NAPOLEON AT ARCOLE—By Antoine Jean Gros
NAPOLEON AT ARCOLE, from the painting by Antoine Jean Gros, is the subject of one of the intaglio-gravure pictures illustrating “Napoleon Bonaparte.”
MONDAY DAILY READING IN THE MENTOR COURSE
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
AT THE BRIDGE AT ARCOLE
“Follow your general!” was the cry with which young Bonaparte urged his army to victory at Arcole. He was only twenty-seven years old at the time—and yet was commander in chief of the army of Italy. The years that brought Napoleon into prominence had been troublous ones. He was born in Corsica, and in moderate circumstances. The exact date of his birth is uncertain. At school he said it was 1768. It is stated that he gave this date because that made him a citizen of Genoa, inasmuch as Corsica was at that time a dependency of Genoa. Later on he said that he was born in 1769; for Corsica had then become a French possession, and this made him a Frenchman by birth. After early schooling at Brienne young Napoleon entered the military academy of Paris in 1784. After a year he was commissioned as a sublieutenant in the regular army, and made rapid progress from the start. As lieutenant colonel he distinguished himself in the wars of Spain. He held the mobs boldly and in masterful manner during the turbulent scenes in the early days of the Revolution. Barras, a high official, recognized his military genius and gave Bonaparte command of the army of Italy.
The capture of the bridge at Arcole was essential to the success of the Italian campaign. For three days the Austrian army gallantly opposed the attacks of Napoleon’s forces, and it was only by the personal courage of the young general that victory was finally won. Bonaparte personally led a rush across the bridge at Arcole, and he was the real vital force in the battle. He saw his staff killed or wounded about him during the onslaughts. Once he himself was swept by a counter attack of the Austrian forces into a swamp, where he nearly perished.
Napoleon’s army consisted of 18,000 men, which he had moved over the narrow and rugged roads with heavy baggage at a rate of fourteen miles a day for three consecutive days,—the same rate at which Stonewall Jackson made his marches through the Shenandoah Valley. It was a remarkable achievement under the conditions Napoleon had to face.
And with this force he met an Austrian army of 40,000 and defeated it signally after a bitter engagement.