Frank Moore, ed. Vol. 4. New York: G. P. Putnam, 1863
Rebuilding of Gauley Bridge.—A correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, under date of February seventeenth, says:
The Gauley Bridge, burnt by the rebel General Wise, as been rebuilt by Captain E. P. Fitch, the brigade quartermaster, attached to the staff of Gen. Cox.
It was constructed in twenty-three working days from the date of making the contract, and was open for travel on the first day of this month. This bridge is about five hundred and eighty-five feet long, ten feet in width, divided into three spans. The main sustaining parts are one and one quarter inch wire ropes.
The roadway is of wood and so ingeniously braced that detachments of cavalry ride over it at a charge, producing no more, or in fact not as much vibration as is induced under similar circumstances on a thorough truss-bridge. The Twenty-eighth regiment, Ohio volunteers, Col. Moore, Capt. Simmons’s battery, and Capt. Schonberg’s cavalry, marched and counter-marched across it some days since, for the purpose of trying its stability. The entire Twenty-eighth regiment was closely packed on one span and a half, two sections of Capt. Simmons’s battery occupying another span at the same time.
This immense load upon the bridge was borne at the halt and in motion, portions of it marching to the music of the band at cadence step, without producing the slightest evidence of weakness. The entire work was executed by Messrs. Stone, Quigley & Burton, bridge-builders of Philadelphia.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: February 1862