Napoleon's Egypt: Invading The Middle East - Reenactor.ru

A SKY AFLAME43his journal for 11 July, “A commission has been charged with researching andtaking possession of the goods of the Mamluks.”The prudence of the mayor in hiding and locking up his possessions wasfurther illustrated by an anecdote told by Jacques Miot, commissary of the army,in his memoir of the invasion. He said that troops fanned out in Damanhursearching for grain, and they came upon a hidden, windowless harem containingthree black slave women belonging to the elderly mayor. They were not goodlooking,but “in the desert one is not choosy,” he remarked, and the troops consideredattempting their first Egyptian romance. They were disappointed tolearn, however, that the sheikh had clapped strong iron chastity belts on allthree women, which they found it impossible to remove. 30After they arrived in Damanhur, Bernoyer found a shady area to rest inthe city and sent his servant to find food. In the meantime he slept fitfully onan empty stomach. When he awoke, he found the wife of a soldier offeringhim some soup, but “with a delicacy out of place in such circumstances, I declined.”A few French soldiers’ wives accompanied their husbands. It is unlikelymany survived. Bernoyer admitted he would have gladly paid a prettypenny for the soup, but could not in good conscience accept the poor woman’shospitality. Then his servant brought him some disgusting white cheese thathe could not think of eating. He sought out an officer’s table, and was reprimandedand threatened with arrest for not being with the equipment detachment,as ordered. He explained that he had waited for them in Alexandriauntil the army was almost out of sight, and had thought it expedient to go onwithout them. It was then revealed to him that the Bedouin had massacred thesixty-two stragglers.That evening the French set out again. While in town they had been able tosing some war ditties, and the Marseillaise. Now they had to fall silent again,Sergeant François remembered, for fear of the emirs. The surgeon D. J. Larreyrecalled the increasingly dangerous terrain into which the French troops wereventuring. “On departing Damanhur, the phalanx of the headquarters, where Iwas with the wounded, was assailed on all sides by a cavalry of numerousBedouin and Mamluks. We would have no doubt succumbed without theprompt aid that we received from the division of Desaix, and without the vigilanceand agile tactics of Colonel Dupas, who then commanded the armyscouts. As it was, several individuals of our square were killed or wounded.” 31Bernoyer said that, next morning, he found out that nomads had captured a fineyoung officer and demanded a ransom. Bonaparte refused, saying that if he hadto ransom everyone who fell into Bedouin hands between there and Cairo, his