Bouchard with the leather awning

He was then put in charge of rebuilding of Fort Julien, an old Mameluke fortification near the port city of Rosetta (present-day Rashid) which Bonaparte had renamed after Thomas Prosper Jullien, recently assassinated in Egypt. During these works he discovered the Rosetta Stone on 15 or 19 July 1799. He was immediately convinced of its importance, an enthusiasm he passed on to generals Menou and Bonaparte. He found himself caught up in the fiasco which led to the fall of the fort of El-Arish, which he and general Cazals were defending against the Ottomans. He was sent as an envoy to the Grand Vizir but was arrested, disarmed and imprisoned in Damascus for forty-two days. On his release he was promoted to captain on 1 May 1800 and attached again to the force at Rosetta, where he was again captured when the small French garrison Fort Jullien had to capitulate to the 2,000 British and 4,000 Ottoman troops sent against them. He was released at the end of the war in Egypt and got back to Marseille on 30 July 1801.