Did Ney fake his death?

[Super Sea Otter]

I was surfing wikipedia a while ago when I came across this on Michel Ney's article.

One of the more colorful legends of Ney that grew up after his execution was that he had managed to escape to the United States. Proponents of this theory argue that Ney had Masonic ties, including to the Duke of Wellington, who helped him fake his execution and flee abroad. According to this account, the soldiers in the firing squad put blood packets over his heart and then shot blanks at the Marshal. He was then smuggled to the United States and continued his life as a school teacher.
A man called Peter Stuart Ney arrived in the United States in 1816, and later taught school in North and South Carolina, including at Davidson College, where he designed the school seal still in use. He died in 1846, reportedly after uttering the final words, "Bessières is dead; the Old Guard is dead; now, please, let me die."[13] On his gravestone in Cleveland, North Carolina, at Third Creek Presbyterian Church on Third Creek Church Road, one will find the words "(...) soldier of the French Revolution under Napoleon Bonaparte (...)."
Another legend has Michael Rudolph, a Continental Army officer in the American Revolutionary War, making his way to France after his forced resignation in 1793 and eventually becoming Ney.[14]

Pretty interesting, and I'm quite tempted to believe it myself. Any thoughts?

[EmperorBatman999]

His connections with Wellington might've explained why he launched that cavalry attack at Waterloo so he could purposely cause Napoleon to lose his cavalry.

[43rdFoot]

I don't kno much about the events surrounding his execution, but it does make for a good story, doesn't it?

[Prince of Darkness]

I'd like to be taught by Mr. Peter Stuart Ney.

[♔GrinningManiac♔]

I'm always skeptical of anything that mentions Illuminati/Masons

It's like a Conspiracy Theorist's One-Size-Fits-All fill-the-gaps explanation

Also, did blood packets exist at the time?

[Clodius]

LOL.

Modern accounts speculate that by Waterloo Ney was in a permanent state of shell-shock and largely incapable of rational thought - nothing else can really explain his grotesque tactical and strategic blundering.

So he'd have made a somewhat eccentric teacher even assuming that he'd somehow learned English (a very rare achievement amongst Frenchmen of his class who like Anglo-Americans today could then just assume that foreigners would have to learn his language).

Also Ney was so stupid and so brave he would probably have cocked up such a plan...

[Geronimo2006]

I don't kno much about the events surrounding his execution, but it does make for a good story, doesn't it?

He was executed by Louis XVIII for treason (because he had defected to Napoleon during the Hundred Days).

[♔DoomBunny666♔]

Heres a more plausible story, some guy heard about Ney and liked him, he decided to call himself Ney for a laugh, and the rest is history.

[Clodius]

And there were multiple real and fake French generals who tried to make their fortune in America at this time - IIRC the Louisianan pirate Lafitte had a French 'general' with him who in reality had never been more than a sergeant in Napoleon's army.

Of course if the real Marshal Ney had turned up he would just have proclaimed his true identity and done a lecture tour as there was no extradition agreement between the US and France.

[Prince of Darkness]

Heres a more plausible story, some guy heard about Ney and liked him, he decided to call himself Ney for a laugh, and the rest is history.

From now on my name is Prince Alexander, the 26th grandson of Alexander the Great.

[trk]

I would have expected the real ney (if he escaped) to have gone to Louisiana where there were some french speakers or perhaps mexico to seek employment
altho an intrigueing thought why would ney go to the carolinas?

[ixrs]

I'm sure a lot of his soldiers loved him; making it easier to fake his death. Though, I don't think the chances are that high, it could be possible.

[Shellshock1918]

I was surfing wikipedia a while ago when I came across this on Michel Ney's article.



Pretty interesting, and I'm quite tempted to believe it myself. Any thoughts?

Holy crap! My dad mentioned this to me a long time ago, but then I read that Ney was executed.

Apparently, this Peter Ney taught in North Carolina (my state!) and taught none other than General James B Gordon, one of JEB Stuart's officers!

Oh if only this could be confirmed!

[Super Sea Otter]

It sorta is if you google Peter Stuart Ney. Apparently people actually researched it, lot of evidence but not sure how much of it is true.

[Clodius]

But Ney was burnt-out after Waterloo which he did more than any other man to lose for Napoleon.

Like Napoleon he had the option to try and escape from France but didn't do so.

And was the 'bravest of the brave' really going to scuttle away and end his life in obscurity as a Carolina schoolteacher...

I rather imagine that a honourable death in front of a firing squad actually came as a relief in comparison to such a prospect.

[Super Sea Otter]

Well as the saying goes:

"Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily."

I for one think it might've been much braver to live with the trauma of seeing so many of your countrymen die, your country fall to ruin, and your emperor be exiled.