agreed to have them executed but none would dare give the order. The presence of republican prisoners caught the eye of the Vendéen soldiers who wanted to kill them to avenge their wounded generals and the ravages of the republican army. The general Charles de Bonchamps had been transported to a house in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil. Severely wounded, and was dying when he heard that the republican troops were to be executed. He ordered his second Charles de Beaumont d'Autichamp to prevent this from happening as his dying wish. D'Autichamp thus showed up and told the soldiers that the dying general wished that the prisoners be spared. Bonchamps was very popular amongst his soldiers, so they obeyed and the prisoners were set free. Virée de Galerne The republicans were celebrating after the victory at Cholet, certain that the war was definitively won and that the last Vendéens pushed off to the Loire would be easily destroyed. On 19 October at 3 in the morning, the first detachment of hussards of captain Hauteville (second to Westermann) entered an astonishingly deserted Saint-Florent-le-Vieil. All the Vendéens had managed to pass to the northern side of the Loire, which the republicans thought to be an impossible feat in such little time. Charles de Bonchamps had died 4 hours earlier and was buried at the Varades cemetery. The republican prisoners were found quickly and Merlin de Thionville wrote to the Committee of Public Safety that he had told the republican soldiers that they need not feel any recognition to the Vendéens, "enemies of the Nation", and hoped this episode would be forgotten in history. Contrary to republican hopes, the war was not over. A new campaign called the Virée de Galerne started, aiming to spread the uprising north of the Loire to Brittany and Maine. References Smith, D. The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book. Greenhill Books, 1998. Yves Gras, La Guerre de Vendée, éditions Economica, 1994, pp. 85–95. Jean Tabeur, Paris contre la Province, les guerres de l'Ouest, éditions Economica, 2008, pp. 147–150. Battles involving France Battles of the War in the Vendée Battles in Pays de la Loire History of Maine-et-Loire 1793 in France Conflicts in 1793 Cholet