The first bridge crossing of the Tennessee River at Chattanooga was erected in 1864 under the order of Montgomery Meigs, Quartermaster General of the Union armies. This clearing highlights the alignment where the wooden bridge, with its trestled northern approach, crossed the southern portions of Renaissance Park.

The bridge was constructed out of green timber, cut and sawed from trees from the hills where Hill City (North Chattanooga) now stands and the adjacent hills. Work in the river was facilitated by log rafts and pontoon floats. Bridge construction was staged from the north shore so that materials could be carried across completed portions of the span.

After the war, the military bridge was given to the city of Chattanooga, but it proved to be more of a liability than an asset. Marcus B. Long (1914) recalled that a herd of mules being driven across the span collapsed the draw span and resulted in many of the mules being killed in the fall to the river. The military bridge was swept away in the flood of April 1867.

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Show me all markers in:  Chattanooga, TN  |  Hamilton County  |  37405  |  Tennessee  |  United States of America

Union Block House
Camp Contraband
United States Colored Troops
Occupied Chattanooga
1838 Cherokee Removal & Trail of Tears
Stickball / Seven Sisters
Trail of Tears
1790 John Ross 1866
Chattanooga's First Citizens
Ross's Landing

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