Siege of Fort Julien

Last updated
Siege of Fort Julien
Part of the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria of the French Revolutionary Wars
Fort Julien with an Egyptian Boat.jpg
Fort Julien, with an Egyptian Boat, 1803
Date8–19 April 1801
Location 31°27′29″N30°22′34″E / 31.458051°N 30.376188°E / 31.458051; 30.376188
Result Anglo-Ottoman victory [1]
Belligerents
Flag of France.svg First French Republic Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
Flag of the Ottoman Empire (eight pointed star).svg Egypt Eyalet
Commanders and leaders
Flag of France.svg General Louis Friant   White flag icon.svg Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lord Dalhousie
Strength
306 [2] 2,000 [1]
Casualties and losses
41 killed or wounded
264 surrendered [1]
10 casualties [3]

The siege of Fort Julien was a military engagement that took place during the French Revolutionary Wars as part of the French campaign in Egypt and Syria from 8 to 19 April 1801. The action was between a British and Ottoman force numbering 2,000 men and a besieged French force of 300 men. [4]

Contents

Background

On 19 July 1799, only a few days before the Battle of Abukir, the French took possession of a dilapidated 15th century fortification built by the Mamluk Sultan Qait Bey, and embarked on a hasty rebuilding. The fort, located on the left bank of the Nile near Rosetta (Rashid), was renamed Fort Julien after Thomas Prosper Jullien, one of Napoleon's aides-de-camp. It was during this reconstruction that the Rosetta Stone was found. [5] Fort Julien was an important link in the French defensive line on the route to Cairo and barred access from the sea to the lower reaches of the river. French gunboats operated along the river nearby, blocking access to the mouth of the Nile. [3]

When the British landed at Abukir Bay on 1 March 1801, Baron Charles De Hompesh was sent by General John Hely-Hutchinson to capture Rosetta. Fort Julien was garrisoned by a total of around 300 men, comprising a unit of veterans or invalides supported by artillery and infantry from the 61st demi-brigade. [1]

Siege

The British marched on Rosetta on 8 April, accompanied by 1,000 Ottoman troops, and pushed on to besiege the fort with the 2nd (The Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot under Lord Dalhousie. [2]

The siege was complicated by the difficulties of bringing artillery to bear on the fort, a task which took eight days. Seven gunboats had to be dragged for 5 kilometres (3 mi) across sand and mud before they could be relaunched on the Nile. [2] While 24-pound naval carronades were landed on the sea shore and dragged 6 kilometres (4 mi) overland to reach their firing positions. [1] General Robert Lawson of the Royal Artillery took the decision to use naval cannonades rather than heavier standard 24-pounders in the assumption – which proved correct – that the cement used by the French in their hasty improvement work would not yet have hardened. The French gunboats were driven back by their British opponents, enabling other British and Turkish gunboats to enter the river. [1]

On 16 April the artillery preparations were completed and the bombardment commenced, focusing on the south-west angle of the fort. [2] A section of the wall collapsed on 18 April, exposing the French defenders to Turkish sharpshooters. The French then waved white flags; and after negotiations the French agreed to surrender. [3]

Aftermath

At 11:00 on 19 April, the 264 surviving members of the French garrison marched out, thus opening the Nile to the British and Turkish fleet. [2] The French suffered 41 casualties, killed and wounded, while the British side suffered the loss of one lieutenant and two privates. [3] Rossetta was subsequently taken without any opposition.

Hutchinson then 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. [6]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 McGregor, John James (1828). History of the French Revolution: And of the Wars Resulting from that Memorable Event, Volume 7 History of the French Revolution: And of the Wars Resulting from that Memorable Event. G.B. Whittaker. pp. 147–49.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Mackesy, pp 156–157
  3. 1 2 3 4 Walsh pp 117–18
  4. Moore, James Carrick (1833). The life of Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, K.B. Volume 1 of The Life of Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, K.B. John Murray. p. 308.
  5. Saunders p 134
  6. Barthorp p. 6

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Abercromby</span> 18th-century British soldier and politician

Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby was a Scottish soldier and politician. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-general in the British Army, was appointed Governor of Trinidad, served as Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, and was noted for his services during the French Revolutionary Wars, ultimately in the Egyptian campaign. His strategies are ranked amongst the most daring and brilliant exploits of the British army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Qir</span> Place in Alexandria Governorate, Egypt

Abu Qir, formerly also spelled Abukir or Aboukir, is a town on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, near the ruins of ancient Canopus and 23 kilometers (14 mi) northeast of Alexandria by rail. It is located on Abu Qir Peninsula, with Abu Qir Bay to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Alexandria (1801)</span> 1801 battle during the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria

The Battle of Alexandria, or Battle of Canope, was fought on 21 March 1801 between the army of Napoleon's French First Republic under General Jacques-François Menou and the British expeditionary corps under Sir Ralph Abercromby. The battle took place near the ruins of Nicopolis, on the narrow spit of land between the sea and Lake Abukir, along which the British troops had advanced towards Alexandria after the actions of Abukir on 8 March and Mandora on 13 March. The fighting was part of the French campaign in Egypt and Syria against the Ottoman Empire, which began in 1798.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War of the Second Coalition</span> Second war on revolutionary France by European monarchies

The War of the Second Coalition was the second war targeting revolutionary France by many European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria, and Russia and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Naples and various German monarchies. Prussia did not join the coalition, while Spain supported France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Acre (1799)</span> 1799 Siege during French Invasion of Egypt and Syria

The siege of Acre of 1799 was an unsuccessful French siege of the Ottoman city of Acre and was the turning point of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Syria, along with the Battle of the Nile. It was Napoleon's third tactical defeat in his career, after three years previously being defeated at the Second Battle of Bassano and the Battle of Caldiero during the Italy campaign, and his first major strategic defeat, along with the last time he was defeated in battle for 10 years. As a result of the failed siege, Napoleon Bonaparte retreated two months later and withdrew to Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois</span>

Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He is best known for the surrender of Malta to the British in 1800. On 20 August 1808 he was created Comte de Belgrand de Vaubois. Later, his name was inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney Smith (Royal Navy officer)</span> British naval officer (1764–1840)

Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith was a British naval and intelligence officer. Serving in the American and French revolutionary wars and Napoleonic Wars, he rose to the rank of Admiral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Abukir (1799)</span> Battle during the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria

In the Battle of Abukir Napoleon Bonaparte defeated Seid Mustafa Pasha's Ottoman army on 25 July 1799, during the French campaign in Egypt. It is considered the first pitched battle with this name, as there already had been a naval battle on 1 August 1798, the Battle of the Nile. No sooner had the French forces returned from a campaign to Syria, than the Ottoman forces were transported to Egypt by Sidney Smith's British fleet to put an end to French rule in Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Qir Bay</span> Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt

The Abū Qīr Bay is a spacious bay on the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria in Egypt, lying between the Rosetta mouth of the Nile and the town of Abu Qir. The ancient cities of Canopus, Heracleion and Menouthis lie submerged beneath the waters of the bay. In 1798 it was the site of the Battle of the Nile, a naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the navy of the French First Republic. The bay contains a natural gas field, discovered in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandria expedition of 1807</span> Failed attempt by the British to capture the Egyptian city of Alexandria

The Alexandria expedition of 1807, also known as the Fraser expedition,, was an unsuccessful attempt by the British to capture the Egyptian city of Alexandria during the Anglo-Turkish War. The aim was to secure a base of operations against the Ottoman Empire and the French Empire in the Mediterranean Sea. It was part of a larger strategy against the Ottoman-French alliance of the Ottoman Sultan Selim III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French campaign in Egypt and Syria</span> 1798–1801 campaign during the War of the Second Coalition

The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was a Napoleonic campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, executed by Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon proclaimed to "defend French trade interests" and to establish "scientific enterprise" in the region. It was the primary purpose of the Mediterranean campaign of 1798, which was a series of naval engagements that included the capture of Malta and the Greek island Crete, later arriving in the Port of Alexandria. The campaign ended in defeat for Napoleon after abandoning his troops to head back to France for the looming risk of a Second Coalition. This led to the death and withdrawal of French troops in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Alexandria (1801)</span> 1801 siege during the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria

The siege of Alexandria 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Abukir (1801)</span> 1801 battle during the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria

The Battle of Abukir of 8 March 1801 was the second pitched battle of the French campaign in Egypt and Syria to be fought at Abu Qir on the Mediterranean coast, near the Nile Delta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume</span> French admiral

Count Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume was a French Navy officer and Vice-admiral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Cádiz</span> 1810–1812 siege during the Peninsular War

The siege of Cádiz was a siege of the large Spanish naval base of Cádiz by a French army from 5 February 1810 to 24 August 1812 during the Peninsular War. Following the occupation of Seville, Cádiz became the Spanish seat of power, and was targeted by 70,000 French troops under the command of the Marshals Claude Victor and Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult for one of the most important sieges of the war. Defending the city were 2,000 Spanish troops who, as the siege progressed, received aid from 10,000 Spanish reinforcements as well as British and Portuguese troops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capitulation of Alexandria (1801)</span> 1801 capitulation during the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria

The Capitulation of Alexandria in August 1801 brought to an end the French expedition to Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Julien</span> Fort in Egypt on the Nile

Fort Julien is a fort located on the left or west bank of the Nile about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north-west of Rashid (Rosetta) on the north coast of Egypt. It was originally built by the Ottoman Empire and occupied by the French during Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt and Syria between 1798 and 1801. The fort became famous as the place where the Rosetta Stone was found in 1799.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Mandora</span> 1801 battle during the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria

The Battle of Mandora was a minor battle fought on 13 March 1801 between French forces under François Lanusse and the British expeditionary corps under Ralph Abercromby, during the French campaign in Egypt and Syria.

HMS Dangereuse was a tartane named Duguay-Trouin that the French Navy requisioned in May 1794 to serve as an aviso. The Navy renamed her Dangereuse either in May 1795 or on 2 March 1796. She was one of a flotilla of seven gun-vessels that Commodore Sir Sidney Smith in HMS Tigre took at Acre on 18 March 1799, all of which the British took into service. At capture Dangereuse carried six guns and had a crew of 23 men. Smith put her under the command of Lieutenant Robert William Tyte (acting).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Cairo</span> 1801 siege during the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria

The siege of Cairo, also known as the Cairo campaign, was a siege that took place during the French Revolutionary Wars, between French and British with Ottoman forces and was the penultimate action of the Egyptian Campaign. British commander John Hely-Hutchinson advanced to Cairo, where he arrived after a few skirmishes in mid June. Joined by a sizeable Ottoman force Hutchinson invested Cairo and on 27 June the surrounded 13,000-strong French garrison under General Augustin Daniel Belliard, out-manned and out-gunned then surrendered. The remaining French troops in Egypt under Jacques-François Menou disheartened by this failure, retired to Alexandria.

References