Back
Back

France - 1800

Passage du Grand Saint Bernard

Obverse
Obverse:
Victory guiding two horses harnessed to a piece of artillery, which they appear to be dragging over the rugged mountain.
Exergue:
L'ARMÉE FRANÇAISE PASSE LE ST. BERNARD, XXVIII FLOREAL, AN VIII. MD
Size:
41 mm.
Reverse
Reverse:
A ring, on which are suspended eleven keys; on each side a palm branch encircling them.
Legend:
BATAILLE DE MARENGO.
Exergue:
XXV PRAIRIAL, AN VIII. MDCCC.

Laskey:

When the campaign was opened on the Rhine, the army of reserve began its march from Dijon; the government announced it to be at that time 50,000 strong, and receiving reinforcements every day. The chief Consul arrived at Dijon and reviewed the army. He promised his troops at Dijon, that in two decades he would lead them to Milan. He performed his journey from Paris to Dijon in twenty-five hours, and immediately sent an account of his arrival to the second and third Consuls at Paris. Before the allies even knew of his departure he was in the Valais, at the house of convalescence, belonging to the Monks of St. Bernard, there he continued three days, and made himself acquainted with all the local obstacles that he had to surmount.

 
From mount St. Bernard the army began to meet with difficulties, which might have been thought insurmountable, but enthusiasm conquered them all. They had to draw their artillery along narrow paths, in many places almost perpendicular; and other mountains of snow; a very small force would have arrested their progress, but they met no opposition.
 
They reached St. Peter near the great mountain St. Bernard, on the 15th May, General Berthier acting as Bonaparte's lieutenant. The whole park of artillery was collected there. The mountain they had to pass was over 1800 feet above the level of the sea; all wild and barren, a vast extent of snow and ice, mingled with a terrific silence. Over this frightful mountain the mind of Bonaparte conceived the possibility of passing his army with all its artillery, baggage &c. Obstacles almost invincible presented themselves, but all was foreseen by the genius who conceived the enterprise, and contrived every thing to carry it into execution.
 
The cannon, caissons, forges, &c. were immediately dismounted piece-meal; a number of trees were hollowed like troughs, in which the pieces of cannons might safely slide, and five or six hundred men drew them up these tremendous heights; the wheels were carried on poles; sledges conveyed the axle-trees; and empty caissons and mules were loaded with the ammunition boxes made of fir.
 
The Consul took no more baggage than was absolutely necessary. It took five hours to climb as high as the Monastery of the Bernardines, where every individual was refreshed by a glass of wine; this though frozen, was to them delicious, and no one would have exchanged it for all the gold of Peru. There were still six leagues to go, and the rapidity of the descent made that distance truly terrible; men and horses constantly falling, and often recovering with the greatest difficulty.
 
Bonaparte entered the Monastery, and staid about an hour; and on leaving it, exhorted these respectable hermits to continue to deserve well of humanity. His mules and horses were in the train; he entered a path which some infantry pursued, the descent was so steep, that he was forced to slide down above two hundred feet on his derriere end, and was nearly swallowed up by coming into contact with a collection of thawed snow; the holes into which the soldiers constantly fell, made this part of the journey worse than the ascending, the march commenced at midnight, and did not finish till about nine o'clock the next evening; for near fourteen leagues the army had scarcely had a meal, or any repose, yet at the end of the journey, exhausted nature so overcame even the most robust amongst them, that they quietly resigned themselves into the arms of Morpheus, without ever thinking of their evening repast.
 
Before their Consul ascended the mountain steep, he addressed a letter to his brother Lucien, then minister of the interior, which reached Paris on the 23rd of May. He then stated, that he was at the foot of the great Alps, in the midst of the Valais. The great St. Bernard offered many obstacles, but they are surmounted; the army is descending by forced marches, and in three days all will be over.
 

Bramsen:

Bramsen - 37
Passage du Saint-Bernhard
La Victoire sur un canon placé sur un traîneau auquel sont attelés deux chevaux qu'elle dirige sur le sommet d'une montagne escarpée.
Rev: BATAILLE DE MARENGO. Onze clefs suspendues à un anneau: de chaque côté, une palme.
Exergue: L'ARMÉE FRANÇAISE PASSE LE ST. BERNARD, XXVIII FLOREAL, AN VIII. MDCCC. DUBOIS F. DENON D.
Exergue: XXV PRAIRIAL, AN VIII. MDCCC.
Médaille 41 mm. - T.N. 76, 9; H. m. 7, 23; M.F. 322, 69.
Par la convention d'Alexandrie, le 15 juin 1800, deux jours après la bataille de Marengo, signée entre Berthier et Melas, 12 chateaux (et non pas 11) furent remis aux troupes françaises.

d'Essling:

d'Essling - 833
Bataille de Marengo (Dubois).
Canon trainé par deux chevaux guidés par la Victoire.
A l'ex: L'ARMÉE FRANÇAISE PASSE LE ST. BERNARD, etc. R. Entre deux palmes clefs suspendues à un anneau.
(TN. 76.9 - M. 23). Br. 41 mm. TB.