On 1 April 1815, despite orders from Général Clauzel, the 8th Line Infantry Regiment entered Bordeaux. While Louis XVIII fled towards Ghent, the Duchess of Angoulême had been trying to organize resistance to Napoleon in the city, and had established herself there on 5 March. Bordeaux was fervently royalist and had hailed her husband, the elder son of Louis XVIII’s brother, on the occasion of his formal entry into the city on 12 March 1814.
Both Général Clauzel, who led the troops who came to regain control over the city in the name of the Emperor, and Napoleon himself had a wholehearted respect for the Duchess of Angoulême. Based in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, Général Clauzel had ordered his troops to wait until the Duchess of Angoulême had left Bordeaux, but the 8th Line disobeyed and entered the city. The Royalists mistakenly believed that these troops wanted to take part in the defence of Bordeaux alongside the National Guard. Only as she visited the barracks did the Duchess understand that the 8th Line was actually hostile to her. She decided to leave Bordeaux in the evening, when the French tricolour was already flying over Château-Trompette.
Sources :
A.D. Gironde, série 8 R
Bibliography :
A. Houssaye, 1815. La première Restauration. Les Cent-Jours, Paris, Perrin, 1906. ;
Lettres de Madame la comtesse de D. à M. sur les événements qui se sont passés à Bordeaux au 1er avril 1815, Bordeaux, Lavigne jeune, 1815. (Bibliothèque municipale de Bordeaux, mélanges historiques, 25768-6)
