[Illustration: (Coat of Arms)] [Illustration: (Stylized "N")] [Illustration: From a Painting by Paul Delaroche NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, "SNUFF BOX" PORTRAIT] Military Career OF Napoleon the Great An Account of the Remarkable Campaigns of the "Man of Destiny" Authentic Anecdotes of the Battlefield as Told by the Famous Marshals and Generals of the First Empire BY Montgomery B. Gibbs "_He fought a thousand glorious wars, And more than half the world was his; And somewhere, now, in yonder stars, Can tell, mayhap, what greatness is._" --THACKERAY CHICAGO: E. A. WEEKS & COMPANY, 521-531 Wabash Ave. COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY THE WERNER COMPANY Mil. Car. Napoleon To My Friend JOHN L. STODDARD This Volume is Affectionately Dedicated. Preface. As the closing chapters of this volume were being written, a "Napoleonic wave" seemed to be passing over the country, an echo, no doubt, of the furore which Napoleon's name has excited in France during the past three years. One writer wittily says: "Where'er I turn, I'm forced to learn, Some detail of his life, I read about his sword and hats, And how he beat his wife." It seems but fair, therefore, for the author of this volume to declare that the revival of interest in the career of the man who for fifteen years had been the glory of France, has in no way caused the hasty writing, or publication, of this anecdotal military history. It is the result of years of study, and represents, not only a careful reading of those authorities which all must have access to who would write intelligently of the subject, but also of the more recent volumes which have appeared from time to time, each having something new to reveal concerning the seemingly inexhaustible fund of information pertaining to this son of a poor Corsican gentleman, who as his greatest biographer has said of him, "played in the world the parts of Alexander, Hannibal, Cæsar and Charlemagne."