The siege of Fort Julien was a military engagement that took place during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

as part of the

French invasion of Egypt and Syria The French invasion of Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was a military expedition led by Napoleon Bonaparte during the French Revolutionary Wars. The campaign aimed to undermine East India Company, British trade routes, expand French colonial ...

from 8 to 19 April 1801. The action was between a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and Ottoman force numbering 2,000 men and a besieged French force of 300 men.

Background

On 19 July 1799, only a few days before the Battle of Abukir, the French took possession of a dilapidated 15th century fortification built by the

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

Sultan Qait Bey, and embarked on a hasty rebuilding. The fort, located on the left bank of the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

near

Rosetta Rosetta ( ) or Rashid (, ; ) is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Rosetta Stone was discovered there in 1799. Founded around the 9th century on the site of the ancient town of Bolbitine, R ...

(Rashid), was renamed Fort Julien after

Thomas Prosper Jullien Thomas Prosper Jullien (21 December 1773, Lapalud - 1798, Egypt) was a French army officer of the French Revolutionary Wars. Aide de camp to Napoleon I of France, Bonaparte, he rose to the rank of captain and was brother of the famous general Louis ...

, one of Napoleon's aides-de-camp. It was during this reconstruction that the

Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a Rosetta Stone decree, decree issued in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty of ancient Egypt, Egypt, on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts ...

was found.Saunders p 134 Fort Julien was an important link in the French defensive line on the route to

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

and barred access from the sea to the lower reaches of the river. French

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

s operated along the river nearby, blocking access to the mouth of the

. When the British landed at Abukir Bay on 1 March 1801, Baron Charles De Hompesh was sent by General John Hely-Hutchinson to capture

. Fort Julien was garrisoned by a total of around 300 men, comprising a unit of veterans or ''invalides'' supported by artillery and infantry from the 61st demi-brigade.

Siege

The British marched on

on 8 April, accompanied by 1,000 Ottoman troops, and pushed on to besiege the fort with the

2nd (The Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Arm ...

under

Lord Dalhousie James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie (22 April 1812 – 19 December 1860), known as the Earl of Dalhousie between 1838 and 1849, was a Scottish statesman and colonial administrator in British India. He served as Governor-Ge ...

. The siege was complicated by the difficulties of bringing artillery to bear on the fort, a task which took eight days. Seven gunboats had to be dragged for across sand and mud before they could be relaunched on the Nile. While 24-pound naval

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the last quarter of the 18th century to the mid-19th cen ...

s were landed on the sea shore and dragged overland to reach their firing positions. General Robert Lawson of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

took the decision to use naval cannonades rather than heavier standard 24-pounders in the assumption – which proved correct – that the

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

used by the French in their hasty improvement work would not yet have hardened. The French gunboats were driven back by their British opponents, enabling other British and Turkish gunboats to enter the river. On 16 April the artillery preparations were completed and the bombardment commenced, focusing on the south-west angle of the fort. A section of the wall collapsed on 18 April, exposing the French defenders to Turkish

sharpshooter A sharpshooter is one who is highly proficient at firing firearms or other projectile weapons accurately. Military units composed of sharpshooters were important factors in 19th-century combat. Along with " marksman" and "expert", "sharpshooter" ...

s. The French then waved white flags; and after negotiations the French agreed to surrender.

Aftermath

At 11:00 on 19 April, the 264 surviving members of the French garrison marched out, thus opening the Nile to the British and Turkish fleet. The French suffered 41 casualties, killed and wounded, while the British side suffered the loss of one lieutenant and two privates. Rossetta was subsequently taken without any opposition. Hutchinson then invested

and on 27 June the 13,000-strong French garrison under General

Augustin Daniel Belliard Augustin Daniel Belliard, comte Belliard et de l'Empire (; 25 May 1769 in Fontenay-le-Comte, Vendée – 28 January 1832 in Brussels) was a French general. Biography Revolution Belliard became an officer between 1792 and 1793 under Dumouriez i ...

, out-manned and out-gunned, surrendered. General John Moore then escorted them to the coast via Rosetta.Barthorp p. 6

Notes

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Julien 1801 Conflicts in 1801 Sieges of the French invasion of Egypt and Syria Sieges of the Anglo-French wars 1801 in Egypt April 1801 Rosetta Stone Beheira Governorate Attacks on military installations in Egypt Building bombings in Egypt Naval bombing operations and battles Riverine warfare Naval battles of the Napoleonic Wars involving the United Kingdom Naval battles of the Napoleonic Wars involving the Ottoman Empire