Napoleon Bonepart was once defeated, and then retreated, from the field, after being overwhelmed by rabbits. He had gone-a-hunting them at the estate of Baron Thiebault who had bought a thousand rabbits for the very purpose of making it as easy as possible for Napoleon to have success in his murderous exploits.  “But how can I tell it or be believed?“ said the Baron “All those rabbits, which should have tried in vain, even by scattering themselves, to escape the shot, which the august hand destined for them, suddenly collected, first in knots, then in a body; instead of having recourse to a useless flight, they all faced about, and in an instant the whole phalanx flung itself upon Napoleon.”

The intrepid rabbits turned to the Emperor’s flank, attacked him frantically in the rear, refused to quit their hold, piled themselves up between his legs till they made him stagger, and forced the conqueror of conquerors, fairly exhausted, to retreat and leave them in possession of the field. 

Apparently the rabbits chosen were not wild ones, but ones that had been fed and bred to be rather large, and mistook the diminutive leader for the farmer coming to feed them – then mobbed him.