Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1859-09-03
The OrfgtpaI Zouave..


The public journals, aided by admiring
and active correspondents, animated by
love for blood and bold adventure. sabreism,
and soldiery, have told the world what I
wonderfully agile class of men the Zonaves
are, and how readily they can crawl, creep, 4
run, dive, OF swim toward an enemy 10 whip /
a long bayeuete ed sabre under the aorta, as If
they were skilled in surgery. Marvellous
stories have been told of these soldiers; too,a
as If nothing like them had been known from
the tinae of Exemption down to that of Louis
NaPosecn. The Americans were the original
Zouaves. They were scattered everywhere
throughout the country in the Revolutionary
war. and some of the finest specimens ofthem
were reared in the camp. of General
Daniel Morgan. Those active soldiers, or
rihemen as they-were called were the nin-
blest of acrobats. They could go through
dingle and dells, like cells through water
courses. swim rivers like allgators climb
trees with the agile nimbleness ocatamounts.
pick OH an officer as plump peach out of
basket of windfails, and could perform every
kind OF acrobatic exercise with the skin of
Bedouin Arabs The rifiemen of the Ameri-
can revolution were the original Zouaves in
all thai has made those of Louis Napoleon's
army so conspicuous. only that, in place of
the bayOnet sabre, they used short broad
sword when they came into gripping contact
with the enemy, who swore that he preferred
| to encounter i've hundred musketeers rather
| than fifty. of the lively little men in green
| and blue. In General Morgan's camp the
ritiemen were trained to athletic exercises,
and, indeed, all the rife companies were skill
| ed in the arts that can be carried on with
well tried muscles.
Not only were the American Zouaves of
great use nom their suppleness and activity
| in the revolutionary war, but in the last war
with Great Britain they did wonders where
| ever brake, fen, brook, river or lake interpos-
| cd difficulties. They knew how TO dive
deeper, and come up drier than any other
soldiers, and when LOdewick Morgan was
| sent to Oswegn, to reinforce Captain Robert
! Carr, now living. who then commanded the
| fifteenth regiment, that officer had so rifle
men who had been trained in the style COM
mon to the camp of bis ancestor. They were
terror to the Britisb-daDgerous at all
| times, and so swift in their Movements, as to
astonlsh the enemy-leaping. jumping. load
| ing their rifles on the ground, aud caperng
In such attitudes as to puzzle and perplex
the foe. They were wholly free from army
regulations, and fought out of the line OF
/ battle, at their own pleasure, sometimes doing
sad work with human life under leafy screens
and at other times rushing into The very
thlckest OF the fight to try the power of
spirit and muscle against discipline.
In the history If our wars these rifiemen are
| frequently mentioned and there can be no
| question that they were the protOtJ pes Of the
modern Zouave. Their dress even was
| different from that of the troops generally,
and was calculated for the peculiar business
in which they delighted 10 engage. 1t was
light and picturesque, and enabled them to
pass through thickets and through water in
order to come upon the enemy when least ex-
peeled. OF the services which they perform
| ed generally there are many records, while
in some narratives may be read tales OF indi-
vidual activity and daring that may have The
charm OF romance in their well authenticated
reality. We would claim for the American
rliemen the position OF having originated
Zouave life, were it not that the history OF
ancient Greece shows that in their military
they had class OF soldiers who might he
deemed the Zouaves of that early day.
| Doubles the three hundred who lost their
lives at Thermopyle were the Zouaves OF
that early period of human warfare. In
modern times, however, the original Zouave
was tue American ritiemen.--Pe Pennsylvania In
qutr1.