The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-09-22
BOU BAEI DEAD.
nch General With q
ysteFy in lis Life
Expires After Years
of Oblivion.
HIS STRANGE MISSION FROM METZ
commanded Armles in the Last
campaign of the Franco-prus-
sian War, With Credit.
HIS STRANGE MISSION FROM METZ
[By Cable to The Associated Presa.1

II, ffdIlSe, sept. 81, 1o5i.-6CA-
eral Bourbaki, h was in command OF
theImperial Guard at Metz, during the
Franco-Prussian War, but who left that
place on a mysterious errand shortly be-
fore its equalization is dead.
General Charles Dennis Sauter Bour-
baki was of Greek origin and was born
at Pau, France. on April q, 1916. He went
through the Military School of Saint Cyr
and subsequently served in Algeria in the
different French military organizations
stationed there. He was promoted Colonel
IN 1851, became a General of Brigade In
1854, and was made a General Of Division
in 1857. During the Crimean war he dis
tinguished himself at the Alma, at
Inkermann and in the assaults on Sebas-
topol. The General subsequently served
with the Italian expedition of 1853.
When war between French and Prussia
was declared. in July, 1870, General Bour-
baki was called to the command of the
Imperial Guard, which formed part of the
array of Marshal Bazaine, took part in
the fighting around Metz, from August IA
to August IS, and sought refuge later in
Metz with his troops. Marshal Bazaine
caused General Bourbaki to leave Metz
IN a secret errand before he c~apitulated
en- October n, 1897, with his army, con-
sisting of 66 generals, about 5000 officers,
173, 900 men, including the Imperial Guard,
400 pieces of artillery, 100 mitrailleuses and
50 eagles or Standards, to the army Of
Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia
According to the generally accepted be-
lief in the French army for years after
the war, General Bourbaki was sent by
Bazaine on a mission to Napoleon or to
the Empress Eugene, and it has ven
been stated tina it was by their advice
tina Metz was surrendered. This feat
ture of the war, however. has never been
made quite clear. In 1873 Marshal Bazaine
was tried and condemned to death for
surrendering Metz, later his punishment
was commuted to twenty years impris-
onment, and in 1874 he escaped from his
prison on the Isle. st. Marguerite. He
died an exile at Madrid on September Is,
1888.
Whatever was the mission of General
Bourbaki, whether 1t was to the Impe-
rialists or to the Germans, the General
offered his services on October II, 1870, to
the Government Of the National Defence.
1t was Intended to place him in COM
mand of the Army of the Loire; but, on
his request, he was given chief command
of the Army of the North n of the
Disc, on October II. He established his
headquarters at Lille, and a few happy
engagements brought him to Amiens,
from which city he wrote, on November
20, to General Trochu, in command at
Paris, that he was ready to march and
that he would follow the instructions he
might receive from Paris. But the APP
ture of Orleans by the Prussians inter-
rupted the execution of his plan Of cam
paign.
Gambetta recalled General Bourbaki
from Arniens to assist in the ~reorganiza-
ton of the Fifteenth. Eighteenth and
Twenty-eighth Corps of the First Army
of the Loire, and he established himself
between Movers and Bourges. On Decem-
Der 6, Bourbaki was appointed Command
er-in-Chief of the First Army of the Gem
tire, which was soon to become the Army
of the East.
After the fighting at Nuts Inc the
evacuation of Dijon and Gray by the
Prussians, who retreated upon Vesoul
and Epinal, General Bourbaki was in
structed, at the head of nearly $50, 900
men, to execute a movement towards the
east, the object being to cut the commune
| cations of the enemy's army with south
ern Germany. On January A, 1871, General
Bourbaki was at Dion, in touch Wit
General Garibaldi, who was in command
of the army of the vosges, and also in
touch with the army Of Lyons, which was
marching on Montbeliard-
Returning up the Oignon Valley, the
General, on January s, 1871, arrived at
Montbozon, near Vesoul. and on the fol-
lowing day attacked General Won Wor-
der, who was e~ntrenched at vilersoxoi,
with all his forces. The battle lasted all
day long and at seven O'Clock in the
evening the troops of General Bourbaki
had carried the enemy's position. On
January 10 General Bourbaki occupied
Luro. Gray and vesoul, and on January
IS he carried the villages of Arcey and
Sainte Marie at the point of the bay
onet.
on January 10 he captured Montboliard
after a desperate struggle, and on the fol-
lowing day he again attacked General
Won Werdor, who was strongly entrenehed
at Horicourt. Bourbaki. however, was
con, while m-anouyering to escape the
army under General Won Mantuffel.
which had already cut off his principal
lines OF communication.
received formal orders from the Minister
of Wal which prevented him from re-
treating upon Lyons. His soldiers were
then without food and without ammuni
ton. after a disastrous retreat with the
temperature ten degrees below zero. This
state of affairs caused Bourbaki to
despair, and. on January ~, on his ar
rival at Besancon, seeing himself com
pIetely surrounded and fearing he would
be accused of treason, Bourbaki desig-
mated General Clinchant as his successor
and, during the night, in spite of the
watchfulness of his attending physician.
Bourbak shot himself IN the head with
a revolver.
His death was officially announced, but
1t was soon afterwards denied. The
wounded General was transported to