Marengo: The Myth of Napoleon’s Horse

By Jill Hamilton

Marengo, Napoleon Bonaparte’s ‘personal charger’ and his ‘favourite horse’, was used for recreation, speed and as a majestic pedestal. Marengo’s career had spanned the whole of the Napoleonic Wars, and who, to the sound of marching songs, drums, pipes and gunfire, had trotted, cantered and galloped from the Mediterranean to Paris, Italy, Germany and Austria. His skeleton resides at the National Army Museum, and is an example of how Napoleon made spectacular use of horses in battle.