French General Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, and thousands of French ground and naval forces arrived in Newport in July of 1780 to assist the Americans in the War for Independence. After wintering in Newport, Rochambeau’s troops marched through Connecticut to join General George Washington’s Continental Army just over the New York border. The combined forces moved down the eastern seaboard and confronted Lieutenant General Earl Cornwallis and the British army in Yorktown, Virginia. After a prolonged siege, Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781, virtually ending the war and ensuring American independence. A bridge linking Newtown and Southbury across the Housatonic River helped create a route through western Connecticut that was critical to supplying Washington’s army and later carrying Rochambeau’s troops in 1781. The first bridge between Southbury and Newtown was built in 1766 by Thomas Toucey of Woodbury, but winter damage caused constant disrepair, and travelers also relied on Hinman’s Ferry and a river ford that became impassable when the Housatonic swelled. In 1778, Washington ordered army engineers to build a new bridge, most likely named Carleton’s Bridge for the officer in charge of construction. Built with log cribs filled with stone and sunk into place instead of pillars, it impressed French officers with its design. Some 4,700 French troops and most supply wagons crossed it between June 28 and July 1, 1781, while artillery units with siege cannons were too heavy for the bridge and used the ford about two miles north, dragging the cannon across the river with teams of oxen before regrouping and camping several miles west in Newtown. The victorious French Army crossed back over the bridge on October 24-26, 1782, then went on to camp at Breakneck Hill in Middlebury. The Old Meeting House in Newtown, once a place of worship, stood near the present flagpole location and was marked on French maps when the army passed through. Carleton’s Bridge required constant repairs and Hinman’s Ferry continued to operate alongside it until 1789, when brothers Abel, Isaac, and Thomas Bennett built a replacement just north of today’s Interstate 84. Called Bennett’s Bridge, it kept that name into the 20th century, and stone abutments from the 18th century bridge are still visible on the Newtown side of the river when the water is low.

Photo: Michael Herrick