one o'clock
Burning with ardour to avenge their defeat , and rendered furious by the pillage of all the houses of the patriots at Chataigneraie -- to which town Chalbos with seven thousand troops had marched -- it was against him that the Vendeans first moved . Chalbos , who had occupied his time in issuing vainglorious proclamations , and in writing assurances to the Convention that the Vendeans were so panic stricken that the war was virtually over , only saved his army by a long and painful night march back to Fontenay . Here the troops lay down to sleep , feeling certain that there could be no attack that day by the enemy . At one o'clock , however , the Vendeans issued from the woods on to the plain , and the troops were hastily called to arms . The Royal Catholic Army , as it now called itself , advanced in three columns . It was without cannon , but its enthusiasm more than counterbalanced this deficiency . The Vendeans received unshaken the discharge of the artillery of the Blues , pursuing their usual tactics of throwing themselves to the ground when they saw the flash of the cannon , and then leaping up again and rushing forward with loud shouts .