Battle of Saumur (1793)

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Thouars
partof=the War in the Vendée


caption=
date=9 June, 1793
place=Saumur, France
result=Royalist victory
combatant1=flagicon|France French Republic
combatant2=flagicon|France|royal French Royalists
commander1=Jacques-Francois Menou
commander2=Jacques Cathelineau
strength1=12 000
strength2=30 000
casualties1=400 - 1 500 killed, 3 000 captured
casualties2=100 - 400 killed The Battle of Saumur was a battle during the Vendee Revolt. It occurred in the town of Saumur on 9 June 1793.

As at the battle of Thouars, the Republican prisoners were released after swearing not to fight again in the Vendée and having had their hair shaved off so they could be recognised lest they went back on their word and were recaptured. In the prison at Saumur, the Vendéens found general Pierre Quétineau who had been taken prisoner after his defeat at Thouars. General Lescure, knowing that his defeated opponent was under threat of a sentence of death from the revolutionary court, proposed to the republican general to remain among the royalists but not have to fight for them. Pierre Quétineau refused out of conviction, realising that even if he was safe the revolutionary court could instead punish his family if was seen to be siding with the counter-revolutionaries, and returned to republican territory. There he was arrested and condemned to death for being defeated, as later was his wife.

Shortly after this battle, Cathelineau was elected generalisimo of the Catholic and Royal Army.

ources

* [http://perso.orange.fr/saumur-jadis/index.html Saumur jadis]