Page:The Atlantic Monthly Volume 12.pdf/810

796 Recent American

a

be

of to

a

on

ly

is

of of

be

of to

be

is

bridges

be

to

to

as

of

in

is

It

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good hands. fortunate that this matter While hoping that the close the present war may, for long time, end the reign Mars, behooves never again be caught napping when the Republic as is to

us

be

do their allotted

building wooden trussed and proof enough that improve on the whatever can done military bridge-trains Europe may expected our hands. We shall not lack inventiveness; let us be careful not lack judgment, and by all means fair seeking for the best system. and honest When the experience this war can be generalized, more positive pontoon-sys tem will be exacted for our service. the art suspension

a

to

as

be

the pontoons

to

it is,

as

as

of to

failures

expected treatise on bridge-building. Our national eminence

a

be

of

it.

data which experience and invention af ford, our probable wants may well practicable. met Some system we must have; and, on the one hand, zeal for mobil per ity, commendable must not mitted invite grand disasters through

tions from the designer's

at

which shall overcome all All that should be ex the faults to a practi cal minimum, while meeting the general wants of the service in a satisfactory man ner. The lack of mobility in any bridge train which can be pronounced always trust worthy may, perhaps, compel the adoption, in addition to the bateau-train, of a light equipage for use in quick movements. This will, however, create complication, which is nearly as objectionable here as in the calibre of guns. Thus it is that any solu tion may prove not exactly the best one for the particular cases which may arise under All that should demanded is, that, by the application sound judgment the serious objections. pected is to reduce

as of in to

bridge-equipage

it

backs, and to this cause may well be as cribed much of the fatal delay before the Fredericksburg crossing. It is a hopeless problem to devise any

work; while, on the other hand, morbid desire insure absolutely trustworthy so lidity construction must restrained from imposing needless burdens, which may habitually make our crossings Fredericks burg affairs. Between these extremes lies the right road. American skill has hard exhausted its resources this problem. The suspension-bridge train, description which General Meigs has published, deserving consideration for many cases campaigns. General Haupt's remark able railroad-bridges thrown over the Rap pahannock River and Potomac Creek, the latter nine working-days, were struct ures such striking and judicious bold justify most hopeful anticipa ness of

service, and it is specially commended by its thoroughly proved efficiency, and by its utility as an independent boat. Its great weight and the consequent difficulty of its transportation are the great draw

[December

in

bateau system, the various trestle systems, and many others. The French wooden bateau is the pontoon chiefly used in our

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