On May 10, 1864, the day after defeating Confederate forces at the battle of Cloyd's Mountain, Union Gen. George Crook's Army of the Kanawha attacked and burned the railroad bridge over the New River. During the Civil War, the railroad was a major strategic resource for rapidly massing troops and delivering food and munitions over long distances, and U.S. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's plans for a Union offensive on all fronts in 1864 led to the destruction of this important 780-foot bridge. By mid-morning, Crook's 6,000 men, having torn up railroad tracks as they advanced from Dublin, reached the north end of the bridge with 12 pieces of artillery. Confederate commander Col. John McCausland had placed 2,000 soldiers and 14 guns at the south end after burning the turnpike bridge at Ingles Ferry, while sharpshooters on both sides occupied the riverbanks. The U.S. force included two future presidents, Col. Rutherford B. Hayes and Lt. William McKinley. After an artillery duel, the Confederates had exhausted their ammunition by 1 p.m. and withdrew to Christiansburg. Federal troops then burned the bridge's wooden upper structure but, lacking explosives, left the stone piers standing. Operating deep in enemy territory and uncertain of the fate of the other Union armies in Virginia, Crook returned to West Virginia. By June 11, train traffic across the New River had been restored, and it continued until Union troops under Gen. George Stoneman disabled several bridge trusses on April 6, 1865, three days before Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House.