The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1870-09-24
General Changarnier.
:. .rpv1cEs AND BRAVERY IN THE AFRI
~ CAN CAMPAIGN.

The French papers, says the :P"u
~ nasette. have narrated the meeting
1es 1erhsngsrnler with the Emperor Napo-
o. " and few can help being touched by
eon, ,ssscription Of the old General of
w m,stv.eieht years of age rendering his
49, 80 and his sword, when his country
n danger, to the man whom, politi-
ls,Iv and privately, he must hitherto
60 waved with intense dislike. Chan
r;sr was one Of the officers of the old
En.,san army; he had seen the French
As,ss nushed forward from the seacost
n. nssis of the Sahara; he had served
eomrade of the Prince of the House
IInieans, and with Lamoriciere and
gssignsc had won his fame in the cam
ts;"n against Add ell Kader.
IN curious and instructive to look
- - On the early life of so excellent au
psss aa.r and to notice how the qualities
esa;ch he displayed when in high com
Nd ND were equally remarkable. when in
p's.a ha,sa of small bodies of troops. 1t was
ICES iSs3s 'thirty-five years ago, when
IA Al. Kader was yet only the chief of
= A ssv Arabs, that Changarneir took part
!, the expedition against Mascars. The
r,srch arms had been successful; but
nnnrnyided with the requisite supplies,
tba troops were forced to retreat over q
harresf and mountainous country to Orln.
Tscl1 soldier had been served out with
-stions for the march, holding Il small
.sck of rice in reserve. Provisions fail
al. and recourse was had to the seserve
snuply; but the troops, young, unused
70 war. and thougltless OF the future,
had soaandered all their rations, inclu-
diog the bag Of rice.
One battalion only had preserved
theirs intact, and this was the Second Lc
Ger. commanded by Captain Changar-
Sier.g Who thus showed that he knew
how to command men, and how to pre-
serve discipline under circumstances
which test to the utmost the military
analities of soldiers. Again, in 1886.
when the French army under Marshal
Claazei had failed in its attack on Con-
stantine, when, pressed by tho garrison
faaa the city, harassed by the Arab
herseraen Of the surrounding country,
perishing from cold and hunger, the rem
nasts fof the expeditionary force were
re1reasihg toward Bone, Changarnier
dissiasuished himself He commanded
the rearguartl, which had been thrown
out iu skirmishing order, and which was
COMPOSED of the remnants, $50 men,
OF the Second Leger.
Tie Arab horsemen had already charg-
ed them, and had sabred many, when
Chaugarnier formed q square. The Ma
homedan cavalry, excited by the slaught-
er of the Christians, and holding in dis
,iaia 90 small a body, stopped down on
them, looking for an easy conquest.
Chaugarnier waited until they had APP
preached within twenty-fv yards of
the face of the square, and then, calling
to his men, said, "You see those fellows
there; they are 5000, we are $50, so the
sides are about equal. Virele Roi! Fire!'
The men fired steadily, the front of the
faces of the square were strewed thickly
WITH men and horses, dying or dead. The
battalion collected it's wounded, and,
having given 50 severe lesson to the
enemy, pursued its retreat unmolested.
After this action ChaDgarnier's name
stood high In the estimation of the AL
gerian army, and he rose by successive
steps until, ,-in 1913, he commanded the
troopsin algeria. - "
Few of his old comrades now remain.
Caysignac died in 1857, Lamoriciere in
1865. Montsuban, Count de Palikao,
still serves, although ut present in civil
while the Princes of the House
OF Orleans, whose names were equally
known and respected in the old Algerian
army, i'm vain solicit at this crisis of their
eountry's fate permission to draw their
swords Id her defense, and again to. cast
iH their lot with their comrades of for
uler wars. Whatever may be the result
d the present awful struggle, Changar-
he French service, aud his career will
BE- quoted 90 ap example of the gallantry
rian Asmy:: - ~ -