BATTLE // October 11, 1793

Second Battle of Châtillon

Name: Second Battle of Châtillon
Start: 1793-10-11
End: 1793-10-11
Location: Second Battle of Châtillon

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Significance

At Châtillon-sur-Sèvre, Royalist Vendean forces under Lescure and Bonchamps routed a Republican column of 20,000 men drawn from the Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle. The defeat of so large a Republican force demonstrated the continued capacity of the Vendean insurgency to repel conventional military pressure in the autumn of 1793. However, the engagement was followed that night by a Westermann-led raid on the Royalist encampment that inflicted severe losses on rebel fighters and non-combatants before being repelled, complicating any straightforward Royalist claim to the field. The Vendeans subsequently withdrew toward Mortagne-sur-Sèvre, and the Republican commander René François Lecomte died of wounds sustained in the battle, underscoring the cost of the engagement on both sides.

Tactics

The Republican column under Chalbos was attacked and routed by the Vendean forces. Following the main engagement, a smaller Republican force of a few hundred men under Westermann conducted a night raid on the Royalist encampment, inflicting casualties among fighters and non-combatants before being killed or driven off.