page_title: Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle
section_title: Operations of Rossignol
hierarchical_section_title: Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle / History / Operations of Rossignol
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Général Rossignol (1759-1802)
context_page_description: The Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle was an army of the French Revolution which was created on 30 April 1793 and responsible for defending a region from the mouth of the Loire River south to the Gironde. Despite its relatively short existence, the army fought numerous battles during the War in the Vendée including Thouars, Fontenay-le-Comte, Saumur, First Châtillon, Vihiers, Luçon, Chantonnay, Coron and Saint-Fulgent. Many of the battles resulted in Republican defeats at the hands of the Vendean Royalists. Of the two principal army commanders, Armand Louis de Gontaut, Duke of Biron was dismissed and later executed by guillotine while Jean Antoine Rossignol was a political appointee who was generally acknowledged to be incompetent. The army was absorbed by the Army of the West on 5 October 1793.
context_section_description: After Biron's recall, La Barolière led the right wing while Chalbos led the left wing between 16 and 31 July 1793. In the south, Augustin Tuncq held Luçon and Chalbos defended Fontenay. Tuncq raided Chantonnay on 25 July, torching the town and wrecking supplies before marching back to Luçon. Reacting to this event, Royrand and Elbée attacked Luçon with 12,000 to 15,000 rebels on 30 July but were driven off. Finally, the Committee of Public Safety named Jean Antoine Rossignol as Biron's replacement. When Rossignol first arrived at Niort with the 35th Legion of Gendarmes he announced that he and his men would not fight the rebels unless they outnumbered them six to four. In disgust, Biron unbuckled his sword remarking to the representatives that he would not lead such cowards. Nevertheless, the politically potent Rossignol was promoted lieutenant colonel on 9 April. Arrested by Westermann for urging a battalion to mutiny and sent to Paris, he was sent back and rushed through the grades of rank, emerging as general of division on 15 July. Hearing of his appointment as commander-in-chief, Rossignol's wife rushed to the Convention and assured the deputies that her husband was totally unfit for the post.
  Rossignol celebrated his promotion by looting the hotel in Fontenay where he was staying and giving the women's clothing to the whores who traveled with him and his staff. He also stole Biron's horses. For these and other crimes, the representatives on mission suspended him from command on 22 August and set him to Paris. In the Convention, Jean-Lambert Tallien defended him, "it is not a question whether Rossignol drinks, whether he pillages, but whether the commissioners have the right to dismiss him." Tallien later explained that he was delighted to replace the Duke of Biron by someone from a class that the nobles scorned. With the approval of Maximilien Robespierre, Rossignol was sent back to the army in triumph.
  On 12 August 1793 Vendeans under Charette, Elbée and Lescure joined Royrand's men at Chantonnay. Warned by his scouts, Tuncq arranged 9,000 troops and 31 guns on the hills outside Luçon. In the Battle of Luçon on 14 August 1793, between 14,000 and 35,000 rebels attacked the Republicans on an open plain unfavorable to Vendean tactics. Because the three assaulting columns were poorly coordinated, the Royalists were beaten with losses of 1,500 men and 18 field pieces. Tuncq occupied Chantonnay but soon returned to Luçon, leaving René François Lecomte and Marceau in charge of 7,000 troops in an exposed position. Back in army command Rossignol made the rounds of his divisions, rebuking his generals for not cooperating. He ordered the Luçon division to sweep the country to the west and keep touch with the Sables d'Olonne division. He also ordered Chalbos to capture La Châtaigneraie. On 2 September a council of war at Saumur decided to reinforce Canclaux's army with 16,000 veterans from the Army of Mainz under Jean-Baptiste Annibal Aubert du Bayet and make the main thrust into the Vendée from Nantes. Significantly, du Bayet's officers refused to serve under the political appointee Rossignol. The arrival of Canclaux's army at Legé around 11–13 September would be the signal for the six divisions of the La Rochelle army to advance. However, the result of a battle would throw these plans out of joint. On 5 September 1793, 20,000 Whites smashed 8,000 Blues in the Battle of Chantonnay inflicting 4,000 casualties for the loss of only 500 men. Another authority asserted that the Vendeans had 25,000 men and 21 guns, and that only 2,500 of the 7,000 Republicans escaped the defeat.
  In the September invasion, the Vendean leaders utilized the strategy of the central position to concentrate upon each of the isolated Republican divisions that attempted to invade the area of rebellion. Though Rossignol agreed to cooperate with the 2 September plan, the defeat at Chantonnay made him change his mind. He ordered Chalbos to pull back to Fontenay and the Luçon division, now under Louis Paul Beffroy, to return to Luçon. At the same time he fool
caption: Jean Rossignol
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