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Chain Bridge

The Chain Bridge, a viaduct which crosses the Potomac River at Little Falls between Washington and Virginia, played a priminent role in the lives of many Vermont soldiers. The first two bridges on the site were wooden covered bridges; the first one collapsed, the second one burned. The third through fifth bridges were chain suspension bridges. The last one collapsed in 1852 and was replaced by a corssbeam truss structure that was extant during the Civil War. It continues to be referred to as the Chain Bridge up to the present time.





(Two views of the Chain Bridge during the Civil War, both from the Washington, DC side - Wikipedia/Library of Congress)




(Chain Bridge today - Wikipedia)


From the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia, the bridge crosses the Potomac River, some lowlands, and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, and ends at the intersection of the Clara Barton Parkway (where there is parking to access the canal 1/10 of a mile north of the bridge, at Mile Marker 4).


Larger Map/Directions - GPS Coordinates: 38.93,-77.114444

Links to correspondence, reports and biographical sketches refering to the Chain Bridge.

Bailey, Myron W., 3rd VT INF

Barnes, Robert C., 3rd VT INF

Chandler, Charles Marcellus, 6th VT INF

Dillingham, Edwin, 10th VT INF

Ellinwood, Eli, 2nd VT INF

Felch, Amanda M. Colburn Farnham, Nurse, 3rd VT INF

Fletcher, Enos, 2nd VT INF, 7th VT INF

French, George Quincy, 3rd VT INF

French, Horace, 3rd VT INF

Giddings, Benjamin F., 17th VT INF, 2nd USSS

Hodge, Freeman Orson, 5th VT INF

Holbrook, Thomas J., 1st USSS

Holmes, C. Hiram, 3rd VT INF, 1st USCI

Howard, Albert W., 11th VT INF

Hulburd, Daniel Campbell, 2nd VT INF

Hyde, Leo, 3rd VT INF

Johnson, Estelle Serena, Nurse, 4th VT INF

Kennedy, Thomas B., 6th VT INF

Kimball, Finette s. nee Percival, Camp-follower

McDonald, Abel B., USN

McDonald, Anson S., 4th VT INF, USN

Reed, Carolus Alonzo, 3rd VT INF

Rollins, David, 3rd VT INF, 7th VT INF

Scott, William, 3rd VT INF