Sidney D. Light's WWI Diary, Postcards & Letters, 329th Battery Book Accounts

                                                          Pont-a-Mousson means "Bridge at Mousson." The bridge originally crossed the Moselle at about the same spot as the one there at present. Mousson is the little village---of one hundred and sixty inhabitants before the war---which crowns the tall hill across the river on the east. The village itself is hidden from Pont-a-Mousson by the crest of the hill, and all we see is the church with its statue of Joan of Arc, and the remains of the old chateau walls.  The origin of Pont-a-Mousson  is so closely allied with that of Mousson that the history of the latter must be spoken of.

       The explanation for the name "Mousson" is this:  In ancient times a pagan temple had been erected upon the summit of the hill, dedicated to "Janis" or "Io."  The peasants of the region found the name Io upon fragments of the ruins and referred to the hill at Mt. Janis or Mons-la, which gradually changed to "Monsio,"  "Monsion," and finally "Mousson," through several intermediary changes, clearly traceable from manuscripts of the time.

     It is certain that the hill of Mousson was occupied for strategic purposes since remotest antiquity.  Its prominence as a landmark, its superb  height, its peculiar conical shape, ease of fortification and its location beside the Moselle made obscurity impossible.

        The first direct proofs of occupation are fragments of Roman origin, such as pieces of sculpture and building fragments, coins, armor, etc., some of which may be seen in the museum of the Ducal Palace at Nancy.  A main Roman road ran from Toul to Metz, passing though Atton (the little village just south of the hill) and then under the slope of Mousson hill on th east side.  A secondary road ran from east to west, crossing the Moselle at Pont-a-Mousson and connecting with the main road, probably through the valley north of Mousson.  A strong fortification on the hill, which was also terraced, protected the bridge and cross road and here we have the origin of Pont-a-Mousson Fort.  Four secondary fortifications were built at each end of the bridge for further protection.  Around these forts the peasants, of course, built their homes, in preference to the hill, and here, too, the commerce of the river caused markets.  The end of the bridge nearest Mousson developed first and the most rapidly and this is by far the oldest part of the town, although today the oldest existing buildings are to be found in the newer, main part.

        As the warlike character of the place changed and the commerce grew, the development of the older part was hindered by the nearness of the hill, and so at present Mousson itself and the “vieille ville” are relatively unimportant.  It is curious that the part on the outside of the river is sometimes called today not a part of Pont-a-Mousson, but “Antreville,” which means “the other village.”  In Roman days this little double village over the river was spoken of (Ninth Century manuscript) as the “Villa Pontus sub Castra Montionis.” (Bridge village under the Camp of Mousson).  Its subsequent shortening to Pont-a-Mousson is easy to trace.
    

        The 1500 inhabitants of Pont-a-Mousson have coined for themselves the adjective “Mussipontain” and seem very proud of their town; inordinately so, it seems to us, who have seen only the deserted, shell-torn aspect through a wet, drab winter.  Perhaps a peace-time stroll under the shady arches surrounding the “square” (triangle, in truth) admiring the beautifully carved stone fronts, sparkling white in the blazing sun, or a walk through the well-kept parks on the south of the town would cause a change of opinion.
    

        Pont-a-Mousson first became a town of importance about the 10th century and began to receive frequent mention in the chronicles of the time.  In the 11th century a very important hospital was established under the commandery of St. Antoine of Liege.  Its buildings were erected directly across the river from Headquarters Company’s billets.  The first known rulers of the region and owners of the castle or chateau part of Mousson were the successive counts of Bar, each of whom styled himself by preference “Count of Mousson.”  They found the castle on the hill above as comfortable as an eagle’s nest, and moved down into Pont-a-Mousson about the 12th century.  Count Thibaut I at the end of the 12th century built a college near the west end of the bridge and gave Pont-a-Mousson proper its birth.  Thibaut I (1230-1270) surrounded the growing town with ramparts and systematized the plan.

        It became a marquisot in 1353 and a city of the empire in 1372.  In 1431, at the dawn of modern times, the Duchy of Bar was united to that of Lorraine and Pont-a-Mousson became a Lorraine village.  It increased gradually and became the home of a large number of religious organizations, especially during the 14th and 15th centuries.  This period was the most brilliant in the history of the town, mainly from the celebrated university which was established in 1572 and flourished for two centuries.  It had an European reputation and gave Pont-a-Mousson the title “Athens of Lorraine.”  It was managed by the Jesuits and, at the suppression of that order, was moved to Nancy in1768.  It occupied the buildings along the east bank of the Moselle, north of the bridge, and was replaced in 1800 by a royal military school which stands today.

        The town was captured in 1476 by Charles the Bald, Duke of Burgundy; was besieged in 1632 by Louis XIII and in 1670 the chateau part of Mousson and the other fortifications were destroyed by command of Louis XIV.  In 1766, after the death of Stanislas, Pont-a-Mousson became thoroughly French in its manners and customs.

        During the Franco-Prussian war, Pont-a-Mousson and the surrounding territory fell into the hands of the Germans.  The 12th day of August, 1870, a skirmish occurred in the streets between the African Chasseurs of General Marguerite and the German advance guard.  A tablet in one of the houses in the Rue Gambetta, half way between St. Martin Church and the Toul-Metz road, marks the occurrence.  The 21st of August, after the battle of St. Privot, the royal Prussian quarters were established in Pont-a-Mousson.  They were in the same building that Battery F used as their main billet and the officers’ living room was the room used by the ex-kaiser—then crown prince—as a bedroom.

        Pont-a-Mousson is the birthplace of several notables. First, Marguerite of Anjou (1429-1482), daughter of the good King Rene, heroine of the War of the Roses, who married Henry VI of England.  She was celebrated for her courage and misfortunes.  Her birthplace was in a chateau-fort on the site of Headquarters Company’s billets.  It was destroyed by Crequi at the same time as Mousson and from the ruins were built part of the quarters for the 12th French Dragoons before the war.  These quarters surrounded the square used by Supply Company and later the regiment as a carriage park.

        Another celebrity was Jean Barclay, the author.  Still another was Duroc, Duke of Frioul (1772-1813), a particular friend of Napoleon I and Grand Marshall of the Palace.  His birthplace and home was in the billet occupied by Battery A

        Fabvier (1782-1855), a general and peer of France, the hero of the Greek independence, was born on the street that bears his name.

        There are many interested places in Pont-a-Mousson.  The most noteworthy is the Church of St. Martin on the east bank of the Moselle.  It was built during the 13th and 14th centuries and was first the church of the commandery of St. Antoine, mentioned above, and then a university. The towers are 42 meters high, the one nearest the corner the most ornamental.  The entire church is pure Gothic in style and is a splendid example on a small scale of its more famous prototypes.  The portal is richly ornamented and is exceedingly like that of the Cathedral of Toul.  It is the flowery original style of the fifteenth century, the work of the same architect as that of Toul, Jacquemin de Commerce, one of the dew designers whose names have actually come down to us.

        The Place Duroc, the triangular space in the center of town, has but one interest outside its unique arches.  This is the “Home of the Seven Capital Sins”—the second building on the right on entering the Place from the west has seven stone statues on the face of its second story which give te building its name.  It was the stopping place of the Princes of Lorraine during the seventeenth century on their visits to the town.

        St. Laurent Street, which held Regimental H.Q., Battery E and the postoffice and Chaplain’s quarters, has many houses of renaissance age—the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries—and also the Church of St. Laurent.  The choir of the latter dates from the fifteenth century.

        The billet of Battery E, built in 1598, was formerly the home of “The Sisters of the Christian Doctrine,” one of the numerous religious orders already mentioned.  Its ashen door in spite of age shows most of the original carving.  The building on the right of the street at the corner opposite Regimental H.Q. and the one next to it, used at first as the Chaplain’s quarters, date from the sixteenth century and present the overhanging second story and other details of the period.

        The Place St. Antoine, where guard mounts were held, was formerly an antique forum or market, where the commercial business was discussed, So in holding our ceremonies there we only repeated the history of the old Roman guard mounts held on the same spot.  The twin towers across the river from H.Q. Company belong to the Chapel of the Abbey of Saint Marie Majeure, established by Louis XIV and dating from 1705.

        Going from the Place Duroc to the bridge and turning to the right along the bank of the river, one may see, as part of the abutment walls of the river bank, remains of the original walls used as fortifications.  The raised boulevard, curving around the depot, with its trees planted in 1795, and the parks beyond, were favorite promenades of the inhabitants for several centuries.  On the south of the town are the furnaces and foundries for iron work—mostly piping—which, with the wine of the Moselle districts thereabout, made Pont-a-Mousson industrially important.

        Of the environs of Pont-a-Mousson, Mousson is the most interesting.  The hill is 386 meters high and on a clear day the Cathedral of Metz can be seen on the north and to the south the hill of Mont-Saint-Mihiel with the fort dominating Toul.  Many of the houses of the village are of fifteenth and sixteenth century build.  The small square wing on the right of the church is the only remnant of the eleventh century, the balance being restored in 1895 and crowned with the statue of Joan of Arc.  In the center of the right wing mentioned stands a large, curiously carved baptismal fount, unfortunately covered with sand bags at the time the regiment was there.  The crumbling brown walls are the only remains of the chateau fort and date from the thirteenth century.    

        On the west of Pont-a-Mousson stand the brick and wood barracks built by the Germans in 1870 and used as workingmen’s billets before the recent war.

        Narroy, 4 kilos north of Pont-a-Mousson and in a small valley just off the left bank of the river, is famous for its wines, its sixteenth century church and small stone monument used by the Druids for religious purposes.

        Ten kilos south of Pont-a-Mousson is Drieulouard (we entrained there) with the prominent side and tower of a chateau-fort built in the tenth century and successively destroyed and rebuilt until finally dismantled by Louis XIV in 1660 to its present imposing aspect.  The island formed by the river just east of Dieulouard is the site of the celebrated Scarponne, besieged without success by Attila in the fifth century.  The wandering of the river has destroyed all buildings but old coins, bronzes and debris of sculpture have been found and many be seen in the Nancy museum.

        On the top of the hill above St. Genevieve (the town on the hill south of Pont-a-Mousson) is a cross commemorating the spot where a large number of Christians suffered martyrdom under the hands of German barbarians in the fourth century. The high mound against which St. Genevieve itself is built is one of the series built by Attila for his fortified camps.
                                                                                                          LIEUT. D. W. KAUFMAN, Battery F