When command passed to Kléber, Desaix was one of the small parties selected to accompany Bonaparte. However, it was months before he could join the new First Consul. The campaign of 1800 was close to its climax when Desaix, at last, arrived in Italy. He was immediately assigned to the command of a corps of two infantry divisions. Three days later (14 June), detached, with Boudet's division, at Rivalta, he heard the cannon of Marengo on his right. Taking the initiative he marched at once towards the sound, meeting Bonaparte's staff officer, who had come to recall him, halfway on the route. He arrived with Boudet's division at the moment when the Austrians were victorious all along the line. Exclaiming, "There is yet time to win another battle!" he led his three regiments straight against the enemy's center. At the moment of victory, Desaix was killed by a musket ball. It happened to be that same day, when Jean-Baptiste Kleber, Desaix's good friend, and comrade, governor-general of Egypt, was assassinated in Cairo. Upon hearing the news of Desaix's death, a grief-stricken Napoleon exclaimed, "Why am I not allowed to weep?"