Union defenders retreat across the Susquehanna burning the Wrightsville Bridge behind them

Union commanders saw immediately the value of the 5,620 foot bridge over the Susquehanna at Wrightsville and had made plans quickly to defend it or destroy it to impede the Confederate advance.  General John Brown Gordon was detailed to take the bridge, marching from York twelve miles away but Union Colonel Jacob B. Frick and a hastily assembled force from Columbia, across the river, were able to destroy it by fire.  (By John Osborne)