EXPLOITS OF CAVALIER.
The country round Nismes, which was the scene of so many contests
between the Royalists and the Camisard insurgents at the beginning of
last century, presents nearly the same aspect as it did then,
excepting that it is traversed by railways in several directions. The
railway to Montpellier on the west, crosses the fertile valley of the
Vaunage, "the little Canaan," still rich in vineyards as of old. That
to Alais on the north, proceeds for the most part along the valley of
the Gardon, the names of the successive stations reminding the passing
traveller of the embittered contests of which they were the scenes in
former times: Nozieres, Boucoiran, Ners, Vezenobres, and Alais itself,
now a considerable manufacturing town, and the centre of an important
coal-mining district.
The country in the neighbourhood of Nismes is by no means picturesque.
Though undulating, it is barren, arid, and stony. The view from the
Tour Magne, which is very extensive, is over an apparently skeleton
landscape, the bare rocks rising on all sides without any covering of
verdure. In summer the grass is parched and brown. There are few trees
visible; and these mostly mulberry, which, when, cropped, have a
blasted look. Yet, wherever soil exists, in the bottoms, the land is
very productive, yielding olives, grapes, and chestnuts in great
abundance.
As we ascend the valley of the Gardon, the country becomes more
undulating and better wooded. The villages and farmhouses have all an
old-fashioned look; not a modern villa is to be seen. We alight from
the train at the Ners station--Ners, where Cavalier drove Montrevel's
army across the river, and near which, at the village of Martinargues,
he completely defeated the Royalists under Lajonquiere. We went to see
the scene of the battle, some three miles to the south-east, passing
through a well-tilled country, with the peasants busily at work in the
fields. From the high ground behind Ners a fine view is obtained of
the valley of the Gardon, overlooking the junction of its two branches
descending by Alais and Anduze, the mountains of the Cevennes rising
up in the distance. To the left is the fertile valley of Beaurivage,
celebrated in the Pastorals of Florian, who was a native of the
district.
Descending the hill towards Ners, we were overtaken by an aged peasant
of the village, with a scythe over his shoulder, returning from his
morning's work. There was the usual polite greeting and exchange of
salutations--for the French peasant is by nature polite--and a ready
opening was afforded for conversation. It turned out that the old man
had been a soldier of the first empire, and fought under Soult in the
desperate battle of Toulouse in 1814. He was now nearly eighty, but
was still able to do a fair day's work in the fields. Inviting us to
enter his dwelling and partake of his hospitality, he went down to his
cellar and fetched therefrom a jug of light sparkling wine, of which
we partook. In answer to an inquiry whether there were any Protestants
in the neighbourhood, the old man replied that Ners was "all
Protestant." His grandson, however, who was present, qualified this
sweeping statement by the remark, _sotto voce_, that many of them were
"nothing."
The conversation then turned upon the subject of Cavalier and his
exploits, when our entertainer launched out into a description of the
battle of Martinargues, in which the Royalists had been "toutes
abattus." Like most of the Protestant peasantry of the Cevennes, he
displayed a very familiar acquaintance with the events of the civil
war, and spoke with enthusiasm and honest pride of the achievements of
the Camisards.
* * * * *
We have in previous chapters described the outbreak of the
insurrection and its spread throughout the Upper Cevennes; and we have
now rapidly to note its growth and progress to its culmination and
fall.
While the Camisards were secretly organizing their forces under cover
of the woods and caves of the mountain districts, the governor of
Languedoc was indulging in the hope that the insurrection had expired
with the death of Laporte and the dispersion of his band. But, to his
immense surprise, the whole country was suddenly covered with
insurgents, who seemed as if to spring from the earth in all quarters
simultaneously. Messengers brought him intelligence at the same time
of risings in the mountains of the Lozere and the Aigoal, in the
neighbourhoods of Anduze and Alais, and even in the open country about
Nismes and Calvisson, down almost to the sea-coast.
Wherever the churches had been used as garrisons and depositories of
arms, they were attacked, stormed, and burnt. Cavalier says he never
meddled with any church which had not been thus converted into a "den
of thieves;" but the other leaders were less scrupulous. Salomon and
Abraham destroyed all the establishments and insignia of their enemies
on which they could lay hands--crosses, churches, and presbyteries.
The cure of Saint-Germain said of Castanet in the Aigoal that he was
"like a raging torrent." Roland and Joany ran from village to village
ransacking dwellings, chateaux, churches, and collecting arms. Knowing
every foot of the country, they rapidly passed by mountain tracks from
one village to another; suddenly appearing in the least-expected
quarters, while the troops in pursuit of them had passed in other
directions.
Cavalier had even the hardihood to descend upon the low country, and
to ransack the Catholic villages in the neighbourhood of Nismes. By
turns he fought, preached, and sacked churches. About the middle of
November, 1702, he preached at Aiguevives, a village not far from
Calvisson, in the Vaunage. Count Broglie, commander of the royal
troops, hastened from Nismes to intercept him. But pursuing Cavalier
was like pursuing a shadow; he had already made his escape into the
mountains. Broglie assembled the inhabitants of the village in the
church, and demanded to be informed who had been present with the
Camisard preacher. "All!" was the reply: "we are all guilty." He
seized the principal persons of the place and sent them to Baville.
Four were hanged, twelve were sent to the galleys, many more were
flogged, and a heavy fine was levied on the entire village.
Meanwhile, Cavalier had joined Roland near Mialet, and again descended
upon the low country, marching through the villages along the valley
of the Vidourle, carrying off arms and devastating churches. Broglie
sent two strong bodies of troops to intercept them; but the
light-footed insurgents had already crossed the Gardon.
A few days later (December 5th), they were lying concealed in the
forest of Vaquieres, in the neighbourhood of Cavalier's head-quarters
at Euzet. Their retreat having been discovered, a strong force of
soldiers and militia was directed upon them, under the command of the
Chevalier Montarnaud (who, being a new convert, wished to show his
zeal), and Captain Bimard of the Nismes militia.
They took with them a herdsman of the neighbourhood for their guide,
not knowing that he was a confederate of the Camisards. Leading the
Royalists into the wood, he guided them along a narrow ravine, and
hearing no sound of the insurgents, it was supposed that they were
lying asleep in their camp.
Suddenly three sentinels on the outlook fired off their pieces. At
this signal Ravenel posted himself at the outlet of the defile, and
Cavalier and Catinat along its two sides. Raising their war-song, the
sixty-eighth psalm the Camisards furiously charged the enemy. Captain
Bimard fell at the first fire. Montarnaud turned and fled with such of
the soldiers and militia as could follow him; and not many of them
succeeded in making their escape from the wood.
"After which complete victory," says Cavalier, "we returned to the
field of battle to give our hearty thanks to Almighty God for his
extraordinary assistance, and afterwards stripped the corpses of the
enemy, and secured their arms. We found a purse of one hundred
pistoles in Captain Bimard's pocket, which was very acceptable, for we
stood in great need thereof, and expended part of it in buying hats,
shoes, and stockings for those who wanted them, and with the
remainder bought six great mule loads of brandy, for our winter's
supply, from a merchant who was sending it to be sold at Anduze
market."[41]
[Footnote 41: "Memoirs of the Wars of the Cevennes," p. 74.]
On the Sunday following, Cavalier held an assembly for public worship
near Monteze on the Gardon, at which about five hundred persons were
present. The governor of Alais, being informed of the meeting,
resolved to put it down with a strong hand; and he set out for the
purpose at the head of a force of about six hundred horse and foot. A
mule accompanied him, laden with ropes with which to bind or hang the
rebels. Cavalier had timely information, from scouts posted on the
adjoining hills, of the approach of the governor's force, and though
the number of fighting men in the Camisard assembly was comparatively
small, they resolved to defend themselves.
Sending away the women and others not bearing arms, Cavalier posted
his little band behind an old entrenchment on the road along which the
governor was approaching, and awaited his attack. The horsemen came on
at the charge; but the Camisards, firing over the top of the
entrenchment, emptied more than a dozen saddles, and then leaping
forward, saluted them with a general discharge. At this, the horsemen
turned and fled, galloping through the foot coming up behind them, and
throwing them into complete disorder. The Camisards pulled off their
coats, in order the better to pursue the fugitives.
The Royalists were in full flight, when they were met by a
reinforcement of two hundred men of Marsilly's regiment of foot. But
these, too, were suddenly seized by the panic, and turned and fled
with the rest, the Camisards pursuing them for nearly an hour, in the
course of which they slew more than a hundred of the enemy. Besides
the soldiers' clothes, of which they stripped the dead, the Camisards
made prize of two loads of ammunition and a large quantity of arms,
which they were very much in need of, and also of the ropes with which
the governor had intended to hang them.
Emboldened by these successes, Cavalier determined on making an attack
on the strong castle of Servas, occupying a steep height on the east
of the forest of Bouquet. Cavalier detested the governor and garrison
of this place because they too closely watched his movements, and
overlooked his head-quarters, which were in the adjoining forest; and
they had, besides, distinguished themselves by the ferocity with which
they attacked and dispersed recent assemblies in the Desert.
Cavalier was, however, without the means of directly assaulting the
place, and he waited for an opportunity of entering it, if possible,
by stratagem. While passing along the road between Alais and Lussan
one day, he met a detachment of about forty men of the royal army,
whom he at once attacked, killing a number of them, and putting the
rest to flight. Among the slain was the commanding officer of the
party, in whose pockets was found an order signed by Count Broglie
directing all town-majors and consuls to lodge him and his men along
their line of march. Cavalier at once determined on making use of this
order as a key to open the gates of the castle of Servas.
He had twelve of his men dressed up in the clothes of the soldiers who
had fallen, and six others in their ordinary Camisard dress bound with
ropes as prisoners of war. Cavalier himself donned the uniform of the
fallen officer; and thus disguised and well armed, the party moved up
the steep ascent to the castle. On reaching the outer gate Cavalier
presented the order of Count Broglie, and requested admittance for the
purpose of keeping his pretended Camisard prisoners in safe custody
for the night. He was at once admitted with his party. The governor
showed him round the ramparts, pointing out the strength of the place,
and boasting of the punishments he had inflicted on the rebels.
At supper Cavalier's soldiers took care to drop into the room, one by
one, apparently for orders, and suddenly, on a signal being given, the
governor and his attendants were seized and bound. At the same time
the guard outside was attacked and overpowered. The outer gates were
opened, the Camisards rushed in, the castle was taken, and the
garrison put to the sword.
Cavalier and his band carried off with them to their magazine at
Bouquet all the arms, ammunition, and provisions they could find, and
before leaving they set fire to the castle. There must have been a
large store of gunpowder in the vaults of the place besides what the
Camisards carried away, for they had scarcely proceeded a mile on
their return journey when a tremendous explosion took place, shaking
the ground like an earthquake, and turning back, they saw the
battlements of the detested Chateau Servas hurled into the air.
Shortly after, Roland repeated at Sauve, a little fortified town hung
along the side of a rocky hill a few miles to the south of Anduze, the
stratagem which Cavalier had employed at Servas, and with like
success. He disarmed the inhabitants, and carried off the arms and
provisions in the place: and though he released the commandant and
the soldiers whom he had taken prisoners, he shot a persecuting priest
and a Capuchin monk, and destroyed all the insignia of Popery in
Sauve.
These terrible measures caused a new stampede of the clergy all over
the Cevennes. The nobles and gentry also left their chateaux, the
merchants their shops and warehouses, and took refuge in the fortified
towns. Even the bishops of Mende, Uzes, and Alais barricaded and
fortified their episcopal palaces, and organized a system of defence
as if the hordes of Attila had been at their gates.
With each fresh success the Camisards increased in daring, and every
day the insurrection became more threatening and formidable. It
already embraced the whole mountain district of the Cevennes, as well
as a considerable extent of the low country between Nismes and
Montpellier. The Camisard troops, headed by their chiefs, marched
through the villages with drums beating in open day, and were
quartered by billet on the inhabitants in like manner as the royal
regiments. Roland levied imposts and even tithes throughout his
district, and compelled the farmers, at the peril of their lives, to
bring their stores of victual to the "Camp of the Eternal." In the
midst of all, they held their meetings in the Desert, at which the
chiefs preached, baptized, and administered the sacrament to their
flocks.
The constituted authorities seemed paralyzed by the extent of the
insurrection, and the suddenness with which it spread. The governor of
the province had so repeatedly reported to his royal master the
pacification of Languedoc, that when this last and worst outbreak
occurred he was ashamed to announce it. The peace at Ryswick had set at
liberty a large force of soldiers, who had now no other occupation than
to "convert" the Protestants and force them to attend Mass. About five
hundred thousand men were now under arms for this purpose--occupied as a
sort of police force, very much to their own degradation as soldiers.
A large body of this otherwise unoccupied army had been placed under
the direction of Baville for the purpose of suppressing the
rebellion--an army of veteran horse and foot, whose valour had been
tried in many hard-fought battles. Surely it was not to be said that
this immense force could be baffled and defied by a few thousand
peasants, cowherds, and wool-carders, fighting for what they
ridiculously called their "rights of conscience!" Baville could not
believe it; and he accordingly determined again to apply himself more
vigorously than ever to the suppression of the insurrection, by means
of the ample forces placed at his disposal.
Again the troops were launched against the insurgents, and again and
again they were baffled in their attempts to overtake and crush them.
The soldiers became worn out by forced marches, in running from one
place to another to disperse assemblies in the Desert. They were
distracted by the number of places in which the rebels made their
appearance. Cavalier ran from town to town, making his attacks
sometimes late at night, sometimes in the early morning; but before
the troops could come up he had done all the mischief he intended, and
was perhaps fifty miles distant on another expedition. If the
Royalists divided themselves into small bodies, they were in danger of
being overpowered; and if they kept together in large bodies, they
moved about with difficulty, and could not overtake the insurgents,
"by reason," said Cavalier, "we could go further in three hours than
they could in a whole day; regular troops not being used to march
through woods and mountains as we did."
At length the truth could not be concealed any longer. The States of
Languedoc were summoned to meet at Montpellier, and there the
desperate state of affairs was fully revealed. The bishops of the
principal dioceses could with difficulty attend the meeting, and were
only enabled to do so by the assistance of strong detachments of
soldiers--the Camisards being masters of the principal roads. They
filled the assembly with their lamentations, and declared that they
had been betrayed by the men in power. At their urgent solicitation,
thirty-two more companies of Catholic fusiliers and another regiment
of dragoons were ordered to be immediately embodied in the district.
The governor also called to his aid an additional regiment of dragoons
from Rouergue; a battalion of marines from the ships-of-war lying at
Marseilles and Toulon; a body of Miguelets from Roussillon, accustomed
to mountain warfare; together with a large body of Irish officers and
soldiers, part of the Irish Brigade.
* * * * *
And how did it happen that the self-exiled Irish patriots were now in
the Cevennes, helping the army of Louis XIV. to massacre the Camisards
by way of teaching them a better religion? It happened thus: The
banishment of the Huguenots from France, and their appearance under
William III. in Ireland to fight at the Boyne and Augrhim, contributed
to send the Irish Brigade over to France--though it must be confessed
that the Irish Brigade fought much better for Louis XIV. than they had
ever done for Ireland.
After the surrender of Limerick in 1691, the principal number of the
Irish followers of James II. declared their intention of abandoning
Ireland and serving their sovereign's ally the King of France. The
Irish historians allege that the number of the brigade at first
amounted to nearly thirty thousand men.[42] Though, they fought
bravely for France, and conducted themselves valiantly in many of her
great battles, they were unfortunately put forward to do a great deal
of dirty work for Louis XIV. One of the first campaigns they were
engaged in was in Savoy, under Catinat, in repressing the Vaudois or
Barbets.
[Footnote 42: O'Callaghan's "History of the Irish Brigades in
the service of France," p. 29.]
The Vaudois peasantry were for the most part unarmed, and their only
crime was their religion. The regiments of Viscount Clare and Viscount
Dillon, principally distinguished themselves against the Vaudois. The
war was one of extermination, in which many of the Barbets were
killed. Mr. O'Connor states that between the number of the Alpine
mountaineers cut off, and the extent of devastation and pillage
committed amongst them by the Irish, Catinat's commission was executed
with terrible fidelity; the memory of which "has rendered their name
and nation odious to the Vaudois. Six generations," he remarks, "have
since passed, away, but neither time nor subsequent calamities have
obliterated the impression made by the waste and desolation of this
military incursion."[43] Because of the outrages and destruction
committed upon the women and children in the valleys in the absence of
their natural defenders, the Vaudois still speak of the Irish as "the
foreign assassins."
[Footnote 43: Ibid., p. 180.]
The Brigade having thus faithfully served Louis XIV. in Piedmont,
were now occupied in the same work in the Cevennes. The historian of
the Brigade does not particularise the battles in which they were
engaged with the Camisards, but merely announces that "on several
occasions, the Irish appear to have distinguished themselves,
especially their officers."
* * * * *
When Cavalier heard of the vast additional forces about to be thrown
into the Cevennes, he sought to effect a diversion by shifting the
theatre of war. Marching down towards the low country with about two
hundred men, he went from village to village in the Vaunage, holding
assemblies of the people. His whereabouts soon became known to the
Royalists, and Captain Bonnafoux, of the Calvisson militia, hearing
that Cavalier was preaching one day at the village of St. Comes,
hastened to capture him.
Bonnafoux had already distinguished himself in the preceding year, by
sabring two assemblies surprised by him at Vauvert and Caudiac, and
his intention now was to serve Cavalier and his followers in like
manner. Galloping up to the place of meeting, the Captain was
challenged by the Camisard sentinel; and his answer was to shoot the
man dead with his pistol. The report alarmed the meeting, then
occupied in prayer; but rising from their knees, they at once formed
in line and advanced to meet the foe, who turned and fled at their
first discharge.
Cavalier next went southward to Caudiac, where he waited for an
opportunity of surprising Aimargues, and putting to the sword the
militia, who had long been the scourge of the Protestants in that
quarter. He entered the latter town on a fair day, and walked about
amongst the people; but, finding that his intention was known, and
that his enterprise was not likely to succeed, he turned aside and
resolved upon another course. But first it was necessary that his
troops should be supplied with powder and ammunition, of which they
had run short. So, disguising himself as a merchant, and mounted on a
horse with capacious saddlebags, he rode off to Nismes, close at hand,
to buy gunpowder. He left his men in charge of his two lieutenants,
Ravanel and Catinat, who prophesied to him that during his absence
they would fight a battle and win a victory.
Count Broglie had been promptly informed by the defeated Captain
Bonnafoux that the Camisards were in the neighbourhood; and he set out
in pursuit of them with a strong body of horse and foot. After several
days' search amongst the vineyards near Nismes and the heathery hills
about Milhaud, Broglie learnt that the Camisards were to be found at
Caudiac. But when he reached that place he found the insurgents had
already left, and taken a northerly direction. Broglie followed their
track, and on the following day came up with them at a place called
Mas de Gaffarel, in the Val de Bane, about three miles west of Nismes,
The Royalists consisted of two hundred militia, commanded by the Count
and his son, and two troops of dragoons, under Captain la Dourville
and the redoubtable Captain Poul.
The Camisards had only time to utter a short prayer, and to rise from
their knees and advance singing their battle psalm, when Poul and his
dragoons were upon them. Their charge was so furious that Ravanel and
his men were at first thrown into disorder; but rallying, and bravely
fighting, they held their ground. Captain Poul was brought to the
ground by a stone hurled from a sling by a young Vauvert miller named
Samuelet; Count Broglie himself was wounded by a musket-ball, and many
of his dragoons lay stretched on the field. Catinat observing the fall
of Poul, rushed forward, cut off his head with a sweep of his sabre,
and mounting Poul's horse, almost alone chased the Royalists, now
flying in all directions. Broglie did not draw breath until he had
reached the secure shelter of the castle of Bernis.
While these events were in progress, Cavalier was occupied on his
mission of buying gunpowder in Nismes. He was passing along the
Esplanade--then, as now, a beautiful promenade--when he observed from
the excitement of the people, running about hither and thither, that
something alarming had occurred. On making inquiry he was told that
"the Barbets" were in the immediate neighbourhood, and it was even
feared they would enter and sack the city. Shortly after, a trooper
was observed galloping towards them at full speed along the
Montpellier Road, without arms or helmet. He was almost out of breath
when he came up, and could only exclaim that "All is lost! Count
Broglie and Captain Poul are killed, and the Barbets are pursuing the
remainder of the royal troops into the city!"
The gates were at once ordered to be shut and barricaded; the
_generale_ was beaten; the troops and militia were mustered; the
priests ran about in the streets crying, "We are undone!" Some of the
Roman Catholics even took shelter in the houses of the Protestants,
calling upon them to save their lives. But the night passed, and with
it their alarm, for the Camisards did not make their appearance. Next
morning a message arrived from Count Broglie, shut up in the castle
of Bernis, ordering the garrison to come to his relief.
In the meantime, Cavalier, with the assistance of his friends in
Nismes, had obtained the articles of which he was in need, and
prepared to set out on his return journey. The governor and his
detachment were issuing from the western gate as he left, and he
accompanied them part of the way, still disguised as a merchant, and
mounted on his horse, with a large portmanteau behind him, and
saddlebags on either side full of gunpowder and ammunition. The
Camisard chief mixed with the men, talking with them freely about the
Barbets and their doings. When he came to the St. Hypolite road he
turned aside; but they warned him that if he went that way he would
certainly fall into the hands of the Barbets, and lose not only his
horse and his merchandise, but his life. Cavalier thanked them for
their advice, but said he was not afraid of the Barbets, and proceeded
on his way, shortly rejoining his troop at the appointed rendez-vous.
The Camisards crossed the Gardon by the bridge of St. Nicholas, and
were proceeding towards their head-quarters at Bouquet, up the left
bank of the river, when an attempt was made by the Chevalier de St.
Chaptes, at the head of the militia of the district, to cut off their
retreat. But Ravanel charged them with such fury as to drive the
greater part into the Gardon, then swollen by a flood, and those who
did not escape by swimming were either killed or drowned.
Thus the insurrection seemed to grow, notwithstanding all the measures
taken to repress it. The number of soldiers stationed in the province
was from time to time increased; they were scattered in detachments
all over the country, and the Camisards took care to give them but
few opportunities of exhibiting their force, and then only when at a
comparative disadvantage. The Royalists, at their wits' end,
considered what was next to be done in order to the pacification of
the country. The simple remedy, they knew, was to allow these poor
simple people to worship in their own way without molestation. Grant
them this privilege, and they were at any moment ready to lay down
their arms, and resume their ordinary peaceful pursuits.
But this was precisely what the King would not allow. To do so would
be an admission of royal fallibility which neither he nor his advisers
were prepared to make. To enforce conformity on his subjects, Louis
XIV. had already driven some half-a-million of the best of them into
exile, besides the thousands who had perished on gibbets, in dungeons,
or at the galleys. And was he now to confess, by granting liberty of
worship to these neatherds, carders, and peasants, that the rigorous
policy of "the Most Christian King" had been an entire mistake?
It was resolved, therefore, that no such liberty should be granted,
and that these peasants, like the rest of the King's subjects, were to
be forced, at the sword's point if necessary, to worship God in _his_
way, and not in theirs. Viewed in this light, the whole proceeding
would appear to be a ludicrous absurdity, but for its revolting
impiety and the abominable cruelties with which it was accompanied.
Yet the Royalists even blamed themselves for the mercy which they had
hitherto shown to the Protestant peasantry; and the more virulent
amongst them urged that the whole of the remaining population that
would not at once conform to the Church of Rome, should forthwith be
put to the sword!
Brigadier Julien, an apostate Protestant, who had served under William
of Orange in Ireland, and afterwards under the Duke of Savoy in
Piedmont, disappointed with the slowness of his promotion, had taken
service under Louis XIV., and was now employed as a partizan chief in
the suppression of his former co-religionists in Languedoc. Like all
renegades, he was a bitter and furious persecutor; and in the councils
of Baville his voice was always raised for the extremest measures. He
would utterly exterminate the insurgents, and, if necessary, reduce
the country to a desert. "It is not enough," said he, "merely to kill
those bearing arms; the villages which supply the combatants, and
which give them shelter and sustenance, ought to be burnt down: thus
only can the insurrection be suppressed."
In a military point of view Julien was probably right; but the savage
advice startled even Baville. "Nothing can be easier," said he, "than
to destroy the towns and villages; but this would be to make a desert
of one of the finest and most productive districts of Languedoc." Yet
Baville himself eventually adopted the very policy which he now
condemned.
In the first place, however, it was determined to pursue and destroy
Cavalier and his band. Eight hundred men, under the Count de Touman,
were posted at Uzes; two battalions of the regiment of Hainault, under
Julien, at Anduze; while Broglie, with a strong body of dragoons and
militia, commanded the passes at St. Ambrose. These troops occupied,
as it were, the three sides of a triangle, in the centre of which
Cavalier was known to be in hiding in the woods of Bouquet. Converging
upon him simultaneously, they hoped to surround and destroy him.
But the Camisard chief was well advised of their movements. To draw
them away from his magazines, Cavalier marched boldly to the north,
and slipping through between the advancing forces, he got into
Broglie's rear, and set fire to two villages inhabited by Catholics.
The three bodies at once directed themselves upon the burning
villages; but when they reached them Cavalier had made his escape, and
was nowhere to be heard of. For four days they hunted the country
between the Garden and the Ceze, beating the woods and exploring the
caves; and then they returned, harassed and vexed, to their respective
quarters.
While the Royalists were thus occupied, Cavalier fell upon a convoy of
provisions which Colonel Marsilly was leading to the castle of
Mendajols, scattered and killed the escort, and carried off the mules
and their loads to the magazines at Bouquet. During the whole of the
month of January, the Camisards, notwithstanding the inclemency of the
weather, were constantly on the move, making their appearance in the
most unexpected quarters; Roland descending from Mialet on Anduze, and
rousing Broglie from his slumbers by a midnight fusillade; Castanet
attacking St. Andre, and making a bonfire of the contents of the
church; Joany disarming Genouillac; and Lafleur terrifying the
villages of the Lozere almost to the gates of Mende.
Although the winters in the South of France, along the shores of the
Mediterranean, are comparatively mild and genial, it is very different
in the mountain districts of the interior, where the snow lies thick
upon the ground, and the rivers are bound up by frost. Cavalier, in
his Memoirs, describes the straits to which his followers were reduced
in that inclement season, being "destitute of houses or beds,
victuals, bread, or money, and left to struggle with hunger, cold,
snow, misery, and poverty."
"General Broglie," he continues, "believed and hoped that though
he had not been able to destroy us with the sword, yet the
insufferable miseries of the winter would do him that good
office. Yet God Almighty prevented it through his power, and by
unexpected means his Providence ordered the thing so well that at
the end of the winter we found ourselves in being, and in a
better condition than we expected.... As for our retiring places,
we were used in the night-time to go into hamlets or sheepfolds
built in or near the woods, and thought ourselves happy when we
lighted upon a stone or piece of timber to make our pillows
withal, and a little straw or dry leaves to lie upon in our
clothes. We did in this condition sleep as gently and soundly as
if we had lain upon a down bed. The weather being extremely cold,
we had a great occasion for fire; but residing mostly in woods,
we used to get great quantity of faggots and kindle them, and so
sit round about them and warm ourselves. In this manner we spent
a quarter of a year, running up and down, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, through great forests and upon high mountains,
in deep snow and upon ice. And notwithstanding the sharpness of
the weather, the small stock of our provisions, and the marches
and counter-marches we were continually obliged to make, and
which gave us but seldom the opportunity of washing the only
shirt we had upon our back, not one amongst us fell sick. One
might have perceived in our visage a complexion as fresh as if we
had fed upon the most delicious meats, and at the end of the
season we found ourselves in a good disposition heartily to
commence the following campaign."[44]
[Footnote 44: Cavalier's "Memoirs of the Wars of the
Cevennes," pp. 111-114.]
The campaign of 1703, the third year of the insurrection, began
unfavourably for the Camisards. The ill-success of Count Broglie as
commander of the royal forces in the Cevennes, determined Louis
XIV.--from whom the true state of affairs could no longer be
concealed--to supersede him by Marshal Montrevel, one of the ablest of
his generals. The army of Languedoc was again reinforced by ten
thousand of the best soldiers of France, drawn from the armies of
Germany and Italy. It now consisted of three regiments of dragoons and
twenty-four battalions of foot--of the Irish Brigade, the Miguelets,
and the Languedoc fusiliers--which, with the local militia,
constituted an effective force of not less than sixty thousand men!
Such was the irresistible army, commanded by a marshal of France,
three lieutenant-generals, three major-generals, and three
brigadier-generals, now stationed in Languedoc, to crush the peasant
insurrection. No wonder that the Camisard chiefs were alarmed when the
intelligence reached them of this formidable force having been set in
motion for their destruction.
The first thing they determined upon was to effect a powerful
diversion, and to extend, if possible, the area of the insurrection.
For this purpose, Cavalier, at the head of eight hundred men,
accompanied by thirty baggage mules, set out in the beginning of
February, with the object of raising the Viverais, the north-eastern
quarter of Languedoc, where the Camisards had numerous partizans. The
snow was lying thick upon the ground when they set out; but the little
army pushed northward, through Rochegude and Barjac. At the town of
Vagnas they found their way barred by a body of six hundred militia,
under the Count de Roure. These they attacked with great fury and
speedily put to flight.
But behind the Camisarde was a second and much stronger royalist
force, eighteen hundred men, under Brigadier Julien, who had hastened
up from Lussan upon Cavalier's track, and now hung upon his rear in
the forest of Vagnas. Next morning the Camisards accepted battle,
fought with their usual bravery, but having been trapped into an
ambuscade, they were overpowered by numbers, and at length broke and
fled in disorder, leaving behind them their mules, baggage, seven
drums, and a quantity of arms, with some two hundred dead and
wounded. Cavalier himself escaped with difficulty, and, after having
been given up for lost, reached the rendez-vous at Bouquet in a state
of complete exhaustion, Ravanel and Catinat having preceded him
thither with, the remains of his broken army.
Roland and Cavalier now altered their tactics. They resolved to avoid
pitched battles such as that at Vagnas, where they were liable to be
crushed at a blow, and to divide their forces into small detachments
constantly on the move, harassing the enemy, interrupting their
communications, and falling upon detached bodies whenever an
opportunity for an attack presented itself.
To the surprise of Montrevel, who supposed the Camisards finally
crushed at Vagnas, the intelligence suddenly reached him of a
multitude of attacks on fortified posts, burning of chateaux and
churches, captures of convoys, and defeats of detached bodies of
Royalists.
Joany attacked Genouillac, cut to pieces the militia who defended it,
and carried off their arms and ammunition, with other spoils, to the
camp at Faux-des-Armes. Shortly after, in one of his incursions, he
captured a convoy of forty mules laden with cloth, wine, and
provisions for Lent; and, though hotly pursued by a much superior
force, he succeeded in making his escape into the mountains.
Castanet was not less active in the west--sacking and burning Catholic
villages, and putting their inhabitants to the sword by way of
reprisal for similar atrocities committed by the Royalists. At the
same time, Montrevel pillaged and burned Euzet and St. Jean de
Ceirarges, villages inhabited by Protestants; and there was not a
hamlet but was liable at any moment to be sacked and destroyed by one
or other of the contending parties.
Nor was Roland idle. Being greatly in want of arms and ammunition, as
well as of shoes and clothes for his men, he collected a considerable
force, and made a descent, for the purpose of obtaining them, on the
rich and populous towns of the south; more particularly on the
manufacturing town of Ganges, where the Camisards had many friends.
Although Roland, to divert the attention of Montrevel from Ganges,
sent a detachment of his men into the neighbourhood of Nismes to raise
the alarm there, it was not long before a large royalist force was
directed against him.
Hearing that Montrevel was marching upon Ganges, Roland hastily left
for the north, but was overtaken near Pompignan by the marshal at the
head of an army of regular horse and foot, including several regiments
of local militia, Miguelets, marines, and Irish. The Royalists were
posted in such a manner as to surround the Camisards, who, though they
fought with their usual impetuosity, and succeeded in breaking through
the ranks of their enemies, suffered a heavy loss in dead and wounded.
Roland himself escaped with difficulty, and with his broken forces
fled through Durfort to his stronghold at Mialet.
After the battle, Marshal Montrevel returned to Ganges, where he
levied a fine of ten thousand livres on the Protestant population,
giving up their houses to pillage, and hanging a dozen of those who
had been the most prominent in abetting the Camisards during their
recent visit. At the game time, he reported to head-quarters at Paris
that he had entirely destroyed the rebels, and that Languedoc was now
"pacified."
Much to his surprise, however, not many weeks elapsed before
Cavalier, who had been laid up by the small-pox during Roland's
expedition to Ganges, again appeared in the field, attacking convoys,
entering the villages and carrying off arms, and spreading terror anew
to the very gates of Nismes. He returned northwards by the valley of
the Rhone, driving before him flocks and herds for the provisioning of
his men, and reached his retreat at Bouquet in safety. Shortly after,
he issued from it again, and descended upon Ners, where he destroyed a
detachment of troops under Colonel de Jarnaud; next day he crossed the
Gardon, and cut up a reinforcement intended for the garrison of
Sommieres; and the day after he was heard of in another place,
attacking a convoy, and carrying off arms, ammunition, and provisions.
Montrevel was profoundly annoyed at the failure of his efforts thus
far to suppress the insurrection. It even seemed to increase and
extend with every new measure taken to crush it. A marshal of France,
at the head of sixty thousand men, he feared lest he should lose
credit with his friends at court unless he were able at once to root
out these miserable cowherds and wool-carders who continued to bid
defiance to the royal authority which he represented; and he
determined to exert himself with renewed vigour to exterminate them
root and branch.
In this state of irritation the intelligence was one day brought to
the marshal while sitting over his wine after dinner at Nismes, that
an assembly of Huguenots was engaged in worship in a mill situated on
the canal outside the Port-des-Carmes. He at once ordered out a
battalion of foot, marched on the mill, and surrounded it. The
soldiers burst open the door, and found from two to three hundred
women, children, and old men engaged in prayer; and proceeded to put
them to the sword. But the marshal, impatient at the slowness of the
butchery, ordered the men to desist and to fire the place. This order
was obeyed, and the building, being for the most part of wood, was
soon wrapped in flames, from amidst which rose the screams of women
and children. All who tried to escape were bayoneted, or driven back
into the burning mill. Every soul perished--all excepting a girl, who
was rescued by one of Montrevel's servants. But the pitiless marshal
ordered both the girl and her deliverer to be put to death. The former
was hanged forthwith, but the lackey's life was spared at the
intercession of some sisters of mercy accidentally passing the place.
In the same savage and relentless spirit, Montrevel proceeded to
extirpate the Huguenots wherever found. He caused all suspected
persons in twenty-two parishes in the diocese of Nismes to be seized
and carried off. The men were transported to North America, and the
women and children imprisoned in the fortresses of Roussillon.
But the most ruthless measures were those which were adopted in the
Upper Cevennes: there nothing short of devastation would satisfy the
marshal. Thirty-two parishes were completely laid waste; the cattle,
grain, and produce which they contained were seized and carried into
the towns of refuge garrisoned by the Royalists--Alais, Anduze,
Florac, St. Hypolite, and Nismes--so that nothing should be left
calculated to give sustenance to the rebels. Four hundred and
sixty-six villages and hamlets were reduced to mere heaps of ashes and
blackened ruins, and such of their inhabitants as were not slain by
the soldiery fled with their families into the wilderness.
All the principal villages inhabited by the Protestants were thus
completely destroyed, together with their mills and barns, and every
building likely to give them shelter. Mialet was sacked and
burnt--Roland, still suffering from his wounds, being unable to strike
a blow in defence of his stronghold. St. Julien was also plundered and
levelled, and its inhabitants carried captive to Montpellier, where
the women and children were imprisoned, and the men sent to the
galleys.
When Cavalier heard of the determination of Montrevel to make a desert
of the country, he sent word to him that for every Huguenot village
destroyed he would destroy two inhabited by the Romanists. Thus the
sacking and burning on the one side was immediately followed by
increased sacking and burning on the other. The war became one of
mutual destruction and extermination, and the unfortunate inhabitants
on both sides were delivered over to all the horrors of civil war.
So far, however, from the Camisards being suppressed, the destruction
of the dwellings of the Huguenots only served to swell their numbers,
and they descended from their mountains upon the Catholics of the
plains in increasing force and redoubled fury. Montlezan was utterly
destroyed--all but the church, which was strongly barricaded, and
resisted Cavalier's attempts to enter it. Aurillac, also, was in like
manner sacked and gutted, and the destroying torrent swept over all
the towns and villages of the Cevennes.
Cavalier was so ubiquitous, so daring, and often so successful in his
attacks, that of all the Camisard leaders he was held to be the most
dangerous, and a high price was accordingly set upon his head by the
governor. Hence many attempts were made to betray him. He was haunted
by spies, some of whom even succeeded in obtaining admission to his
ranks. More than once the spies were detected--it was pretended
through prophetic influence--and immediately shot. But on one occasion
Cavalier and his whole force narrowly escaped destruction through the
betrayal of a pretended follower.
While the Royalists were carrying destruction through the villages of
the Upper Cevennes, Cavalier, Salomon, and Abraham, in order to divert
them from their purpose, resolved upon another descent into the low
country, now comparatively ungarrisoned. With this object they
gathered together some fifteen hundred men, and descended from the
mountains by Collet, intending to cross the Gardon at Beaurivage. On
Sunday, the 29th of April, they halted in the wood of Malaboissiere, a
little north of Mialet, for a day's preaching and worship; and after
holding three services, which were largely attended, they directed
their steps to the Tower of Belliot, a deserted farmhouse on the south
of the present high road between Alais and Anduze.
The house had been built on the ruins of a feudal castle, and took its
name from one of the old towers still standing. It was surrounded by a
dry stone wall, forming a court, the entrance to which was closed by
hurdles. On their arrival at this place late at night, the Camisards
partook of the supper which had been prepared for them by their
purveyor on the occasion--a miller of the neighbourhood, named
Guignon--whose fidelity was assured not only by his apparent piety,
but by the circumstance that two of his sons belonged to Cavalier's
band.
No sooner, however, had the Camisards lain down to sleep than the
miller, possessed by the demon of gold, set out directly for Alais,
about three miles distant, and, reaching the quarters of Montrevel,
sold the secret of Cavalier's sleeping-place to the marshal for fifty
pieces of gold, and together with it the lives of his own sons and
their fifteen hundred companions.
The marshal forthwith mustered all the available troops in Alais,
consisting of eight regiments of foot (of which one was Irish) and two
of dragoons, and set out at once for the Tower of Belliot, taking the
precaution to set a strict guard upon all the gates, to prevent the
possibility of any messenger leaving the place to warn Cavalier of his
approach. The Royalists crept towards the tower in three bodies, so as
to cut off their retreat in every direction. Meanwhile, the Camisards,
unapprehensive of danger, lay wrapped in slumber, filling the tower,
the barns, the stables, and outhouses.
The night was dark, and favoured the Royalists' approach. Suddenly,
one of their divisions came upon the advanced Camisard sentinels. They
fired, but were at once cut down. Those behind fled back to the
sleeping camp, and raised the cry of alarm. Cavalier started up,
calling his men "to arms," and, followed by about four hundred, he
precipitated himself on the heads of the advancing columns. Driven
back, they rallied again, more troops coming up to their support, and
again they advanced to the attack.
To his dismay, Cavalier found the enemy in overwhelming force,
enveloping his whole position. By great efforts he held them back
until some four or five hundred more of his men had joined him, and
then he gave way and retired behind a ravine or hollow, probably
forming part of the fosse of the ancient chateau. Having there rallied
his followers, he recrossed the ravine to make another desperate
effort to relieve the remainder of his troop shut up in the tower.
A desperate encounter followed, in the midst of which two of the
royalist columns, mistaking each other for enemies in the darkness,
fired into each other and increased the confusion and the carnage. The
moon rose on this dreadful scene, and revealed to the Royalists the
smallness of the force opposed to them. The struggle was renewed again
and again; Cavalier still seeking to relieve those shut up in the
tower, and the Royalists, now concentrated and in force, to surround
and destroy him.
At length, after the struggle had lasted for about five hours,
Cavalier, in order to save the rest of his men, resolved on retiring
before daybreak; and he succeeded in effecting his retreat without
being pursued by the enemy.
The three hundred Camisards who continued shut up in the tower refused
to surrender. They transformed the ruin into a fortress, barricading
every entrance, and firing from every loophole. When their ammunition
was expended, they hurled stones, joists, and tiles down upon their
assailants from the summit of the tower. For four more hours they
continued to hold out. Cannon were sent for from Alais, to blow in the
doors; but before they arrived all was over. The place had been set on
fire by hand grenades, and the imprisoned Camisards, singing psalms
amidst the flames to their last breath, perished to a man.
This victory cost Montrevel dear. He lost some twelve hundred dead and
wounded before the fatal Tower of Belliot; whilst Cavalier's loss was
not less than four hundred dead, of whom a hundred and eighteen were
found at daybreak along the brink of the ravine. One of these was
mistaken for the body of Cavalier; on which Montrevel, with
characteristic barbarity, ordered the head to be cut off and sent to
_Cavalier's mother_ for identification!
From the slight glimpses we obtain of the _man_ Montrevel in the
course of these deplorable transactions, there seems to have been
something ineffably mean and spiteful in his nature. Thus, on another
occasion, in a fit of rage at having been baffled by the young
Camisard leader, he dispatched a squadron of dragoons to Ribaute for
the express purpose of pulling down the house in which Cavalier had
been born!
A befitting sequel to this sanguinary struggle at the Tower of Belliot
was the fate of Guignon, the miller, who had betrayed the sleeping
Camisards to Montrevel. His crime was discovered. The gold was found
upon him. He was tried, and condemned to death. The Camisards, under
arms, assembled to see the sentence carried out. They knelt round the
doomed man, while the prophets by turn prayed for his soul, and
implored the clemency of the Sovereign Judge. Guignon professed the
utmost contrition, besought the pardon of his brethren, and sought
leave to embrace for the last time his two sons--privates in the
Camisard ranks. The two young men, however, refused the proffered
embrace with a gesture of apparent disgust; and they looked on, the
sad and stern spectators of the traitor's punishment.
Again Montrevel thought he had succeeded in crushing the insurrection,
and that he had cut off its head with that of the Camisard chief. But
his supposed discovery of the dead body proved an entire mistake; and
not many days elapsed before Cavalier made his appearance before the
gates of Alais, and sent in a challenge to the governor to come out
and fight him. And it is to be observed that by this time a fiercely
combative spirit, of fighting for fighting's sake, began to show
itself among the Camisards. Thus, Castanet appeared one day before the
gates of Meyreuis, where the regiment of Cordes was stationed, and
challenged the colonel to come out and fight him in the open; but the
challenge was declined. On another occasion, Cavalier in like manner
challenged the commander of Vic to bring out thirty of his soldiers
and fight thirty Camisards. The challenge was accepted, and the battle
took place; they fought until ten men only remained alive on either
side, but the Camisards were masters of the field.
Montrevel only redoubled his efforts to exterminate the Camisards. He
had no other policy. In the summer of 1703 the Pope (Clement XI.) came
to his assistance, issuing a bull against the rebels as being of "the
execrable race of the ancient Albigenses," and promising "absolute and
general remission of sins" to all such as should join the holy militia
of Louis XIV. in "exterminating the cursed heretics and miscreants,
enemies alike of God and of Caesar."
A special force was embodied with this object--the Florentines, or
"White Camisards"--distinguished by the white cross which they wore in
front of their hats. They were for the most part composed of
desperadoes and miscreants, and went about pillaging and burning, with
so little discrimination between friend and foe, that the Catholics
themselves implored the marshal to suppress them. These Florentines
were the perpetrators of such barbarities that Roland determined to
raise a body of cavalry to hunt them down; and with that object,
Catinat, the old dragoon, went down to the Camargues--a sort of
island-prairies lying between the mouths of the Rhone--where the Arabs
had left a hardy breed of horses; and there he purchased some two
hundred steeds wherewith to mount the Camisard horse, to the command
of which Catinat was himself appointed.
It is unnecessary to particularise the variety of combats, of
marchings and countermarchings, which occurred during the progress of
the insurrection. Between the contending parties, the country was
reduced to a desert. Tillage ceased, for there was no certainty of the
cultivator reaping the crop; more likely it would be carried off or
burnt by the conflicting armies. Beggars and vagabonds wandered about
robbing and plundering without regard to party or religion; and social
security was entirely at an end.
Meanwhile, Montrevel still called for more troops. Of the twenty
battalions already entrusted to him, more than one-third had perished;
and still the insurrection was not suppressed. He hoped, however, that
the work was now accomplished; and, looking to the wasted condition of
the country, that the famine and cold of the winter of 1703-4 would
complete the destruction of such of the rebels as still survived.
During the winter, however, the Camisard chiefs had not only been able
to keep their forces together, but to lay up a considerable store of
provisions and ammunition, principally by captures from the enemy; and
in the following spring they were in a position to take the field in
even greater force than ever. They, indeed, opened the campaign by
gaining two important victories over the Royalists; but though they
were their greatest, they were also nearly their last.
The battle of Martinargues was the Cannae of the Camisards. It was
fought near the village of that name, not far from Ners, early in the
spring of 1704. The campaign had been opened by the Florentines, who,
now that they had made a desert of the Upper Cevennes, were burning
and ravaging the Protestant villages of the plain. Cavalier had put
himself on their track, and pursued and punished them so severely,
that in their distress they called upon Montrevel to help them,
informing him of the whereabouts of the Camisards.
A strong royalist force of horse and foot was immediately sent in
pursuit, under the command of Brigadier Lajonquiere. He first marched
upon the Protestant village of Lascours, where Cavalier had passed the
previous night. The brigadier severely punished the inhabitants for
sheltering the Camisards, putting to death four persons, two of them
girls, whom he suspected to be Cavalier's prophetesses. On the people
refusing to indicate the direction in which the Camisards had gone, he
gave the village up to plunder, and the soldiers passed several hours
ransacking the place, in the course of which they broke open and
pillaged the wine-cellars.
Meanwhile, Cavalier and his men had proceeded in a northerly
direction, along the right bank of the little river Droude, one of the
affluents of the Gardon. A messenger from Lascours overtook him,
telling him of the outrages committed on the inhabitants of the
village; and shortly after, the inhabitants of Lascours themselves
came up--men, women, and children, who had been driven from their
pillaged homes by the royalist soldiery. Cavalier was enraged at the
recital of their woes; and though his force was not one-sixth the
strength of the enemy, he determined to meet their advance and give
them battle.
Placing the poor people of Lascours in safety, the Camisard leader
took up his position on a rising ground at the head of a little valley
close to the village of Martinargues. Cavalier himself occupied the
centre, his front being covered by a brook running in the hollow of a
ravine. Ravanel and Catinat, with a small body of men, were posted
along the two sides of the valley, screened by brushwood. The
approaching Royalists, seeing before them only the feeble force of
Cavalier, looked upon his capture as certain.
"See!" cried Lajonquiere, "at last we have hold of the Barbets we have
been so long looking for!" With his dragoons in the centre, flanked by
the grenadiers and foot, the Royalists advanced with confidence to the
charge. At the first volley, the Camisards prostrated themselves, and
the bullets went over their heads. Thinking they had fallen before his
fusillade, the commander ordered his men to cross the ravine and fall
upon the remnant with the bayonet. Instantly, however, Cavalier's men
started to their feet, and smote the assailants with a deadly volley,
bringing down men and horses. At the same moment, the two wings, until
then concealed, fired down upon the Royalists and completed their
confusion. The Camisards, then raising their battle-psalm, rushed
forward and charged the enemy. The grenadiers resisted stoutly, but
after a few minutes the entire body--dragoons, grenadiers, marines,
and Irish--fled down the valley towards the Gardon, and the greater
number of those who were not killed were drowned, Lajonquiere himself
escaping with difficulty.
In this battle perished a colonel, a major, thirty-three captains and
lieutenants, and four hundred and fifty men, while Cavalier's loss was
only about twenty killed and wounded. A great booty was picked up on
the field, of gold, silver, jewels, ornamented swords, magnificent
uniforms, scarfs, and clothing, besides horses, as well as the plunder
brought from Lascours.
The opening of the Lascours wine-cellars proved the ruin of the
Royalists, for many of the men were so drunk that they were unable
either to fight or fly. After returning thanks to God on the
battle-field, Cavalier conducted the rejoicing people of Lascours back
to their village, and proceeded to his head-quarters at Bouquet with
his booty and his trophies.
Another encounter shortly followed at the Bridge of Salindres, about
midway between Auduze and St. Jean du Gard, in which Roland inflicted
an equally decisive defeat on a force commanded by Brigadier Lalande.
Informed of the approach of the Royalists, Roland posted his little
army in the narrow, precipitous, and rocky valley, along the bottom of
which runs the river Gardon. Dividing his men into three bodies, he
posted one on the bridge, another in ambuscade at the entrance to the
defile, and a third on the summit of the precipice overhanging the
road.
The Royalists had scarcely advanced to the attack of the bridge, when
the concealed Camisards rushed out and assailed their rear, while
those stationed above hurled down rocks and stones, which threw them
into complete disorder. They at once broke and fled, rushing down to
the river, into which they threw themselves; and but for Roland's
neglect in guarding the steep footpath leading to the ford at the
mill, the whole body would have been destroyed. As it was, they
suffered heavy loss, the general himself escaping with difficulty,
leaving his white-plumed hat behind him in the hands of the Camisards.