The 1,600-foot Strawberry Plains Bridge spanned the Holston River and it was located approximately 15 miles from Knoxville. It was considered the most important bridge in East Tennessee and it was destroyed and rebuilt several times during the Civil War. In O.R., 23, i, p. 388*, referring to the Strawberry Pains Bridge, Colonel William P. Sanders, Army of the Ohio, reported that his army had "destroyed the splendid bridge over the Holston River, over 1,600 feet long, built on eleven piers. The trestle-work included, this bridge was 2,100 feet in length." When destroyed, United States Military Academy graduate and Union General, Ambrose Burnside, pleasurably stated, “It will take months to rebuild it.” O.R., 23, i, 385. Also see Tennessee and American Civil War Railroads.

*Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies