four o'clock
It was not until three o'clock in the afternoon that the Vendeans approached the town , and General Menou sent two battalions of the line , one of volunteers , and eighty horse , under the orders of General Berthier , to take possession of a chateau in front of the position . Two hundred and fifty men were posted in a convent near it . Santerre commanded the force which was to defend the intrenchments at Nantilly , and Coustard the troops who occupied the heights of Bourlan . At four o'clock the skirmishers on both sides were hotly engaged . The Vendeans advanced in three columns -- the central one against the post occupied by Berthier , the left against Nantilly , and the right threatened to turn the position at Beaulieu . Berthier allowed the force advancing against him to approach within a short distance of the chateau , and then poured a storm of grape into it , from a battery that he had established . Lescure , who was in command , was badly wounded .