944) ANNU 
nonade was kept up, on both sides, 
during great part of the day. 
But the French general was con- 
vinced, that unless he succeeded in 
effecting a passage over the bridge, 
his failure would be construed into 
adefeat, and the reputation of the 
French arms would suffer in the opi- 
mion of the public. Full of this 
ideay which was certainly well 
founded, he determined to try every 
effort, and to encounter every per- 
sonal risk, in order to carry a point 
on which so much appeared at issue. 
Forming together the selectest bo- 
dies of his army, he led them in 
person to the attack of the bridge, 
in the midst of a most tremendous 
fire. The intrepidity be displayed 
was necessary to confirm the cou- 
rage of his men, whom the great. 
ness of the danger seemed to stag- 
ger: but his presence, and that of 
all the chief officers in the French 
army, animated the soldiers to such 
a degree, that they rushed forward 
with an impetucsity which nothing 
was able to withstand. They crossed 
the bridge and assailed the whole 
line of the Austrian artillery, which 
was instantly broken. They fell 
with equal fury on the troops ihat 
advanced to charge them, who 
were thrown into disorder, and put 
to flight on every side. The victo- 
ry was complete. Had it not been 
for the excessive fatigue undergone 
by the French, a great proportion 
of whom had marched ten leagues 
that day to join the army, the loss 
of the Imperialists, though great, 
UAL! REGISTER 
1796. 
would have been much greater. | It 
was owing to the approach of night 
that the French desisted from the 
pursuit. Favoured by darkness, 
Beanlien withdrew from the field 
of batue, alter losing upwards of 
two thousand men, killed, wound- 
ed,and taken, and twenty pieces 
of cannon. © The loss of the French 
was considerable: the crossing of 
the bridge alone cost them neara 
thousand of their boldest men, who 
were destroyed by the batteries 
pointed onit from the Austrian side 
of the river. 
This defeat of the Imperial army 
appeared so decisive to marshal 
Beaulieu that he durst not venture 
to stop the progres; of the victors 
towards Milan. Collecting the 
wrecks of his army, be made a 
speedy retreat towards Mantua, pur- 
sued by a large body of the French, 
who, in their way, seized on. Piz- 
zighitona and Cremona, two places 
of note. The main body under 
Buonaparte proceeded to Milan, af- 
ter taking Pavia, where all the Aus- 
trian magazines fell into the hands 
of the l’rench. 
Buonaparte entered Milan the fif- 
teenth of May, five days after the 
battle of Lodi, which, conforma- 
bly to his opinion and that of his 
rival, Beaulieu, proved wholly de- 
cisive of the fate of Lombardy. 
Here the French general thought it 
necessary to allow his people some 
days of repose, after the unceasing 
toils of awhole month, marked by 
uninterrupted victories. 
_ CHAP. 
