# Siege of Alexandria (1801)

The siege of Alexandria (17 August – 2 September 1801) was fought during the French Revolutionary Wars between French and British forces. It was the last action of the French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801). The French had occupied Alexandria, a major fortified harbour city on the Nile Delta in northern Egypt, since 2 July 1798, and the garrison there surrendered on 2 September 1801.

## Background

The battle between the British and French at Canope on 21 March 1801 resulted in a French repulse. The French under Menou, disheartened by this failure, retired to Alexandria. With Abercromby's death, John Hely-Hutchinson succeeded as commander of the British force in August. He now intended to lay siege to Alexandria and bottle Menou up.
Hutchinson left Coote with 6,000 men and then sent part of the reserve with Baron Charles de Hompesch to capture Rosetta. He then advanced to Cairo, which he reached, after a few skirmishes, in mid June. Joined by a sizable Turkish force Hutchinson invested Cairo and on 27 June the 13,000-strong French garrison under General Augustin Daniel Belliard, out-manned and out-gunned, surrendered. General John Moore then escorted them to the coast via Rosetta.

## Siege

Hutchinson, with Cairo out of the way, now began the final reduction of Alexandria. He had thirty five battalions in total. While the reserve feinted to the east, Coote, with the Guards and two other brigades, landed on 16 August to its west where fierce opposition was encountered by the garrison of Fort Marabout, which the 54th Regiment of Foot eventually stormed. Both sides mounted combined assaults but the French soldiers, unable to break out and with food shortages and disease taking their toll, became increasingly disillusioned with the campaign. Menou knew he had no hope and on 26 August asked for terms; on 26 August he proposed formal terms of capitulation. The terms as amended by British commanders and put into effect are known as the Capitulation of Alexandria.

## Aftermath

By 2 September total of 10,000 French surrendered under terms which allowed them to keep their personal weapons and baggage, and to return to France on British ships. However, all French ships and cannons at Alexandria were surrendered to the British.
Of the warships captured in the harbour, the French frigates Égyptienne (48) and Régénérée (40), and the ex-Venetian frigate Léoben (26) went to Britain, while the French frigate Justice (44), the ex-Venetian hospital ship Causse (64) and frigate Mantoue (26), and the ex-Turkish corvettes Halil Bey, Momgo Balerie and Salâbetnümâ went to the Turks, under Capitan Pacha (sic).
Historians relate that the French garrison, feeling abandoned by an uncaring Republic, gradually abandoned the high standards of conduct and service characteristic of the French Revolutionary Army. Many soldiers refused to renew their oath to the Republic, or did so half-heartedly. In his memoirs, the surgeon-in-chief of Napoleon's Grand Army, Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, remembers how the consumption of the meat of young Arab horses helped the French to curb an epidemic of scurvy. He would so start the 19th-century tradition of horse meat consumption in France.

## The Rosetta Stone

After the surrender, a dispute arose over the fate of French archaeological and scientific discoveries in Egypt. One of the key artifacts was the Rosetta Stone which had been discovered in mid-July 1799 by French scientists of the Institut d'Égypte. Menou refused to hand them over, claiming they belonged to the institute. How exactly the stone came into British hands is disputed. Colonel Tomkyns Hilgrove Turner, who escorted the stone to Britain, claimed later that he had personally seized it from Menou and carried it away on a gun carriage. Turner brought the stone to Britain aboard Egyptienne, landing in February 1802. On 11 March it was presented to the Society of Antiquaries of London. Later it was taken to the British Museum, where it remains to this day. Inscriptions painted in white on the artifact state "Captured in Egypt by the British Army in 1801" on the left side and "Presented by King George III" on the right.

## Order of battle

Siege of Alexandria Order of Battle :
| Force | Brigade | Unit | Size |
| Western Force Major-General Eyre Coote | Brigade of Guards Major-General Lord Cavan | Coldstream Guards | 552 |
| Western Force Major-General Eyre Coote | Brigade of Guards Major-General Lord Cavan | Third Guards | 590 |
| Western Force Major-General Eyre Coote | 1st Brigade Major-General George Ludlow | 25th Regiment of Foot | 526 |
| Western Force Major-General Eyre Coote | 1st Brigade Major-General George Ludlow | 1st Battalion, 27th Regiment of Foot | 538 |
| Western Force Major-General Eyre Coote | 1st Brigade Major-General George Ludlow | 2nd Battalion, 27th Regiment of Foot | 465 |
| Western Force Major-General Eyre Coote | 1st Brigade Major-General George Ludlow | 44th Regiment of Foot | 334 |
| Western Force Major-General Eyre Coote | 2nd Brigade Major-General Edward Finch | 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment of Foot | 352 |
| Western Force Major-General Eyre Coote | 2nd Brigade Major-General Edward Finch | 26th Regiment of Foot | 438 |
| Western Force Major-General Eyre Coote | 2nd Brigade Major-General Edward Finch | 1st Battalion, 54th Regiment of Foot | 381 |
| Western Force Major-General Eyre Coote | 2nd Brigade Major-General Edward Finch | 2nd Battalion, 54th Regiment of Foot | 384 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 3rd (Foreign) Brigade Brigadier-General John Stuart | Stuart's (Minorca) Regiment | 690 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 3rd (Foreign) Brigade Brigadier-General John Stuart | De Roll's Regiment | 383 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 3rd (Foreign) Brigade Brigadier-General John Stuart | Dillon's Regiment | 393 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 3rd (Foreign) Brigade Brigadier-General John Stuart | Watteville's Regiment | 572 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 4th Brigade Brigadier-General John Hope | 8th Regiment of Foot | 285 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 4th Brigade Brigadier-General John Hope | 18th Regiment of Foot | 293 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 4th Brigade Brigadier-General John Hope | 79th Regiment of Foot | 434 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 4th Brigade Brigadier-General John Hope | 90th Regiment of Foot | 437 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 5th Brigade Brigadier-General John Doyle | 30th Regiment of Foot | 269 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 5th Brigade Brigadier-General John Doyle | 50th Regiment of Foot | 337 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 5th Brigade Brigadier-General John Doyle | 89th Regiment of Foot | 311 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 5th Brigade Brigadier-General John Doyle | 92nd Regiment of Foot | 414 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 6th Brigade Brigadier-General John Blake | 1st Battalion, 20th Regiment of Foot | 604 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 6th Brigade Brigadier-General John Blake | 2nd Battalion, 20th Regiment of Foot | 484 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 6th Brigade Brigadier-General John Blake | 24th Regiment of Foot | 438 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | 6th Brigade Brigadier-General John Blake | Ancient Irish Fencibles | 420 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | Reserve Major-General John Moore Brigadier-General Hildebrand Oakes | 2nd Regiment of Foot | 327 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | Reserve Major-General John Moore Brigadier-General Hildebrand Oakes | 28th Regiment of Foot | 338 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | Reserve Major-General John Moore Brigadier-General Hildebrand Oakes | 42nd Regiment of Foot | 490 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | Reserve Major-General John Moore Brigadier-General Hildebrand Oakes | 58th Regiment of Foot | 238 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | Reserve Major-General John Moore Brigadier-General Hildebrand Oakes | 40th Regiment of Foot flank companies | 146 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | Reserve Major-General John Moore Brigadier-General Hildebrand Oakes | 23rd Regiment of Foot | 343 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | Reserve Major-General John Moore Brigadier-General Hildebrand Oakes | Hompesch's Hussars | 397 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | Reserve Major-General John Moore Brigadier-General Hildebrand Oakes | Chasseurs Britanniques | 595 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | Reserve Major-General John Moore Brigadier-General Hildebrand Oakes | Corsican Rangers | 60 |
| Eastern Force Lieutenant-General John Hely-Hutchinson | Cavalry | 26th Light Dragoons | |
| Rosetta Force | Cavalry | 11th Light Dragoons | |
| Rosetta Force | Cavalry | 12th Light Dragoons | |
| Rosetta Force | Cavalry | 22nd Light Dragoons | |
| Rosetta Force | Infantry | 13th Regiment of Foot | |