Ney, Michel. Peer and marshal of France. Born in Saarlouis, 1769, son of a cooper. Entered the army as a private hussar in 1788. Distinguished by his bravery in the wars of the Revolution and the Empire, and earned for himself from the army under Napoleon, and from Napoleon himself, the title, "Brave of the braves." On Napoleon's abdication in 1814, he attached himself to Louis XVIII, but on Napoleon's return from Elba Ney joined his old master, and stood by him during the hundred days. On the second Restoration, he was arrested, tried by his peers, and shot in 1815.

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