Vendéan Question! How much do we reliably know about Georges Cadoudal's early-career involvement in the Vendée proper?
(I read Dumas' The Last Cavalier this January and I have been fascinated/obsessed with Georges ever since. Alas for me, I cannot read French and am well aware that public domain sources and Google Translate can only get me so far....)
Thank you so much!!
Thank you so much for the question!
And second, thank you for calling it the Vendée proper. Not because the other conflicts in the region are somehow “improper,” but because there are real differences in geography, scale, leadership, and motives between the Vendéan war of 1793–1794 and the later conflicts or the chouanneries. Folding them together tends to blur what was actually happening.
Before answering, a small disclaimer. The Chouannerie is not necessarily my main area of expertise. The only relatively recent book I own and have read on Cadoudal is Georges Cadoudal et les Chouans by Patrick Huchet (in my opinion a fairly factual and balanced study), published in the late 1990s. A new book by Morgan Lazartigues is scheduled for release in March 2026, and I am interested in reading it but it’s not out yet. All of which is to say that the material I am drawing on is not especially recent. Now to the answer.
Yes, Georges Cadoudal was involved very early in the western conflicts between 1793 and 1796. While is best known as a leader of the Chouannerie, his military career actually begins in the Vendéan war.
Cadoudal’s entry into the conflict is tied to the Republic’s decree in March 1793 ordering the conscription of 300,000 men, which triggered widespread unrest across western France and beyond. In a region that was both very rural and very religious, and already irritated by the treatment of refractory priests, the decree was received with something less than enthusiasm, to put it mildly.
According to several royalist narratives, later repeated by historians such as Crétineau-Joly and G. Lenotre (both of whom should probably be read with a certain amount of caution, since their sympathies are not exactly hidden), Cadoudal first took part in resistance to the levy around Auray. He was briefly imprisoned and then incorporated into the Republican army as a conscript intended to fight the Vendéan rebels.
He deserted at the first opportunity and crossed over to the insurgents.
The details of this escape are somewhat murky and occasionally drift toward legend. One colourful story claims that Cadoudal smashed down a door and shot two Republican soldiers with a double-barrelled gun while making his escape. Whether this is fact or simply one of the many heroic anecdotes that later gathered around his reputation is very hard to say.
What is better documented is what happened after he reached the royalist forces.
Cadoudal and several companions joined the Catholic and Royal Army at Chalonnes, entering the Breton companies of the 3rd division under the command of the Marquis de Bonchamps. He became an officer and wore the division’s distinctive olive-green coat. Bonchamps’ units were pretty much the only ones that had something resembling a uniform. Possibly because Bonchamps had a taste for fashion, or possibly because he realised that in a civil war it can be useful to recognise your own men from those who may or may not be trying to shoot at you. But I digress.
Cadoudal seems to have shown military ability rather quickly. He rose to the rank of captain within the Breton companies, and his competence caught the attention of the army’s major general, Jean-Nicolas Stofflet, who entrusted him with cavalry command. Stofflet is said to have remarked about him: “If a cannonball does not carry him off, that big head will go far.” (“Si un boulet ne l’emporte pas, cette grosse tête ira loin…”)
Cadoudal fought throughout the brutal campaign of 1793. He took part in the Virée de Galerne, the disastrous expedition north of the Loire that lasted from October to December 1793 after the defeat at Cholet and left tens of thousands dead. During this campaign he fought alongside a close comrade, Pierre Mercier, and the two reportedly served frequently at the vanguard.
Cadoudal fought throughout the brutal campaign of 1793. He took part in the Virée de Galerne, the disastrous expedition north of the Loire that lasted from October to December 1793 after the defeat at Cholet and left tens of thousands dead. During this campaign he fought alongside his close friend, Pierre Mercier, and the two reportedly served frequently at the vanguard.
At the Battle of Pontlieu on 12 December 1793, Cadoudal and Mercier were noted for actions that reportedly “commanded general admiration”. The campaign ended shortly afterwards with the catastrophic Battle of Savenay on 23 December 1793, where the Vendéan army was effectively destroyed.
Cadoudal survived the massacre in the marshes around Savenay and returned to his native Morbihan with Mercier. With the main Vendéan army destroyed, the conflict in the west shifted in character. Cadoudal went home and began organising guerrilla resistance in Brittany, which became part of the Chouannerie.
He was arrested at the end of June 1794. During his imprisonment he made contact with an agent connected to the exiled royalist princes. He escaped in November 1794 and resumed the fight underground.
In 1795 his abilities as a commander quickly became evident. He became a lieutenant to de Silz, the principal royalist chief in Morbihan. During the disastrous Quiberon expedition in the summer of 1795, Cadoudal deliberately kept his distance from the flawed plans of the arriving émigré forces and withdrew his troops rather than be caught in the collapse.
His reputation for leadership and sound judgement grew quickly. In August 1795, at only twenty-four years old, he was elected major general by the commanders of the Chouan bands in Morbihan.
From that point onward Cadoudal became the principal organiser of the Breton counter-revolution and an important intermediary with the British government, continuing the struggle well beyond 1796 until the general pacification in the early 1800s.
Thank you again for the question. As always I am happy to answer more, so if there is anything else you would like to know about the Vendée or anything related to it, my inbox is open. As mentioned earlier, a new book on Cadoudal should be coming out in about a week, and I will be happy to return with more details once I have read it.
Sources: Lenotre, G. Georges Cadoudal. Collection “Les Leçons du Passé”. Paris: Bernard Grasset, Éditeur, 1929. Huchet, Patrick. Georges Cadoudal et les chouans. Rennes: Éditions Ouest-France, 1998.
