Conference of 14 & 15 Frimaire
On the evening of 4 December 1793 (14 Frimaire, Year II), Jean-Baptiste Carrier, key members of the Revolutionary Committee of Nantes, François-Louis Phélippes Tronjolly and colleagues, Julien Minée for the department, Renard for the city, and representatives of the Vincent-la-Montagne Company, all met. In the course of heated discussions, they appointed a jury to name so-called "criminals." The next day, the jury presented more than three hundred names on a list, which became orders for execution. To carry out the judgements, Carrier imagined a radical process he euphemistically called "vertical deportation": rather than deporting criminals to remote penal colony islands, he proposed loading the condemned onto flat bottom boats, and drowning them by casting them out in the middle of the Loire at Chantenay, an adjacent village. The executions were to be carried out at night, in secrecy, however there was concern among members of the committee that corpses would begin floating-up to the surface, sometimes days later. These concerns proved to be justified.
Two groups received the task of conducting the executions: Guillaume Lamberty and his men, and the Marat Company of Revolutionary Guards, known as the 'American Hussars' (French: hussards américains) due to the presence of former Black slaves and settlers from Saint-Domingue in its ranks.
Read more about this topic: Drownings At Nantes
Famous quotes containing the word conference:
“Politics is still the man’s game. The women are allowed to do the chores, the dirty work, and now and then—but only occasionally—one is present at some secret conference or other. But it’s not the rule. They can go out and get the vote, if they can and will; they can collect money, they can be grateful for being permitted to work. But that is all.”
—Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958)