The burning of the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge as reported by The Columbia Spy, July 11, 1863

Photo by Pamoni Photograph

160 years ago today, on June 28, 1863, Union militia under Maj. Granville O. Haller and Col. Jacob G. Frick burned the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge to prevent the advance of Confederate troops. Civilian volunteers from Columbia had mined the bridge at the fourth span from the Wrightsville side, hoping to drop the whole span into the river. However, the charges only splintered the support arch, leaving the span passable. As Confederate troops advanced onto the bridge, Union forces set fire to it near the Wrightsville side. They had earlier saturated the structure with crude oil from a Columbia refinery. The entire structure soon caught fire and completely burned in six hours. [Source: Wikipedia]

The burning of the bridge was a significant event in the Civil War. It helped prevent the Confederates from advancing into Lancaster County, and it may have even changed the course of the war, since it precipitated the Battle of Gettysburg. 

The July 11, 1863 edition of The Columbia Spy featured an account of the bridge burning, an excerpt of which is shown here:

Here's the text of the above:

"All the troops except some of Colonel Thomas' 20th Regt., having withdrawn across the bridge, the rebels being close on their heels, the match was applied to the mine but failed to accomplish its object. The object was to destroy a span or two of the bridge and defend the rest. To this end cannon had been placed under Captain Stevens and volunteer artillerymen from the hospital so as to rake the bridge. But owing to the suddenness of the rebel approach this was not accomplished and as Gen. Couch had ordered that "in no case must the enemy be allowed to cross the Susquehanna, the torch was applied by military authority, and the coveted prize, for which the rebels so skilfully maneuvered and which was so essential to their schemes of invasion, was given to the flames, the rebel advance on Philadelphia being thus finally checked. The rebels tried to extinguish the flames, but soon the crackling flames rolled toward either end. The wind bore upstream, the Columbia fire engines were busily engaged to save a part of the bridge. But in vain. The whole bridge was consumed, burning during the night, and as span after span fell into the water, they floated away like so many burning ships."

Front page of The Columbia Spy, July 11, 1863

At the time, the bridge was the longest wooden covered bridge in the world. Its construction was financed by the Columbia National Bank, and in 2003, it was calculated that the Federal Government owed $170 million dollars for the bridge's destruction. (The original claim was for $100,000.) Congressman Joe Pitts tried to get the government to pay up in 2003 - but to no avail. 

According to https://yorkblog.com/:
In 2003, Rep. Joe Pitts took up the cause. By then, with interest, the claim had grown to $170 million dollars. According to the Star News, August 31, 2003, he joked that he would push Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to include payment for Columbia’s lost bridge in reparations to rebuild war-damaged bridges in Iraq “just for fun.” However, White House Office of Management and Budget spokesman Trent Duffy replied that the claim had expired and added, “The bridge might have to be counted, with bravery, as Columbia’s contribution to liberty.”