novel · by a contemporary
Tales of the first French Revolution
Anne Caldwell Marsh-Caldwell (1791–1874), 1849
Named on the page for Battle of Valmy.
machine-read Machine-read (OCR) from a scanned book at the Internet Archive: expect misread words and names. The scan itself is at the library.
draft Matched to the battle automatically; not yet reviewed.
Passages that name the battle; the whole book is at Internet Archive.
20 September 1792
Battle of Valmy
A SOLDIER'S FORTUNE. 233
He was now occupied in the extraordinary campaign of the Argonne, keeping the whole Prussian army in check with a mere handful of men. Kellerman and Luckner commanded under him — Kellerman was posted on the heights of Valmy*
A SOLBIER'S FORTUNE. 239
They soon reached the high road, and Gerard would have had little difficulty in gaining head-quarters ; but he had hardly proceeded half a mile, before he heard the drums beating in all directions ; at the same time, he perceived that the plain was covered with battalions marching rapidly. The moon shone full upon them, and by the glittering of their arms, he could perfectly distinguish bodies of men belonging to the French army, advancing in perfect order. He stopped to consider the meaning of this manoeuvre, and soon decided it must be the vanguard advancing on the right, towards St. Menehould, leaving the heights of Valmy behind them.
THE RETURN FROM EGYPT.
EIGHT years have now elapsed — Belgium and Holland have been conquered — Moreau upon the Rhine, and Bonaparte by his miraculous campaigns in Italy, have immortalized the French standards. And now, from the summits of the pyra- mids, to borrow an idea from the great captain himself, — . " thirty centuries contemplate the tricolor with applause." From the day of Valmy to that of St. Jean d'Acre, Gerard and Dervieux have never quitted that standard.
MENEHOULD, DEPARTMENT DE LA MAINE.
" On the 20th of September, 1792, after the battle of Valmy— in which I had the honour to take a part, being then only a sergeant — I chanced to be, after the victory, separated from my companions; and I had the good fortune to meet with, and to rescue from death, a young child, whom I found in the midst of the ruins of a burning house, with three dead bodies lying near him, one of which was that of his mother. I presumed that this child might be an orphan, but had no time to get any information ; and as he did not speak French, I could learn nothing from himself. I adopted him, and determined to educate him ; and if he has not been claimed — if the child is yet in your hands — if you have faithfully fulfilled my intentions and your engagements — we shall both of us have discharged our duties ; and it is time that my adopted son should know his protector. .
Public domain. Text from Internet Archive.