

358 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[PEBIOD IV 



In this action Desaix's division was formed in one large 

 and two small squares, on the approach of a large body 

 of Mamelukes, who were seen coming to the attack. 

 The commandant of the smaller square on the right, 

 rendered over confident, probably by the result of the 

 battle of the Pyramids, ordered his men to withhold 

 their fire until the horsemen were within point-blank 

 range.' This they did, and poured in a volley at very 

 close quarters. It ^^ as too late, however. The rush 

 of the galloping horses was too vehement to be checked 

 suddenly, and the square was broken and a number of 

 the men killed ; the wouT^dpd horses and men not 

 falling until they had traversed the square, and then they 

 fell, scattering at various distances, pierced with the 

 bullets they had received just at the instant before the 

 shock. General Desaix reprimanded the commandant 

 very severely for his fault, which had nearly caused the 

 defeat of his whole force.'^ 



During the siege of St. Jean d'Acre in- the following 

 year. Napoleon heard of the approach of a large Turkish 

 army which was advancing to attack the French, and 

 raise the siege of the town. This force, which consisted 

 of the remains of the Mamelukes, the Janissaries of 

 Damascus and Aleppo, and an innumerable horde 

 of irregular cavalry, alarmed Napoleon, and obliged him 

 to take steps to defeat it. Kleber was sent from Acre 

 to join Junot, who was occupying an advanced post at 

 Nazareth. On his march he encountered a body of 4,000 

 horse, which he defeated by the same system of tactics 

 and the same rolling fire that had been so successful in 

 Egypt. On the 16th April, 1799, Kleber advancing to 

 attack the Turkish camp near Mount Tabor, met the 

 whole Turkish army moving up against him. He at 

 once drew up his small force in squares with the artillery 

 at the angles. He had barely completed his arrangements 

 when the whole mass of the enemy's forces, consisting of 

 15,000 cavalry and as many infantry, came thunder- 

 ing down upon his little army, as if to sweep the 

 handful from the field by one impetuous charge. The 

 ' Humbert, 155. - Memoires, Due de Rovigo, i. 70. 



I 



