Exile to Saint Helena
Napoleonic EraThe Second Fall
On 22 June 1815, only four days after the catastrophe at Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated for the second time. His return from his first exile on Elba—the dramatic 'Hundred Days'—had ended in disaster. This time the victorious allies were determined that the former emperor would never again threaten the peace of Europe. Napoleon briefly hoped to escape to the United States, travelling to the Atlantic port of Rochefort. But British warships blockaded the coast, and the roads to freedom closed one by one. Rather than risk capture by the vengeful royalist government of the restored Bourbons, Napoleon made a fateful decision: he would throw himself upon the mercy of his most persistent enemy, Britain.
Surrender to the British
On 15 July 1815, Napoleon boarded the British warship HMS Bellerophon and formally surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland. In a letter to the Prince Regent, he cast himself in a noble light, writing that he came 'to seat myself upon the hearth of the British people' and place himself 'under the protection of their laws.' The British were unmoved by the grand gesture. To them, Napoleon was not a guest but a prisoner whose ambitions had drenched Europe in war for over a decade. The government, led by Lord Liverpool, decided he could not remain in Europe—Elba had proven far too close and too easy to escape. They chose a place from which no return would be possible.
The Loneliest Rock
Saint Helena is a small volcanic island in the South Atlantic, roughly a thousand miles from the nearest mainland of Africa. Its very remoteness made it the perfect prison. Napoleon was transferred to HMS Northumberland and endured a long voyage of more than two months, arriving in October 1815. He was housed at Longwood House, a damp and windsw7ept residence on a plateau exposed to the elements. A small circle of loyal companions accompanied him into exile, including General Bertrand, Count de Las Cases, and General Gourgaud. Their memoirs would later shape how the world remembered these final years. British sentries watched the house day and night, and ships patrolled the surrounding waters.
A War of Wills
Relations between Napoleon and the island's governor, Sir Hudson Lowe, who arrived in 1816, quickly soured into bitter hostility. Lowe was a rigid, anxious man, terrified that his famous captive might escape or be rescued. He imposed strict rules, restricted Napoleon's movements, and even disputed whether the fallen ruler could be addressed as 'Emperor'—the British insisted on calling him 'General Bonaparte.' Napoleon, in turn, treated Lowe with contempt and complained of petty humiliations. To pass the long, monotonous hours, Napoleon dictated his memoirs, revisiting his campaigns and carefully crafting his own legend. He gardened, read, bathed for hours, and brooded over the past. He knew that history's judgment mattered as much as any battle.
Death and Legend
Napoleon's health declined steadily during his final years on the island. By early 1821 he was gravely ill, suffering severe stomach pain. He died on 5 May 1821, at around the age of fifty-one. The official autopsy attributed his death to stomach cancer, a disease that had also killed his father. In later years, some researchers argued that traces of arsenic found in his hair pointed to poisoning, but most modern historians consider stomach cancer the likeliest cause; arsenic was common in wallpaper dyes and many household products of the era. Napoleon was buried on Saint Helena, but in 1840 the French government arranged for his remains to be returned to Paris, where they were entombed with great ceremony at Les Invalides—a final triumph for a man who died a prisoner.
The Meaning of Saint Helena
Exile did not silence Napoleon; in some ways it amplified his voice. The memoirs dictated at Longwood, especially the widely read account by Las Cases, portrayed him as a champion of the French Revolution's ideals and a martyr to the jealousy of kings. This carefully cultivated 'Napoleonic legend' fed a wave of nostalgia in France and helped his nephew, Louis-Napoleon, rise to power as Emperor Napoleon III decades later. The lonely rock in the Atlantic, chosen precisely to make Napoleon disappear, instead became the stage for his transformation from defeated general into enduring myth.
Key Dates to Remember
- 22 June 1815 — Napoleon abdicates for the second time, four days after his defeat at Waterloo.
- 15 July 1815 — Napoleon surrenders to Captain Maitland aboard HMS Bellerophon.
- October 1815 — Napoleon arrives on Saint Helena and takes up residence at Longwood House.
- 1816 — Sir Hudson Lowe becomes governor, beginning years of bitter conflict with his captive.
- 5 May 1821 — Napoleon dies on Saint Helena, likely of stomach cancer.
- 1840 — Napoleon's remains are returned to France and entombed at Les Invalides in Paris.