Battle of Noirmoutier (1794)

Battle of Noirmoutier
Part of War in the Vendée
La mort du général D'Elbée, oil on canvas by Julien Le Blant, 1878, Musée de Noirmoutier.
Date 3 January 1794 Location Island of Noirmoutier 46°59′32.65″N 2°15′19.74″W / 46.9924028°N 2.2554833°W / 46.9924028; -2.2554833 Result Republican victory
Belligerents
French Republic	Vendeans
Commanders and leaders
• Louis-Marie Turreau • Nicolas Haxo • Nicolas Louis Jordy • Dominique Aubertin • Prieur de la Marne • Louis Marie Turreau • Pierre Bourbotte	• Maurice d'Elbée • René de Tinguy • Alexandre Pineau du Pavillon • Bernard Massip • Hyacinthe Hervouët de La Robrie • Benjamin Dubois de La Guignardière • Pierre Prosper Gouffier de Boisy • Pierre Duhoux d'Hauterive
Strength
3,000 to 3,200 men	1,500 to 2,000 men
Casualties and losses
130 dead 200 wounded	400 to 600 dead 1 200 to 1,500 prisonners shot 30 to 100 cannons and screeches captured
class=notpageimage| Location within France

The Battle of Noirmoutier was a confrontation in the War in the Vendée which took place on 3 January 1794 between the Republicans and the Vendeans for control of the island of Noirmoutier.

Situated in the Bay of Bourgneuf and linked to the mainland by the Gois causeway, the island was occupied on 12 October 1793 by General Charette's Vendean troops. This capture immediately alarmed the Committee of Public Safety, which feared British intervention on behalf of the royalists. However, Charette did not attempt to send a schooner to Great Britain until December to make contact with the London government, and he received no reply for several months.

The republicans landed on Noirmoutier on the morning of 3 January 1794 and took the whole of its southern part after fighting at Pointe de la Fosse and the village of Barbâtre. They then marched in the afternoon towards the town of Noirmoutier, where they received the capitulation of the Vendeans, who laid down their arms against the promise of their lives.

Accepted by General Haxo, the capitulation was not respected by the representatives on a mission, Prieur de la Marne, Turreau and Bourbotte, who had 1,200 to 1,500 prisoners shot in a few days, including Maurice d'Elbée, the former generalissimo of the Catholic and Royal Army.

The recapture of Noirmoutier followed the battle of Savenay a few days later, which saw the destruction of the Vendean forces engaged in the Galerne's campaign. After these two victories, which were considered decisive, the Republican commanders believed that the War in the Vendée was on the point of being over. The Vendeans no longer control any territory and the last insurgent bands are numbered by only a few hundred or a few thousand men, hunted down in the woods and in the countryside. In mid-January, General Turreau launched his "colonnes infernales" with the intention of giving the final blow to the Vendean insurrection.