This Had Just Been
Completed, And An Engine Had Passed Over It.
I must confess that it
looked to me most perilously insecure; but the eye uneducated in
such mysteries is a bad judge of engineering work.
I passed with a
horse backward and forward on it, and it did not tumble down then;
but I confess that on the first attempt I was glad enough to lead
the horse by the bridle.
That bridge was certainly a beautiful fabric, and built in a most
lovely spot. Immediately under it there was also a pontoon bridge.
The tents of General McCook's division were immediately at the
northern end of it, and the whole place was alive with soldiers,
nailing down planks, pulling up temporary rails at each side,
carrying over straw for the horses, and preparing for the general
advance of the troops. It was a glorious day. There had been heavy
frost at night; but the air was dry, and the sun though cold was
bright. I do not know when I saw a prettier picture. It would
perhaps have been nothing without the loveliness of the river
scenery; but the winding of the stream at the spot, the sharp wooded
hills on each side, the forest openings, and the busy, eager,
strange life together filled the place with no common interest. The
officers of the army at the spot spoke with bitterest condemnation
of the vandalism of their enemy in destroying the bridge. The
justice of the indignation I ventured very strongly to question.
"Surely you would have destroyed their bridge?" I said.
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