Jean-Nicolas Stofflet was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 leader of the Revolt in the Vendée

Revolt in the Vendée

The War in the Vendée was a Royalist rebellion and counterrevolution in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the Loire River in western France. The uprising was closely tied to the Chouannerie, which took place in...

 against the First French Republic.

Born in Bathelémont-lès-Bauzemont

Bathelémont-lès-Bauzemont

Bathelémont-lès-Bauzemont is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.Near Bathelémont is a memorial to the first three U.S. soldiers killed in action in France in World War I. The three men, James Gresham, Thomas Enright, and Merle Hay, of the 16th Infantry, 1st...

 (Meurthe-et-Moselle

Meurthe-et-Moselle

Meurthe-et-Moselle is a department in the Lorraine region of France, named after the Meurthe and Moselle rivers.- History :Meurthe-et-Moselle was created in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian War from the parts of the former departments of Moselle and Meurthe which remained French...

), the son of a miller, he was for long a private

Private (rank)

A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...

 in the Swiss Guard

Swiss Guard

Swiss Guards or Schweizergarde is the name given to the Swiss soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. They have had a high reputation for discipline, as well as loyalty to their employers...

, and afterwards gamekeeper

Gamekeeper

A gamekeeper is a person who manages an area of countryside to make sure there is enough game for shooting, or fish for angling, and who actively manages areas of woodland, moorland, waterway or farmland for the benefit of game birds, deer, fish and wildlife in general.Typically, a gamekeeper is...

 to the comte de Colbert-Maulévrier, he joined the Vendéans

Revolt in the Vendée

The War in the Vendée was a Royalist rebellion and counterrevolution in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the Loire River in western France. The uprising was closely tied to the Chouannerie, which took place in...

 when they rose against the Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 to defend Roman Catholicism and Royalist

House of Bourbon

The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...

 principles. During the war in Vendée

Vendée

The Vendée is a department in the Pays-de-la-Loire region in west central France, on the Atlantic Ocean. The name Vendée is taken from the Vendée river which runs through the south-eastern part of the department.-History:...

, he served first under Maurice-Louis-Joseph Gigot d'Elbée, and fought at Fontenay-le-Comte

Fontenay-le-Comte

Fontenay-le-Comte is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:The Vendée River flows though the town. The town has an area of .-History:...

, Cholet

Cholet

Cholet is a commune of western France in the Maine-et-Loire department. It was the capital of military Vendée.-Geography:Cholet stands on an eminence on the right bank of the Moine, which used to be crossed by a bridge from the fifteenth century...

 and Saumur

Saumur

Saumur is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.The historic town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc...

, and distinguished himself at the battles of Beaupréau

Beaupréau

Beaupréau is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France....

, Laval

Laval, Mayenne

Laval is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France.It lies on the threshold of Brittany and on the border between Normandy and Anjou. Its citizens are called Lavallois.-Geography:...

 and Antrain

Antrain

Antrain is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department of Brittany in north-western France.-Demographics:Inhabitants of Antrain are called in French Antrenais....

.

He was appointed major-general of the Royalist army, and in 1794 succeeded Henri de la Rochejaquelein

Henri de la Rochejaquelein

Henri du Vergier, comte de la Rochejaquelein was the youngest general of the Royalist Vendéan insurrection during the French Revolution.-Early activities:...

 as commander-in-chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

. But his quarrels with another Vendéan leader, François de Charette

François de Charette

François Athanase de Charette de la Contrie was a French soldier and politician, one of the leaders of the bloody events termed the "Revolt in the Vendée"...

, and the defeats sustained by the Vendéan troops, led him to give in his submission and to accept the terms of the La Jaunaie treaty with the National Convention

National Convention

During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...

 (2 May 1795).

He, however, soon violated this treaty, and at the instigation of Royalist agents took arms in December of the same year or behalf of the Count of Provence

Louis XVIII of France

Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...

, from whom he had received the rank of maréchal-de-camp

Field Marshal

Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...

. This last action of Stofflet's failed completely. He was taken prisoner by the Republic, sentenced to death

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

 by a military commission, and shot at Angers

Angers

Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....

.