Start of the capter on "The night"

 

A man of honor and disgrace

 

-“On my arrival at Dun knowing the disaffection of the inhabitants I would not enter the town but remain on horseback at the gate”

If you had been walking in the humid August night in the narrow streets of the city, long after the sun had set and the skies almost clouded the bright shining moon you might have heard the soldiers and their  horses at outside the city gate. No one is to know if you would be struck with fear and filled with anger – as this was time of danger and death and no one would go merrily on their way with strange noises at the city gate.

 

But if you had be amoughst the soldiers in the group you might be feeling differently. This was especially if you knew what was about to happen. This was the time that would make or break a hero and to be man of your words and stand by your belief.  The soldiers were waiting for a King – The King. And they were looking to the quite scented fields that surrounded them. The time pasted slowly. The soldiers looked to eachother and the General that led them. –“When was he coming” one said to the next. “So much would be right in the world again. Mayby we should ride to look for him?. But the General kept still and gazed at the road. This was not the time to panic nor doubt the marticulous planning he himself had done.  He was gambling to set things right and he had wooed to stay loyal and true to the king that had let him do so much. He looked to his man. He need them to stay calm and yet vigilant. This for the time for men to shine and raise to the occasion.

No one characterized this more the General Bouille. The man leading the troops at Dun had the mark of a trained and experience soldier. He had fougth in more batlles the most and show both gracious mercy and harden cruality. He was above all a committed royalist, but also a man of duty which became apperent in Nancy rebellion. In Nancy three  regiments of the old Royal Army had argued and fought amougst themselves. The soldiers' committee of the Regiment du Roi had demanded to audit the regimental accounts, procided to arrest the quartermaster, confin the colonel and other officers to barracks and seized the unit's pay chest. The officers of the Chateauvieux Swiss mercenaries were able to temporarily restore order and punish members of the soldiers' committee according to the Swiss military code - in this case by running the gauntlet. Running the gauntlet (originally gantlet, and, rarely, gantlope or gantelope) is a form of physical punishment wherein a captive is to run between two rows—a gauntlet—of soldiers who repeatedly strike him .This action led to renewed disturbances, now involving all three regiments of the garrison.

Fearing that the outbreak in Nancy would spread to the other garrisons located along the frontier, the National Assembly in Paris ordered suppression of the mutiny. The Assembly concerned at the increasing indiscipline had already voted to abolish political associations within the army. General François Claude de Bouillé, army commander at Metz, accordingly led 4,500 regular soldiers and national guards to Nancy on 18 August. sdUpon arrival at the city on 31 August, de Bouille issued an ultimatum to a delegation from the mutinous soldiers demanding the release of their officers and the handing over of four ring-leaders. These terms appeared acceptable to the majority of the soldiers but before they could be implemented a clash occurred at the Stainville Gate where the advance ranks of de Bouille's force were halted before an artillery piece manned by soldiers of the Regiment du Roi. Antoine-Joseph-Marc Désilles, a junior officer of the Regiment du Roi stepped in front of a 24 pounder cannon loaded with canister in an attempt to dissuade the mutineers from firing on the government troops. He was shot down and in the confusion the cannon was fired killing about 60 of the loyal troops drawn up in close formation a few paces away. A general engagement then broke out and after three hours of fighting de Bouille's troops put down the mutiny with heavy casualties amongst soldiers and civilians. Total deaths were estimated at 500.

While the French regiments involved escaped serious repercussions, the Swiss mutineers faced severe punishment after court-martial by their own officers. One identified as the prime ringleader was broken on the wheel, 22 were hanged, 41 sentenced to 30 years as galley slaves (in effect hard labour for life since galleys were no longer in service) and a further 74 imprisoned. The National Assembly approved of de Bouillé's actions, but radicals protested its severity. The effect on popular opinion of these draconian measures was to create widespread sympathy for the mutineers who were subsequently released, and to further weaken the discipline and morale of the regular army where disturbances continued until the final overthrow of the Monarchy in August 1792.