ad expected the passage of
the Po would prove the most bold and difficult manoeuver of the
campaign. But it was no sooner accomplished than he again showed a
perfect mastery of his art by so manoeuvering as to avoid an
engagement while the great river was still immediately in his rear. He
was then summoned to meet a third emergency of equal consequence. The
Adda is fordable in some places at certain times, but not easily; and
at Lodi a wooden bridge about two hundred yards in length then
occupied the site of the later solid structure of masonry and iron.
The approach to this bridge Beaulieu had seized and fortified.
Northwestward was Milan; to the east lay the almost impregnable
fortress of Mantua. Beaten at Lodi, the Austrians might still retreat,
and make a stand under the walls of either town with some hope of
victory: it was Bonaparte's intention so to disorganize his enemy's
army that neither would be possible. Accordingly on May tenth the
French forces were concentrated for the advance. They started
immediately and marched so swiftly that they overtook the Austrian
rear-guard before it could withdraw behind the old Gothic walls of the
town, and close the gates. Driving them onward, the French fought as
they marched. A decisive conflict cleared the streets; and after a
stubborn resistance the brave defenders retreated over the bridge to
the eastern bank of what was now their last rampart, the river. With
cool and desperate courage, Sebottendorf, whose Austrians numbered
less than ten thousand men, then brought into action his artillery,
and swept the wooden roadway.

In a short time the bridge would no doubt have been in flames; it was
uncertain whether the shifting and gravelly bottom of the stream above
or below would either yield a ford or permit a crossing by any other
means. Under Bonaparte's personal supervision, and therefore with
miraculous speed, the French batteries were placed and began an
answering thunder. In an access of personal zeal, the commander even
threw himself for an instant into the whirling hail of shot and
bullets, in order the better to aim two guns which in the hurry had
been misdirected. Under this terrible fire and counterfire it was
impossible for the Austrians to apply a torch to any portion of the
structure. Behind the French guns were three thousand grenadiers
waiting for a signal. Soon the crisis came. A troop of Bonaparte's
cavalry had found the nearest ford a few hundred yards a