...ble measure for destroying the bridges. When the retreat is made descending the course of a river, he may throw upon it wooden buildings, fire ships, mills, as the Aurtrians did against the army of Jourdan , in 1796, near Neuweied upon the Rhine, where they came near compromising the army of the Sambre and Mense. The Arch-Duke Charles did as much in 1809 at the famous passage at Essling. He broke th...