Two area graves, one in Monroe and one in New Glarus, are not decorated on Memorial Day or honored on Veterans Day. Yet the graves mark the final resting places of two soldiers who participated in a foreign invasion nearly two centuries ago. These two men, Mathias Duerst and Johann Jacob Durst, were sent into France from their native Canton Glarus, Switzerland in the final days of the Napoleonic Wars. Both men, originally named Dürst, were born in 1790 in the Canton Glarus hamlet of Dornhaus. They were related but not closely.
Mathias and Johann Jacob were young lads when France invaded Switzerland in 1798. The French proceeded to re-create Switzerland as the Helvetic Republic. Canton Glarus ceased to exist. A new canton named Linth was formed using all of Canton Glarus and parts of neighboring Cantons Schwyz and St. Gallen. The years under French rule were harsh and the sovereignty of the cantons was abolished in favor of more federal power. By 1803, Napoleon recognized things were not working in the Helvetic Republic. He dissolved the ill-conceived republic and agreed Switzerland could once again establish its cantons and confederation format.
This same era also marked the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars which raged throughout Europe for more than a decade. In 1814 Napoleon was exiled to Elba, but in 1815 he escaped and returned to France. He rallied his troops but met his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18 of the same year. This short timeframe which signaled the end of the Napoleonic Wars is sometimes referred to as the 100 Days of Napoleon.
Despite Napoleon's defeat, the French fortress of Huningue remained under the control of a small band of supporters loyal to Napoleon. This strategic fortress was located on the Rhine River in the Alsatian town of Huningue, France and just a few miles downstream from Basel, Switzerland. The star-shaped Huningue fortress was built in the late 17th century during the reign of King Louis XIV. From its beginning this bastion of French power was feared and hated by the Swiss - particularly by the people of Basel. A bridge led from the fortress over the Rhine to a fortified entrance on the opposite bank. The fortress controlled the river. (Today a sleek pedestrian bridge - the Three Countries Bridge, or Dreiländerbrücke or Passerelle des Trois Pays, - spans the Rhine River in approximately the same location near the common boundary of France, Switzerland and Germany. It is the longest single span pedestrian/cyclist bridge in the world.)
In 1815 Switzerland broke with its policy of neutrality and sent troops to lay siege to the Huningue fortress. Additionally, and again in conflict to its neutrality, Switzerland allowed thousands of Austrian troops on their way to Huningue to pass through Swiss territory. The siege began on June 26 and just two months later French General Barbanègre surrendered. Estimates differ on the number of troops. Those holding the fortress tallied only about 500 while the Allied troops numbered 25,000 or more. The Treaty of Vienna of 1815 re-established Switzerland's independence and confirmed their policy of permanent neutrality. At the insistence of the Swiss, the massive Huningue fortress was razed to the ground.
After the siege and back in Canton Glarus, Mathias Duerst returned to wife of two years, Sibilla née Knobel. Johann Jacob Durst also returned and married Rosina Wichser in 1821. Both men immigrated to New Glarus as widowers accompanied by their children. Mathias Duerst arrived in 1852. His son-in-law David Klassy was a miller in New Glarus and later ran a Town of Cadiz mill. Mathias Duerst died in 1879 and is buried in Monroe's Greenwood Cemetery.
Johann Jacob Durst had several children most of whom immigrated to New Glarus. Jacob and daughter Barbara (later Mrs. Andreas Hoesly) immigrated in 1847. He died in 1877 and is buried in the Swiss Reformed Cemetery in New Glarus. Unlike Mathias Duerst. who had no grandchildren (and thus no descendants), Johann Jacob Durst had many children and numerous New Glarus descendants to this day.
That Green County has these graves of Glarner soldiers from the days of Napoleon is quite singular. Even in Glarus, Switzerland, it is doubtful if there are any extant graves of these soldiers of 200 years ago. In mountainous Glarus, where arable land is precious, their small cemeteries remain small by re-cycling the graves every 20 to 30 years.
These local graves provide a tangible link to the end of Napoleonic era, Switzerland's last breach of its neutrality and the recognition of Switzerland by Europe as a fully independent state. What stories these old tombstones can tell.
- Bob Elmer, Sun Prairie, is a native of New Glarus. He wrote this story as a result of research he conducted for a cemetery tour in New Glarus in August
Mathias and Johann Jacob were young lads when France invaded Switzerland in 1798. The French proceeded to re-create Switzerland as the Helvetic Republic. Canton Glarus ceased to exist. A new canton named Linth was formed using all of Canton Glarus and parts of neighboring Cantons Schwyz and St. Gallen. The years under French rule were harsh and the sovereignty of the cantons was abolished in favor of more federal power. By 1803, Napoleon recognized things were not working in the Helvetic Republic. He dissolved the ill-conceived republic and agreed Switzerland could once again establish its cantons and confederation format.
This same era also marked the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars which raged throughout Europe for more than a decade. In 1814 Napoleon was exiled to Elba, but in 1815 he escaped and returned to France. He rallied his troops but met his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18 of the same year. This short timeframe which signaled the end of the Napoleonic Wars is sometimes referred to as the 100 Days of Napoleon.
Despite Napoleon's defeat, the French fortress of Huningue remained under the control of a small band of supporters loyal to Napoleon. This strategic fortress was located on the Rhine River in the Alsatian town of Huningue, France and just a few miles downstream from Basel, Switzerland. The star-shaped Huningue fortress was built in the late 17th century during the reign of King Louis XIV. From its beginning this bastion of French power was feared and hated by the Swiss - particularly by the people of Basel. A bridge led from the fortress over the Rhine to a fortified entrance on the opposite bank. The fortress controlled the river. (Today a sleek pedestrian bridge - the Three Countries Bridge, or Dreiländerbrücke or Passerelle des Trois Pays, - spans the Rhine River in approximately the same location near the common boundary of France, Switzerland and Germany. It is the longest single span pedestrian/cyclist bridge in the world.)
In 1815 Switzerland broke with its policy of neutrality and sent troops to lay siege to the Huningue fortress. Additionally, and again in conflict to its neutrality, Switzerland allowed thousands of Austrian troops on their way to Huningue to pass through Swiss territory. The siege began on June 26 and just two months later French General Barbanègre surrendered. Estimates differ on the number of troops. Those holding the fortress tallied only about 500 while the Allied troops numbered 25,000 or more. The Treaty of Vienna of 1815 re-established Switzerland's independence and confirmed their policy of permanent neutrality. At the insistence of the Swiss, the massive Huningue fortress was razed to the ground.
After the siege and back in Canton Glarus, Mathias Duerst returned to wife of two years, Sibilla née Knobel. Johann Jacob Durst also returned and married Rosina Wichser in 1821. Both men immigrated to New Glarus as widowers accompanied by their children. Mathias Duerst arrived in 1852. His son-in-law David Klassy was a miller in New Glarus and later ran a Town of Cadiz mill. Mathias Duerst died in 1879 and is buried in Monroe's Greenwood Cemetery.
Johann Jacob Durst had several children most of whom immigrated to New Glarus. Jacob and daughter Barbara (later Mrs. Andreas Hoesly) immigrated in 1847. He died in 1877 and is buried in the Swiss Reformed Cemetery in New Glarus. Unlike Mathias Duerst. who had no grandchildren (and thus no descendants), Johann Jacob Durst had many children and numerous New Glarus descendants to this day.
That Green County has these graves of Glarner soldiers from the days of Napoleon is quite singular. Even in Glarus, Switzerland, it is doubtful if there are any extant graves of these soldiers of 200 years ago. In mountainous Glarus, where arable land is precious, their small cemeteries remain small by re-cycling the graves every 20 to 30 years.
These local graves provide a tangible link to the end of Napoleonic era, Switzerland's last breach of its neutrality and the recognition of Switzerland by Europe as a fully independent state. What stories these old tombstones can tell.
- Bob Elmer, Sun Prairie, is a native of New Glarus. He wrote this story as a result of research he conducted for a cemetery tour in New Glarus in August