# "We May Die, but Never Will Surrender" - The Battle of Cameron



## glock-bkk (Sep 23, 2006)

On April 29, 1863, the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion was ordered to accompany a column from Vera Cruz to Peubla as one leg of a very long journey for a very valuable cargo - gold bullion, some three million francs, to pay the French army of the interior. There were other items of significance scattered amid the 60 carts and 150 mules, but everyone knew that it was likely that knowledge of the gold would become widespread before the column cleared the city gates. Worse than that, the 3rd Company, whose normal complement was three officers and 112 men, was reduced by nearly half due to illness. All three officers and 50 men were unfit for duty when the company was given the assignment. The battalion adjutant major, Captain Jean Danjou, an experienced soldier who sported a flowing mustache and thick goatee, offered to assume command. He was a good choice. Courageous, an excellent combat officer, he had lost a hand in Algiers and wore a wooden hand to replace it. 

Two other officers were needed. Lieutenant Maudet of the 1st Company and Lieutenant Vilian, the battalion paymaster quickly volunteered. The men of the 3rd Company could forgive Maudet being an officer from the 1st Company (soldiers often looked at other units, even those that they had served with, with suspicion), but Vilian was the battalion paymaster and the largely uneducated enlisted men were certain that Vilian used official trickery to slice their already meager pay to virtually nothing. He was hated by the common Legionnaires, and had to prove himself to them. Danjou would lead the way, scouting the road, he explained to Jeanningros, with the mules and wagons to follow two hours behind. Jeanningros wondered aloud if 65 men were enough to protect such a valuable convoy. They are Legionnaires, the captain reminded his colonel. 

Early on the morning of the 30th of April the column set out from the village of Chiquihuite and made its way, route-step, toward Puebla. Danjou stationed himself in the road with a small party and the pack mules; one hundred yards on either side of him were two equal columns of Legionnaires. They were a colorful lot; Havelock's and white kepis long since stained with dust, red, baggy wool pantaloons, and blue, red-trimmed tunics darkened with sweat, with bright red epaulettes setting squarely across the Legionnaires shoulders. They could have been better armed of course - the 70 caliber smoothbore musket carried quite a punch but the range was limited. And it was rumored that the Juarists had been well supplied with modern American weapons. But no matter, they carried bayonets and every good French soldier knew the importance of bravery and cold steel. 





At about 7 a.m. they passed the nearly destroyed village of Cameron. Danjou noted that the only structures that still stood were portions of a stonewall, a deserted farmhouse or inn, and several outbuildings. Nearly a mile down the road, Danjou called the columns in and ordered the men to rest and fix coffee. Despite the early hour, the heat and dust had taken its toll on the Legionnaires, and they had had nothing to eat since the previous evening. Water for their coffee had just come to a boil when call-to-arms was sounded with cries that enemy cavalry was approaching. The men snatched their muskets and formed ranks but in the confusion the mules bearing their extra ammunition and supplies bolted off. 

Danjou quickly took stock of the situation. There were several hundred mounted Juarists forming into position to attack him and it was obvious that the tiny band of Legionnaires would be overwhelmed in the first charge. Captain Danjou formed a rectangle, and using the dense clumps of thickets that dotted the barren landscape as natural abatis, keeping them between his enemy and his pitiful band, he moved slowly back to Cameron. When the Juarists came too close, Danjou stopped the rectangle, ordered a volley, and then set out again for the sanctuary of a few stone buildings. 

If Danjou had known what he was facing as he and his tiny command backtracked down the Peubla road, he might have been truly concerned. The few hundred horsemen were really 800 horsemen followed closely by 1,200 infantry under Colonel Milan. The redoubtable French captain also lost 16 of his men (apparently separated and captured during the retreat), which left him with 49 officers and men. And the Juarists, guessing his intention, had beaten him to Cameron. Several enemy sharp shooters were stationed in the second story of the farmhouse and began firing as Danjou's men poured into the courtyard. Knowing that he could not defend the walls with the enemy snipers behind him, Danjou fell back to the rough collection of outbuildings and portions of the stonewall to fight it out. The enemy immediately obliged him. Twice the Juarist cavalry charged but it was impossible for them to maneuver properly in the cramped courtyard. Both times they were forced back. 

At about 9 a.m. Colonel Milan approached under a flag of truce and demanded that Danjou surrender, pointing out that he had two thousand men poised to attack the Legionnaires. Danjou refused the demand and the attack resumed. Musket smoke boiled within the interior of the outbuildings as the Legionnaires, loaded and fired; the barrels of their muskets almost too hot to handle. Men were numb from heat and exhaustion and the din of battle. Danjou, despite his own thirst, made his way from Legionnaire to Legionnaire, comforting them. They had little water and any attempt to reach a well on the far side of the house was suicide. 

The enemy began their attacks again, trying to drive a wedge into the defender's makeshift fortress but the small courtyard forced the attackers directly into the fire of the Legionnaires. The Juarists fell back and as Danjou was urging his men on, a sniper shot him. Lieutenant Vilian, the hated paymaster, now became the commander of the pitiful force. It must have been Danjou who inspired him, or the defiance of men who faced certain death, or perhaps the qualities that make some men Legionnaires, but Vilian called to his soldiers: "Mes enfants! I command you now. We may die, but never will surrender." Vilian led the dwindling band of Legionnaires for nearly four hours after the death of his captain, but he too was killed, falling as the enemy rushed the Legionnaires. 

It was Maudet's turn to command, and he again refused Milan's demand to surrender. After another attack Milan approached the Legionnaires under a flag of truce and the scene that greeted him was nearly indescribable. Dead and wounded Legionnaires were sprawled throughout the interior of the outbuildings and the putrid odor of death filled the air. Thousands of flies buzzed frantically, gorging themselves on the dead flesh of the bloated, stiffening bodies. The wounded cried out for water in pitiful, hoarse whispers, but there was none to give them. Facing Milan, barely able to stand, was Maudet and 12 Legionnaires. No surrender, Maudet said, and Milan returned to his position. Within the hour Milan ordered another attack, but this like the others, was driven off. It had taken its toll on the Legionnaires, however; now all that remained was Maudet and five enlisted men. They had gone through the pouches of their fallen comrades, desperately looking for ammunition. They had only one round apiece; but they had their bayonets. "Load," Maudet ordered. "At my command, fire. Then follow me through the breach. We'll end this with our bayonets." They formed a wedge, with Maudet at the apex, fired a volley, and charged into the mass of Juarists. The enraged enemy, caught up in the frenzy of battle, surrounded the tiny group and literally clubbed them to the earth. 

Colonel Milan fought his way to the scene of the one-sided battle and saved his men from tearing the Legionnaires to pieces. Just two of the six survived, with the 16 men captured earlier and one Legionnaire captured during the fight itself. The Juarists lost approximately 300 killed and 300 wounded. 

Such incidents fade from memory, pushed off the pages of history books by more monumental occurrences. There is no theme for historians to discuss, and the battle is hardly a watershed as events go. For the Legionnaire there remains a plaque with a few words on it, and a celebration on the anniversary of the battle. Perhaps the Legionnaires understand that such encounters are not usually commemorated outside of the Legion, and therefore people would know very little about Cameron. There is tangible evidence of the day that saw 65 Legionnaires stand off 2,000 Juarists; a relic preserved by the Legion - Danjou's wooden hand found shortly after the battle. It is a reminder of the only theme truly associated with the events of April 29, 1863: courage.

The Emperor Napoleon III had the title "Camerone 1863" inscribed on the banners of the 1st Regiment; and in 1892 on the site of the battle (Since then, when Mexican troops pass by the monument, they present arms), a monument was raised on which is inscribed: 

HERE, THEY WERE LESS THAN SIXTY
AGAINST A WHOLE ARMY
ITS NUMBER CRUSHED THEM
BUT LIFE RATHER THAN BRAVERY
LEFT THESE FRENCH MEN
ON THE 30TH OF APRIL 1863.

TO THEIR MEMORY
THE COUNTRY BUILT THIS MONUMENT.
http://www.kinaa.com/legionetrangere/images/combatcameron.jpg

Emperor Napoleon the 3rd decided that the name of Camerone would be written on the flag of the Foreign Regiment and the names of Danjou, Vilain and Maudet would be engraved in golden letters on the walls of the Invalides, in Paris.

Each year on the 30th April every unit of the French Foreign Legion celebrates the anniversary of Camerone. At Aubagne the Legion headquarters the false wooden hand of Captaine Danjou, which was recovered from the battleground is parade in a grande ceremony.


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## pardus (Sep 26, 2006)

Pictures of The famous battle.


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## glock-bkk (Sep 26, 2006)

Thanks for the pics  pardus762...

*About the picture with the wooden hand*...

Sometime later amid the debris, a local rancher supposedly named Langlais picked up by chance an organ less vulnerable to predators. This was Danjou's wooden left hand. He kept it as curiosity for two years then, having learned something of its history, offered to sell it to General Achille Bazaine, a former Legion officer, who succeed Forey as commander-in-chief of all French forces in Mexico, at a price of 50 piastres. After four months of haggling, Bazaine paid the ransom and the hand was returned to Legion Headquarters at Sidi-bel-Abbes. Today, the Hand of Danjou, the most treasured of all Legion relics, is housed in the Legion’s Salle d’Honneur in Aubagne. It is a symbol of Legion durability--for the Legion never surrenders.


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