Greenbrier Covered Bridge

Greenbrier Covered Bridge. Vital Crossing. During the war, Union and Confederate forces crossed the Greenbrier River covered bridge many times to attack and counterattack through Pocahontas County. This area was then called Marlin's Bottom, on or near three turnpikes. Across the river, the Huttonsville, Marlin's Bottom, and Lewisburg Turnpike (now U.S. Route 219) linked the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike (U.S Route 250) on the north with Lewisburg on the south. The Marlin's Bottom and Huntersville Turnpike to Huntersville, six miles behind you, and the Huntersville and Warm Springs Turnpike that continued east to Warm Springs in Virginia now comprise State Route 39. These hard surfaced turnpikes were strategically important for the armies moving through the rugged terrain, especially during brutal winters., Confederate Gen, Robert E. Lee and his army marched from Huntersville across the bridge in 1861 to the Tygart River Valley., In January 1862, Union Maj. George P. Webster, 25th Ohio Infantry, led a 738-man detachment from Huttonsville to seize Huntersville and destroy supplies. He crossed the river a mile north of here and marched into Huntersville, routing the few defenders. He burned the stores and then marched across the bridge and back to Huttonsville, with only one man wounded. Union Gen. William W. Averell crossed the bridge on the first of three raids,on August 20–30, 1863, and again on November 4, culminating in the Battle of Droop Mountain, 16 miles south. Confederate Gen. Thomas L. Rosser led 300 cavalrymen from his camp near Staunton to raid a Union supply depot at Beverly, January 7-18, 1865, and crossed the bridge as he returned., (captions) , Union winter camp , Courtesy Library of Congress , Gen. William W. Averell Library of Congress , Gen. Thomas L. Rosser Library of Congress , Rosser's 1865 raid, from the Official Military Atlas of the Civil War (1895), (sidebar) , Civil engineer Lemuel Chenoweth (1811-1887) designed and constructed the Greenbrier River Bridge in the 1850s. Chenoweth, a masterful builder of wooden truss bridges, constructed several in West Virginia that still stand, most notably the one at Philippi, site of the first land battle of the war on June 3, 1861. The Greenbrier River Bridge was demolished and replaced in 1915. , (caption) Greenbrier Bridge , Courtesy West Virginia University