Pontoon Bridges

At Fredericksburg, the Union army crossed the Rappahannock River on temporary floating bridges built on pontoons. More than 30,000 Union soldiers crossed the two bridges spanning the river there. Under ideal conditions, skilled engineers could construct such a bridge in a couple of hours by rowing or poling pontoon boats into the river, connecting the boats with large side rails called bulks, and placing wooden boards called chesses across the bulks as flooring. The engineers then staked the bridge to the shore and dropped anchors in the river to steady it against the force of the current.

Fredericksburg, Virginia · United States