Tests say nay to Ney: Peter Stuart Ney is not Marshall Ney
Published 2:06 pm Saturday, September 9, 2023
A French documentary team believes they have reached an answer on the old mystery of whether Peter Stuart Ney, buried in Rowan County, is the same person as the famous Marshall Ney that fought alongside Napoleon at Waterloo.
In a letter sent to the staff of Third Creek Presbyterian Church, where Peter Stuart was buried, Dominique Adt said that the team had reached the conclusion that the two were different people.
Adt was part of a team that came to the church last year to excavate the place where Stuart was buried and where dirt and other material was collected to be tested to see if any connection could be made.
The evidence Adt cited for their conclusion was differences between the two men that DNA testing was able to find. Marshall Ney had red hair while Peter Stuart had light brown hair, and Marshall Ney had blue eyes instead of Peter Stuart’s brown. In addition, the two men most likely had different skin tones, with Marshall being paler.
Adt said that they were also able to test DNA from a piece of Peter Stuart’s skeleton that was found in July of 2022.
The team was able to observe a few things that still may tie Peter Stuart to the famous Marshall. Adt said that historians the team talked to said that Stuart could have been an English officer who admired Marshall Ney and that he could have fought in a battle, possibly Waterloo, against him. Adt said trauma related to the war could explain why Peter Stuart claimed to be Marshall in times or crisis.
Adt also noted as evidence that comparative writing and Peter Stuart Ney’s misuse of French supported the argument that the two were separate people.
