In 1793, Joseph de Puisaye turned against the republic when the Jacobins proscribed the reformist Girondin movement, with which he was aligned.

After republican forces ambushed his military unit and sacked his estate, he fled to the forest of Le Pertre in Brittany and attempted to organise the Chouan factions into an anti-Jacobin army.

[1] In October 1794, Puisaye was named Lieutenant General of the army of Brittany by the Count Charles of Artois but did not have the support of all divisions.

He formed the Rennes and Fougères in 1795, and passed on its command to Aimé Picquet du Boisguy, head of the Chouans in the area[which?]

In 1796, these divisions were under the direction of Joseph de Puisaye and assisted by Boisguy, but whose real command did not have time to be effective.