Charles Williams’ caricature presents one of the battles in Napoleon’s Poland campaign during 1806 and 1807, in his attempt to cut the ties between Poland and Russia. The December 26, 1806 battle at Pultusk is represented with bears (Russians) and apes (French) and rats (Polish).
Leading the Russians is Bennigsen, who is encased from waist to ankles in a cask inscribed Spirited \ Benn \ In \ Gin. Another Russian officer shovels French apes into an oven, baking “A Batch of Real French Bread.” At the top, flies a guardian angel with a shield labeled K+Amen+Sky, representing the Russian Field Marshal Michel Fédorovitch Kamenskoi.
Napoleon is in a tree on the right, dressed as a rat wearing a feathered bicorne hat. He says, “I am determined to Beat these brutes in spite of their Teeth” as his soldiers use pincers to pull the bears’ teeth (pull tusk). The French troops had trouble moving through the mud and swamps, arriving late to their positions. The caricature shows them advancing across the River Bug (the signpost reads Bug-Water), in which some are drowning. John Bull is seen as a bull on the hill to the left.
Attributed to Charles Williams (1797-1830), The Battle of Pul-Tusk, 1807. Hand colored etching. Graphic Arts British Caricature.