" "This magnificent undertaking has been favorably compared with
the celebrated Rhine bridge of Julius Caesar. When it is remembered,
however, that the Roman work was performed in summer, across a river
only half as broad as the Scheldt, free from the disturbing action of
the tides, and flowing through an unresisting country, while the whole
character of the structure, intended only to serve for the single
passage of an army, was far inferior to the massive solidity of Parma's
bridge, it seems not unreasonable to assign the superiority to the
general who had surmounted all the obstacles of a northern winter,
vehement ebb and flow from the sea, and enterprising and desperate
enemies at every point."[G]
Even the fragile bridges of our own country, during the Revolution, have
an historical importance in the story of war: the "Great Bridge" across
the Elizabeth River, nine miles from Norfolk in Virginia, the floating
bridge at Ticonderoga, that which spanned Stony Brook in New Jersey, and
many others, are identified with strife or stratagem: King's Bridge was
a formidable barrier to the invasion of New York by land. Indeed, from
Trenton to Lodi, military annals have few more fierce conflicts than
those wherein the bridge of the battle-ground is disputed; to cross one
is often a declaration of war, and Rubicons abound in history.
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