Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-03-28

Napo|eon's Followers Suffered
Hardships In America.
ALABAMA WAS THEIR REFUGE.
Colonel Raoul Became a Famous Back
woods Ferryman, While General
Clausel, an Officer Of Merit, Hawked
In Streets of Mobile,

woooS FcTTyWaH, WINS 1cHcTd'
Clausel, an Officer Of Merit, Hawked
In Streets of Mobile,
l have been much interested in look
ing up the history of the followers Of
Napoleon, who settled in Alabama ear
ly in the last century, and it has &C.
cured to me that newspaper readers
might be interested in a brief account
Of one of the most romantic attempts
at colonization made in the southeast
ern states. says w. w. Finley, presl-
dent of the Southern Railway company
| in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.
The location of this colony was in
what is now the fertile and prosper
Gus region in southwest Alabama. of
which the thriving city of Demopolis is
| the center.
For pioneer romance, hardship and
misfortune, which later gave place 10
Il cultured and wealthy antebellum civ
| ilization and present day prosperity
and development, that region enjoys
| historic interest unique in American
annals.
In the early history of this agricul-
tural country-then dense forest and
wild caneDrake-are woven the names
of men and women who had played
conspicuous parts in the greatest
| drama Of war and nations the world
has ever seen. Men who had led ar
| pinS in nnnHinfs thn pnSyrlf IF y.hieh
had changed the map of Europe and
| women who had adorned the imperial
court of France. took up the life Of
| pioneers in the endeavor to found in
the then prmcvaI forest n colony to
cultivate the vine and the olive. The
| history of their miSfortunes and trials
in the rude life Of the frontier and the
final utter failure of the venture is one
full of interest.
The officer who had commanded Ma
| pOe0n'S advance guard on the march
to Paris after the return from Elba,
Colonel Nicholas RaOul. became a IA
nous backwOods ferryman. and his
wife II marchioness, who had been
maid of honor at court, cooked his
| meals over the open fire in a cabin
home. Colonel Clubs, who had once
had the captured King Ferdinand Of
| Spain in his custody, became Keeper
Of tavern in Greensboro. General
Count Bertrand Clailsel. an officer OF
merit. who commanded at Bordeaux
| during the Hundred Days, raised vege-
| tables on little farm and hawked
them through the streets of Mobile.
lie afterward returned to France, be-
came Il marshal and governor of AL
| gicrS.
Count Lefebvre DesnoutteS. n caval-
ry officer with the rank of lieutenant
general. who had fought with honor
| in Spain and Russia. had ridden In the
| carriage with Napoleon on the disas-
| trOuS retreat from Moscow and whom
| the emperor had embraced for all his
| officers on bidding them farewell at
| F0ntainebeau. was one of those who
shared in the hardships in the wilder
ness He was lost ut sea in attempting
| to return to France. Henry rAlle-
mande. lieutenant general: NJ. Pc
nierS, Il member of the French nation
al assembly. who had voted for the
death of Louis NNI.. and son of the
celebrated Marshal Grouchy, whose
failure to arrive ut Waterloo sealed the
| fate of the French empire, were
among other distinguished persons who
made up the unfortunate colony.
The colony was founded by between
300 and 400 followers of Napoleon,
who had been eXiled by the Bourbons
after the restoration. On March 4,
1917. congress gave the eXiles, then
gathered in Philadelphia, a grant OF
four townships at 81 per acre on four
teen years time, on condition that
! they cultivate the vine and the olive.
From the outset the colony seemed
doomed to misfortune.
The ship on which they sailed from
Philadelphia ran aground in Mobile
bay. but all on board reached shore.
The colonists were totally unprepared
for the work of clearing the wilder
ness and the difficulties Of pioneer life.
They lacked teams and wagons and
knew nothing of agriculture. and the
provision that they must cultivate the
vine and olive proved a great hard
ship, since the country was not suita-
| BILE. Misunderstanding as to the loca-
ton of the land granted them caused
much distress. as many cOloniStS clear
ed and improved land only to find that
| they must abandon it. Inscriptions
suuatters added to the troubles of the
colony. and in two or three years it
began to disintegrate, as many as could
returning to France