A One Man Pontoon Boat

[frontrank2]

Union General Herman Haupt, a civil engineer, moves across the Potomac River in a one-man pontoon boat that he invented for scouting and bridge inspection in an image taken between 1860 and 1865. Haupt, an 1835 graduate of West Point, was chief of construction and transportation of U.S. military railroads during the war.

 

[Mike Serpa]

From his wikipedia page - In 1839, Haupt patented a bridge construction technique called the Haupt Truss.[5] Two of his Haupt truss bridges, both built in 1854, still stand in Altoona and Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

I s it safe to assume he was responsible for the Haupt torpedo.

LOC - Haupt's torpedo for quickly wrecking wooden bridges 1862 or 1863. LC-DIG-ppmsca-10403

LOC - Military railroad operations in northern Virginia: two men boring holes in bridge trestles and man with Haupt's Torpedo 1862 or 1863. LC-DIG-ppmsca-1

 

[Pollaco]

Is that truss part of the bridge Lincoln called the "bean-pole'' bridge?Or was it beanpole+ cornstalk?

 

[Mike Serpa]

I believe this is the bridge you are asking about. I can't tell if it is the same bridge. Don't know why they would blow it up.

LOC - Military railroad bridge across Potomac Creek, on the Fredericksburg Railroad

 

[frontrank2]

From his wikipedia page - In 1839, Haupt patented a bridge construction technique called the Haupt Truss.[5] Two of his Haupt truss bridges, both built in 1854, still stand in Altoona and Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

I s it safe to assume he was responsible for the Haupt torpedo.
View attachment 459842
LOC - Haupt's torpedo for quickly wrecking wooden bridges 1862 or 1863. LC-DIG-ppmsca-10403


View attachment 459844
LOC - Military railroad operations in northern Virginia: two men boring holes in bridge trestles and man with Haupt's Torpedo 1862 or 1863. LC-DIG-ppmsca-1

He was ahead of his time.......IMHO.

 

[JOHN42768]

He deserves a lot more credit then he received.

 

[lupaglupa]

What are the pontoons made of?

 

[Albion]

"That man Haupt has built a bridge four hundred feet long and one hundred feet high, across Potomac Creek, on which loaded trains are passing every hour, and upon my word, gentlemen, there is nothing in it but cornstalks and beanpoles."

Abraham Lincoln

 

[Albion]

What are the pontoons made of?

They look like they are made of metal of some sort, cylinders or tanks of some kind, possibly fuel or water tanks or gas cylinders, the right hand one looks like it has a pipe fitting at the end.

 

[Pollaco]

My first thought was wooden staves like on barrels but they do appear to be some sort of metal.

 

[lupaglupa]

They look like they are made of metal of some sort, cylinders or tanks of some kind, possibly fuel or water tanks, the right hand one looks like it has a pipe fitting at the end.

Make me wonder how water proof they were.

 

[Albion]

Make me wonder how water proof they were.

They would be perfectly water proof if metal, I don't think it likely they are made of anything else unless they are somehow made of rubber and/or inflatable, the pipe fitting might possibly be an inflation nozzle. They have fittings attached along the sides to hold the horizontal timbers, the fittings must be brazed or welded unless they are somehow vulcanised to rubber?

 

[Story]

They would be perfectly water proof if metal, I don't think it likely they are made of anything else unless they are somehow made of rubber and/or inflatable, the pipe fitting might possibly be an inflation nozzle. They have fittings attached along the sides to hold the horizontal timbers, the fittings must be brazed or welded unless they are somehow vulcanised to rubber?

Plot twist - they doubled as boilers for the hooch still in camp.

 

[Story]

From his wikipedia page - In 1839, Haupt patented a bridge construction technique called the Haupt Truss.[5] Two of his Haupt truss bridges, both built in 1854, still stand in Altoona and Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

" I did not know that" - Johnny Carson

Iron Haupt Truss Bridges (Ronks Bridge and Ardmore Bridge) - HistoricBridges.org

Historic Truss Bridge in Strasburg Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Two of the rarest and oldest metal bridges in the country have been sitting here in storage for many years, and deserve to be restored ASAP.

historicbridges.org

 

[Mike Serpa]

He was ahead of his time.......IMHO.

Historian Richard F. Snow said this about Haupt, "Almost alone among Union officers, Haupt knew how to keep the trains running. A year and a half of war had taught the high command the importance of the railroads but not how they worked. And so Herman Haupt was in a position roughly analogous to being the only American in 1941 who knew how to use airplanes in warfare." - American Heritage Magazine February/March 1985.

Abraham Lincoln's contemporaries : Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

From the files of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection

archive.org

 

[Mike Serpa]

I believe this is the bridge you are asking about. I can't tell if it is the same bridge. Don't know why they would blow it up.
View attachment 459846
LOC - Military railroad bridge across Potomac Creek, on the Fredericksburg Railroad

I guess they did blow it up...
When Burnside's corps evacuated Fredericksburg upon the withdrawal of the Federal forces from the Rappahannock line before the second Bull Run campaign, all the reconstructed work at Aquia Creek and some of the bridges on the railroad including the bean-pole and corn-stalk bridge, had been again destroyed, this time by Federal troops. General Haupt had protested against it, but without avail. On October 26th, after the memorable battle of Antietam...

The Photographic history of the Civil War : thousands of scenes photographed 1861-65, with text by many special authorities : Miller, Francis Trevelyan, 1877-1959 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

At head of title: Semi-centennial memorial

archive.org