![NAPOLEON I, Emperor of France. Letter signed ("Bonaparte"), as Gnral en Chef, to General Louis-Charles-Antoine Desaix de Veygoux, Aboukir, [Egypt], 9 Thermidor, an 7, [27 July 1799], 1 full page, folio, on Libert, Egalit, Rpublique Franaise stationery, remains of red wax seal at bottom left, small chip at top left corner, in French.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/1999/NYR/1999_NYR_09178_0252_000(115058).jpg?w=1)
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NAPOLEON I, Emperor of France. Letter signed ("Bonaparte"), as Gnral en Chef, to General Louis-Charles-Antoine Desaix de Veygoux, Aboukir, [Egypt], 9 Thermidor, an 7, [27 July 1799], 1 full page, folio, on Libert, Egalit, Rpublique Franaise stationery, remains of red wax seal at bottom left, small chip at top left corner, in French.
NAPOLEON REPORTS ON HIS VICTORY IN THE BATTLE OF ABOUKIR
An important, long letter to General Desaix, reporting on his victory in the first land battle of Aboukir, two days before, in which a Turkish force under Mustapha Pasha was severaly mauled. Bonaparte reports proudly that "of the fifteen thousand men who were despatched [by Turkey], one thousand were left on the battle field, eight thousand drowned...three thousand were trapped in the aboukir chateau...La Pacha is a prisoner..." Among the French, Murat and another general are wounded, "Crtin has been killed. The cavalry covered themselves with glory with one hundred men killed and four hundred wounded." Napoleon concludes that if Desaix is in Cairo, he must return to Upper Egypt to help with the movement of the 7th, 8th, 14th, and 18th Dragoons which were to be moved with the help of a thousand camels.
Bonaparte had launched the invasion of Egypt in July 1798, conquering Cairo and all of Lower Egypt, while Desaix took Upper Egypt. Admiral Nelson destroyed the french fleet in the Aboukir harbour in August. When he learned that Mustapha Pasha's army had sailed with a small British escort and landed at Aboukir, he set out immediately from Cairo, and launched an attack on the morning of 25 July with some 10,000 men. Murat's cavalry staged a brilliant attack on the Turkish fort and captured Mustapha. The remaining Turkish soldiers barricaded themselves in the castle, where many died of thirst or starvation; the survivors surrendered on August 2. In spite of this success, Napoleon would abandon Egypt and the Arme de l'Orient at the end of August.
NAPOLEON REPORTS ON HIS VICTORY IN THE BATTLE OF ABOUKIR
An important, long letter to General Desaix, reporting on his victory in the first land battle of Aboukir, two days before, in which a Turkish force under Mustapha Pasha was severaly mauled. Bonaparte reports proudly that "of the fifteen thousand men who were despatched [by Turkey], one thousand were left on the battle field, eight thousand drowned...three thousand were trapped in the aboukir chateau...La Pacha is a prisoner..." Among the French, Murat and another general are wounded, "Crtin has been killed. The cavalry covered themselves with glory with one hundred men killed and four hundred wounded." Napoleon concludes that if Desaix is in Cairo, he must return to Upper Egypt to help with the movement of the 7th, 8th, 14th, and 18th Dragoons which were to be moved with the help of a thousand camels.
Bonaparte had launched the invasion of Egypt in July 1798, conquering Cairo and all of Lower Egypt, while Desaix took Upper Egypt. Admiral Nelson destroyed the french fleet in the Aboukir harbour in August. When he learned that Mustapha Pasha's army had sailed with a small British escort and landed at Aboukir, he set out immediately from Cairo, and launched an attack on the morning of 25 July with some 10,000 men. Murat's cavalry staged a brilliant attack on the Turkish fort and captured Mustapha. The remaining Turkish soldiers barricaded themselves in the castle, where many died of thirst or starvation; the survivors surrendered on August 2. In spite of this success, Napoleon would abandon Egypt and the Arme de l'Orient at the end of August.