USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of Wisconsin from prehistoric to present periods : the story of the state interspersed with realistic and romantic events > Part 16
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SEginhard, the historian, says that Charlemagne had great aversion to that hollow title.
ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH NATION.
During the reign of Charlemagne the French language was unknown, or in a very imperfect state. Charlemagne, the bishops, ambassadors and grandees, spoke in three languages-Greek, Latin and Germanic, and possibly in English, as the vulgar tongue was then beginning to be spoken. It is held by good authority that, in 842, the French language commenced to be spoken, and was at first nothing but a coarse and irregular mixture of German and Latin; the former still in a bar- barous, and the latter already in a completed state .* Prior to this time, the Franks, in general, spoke a Germanic patois.
The conquests of Charlemagne extended from the Elba to the Ebro, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, which comprised nearly all Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and the north of Italy and Spain. +
At the time of Charlemagne's death, his only surviving heir to the empire was his son Louis, after whose death in 840,¿ the empire was divided between his three sons by the treaty of Verdun, in August, 843, into three independent kingdoms, known as the kingdoms of France, Italy and Germany; so, henceforth, we will only deal with the French kingdom.
The Carlovingian dynasty commenced with Charlemagne in 768, and ended in 987, during which time France was alternately blessed and cursed under the reign of her thirteen kings. This dynasty went out with Louis V., who died without issue, and the French crown, through the Church of Rome and with the assent of the grandees of France, was, on July 1, 887, placed upon the head of Hugh Capet, the illustrious Duke of France and Count of Paris.
When the curtain rose upon the Capetian dynasty, in 987, the prospects were brighter for a more glorious dynasty than any of the preceding ones had been; but, three hundred and forty-one years later, when the curtain went down after the death of Charles the Handsome, each line in the history of this dynasty was written in blood.
Political ambition and religious fanaticisms made France, during the fourteenth century, the stage upon which the most terrible of tragedies were daily and nightly performed, in the name of God and the Church of Rome.
Pope Innocent III. § summoned, in 1208, the king of France, the lords, grandees, clergy, and knights, "to assume the cross and go forth to extirpate from southern France the Albigensians," and promised the chiefs of the crusaders the dominions they should win by conquest from the princes, who were heretics.
The result was that during the next fifteen years southern France and northern Spain were overrun with an immense, cruel and fanatic
*Guizot's History of France, Vol. III., 15.
+Guizot's History of France, Vol. I., 185.
#For three years, nearly, the brothers were contending for their respective rights prior to the Verdun treaty.
§Guizot's History of France, Vol. I., 404-409.
ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH NATION.
army of all nations, and from all lands. Says William, of Tudela, the poet chronicler, "Never did God make scribe who could set them all down in writing in two months, or in three, twenty thousand horsemen, armed at all points, and more than two hundred thousand villians, and peasants, not to speak of the burghers and clergy."
The abbot of Citeaux, Arnauld Amanry, when asked by the con- querors of Béziers how they should distinguish the heretics from the faithful, made answer "Slay them all, God will be sure to know his own."
Two heretics were brought before Simon de Montford, the pope's friend, and a hero of the crusade; one was willing to recant, the other was steadfast. "Burn them both," said the count, "if this fellow means what he says, the fire will serve for expiation of his sins, and if he lie, he will suffer the penalty of his imposture."
During this period most of the towns and castles between the Rhone, the Pyrenees and the Geronne, and even the Dordogne, were taken by the crusaders, and given over to pil- lage, the people massa- cred, and many of the palaces burned.
Charles the Hand- some left no male heir, only daughters ; there- fore, the succession to the crown, under the Salic law, fell to the nearest male heir, which was Philip of Valois, eldest son of Charles Valois, a branch of the Capets. Philip was crowned at Rheims, STORMING A CASTLE. amidst great pomp, on May 29, 1328. Edward III., of England, claimed the French crown, through his mother, Isabel, the daughter of Philip IV., and insisted that the Salic law did not prohibit the succession of the crown to females. Edward, thereupon, assumed the title of the king of France, and undertook to maintain it by the sword. This brought about the Hundred Years War, which was brought to a triumphant close by the young girl from Lorraine, called "Joan of Arc," and thus was estab- lished the independence of France from foreign rule.
ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH NATION.
When Henry III. was assassi- nated by a religious fanatic, in 1589,* the dynasty of the house of Valois closed, through failure of male heirs, the male line, proceeding from Philip III., also being extinct.
The Valois monarchs, during the reign of two hundred and sixty-one years, with few exceptions, were both wise and competent sovereigns. They saved the French crown from usurpation, and quieted internal dis- sensions, by the establishment of their sovereign authority ever the wealthy and turbulent nobility.
The Bourbon dynasty commenced August 2, 1589, by the accession of Henry IV. to the crown of France, through the Capetian branch, as successor of Henry III. The father of Henry IV. was Anthony de Bourbon, king of Navarre, and his mother, "who, in her youth, was as fond of a ball as a sermon," was Jeanne d'Albert. Henry was educated in the prot- JOAN OF ARC. estant faith, and maintained it for many years, but, on account of religious dissensions, which kept the kingdom in a state of agitation, and the many attempts of the so-called emissaries of the popet to assassinate him, he renounced his faith as a protestant, and was received into the Church of Rome in July, 1593.
Henry IV. was assassinated by a religious fanatic on May 19, 1610, and was succeeded by his son, who became Louis XIII., and upon whose death, in 1643, the crown went in its regular order, first to Louis XIV., then to Louis XV., and upon his death, in 1774, to Louis XVI.
During the Bourbon dynasty, Paris was the stage upon which actors from all parts of the globe played their respective parts, in drama, farce, and tragedy, for the period of two hundred and four years, from the crowning of Henry IV., in 1589, up to the time the head of Louis XVI. rolled into the basket, on January 21, 1793.
While the Bourbon monarchs, with the exception of Henry IV., were mediocre, and inefficient figure-heads, the monarchy of France was preserved through the efforts of men of genius, such as Cardinal de Richelieut, Chancellor Sillery, Albert de Luynes, the great Condé,
*Henry III. died on the morning of August 2, 1589, from the effects of a wound received the day before, from an assassin.
+Some authorities hold that nineteen unsuccessful attempts were made to take his life, and that most of them originated with the pope.
#Memoirs de Richelieu.
ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH NATION.
Fouquet, Cardinal Mazarin, Louvois, and the great financiers, Colbert and Necker. *
The French republic was a dream which pre- ceded a horrible but realistic nightmare, called the Reign of Ter- ror. The horrors of the Reign of Terror cannot be depicted by the pen, any more than an April shower or an electric storm can be painted by an artist, yet it is well that the history of those great uprisings be care- fully read and under- stood by us all, in order that we may not, in the future, make the same errors that led up to the French revolution.
The principal causes which led to the French revolution were, unjust taxation, the abolishing of municipal institutions which flourished under the Valois re- gime, the sale of the public offices for the benefit of the crown and the nobility.
The revolutionary tribunal ROBESPIERRE. was in operation, under the dic- tatorship of Robespierre, from March 17, 1793, to july 27, 1794, during which time thousands of the most illustrious men and women died in France under the guillotine, among which are such historical names as Danton, Marechale de Noailles, Duchesse d' Ayen, the poets Roucher and André, Chénier, the famous Baron Trenck, Comtesse de Narbonne, Marechale de Armentieres, Marquis de Crussel, General Beauharnais, and M. M. Trudaine, counselor of the parliament of Paris.
Robespierre's thirst for blood was so great that he erected the guillotine in the hall of the tribunal, and had the prisoners condemned without trial. This great travesty on justice was conducted by Dumas, the president of the tribunal, in this manner:
*On account of the interference of France in America's war for independence, Necker proposed the taxation of the privileged classes, which led to his resignation. He was afterwards reinstated by Louis XVI.
ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH NATION.
" Dorvæ, do you know anything of this conspiracy ?" " NO."
" I expected you'd make that reply, but it won't suc- ceed. Bring another."
" Champagny, are you an ex-noble ?"
" Yes." " Bring another." "Grendreville, are you a priest ?"
" Yes." " Bring another."
TAKING THE BASTILE.
Robespierre's friends finally became jealous and suspicious of this great king of assassins, and the result was, that Robespierre and one hundred and three of his co-assassins ended the Reign of Terror by making their last and final trip to "Saint Guillotine."
The greatest tragedy the world has ever known was the Reign of Terror, which was followed by the celebrated drama, the Directory. Then, after four years of the farce called the Consulate, the curtain went down upon the first French republic.
DANTON AT THE GUILLOTINE.
France, who through centuries of despotic rule, had shed her best blood to secure a better and more substantial government, rallied with enthusiasm around . the standard of that brilliant young Corsi- can, Napoleon Bona- parte, after the downfall of the republic ; and when Napoleon crowned himself em- peror of France, and Josephine empress, on December 2, 1804, the French nation was happy in the belief that her future would be the reverse of the past.
ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH NATION.
While Napoleon was a great general, he was not so great a man, and no greater general than Jean Victor Moreau*, who was offered and refused the dictatorship of France ; nor was Napoleon sufficiently great to love France better than himself. Napoleon regarded France as the foundation, and his generals and soldiers the stairs, upon which he could mount to a more exalted posi- tion than was ever known to mortal ruler.
Napoleon's great military suc- cess, both before and during the days of the Empire, should be ex- tensively given to the bravery of his soldiers, " who died but never sur- rendered," and to the ability of such generals and marshals as Moreau, Ney, Sault, Duroc, Davoust, Kleber, Berthier and Grouchy.
The fate of Europe, the empire of France, and of Napoleon Bona- parte, was decided on June 18, 1815,
NAPOLEON I.
by the battle of Waterloo. Napoleon, who had been emperor for the short period of ten years and six months, was, by the loss of this most cele- brated battle, sent into exile at St. Helena, where he died May 5, 1821 .*
After the French defeat at Leipsic, which was followed by the retirement of Napoleon to Elba, the provinces acquired under the empire were restored to their former rulers, and France reduced to her former limits.
The Bourbons, under Louis XVIII., established a new regime on May 3, 1814. In 1824, Louis died without direct heirs, and was succeeded by his brother, who was crowned as Charles X., whose short reign was terminated by the revolution in 1830, and the election by the people of Louis Philippe as king of France.
The reign of Louis Philippe for eighteen years was progres- sive, and the development of the
JOSEPHINE (EMPRESS OF FRANCE. )
*Bourrienne's Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Vol. IV., 394.
ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH NATION.
country was marked and extensive, and the country enjoyed the results of peace from abroad, which had been maintained without loss of either honor or reputation. Yet Philippe was opposed to electoral reforms, and the people in open insurrection compelled him to abdicate his throne on February 24, 1848.
In December, 1848, Louis Napoleon was elected president of the new repub- lic, but on December 2, 1851, remember- ing the celebrated "Coup-d'-etat" of Napoleon I., he followed his example, and violated his honor and his oath, by setting aside the constitution and assum- ing the dictatorship. The next year, on December 2, 1852, by fraudulent elec- tions, he established the second French empire, with himself at its head as Napoleon III.
France, during the absolute reign
MARIE LOUISE (EMPRESS OF FRANCE.)
of Napoleon III., made rapid progress in her manufacturing and other internal resources, yet the people had been dreaming of constitutional liberty, or monarchy circumscribed by a constitu- tion, ever since the American war of independence had shaken off British fetters ; so when the national desire for reform became so strong that revolution and abdica- tion were about to close MOREAU. Napoleon's career, he, as a pretext to cloak his imperial inefficiency, declared war against Prussia on July 15, 1870. On September 2, 1870, Napoleon, with his army of ninety thousand, surrendered at Sedan, and two days later France was pro- claimed a republic, and has ever since advo- cated the old Latin proverb,
" Vox populi, Vox Dei."
NEY.
Where, centuries ago, we found France in a wild and barbarous condition, man and beast equally ferocious, we now find vast fields in a high state of culti-
ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH NATION.
vation, enchanting valleys, immense vineyards, beautiful gardens and orchards, picturesque and quaint villages, magnificent cities, wherein are renowned seats of learning, the great centers of art and science; the country populated by nearly forty millions of industrious, thriving and happy people, all living under one of the best forms of government known to civilization.
Vive-la-republique.
BONAPARTE AT THE BRIDGE OF ARCOLA.
E B. WOLCOTT POST HALL.
SIRE AND SON.
BY J. A. WATROUS.
I have often been asked this question: "Do you think it was wise to create the order known as the Sons of Veterans ?"
I have seldom failed, when asked that question, to respond by asking another-by asking, " Do you think it was wise to create the order known as the Grand Army of the Republic?" Very few patriotic, loyal Amer- ican citizens, who have always been steadfast in their belief that our form of government is the best in existence-people who have never turned their back upon that form of government, never left it to swear allegiance to another government, and fight against it, under another flag, are quite well agreed that the creation of the Grand Army of the Republic was wise, and that it has resulted in good to the country in many respects, as well as having served a noble purpose in cementing, rendering stronger, firmer, the ties of friendship which were welded in the heat of battle. That organization has been the means of lending invaluable aid to tens of thousands of worthy veterans of the war. It has undoubt- edly given assistance to some who were not worthy, but what society is perfect, and what society has not done something that had better been left undone ? For nearly a quarter of a century the Grand Army of the Republic has been a constant educator in patriotism. Every camp-fire has been a school that has taught patriotism to the young, the middle- aged and the old, who have been present and heard the earnest, country- loving talks, and joined in the songs of war days. The great meetings that have resulted from National Encampments and State Encampments have called attention to the work from '61 to '65, done by the Grand Army of the Republic and their equally good brothers, the hundreds of thousands of ex-soldiers, not members of any organization. Through the means of the Grand Army of the Republic there has been collected material out of which there will come the only just and complete history of the great struggle that gave us a Nation with a big N, -a Nation that will never be duplicated in the world.
Each year, in thousands of cities, villages and hamlets, there are heard beautiful, touching, educating exercises over the graves of men who gave their lives that our starry banner might not be trailed in the dust, that our republic might live and prosper; and all of these ceremo- nies, no matter how simple, nor how grand, how artistic, how impressive through the ability of those who participate in them, are well calculated to make better American citizens of all who witness them, and fit the people of this republic for any duty they may be called upon to perform
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SIRE AND SON.
COL. GEORGE W. WING, PAST DIVISION COMMANDER.
iii
SIRE AND SON.
in looking after its interests, its safety, in defending it from attacks from within and from without.
Now let me come to the question, " Was it wise to create the order known as the Sons of Veterans?" My answer is "Yes," and the yes is emphasized.
It was as wise as it was to create the order known the world over as the Grand Army of the Republic. The reasons can be given in a few words, without taking much space. The work of the Grand Army of the Republic in educating in patriotism, in holding impressive ceremo- nies at the graves of dead soldiers, in carrying on reunions and camp- fires, in holding state and national encampments, will soon be over, and there will be no Grand Army of the Republic, and the work that they have been doing for more than a quarter of a century would stop were there not an order to take its place. I believe that every sincere Grand Army man, and every worthy ex-soldier, rejoices that there has been organized a society that will perpetuate the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic as an organization; that will perpetuate the memories of the war; that will strive as hard and work as earnestly, in the work of educating in patriotism-in the work of bringing all classes of citizens, whether born here or in foreign countries, to a realization of the value of this country, and the honor that is conferred upon them by being American citizens, born so, or by adoption. The Sons of Veterans will see to it that for a half a century to come the beautiful, impressive, and valuable services on Memorial Day are religiously kept up, and the good results from those ceremonies for the half-century to come cannot fail to be of as much value to the people and the nation as they have been since the organization of the Grand Army of the Republic, and the introduction of that ceremony by the lamented Logan, in 1868.
Yes, it was wise to organize the Sons of Veterans. They have gone to work in a quiet way to lay a good, broad, safe foundation, and have done excellent work in constructing the building. They have worked at great disadvantage. For one reason or another, there have been many members of the Grand Army who have given the new order no encouragement. That is a mistake. The people have had their eyes and their minds upon the older order, upon the veteran soldiers of the Grand Army, and have given but little attention to their legitimate suc- cessors in the great work assigned to them, or taken upon themselves. But, as stated, only a few years must pass ere there is no Grand Army of the Republic, and then the eyes and the hearts of the people will be upon the new order-the successors of the old-and the Sons of Vet- erans will soon come to be as much thought of, or nearly as much, as their predecessors, and because the Sons of Veterans will carry forward all of the work left undone by the Grand Army of the Republic, and carry it forward with that zeal and energy and patriotism that will mark the order and its members for good citizenship, valuable to town, village, city, state and nation.
iv
SIRE AND SON.
The Sons of Veterans have inaugurated a service that has already taken a strong hold upon the affections of the whole people. I mean Lincoln Day. The celebrations on Lincoln's birthday have attracted widespread attention. The young men have brought out the best talent in the country to render valuable and interesting their celebrations of the birth of one of the greatest men the world has produced. That they will go on introducing grand features in connection with their order- features that will be well calculated to enlighten, inspire and instruct- need not be doubted, for among the Sons of Veterans will always be found a large army of as good, loyal, able, progressive American citizens as the nation possesses.
H. S. FULLER, PAST DIVISION COMMANDER.
ROMANCES OF A BRIGADE.
BY J. A. WATROUS.
Author of "Our Friend's Story," "Richard Epps," "A Great Battle," "The Johnny Girl and Her Prisoner," "Corporal Ben," and other War or Semi-War Stories.
BOTH were young men, about the same age, and Damon and Pythias were not more attached to each other. This was true of Samuel S. Fifield and Rollin P. Converse, the winter of 1861. They passed many evenings together. They went to parties together. They rode and walked and hunted together.
In May of 1861, when Captain Daniel J. Dill, of Prescott, called for volunteers to make up Co. B, of the Sixth Wisconsin, these two young men enlisted together, and for a few days drilled and marched and slept together; the other boys called them "the two lovers." And the boys were not very wide of the mark, for they surely loved each other and each loved a sweet girl-mind you, I do not say they both loved a sweet girl. Each had his eye and heart fixed upon a lovely young woman- not the same one.
The medical examination resulted in the separation of these two young men. The surgeon said Mr. Fifield would not live three months, consequently he would not certify him as a suitable member for Co. B. How these lovers sorrowed at parting, one to return to a printing office, the other to win renown as a soldier.
Before the war closed Fifield's health had improved and he had married his sweet girl.
Who in the old Sixth Wisconsin does not remember corporal, ser- geant, lieutenant, captain, Rollin P. Converse? A handsome man he was, a true soldier, a brave man. I wonder if there was a member of that regiment who did not admire him. He was always good-natured, always kind, always just, and yet there was not a better line officer in the regiment, one who maintained stricter discipline. His promotions were won by soldierly conduct -by bravery in battle and a capacity to command and to lead. There was a shout in old Co. B every time pro- motion came to this gallant soldier, and there were days of mourning in May, 1864, over his death-the heroic young captain of Co. B.
Captain Converse was mortally wounded the first day in the Wilder- ness, May 5th, 1864, the major of the regiment, Phillip W. Plummer, falling at the same time. They were near each other in death.
The confederate surgeon decided that Converse must suffer the amputation of his right leg. Converse promptly decided that there would be no amputation. He knew he was mortally wounded; he knew that death was near; he knew that nothing would save his life. But the
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ROMANCES OF A BRIGADE.
confederate surgeon was determined upon amputation. Converse, while the surgeon was getting ready for the amputation, quietly drew his revolver, holding it in his right hand, resting it on his left, and said to the doctor as he approached, "I have told you, sir, that I am about to die and do not want my leg amputated. You make a move toward cutting off that leg and I will kill you." The surgeon knew the young captain meant what he said.
An hour later poor Converse crossed the dark river. If you want to see a tear and hear a trembling voice, speak to Governor Sam Fifield about glorious Rollin P. Converse.
This true story would hardly be complete did I not say that up in northern Wisconsin lives a woman in whose once black hair are many silver threads, and whose face brightens and then saddens at the men- tion of Rollin P. Converse, whose wife she would have been had he returned from the war. She has never married.
That S. S. Fifield would have made a brave and successful soldier no one who knows him doubts. He belongs to a family of soldiers. His ancestors participated in the war of the revolution, and his brother H. O. Fifield, now editor of a Michigan paper, was a gallant member of that grand First Minnesota, whose record for bravery and losses at, Gettysburg was not equaled by any other regiment, on either side, at that battle.
"LIEUTENANT, we would be pleased to see you at our tent this evening."
The remark was made by the colonel of a Wisconsin regiment, and was addressed to one of the officers of his command.
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