Norman and Breton départements had begun to assemble in order to raise a revolt against the Convention. Thus Buzot and Gorsas went to Eure, while Pétion and many others reached Caen, which was to become their headquarters. Meanwhile, Brissot went to Moulins, Rabaut Saint-Étienne to Nîmes, Rebecqui to Marseille, and Birotteau and Chasset to Lyon. In these large towns, the local notables and large merchants who were the strongest Girondin supporters could muster sufficient influence and support to prevent the Jacobins in the towns from taking over. However they lacked the numbers in the smaller towns to break to hegemony of the radical political clubs that wanted to remain loyal to the Convention, heeding appeals for the unity of patriots against counter-revolution and invasion, and welcoming the popular new Constitution of Year I. The insurrection had three main regional centres; the West (Normandy and Brittany, principally in the towns of Rennes and Caen), the South East (Lyon, Marseille and Toulon) and the South West (Bordeaux). Normandy and Brittany On 9 June, the two représantants en mission from the Convention in Normandy, Gilbert Romme and Prieur de la Côte d'Or were arrested in Caen by Federalists and held hostage for the duration of the rebellion against the safety of the proscribed Girondin leaders. On 13 June, led by Buzot and Gorsas, Eure gave the signal for insurrection, declaring that the Convention was no longer a free body, calling for the muster of 4,000 men to march on Paris and sending commissioners out to neighbouring departements to encourage them to rise too. In Ille-et-Vilaine, the département and the town government of Rennes formed a central committee to coordinate protests. It was soon joined by delegates from Finistère and Morbihan. Côtes-du-Nord decided it was more important to send volunteers to defend Nantes, threatened by the Vendéan rebels, than to send men to Normandy. It was only after the Battle of Nantes that the authorities in Côtes-du-Nord decided to send just forty volunteers, while Nantes itself sent 64. Overall, the Bretons sent just 1,700 men into Normandy. In Maine-et-Loire, the quartering of Convention troops in Laval as well as the presence of two loyal members of the Convention, :fr:Pierre-Marie Delaunay and :fr:Jacques Dandenac, prevented a gathering of citizens on 7 June who wanted to sign up to join a Federalist departemental battalion formed by Mayenne. However this force eventually left for Caen on 4