Napoleon’s Horse: The Legendary Marengo

One of Napoleon Bonaparte‘s favorite horses was called Marengo. This gray and white Arabian stallion would have been named after the June 1800 Battle of Marengo, in which Napoleon barely beat an Austrian army in Italy. Napoleon had seized this gray-white horse in Egypt in 1799 and brought it to France. However, very little information is available regarding the Marengo horse, and some historians question the horse’s existence or think it probably had a different name.

Marengo had the battle marks of having been ridden by Napoleon at many battles. The horse was injured when he was caught by the English, yet he made it through many years.

The Story of Napoleon’s Horse: Marengo

Marengo was born in 1794, captured at the Battle of Abukir during the Egyptian campaign of 1799 from the well-known El Naseri Stud by Napoleon’s men, and brought to France in the same year. The horse was of small size, approximately 4 feet 7 inches (1.40 meters) at the withers, with a light gray or iron gray coat.

However, contrary to popular belief, Napoleon did not actually ride Marengo during the Battle of Marengo. The horse was maintained at the stable so that he could use it whenever he wanted.

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Along with more than 50 horses from Napoleon’s private stud farm, Marengo is also said to have made it out of Russia in 1812. Similarly, he did not appear to take part in the disastrous 1812 Russian campaign.

This stallion was probably stabled in Normandy at the time. The horse was restored to the Tuileries stables in 1815, after Napoleon returned to Paris from captivity on Elba in March.

Marengo was then supposedly present during the Battle of Waterloo in June. But you can also rule out the possibility of Napoleon ever riding a horse named Marengo in this battle. Because Napoleon’s only horse that day was a mare named Desirée, after his brief fiancée, Desirée Clary (1777–1860), who went on to become Queen of Sweden and Norway.

After Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, this 22-year-old steed, which Napoleon allegedly rode during the battle, was captured at Napoleon’s Last HQ (Caillou Farm) on the evening of June 18, 1815.

While a British officer was caring for a horse in the imperial stables, he surmised from the equipment and the branded letter “N” on the horse’s skin that the horse belonged to the imperial riding stable. The horse was shot in the tail and suffered from the scars of five other battle wounds.

He was brought to England by William Petre (11th Baron Petre), and after being purchased at auction by Lieutenant-Colonel of the Grenadiers John Julius Angerstein, Napoleon’s horse was transported to Angerstein’s horse farm on the Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire.

Marengo was quite a gentle horse. After being exhibited by Captain Howard until the age of 27, it was sometimes used for breeding. Once the attempts to utilize the horse as a breeding stallion began to fail, Napoleon’s horse was retired and lived to the ripe old age of 38 before passing away in 1832 in Brandon, Suffolk, England.

All of Marengo’s offspring, no matter the color of their mothers, were gray. The goal was to get the horse ready for mounting. But that never materialized. Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena at the time Marengo was captured, and the General remained there until his death in 1821.

Cultural Legacy of Marengo

Napoleomania

This horse, falsely alleged to be the imperial “Marengo,” later proved to be a popular painting in England. Once the French emperor Napoleon was finally vanquished in 1821, a genuine “Napoleomania” swept the country.

Thanks to Napoleon’s horse, Marengo, the once-feared general became a beloved figure in the eyes of the people through various paintings. Due in large part to the Napoleonic hysteria of the 19th century, many contemporary people automatically thought of Marengo when hearing of the horse of the French emperor.

In 1824, the English artist James Ward (1769–1859) painted a big canvas (above) showing Marengo lounging on the sand. In this painting, the horse appears to be pining for its former master, who is currently living in exile far, far away, as it stares out into the distance towards the sinking sun.

An Ancient Funerary Ritual

The Musée de l’Armée (The Army Museum) commissioned Pascal Convert to create a piece for the royal chapel Dôme des Invalides commemorating the bicentennial of Napoleon Bonaparte’s death for their “Napoléon? Encore!” contemporary art exhibition.

The artist used a 3D scan to build a composite copy of the Marengo skeleton called Memento Marengo, which served as a modern Memento mori by hanging over the grave of the Emperor. Reuniting Napoleon with his horse resembled an ancient funerary ritual in which combatants were buried with their mounts.

The horse’s position was reminiscent of Pegasus, the horse who accompanied the demigod Bellerophon on his flight and fall after he attempted to ascend Mount Olympus and received punishment from Zeus. Similarly, Napoleon formally surrendered on the English ship HMS Bellerophon on July 15, 1815.

There were conflicting reactions to the sculpture; some people found its morbid connotation upsetting, while others pointed out that the Dôme des Invalides is a necropolis, not an exhibition space. However, it was planned to be down on February 13, 2022, at the time of its installation.

In Movies

• The character “Mr. Memory” is featured in a scene from the 1959 British film The 39 Steps in which he is challenged to name Napoleon’s horse during a variety performance.
• The name “Marengo” appears on an unusual vehicle in the “Speed Racer” episode of Race for Revenge from 1967. But Speed Racer makes the connection between the name and the horse after the riddle is solved. However, the name Marengo was poorly translated from Japanese to English as Melange by the ‘uncultured’ Trans-Lux Corporation.
• “The world’s first epistolary equine love story,” Warhorses of Letters (2011) (broadcast on BBC Radio 4) features Stephen Fry as Marengo and Daniel Rigby as Copenhagen. It is a comic correspondence between the Duke of Wellington’s horse and Napoleon’s horse.

Did Marengo Really Exist?

There is a skeleton that has been alleged to be the famed Marengo horse on exhibit at London’s National Army Museum in Chelsea. However, can we truly be certain that this is Marengo? What can be said with validity is that Napoleon rode at least 150 horses in his lifetime. His secretary, Agathon Jean-François Fain, remarked that it was an occasional spectacle to see Napoleon ride:

“He [Napoleon] rode recklessly and dangerously. He hunched forward in the saddle, holding the reins loose in his right hand while leaving his left arm free and moving his whole body to the horse’s rhythm.”

Agathon Jean-François Fain

The list of Napoleon’s horses is, at best, incomplete. Strangely, the name of the illustrious Marengo does not exist in the records of the imperial stables or any other French archives, despite his widespread fame. In her exhaustive study of “Marengo: The Myth of Napoleon’s Horse,” Australian author Jill Hamilton suggests that “Ali,” not “Marengo,” must be the official name of the horse.

Marengo in the Museum

The National Army Museum in London is where modern audiences may marvel at the skeleton of Marengo. Marengo’s hide was lost over time, and only the bones were left. However, the skeleton also lacks at least two hooves.

General Angerstein is reported to have been given one of the animal’s hind hooves, while each of his front hooves has been turned into a snuffbox or ashtray and displayed separately: one at Saint James’s Palace in London and the other at the Household Cavalry Museum after being discovered on the farm where Marengo died.

Marengo’s skeleton was cleaned up and repaired in 2017. National Army Museum staff felt this was necessary because the animal had been displayed in an unprofessional manner since the 19th century.

Napoleon’s Last Horse: Vizir

Vizir (‘Advisor’), Napoleon’s last horse, has been preserved in a stuffed state for posterity. It was in 1805 that the Sultan of Ottoman (Turkey), Selim III, presented the French emperor with this white Arabian thoroughbred as a gift. For a period of 10 years, Napoleon had the animal at his side; he rode it in Prussia at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt (1806), the Battle of Eylau (1807), and the Battle of Wagram (1809).

After Napoleon’s death, Vizir was sent to St. Helena and groomed there. The horse is currently on display in Paris’ Army Museum. On its left thigh, you can make out a crowned “N.”

But there are concerns about this horse as well. Few people are convinced that this is the same horse that Napoleon rode in those famous wars. The French Army Museum is fairly confident that this horse is Vizir; nonetheless, a notice in the exhibit reads “Si c’est bien lui” (If it is him).

Other Horses Rode by Napoleon

• Intendant – On Elba, Napoleon lavished extra care on his favorite display horse, a cream gene-colored Anglo-Norman, also known as “Coco”.
• Marie – According to legend, Napoleon replaced Marengo with this mare when he was injured at Waterloo.
• Roitelet – His ancestry most likely included both the English and the French. He dismounted Napoleon in the middle of a troop parade. He was not utilized by Napoleon again until Marengo was allegedly wounded in the Russian campaign. Roitelet was injured but later transferred to Elba.
• Tauris – Alexander I of Russia generously provided this white mare as a gift. Napoleon appreciated its attractiveness and brought it with him to the Russian campaign. They both returned to Elba together.
• Vizir – Another one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s war horses was named Vizir.
• Wagram – A gray Arabian horse known for its beauty.

List of horses of Napoleon

The list of horses of Napoleon in alphabetical order: