by Tom Reiss
30 “the dispatch might be in German”: MM, p. 75.
31 Napoleon sent Dumas congratulations: Ibid., pp. 79–80.
32 a favorable note: Napoleon to the Executive Directory, December 28, 1796, in Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, Vol. 4, pp. 202–4.
33 Dumas’s division at San Antonio: Antoine-Vincent Arnault et al., “Dumas (Alexandre Davy-de-la-Pailleterie),” p. 161.
34 oddly spaced cannon fire: Dumas to Brigadier Chief Carvin and to General Davin and circular letter to Generals Miollis and Carvin, December 31, 1796, SHD 3B118.
35 “Venetian scoundrels”: General of Division Joubert to General Guillaume, December 25, 1796, SHD 3B211.
36 firing of their weapons: Dumas to Serurier, January 2, 1797, and to Napoleon, January 3, 1797, SHD 3B118.
37 barely sleep through the racket: Dumas to Napoleon, January 3, 1797, SHD 3B118, and several letters to Serurier, December 30 and 31, 1796, and January 2, 1797, SHD 3B118.
38 dozens of letters Dumas wrote: These letters are in SHD 3B118.
39 He requested thousands of soup rations: Dumas to Serurier, January 6, 1797, SHD 3B118.
40 “Citizen”: Dumas to Commissary of War Bouquet, December 25, 1796, SHD 3B118.
41 43,000 crack troops: On the Battle of Rivoli, see Bruce, pp. 20–27; Dwyer, pp. 268–71.
42 Serurier’s desperate letters: Berthier’s report, January 19, 1797, SHD 3B37; Dumas to Chief of Brigade Carvin, January 13, 1797, SHD 3B118.
43 Dumas and his men were not moving: Dumas to General Serurier, January 8, 1797, SHD 3B118.
44 “I am about to mount my horse”: Dumas to Serurier, January 8, 1797, SHD 3B118.
45 “Ah! There you are”: MM, pp. 89–90.
46 Dumas fighting multiple opponents: Jean-Baptiste Courcelles, “DUMAS (Alexandre Davy),” p. 503.
47 Dumas’s horse killed under him: General of Division Joubert to Napoleon, March 27, 1797, SHD 3B211.
48 Dumas’s new horse killed: Statement by the Twentieth Dragoon Regiment, January 18, 1797, MAD.
49 Dumas’s actions in beating: General of Division Joubert to Napoleon, March 27, 1797, SHD 3B211.
50 official report of the battle, including “in observation at San Antonio”: General Berthier’s report, January 19, 1797, SHD 3B37.
51 “January 18, 1797”: Dumas to Napoleon, January 18, 1797, quoted in MM, p. 96.
52 I made my way through: Berthier’s report, January 19, 1797, SHD 3B37.
53 he was to command a subdivision: General of Division and Chief of Staff Berthier to Dumas, January 17, 1797, BNF NAF 24641.
54 “On Nivôse 28”: Dumas to Napoleon, January 17, 1797, SHD 3B118.
55 “We, Commander, officers”: Statement by the Twentieth Dragoon Regiment, January 18, 1797, MAD.
56 Napoleon’s praise: Napoleon to the Executive Directory, January 18, 1797, cited in Oeuvres de Napoléon Bonaparte, Vol. 1, pp. 272–79.
CHAPTER 15: THE BLACK DEVIL
1 “[Dumas] flies from one city to another”: André Maurel, Les trois Dumas, p. 15.
2 the “Black Devil”: Deputazione toscana di storia patria, Archivio Storico Italiano, 5th ser., Vol. 21 (1898), p. 231; Ernest d’Hauterive, Un soldat de la Révolution: Le Général Alexandre Dumas (1762–1806), pp. 138–40.
3 honorary swords: Gustav Fiebeger, The Campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte of 1796–1797, pp. 84–85.
4 “I have no less impatience”: General of Division Joubert to Dumas, December 31, 1796, SHD 3B211.
5 Dumas in Tyrol: Antoine-Vincent Arnault et al., “Dumas (Alexandre Davy-de-la-Pailleterie),” p. 161. See also General of Division Joubert to Napoleon, March 20, 1797, SHD V3B118.
6 Joubert briefed Dumas: General of Division Joubert to Dumas, January 18, 1797, cited in MM, p. 102.
7 “great gate” of Italy: On the history of the Brenner Pass, see F. Baillie-Grohman, “The Brenner Pass and Its Traffic in Old Days.”
8 Dumus led a small force: Dumas, report to General of Division Joubert, March 27, 1797, MAD Safe.
9 Over and over again Dumas charged: See Dumas’s correspondence of February 22 and March 5 and 6, 1797, in SHD 3B118 and V3B211, as well as orders from General of Division Joubert to General Dumas, March 20, 1797, SHD 3B211.
10 “The battle was uncertain”: General of Division Joubert to Napoleon, March 24, 1797, SHD 3B21.
11 Dumas went on to save General Joubert: Ibid.
12 “I charged” and “The adjutant general Blondeau”: Dumas, report to General of Division Joubert, March 27, 1797, MAD Safe.
13 “more like a race”: Dermoncourt’s report, cited in MM, p. 108.
14 “My beloved”: Dumas to his wife, March 3, 1797, BNF NAF 24641.
15 “To the only one I care about”: Dumas to his wife, March 5, 1797, MAD.
16 “in a terrible position”: Dumas, report to General of Division Joubert, March 27, 1797, MAD Safe.
17 “crossed Clausen under enemy fire”: Joubert to the general-in-chief (Napoleon), March 24, 1797, SHD 3B211.
18 Dumas “did more alone”: Dermoncourt’s report quoted in MM, p. 109.
19 dragoons panicked: Dumas to Representative Garnot, September 2, 1797, CGH.
20 Dumas and Dermoncourt found themselves alone: Or was it Dumas alone? Several accounts of the incident mention Dumas but not Dermoncourt on the bridge, including Oeuvres de Napoléon Bonaparte, Vol. 1; Arnault et al., p. 161; and Edmond Chevrier, Le Général Joubert d’après sa correspondance, p. 98. However, Dermoncourt’s long and colorful description of the incident places him squarely alongside his hero, General Dumas (MM, pp. 109–14).
21 “lift his saber” and “continued to hack at me”: General Dermoncourt’s report quoted in MM, p. 113.
22 horse shot: Dumas, report to General of Division Joubert, March 27, 1797, MAD Safe.
23 “The Black Devil is dead!”: General Dermoncourt’s report quoted in MM, p. 116.
24 “I managed to turn toward the general”: Ibid., p. 113.
25 “I must make a full report,” “we have taken fifteen hundred,” and “[Dumas] has received”: General of Division Joubert to Napoleon, March 24, 1797, SHD 3B211.
26 “these victories were necessary”: Dumas to his “best friends,” April 1, 1797, MAD Safe.
27 “General Dumas at the head of the cavalry”: Napoleon, report to the Executive Directory, April 1, 1797, Correspondance, Vol. 2, pp. 572–75.
28 “as the General-in-Chief wants”: Napoleon to Dumas, April 3, 1797, BNF NAF 24641.
29 “I request that General Dumas”: Napoleon to the Executive Directory, April 5, 1797, cited in Le Moniteur, Vol. 28 (1863), p. 666; and in Correspondance, Vol. 2, pp. 456–57.
30 “Rome was in great hazard”: Plutarch, Lives of Illustrious Men, Vol. 1, p. 163.
31 Dumas appointed military governor of Treviso: General Berthier to Dumas, May 21, 1797, BNF NAF 24641.
32 “In this state of revolution”: Municipality of the Asolo canton, May 29, 1797, MAD.
BOOK THREE CHAPTER 16: LEADER OF THE EXPEDITION
1 “He had no sooner”: In this sole instance, I am not translating from the French edition of Mes Memoires but rather using the translation of E. M. Waller. Alexandre Dumas (père), My Memoirs, Vol. 1, p. 136.
2 after leaving his post: Clément de la Jonquière, Expédition d’Égypte, Vol. 1, p. 225; minister of war to Dumas, probably April 1798, SHD 7YD91. Judging by the fact that the stream of letters to Dumas from Italian municipalities ended on December 29, 1797 (MAD), one can surmise that Dumas left Italy following the treaty of Campo Formio of December 20, 1797. A letter from Dumas to his secretary shows that by April 13, 1798 (MAD), Dumas was in Toulon.
3 Dumas now rewrote his will: Gilles Henry, Les Dumas: Le secret de Monte-Cristo, p. 95.
4 French armada figures: La Jonquière, Vol. 1, pp. 513–19, 524–25.
5 “The object of this grand voyage”: Dropmore Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm.), IV, British Library, p. 193, as translated and
cited by Christopher Lloyd, The Nile Campaign, p. 12.
6 Dolomieu’s identity: Charles-Vallin; Alfred Lacroix, ed., Déodat Dolomieu.
7 the Dolomite Mountains: Jacques Delille, Dithyrambe sur l’immortalité de l’âme (1801), p. 93; Thérèse Charles-Vallin, Les aventures du chevalier géologue Déodat de Dolomieu, p. 255.
8 “geographical engineers, military engineers, mathematicians”: Dropmore Papers, p. 193, as quoted by Lloyd, p. 12.
9 Rear Admiral Nelson: Roger Knight, The Pursuit of Victory, 231.
10 fear of German invasion proved inspirational: Tom Reiss, “Imagining the Worst: How a Literary Genre Anticipated the Modern World”; I. F. Clarke, Voices Prophesying War.
11 rumors the French government had planted: J. Christopher Herold, Bonaparte in Egypt, p. 35.
12 London’s preparations for invasion: Paul Strathern, Napoleon in Egypt, p. 43.
13 Napoleon’s serious plans to conquer Britain: Harold Wheeler and Alexander Broadley, Napoleon and the Invasion of England, and Tom Pocock, The Terror Before Trafalgar.
14 commander of the dragoons and “Chief of Staff of the Cavalry”: La Jonquière, Vol. 1, pp. 99, 365.
15 Alexander the Great’s pharaonic dynasty, the Ptolemies: Karol Myśliwiec, The Twilight of Ancient Egypt, pp. 178–79.
16 rise of literacy: Jacques Houdailles and Alain Blum, “L’alphabétisation au XVIIIe et XIXeme siècle.”
17 “The Nile is as familiar”: Abbé Le Mascrier, Description de l’Égypte, p. iv.
18 “to replace the [French] colonies”: Charles Roux, Origines de l’Expédition d’Égypte, p. 40; Herold, p. 12.
19 products like indigo: Carl Ludwig Lokke, France and the Colonial Question, p. 97.
20 utopian philosopher “Volney”: Michael Heffernan, “Historical Geographies of the Future,” pp. 136–46.
21 In Volney’s view: Lokke, pp. 99–100.
22 toast of English Romantic poets: Ann Wroe, Being Shelley, pp. 59–60; John Keane, Tom Paine, pp. 477–78.
23 Jefferson translated Volney: Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker, Many-Headed Hydra, p. 410.
24 Volney and Napoleon in Corsica: Philip G. Dwyer, Napoleon: The Path to Power, p. 61.
25 Napoleon’s early identification with Egypt: Herold, p. 33.
26 “I dreamed of many things and I saw”: Napoleon, quoted in Madame le Rémusat, Mémoires de Madame de Rémusat, 1802–1808, p. 274.
27 “Even our officers would take”: Constantin-François Volney, Oeuvres complètes (1837), p. 773.
28 transport to Paris of Venice’s artistic treasures: Alistair Horne, Age of Napoleon, p. 88.
29 Napoleon’s thoughts while in Venice: Claude Desprez, Desaix, pp. 46–47.
30 Arabic printing press: Robert B. Asprey, Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, p. 252.
31 meetings with the government in Paris: Herold, p. 18.
32 Napoleon’s dreams of empire: Ibid., pp. 15–16.
33 Tippoo Sahib: Henry Laurens, L’Expédition d’Égypte, pp. 47–48.
34 Napoleon’s message to Tippoo Sahib: Napoleon, A Selection from the Letters and Despatches of the First Napoleon, p. 245.
35 Tippoo’s rocket fire: Richard Bayly, Diary of Colonel Bayly, 12th Regiment, 1796–1830, p. 84.
36 “So pestered were we”: Ibid., p. 81.
37 Congreve rockets: A. Bowdoin Van Riper, Rockets and Missles: The Life Story of a Technology, pp. 14–18.
38 “Soldiers, the eyes of Europe”: Napoleon, speech, May 10, 1798, in Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, Vol. 4, p. 96.
39 six acres of land: William Lodewyk Van-Ess, Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, p. 307.
40 “Voilà—the six acres of land”: Dominique Vivant Denon, Voyage dans le Basse et le Haute Égypte, pp. 38–39; and René-Nicolas Desgenettes, Souvenirs de la fin du XVIIIe siècle et du commencement du XIXe, Vol. 3, p. 132.
41 “Where the devil are you off to”: MM, p. 137.
42 Dumas and Dermoncourt boarded: Henry, p. 95; Claude Schopp, Dictionnaire Dumas, p. 179.
43 William Tell section of Paris: Eli Sagan, Citizens & Cannibals: The French Revolution, the Struggle for Modernity, and the Origins of Ideological Terror, p. 127.
44 largest ship of any navy on earth: Robert Gardiner, Warships of the Napoleonic Era, p. 101.
45 Nelson loses his frigates: Brian Lavery, Nelson and the Nile: The Naval War Against Bonaparte, 1798, pp. 68–74.
46 twenty miles visible: Ibid., pp. 126, 140.
47 Nelson’s Dolland telescope: Hugh Barty-King, Eyes Right: The Story of Dollond & Aitchison Opticians, 1750–1985, pp. 79–82.
48 history of the Knights of Malta: H. J. A. Sire, Knights of Malta.
49 “Maltese falcon”: Barnaby Rogerson, The Last Crusaders, ch. 13.
50 prostitutes in Malta: Herold, p. 46.
51 the Knights of Malta were ruined: Dennis Castillo, Maltese Cross, p. 96.
52 overtures to ally with France’s enemies: Desmond Gregory, Malta, Britain, and the European Powers, p. 51.
53 four ships at a time: La Jonquière, Vol. 1, p. 585.
54 Dolomieu as a young man: Lacroix, ed., Déodot Dolomieu, Vol. 1, pp. xix–xxii.
55 “Tell the Knights I will grant them” and next quotation: Déodat de Dolomieu, “Mémoire,” published in Spectateur militaire, Vol. 2 (1826), p. 52, quoted in La Jonquière, Vol. 1, pp. 612–14; translated in Lloyd, p. 18.
56 “No one who has seen Malta”: Louis-Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, Private Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Vol. 1 (1831), p. 136.
57 who had appraised the Vatican: Napoleon, Correspondance, Vol. 4, p. 147.
58 1,227,129 francs’ worth of loot: William Hardman, A History of Malta During the French and British Occupations, 1798–1815 (1909), p. 75.
59 Napoleon’s social engineering in Malta: Napoleon, Correspondance, Vol. 4, pp. 143–77.
60 Napoleonic Code: Martin Lyons, Napoleon Bonaparte and the Legacy of the French Revolution, pp. 94–99.
61 “the island fortress of Malta”: James Holland, Fortress Malta, p. 267.
62 “one tiny bright flame in the darkness”: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Vol. 12 (1950), p. 543.
63 “more like a deportation” and following quotations: Dumas to Marie-Louise, June 18, 1798, MAD.
64 “General Dumas will command the cavalry”: La Jonquière, Vol. 1, p. 365.
65 By now Admiral Nelson had learned: Lavery, p. 125.
66 “I think their object is”: James Harrison, Life of the Right Honourable Horatio, pp. 249–50.
67 Nelson and Napoleon nearly cross paths on June 22: Lavery, pp. 126–29.
68 Ragusan neutrality and trade: Hugh Chisolm, ed., Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. 7 (1910), p. 775.
69 on June 23, a day after almost bumping into Nelson: La Jonquière, Vol. 2, p. 16.
70 Saint Louis: Jill N. Claster, Sacred Violence, pp. 260–62.
71 Nelson in Alexandria: Lavery, p. 129.
72 seamen could not swim: Steven E. Maffeo, Most Secret and Confidential, p. 76.
73 transported only about 1,200 horses: La Jonquière, pp. 349, 364–66, 410–12; Napoleon, Correspondance, Vol. 4, pp. 188–89, 202–3, 323, Vol. 5, pp. 12–13, 89.
74 “My lord, the fleet which has just appeared”: Herold, p. 62.
75 attack on Alexandria: Ibid., p. 66.
76 “I want you to be the first”: MM, p. 141.
77 “Among the Muslims”: Desgenettes, Vol. 3, p. 132.
CHAPTER 17: “THE DELIRIUM OF HIS REPUBLICANISM”
1 “The French people, may God thoroughly destroy their country”: Pierre Dominique Martin, Histoire de l’expédition française en Égypte, Vol. 1, pp. 243–51. Cited by Paul Strathern in Napoleon in Egypt, p. 233.
2 Napoleon, Kléber, and Breuys: J. Christopher Herold, Bonaparte in Egypt, p. 75; Clément de la Jonquière, L’expédition d’Égypte (1798–1801), Vol. 2, pp. 61, 80; Napoleon, Correspondance de Napoleo
n Ier, Vol. 4, pp. 195 and 224–25.
3 the savants’ brutal entry: Strathern, p. 76; Herold, p. 73.
4 “I was assailed by packs”: Dominique Vivant Denon, Voyage dans le Basse et le Haute Égypte pendant les campagnes du Général Bonaparte, pp. 58–59, translated in Strathern, p. 77.
5 the savants homeless in Alexandria: Strathern, pp. 77–78; Herold, p. 73.
6 the French would unleash storms that are still igniting conflict: Henry Laurens, Orientales 1: Autour de l’expédition d’Égypte.
7 French throats slit in Alexandria: Juan Cole, Napoleon’s Egypt: Invading the Middle East, p. 25.
8 calculated lunacy was one of Napoleon’s favorite tactics: Frank McLynn, Napoleon: A Biography, p. 169.
9 “Leaving that city behind”: Adjutant-General Boyer, quoted in MM, p. 152.
10 carrying their saddles: Napoleon to Louis-Alexandre Berthier, June 16, 1797, Correspondance, Vol. 4, p. 203.
11 “a pile of huts”: Jean-Pierre Doguereau, Journal de l’expédition d’Égypte, p. 58.
12 “remains etched in the minds”: M. Vertray, Journal d’un officier de l’armée d’Égypte, p. 40.
13 “When someone shouted in distress”: René-Nicolas Desgenettes, Souvenirs de la fin du XVIIIe siècle et du commencement du XIXe, Vol. 3, p. 132.
14 “seeing two dragoons”: Napoleon’s 1815 spoken recollections transcribed and edited by Emmanuel Las Cases, Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène, Vol. 1, p. 189.
15 French revolutionary anthem: Jean Lombard, Un volontaire de 1792, pp. 71–81.
16 “blew his brains out”: Devernois, Mémoires du Général Baron Desvernois, quoted by La Jonquière, Vol. 2, pp. 136–38. Or perhaps Mireur’s death was not suicide (see accounts by Savary, Belliard, and Sulkowski, discussed by La Jonquière, Vol. 2, pp. 136–38).
17 “This kind of warfare was even harder”: Napoleon, Correspondance, Vol. 24, p. 446.
18 “threw [his] trimmed hat”: Desgenettes, Vol. 3, pp. 132–33.
19 “Saint Watermelon”: Louis Reybaud, Histoire de l’expédition française en Égypte, in Xavier-Boniface Saintine, ed., Histoire scientifique et militaire de l’expédition française en Égypte, Vol. 3, p. 183; see also Cole, p. 61; Denon, p. 70; Napoleon, Correspondance, Vol. 4, p. 253.
20 invited some of his fellow generals: Las Cases, p. 221; Reybaud p. 165; Desgenettes, Vol. 3, p. 132; Ernest d’Hauterive, Un soldat de la Révolution: Le Général Alexandre Dumas (1762–1806), ch. 15.
