In 1795, after the failure of the Quiberon Expedition, part of the royalist Chouannerie rebellion, and the surrender of the Armée des émigrés ordered by Sombreuil on 21 July, most prisoners were transferred to Auray. After a summary trial by a military commission made up of citizens of the town, 750 people were shot and buried in a meadow in Brech on the western shore of the Loch, now called the "Champ des martyrs" (). In 1829, their bones were exhumed and deposited in the vault of a memorial chapel at the Auray monastery.