User:Jnestorius/Marengo (horse)

Marengo was the most famous horse of Napoleon.

Napoleon
Marengo was an Arab horse with a light grey coat, standing 14.1 hands high. Napoleon bought him after the 1799 Battle of Abukir, probably from the El Naseri stud, and rode him in 1800 at the Battle of Marengo, in which the French triumphed, and in honour of which the horse was renamed. Napoleon is alleged to have ridden Marengo at later battles and campaigns, including Austerlitz 1805, Jena 1806, Spain 1808, Wagram 1809, Russia 1812, and finally Waterloo 1815.

At Waterloo, Marengo was wounded for the eighth time and left as the Emperor fled the field in a cart. Bernard Cornwell ZZZ says Napoleon "managed to find his coach" and got as far as Genappe where he abandoned it and his jewels in a traffic jam, was "given a horse" and got over the French border "by 9 a.m. on Monday". George Hooper ZZZ 1862 says [emphasis added]:
 * Napoleon had taken part in the last encounters. During the attack of the Imperial Guard he had ridden as far as the orchard of La Haye Sainte; when the Guard recoiled he had rallied them; when the 52nd and the other regiments of the brigade pursued so promptly, he had gradually fallen back with the steadier masses of the fugitives, surrounded by the truly devoues of those days, the veterans of the Guard. When Vivian and Vandeleur had tried to cut in upon his line of retreat, a majestic body of horse grenadiers, resolute and compact, barred the way, and walked superbly from the field in unassailable order. [...] the sound of the bugle and beat of the drum alone sufficed to drive the French from nine bivouacs, and to force them before nightfall over the Sambre. Napoleon had made no preparation for a retreat, although he had fought with only one road in his rear. This alone shows the infatuation of the man. Having diverged from the press, he made a detour on the western side of the road, and cut in upon it again at Genappe. Here he found the defile blocked up by the wreck of the baggage, and a struggling, terrified, shouting mob, the wreck of that splendid host he had marshalled so arrogantly in the morning. Forcing his way through the throng, "preceded and escorted by the tumult," he reached Quatre Bras. Here he halted, and sent to Grouchy news of the lost battle, but forgot to name the point upon which he should march. Then, mounting once more, he rode off into the moonlight, and silently, without halting, passed through Charleroi at dawn. Outside the town he obtained a carriage, and unattended, except by Bertrand, drove to Philippeville.

Even if Napoleon did ride away from the battlefield, it may have been on another horse while Marengo was left behind, having either been replaced after getting wounded, or else separated from his handlers in the confusion.

In art
Of the five versions of Jacques-Louis David's 1801 painting Napoleon Crossing the Alps, the "fiery steed" is modelled on Marengo in three: those held at Versailles and Vienna. (The Charlottenburg version of the painting is modelled on Napoleon's mare "la Belle". )

ZZZ Maybe the 'Napoleon Crossing the Alps' info is garbled? Table:

After Waterloo
Henry William Petre, a lieutenant in the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, found the wounded horse at Waterloo and recognised him by the N cipher branded into his haunch. Petre nursed him back to health and was allowed to keep him as a prize of war.

Petre shipped Marengo to England and exhibited him at the "Waterloo Rooms" in Pall Mall, London, charging a shilling admission, children half price. Once public interest subsided Petre sold Marengo to William Angerstein, wealthy son of Whig politician John Angerstein, who put him to stud in Isle of Ely, charging a fee of 25 guineas. His progeny had no success as racehorses, so Marengo was put out to grass until his death in 1831.

The Marengo print in James Ward's 1824 "Series of Lithographic Drawings of Celebrated Horses" shows him at the water's edge and describes him as "The Favourite Barb Charger rode by Napoleon Buonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo. The Property of Captain Howard."

London Hospital processed the carcass, preserving the skeleton, which Angerstein presented to the Royal United Services Institution, in whose museum it remained until 1947, when it was transferred to the National Army Museum. Two hooves are missing from the skeleton; one was turned into a silver-mounted snuffbox which Angerstein presented to the Brigade of Guards, and which is placed at lunchtime before the Captain of the Guard in the officers' mess at St James's Palace. The location of the other hoof was unclear for decades; various army regiments claimed to have it. About 2015, a descendant of Angerstein discovered it in the form of another silver-mounted snuffbox. It is on display in the Household Cavalry Museum. The hooves were reunited in September 2016 for a BBC documentary The Spoils of War.

Putative Irish origin
In 1894, Irish media reported a claim that Marengo was foaled in Ireland rather than Egypt. "Miss Brownrigg" claimed that Marengo was foaled on the estate of her grandfather, "Annesley Brownrigg, Esq., of Annesley Park" in County Wexford on Whit Monday 1796; that his original name was "Young Hidalgo", his sire was Hidalgo, son of Eclipse, and his dam was Vagary; that he was 16 hands tall and "perfectly white"; and that he was sold in 1800 to a French officer for 100 guineas. She claimed the family still possessed a violin bow strung with Marengo's tail hair. Marengo's Irish origin remains widely believed in Ireland. It has been mentioned in speeches by Senators Kathleen Browne in 1933 and Séamus Dolan in 1975, and President Mary Robinson in 1994; and in a 1946 article by Richard Hayes.

Several fairs are believed in their respective localities to have been the place where Marengo was sold to the French officer, including: Cahirmee Horse Fair, now held in Buttevant, in County Cork;   Bartlemy Fair, formerly held in Bartlemy near Rathcormac, also in Cork; and Ballinasloe Horse Fair in County Galway. In 2017, Kanturk and Mallow municipal district council resolved to write to the NAM asking for the return of the skeleton for display in a museum in Buttevant. John Spillane wrong a song in support. The NAM said it would deal "sensitively" with the request.

Not used yet

 * Lt. Henry William Petre (1791-1852) and Napoleon's Charger Marengo Royal Descent, Brad Verity, Desmond Clarke, 19 January 2017 ZZZ
 * Marengo: Napoleon’s Favourite Horse Horses & History, Horse Canada, 22 September 2014
 * The remains of the neigh, Samanth Subramanian, 3 March 2017, 1843, Economist Group
 * Marengo: The Myth of Napoleon's Horse, The Napoleon Series, Reviews, Tom Holmberg
 * What was the name of Napoleon's horse? The Napoleon Series, FAQ, J.F. Lozier
 * Les chevaux de Napoléon Philippe Osché, Histoire Empire
 * Les écuries de Napoléon: une parenthèse dans l’histoire de l’équitation ou la chance d’un renouveau? Charles-Éloi Vial, In Situ, 18, 2012
 * LE VIZIR, MARENGO et LE JAFFA : les plus célèbres chevaux de Napoléon Ier (think this replicates one of the previous ones)
 * [Amsterdam UP, quotes Hamilton]
 * "Les chevaux de Napoléon" archived 2007
 * Le livre, son contenu p.3 "Nous poursuivons cette étude sur les chevaux absents du registre"
 * Le Premier Consul franchissant les Alpes au col du Grand-Saint-Bernard par Jacques Louis DAVID: Analyse du Sujet
 * Errata -- nothing in last (2009) version
 * Le Marengo par Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, dit Carle Vernet (1758-1836) "La légende veut que le cheval représenté sur cette oeuvre soit le célèbre Marengo que l'artiste a probablement souvent vu au sein des Ecuries impériales. On ne se hasardera pas à contredire la légende tant ce cheval nous est énigmatique, mais nul doute que Carle Vernet s'est attaché à représenter un authentique cheval impérial."
 * A.F. Twist "CHAPTER ELEVEN - DEATH AND AFTERMATH" Widening circles in finance, philanthropy and the arts. A study of the life of John Julius Angerstein 1735-1823 25 June 2002,  Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (PhD thesis) [ZZZ p.14 references Hamilton]
 * 16 Google Scholar cites for Hamilton
 * 16 Google Scholar cites for Hamilton