Reading your book ‘Waterloo’, latest in a long line of your books. Did you know that Marshal Ney is buried in the town of Cleveland in North Carolina? The story is that Wellington felt it was shameful for someone so brave to be shot by a firing squad in Paris, so he araigned for the guns to be loaded with blanks. ie no ball. Ney, whose nickname was ‘Red Peter’ because of his red hair, moved to North Carolina and changed his name to Peter Stuart Ney, where he lived and worked as a school teacher. I have met both elderly people whose parents had him as a teacher, and i have met someone named Ney who was his descendant and the family believes he died in the US. Peter Ney was recognized on occasion, and on his death bed confessed his identity. People around here have known this for generations. But the French, are not believers.

David Mills