Buonaparte reached Alexandria on the evening of the 24th of July, 1799, where he found his army already posted in the neighborhood of Aboukir, and prepared to attack the Turks on the morrow.

Surveying their entrenched camp from the heights above with Murat, he said, “Go how it may, the battle of tomorrow will decide the fate of the world.” “Of this army, at least,” answered Murat; “but the Turks have no cavalry, and, if ever infantry were charged by horse, they shall be so by mine.”

On the 25th the attack was commenced by the French, and resisted for some time by the Turks with success. Murat, at length, was able to charge their main body in flank, when the troops became panic-stricken, and the battle was changed into a massacre; and numerous Turks, to escape the swords of the French, precipitated themselves into the sea, where they were nearly all drowned. This eventful day crowned the labors of Buonaparte in Egypt with glory and honor; and after the victory, Kleber, in a transport of admiration, pressed Napoleon in his arms, saying, “General! you are the greatest of men!”