Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-09-06
A Remarkable Woman.

One of the few surviving veteransof
the first Empire has just passed away
in the person of NJ. lie Commandant
Duchemin, at the ripe age of eighty.
five. Constantly on active service
throughout the campaigns of Napo-
leon, and frequently wounded ha
fought his way up from the ranks. and
on the occupation of Paris by tba
allies, rendered himself famous as a
duellist, and boosted of having killed
or wounded score of the ..odiouS
foreigners on the field of honor. For
the last twenty years he frenrnnted
the same cafe at the same hour daily
TO play his game of cards and take his
absinthe. He lived almost entirely in
the past, and gave vent to his FEELINGS
in maledictions against Wellington
Butcher, Grouchy and the rest, "o,n
arGient tat MOURN son empere,trv
His principal delight, however, was in
recounting the history Of his mother
Marie, whose career was indeed a re-
markable one. The daughter of an
old soldier, and vivandiere, she was
from her earliest years the pet of the
regiment, and at the age Of fifteen
married the fencing-master of the
regiment of the Gardes Fran
caises, who after taking part in
the destruction OF the Bastile. was
killed in attempting to save the
life of a soldier of the Swiss guard.
leaving his young widow with an in
FAINT son. When the great revolution
AIRY war broke out, Marie felt the he
reditary military instinct too strong to
be resisted, and without hesitation
sacrificed the locks 50 dear to her sex,
and, disguised in male attire, was one.
of the first to enroll herself as a volun-
teer, under the name of Joseph
Duchemin, which was also that of her
grandfather. OF iron constitution and
the build of grenadier. measuring
nearly thirty-siX inches across the
shoulders, she had little difficulty in
conceallng her sex, although she was
wounded at the siege of Toulon. Two
months afterward, when fighting in
the war of La Vendee, she was en-
gagged in the battle of Chollet. Here
she received two severe wounds, but
in spite Of the loss of blood her cour-
age sustained her until the close of the
day. when she fired the very last shot
and then fell exhausted. Then only
on dressing her wounds was it discov-
cred by the surgeons that Corporal
Duchemin (for she had gained her
stripes was a woman. She became all
at once the hero, or rather heroine of
the day, and was personally COM
plimented by the General, who
asked permission from the War
Minister to keep her name on
the muster-roll of the regiment. and
Marie remained inscribed as Corporal
III the Forty-second foot. She after
ward fought at Lodi, Arcola and Ri
wolf, where she captured Il flag; at the
Pyramids, Mont Thabor, Aboukir, and
other engagements. She was then
taken prisoner by the English and sent
to the hulks Of Plymouth, but man
aged to escape, with three of her COM
radeS, by killing the sentinel on duty,
and got safely back to Paris. Five
days afterward she rejoined her regi
ment, and made her last campaign, for
she lost her right leg by "A cannon-ball
at Marengo. She was then admitted
rs pensioner into the Invalides, and
it was a proud day for herself and son
when the went together in 1857, to the
palace of the Legion of Honor to re-
ceive each the st. Helena medal. Gen.
Serrurier, Governor of the Inyalides,
applied for the Cross of the Legion of
Honor for her, but before the authori-
ties had decided on such an awful de-
parture from precedent as to confer
this distinction ON woman, she died,
III 1862. In relating this extraordinary
career the old commandant used to
say: "She was only a woman, but
with a forcible but untranslatable
French eXpletive) what a soldierr'-
pnL.iN Cor InulInll NtnuInlH