Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1852-04-01
MISCELLANEOUS.
BOnapartc's Expedition to Egypt

tie OF the Pyramids" is taken from Har-
Per's NeS Monthly Maga-ine. by John S.
c. Abbott:
After march of seven days over the
desert. during which time they had many
bloody skirnishes with the enemy, the ar.
my approached Cairo.
Mourad Bey had there assembled the
greater part Of his Mamelukee, nearly ten
thousand in number. for decisive battle.
These proud and powerful horsemen were
supported by twenty thousand foot sol
dlers, strongly intrenched. Cairo is on the
Eastern banks Of the Nile. Napoleon
was on the Western shore. On the morn
ing ofthe 21st July, Napoleon, conscious
that he was near the city. set his army in
motion before the break of day. Just as
the sun was rising in those cloudless skies,
the soldiers behind the lofty minarets of
the city upon the left, gilded by its rays,
and upon the right, upon the borders of
the desert. the gigantic pyramids rising
like mountains upon an apparently bound
less plain. The whole army instinc,iveIy
halted and gazed awe-stricken upon those
monuments Of antiquity. The face of Ma
Poleon boamed with enthusiasm. "Sol-
diers!" heexclaimed, as he rode along the
ranks; from those SUBMITS forty centu-
ries contemplate your actions" The ar
dor of the soldiers was aroused to the
highest pitch. Animated by the clangor
of martial bands, and the gleam of faunt-
ing banners, they advanced with impetu
GUS steps to meet their foes. The whole
plain before them, at the base of the pyra-
mids were filed with armed men. The
glittering weapons Of ten thousand horse
men, in the utmost spendor of barbaric
chivalry. brilliant with plumes and arms
of FURNISHED steel and gold, presented an
array inconceivably imposing. Undis.
mayed the French troops. marshaled in
five invincible squares. pressed on. There
was apparently no alternative. Napo.
leon must march upon those intrench.
ments, behind which twenty four thousand
men were stationed with powerful artille
ry. and musketry to sweep his ranks, and
formidable body of ten thousand horse
men. on fleet and powerful Arabian stceds
awaiting the onset, and ready to seize up
on the slightest indications Of confusion IL
plunge with the fury which fatalsm car
inspire, upon his bleeding and mangled
squares. 1t must have been with Napo
leon moment of intense anxiety. Bul
as he sat upon his horse, in the centre ol
one of the squares, and carefully examined
with his telescope, the disposition Of the
enemy, no one could discern the slightest
trace Of uneasincss. His gaze was long
and intense. The keenness ofhis scrutiny
detected that the guns of the artillery were
not mounted upon carriages, and that they
could not therefore be turned from the d.
rection in which they wer placed. No
other officer, though many of them had
equally good glasses. made this importan,
discovery. He Immediately. by lateral
movement guided his army to the right, TO-
wards the pyramids. that his square might
be out of the range Of the guns, and that he
might attack the enemy in flank. The
moment Mourad Bey perceived thi, evo-
luton, he OWNED its object. and with
great military sagacily resolved instantly
to charge.
"Iou shall now see u.s." said the proud
Bey. "cut up those dogs like gourds."
1t was, indeed. a fearful spectacle. Ten
thousand horsemen, magnifcently dressed,
with the hectest steeds in the world, urg-
ing their horses with bloody spurs, to the
most Impetuous and furious onset, rendihg
the heavens with their cries, and causing
the very earth to tremble beneath the
thunder Of iron feet. came down upon the
adamantine host Nothing was ever seen
in war more furious than this charge. Ten
thousand horsemen is an enormous mass
Those longest Injured to danger felt that i,
was an awful moment. 1t seemed impos-
sible to resist such living avalanche. The
most profound silence reigned through the
ranks, interrupted only by the word OF
command. The nerves OF excitement be-
ing reused to the utmost tension, every or
der was executed with most marvellous
rapidity. and precision. The soldiers held
their breath, and with bristling bayone,s
stood, shoulder to shoulder, to receive the
shock
The moment tho Mamelukes arrived
within gunshot, the artillery, at the angles,
plowed their ranks, and platoons of mus
kerry, volley after volley, in perfectly
uninterrupted flow. swept into their faces
apittiless tempest of destruction. Horses
and riders struck by the balls, rolled over
each other, by hundreds in the sand, and
were trampled and crushed by the iron
hoofs of the thousands of frantic steeds,
enveIoped in dust and smoke. composing
the vast and impctuous column. But the
squares stood as firm as the pyramids a,
whose base they fought. Not one was
broken; not one wavered. The daring
Mamelukes. in the frenzy Of their rage and
disappointment, threw away their lives
with the most utter recklessness. They
wheeled their horses round and reigned
them back upon the ranks. that they nigh,
kick their way into those terrible fortress.
es of living men. Rendered furious BY
their inability to break the ranks, they
hurled pistols and carbines at the heads Of
the French. The wounded crawled a.
long the ground. and with their seimitars,
cut the legs Of their indomitable foes
They displayed supcrhuman bravery, the
only virtue which the Mamclukes pos.
sessed.
By an incessant and merciless fire from
NapoIeon's well-trained battalions he con-
tinually thinned their ranks,and at last the
Memelukcs. in the widest disorder, broke
and fled. The infantry, in the intrenched
camp, witnessing the utter discontinue Of
the mounted troops. whom they had con-
sidered invincible. and seeing such inces-
SAINT and volcanic sheets Of flame bursting
from the impenetrable squares caught the
panic. and joined the fight. Napoleon
1 1