4 
952 
eighth regiment posted in it. While 
this was passing on the right of our 
line, general Rampon’s — division 
made an attack on the centre, ex- 
tending as far towards the left as 
the ninety-second*. It attempted 
to turn the left of the brigade of 
guards, which was a little advanced ; 
but was received with so warm and 
well kept up a fire from the third 
regiment of guards, whose left was 
thrown back, and from the royals, 
as to be forced, after a sharp con- 
test, to retreat with great loss. 
General Destin, with his division, 
penetrated through the hollow, 
leaving the redoubt on his left, and 
endeavoured to reach the old ruins. 
He was there .warmly received by 
the forty-second, and attempted to 
withdraw his. troops; but a batta- 
lion of the twenty-first demi-bri- 
gade having advanced too far, was’ 
surrounded, aud obliged to lay 
down its arms, and surrender to the 
forty-second and fifty-eighth regi- 
ments. 
Repulsed in every quarter with 
the same obstinate resolution, and 
finding it impossible to penetrate 
through any part of our line, the 
French infantry, at length, gave 
way, and dispersed, in all dire¢tions, 
behind the sand hills. 
At this junéture, the French ge- 
neral in chief, Menou, foiled in all 
“his attempts, determined to make 
one last desperate effort at carrying 
our position. For-this purpose, he 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1803. 
ordered the main body of the caval- 
ry, under brigadier-general Roize, 
to charge; and general Regnier, at 
the head of the divisions Lanusse, 
Rampon, Friant, and the eighty- 
fifth demi-brigade, to support it. 
General Roize, convinced, at once, 
of the inutility and hazard of the 
attempt, twice remonstrated ; and it 
was only at the third peremptory 
order that he obeyed. 
Accordingly, the third and four- 
teenth dragoons, under general Bous- 
sart, came up with all the impetuous 
fury of men certain of being sacri- 
ficed, and charged through the for- 
ty-second regiment, reaching as far 
as the tents. Here, however, they 
were effectually stopped ; the horses, 
entangled in the cords, were, for the 
most part, killed+, and many of the 
men were obliged to seek their 
safety on foot. At this juncture, 
the Minorca regiment came to sup- 
port the forty-second, and drew. up 
in the vacant space between the re- 
doubt and the guards. The second 
line of French cavalry, composed of 
the fifteenth, eighteenth, and twen- 
tieth dragoons, with general Roize 
at their head, made another despe- 
rate charge upon these regiments. 
As it would have been impossible to 
withstand the shock, they opened 
with the most deliberate composure 
to let them pass ; then, facing about, 
they poured upon them such vol- 
leys, as brought numbers, both of 
men and horses, to the ground. The 
cavalry 
* When the firing commenced in the morning, the ninety-second was on its 
march to Aboukir, and already two miles from the camp. As soon as the firing 
was heard, it returned, under the command of major Napier, rejoined major-gene- 
ral Coote’s brigade, and behaved with its usual gallantry. 
+ A circumstance, as fortunate as it was unexpected, contributed also very mate- 
rially to the overthrow of the French cavalry, The ground, in the rear of the forty- 
second, was full of holes, between three and four feet deep. These excavations had 
been made by the twenty-eighth regiment, as conveniences to sleep in, previous to 
the landing of the camp equipage. The enemy’s cavalry, charging over these, was 
. 
completely broken and routed, 
