Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 25, 2025
Meanwhile, almost at the very moment he lost M. de Narbonne, but before he had heard of his death, the Emperor had made arrangements to fill the place near his person of the man he had loved most, not even excepting General Desaix.
Of all the men who surrounded the Emperor, no one was more absolutely devoted to his slightest wishes. A government decree, in the month of June following, determined that the body of Desaix should be carried to the Hospice of St.
At the sight of the Nile and of the water so much longed for, the soldiers flung themselves into it, and, bathing in its waves, forgot their fatigues. Desaix' division, which from the advance-guard had become the rear-guard, saw two or three hundred Mamluks galloping before it, whom they dispersed by a few volleys of grape.
Moreau had already sent two divisions of his army, under Ferino and Desaix, across the Rhine at Huningen and Breisach, and covered their retreat with the third by taking up a strong position at Schliesgen, not far from Freiburg, whence, after braving a first attack, he escaped during the night to Huningen.
"That is," said the general, "the premium to be paid on the business, but I shall none the less on that account do my best." Savary manifested for the First Consul the same fervid zeal and unbounded devotion which had attached him to General Desaix; and if he lacked any of the qualities of General Rapp, it was certainly not bravery.
They had previously served in the same rank under Desaix. The First Consul was at first not much disposed to take them, alleging that he had aides de camp enough. But his respect for the choice of Desaix, added to a little solicitation on my part, soon removed every obstacle. These two officers served him to the last hour of his political career with unfailing zeal and fidelity.
In the autumn, after the inundation, he had completed the conquest of the Delta, and consigned that of Upper Egypt to Desaix. In the winter he had undertaken the expedition to Syria, and destroyed Djezzar's Turkish army at Mount Tabor. He had now, in the second summer, just destroyed the second army of the Porte at Abukir.
The recent arrival of General Desaix, who had just returned from Egypt, completed the joy of the general-in-chief, and also added much to the confidence of the soldiers, by whom the good and modest Desaix was adored. The First Consul received him with the frankest and most cordial friendship, and they remained together three consecutive hours in private conversation.
A bullet pierced the breast of Desaix, and he fell and almost immediately expired. His last words were, "Tell the First Consul that my only regret in dying is, to have perished before having done enough to live in the recollection of posterity." The soldiers, who devotedly loved him, saw his fall, and rushed more madly on to avenge his death.
At seven in the evening, when I returned with the First Consul to headquarters, he expressed to me his sincere regret for the loss of Desaix, and then he added, "Little Kellerman made a lucky charge. He did it at just the right moment. We are much indebted to him. You see what trifling circumstances decide these affairs."
Word Of The Day
Others Looking