Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-09-13
A REMARKABLE WOMAN.
The Daughter Of an Old SoIdier-She Dis
guises Herself and Joins the Army
Quite a Heroine. assoc. 81 ri 4

The Daughter of an Old So1dier-She Dis
guises Herself and Joins the Army
Quite a Heroine. ss f,a aa
The Paris. correspondent of the Lon
don Standard writes as follows:
zone of the few surviving veterans
of the first Empire has just passed away
in the person of M. le Commandant
Duchemin, at the ripe age of eighty
five. Constantly in active Service
throughout the campaigns of Napoleon,
and frequently wounded, he fought his
way up from the ranks, and on the oc-
cupation Of Paris by the Allies, render
ed himself famous as a duellist, and
boosted of having killed or wounded a
score Of the "odious foreigners on
the field of honor. For the last twenty
years he frequented 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 maledic-
lions against Wellington, Butcher,
Grouchy, and the rest, "qud araiemte fat
aaouqIr SON .Emptreatr." His principle
delight, however, was in recounting the
history Of his mother, Marie, whose
career was indeed a remarkable one.
The daughter of an old soldier, and a
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
Franchises, who after taking part in
in the destruction Of the Bastile,
was killed in attempting to save
the life of soldier of the Swiss Guard,
leaving his young widow with an in
FAINT son. When the great Revolu-
tionary war broke out, Marie felt the
hereditary military instinct too strong
to be resisted, and without hesi-
tation sacrificed the locks so dear to her
sex, and, disguised in male attire, was
one of the first to enroll herself as a
volunteer Under the name of Joseph
Duchemin, which was also that of her
grandfather. Of iron constitution and
the build Of a grenadier, measuring
nearly thirty-six inches across the
shoulders, she had little difficulty in
concealing her sex, although she was
wounded at the siege of Toulon. Two
months afterwards, when fighting in the
war at La Vendee, she was engaged in
the battle of Chollet. Here she receiv-
ed two severe wounds, but in spite of
the loss of blood her courage sustained
her until the close of the day, when she
fired the very last shot and then fell ex-
hausted. Then only, on dressing her
wounds, was it discovered by the sur
geons that Corporal Duchemin (for she
had gained her stripes) was o woman.
She became at once the hero, or rather
heroine, Of the day, ard vas personally
complimented by the general, who ask
ed permission from the war minister to
keep her name on the muster-roll of
the regiment, and Maria remained in
scribed as corporal in the Forty-second
Foot. She afterward fought at Lodi,
Arcola, and Rivoli, where she captured
a flag, at the Pyramids, Mount Thabor,
Aboukir, and other engagements. She
was then taken prisoner by the Eng
fish and sent to the hulks of Plymouth,
but managed to escape, with three of
her comrades, 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 cannon ball
at Marengo. She was then admitted
as pensioner into the Invalides, and
it was proud day for herself and son
when they 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 Invalides,
applied for the Cross of the Legion of
Honor for her, but before the autheri
ties had decided upon such an awful
departure from precedent as to confer
this distinction upon a woman, she
died in 1852. In relating this extraor-
binary career, the old commandment
used to say, "She was only a woman,
butt with forcible but untranslatable
French expletive) "what soldier"