Louis d'Andigné

Louis d'Andigné
Nickname(s)	Chevalier de Sainte-Gemme
Born	(1765-01-12)12 January 1765 Quelaines-Saint-Gault, France
Died	Fontainebleau, French Empire
Allegiance	Kingdom of France (1782–1791) Armée des émigrés (1791–1794) Chouan (1795-1800) Kingdom of France (1815–1830) Chouan (1832)
Service/branch	Catholic and Royal Army
Years of service	1782–1832
Battles/wars	Chouannerie War in the Vendée

Louis-Marie-Antoine-Auguste d'Andigné de La Blanchaye, known as Chevalier de Sainte-Gemme, then Comte d'Andigné (12 January 1765 – 1 February 1857), was a French general and Chouan leader during the French Revolution.

Biography

A member of the d'Andigné family, a noble family from Anjou, Louis d'Andigné was born in Quelaines-Saint-Gault, the second son of Guy-René-Charles-François d'Andigné, Count of St-Gemmes and Baron of Segré, and his wife Louise-Joséphine de Robien. He was the cousin of the deputy Auguste d'Andigné de Mayneuf. His older brother, Paul-Marie-Céleste d'Andigné de La Blanchaye, was born on May 5, 1763, and his younger brother, Charles-François d'Andigné, on February 27, 1769.

He entered the Royal Navy as an ensign in 1782, then became a lieutenant in 1786. He went to the Antilles to participate in the American War of Independence, under the command of Admiral de Guichen. He participated in the Battle of Barbados and the Battle of Ushant.

During the French Revolution, he emigrated in 1791 and fought in 1792 and 1793 in the army of the Princes, then in the army of Condé in 1791.

He landed in Brittany in 1795 and joined the Chouans in the northwestern part of Maine-et-Loire, then became Adjutant general of the Catholic and Royal Army of Maine, Anjou and Upper Brittany and served under Scépeaux. He participated in the Battle of Andigné on March 8, 1796, and in the Battle of Croix-Couverte on March 25. He signed the peace treaty on May 14, 1796.

He resumed the war in 1799, and was second in command of the Catholic and Royal Army of Lower Anjou and Upper Brittany, led by General Godet de Châtillon. He participated in the Battle of Noyant-la-Gravoyère. Under the orders of Godet de Châtillon, he took part in the raid on Nantes. He was then sent to Paris to negotiate with the first consul Bonaparte.

He was arrested in 1800 following the attack on the rue Saint-Nicaise, in which he was not involved. He was locked up in the Square du Temple with the Vendean general Suzannet. They escaped, but were recaptured and sent to various prisons. They finally escaped from the Fort de Joux on August 16, 1802. Again arrested in 1804, Louis d'Andigné escaped in 1809 and fled to Frankfurt, where he waited for the end of the Empire.

He returned to France at the time of the Restoration. Under Louis XVIII, he was appointed Royal Commissioner in the district of Segré. During the Hundred Days, he took part in the small Chouannerie by commanding the Chouans of Mayenne. He took part in the Battle of Cossé, on May 27, 1815.

He was Maréchal de camp then baron-pair of France in 1815.

Revolted by the Prussian occupation, he proposed to march against them with the Vendean troops. He then became president of the electoral college of Maine-et-Loire, hereditary peer of France and received the title of count. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in 1823.

Refusing to swear an oath to Louis-Philippe, he was called to Anjou by the Duchess of Berry, in order to prepare a new uprising in 1832. The project was quickly aborted, and Louis d'Andigné was arrested, then imprisoned in the Château d'Angers, before being released two and a half months later. He was stripped of his peerage in 1847, given to his second son. He died in Fontainebleau on February 1, 1857, at 2 a.m., at the age of 92.

Works

• Mémoires du Général d'Andigné (1900–1901; 2 volumes; introduction and notes by Edmond Biré)

References

• Gabory, Émile (2009). Les Guerres de Vendée. Paris: Robert Laffont.

External links

• Works by Louis d'Andigné at Gallica