The troops of the Republic were, of course, put in motion to assist the officers who were entrusted with the carrying out of the conscription.

There were garrisons in Nantes, in Anjou, and in Saumur; and detachments from these places were sent into the smaller towns and villages, into every mayoralty, to enforce the collection of the levy, and to take off with them the victims of the conscription.

Among other places, an attempt was made to carry out the new law at St.Florent, and at this place was made the first successful resistance, by an armed force, to the troops of the Convention.
St.Florent is a small town on the south bank of the Loire, in the province of Anjou, and at the northern extremity of that district, now so well known by the name of La Vendee.

It boasted of a weekly market, a few granaries for the storing of corn, and four yearly fairs for the sale of cattle.

Its population and trade, at the commencement of the war, was hardly sufficient to entitle it to the name of a town; but it had early acquired some celebrity as a place in which the Republic was known to be very unpopular, and in which the attachment of the people to the throne was peculiarly warm.
Here the work of the conscription was commenced in silence.