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life of Peter Stewart Xey.
Marshal of F ranee, calle<l by
Хи|И||еоп
"The bravest of the
brave," is familiar to every school
boy who with his history honk in haml
has sat dreaming over the days of
Napoleon. Ilis brilliant swordsman¬
ship, his many-sided genius (as indi¬
cated by his ability as a flutist), and,
above nil, his heroic devotion to Na¬
poleon have made him a figure of
romanee. These school Imy* close his
life story with an execution in France
following Napoleon's exile and will
tell you that a monument was there
ereeted to him in 1853. Yet there are
many students of his life who believe
that this execution was faked and
that the last days of this brilliant
military strategist were spent in exile
in Piedmont. North Carolina, where
he taught a small school. If this stu¬
dent be a -Davidson College man. he
will proudly exhibit his college seal,
drawn by this school master whom he
claims was Marshal Ney. To prove
his claim he will tell you this story
of Ney's life.
A Gallant Soldier
Xey rose from the ranks: Lieu¬
tenant in the army of the North in
1792; general of division. 1799; Mar¬
shal of France, 1801. The year in
which Xey won his title of Marshal
was the same in which Napoleon as-
sumed the title of Napoleon I. and
from this time the outstanding thing
in the life of Marshal Ney is his loyal¬
ty to his emperor, in defeat as well as
in victory. He it was who won the
battle of Klchingen which made it
possible for Napoleon to take ITIm in
hi* campaign against Austria in
1805. It was after the battle of Fried-
orlnnd, ISOS, that Napoleon spoke of
him as "brave des braves." To him
goes the credit for winning the battle
of Borodino during the Russian cam¬
paign. and in the disastrous retreat
from that country he commanded the
part of that ill-fated army
This campaign gave Napoleon's ene¬
mies an opportunity to reorganize,
and on April II. 1811 lie was com¬
pelled to alHlieate and was sent to
Elba. Ney. however, was retained as
Marshal by the new emperor. Louis
XVIII.
Return of Napoleon
In March. 1815. Napoleon c*ea|M-d
from his confinement at Elba. He
landed in France, an adventurer
playing a hundred to one shot. lie
started his march to Paris with a
mere handful of followers. Marshal
Ney was sent out to capture him. Na¬
poleon Hung his coat open and in¬
vited Ills old soldiers to shoot him.
Ney surrendered his entire command
to the man wlm was still his emperor.
Soon afterwords Napoleon was lead
ing his old troops who shouted their
enthusiasm all
пегою
France. A na¬
tion which had sighed with relief
when Napoleon was exiled welcomed
him back in a frenzy of joy. The
Bourbon king slunk out unnoticed.
Napoleon became cm |
итог
again,
raised an army and inarched off — to
Waterloo, ami final disaster. He was
deported to St. Helena, and Ney. his
loyal friend and follower, was sen¬
tenced to death at the Restoration.
The Duke of Wellington opposed this
sentence ns lie and Peter Stewart Ney
were members of the same secret
order, but an execution was held.
A few months later there landed
in Charleston. S. (’., a man of almnt
middle age. who called himself Peter
Ney. One of his first acts in this city
was to go into a music store and pur¬
chase n llutc. To the surprise of the
seller of the instrument, this man,
poorly dressed, seemed to In* an no-
eoinplished flutist.
Some time later Peter Ney moved
near Columbia. S. C.. and taught the
children of his landlord. A military
Роде
Thirteen
A photograph of the grave of Peter
Stewart Ney, Rowan County. The in¬
scription on the tombstone reads as
follows:
In Memory
of
Peter Stewart Ney
A native of France
And soldier of the French Revolution
under
Napoleon Bonaparte
Who departed this life
Nov. 15, 1846
Age 77 years.
parade was being held in Columbia
one day and Peter, borrowing the
large white horse of his landlord. rode
in to see it. As he rode along the
streets one of the French Huguenots
said, "That man sits his horse like
Marshal Ney.” Moving closer he said.
"Why it is Marshal Ney!” On hear¬
ing these words the man on the white
horse turned and rode rapidly out »f
town.
In the year 1821 a letter eame to
Peter Ney from France. After giving
this letter to Ney the landlord lin¬
gered outside the door. Hearing a
erv. he rushed in to see his l>ourdcr
attempting suicide by slitting a vein.
He was able to prevent death hut loss
of blood had caused Peter to faint.
The words he gas|>ed out were. "It’s
no use now." A few days later Ameri¬
can newspapers curried the infnrma-
(Continurtl on
/~1</е
I irml
ц
November 24, 1934 THE STATE
The Unsolved Mystery of
Peter Stewart I %ey
HISTORY records that Marshal Ney was
executed in France, buf there are many
who hold an entirely different opinion
concerning the last years of the distin¬
guished soldier.
tty IMM
К. НЛП,
rear division, and was able to save a
