François de Charette
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François Athanase de Charette de la Contrie (May 2, 1763 - March 26, 1796) was a French soldier and politician, one on the leaders of the bloody Revolt in the Vendée. His relative Athanase-Charles-Marie Charette de la Contrie was a noted military leader.
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[edit] Life
[edit] Early activities
A nobleman born in Couffé, arrondissement of Ancenis, Charette served in the French Navy under Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte, notably during the American War of Independence, and became lieutenant de vaisseau. He quit the Navy in 1789 and emigrated to Koblenz (Trier) in 1792 (a common move for royalist aristocrats). He soon returned to France to live at his property in La Garnache, and became one of those defending King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette from physical harm during the mob attack on Tuileries Palace (the Journée du 10 août); arrested in Angers, he was released through the intervention of Charles François Dumouriez.
[edit] Insurrection
In 1793, the Revolt in the Vendée against the First French Republic broke out, and the peasant fighters asked Charette to be their leader. He joined Jacques Cathelineau and fought in most of the battles of the Armée catholique et royale. After the parting of the Vendean leaders in september 1793, he and his men retreated. He became the leader of the Lower Vendée, and successfully used guerilla warfare against the Republican troops, even managing to capture a Republican camp in Saint-Christophe-du-Ligneron, near Challans, but ran out of supplies and was decisively attacked by the troops of Nicolas Haxo.
[edit] Defeat
On the February 17, 1795, near Vertou, Charette signed a peace treaty with the emissaries of the National Convention, which included freedom of religion guarantees and excluded local peasants from the levée en masse. He broke his parole and took back to fighting in July to help the invasion by emigrated aristocrats in Quiberon, with assistance from the British.
The Count of Artois made him Lieutenant General, but refused to lead the Royal Army. Charette later refused to join the liberal Orléanists. Pursued by General Lazare Hoche, he was defeated in Quiberon; wounded, he was captured and executed by firing squad in Nantes.
[edit] References
- Anne Bernet, Charette, Perrin, 2005
- Michel de Saint-Pierre, Monsieur de Charette, La Table Ronde, 1977
