Confident in the
superiority which their mode of attack gave them, they never suffered
themselves to be anticipated, they never engaged but when and
where they pleased. Their dexterity in the use of fire arms was such,
that no people, however well skilled in manoeuvring, could make such
good use of a gun; the huntsman of Loroux, and the poacher of le
Bocage, having been always proverbial as excellent marksmen. It was no
unusual thing for the Vendeans when at the plough, to carry with them
a musket; and whenever they observed "a blue coat," (as they called
the republican soldiers) they stopt their plough, took up their
musket, and fired at him; it seldom happened that they missed the
object of their vengeance. A melancholy circumstance, connected with
this mode of warfare, took place: the son of one of the Vendean
farmers, or ploughmen, had been compelled to join the republican army;
but having succeeded in escaping, he was hastening, in his republican
uniform, to rejoin his relations, when being observed by his father,
while at the plough, the latter, unable from the distance to recognize
his son, and seeing only the uniform of an enemy, fired and shot him.
Their attacks were always dreadful, sudden, and almost unforeseen,
because it was very difficult to reconnoitre or obtain information so
as to guard against surprise. Their order of battle was generally in
the form of a crescent, their wings being composed of the most expert
marksmen, who never fired without taking aim, and seldom ever missed.
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