_Monday, August 17._


Sixteenth day of mobilization. Gray, cloudy weather with northerly
breezes. Thermometer at five P.M. 17 degrees centigrade.

The first trophy of the war, the flag of the One Hundred and
Thirty-second German Infantry Regiment (First Regiment of Lower Alsace),
arrived in Paris this morning, having been brought by motor-car from the
front, where it was captured at Sainte-Blaise by the Tenth Battalion of
Chasseurs-a-Pieds (riflemen), a corps which distinguished itself in the
Franco-Austrian war of 1859 by capturing the first Austrian flag at
Solferino. In 1840, the Tenth Chasseurs-a-Pied were commanded by Patrice
de MacMahon, then a major and afterwards Marshal of France and Duc de
Magenta, and whose name is remembered by the corps in their march song:

"L' dixiem' batallion,
Commandant Mac-Mahon,
N'a pas peur du canon,
Nom de nom!"

The captured flag is of magenta colored silk, with a white St. Andrew's
cross, on which the imperial eagle and the regimental insignia are
embroidered in gold. The news that a German flag was being shown spread
rapidly, and a large crowd gathered. There were no insulting remarks,
merely quiet observation. Among the first to see the trophy were some
school-children headed by their master, who explained the significance
of the capture. The flag was taken to the Elysee Palace and shown to
President Poincare, who is himself a major of chasseurs-a-pied. It was
afterwards placed in the Invalides.