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"Prince's Principle"
Actually, the construction site was never lost; the commanding officer
had submitted a report with a map showing the location of the bridge anchorage. In addition, an Alexander Gardner photograph, dated June 1864, had captured the location along the riverbank.
In the spring of 1986, archaeologist Taft Kiser took the Gardner photograph to the low, swampy area indicated by General Weitzel.
He found a cypress tree quite similar to the one dominating the
June 1864 photograph. To verify the site, Eugene (Gene) Prince,
Lowie Museum of Anthropology Staff photographer and
former Flowerdew Hundred Research Associate,
developed a technique he called "the Method." It involved placing a copy (slide) of the original 19th century photograph into a 35 mm camera (altered to accept the slide). By looking through the lens of the camera, Prince could superimpose the image onto the modern river landscape. He was able to match the cypress tree and locate the original bridge landing.
To replicate his "method", try Prince's Principle
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The pontoon bridge at
"Grant's Crossing" facilitated the movement of thousands of Union
soldiers across the James River at a critical point in the Civil War.
Occurring after the battle of
Cold Harbor and before the Seige of Petersburg, the crossing was overshadowed and quickly slipped between the cracks of history.
One hundred and twenty-two years later, the bridge's original location was "rediscovered" by
Flowerdew Hundred archaeologists.
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