, and drew a long breath; but
finding
himself in the centre of a large circle of soldiers, he made for
a
bridge, where alone it seemed possible to break through, it being
only
guarded by a hundred dragoons.
He divided his men into two
divisions, one to force the bridge, the
other to cover the retreat. Then he
faced his foes like a wild boar
driven to bay.
Suddenly loud shouts
behind him announced that the bridge was forced;
but the Camisards, instead
of keeping the passage open for their leader,
scattered over the plain and
sought safety in flight. But a child threw
himself before them, pistol in
hand. It was Cavalier’s young brother,
mounted on one of the small wild
horses of Camargues of that Arab breed
which was introduced into Languedoc by
the Moors from Spain. Carrying a
sword and carbine proportioned to his size,
the boy addressed the flying
men. "Where are you going?" he cried, "Instead
of running away like
cowards, line the river banks and oppose the enemy to
facilitate my
brother’s escape." Ashamed of having deserved such reproaches,
the
Camisards stopped, rallied, lined the banks of the river, and by
keeping
up a steady fire, covered Cavalier’s retreat, who crossed without
having
received a single wound, though his horse was riddled with bullets
and
he had been forced to change his sword three times.
Still the
combat raged; but gradually Cavalier managed to retreat: a
plain cut by
trenches, the falling darkness, a wood which afforded
cover, all combined to
help him at last. Still his rearguard, harassed
by the enemy, dotted the
ground it passed over with its dead, until at
last both victors and
vanquished were swallowed up by night. The fight
had lasted ten hours,
Cavalier had lost more than five hundred men, and
the royals about a
thousand.
"Cavalier," says M. de Villars, in his Memoirs, "acted on this
day in a
way which astonished everyone. For who could help being astonished
to
see a nobody, inexperienced in the art of warfare, bear himself in
such
difficult and trying circumstances like some great general? At
one
period of the day he was followed everywhere by a dragoon; Cavalier
shot
at him and killed his horse. The dragoon returned the shot, but
missed.
Cavalier had two horses killed under him; the first time he caught
a
dragoon’s horse, the second time he made one of his own men dismount
and
go on foot."
M. de Montrevel also showed himself to be a gallant
soldier; wherever
there was danger there was he, encouraging officers
and soldiers by
his example: one Irish captain was killed at his side,
another
fatally wounded, and a third slightly hurt. Grandval, on his
part,
had performed miracles: his horse was shot under him, and M.
de
Montrevel replaced it by one of great value, on which he joined
in
the pursuit of the Camisards. After this affair M. de
Montrevel
gave up his place to M. de Villars, leaving word for Cavalier
that
it was thus he took leave of his friends.
Although Cavalier
came out of this battle with honour, compelling even
his enemies to regard
him as a man worthy of their steel, it had
nevertheless destroyed the best
part of his hopes. He made a halt-near
Pierredon to gather together the
remnant of his troops, and truly it was
but a remnant which remained. Of
those who came back the greater number
were without weapons, for they had
thrown them away in their flight.
Many were incapacitated for service by
their wounds; and lastly, the
cavalry could hardly be said to exist any
longer, as the few men who
survived had been obliged to abandon their horses,
in order to get
across the high ditches which were their only cover from the
dragoons
during the flight.
Meantime the royalists were very active,
and Cavalier felt that it would
be imprudent to remain long at Pierredon, so
setting out during the
night, and crossing the Gardon, he buried himself in
the forest of
Hieuzet, whither he hoped his enemies would not venture to
follow him.
And in fact the first two days were quiet, and his troops
benefited
greatly by the rest, especially as they were able to draw stores of
all
kinds—wheat, hay, arms, and ammunition—from an immense cave which
the
Camisards had used for a long time as a magazine and arsenal.
Cavalier
now also employed it as a hospital, and had the wounded carried
there,
that their wounds might receive attention.
Unfortunately,
Cavalier was soon obliged to quit the forest, in spite of
his hopes of being
left in peace; for one day on his way back from a
visit to the wounded in the
cave, whose existence was a secret, he came
across a hundred miquelets who
had penetrated thus far, and who would
have taken him prisoner if he had not,
with his, accustomed presence of
mind and courage, sprung from a rock twenty
feet high. The miquelets
fired at him, but no bullet reached him. Cavalier
rejoined his troops,
but fearing to attract the rest of the royalists to the
place,—retreated
to some distance from the cave, as it was of the utmost
importance that
it should not be discovered, since it contained all his
resources.
Cavalier had now reached one of those moments when Fortune,
tired of
conferring favours, turns her back on the favourite. The royalists
had
often noticed an old woman from the village of Hieuzet going towards
the
forest, sometimes carrying a basket in her hand, sometimes with a
hamper
on her head, and it occurred to them that she was supplying the
hidden
Camisards with provisions. She was arrested and brought before
General
Lalande, who began his examination by threatening that he would have
her
hanged if she did not at once declare the object of her
frequent
journeys to the forest without reserve. At first she made use of
all
kinds of pretexts, which only strengthened the suspicions of
Lalande,
who, ceasing his questions, ordered her to be taken to the gallows
and
hanged. The old woman walked to the place of execution with such a
firm
step that the general began to think he would get no information
from
her, but at the foot of the ladder her courage failed. She asked to
be
taken back before the general, and having been promised her life,
she
revealed everything.
M. de Lalande put himself at once at the
head of a strong detachment
of miquelets, and forced the woman to walk
before them till they
reached the cavern, which they never would have
discovered without
a guide, so cleverly was the entrance hidden by rocks
and
brushwood. On entering, the first thing that met their eye was
the
wounded, about thirty in number. The miquelets threw
themselves
upon them and slaughtered them. This deed accomplished, they
went
farther into the cave, which to their great surprise contained
a
thousand things they never expected to find there—heaps of
grain,
sacks of flour, barrels of wine, casks of brandy, quantities
of
chestnuts and potatoes; and besides all this, chests
containing
ointments, drugs and lint, and lastly a complete arsenal
of
muskets, swords, and bayonets, a quantity of powder ready-made,
and
sulphur, saltpetre, and charcoal-in short, everything necessary
for
the manufacture of more, down to small mills to be turned by
hand.
Lalande kept his word: the life of an old woman was not too much
to
give in return for such a treasure.
Meantime M. de Villars, as
he had promised, took up Baron d’Aygaliers in
passing through Lyons, so that
during the rest of the journey the
peacemaker had plenty of time to expatiate
on his plans. As M. de
Villars was a man of tact and a lover of justice, and
desired above all
things to bring a right spirit to bear on the performance
of the duties
of his new office, in which his two predecessors had failed, he
promised
the baron "to keep," as he expressed himself, his "two ears open"
and
listen to both sides, and as a first proof of impartiality—he refused
to
give any opinion until he had heard M. de Julien, who was coming to
meet
him at Tournon.
When they arrived at Tournon, M. de Julien was
there to receive them,
and had a very different story to tell from that which
M. de Villars had
heard from d’Aygaliers. According to him, the only pacific
ration
possible was the complete extermination of the Camisards. He
felt
himself very hardly treated in that he had been allowed to destroy
only
four hundred villages and hamlets in the Upper Cevennes,—assuring
de
Villars with the confidence of a man who had studied the
matter
profoundly, that they should all have been demolished without
exception,
and all the peasants killed to the last man.
So it came to
pass that M. de Villars arrived at Beaucaire placed like
Don Juan between the
spirits of good and evil, the one advising clemency
and the other murder. M.
de Villars not being able to make up his mind,
on reaching Nimes, d’Aygaliers
assembled the principal Protestants of
the town, told them of his plan,
showing them its practicability, so
that also joined in the good work, and
drew up a document in which they
asked the marechal to allow them to take up
arms and march against the
rebels, as they were determined either to bring
them back into the good
way by force of example or to fight them as a proof
of their loyalty.
This petition, which was signed by several nobles and
by almost all the
lawyers and merchants of the city of Nimes, was presented
to M. de
Villars on Tuesday, 22nd April, 1704, by M. de Albenas, at the head
of
seven or eight hundred persons of the Reformed religion. M. de
Villars
received the request kindly, thanked its bearer and those
who
accompanied him, assuring them that he had no doubt of the sincerity
of
their professions, and that if he were in want of help he would
have
recourse to them with as much confidence as if they were old
Catholics.
He hoped, however, to win the rebels back by mildness, and he
begged
them to second his efforts in this direction by spreading abroad
the
fact that an amnesty was offered to all those who would lay down
arms
and return to their houses within a week. The very next day but one,
M.
de Villars set out from Nimes to visit all the principal towns, in
order
to make himself acquainted with men, things, and
places. |
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