BABIES OF THE BATTLE-FIELD.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10921, 21 May 1898, Page 5

BABIES OF THE BATTLE-FIELD.

INSTANCES IN WHICH CHILDREN HAVE BEEN FOUND BY TROOPS. After the great French victory of Xitsterlilz, Napoleon's troops found, while pursuing the enemy, a boy two or three years old, lost or deserted by his parentß. The child was brought before General Bornadotte, who ordered that diligent search Bhould bo made among the neighboring Tillages and farmhouses for some traces of Its paronts. No relations coming forward to olalm this waif of war, however, Bemadotte placed him in charge of one of his vivundieres, and soon the little fellow became the pat of the army. Napoleon resting for the first time in days, at the castle of Baron von Eannitz, heard of the boy, and commanded that he shonld be brought before him. The result was that the great Emperor practically adopted Johann—— ; for the ehlld was just able to lisp that his name was Jobnnn, without oasting any farther light upon Mb Identity. Napoleon conferred upon him the full name of Jean de La guerre, or ' John of the War,' and Jean was sent to Paris to be educated. When the Emperor waa exllled to Elba, General Bernadotte, who had In the meantime been elected King of Sweden, brought Jean de Laguerre to Stockholom and gave him a commission In the army. He eventually became Swedish Minister to Germany and a Count of Sweden. The family whioh he founded is still well known in Soandinavia, but Jean de Lsguerre Dover succeeded in discovering who his parents were or how he came to be left behind on the field of Auatorlitz. Such discoveries of babies amid tho scenes of war and death are by no means unoouimon. During the Amerioan civil war a notable Incident oocarred. A baby boautifully dressed, was found by the Confederate troops in tho debaU able region along tho Potomac daring the heat of the strife. There was nothing to Identify the infant or to tell the side to which its parents had belonged. Eventually a Confederate soldier obtained leave to adopt the girl —for a (<irl it happened to be— and at the oarliaßt opportunity she was sent, by means of a mule transport corps, to his wife's home, in Georgia, After the war, advertisements were Inserted in Northern and Southern nespapers regarding tho child but nobody came forward to claim her. She grew up into a handsome clever woman and, afow years ago, marriod Thomai E. Watson of Georgia, who was the Popu'iat candidate for the Vice Presidency in the last oleotion. Mrs Watson belioves that her parents wore Confederate sympathisers and that they peiished during the war. In the revolution a somewhat similar inoident occurred. A baby was fonnd by tho British under Colonel Tarloton, nor could its identity be discovered. It was brought up by a family named Gibbs, and rose to fame as Lieutenant Colonel Penwiok. A baby was found on the battle-field of Waterloo, but in this oase the child's | father and mother were known. The mother bad died a few days bofore in Brusseb, while the father, a*Boldler of j the Eighty ■ Seventh Cameron Highlanders, fell in the great fight. Little Donald Cameron managed to escape from tho transport wagon where he bad been stowed,' and strayed into serious danger before ho wasnotlejd aud oaaght by an offioor in an Irish regiment. Whether the terrors of Waterloo made an evil impression npon little Donald or not, he stsadfastly refused to enlist, although his ancestors for generations had been soldiers. Instead, he became a ' gusrd ' on the London and North* wostern railroad, and died a member of the Peace Society, in Birmingham last summer. Two years ago a Russian offloer of good family was married in St. Petersburg to a yonng lady whose parents no» body knew, but who had no less than 900 foster fathers. Her foster fathers were the soldiers of a regiment whioh had found her as a baby lying abandoned by her relatives, on tho road from Plevna to Constantinople. The soldiers put together a handsome pune for the young bride's dowry. To come to our own times, a little Afridi baby was found by the British troops in Northern India, after a skirmish with f:he hill trib.es. a short time ago. TLe British djd not wish to leave thp little fellow on the field of battle, and took him with them on the maroh. Later on, when returning, they left jt on the exapt spot where it had been originally found. They were rewarded for their pains, Alter »n hour ojf two bftd passed by, a band of Afrldia descended from the hills and carried the baby away. Probably tho dusty urohin, in view of his strange esperipnee, will be greatly looked np to by hia tribesmen and become a great leader and a thorn in the side of his British preservers.