The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-12-01
NAPOLEON'S HORSES.
The Skeletons Of Some Of Them
Still Preserved.

Hon. Francis Lawlcy, son of Lord
Wenlocl, published the other day in
Daily's Magazine an interesting ac-
count of the horses that were mounted
by Napoleon in his principal campaigns,
and the Figaro republishcd the article
with some comments and corrections.
In a conversation between Napoleon
and Barry O'Meara ut st. Helena the
great prisoner states that the closest
shave he ever had in battle was at Ar
cola, where his horse, maddened by
wound, ran away with him toward the
Austrian lines, and finally plunged into
marsh, where he came very near be-
ing captured by the enemy.
In all Napoleon had nineteen horses
killed under him from Arcola to Water
loo. Marshal Butcher claimed to have
lost the same number in his campaigns,
and Gen. Forrest, of tho confederate
army, according to Mr.. Lawley, had no
less than thirty horses shot under him
during the four years of the rebellion.
1t appears that nearly all Napoleon's
war horses were either white or gray.
Tho most famous were Marcngo, the
charger that he rode at Waterloo; Aus
tcrlitz, Marie, Ali and Jaffa. Marcngo's
skeleton is at present in the military in
stitutc of Whitehall, London, and one
of his shoes, made into snuffboX, is
in the. mcss-room of the officers of the
guard in st. James palace. Upon the
silver cover of the shoe, the gift of Col.
Angerstein to his comrades, is the fol-
lowing inscriptions
Shoe OF Marcngo the war horse that be-
lonGcd to Napoleon. and mounted by him ut
Marengo, AustcrlitZ, Jena. Wagram, in tho
Russian campaign, and at Waterloo
Around the shoe there is this inscrip-
ton:
Marcngo was wounded in tho left haunch
when his master redo him at Waterloo on the
sunlien road at the outposts
But it appears that he was slso
wounded in the preceding battles, and
here the Figaro remarks that if the
above inscription is correct in it's state
ments Napoleon must have used that
horse for fifteen years, from Marengo
to Waterloo, which seems very doubt
full. There is 10 doubt, however, that
Marcngo was the horse that Napoleon
rode Mt Waterloo and that carried him
to Charlcroi after the battle, but how
the horse came to end his days in Eng
land has not yet been fully revealed
there along with Jaffa by the French
man who leased some property at Glas-
senburg in Kent, and who was once
great friend of Napolcon's but whose
name is row forgotten. The greatest
care possible was taken of the old
horse, who died in 1929, at the venerable
age of thirty-scvcn years. In the park
on the Glasscnburg property there is Il
little column with the following:
Under this stone lies Jana, the celebrated
warhorse OF Ma Jleon. Aged thirty-scven years.
There is some confusion and probably
eXaggeration in regard to the names of
the horses mounted by Napoleon in his
different battles. But" says the
Figaro, sit is quite probable that the
two horses, Marengo and Ali, were rid
den by Napoleon the same day."
According to Nine. dc Remusat Ma
polcon often tired out four or five horses
day, which perhaps explains the con-
tradictioo of the legend which gives
Marengo the honor of carrying Ma
poleon at Austerlitz, in the memoirs of
Gen. Vondamme, which speaks of
steel-gray Arab horse rs the one that
he rode Mt that time, and which was
baptized "Austerlitz" Immediately after
the victory. 1t is certain that Napoleon
had horse of that description, and u
portrait of the animal is at present in
tne residence of Lord Rosebery.
AS for Marie, her skeleton is at
present in the old castle of Ivenach,
where the heirs of the Baron Won Pies
sen oreserva H.