Black plaque № 46627

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Civil War Fortifications. Reports of Kirby Smith’s CSA troops approaching Cincinnati caused panic in September 1862. Gen. Lew Wallace led Union troops and volunteers from rural Ohio (known as “Squirrel Hunters”) across Ohio River on a hastily constructed pontoon bridge made of coal barges. Marching south to Ky. hills, they fortified area at Newport, Covington, Forts Mitchell and Wright. (Reverse) Some 50,000 guarded approaches to Cincinnati. After CSA Gen. Henry Heth tried this strong defensive line, the rebel army retreated. Lew Wallace later wrote Ben Hur, published in 1880. Pontoon bridge was laid in shadows of stone piers of John Roebling Suspension Bridge, prototype of his Brooklyn Bridge.

Top of Ohio River bank on Covington-Commons,

by Kentucky Historical Society and Kentucky Highways Department #2151 of the Kentucky Historical Marker series

Colour: black

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