194] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



coald gain Voguera before the 

 French. 



The Austrians being in great 

 force gained upon the French, 

 when Buonaparte ordered the body 

 of reserve to come up ; but, Des- 

 saix, with his corps, was not yet ar- 

 rived. The left wing of the French, 

 commanded by Victor, now began 

 to give way, and some cavahy 

 and infantry retreated in disorder. 

 About the same time the centre 

 and right wing did the same. 



Buonaparte, in front, rallied the 

 troops, and led them on again to 

 the battle. Notwithstanding this, 

 the French army still continued to 

 retreat, and the Austrians followed 

 up their advantage. At this junc- 

 ture of time, the garrison of Tor- 

 tona seeing the disorder of the 

 French army, made a sally, and 

 had nearly surrounded them. 



Buonaparte, still in front, encou- 

 raged the corps, which defended 

 a detile, flanked by the village of 

 Marengo, on which thirty pieces 

 of Austrian artillery continually 

 played, making terrible slaughter. 

 And now, at four o'clock in the 

 afternoon, the French army was so 

 pushed on all sides, that one-third 

 of it was in confusion, and knew 

 not where to rally. 



The Austrians, seemg the impos- 

 sibility of forcing the defile, drew 

 up more artillery, under the pro- 

 tection of which they sent forward 

 a body of infantry to dislodge the 

 French from a wood and vine- 

 yards, whilst their cavalry watched 

 the opportunity of cutting them 

 down as they quitted that position. 

 Had this manoeuvre succeeded, the 

 French army had been totally de- 

 stroyed. 



At this instant the fortune of the 

 battle began to take a new turn. 



and that success, which had hereto- 

 fore attended Buonaparte, seemed 

 now unwillingly to forsake him. — • 

 The divisions of Monnier and Des- 

 saix coming up, insured victory to 

 the republican army, by inspii-ing 

 it with renewed courage. To this, 

 an unfortunate mistake, which 

 IMelas committed, about the same 

 time, did not a little contribute.^ 

 That general, finding he could nei- 

 ther force the defile, nor make any 

 impression on the centre of the 

 French army, perhaps, presuming 

 too far on his success, and being 

 moreover ignorant of the reinforce- 

 ments which the republican army 

 had received, weakened his line, by 

 extension, in order to surround it. 



Buonaparte saw the error Melas 

 had been guilty of, and instantly 

 availed himself of it, by theordershe 

 gave. The troops of the republic 

 quitted the defile, and, as they left 

 it, formed in order of battle, and pre- 

 sented a fresh and formidable front, 

 to the Austrians, now nearly ex- 

 hausted and fatigued with success. 



The Austrians were now vigo- 

 rously charged, and fell back in 

 their turn : their numerous cavalry 

 was thrown into disorder, and the 

 French hussars hitherto inferior, 

 now charged and dispersed the fu- 

 gitives. On the right, Dessaix bore 

 down all before him, while Victor, 

 on the left, carried Marengo, and 

 bore down rapidly on the Bormida ; 

 where, getting possession of the 

 bridge, he cut off the retreat of the 

 Austrians on that side. At the 

 moment that Dessaix gaining San- 

 Stefano, cut off the Austrian left 

 wing, the younger Kellerman made 

 prisoners of six thousand Hungarian 

 grenadiers. The Austrian general, 

 Zach, was made a prisoner, and 

 Dessaix, in the very instant of vie- 



