Marthe was filled with grief, when she heard that it had been
decided that it was better that she should return to her native
village; but her mistress pointed out to her that, if all went
well, she could rejoin them. If things went badly, and they
escaped, they would send for her wherever they might be; but in
case disaster compelled them to fly, three persons were as many as
could hope to travel together, without exciting suspicion. The
nurse however begged that, at any rate, she might go with them to
the headquarters of the army.
"Everyone is going," she said; "and they say that, if we are beaten
in the next battle, they will cross the Loire and take refuge in
Brittany, for the Blues will not leave a soul alive in La Vendee. I
should have nowhere to go to here, and will keep with the others,
whatever happens. If you are with them, madame, I can rejoin you;
if not, I hope to be with you, afterward."
It was indeed an exodus, rather than the gathering of an army, that
was taking place. The atrocities committed by the invaders, the
destruction of every village, the clouds of smoke which ascended
from the burning woods, created so terrible a scare among the
peasants that the greater portion of the villages and farms were
entirely deserted, and every road leading to Chollet, which was the
rendezvous where the fighting men were ordered to gather, was
crowded with fugitives. Francois walked by the horse's head.
Patsey, the nurse, and the child, with a trunk containing articles
of absolute necessity, occupied the cart. Jean and Leigh rode
ahead.
The company of Cathelineau's scouts no longer existed. More than
half of them had fallen in the late battles. Their services were no
longer required as scouts, and the survivors had joined their
fathers and brothers, and formed part of the command of Bonchamp.
On the fourteenth of October the enemy's columns were closing in
upon Chollet. Those round Mortagne were marching forward, when the
advanced guard, under General Beaupuy, were suddenly attacked by
the Vendeans, while entangled in the lanes. The head of the column
fought well; but those in the rear, finding themselves also
attacked, and fearing that the retreat would be cut off, retired
hastily to Mortagne. The column would have been destroyed, had not
Beaupuy promptly sent up large reinforcements. After a long and
obstinate fight the Vendeans were driven from the woods and, the
Republican artillery opening upon them, they were compelled to
retire to Chollet.
Here no halt was made. Kleber had also been fiercely attacked, but
had also, though with much difficulty, repulsed his assailants. The
next morning the Republicans entered Chollet, which they found
deserted by the enemy.
On the seventeenth, their whole force being now concentrated there,
they were about to move forward towards Beaupreau; when the
advanced guard was hotly attacked and, in a short time, the combat
became general. For a time the Vendeans bore down all opposition,
but as the whole of the Republican force came into action, their
advance was arrested.
The battle began soon after one o'clock. It raged without
intermission till nightfall. No decisive advantage had been gained
on either side, and the result was still doubtful, when a panic
took place among the multitude of noncombatants in the rear of the
Vendeans. The cry was raised, "To the Loire!"
The panic spread. In vain the leaders and their officers galloped
backwards and forwards, endeavouring to restore confidence, and
shouted to the men that victory was still in their grasp. In the
darkness and din they could only be heard by those immediately
round them, and even these they failed to reanimate; and the men
who had for seven hours fought, as Kleber himself reported, like
tigers, lost heart.
Lescure had fallen in the fighting on the fourteenth. Bonchamp and
d'Elbee were both desperately wounded at the battle at Chollet, and
were carried off by their men. La Rochejaquelein, with whom Jean
Martin and Leigh were riding, had made almost superhuman efforts to
check the panic; and they fell back, almost broken hearted, with a
band of peasants, who held together to the last. On the previous
day Leigh had escorted Patsey to Beaupreau, and it was to this town
that the fugitives made their way, arriving there at midnight.
"Thank God that you are both alive!" Patsey said, bursting into
tears as her husband entered the room in which she was established.
"We can hardly believe it ourselves," Jean said. "It has been a
terrible day, indeed. Our men fought nobly, and I firmly believe
that we should have won the day, had not an unaccountable panic set
in. What caused it I know not. We were doing well everywhere, and
had begun to drive them back and, could we have fought on for
another half hour it was likely that, as usual, a panic would have
seized them.
"However, Patsey, they would have gathered again stronger than ever,
and it must have come to the same thing, in the long run. Now put on
your disguise, at once. We will lie down for two hours, and see you
off before daybreak. I do not know whether la Rochejaquelein, who
must now be considered in command, since d'Elbee and Bonchamp are
both desperately wounded, will gather a force to act as a rearguard.
If so we must stay with him; but I do not think that even his influence
would suffice to hold any considerable body of peasants together. All
have convinced themselves that there is safety in Brittany.
"At any rate, the enemy will need a day's rest before they pursue.
They must have suffered quite as heavily as we have."
The night, however, was not to pass quietly. At two o'clock two
officers, who had remained as piquets, rode into the town with news
that Westermann's division, which had marched through Moulet and
had taken no part in the action, was approaching. The horn sounded
the alarm, and the fugitives started up and renewed their flight.
Marthe could not be left behind now, nor did the others desire it;
and until they had crossed the Loire there could be no separation,
for the whole country would swarm, in forty-eight hours, with
parties of the enemy, hunting down and slaying those who had taken
refuge in the woods.
Jean and Leigh had lain down in the cart, to prevent any of the
fugitives seizing it. The two women and the child were hurried
down, and took their places in it. Francois, who had escaped, had
fortunately found them; and took the reins, and the journey was
continued.
There was no pursuit. It was only a portion of Westermann's force
that had arrived, and these were so exhausted and worn out, by the
length of their march and by the fact that they had been unable to
obtain food by the way, that they threw themselves down when they
reached the town, incapable of marching a mile farther.
At Beaupreau there had been no fewer than five thousand Republican
prisoners, kept under guard. On the arrival of the routed Vendeans,
the peasants, as a last act of retaliation, would have slain them;
but Bonchamp, who was at the point of death, ordered them to be set
free.
"It is the last order that I shall ever give," he said to the
peasants assembled round his litter. "Surely you will not disobey
me, my children."
The order was obeyed, and the prisoners were at once sent off; and
as the Republican column marched out from Chollet, the next day,
they encountered on the road their liberated comrades. The
sentiments with which the commissioners of the Convention were
animated is evidenced by the fact that one of them declared, in a
letter to the commander-in-chief of the army, that the release of
these prisoners by the Vendeans was a regrettable affair; and
recommended that no mention, whatever, should be made of it in the
despatches to Paris, lest this act of mercy by the insurgents
should arouse public opinion to insist upon a cessation of the
measures that had been taken for the annihilation of the Vendeans.
The fugitives, a vast crowd of over one hundred thousand men,
women, and children, reached Saint Florent without coming in
contact with the enemy. The Republican generals, indeed, had no
idea that the peasants had any intention of quitting their beloved
country; and imagined that they would disperse to their homes
again, and that there remained only the task of hunting them down.
A company had been left on a hill which commanded Saint Florent,
but they had no idea of being attacked, and had not even taken the
precaution of removing the boats across the river.
As soon as they arrived, the Vendeans attacked the post with fury,
and captured it. Twenty boats were found, and the crossing was
effected with no little difficulty. There were still two or three
thousand, principally women and children, to be taken over, when a
party of Republican dragoons arrived. Numbers of the women and
children were massacred; but the great bulk, flying precipitately,
regained the country beyond the heights of Saint Florent, and took
refuge in the woods.
The multitude were, for the present, safe. There was no strong
force of the enemy between Nantes and Saumur, and they halted for
the night, dispirited, worn out, and filled with grief. They had
left their homes and all they cared for behind. They were in a
strange country, without aim or purpose, their only hope being that
the Bretons would rise and join them--a poor hope, since the
terrible vengeance that had been taken on La Vendee could not but
strike terror throughout Brittany, also.
Jean Martin and Leigh had seen Patsey and the nurse placed in one
of the first boats that crossed.
"Do not go far from the spot where you land," they said. "We shall
stay here, until all is over. If the Blues come up before all have
crossed, we shall swim across with our horses; be under no
uneasiness about us."
Taking the horse out of the shafts of the cart, and putting a
saddle that they had brought with them on its back, they left the
three animals in charge of Francois; and then aided other officers
to keep order among the crowd, and to prevent them from pressing
into the boats, as they returned from the other bank, in such
numbers as to sink them. All day the work went on quietly and
regularly, until so comparatively few remained that hope became
strong that all would cross, before any of the enemy arrived.
That hope was destroyed when, suddenly, the enemy's cavalry
appeared at the edge of the slope, and came galloping down. The
officers in vain tried to get the few men that remained to make a
stand. They were too dispirited to attempt to do so, and the little
throng broke up and fled, some one way, some another.
Fortunately an empty boat had just returned, and into this the
other officers leapt; while Jean, with his two companions, led the
horses into the water. They had already linked the reins. Francois
was unable to swim but, at Jean's order, he took hold of the tail
of the horse in the middle; while Jean and Leigh swam by the heads
of the two outside horses, and without difficulty the other side
was gained. Patsey, who had had her eye fixed upon them all day,
was standing at the spot where they landed.
They were near the town of Ancenis, and a portion of the Vendeans
entered the place, which was wholly undefended. The inhabitants
were in abject terror, thinking that the town would be sacked; and
were surprised to find that the peasants did no one any harm, and
were ready to pay for anything that they required. So long, indeed,
as any money whatever remained, the Vendeans paid scrupulously.
When it was all expended, the chiefs did the only thing in their
power, issuing notes promising to pay; and although these had no
value, save in the good faith of the Vendeans, they were received
by the Bretons as readily as the assignats of the Republic--which,
indeed, like the notes of the Vendeans, were never destined to be
paid.
Had the army plunged into Brittany after the capture of Saumur,
there can be no doubt that the peasantry would everywhere have
risen; but coming as fugitives and exiles, they were a warning
rather than a source of enthusiasm; and although small numbers of
peasants joined them, the accession of force was very trifling.
Jean Martin, his wife, and Leigh held an anxious consultation that
evening. They had found a poor lodging, after attending a meeting
of the leaders, at which la Rochejaquelein had been unanimously
elected commander-in-chief; Bonchamp having died, while d'Elbee,
wounded to death, had been left at the cottage of a Breton peasant,
who promised to conceal him. The young soldier had accepted the
fearful responsibility with the greatest reluctance. He, and those
around him, saw plainly enough that the only hope of escape from
annihilation was the landing of a British force to their
assistance. Unhappily, however, England had not as yet awoke to the
tremendous nature of the struggle that was going on. Her army was a
small one; and her fleet, as yet, had not attained the dimensions
that were, before many years, to render her the unquestioned
mistress of the seas.
The feeling that the Revolution was the fruit of centuries of
oppression; and that, terrible as were the excesses committed in
the name of liberty, the cause of the Revolution was still the
cause of the peoples of Europe, had created a party sufficiently
powerful to hamper the ministry. Moreover, the government was badly
informed in every respect by its agents in France, and had no idea
of the extent of the rising in La Vendee, or how nobly the people
there had been defending themselves against the whole force of
France. It is not too much to say that had England, at this time,
landed twenty thousand troops in Brittany or La Vendee, the whole
course of events in Europe would have been changed. The French
Revolution would have been crushed before it became formidable to
Europe, and countless millions of money and millions of lives would
have been saved.
Throughout France there was a considerable portion of the
population who would have rejoiced in the overthrow of the
Republic, for even in the large towns its crimes had provoked
reaction. Toulon had opened its gates to the English. Lyons was in
arms against the Republic. Normandy's discontent was general, and
its peasantry would have joined those of Brittany and La Vendee,
had there been but a fair prospect of success.
England, however, did nothing, but stood passive until the
peasantry of La Vendee were all but exterminated; and indeed, added
to their misfortunes by promising aid that never was sent, and thus
encouraging them to maintain a resistance that added to the
exasperation of their enemies, and to their own misfortunes and
sufferings.
"What are we going to do?" Patsey asked, as her husband and Leigh
returned from the meeting.
"That is more than anyone can say," Jean replied. "We shall, for
the present, move north. We are like a flight of locusts. We must
move since we must eat, and no district could furnish subsistence
for eighty thousand people, for more than a day or two.
"There can be no doubt that the impulse to cross the Loire was a
mad one. On the other side we at least knew the country, and it
would have been far better to have died fighting, there, than to
throw ourselves across the river. It was well nigh a miracle that
we got across, and it will need nothing short of a miracle to get
us back again.
"Of one thing we may be sure: the whole host of our enemies will,
by this time, be in movement. We should never have got across, had
they dreamed that such was our intention. Now that we have done it,
you may be sure that they will strain every effort to prevent us
from returning. Probably, by this time, half their forces are
marching to cross at Nantes. The other half are pressing on to
Saumur. In three or four days they will be united again, and will
be between us and the river.
"Were we a smaller body, were we only men, I should say that we
ought to march another twenty miles north, then sweep round either
east or west and, while the enemy followed the north bank of the
river to effect a junction, we should march all night without a
halt, pass them, and hurl ourselves either upon Saumur or Nantes,
and so return to La Vendee. But with such a host as this, there
would be little hope of success. I fancy that we shall march to
Laval, and there halt for a day or two. By that time the whole
force of the enemy will have come up, and there will be another
battle."
"And we, Jean?"
"I see nothing but for us to march with them. We know nothing of
the movements of the enemy and, were we to try to make our way
across the country, we might run into their arms. Besides, Leigh
and I have both agreed that, at present at least, we cannot leave
Rochejaquelein."
"We could not, indeed, Patsey," Leigh broke in. "If you had seen
him this evening when, with tears in his eyes, he accepted our
choice, you would feel as we do. It was all very well for us,
before, to talk of making off; but now that the worst has happened,
if it were only for his sake, I should stay by him; though I think
that Jean, with the responsibility of you and your child, would be
justified in going."
"No," Patsey said firmly, "whatever comes, we will stay together.
As Jean said, you cannot desert the cause now. As long as there are
battles to fight we must stay with them, and it is not until
further fighting has become impossible that we, like others, must
endeavour to shift for ourselves."
"Well spoken, Patsey!" her husband said. "That must be our course.
So long as the Vendeans hang together, with Rochejaquelein at their
head, we must remain true to the cause that we have taken up. When
once again the army becomes a mass of fugitives we can, without
loss of honour, and a clear consciousness that we have done our
duty to the end, think of our safety. I grant that, if one could
find a safe asylum for you and our Louis in the cottage of some
Breton peasant--"
"No, no!" she interrupted, "that I would never consent to. We will
remain together, Jean, come what may. If all is lost, I will ask
you to put a pistol to my head. I would a thousand times rather die
so than fall into the hands of the Blues, and either be slaughtered
mercilessly, or thrown into one of their prisons to linger, until
the guillotine released me."
"I agree with you in that, Patsey. Well, we will regard the matter
as settled. As long as the army hangs together, so long will we
remain with it; after that we will carry out the plans we talked
over, and make for the coast by the way which seems most open to
us."
The next day was spent, by Rochejaquelein and his officers, in
going about among the peasants. They did not disguise from these
the extreme peril of the position, but they pointed out that it was
only by holding together, and by defeating the Blues whenever they
attacked them, that they could hope for safety.
"It was difficult to cross the Loire before," they said; "it will
be tenfold more difficult now. Every boat will have been taken over
to the other side, and you may be sure that strong bodies of the
enemy will have been posted, all along the banks, to prevent our
returning. You have fought well before. You must fight even better
in future, for there is no retreat, no home to retire to. Your
lives, and those of the women and children with you, depend upon
your being victorious. You have beaten the Blues almost every time
that you have met them. You would have beaten them last time, had
not a sort of madness seized you. It was not we who led you across
the Loire; you have chosen to come, and we have followed you.
"At any rate, it is better to die fighting, for God and country,
than to be slaughtered unresistingly by these murderers. You saw
how they fell upon the helpless ones who were unable to cross with
us; how they murdered women and children, although there was no
resistance, nothing to excite their anger. If you die, you die as
martyrs to your faith and loyalty, and no man could wish for a
better death.
"All is not lost, yet. Defeat the Blues, and Brittany may yet rise;
besides, we are promised aid from England. At any rate, La Vendee
has been true to herself through over six months of terrible
struggle. La Vendee may perish. Let the world see that she has been
true to herself, to the end."
The fugitive priests with the army seconded the efforts of the
officers and, by nightfall, a feeling of resolution and hope
succeeded the depression caused by the terrible events of the
preceding thirty-six hours; and it was with an air of calmness and
courage that the march was recommenced, on the following morning.
The instant that it became known that the Vendeans had crossed the
Loire, a panic seized the Republicans at Nantes; and messengers
were sent to implore the commander-in-chief to march with all haste
to aid them should, as they believed, the Vendeans be marching to
assail the town. Kleber with his division started at once, followed
more slowly by the main body of the army.
Another column advanced to Saint Florent and, obtaining boats,
crossed the river and entered Angers; to the immense relief of the
Republicans there, who had been in a state of abject terror at the
presence, so near them, of the Vendeans. Kleber marched with great
rapidity, passed through Nantes without stopping, and established
himself at the camp of Saint Georges.
The news of what was termed the glorious victory at
Chollet--although in point of fact the Republicans fell back, after
the battle, to that town--caused the greatest enthusiasm in Paris,
and the Convention and the Republican authorities issued
proclamations, which were unanimous in exhorting the army to pursue
and exterminate the Vendeans.
By the twenty-third, the whole of the French army was in readiness
to march in pursuit. Kleber was still in the camp of Saint Georges,
Chalbos was at Nantes with a corps d'armee, Beaupuy was at Angers.
The Vendeans had marched through Cande and Chateau-Gontier, and had
without difficulty driven out the Republican force stationed at
Laval. L'Echelle, the commander-in-chief, was profoundly ignorant,
supine, and cowardly; and owed his position solely to the fact that
he belonged to the lower class, and was not, like Biron and the
other commanders-in-chief, of good family. Remaining always at a
distance from the scene of operations, he confused the generals of
divisions by contradictory orders, which vied with each other in
their folly.
On the twenty-fourth, Kleber marched to Ancenis, and on the following
day he, Beaupuy, and Westermann arrived at Chateau-Gontier. Canuel's
division from Saint Florent had not yet come up. The troops were
already tired, but Westermann who, as Kleber in his report said, was
always anxious to gain glory and bring himself into prominence,
insisted on pushing forward at once; and prevailed over the more
prudent counsel of the others, as he was the senior officer.
When they approached Laval, Westermann sent a troop of cavalry
forward to reconnoitre. He was not long before he came upon some
Vendean outposts. These he charged, and drove in towards the town.
No sooner did they arrive there than the bells of the churches
pealed out. It was now midnight but, before the army could form
into order, the Vendeans poured out upon them, guided by the shouts
of the Republican officers, who were endeavouring to get their
troops into order. The combat was desperate and sanguinary. The
peasants, fighting with the fury of despair, threw themselves
recklessly upon the Republican troops; whose cannon were not yet in
a position to come into action, and whose infantry, in the
darkness, fired at random. Fighting in the dark, discipline availed
but little. Kleber's veterans, however, preserved their coolness,
and for a time the issue was doubtful.
Had Westermann's cavalry done their duty, victory might still have
inclined towards them; but instead of charging when ordered, they
turned tail and, riding through a portion of their infantry, spread
disorder among them. Westermann, seeing that it was hopeless to
endeavour to retrieve the confusion, ordered a retreat; and the
army fell back to Chateau-Gontier, where they arrived in the course
of the day. Here they found the commander-in-chief who,
disregarding the exhausting march the troops had already
accomplished, and their loss of spirit after their defeat, ordered
them to return to Vihiers, halfway to Laval.
It was nightfall when they reached this place, but Westermann
pushed the advanced guard some two leagues farther. Kleber, seeing
the extreme danger of the position, refused to advance beyond
Vihiers; and sent orders to Danican, who commanded the advanced
guard, to fall back to a strong position in advance of Vihiers.
Danican had taken command only on the previous day, and the
soldiers, believing that this order was but an act of arbitrary
authority on his part, refused to move; and the bridge over the
river Ouette, in front of Vihiers, remained unguarded save by a
squadron of cavalry. Kleber had just returned from visiting the
post, when he received a despatch from l'Echelle, bidding him give
the order they had decided upon between them to the other two
divisions. As no such arrangement had been made, Kleber was in
ignorance of what was meant; but he sent a messenger to Beaupuy,
who was at Chateau-Gontier, and to Bloss, who commanded a column of
grenadiers, to join him as soon as possible.
Bloss arrived early the next morning at the camp. Beaupuy moved
forward but, as his whole force had not yet come up, he did not
arrive at the camp at the same time.
At eleven that night l'Echelle and the four generals now in the
camp held a council. Westermann was extremely discontented, at
finding that the heights were not occupied; but as Kleber remarked,
the troops were utterly dissatisfied at the way in which they had
been handled, and at the unnecessary and enormous fatigues that had
been imposed upon them, and it was impossible to demand further
exertions. Savary, one of the generals at the council, was well
acquainted with Laval, and gave the advice that a portion of the
army should follow the river for some distance, and then take
possession of the hills commanding the town.
When Beaupuy arrived, his division moved forward at once, as an
advanced guard; but as the army was moving a messenger arrived from
l'Echelle, issuing orders in absolute contradiction of the plan
that he had agreed to, when the council of war broke up. The orders
were obeyed, but the generals again met, and sent off a messenger
to l'Echelle to remonstrate against the attack in one mass, and a
march by a single road, on a position that could be attacked by
several routes; and to recommend that at least a diversion should
be made, by a false attack. Westermann himself carried this
remonstrance, but the commander-in-chief paid no attention to him.
Advancing, it was found that the Vendeans had taken up a position
on the neglected heights. The cannon opened on both sides, and
Beaupuy was soon hotly engaged. Kleber advanced his division to
sustain him. L'Echelle, coming up, arrested the further advance of
the division of Chalbos. Savary rode back in haste, to implore
l'Echelle to order Chalbos to move to the right and attack the left
flank of the enemy; but by this time the unfortunate wretch had
completely lost his head and, instead of giving Chalbos orders to
advance, ordered him to retreat, and himself fled in all haste.
Two columns, that were posted a few miles in the rear, received no
orders whatever, and remained all day waiting for them. Kleber,
seeing the division of Chalbos retiring in great disorder, felt
that success was now impossible; and placed two battalions not yet
engaged at the bridge, to cover the retreat. But the panic was
spreading, his orders were disobeyed, and the veterans of Mayence,
as well as the divisions of Beaupuy, broke their ranks and fled.
In vain the officers endeavoured to stay the flight. The panic was
complete. Their guns were left behind, and the Vendeans, pressing
hotly on their rear, overtook and killed great numbers. Bloss with
his grenadiers, advancing from Chateau-Gontier, tried in vain to
arrest the flight of the fugitives; and he himself and his command
were swept away by the mob, and carried beyond the town.
A few hundreds of the soldiers alone were rallied, and prepared to
defend the bridge of Chateau-Gontier; but la Rochejaquelein had
sent a portion of his force to make a circuit and seize the town,
so that the defenders of the bridge were exposed to a heavy fire
from houses in their rear.
Kleber, with a handful of men, held the bridge; and was joined by
Bloss, who had been already wounded while passing through the town.
He advanced to cross; Kleber and Savary in vain tried to stop him.
"No," he said, "I will not survive the shame of such a day," and,
rushing forward with a small party, fell under the fire of the
advancing Vendeans.
The pursuit was hotly maintained. Keeping on heights which
commanded the road, the Vendeans maintained an incessant fire of
cannon and musketry. It was already night, and this alone saved the
Republican army from total destruction. Beaupuy received a terrible
wound in the battle, and a great number of officers were killed, in
endeavouring to stop the panic.
At last the pursuit ceased and, for a few hours, the weary
fugitives slept. Then they continued their retreat, and took up a
strong position near the town of Angers, which was crowded with
fugitives.
L'Echelle came out to review the troops who, by the orders of their
generals, had already formed in order of battle; but was received
with such yells of hatred and contempt that he was forced to
retire. The representatives of the convention offered Kleber the
command of the army, but he refused, saying that Chalbos was of
superior rank, and that it was he who should take the command. They
agreed to this, and sent to l'Echelle, telling him to demand leave
of absence, on account of his health.
A council of war was then held. The representatives of the
Convention were favourable to a fresh advance of the army, but
Kleber protested that, at present, there was no army. He said that
the soldiers were utterly discouraged, that some battalions had but
twenty or thirty men with the colours, that all were wet to the
skin, utterly exhausted, many without shoes, and all dispirited.
Therefore he insisted that it was absolutely necessary that the
army should be completely reorganized, before undertaking a fresh
forward movement.
Their loss had indeed been extremely heavy, Kleber's division alone
having lost over a thousand men. Beaupuy had suffered even more
heavily; while the divisions of Chalbos, and the grenadiers of
Bloss had also lost large numbers. The total loss, including
deserters, amounted to over four thousand.
The whole of the cannon of the two first divisions had fallen into
the hands of the enemy, the artillerymen having cut the traces. A
large number of ammunition waggons, and a quantity of carts laden
with provisions, had also been captured.