John D. Billings, Hardtack and Coffee: The Unwritten Story of Army Life

[379] to be laid to keep ready communication between different portions of the army. Where the ground was miry, two stringers were laid longitudinally of the road, and on these the corduroy of logs, averaging, perhaps, four inches in diameter, was laid, and a cover of brush was sometimes spread upon it to prevent mules from thrusting their legs through. Where the surface was simply muddy, no stringers were used. It should be said here that by far the greater portion of this variety of work fell to fatigue details from the infantry, as did much more of the labor which came within the scope of the engineers' duties; for the latter could not have accomplished one-fifth of the tasks devolved upon them in time. In fact, if I except the laying and

A trestle bridge, no. 1.

taking — up of pontoon bridges, and the laying-out and superintending of the building of forts, there were none of the engineers' duties which were not performed by the fighting force to a large extent. I state this not in detraction of the engineers, who always did well, but in justice to the infantry, who so often supplemented the many and trying duties of their own department with the accomplishments of the engineer corps. The quartermaster of the army had a large number of wagons loaded with intrenching tools with which to supply the troops when their services were required as engineers.

The building of trestle bridges called for much labor from the engineers with the Army of the Potomac, for Virginia is