ГАЯ
HEEL TALES
By Carl Cahill
New Evidence Supports
Marshal Ney Legend
Was Peter Stewart Ney. a
man buried in Rowan
County, really Marshal
Michel Ney. one of Napoleon
Bonaparte’s most brilliantsoldiers?
Many North Carolinians familiar
with the story say he was. And just
recently an old letter has surfaced that
may bolster their belief.
Napoleon called Marshal Ney “the
bravest of the brave." And Ney served
the Emperor well. But after Napoleon
was forced to abdicate in 1814, Ney
swore allegiance to Louis XVI II who
made him a peer.
Napoleon escaped from Elba, where
he had been exiled, and Ney was sent
to arrest him. But the Corsican per¬
suaded Ney to rally again to his cause,
and at Warterloo, Ney commanded the
Imperial Guard and fought bravely.
His former colleagues in the House
of Peers, however, found him guilty of
treason to Louis XVIII, and he was
shot to death by a firing squad in the
Luxembourg Gardens in 1 81 5.
Not so. says a persistent North
Carolina legend. What really hap¬
pened. many Tar Heels insist, was
this:
Ney was a Mason. So was the Duke
of Wellington, who ordered the mus¬
kets of the firing squad loaded with
blanks. Ney. himself, gave the order to
fire, bringing his arm down across his
chest, bursting a bladder of red fluid
under hisclothing.
He fell to the ground and was carted
off to a hospital from which he slipped
away while another man’s body was
buried in his place.
The marshal changed his name to
Peter Stewart Ney, so the story goes,
and sailed to Charleston, South Caro¬
lina, arriving in January 1816. He
taught school in Indiana. Virginia and
near Davidson College in North Caro¬
lina.
He is credited with having designed
the Davidson College seal. Occasion¬
ally. while drinking heavily, he
claimed to be Marshal Ney of France.
He died of pneumonia in the home of
Osborne Foard on November 1 5. 1 846,
and was buried in the Third Creek
Presbyterian Church cemetery in
Rowan County about a mile from the
Foard home.
Books have been written to prove
the legend is true. Others have been
penned to show it is false. In support of
the story, a Peter Stewart Ney Associa-
Is the soldier honored in this
statue in Paris actually buried in
the Roivan County grave at right ?
tion was formed in 1945. It is now
defunct.
Drawn by the mystery, tourists and
the curious visit Ney’s burial place
and speculate on the identity of the
man resting there.
Now, portions of a rough draft of a
sometimes illegible letter that was
written by Foard have come to light.
The letter lends credence to the legend
and gives some insight into Ney’s per¬
sonality.
Written with a pencil in the jerky
movements of an old man, the letter is
on lined paper in a ledger of Foard’s.
There are few punctuation marks,
some sentences run together, and
there are lapses in spelling.
Nevertheless, it gives a brief ac¬
count of Ney’s physical and emotional
characteristics. Portions of it are
missing.
The letter follows. The question
marks represent erasures or unread¬
able words and phrases.
Newton, N.C.
July 23. 1909
Johnston Jones
Editor, News
Dear Sir: Yours of the 18th inst. is to
hand & at your request will give you
my recollections of Mr. P.S. Ney. In the
year of 1832 or ?, Ney taught a school
near old Joppa Church 2 or 3 miles
above Mocksville, Davie County.
Mr. Ney. myself, & Robt. & Miles
Ellis & others boarded with ? Foster
where Berry Foster now lives. I & 3
other students occupied the same
room that Mr. Ney occupied. Conse¬
quently, I saw & heard more of him
than most of his pupils. During the
session, he received the intelligence of
the death of young Bonapart. (Son of
the Emperor Napolianl which seemed
to completely unhinge him so much so
that he called the school together &
dismissed it for the purpose, as he said
afterward, to commit suicide.
Robert Ellis & other young men
staid at the school room (an old dwell¬
ing), and by their efforts & presence
kept him from injuring himself except
Photo. JiraDufT.SiolrfU*.
I he Sialeyi>etembei *7
30
