BRANDON, JULES BENJAMIN:
French officer and scion of an ancient Sephardic family that went to France from Spain after the exodus of 1492; born Sept. 24, 1833, at Paris; died May 22, 1871. After studying at the Collège St. Barbe, he went to the Ecole Polytechnique in 1853, and entered the artillery. He married, in Aug., 1866, the eldest daughter of Colonel Salvador, nephew of the Jewish historian Joseph Salvador. At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war (1870) Brandon, who was then instructor (with the rank of captain) at the Ecole Polytechnique, immediately requested to be transferred to active service. He joined the army, was made a prisoner at Sedan, and was sent to Germany, his wife following him. As soon as the armistice was signed, and he received news of the events of the eighteenth of March and of the proclamation of the Commune, Brandon was one of the first to avail himself of the permission granted to the officers to return to France. He hastened to offer his services to the leaders of the army of Versailles. Though the troops at that time were disorganized, he rapidly reformed his battery; but on entering Paris, May 22, 1871, he was killed by a stray ball fired from a window. General Berkheim placed the name of Brandon, as one of the best and bravest officers of the second army corps, at the head of the list of captains to be read at daily roll-call, in order that this tribute should be "a title of glory that will be preserved in his family."
