Hooker's Bridge

Hooker's Bridge is a Civil War historical fiction novel based on fact about building a pontoon bridge across the Ohio River in Cincinnati. Prior to the Civil War there was no bridge over the river at Cincinnati, which was the 7th largest city in the country then. It was the major food processing, manufacturing center and transportation hub in the mid-west. Products from western states came in by canal boats and railroads. The product was then off-loaded onto wagons and taken to be transferred onto steamboats that took it right across the river to Kentucky to again be put back onto wagons and taken and loaded onto trains to be sent south and east to support the Union Army war effort. This was very time consuming and a bottleneck. The Confederate Army was marching and fighting it's way north thru Kentucky with the intension of attacking Cincinnati to interrupt it's shipping capability. The Union Central Command learned of their plan and decided a temporary pontoon bridge would facilitate a more rapid and easier supply of troops and goods required by the Union Army in the fighting in the south. General Joseph Hooker was assigned to achieve this important vital effort to help preserve the Union in the Civil War. Hooker drank a lot and ran a loose Headquarters.

Hooker's Bridge is a Civil War historical fiction novel based on fact about building a pontoon bridge across the Ohio River in Cincinnati. Prior to the Civil War there was no bridge over the river at Cincinnati, which was the 7th largest city in the country then. It was the major food processing, manufacturing center and transportation hub in the mid-west. Products from the western states came in by canal boats and railroads. The product was then off-loaded onto wagons and taken to be transferred onto steamboats that took it right across the river to Kentucky to again be put back onto wagons and taken and loaded onto trains to be sent south and east to support the Union Army war effort. This was very time consuming and a bottleneck. The Confederate Army was marching and fighting it's way north thru Kentucky with the intension of attacking Cincinnati to interrupt it's shipping capability. The Union Central Command learned of their plan and decided a temporary pontoon bridge would facilitate a more rapid and easier shipping procedure to supply troops and goods required by the Union Army in the fighting in the south. Union General Joseph Hooker was assigned to the Northern Department Headquarters as Commander in Cincinnati to oversee the building of the bridge and the setting up of a defensive position to repel any attack effort by the rebels. General Hooker had been very successful in his command positions. He got along quite well with his staff and men but he was rather critical of his commanders. There were complaint he drank too much and his Headquarters were rather loose and undisciplined. This novel tells the story of the building of the bridge and the multiple characters and how they fit together in achieving building the bridge and living life in this very interesting time in the history of our country that resulted a most important achievement in helping to preserve the Union.

Carrying on in his tradition of success earning numerous national and international awards in business and drawing on his keen interest in history and travel, the author has expanded his writing of a historic fiction novel about the Civil War and a little known but very important defense of Cincinnati that enabled the Union to prevail in the War. Pat now lives on 18 acres in Indiana with his wife and enjoys the numerous visits of his children and grandchildren. He continues to write his family newsletter of 24 years, poetry, additional history genre and children's stories.