Pontoon Bridges
At Fredericksburg, the Union army crosseed the Rappahannock River by means of temporary, floating bridges built upon pontoons. In front of you is a reconstructed section of such a bridge, built to eighty percent of its original size. More than 30,000 Union soldiers crossed the two bridges that spanned the river below you.
Under ideal conditions skilled engineers could construct a bridge in a couple of hours. First, they would row or pole pontoon boats into the river. Then they would connect the boats by means of large side rails known as bulks. Wooden boards, called chesses, placed across the bulks as flooring completed the bridges. Engineers staked the bridge to the shore and dropped anchors in the river to steady it against the force of the current.
Marker can be reached from Chatham Lane.
Courtesy hmdb.org
