Battle of Laval

Prelude

After having passed to the other side of the Loire following the disaster at Cholet, the Vendéens had stationed in Varages, where a war counsel was held on 19 October. General Maurice d'Elbée was wounded and absent, so he needed to be replaced, and the officers offered to promote Louis Marie de Lescure to chief general. He declined saying his own wound was too serious, and offered that Henri de La Rochejacquelein were named chief general instead. He finally accepted becoming chief general of the Vendéens at age 21.

The objective of the counsel was to start an uprising in Brittany and Maine, which were in majority favorable to the royalists. To keep contact with Charette and his army, Lescure offered to march to Nantes where the republic defenses were strongly reduced. Talmont, who owned much land in Maine, offered to take Laval where he said his influence in the region was strong enough to start an uprising of a few tens of thousands of men. La Rochejaquelein agreed with this plan.