Herman Haupt, born in 1817 and after graduating from West Point entering the railroad industry, rose rapidly in his profession and in 1862 was called on by the Secretary of War to help reconstruct railroads destroyed by retreating Confederates. He rebuilt the rail system and organized an efficient rail operation to resupply the Union. Using troop labor, he rebuilt the Potomac Creek Bridge in nine days although it had originally taken one year to build. After visiting the site, President Lincoln told his cabinet that it was "The most remarkable structure that eyes ever rested upon. That man Haupt has built a bridge across Potomac Creek, about 400 feet long and nearly 100 feet high, over which loaded trains are running every hour, and, upon my words, Gentlemen, there's nothing in it but bean poles and cornstalks." During the Civil War, Haupt served as Chief of Construction and Transportation for the US Military Railroad System. After the war, he served as General Manager/Chief Engineer of the Shenandoah Valley, the Richmond and Danville, and the Northern Pacific Railroads, and as President of the Dakota and Great Southern Railroad. The Bunker Hill covered bridge is the only remaining example in the world of the Haupt Truss in wood. In 1851, Haupt published General Theory of Bridge Construction, detailing his patent of Dec. 27, 1839, Improving on the Lattice Truss, and seeking formulae for determining weight distribution and bridge capacities. His book, detailing discoveries of a decade earlier, became a standard civil engineering text at the main engineering schools of the era.