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Michel Ney was a French military commander and the right-hand man of Napoleon, who dubbed him “the bravest of the brave.” Facing execution after Napoleon’s downfall, Ney’s last words declared his loyalty to France before ordering his own executioners to fire. Brave last words … or were they?
The following year, a man with the same red-haired complexion, Peter Stewart Ney, arrived in the Carolinas. He later became a school teacher in Rowan County, NC and was notorious for lining his students up for daily inspection.
Upon his death in 1846, Peter Ney’s last words were, “I am Ney of France.”
– Carlisle Walker Willard, Contributor