Siege of Alexandria The Siege of Alexandria was fought between 17 August and 2 September 1801 , during the French Revolutionary Wars , between French and British forces and was the last action of the Egyptian Campaign . 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 Abercrombie ' 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 Hompesh 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 . The 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 " ( 50 ) and " Régénérée " ( 40 ) , and the ex - Venetian frigate " Léoben " ( 26 ) went to Britain , while the French frigate " Justice " ( 44 ) , the ex - Venetian ship of the line " 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 .