Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-05-18
GENERAL CLUSERET.
BY ID. P.

1 was engaged placing an outpost
near Petersburg, Virginia, when tall,
well-formed gentleman in the uniform
of Brigadier General rode up and in
formed me that he had been sent by
General Fremont to superintend my
work. He spoke English with great
difficulty, and noticing his French des-
cent responded in that language. He
was a soldierly looking man of about
thirty-five, and had brisk, sOldierly
manner, a specimen of which he gave
in the way of censuring me for what L
had done. He did not believe that the
enemy Was in the direction indicated,
and was not slow in expressing his dis
approbatiOn. ma ie several attempts
to convince him, and in the midst of
this he strobe suddenly away on foot
to an eminence near by, nom which he
could get abetter view Of the country.
A Sergeant near, who had not, of
course understood our controversy, re-
marked:
81 say, Cap, that foreigner will get
peppered now"
The words were scarcely out of his
mouth before the report of three or four
guns startled the mountain echoes, fol-
lowed by the whistling, cutting sound
peculiar to musket balls rattling
through the evergreens. These bullets
were aimed at my superior officer,
whose doubts were removed iInmedi.
ately. He took the matter quietly and
although under an ugly fire, took his
field-glass from its case and gazed at
the field.
This was general Cluseret, now fam.
Gus as the great leader Of the Commune
in Paris. He)had bat htelyarrived in
came to volunteer his services in behalf
of our government. He first approach
ed the President, who sent him to the
Secretary of War, Mr.. Stanton who in
turn directed him to report to General
Halleck. This last-named pleasant gen.
tleman had at the time several hates,
and prominent among them was hate
for foreign officers and an intense dis
like of General Fremont. The result
was, that when an officer from Europe
asked to be employed, n Halleck imme-l
diately assigned him to duty on Geher-I
al FremOnt'S staff. Cluseret arrived at
the moment almost when Fremont re-
ceived orders to march across from
Petersburg to the Shenandoah Valley
and intercept StOnewall Jackson. FIRE.
mont was troubled with great retinue
in the way of staff. Some thirty Off
Gers of foreign serviee had already been
assigned to him, and he was bored by
and bothered to know what to do with
them. Recognizing -Cluseret's cl inns
as a military man, he made up brig
ade to be called the advance, and put
the French General in command.
General Fremont had no more right
to do this than he would have had to
commission CluSeret as cherub. Had
the coIOnels of the three regiments
been other than volunteers, the order
assigning them to such command
would have been resisteds But it Vas
not, and the French officer took com
nand. 1t proved an admirable seJec4
ton. The vigOr of his pursuits, the
! fierceness of his attacks, impressed the
confederate puritan, StOnewall Jackson,
that Fremont had a far larger force than
! he possessed, and meant work. l never
knew such a lively time as the one af-
forded. Wemarehed eall@ day, expect
ing every moment a asgeneral engage
ment, (which the &Frenchman was
directed to bring on if he could. And
we went to bed to the sound of artil-
] lery, to be awakened at all hours by
rows. This continued until jackson
! made his stand at Cross Keys, and had
scarcely got into position before Cluse-
ret was on him. For the first and
probably the last time in that war a
challenge was accepted on sight, and
, brigadeS thrown into the fight as rap
J idly as they came upon the field.
In campaign Cluseret thought only
of fight. In camp he thought only Of
{ intrigue, and he made love to every
pretty woman he encountered. 1 have
somewhere in my possession letter
| giving me gossiping account of an af-
] fair the General had near Winchester,
/ which was at the bottom of the quarrel
he had with General Mfiroy and led to
our service losing the benefit of the
French free lance. OF his subsequent
career learn the following from wri-