Marengo: The Myth of Napoleon’s Horse
While reading the footnotes on the Wiki page, I came across a link to the book this Page is named after, Marengo: The Myth of Napoleon’s Horse. I was delighted to discover that the author has generously made the entire book (now out of print) freely available for download. I’ve only had time to get through the first two chapters, but so far it looks like a fun & interesting read, especially if you like history or horses.
Below is an excerpt from the Wiki entry for Marengo. Following that is part of the blurb for the book from the author’s website.
Here’s the link to the PDF of the book.
About Marengo, from Wikipedia:
Marengo (c. 1793–1831) was the famous war mount of Napoleon I of France. Named after the Battle of Marengo, through which he carried his rider safely, Marengo was imported to France from Egypt in 1799 as a 6-year-old. The grey Arabian was probably bred at the famous El Naseri Stud. Although small (only 14.1 hands.) he was a reliable, steady, and courageous mount.
Marengo was wounded eight times in his career, and carried the Emperor in the Battle of Austerlitz, Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Battle of Wagram, and Battle of Waterloo. He also was frequently used in the 80 mile gallops from Valladolid to Burgos, which he often completed in 5 hours. As one of 52 horses in Napoleon’s personal stud, Marengo fled with these horses when it was raided by Russians in 1812, surviving the retreat from Moscow; however, the stallion was captured in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo by William Henry Francis Petre, 11th Baron Petre. […]
About the book, from the author’s website:
With a bullet lodged in his tail and the imperial cipher of a crowned letter ‘N’ burnt on his left flank, a diminutive Arab stallion drew crowds to Pall Mall, London, in 1823. Sightseers came to gaze at the horse advertised as ‘Bonaparte’s personal charger’, whose career had spanned the whole of the Napoleonic Wars, who, to the sound of marching songs, drums, pipes and gunfire, had trotted, cantered and galloped from the Mediterranean to Paris, Italy, Germany and Austria, and at the age of nineteen, had walked three thousand miles to Moscow and back. […]