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Marching Towards a Better Future
The Long Bridge, May 1865:
The first bridge at the site of the Long Bridge (now the 14th Street Bridge) was a wooden toll bridge that opened in 1809. Of strategic importance as a connection with Virginia, the bridge was rebuilt several times after it was washed away by ice blocks floating down the Potomac River. With the outbreak of the Civil War, the bridge became militarily important. Union troops occupied it on May 24, 1861. |