Marengo, Napoleon Bonaparte's horse - Gustavo Mirabal Castro

Throughout history, there have been characters who have left their mark. Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the most outstanding characters in European history. He was an European ruler and military, arrived at Emperor of France thanks to his political ability and his military feats…Napoleon Bonaparte owes much of his military success to Marengo … but who is it?

The amount of historical information about Marengo, the horse of Napoleon Bonaparte, makes us think about the historical role of the horse. Currently the horse is not in a relevant role in history but when we look back we discover that our world was sculpted at the trot of a steed.

At the beginning of the 19th century, any military feat had to involve the horse as a means of transportation and military technology. The horse played a fundamental role for the movement of troops. With Napoleón Bonaparte, the protagonist horse was Marengo.

Napoleon is known to have been one of the greatest conquerors in history. But he never went alone. He always rode on a horse. One of the most special was Marengo, a beautiful horse of Arab race. Step into history for being the most famous of all the horses of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Marengo, an exceptional horse, stood out in Napoleon’s stable, which consisted of about 130 horses for his personal use. Some of his most famous steeds were also Vizir and Blanco.

Characteristics of Marengo

It was a strong and imposing horse
Small height, average approximately 1.45 meters.
Marengo was a horse of Arab breed.
It was named Marengo in honor of the Battle of Marengo in which the French imperial armies won in the town of
Marengo in Italy on July 14, 1800
Marengo was imported from Egypt in 1800 (the same year as the battle of Marengo)
This steed that lived around 38 years from 1793 to 1831.

Facts about the life of Marengo

It was a very intelligent horse, and also very fast.
In just five hours, Napoleon Bonaparte traveled on the back of Marengo the 130 kilometers away that separates Valladolid from Burgos.
Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte rode on Marengo in the following battles: Austerlitz, Jena, Wagram, and at the Battle of Waterloo.
Marengo, was wounded eight times in his career.
It is important to note that Marengo was one of the survivors of the withdrawal from Moscow in 1812.
The stallion was captured in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo by William Henry Francis Petre, 11th Baron Petre.
Henry Francis Petre sold Marengo to the infantry regiment of the Grenadier Guards, and they transferred him to a farm in Somerset where he lived quietly and happily until the end of his days.
He lived around 38 years, between 1793 and 1831. His skeleton is in the National Army Museum of Sandhurst.

Death of the Marengo Horse

After Marengo’s death, the owners gave up their skeleton for the historical value that it had to the Sandhurst National Army Museum. However, they stayed with the front hooves. An artisan embossed them in silver until they were converted into two decorative boxes. One of these pieces ended up in the museum, but the other was missing for almost 200 years.

For its part, the skeleton of Marengo, which was restored and temporarily relocated on the occasion of the celebration of the second centenary of the Battle of Waterloo, remains one of the attractions of the British Army Museum, although its front helmets rest in different places.

Anecdotal note

It is worth noting that Napoleon Bonaparte had approximately 130 horses for his personal use. Most of their equines were gray, bay or sorrel. His favorite horses were Arabs, the Bavarians and the Russians.

In this order of ideas, Napoleon gave classic or mythological names to his horses. Among those names are Cyrus, Taurus, Tamerlane, Nero and Cerberé. In addition it granted names to them of geographic places or important victories, so much that Cyrus was red-baptize like Austerlitz, a Friedland a Wagram, a Montevideo and a Cordova. Others received more creative names such as Roitelet, Intendant and Coquet.