The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1871-10-10

A VETERAN, OF BoNAP4ARTE's ARMY
The bURaiNGaI Of MosUowm. AT SO War
| renton street; ih. q diIgy old house. upon
wtich u llttn5' gshef oiis Il enterprise. on the
part ,of tlSSS Sfapdi6 6fd: q sai 6ossexefcised
I with marked. ndvantage To- The locality,
Observation-Disclosures David Ooggenheimer,
q .Germans IA his .nneuPho hoIiions name
implies, aud Jew, ia Fell ljgtous belipf.
Heafing that this old veteran ,had, fought
in tue army Of the first Napoleon, n re-.
porter Of the T.aoelle', called recently to
see him. The reporter was met at the
door by young girl. who. Learning the
object of his errand, went to ascertain if
; the object of inquiry was awake and dis
returned, aud conducted the questioner
up dark, narrow staircase into q room
!; where the old soldier, worn and wasted
dbys d.seh3e,l fwas Sitting in an arm chair.
He gave no Ased "a, approaching foot
I, ateps till his danghEer'a hand wan laid
!; lightly upon his shoulder. a Then he
raised his head YEARLY. For two years
he has been confined to that gloomy
broom, and will probably never leave it
alive. Some terrible malady, consuming
the bone OF his arm, has baffled medical
skill, and rendered him o prey to the
most aouts suffetings. His, head ia CO.
jyerad with thick gray hair, his faoe,,
smoothly shayen; is ,lwrinkled no more
than many. o mans at fifty. Dullness of
hearing. and q violent cough, together
With 7imperfeotly pronounced English,
render conversation with him almost i'm
possible, He is said never to have been
very communicative respecting his own
experiences. y l;:fHlii} *,
ON! the present occasion, he seemed
10 o. iS,A - L
nRpe, Of Napoleon was mentioned, being
apparently IN atupor. A. the sound
OF that magical word. however, his face
lighted up, the steel-grey eye flashed
with the memory of battles fought and
won, and the form, bowed with the bur-
den OF seighty-eight years, grew almost
/ upright. he told in quick. short SEN
tences. which the girl interpreted, that
be- was. born in Gottingen. Germany,
October L., 1888; that he enlisted in the
French army at the age of fourteen,
: ! "''cnrryitlR o. gun like any other soldier"
As he EXPIRE ssed it. i.,. 7, ft.na.,.sg;
Notwithstanding Tile temporary vivaei-
ty with which! thestirring memory of the
past inspired Linn it was easy to see that
his faculties and his recollection we're
mncha impaired by age and suffering.
We. therefore, give his narrative sub.
stnntially 'as he stated ;lit, subject to any
trIfiing error which. confusion OF memory
may have occnsioned. if.a
he said he rose from the ranks to a
tieutenancy, and was paid fifteen francs
month. The uniform OF that time was
blue. and the hnt the same al is worn by
tha French soldiery to-day. He was at
the, battle OF Aasterlitz, where forty Rus
sian hagB we're captured, among them the
standard OF the Imperial guard, and
fifteen generals1were killed or taken pri-
soners; at t.Jena's bloody battle, :" where
the brave and gallant Brunswick fell; at
the dreadful conflict Of Moskwa, the like
Of which scarcely stains the pages of his
tory There the Russian loss was fear
fol, and estimated by tue old man six
times ns great as the French. Forty
generals were among the killed, wound
ed and captured OF the enemy, and
GO. 900 men were slaughtered.
The poor. old soldiers voice trembled
when he spoke of the burning Of Mos
COW, OF which he was an eyewitness.
The army of Bonaparte entered the CITY
on the 18th Of September, 1919. The
weather was there, nt that SEASON, colder
than anew England mid winter, and the
soldiers suffered bitterly, many of them
having been frozen. Worn with long
marches and hard fighting. they had
looked hopefully forward to q period OF
rest within the walls Of Moscow. But
they had hardly possessed themselves of
! che city when it was found to be in
flames. AT frat the French supposed
that Intoxicated men in their own ranks
were, responsible for this disaster; but
soon dendish looking monsters. covered
with rags. and furious women were seen
among the burning buildings, some with
torches in their hands trying to increase
the condagration. I.
). Many @ hand severed from the arm BY
a French sabre fell to the ground still
grasping the flaming torch. These
frantic, victims had been released from
prison walIs on purpose to do this despe-
rate work. 3 Thousands and thousands
of!Russians were.in che hospitals. whose
fate was too horrible to contemplate.
Nor was the fonndling hospital spared.
A great portion of the town was of wood,
and contained large quantities Of brandy,
oil and other oombnstible material. Ali
the pumps had been destr Dyed BY the
cumming Russians, and the e1ertions of
the French to extinguish the flames were