The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1913-01-23
AN INTERESTING PAPER b
PRESIDENT FINLEY ON THE
FOLLOWERS OF
NAPOLEON
To the Editor:

To the Editor:
7 have been much interested in look
ing up the history of the followers OF
NAPOLEON who settled in Alabama early
in the last century, and it has occurred
TO me that the readers of our Southern
newspapers might be interested IN a
brief account of one of the most roman
tic attempts at colonization made in the
Southeastern states.
I'D The location of this colony was In
what is now the fertile and prosperous
repion in Southwest Alabama of which
the thriving city of Demopolis is the
center.
For pioneer romance, hardship, and
misfortune which later gave place to a
cultured and wealthy ante-bellum
civilization and present-day prosperity
and development, that region enjoys a
historic interest unique in American
annals.
In the early history of this great
agricultural country-tnen dense forest
and wild canebrake- woven the
names of men and women who had
PLAYED conspicuous parts in the great
est drama of war and nations the world
has ever SEEM Men who had led armies
ir conflicts the result of which had
changed the map of Europe, and women
who had adorned the Imperial Court OF
France, took up the life of pioneers III
the endeavor to found, in the then
primeval forest, colony to cultivate the
vine and the olive. The story 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
Napoleon's advance guard on the march
to Paris after the return from Elba,
Colonel Nicholas Raoul became famous
backwoods ferryman, and his wife,
Tnarchioness who had been maid of honor
at court, cooked his meals over the open
fire in a cabin home. Colonel Cluis, who
had once had the captured King Ferdl-
nand of Spain in his custody, became
the keeper of a tavern in Greensboro.
General Count Bertrand Clausel, an Of
fcer of merit who commanded at Bor-
deaux during the Hundred Days, raised
vegetables on a little farm and hawked
them through the streets of Mobile. He
afterwards returned to France, became
a marshal and governor of Algiers.
Count Lefebvre Desnouttes, <cavalry
officer with the rank of lieutenant-gen-
eral who had fought with honor in Spain
and Russia, had ridden in the carriage
with Napoleon on the disastrous retreat
from Moscow, and whom the Emperor
had embraced for all his officers on bid
ding them farewell at Fontainebleau,
was one of those who shared in the
hardships in the wilderness. He was lost
at sea attempting to return to France.
Henry PAllemande, lieutenant-general;
N. Peniers, member of the French Ma
tional Assembly who had voted for the
death of Louis XVI, and son of the
celebrated Marshal Grouchy whose fail
ure to arrive at 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
three and four hundred followers of
Napoleon who had been exiled by the
March 4, 1917, Congress gave the exiles,
then gathered in Philadelphia, grant
of four townships at So per acre, on
fourteen 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 Ill Mobile Bay, but all on board
reached shore. The colonists were totally
unprepared for the work of clearing the
wilderness 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 hardship
since the country was not suitable. Mis-
understanding as to the location of the
land granted them caused much distress,
as many colonists cleared and improved
land only to find that they must aban-
don it. INSCRIPTIONS squatters added
to the troubles of the colony, and in two
or three years it began to disintegrate,
as many as could returning to France.
The Bonapartists brought no negro
slaves and had no money with which to
buy slaves. The exiles were not farmers
in France, and had been banished wear
ing the silks and velvets of court life.
They brought little wine and received
more of it from friends over the sea. No
people were Drawer. They dined and
danced in their log huts, but in ten years
disastrous effort had driven most of the
colony away. single olive tree in
Demopolis and grapevine or two near
Greensboro mark the places they left.
Demopolis-city of the people-the name
given the new settlement by, the exils
from Bourbon rule, and Marengo, the
name given the county in which it lies
in honor of one of Napoleon's great vic
tories, together with a few French
names, borne by the descendants of
those who remained, serve to show to-
day that the country was once peopled
by sons and daughters of France
Though the French established no char
acteristic civilization in Marengo county,
built no monuments, and left no houses
to mark their impress upon the land, it
is still upon the people in refinement, in
gentleness, and in princely hospitality.
AS the colony began to disintegrate
American settlers moved in, many hon
orably buying the colonists' grants for
fair consideration. Among them were