Building Southside Railroad

For four years, the bridge acted solely as a commercial route, transporting goods such as tobacco food, and passengers, to and from Lynchburg, Richmond and the areas in between. This went on until 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War. Then the railroad was put to military use, transporting soldiers and military equipment from the central parts of the state to Richmond, the Confederacy’s capital. In April of 1865, the bridge became a target of the war, when the retreating Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee crossed High Bridge and the wagon bridge. After his army had crossed, Lee gave the orders for his soldiers to set fire to the bridges in an attempt to evade the pursuing Union armies of the Potomac, the James, and the Shenandoah, all under General Uylessus S. Grant. While the railroad bridge burned rather well, the wagon bridge was wet from the overflowing Appomattox river and the torrential downpours that had been ongoing for the past week and failed to burn steadily. With the Union army on their heels, the Confederates were forced to abandon any effort of trying to get the bridge to ignite, allowing for Grant’s pursuing armies to continue the chase.

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References

Text:

Vail, Willis W. High Bridge: “The End of Our Fifteen Months’ Labor” The story of building the Norfolk Western viaduct near Farmville, Virginia. (2014. Friends of High Bridge Trail State Park. United States of America.) Page 13.

Bisbee, James Michael. The History of the Southside Railroad 1846-1870. University of Richmond. 1994.

Image:

O'Sulivan, Timothy H., "High Bridge over the Appomattox River. North east view." 1865, Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018672197/