page_title: Henri de la Rochejaquelein
section_title: Final months
hierarchical_section_title: Henri de la Rochejaquelein / Biography / Final months
context_page_description: Henri du Vergier, comte de la Rochejaquelein was the youngest general of the Royalist Vendéan insurrection during the French Revolution. A commander-in-chief of the Catholic and Royal Army at the age of 21, he is regarded as one of the most courageous officers in French military history.
context_section_description: On 20 October, De la Rochejaquelein was unanimously elected as commander-in-chief of the Catholic and Royal Army, replacing D'Elbée who had been severely wounded in Cholet. However, his bravery did not compensate for his lack of experience and strategic skills. He marched onto Granville, took Avranches on 12 November but failed to seize Granville and retreated to Angers in order to cross the Loire.
  Larger forces under François Séverin Marceau, Jean Baptiste Kléber, and François Joseph Westermann gave chase, defeating him once in Le Mans on 12 December and again, more severely, on 23 December in Savenay. After this decisive rout, the Catholic and Royal Army was no longer a fighting force; De la Rochejacquelein had to take to the woods disguised as a peasant. He managed to save the remains of his army by crossing the Loire, and left under the criticism of his fellow companions.
  While trying to pursue a guerrilla war against the Republicans, he was killed by a Republican soldier near Nuaillé on 28 January 1794. On a reconnaissance mission he had spotted two Republican soldiers who pretended to surrender to him, but then shot him in the forehead. His brother Louis became the head of the royalists in Vendée in 1813 and furthered the royalist cause there during the Hundred Days period. He fell in battle at Pont-de-Mathis on 4 June 1815.
caption: The Death of Henri de La Rochejaquelein, painting by Alexandre Bloch
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