Page:Boissonnas, Un Vaincu, English, 1875.djvu/79



Here we see the Fifth New Hampshire Infantry, reinforced by details from the Sixty-fourth New York and from the Irish brigade, at work in the swamp strengthening the upper bridge across the Chickahominy so as to enable Sumner′s troops to cross. The bridge gad been completed on the night of May 29, 1862, and Colonel Cross, of the Fifth New Hampshire, was the first man to ride over it. The heavy rains on the night of May 30th had so loosened the supports that when Sumner led his troops across on the afternoon of May 31st only the weight of the cautiously marching column kept the logs in place. Sumner named it the Grapevine Bridge because of its tortuous course. It enabled his troops to turn the tide at Fair Oaks and ward off Federal defeat on the first day. After they had crossed much of the Grapevine Bridge was submerged by the rising flood of the Chickahominy.