While my father was consulting


with General Meigs, the General stated that light military suspension bridges would be a good thing for the army to have. My father thought so, too, mentioning at the same time that he had a son in the army with sufficient technical experience to put them up… Arriving in Washington, I was


ordered to write a book on military suspension bridges, which I did in three weeks.


Te Army Quartermaster’s Department published 500 copies of Washington Roebling’s booklet, in May 1862, (Fig. 3) and General Meigs subsequently ordered Roebling to build a suspension bridge over the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, Va., to replace a bridge destroyed by Confederate soldiers. With wire ropes supplied by his father in Trenton,


Fig. 3: Instructions for Transport and Erection of Military Wire Suspension-Bridge Equipage. Quartermaster’s Department, U.S. Army, 1862. Written by Washington Roebling in 1862, the booklet’s “Bill of Materials” for 150 and 200-ft. spans specified 1 ½ in. diameter main suspension ropes, ½ in. diameter suspender ropes, and 7/8 in. diameter guy ropes. Washington built temporary suspension bridges for the Union Army over the Rappahannock and Shenandoah Rivers. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute


“Arriving in Washington, I was ordered to write a book on military suspension bridges, which I did in three weeks.” - Washington A. Roebling


Roebling built the 1,000 ft. long bridge on 14 piers of the old bridge, and as he later recalled,


It was in use over a month. When the place was evacuated, General Burnside blew up the anchorage, precipitating the bridge and cables into the river. Te rebels later fished them out and used them as ferry ropes down south…One never knows what military exigencies may compel the abandonment of such structures.


In early 1863, Washington was assigned to Brigadier General Gouverneur Warren, the Chief Engineer of the Army, who ordered him to build a suspension bridge over the Shenandoah River at Harpers Ferry. Gen. Warren characterized Washington’s construction of the bridge with three spans ranging from 250 to 275 ft. as “a delicate operation which no one but an expert in this kind of bridge could have safely performed.” Ascending in a hot air balloon after the Battle of Chancellorsville, Washington observed Confederate troops heading northwest. As the Confederates approached Gettysburg, Gen. Warren needed topographical maps of the area, and


22 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2013 WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE


Washington rode quickly to Trenton to obtain maps that his father had, and he nearly fell into Confederate hands upon his return. On July 2, with Union forces arrayed along Cemetery Ridge,


General George Mead sent General Warren and his aides to see that Little Round Top, the strategic hill to the south, was adequately defended. Discovering that it was not, Washington helped hoist cannons and direct Union troops to the top, and the famous defense of Little Round Top that day kept Confederate troops from flanking the Union line. Washington was subsequently promoted to Lieutenant, and Gen. Warren wrote, “Lieut. W. A. Roebling’s services to me are invaluable and by his ability and his exertions he has won the promotion.” In February 1864, Gen. Warren ordered Lt. Roebling to build a pavilion in Culpeper, Va., for the 2nd Army Corps Ball, and the General invited his sister, Miss Emily Warren, to attend from Cold Spring, N.Y. (Fig. 4). Washington soon reported to his own sister Elvira in Trenton that Emily had captured his heart; “I don’t suppose you can imagine the splendid opportunities we have for courting each other; the General went away to Baltimore leaving


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