At Aboukir and Acre: A Story of Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XVIII.

  THE BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA.

  On the afternoon following the capture of Aboukir Castle, an Arab wasseen riding at full speed towards the British left. He was pursued bysome French cavalry, and another party endeavoured to cut him off. Thegeneral happened to be at the time watching the troops at workcompleting the batteries on that flank.

  "That Arab is well mounted," he said, as he and those around him watchedthe chase. "I believe he will get through if he is not shot," for, atthis moment, the cavalry behind him, seeing that he was leaving themfast, began to use their carbines. Waving his gun over his head, andfrom time to time giving a yell of derision and defiance, the Arab sweptround towards his right, and so passed ahead of the troop that hadendeavoured to cut him off, then bore round again, until he reached thebank of the canal, and galloped along it, slackening his pace as amusketry fire was opened from the battery, and the French cavalry turnedand rode away. The Arab rode across the bridge over the canal, and thencantered up to the battery. As he was crossing the bridge, the idea thathad for a minute or two previously been in Edgar's mind rose to acertainty.

  "It is Sidi!" he exclaimed.

  The general turned and looked at him interrogatively.

  "It is the young chief of the Beni Ouafy, the tribe I was with when Iwas here, sir; we call each other brother, and indeed are that infeeling. We have saved each other's life more than once."

  "Go and meet him then, and bring him here," the general said. "You spokefrequently of him when describing your journeys to and from Cairo."

  Sidi had checked his horse as he approached the battery, not seeing anyentrance to it, and was pausing, irresolute which way to turn, whenEdgar leapt from an embrasure and ran towards him. The Arab did not inthe least recognize his friend in the naval officer who advanced to meethim. He had supposed him to be in England, and, indeed, as it was nowsome months over two years since they had parted, and Edgar had grownand widened out into a fine manly figure, Sidi would hardly haverecognized him had he come across him suddenly in a civilian dress. Hewas astounded, when, on coming close to him, Edgar held out both handsand cried:

  "Sidi, my brother!"

  The voice was unchanged. Sidi, with the shout of "All praise be toAllah!" flung himself from his saddle, grasped Edgar's hands, and stoodthere speechless with joy and emotion, and with tears standing in hiseyes. Edgar himself was much moved.

  "Is all well with you, Sidi?" he asked; "the chief and your mother?"

  "It is well with us all," Sidi answered. "We talk of you always, but hadnot hoped to see you so soon. Little did I dream that I should not knowyou when we met, though, when we heard that your people had landed andhad beaten the French, we thought that the time might not be very faroff when the Franks would go, and you might return. So you are anofficer, one of the ship officers?"

  "Yes, Sidi. We met a ship-of-war as I sailed from here, and since Icould speak Arabic and Turkish I was made an officer, and was at thesiege of Acre, where we beat off the French; but we will talk of allthat afterwards. Our general saw you coming, and thinking that you mighthave news for us, requested me to bring you to him."

  "I have news," Sidi said.

  "Do not tell me now, it is best that you should tell him first."

  Walking side by side, Sidi leading his horse, they went round to theentrance to the battery. As they entered, Edgar told one of thegeneral's orderlies to hold the horse, and then took Sidi up to SirRalph Abercrombie.

  "This is the English general, Sidi," he said. Sir Ralph held out hishand to the young sheik, who raised it to his forehead.

  "Our hearts are rejoiced," he said, "that you have come at last to fightfor us against the Franks. I bring you news, my lord. Late yesterdaytheir general, Menou, with a large force, arrived at Damanhour. I havebeen among them. There must be five thousand men. His intentions are tomarch to-day and to attack with all his force to-morrow morning."

  "This is important news, indeed!" the general said, as Edgar translatedthe message. "Ask him if he speaks merely from report or from his ownknowledge."

  Sidi then said that some of the tribe had early that morning startedwith a number of sheep, intending to bring them round into the Britishcamp. They were surprised by a body of French cavalry coming fromDamanhour. Several of the tribesmen were killed, but two escaped, beingwell mounted, and brought the news to their camp. On the way they methim, he having started some hours later, knowing that he could easilyovertake them before they reached the British camp. Seeing theimportance of the matter, he told them to tell his father that he shouldtry and find out how many of the French were at Damanhour, and take thenews to the British. He had then ridden toward that place, andremembering how he had passed unsuspected before, had left his horsethere, had obtained the loan of a peasant's dress, had bought half adozen sheep, and had driven them into the town.

  He found it crowded with the French. Having sold his sheep, he hadwandered about among the soldiers, and had entered into conversationwith some of the natives who had been engaged at Cairo as drivers of thebaggage-carts. From them he had learned that the Frenchgeneral-in-chief, Menou, who had succeeded Kleber on the latter'sassassination at Cairo, was himself there, and that he intended toattack at once with the troops he had brought, and with those in thecity. As soon as he obtained this news he returned to the village,changed his dress, mounted, and rode off at full speed.

  The party that had been seen chasing him was a cavalry squadron, whom hehad come upon suddenly while they were dismounted and sitting down inthe shade of a grove, and who, judging that he was making for theBritish camp, had started in pursuit. Knowing well enough that theycould not catch him, he had amused himself by keeping but a shortdistance in advance, and had not put his horse to its full speed untilhe saw the mounted party coming out from the French lines to cut himoff.

  The general listened attentively to Edgar as he translated the story.

  "Please to question him again, Lieutenant Blagrove, as to the reportthat Menou intends to attack us as soon as he gets here. It is, as yousee, of the greatest importance. Late as it is this afternoon, andformidable as are the French lines, I should endeavour to carry them assoon as the troops can form up, for it would be hopeless to try to do soto-morrow when Menou arrives. If, on the other hand, he really means totake the offensive, I should prefer remaining in our present position,for I think that we could maintain it against the whole of the Frencharmy, and that more easily than we could carry their line of defencesheld by only the troops at present in front of us."

  Edgar questioned Sidi again. The latter said that he had heard the samestory from three different persons. The French had arrived late theevening before, and when he left, the bugles were sounding and theywere beginning to fall in for their march, and would probably reachAlexandria by ten at night. The men had said that it was the talk amongthe soldiers that they should take the English by surprise at daybreakand drive them into the sea.

  "That certainly seems to decide it," the general said. "They have made amistake indeed, if they think that they will catch us napping."

  Orders were at once issued for a number of the troops to set to work tocomplete the defences. Another battery was, during the night, erected infront of the Roman ruins. A redoubt in front of the position of theGuards was strengthened, and other points seen to.

  At three o'clock in the morning the army was, as usual, under arms. Halfan hour later there was a sudden outburst of firing on the extreme left.The firing continued, but it did not increase in strength, as would havebeen the case had a serious attack been made, and General Moore, who wasthe general officer of the night, remained on the right, against whichportion of the line he believed the real attack would be delivered. Itwas still dark, and all waited anxiously for some sign of the spotagainst which the storm was to burst.

  Suddenly loud shouts were heard in advance of the right. A roar ofmusketry immediately broke out. Covered by the inequalities of theground, the French had crept up unobse
rved by the sentries until closeat hand, and the moment the alarm was given, sprang forward in greatforce, and the advanced pickets fell back on the main position at once.A heavy column of French advanced against a ruined wall, behind whichthe 58th were lying. The wall was of considerable length, and in manyplaces had fallen and left wide openings. Here the 58th were posted.Their colonel made his men hold their fire until the enemy were close tothem, when volley after volley was poured into them, so well aimed anddeadly that the enemy retired quickly into a hollow in their rear, thenwheeled round to the right, and while one column marched straight at thenewly-formed battery, another endeavoured to force its way round itsleft and take it in rear.

  The 28th Regiment stationed there opened a heavy fire on the forceattacking them in front, but the flanking column, now joined by a third,forced its way in behind the battery. While some attacked it in therear, the rest penetrated into the ruins held by the 58th. Its colonelwheeled back the left wing of the regiment, and after two or threevolleys, fell on the French with the bayonet. At this moment the 23rdcame up in support, and the 42nd advanced from the left, and, keeping onthe outside of the ruins, cut off the troops which had entered, andafter suffering heavy loss they were compelled to surrender.

  The 28th had remained firmly at the front line of the redoubt, and theyand the 58th had hitherto been supporting simultaneously attacks infront, flank, and rear. The arrival of the 42nd for a time relievedthem, but as the latter regiment approached the right of the redoubt,the enemy's cavalry, which had passed round by its left, charged themfuriously and broke them. The Highlanders, however, gathered in groups,and fought desperately until relieved by the fire of the flank companiesof the 40th, and the cavalry, passing on, were about to charge thissmall force, when the foreign brigade came up from the second line andpoured such a heavy fire into the French cavalry that they fled.

  GIVING A YELL OF DERISION AND DEFIANCE

  _Page 323_]

  As soon as the fire broke out, General Abercrombie, with his staff,mounted and proceeded towards the point where the battle was raging.On the way he detached his aides-de-camp with orders to differentbrigades, and while thus alone with an escort of dragoons, some of theFrench cavalry dashed at him and he was thrown from his horse. A Frenchofficer rode up to cut him down, but he sprang at him, seized his sword,and wrested it from his hand. At that instant the officer was bayonetedby one of the 42nd.

  Battle of ALEXANDRIA

  arst. March 1801.]

  While this incident was proceeding Sir Ralph received a musket-ball inthe thigh, and also a severe contusion on the breast, probably by asplinter of stone struck by a cannon-ball. In the heat of the action hewas unconscious of the first wound, but felt much pain from thecontusion. At this moment Sir Sidney Smith rode up; he had accidentallybroken his sword, and the general discerning it, at once presented himwith the one that he had wrested from the French officer. He then tookup his station in the battery, from which he could obtain a view of thewhole scene of the battle, for by this time it was daylight. The conteststill raged. Another body of cavalry charged the foreign brigade, butwere received with so heavy a fire that they did not press the chargehome. The French infantry were now no longer in column, but spread outeverywhere in skirmishing order. The ammunition of the English on theright was by this time totally exhausted, and but one cartridge remainedfor each of the guns in the battery.

  The chief point of attack was now the centre. Here a column ofgrenadiers, supported by a heavy line of infantry, advanced to theassault, but the Guards stoutly maintained themselves until GeneralCoote, with his brigade, came up, and the French were then driven back.All this time the French guns kept up an incessant cannonade on theBritish position. The attack on the British left, which had been but afeint, was never seriously pursued, but was confined to a scattered fireof musketry and a distant cannonade. General Hutchinson, who commandedhere, kept his force in hand; for, had he moved to the assistance of thecentre and right, a serious attack might have been made on him, and theflank being thus turned, the position would have been taken in rear.

  On the right the French as well as the British had exhausted theirammunition, and the singular spectacle was presented of two hostileforces pelting each other with stones, by which many heavy blows weregiven on both sides, and some killed, among them a sergeant of the 28th.The grenadiers and a company of the 40th presently moved out against theassailants, and the French then fell back. General Menou, finding thatall his attacks had failed, now called off his troops. Fortunately forthem the artillery ammunition was now exhausted, but they lost a goodmany men by the fire of some British cutters, which had during the wholeaction maintained their position a short distance in advance of theBritish right, and greatly aided the defenders of the redoubt by theirfire.

  By ten o'clock the action was over. Until the firing ceased altogetherSir Ralph Abercrombie remained in the battery paying no attention to hiswounds, and, indeed, the officers who came and went with orders wereignorant that he had been hit. Now, however, faint with loss of blood,he could maintain his position no longer, and was placed in a hammockand carried down to the shore, and rowed off to the flagship. As soon asthe French had withdrawn, attention was paid to the wounded. The totalloss was 6 officers and 230 men killed, 60 officers and 1190 menwounded. The French loss was heavier. 1700 French, killed and wounded,were found on the battlefield, and 1040 of these were buried on thefield. Taking the general proportion of wounded and killed, the Frenchloss, including the prisoners, amounted to 4000 men; one French standardand two guns were captured.

  The total British force was under 10,000 men, of whom but half wereseriously engaged. The French were about 11,000 strong, of whom all,save the 800 who made the feint on the British left, took part in thefighting. On the 25th the Capitan Pasha, with 6000 men, arrived in thebay, and landed and encamped. Three days later the army was saddened bythe news of the death of Sir Ralph Abercrombie. He was succeeded in hiscommand by General Hutchinson. For some time Edgar had an idle time ofit. The French had failed in their attack, but they had not beendefeated, and their position was too strong to be attacked. The CapitanPasha had with him an excellent interpreter, and therefore his serviceswere not required in that capacity.

  The night before the battle he stopped up all night talking with Sidi,relating all that had happened since he had left him, and hearing fromhim what had taken place on land. This was little enough. A great numberof the Arabs had gathered in readiness to sweep down upon the Frenchwhen they attacked the Turkish army at Aboukir, but when the latter had,with terrible slaughter, been driven into the castle, they had scatteredto their homes. The next day the young Arab witnessed with delight therepulse of the French attack, and at the conclusion of the fight rodeaway to tell his father of Edgar's return, and of the events that he hadwitnessed. The sheik had come back with him on the following day,accompanied by some of his followers, and their tents were pitched on asand-hill a short distance in the rear of the British lines.

  Until April 13th nothing was done. The army was too small to undertakeany operations, and was forced to remain in its position, as it might atany moment be again attacked.

  In the pocket of General Roiz, who had been killed in the battle, wasfound a letter from General Menou, expressing fear that the Englishwould cut the Canal of Alexandria and let the waters of it and LakeAboukir into the old bed of Lake Mareotis. It was evident that animmense advantage would be gained by this. Our own left would be secureagainst attack. The French would be nearly cut off from the interior,and the British army be enabled to undertake fresh operations. GeneralHutchinson, however, hesitated for a long time before taking the step. Atract of rich country would be overwhelmed, and none of the Arabs couldsay how far the inundations would reach. However, the step was evidentlyso much to the advantage of the army that at last he gave the order,and on the 13th of April the work began, and that evening the waterrushed out from Lake Aboukir through two cuts. Others were opened thenext day. The rush of water quickly
widened these, and soon theinundation spread over a large tract of country behind Alexandria.

  A considerable force was at once detached to support Colonel Spencer,who was menacing Rosetta, and marched to El Hamed. Sir Sidney Smithascended the Nile with an armed flotilla as far as El Aft, and on the19th aided the Turks in capturing Fort St. Julian, a strong placebetween Rosetta and the mouth of the Nile. After the fall of St. Julian,Rosetta was taken possession of with but little difficulty. Soon afterthis, to the deep regret of the navy, Sir Sidney Smith was recalled tohis ship. The Grand Vizier had a serious grudge against him. This arosefrom a capitulation that had, shortly after the retreat of the Frenchfrom Acre, been agreed upon between the Turkish authorities and theFrench, by which the latter were to be permitted to evacuate Egypt.

  Sir Sidney Smith had not been consulted, but considering, and justly,that the advantages were great, had signed it. Lord Keith, ascommander-in-chief, had refused to ratify the treaty, and the Englishgovernment, who were in high spirits at the blow struck at the French atAcre, agreed with his action. Sir Sidney Smith, as soon as he receivedLord Keith's despatch, sent a mounted messenger to Cairo to informGeneral Kleber that the terms of the convention were rejected. Thedespatch reached the French just as they were preparing to evacuateCairo. Unfortunately, the Grand Vizier, who, with his army, was but ashort distance away from the town, did not receive a similar intimation,and approaching the city with his troops, but without guns, wasattacked by the French, and suffered a disastrous defeat.

  The Turks had not forgiven Sir Sidney Smith for this misfortune, but thelatter had not supposed for a moment that the Turks themselves wouldhave neglected to apprise the Grand Vizier of the news, and only thoughtof warning the French. The Grand Vizier now demanded that Sir SidneySmith should not take part in any operations in which he and the Turkisharmy were concerned, or retain the command of the naval flotilla that hehad created, and with which he had performed such excellent service inopening the Nile for the ascent of the gun-boats and the native craftladen with stores for the supply of the troops that were to advanceagainst Cairo. General Hutchinson, very weakly and unworthily, and tothe indignation and regret both of the army and fleet, at once gave way,and Admiral Keith, instead of supporting his subordinate, who had gainedsuch renown and credit, and had shown such brilliant talent, acquiesced,and appointed Captain Stevenson of the _Europa_ to succeed Sir Sidney incommand of the flotilla that was to ascend the Nile to Cairo.

  This surrender of one of our most distinguished officers to theprejudices of a Turkish commander was, in all respects, a disgracefulone, but from Sir Sidney Smith's first appointment Admiral Keith hadexhibited a great jealousy of his obtaining a command that rendered himto some extent independent, and had lost no opportunity of showing hisfeeling. Indeed, there can be little doubt that the discourteous mannerin which he repudiated, without any authority from the Englishgovernment, the convention that would have saved all the effusion ofblood and cost of the British expedition was the result of his jealousyof the fame acquired by Sir Sidney Smith. The latter, greatly hurt atthe unjust and humiliating manner in which he had been treated, at oncereturned to the _Tigre_, where the delight of the crew at being againunder his command was at least some alleviation to the pain he felt.

  Edgar, who had obtained leave of absence for a week, and who had riddenwith the sheik for a stay of a few days at his camp, had not heard ofthe slight inflicted upon his kind friend until his return. He at oncewent on board the _Tigre_ and sent in his name to his commander.

  "I have come, Sir Sidney," he said when he was shown into the latter'scabin, "to say that I desire to be recalled from service on shore. Afterthe manner in which you have been deprived of your command, I feel thatI could not remain for a day upon the staff of General Hutchinson."

  Sir Sidney smiled.

  "You are too impetuous, Blagrove. I have received too many assurancesfrom the officers of the fleet to doubt what their feelings are at thecourse that has been taken, but that can make no difference in theirduty. It is to do their best in the various positions they occupy,without allowing the question whether they consider that an individualhas been unjustly treated to influence them in any way. The servicecomes before everything. It is distinctly for the benefit of the servicethat General Hutchinson should have the advantage of your knowledge ofthe country and of its languages, and, moreover, you really receivedyour promotion in no small degree owing to the fact that you were goingto act as a sort of interpreter and guide to the general commanding theexpedition, and although unhappily Sir Ralph Abercrombie's death hascaused a change in that command, that in no way alters the arrangements.

  "In the next place I think that you would be foolish to resign, becausethere can be no doubt that there will very shortly be an advanceagainst Cairo. The inundations and the strong defences that the troopshave been throwing up will enable a comparatively small number to holdthe garrison here in check. The Capitan Pasha's men have fought bravelyat Rosetta, and the Grand Vizier's army is making its way down to joinhim. From what they say these are a mere rabble, but with five thousandor six thousand of our troops and Capitan Pasha's force, we ought to beable to make a good fight, even without the Vizier's people. At anyrate, you would like afterwards to have gone to Cairo with our troops,and there is no doubt that your knowledge of the country will be veryvaluable. It would be a pity not to see the thing through when you havebeen in it from the very beginning.

  "Lastly, Mr. Blagrove, I should be sorry, indeed, that any naval officershould evince any feeling whatever with regard to a matter purelypersonal to myself. I should therefore take it as a particular favour tome that you should continue to hold the appointment to which you havebeen posted."

  "Thank you, Sir Sidney," Edgar said; "of course I will in that caseretain the appointment. Now that I think of it, indeed, I feel that itwas an impertinence to manifest in any way my feeling at GeneralHutchinson's conduct; my excuse must be that I only returned from mytrip with the sheik half an hour since, and on hearing the news was sostirred that I ran down to the landing-place and came off on the impulseof the moment. You have shown me such extreme kindness, sir, that at thetime it seemed to me a matter almost personal to myself."

  "Do not apologize," Sir Sidney Smith said kindly; "the feeling did youcredit as a man, though as an officer personal feelings cannot bepermitted to sway the actions. Now go ashore again and report yourselfas returned from leave."

  The advance up the Nile did not take place for some little time, asgreat preparations were necessary. Fortunately large numbers of nativecraft had been captured from the French, and stores were landed andplaced on board these for the use of the troops. Colonel Stewart was incommand of the British advanced force which accompanied the CapitanPasha's division. A large force of gun-boats and rowing-boats werefurnished by the fleet, and following the river banks the expeditionproceeded up the river. The French resistance was very feeble. Detachedparties were taken or driven off, but there was no fighting of a seriouscharacter. For a time Edgar remained with General Hutchinson beforeAlexandria, then he accompanied him to Rosetta, and, joining the mainBritish division, came up with the Turkish army, that had now beenjoined by that of the Vizier, and the whole advanced towards Cairo.

  They met with no real resistance on the march. There can be little doubtthat the French generals were hampered by the intense longing among thetroops to return to France. Their disasters in Syria had to some extentbeen retrieved by the defeat of the Turks at Aboukir, but the appearanceof the great fleet of men-of-war and transports on the coast, followedby the failure of Menou to drive, as was confidently expected, hisassailants back to their ships, produced a profound effect. The reportthat Alexandria had been almost cut off from the rest of Egypt by theinundation of Lake Mareotis, and that to regain the city an army wouldhave to force its way along the narrow neck of land between the lakesMareotis and Aboukir, seemed to diminish still further their hope ofever getting away.

  The news, therefore, that a great
force of British and Turks, supportedby gun-boats, and accompanied by an immense flotilla carrying stores,was ascending the Nile, reduced them almost to despair, and so unwillingwere they to fight, that when, on the approach of the Vizier's army toCairo, it was met by four thousand French, these suffered themselves tobe repulsed by the rabble and fell back to Cairo.

  They were well aware that if they surrendered they would be guaranteed apassage back to France. Better terms than this they could not hope toobtain after the most vigorous resistance, involving a great and uselessloss of life. Therefore as soon as the whole allied force approachedCairo, negotiations were begun, and on the 28th of June (1801) thesewere concluded, and one of the gates of the town occupied by the CapitanPasha's body-guards, and a fort by the 30th Regiment, and on the 10ththe French evacuated the city, and the next day the Turkish troops tookpossession of it.

  In the meantime fighting had been going on almost incessantly in frontof Alexandria. General Coote, who was in command of the besieging force,gradually gained ground. The French lines were forced backward, and onSeptember 2nd, finding the contest altogether hopeless, and most of theBritish troops from Cairo having returned, reinforced by a Britishnative Indian army, the garrison capitulated. The number of troops,including the sick, who surrendered in Alexandria, were 10,528, whilethe force that surrendered at Cairo, which, like the other, was embarkedin British ships and taken to France, was 13,672; included among themwere 1900 sailors who had for the most part been landed after the battleof Aboukir, while some had been drawn from the French war-ships that hadsucceeded in running the blockade.

  The Indian force arrived in time to witness the surrender of Alexandria,but the fact that the work was practically accomplished by the 12,000men who landed under General Abercrombie, aided after their work washalf done by a Turkish force of no great value, renders the operationone of the most brilliant in our military history, and redounds equalcredit upon the gallant soldier who died in the hour of victory, on hissuccessor whose operations were most skilfully conducted, and on theBritish officers and soldiers who endured no ordinary amount ofprivation and labour under a burning sun.

  Upon the advance to Cairo Edgar had been accompanied by the sheik andhis son with a score of their followers. The information that they wereenabled to give the general was of the greatest importance and value.The sheik was intimately acquainted with every foot of the ground, andon the force halting in the afternoon he was able to inform thequartermaster-general of the most likely spot for the nextcamping-ground, and of the distance and nature of the country to betraversed. At daybreak he would start ahead with his party, ascertainfrom the inhabitants of the villages whether any bodies of the enemywere in the neighbourhood, and arrange with them to forward suchsupplies of food and vegetables as remained at their disposal for sale,to the spot selected for the camping-ground that afternoon.

  The supplies were but small, for the French had well-nigh made the wholecountry below Cairo a desert. Nevertheless, such as could be producedwere gladly purchased by the commissariat for the use of the troops, andowing to the custom prevalent throughout the East of storing grain incovered pits, the supply obtained as forage for the horses largelyexceeded expectations, for the peasants regarded the British asdeliverers from their oppressors, and upon being assured by the sheikthat they paid well for everything that they required, the pits that hadescaped the French searchers were thrown open at once. GeneralHutchinson, on his return to carry out the siege of Alexandria to aconclusion, reported to Admiral Keith his very warm appreciation of theservices that Lieutenant Blagrove had rendered him. Long before thattime the admiral had received from England a confirmation of the actingrank he had given Edgar. As soon as the capitulation was signed,although it had been stipulated that the British troops were not to gointo the town until the French took their departure, many officers didso, as General Menou freely gave permission to enter to anyone whoapplied for it. Edgar was one of the first of these, and, riding in,alighted at his father's house.