His profession was that of a teacher of fencing; but he had been an officer in Ellsworth's company, and was familiar with fancy manoeuvres for street parade, and with a special skirmish drill and bayonet exercise.

Small, swarthy, with angular features, and a brusque, military manner, in a showy uniform and jaunty _kepi_ of scarlet cloth, covered with gold lace, he created quite a sensation among us.

His assumption of knowledge and experience was accepted as true.

He claimed to have been a surgeon in the French army in Algiers, though we afterward learned to doubt if his rank had been higher than that of a barber-surgeon of a cavalry troop.

From the testimonials he brought with him, I thought I was doing a good thing in making him my brigade-major, as the officer was then called whom we afterward knew as inspector-general.
He certainly was a most indefatigable fellow, and went at his work with an enthusiasm that made him very useful for a time.