ABSTRACT
Guillaume Henri Dufour, as the Swiss correspondent of Germany's Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung described him that November of 1847, was a man of medium height. Dufour coped as well as he could by raising his own vegetables and chickens, but by 1814 the end had come. Under Dufour's direction, dilapidated buildings were torn down so that narrow streets might receive light and air. Dufour actively involved himself in the political, artistic, and intellectual life of Geneva. Some of the envoys were concerned that both Dufour's age and his conservative convictions might make him a less-than-ideal choice to command the Diet's forces. Dufour was now left in something of a quandary when he received the news of the envoys' decision, or rather of their double decision, for envoys had taken two votes that October 19. On October 21 1847, in a formal ballot this time, Dufour—with only one dissenting vote, which went to Frey-Herose—was elected commander in chief of the federal forces.
