EMMITSBURG, Md. – In 1919, a military convoy “battled” its way from Washington, D.C. to California, to test equipment and to see how fast the military could get from coast to coast.

The first stumbling block on the journey that would ultimately claim 21 lives and eight vehicles proved to be the “Bridge of Sighs,” a lonely covered bridge of unknown vintage which carried South Seton Avenue across Toms Creek.

A frustrated Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower looked on as the Transcontinental Motor Convoy scattered in all directions to find a way to bypass the little bridge over which the oversized military and civil vehicles could not cross.

The bridge that helped inspire a president

On June 28, beneath a blistering sun after days of record-setting rains, the Maryland State Highway Administration commemorated the 50th anniversary of the national highway system and the stalling of the 1919 convoy at the South Seton bridge.

President Eisenhower had signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act on June 29, 1956, providing provided funding for the first interstate highway system.

While the 1919 convoy took 62 days to travel from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco, Eisenhower, while serving as supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, found that German autobahns, in contrast, presented a high-speed conduit for military traffic during WW II.

“That old (1919) convoy had started me thinking about good, two-lane (national) highways, but Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land,” then-General Eisenhower wrote.

Nearly 200 representatives from several states, along with Emmitsburg Mayor James E. Hoover, organization representatives and members of the public, attended the 2 p.m. ceremony held, literally, in the middle of South Seton Avenue. The street was closed for several hours so the ceremonial area could be set up and the recreated convoy could park.

SHA employees had built a 10-foot by eight-foot “covered bridge,” and Cozy restaurant, Thurmont, set up a catering tent and offered water and food to participants and spectators.

Emmitsburg gains historical marker

Prior to the actual ceremony, a convoy of some 30 antique, military and modern vehicles assembled by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials arrived as part of the reenactment. The group had actually set out from San Francisco to recreate the trek in reverse, with plans to finish in Washington, D.C.

Traveling to Emmitsburg with the convoy was Merrill Eisenhower Atwater, great-grandson of the president, who described his participation in the event as “a great honor.”

Mayor Hoover, master of ceremonies, pointed out to attendees that the convoy-halting incident in 1919 at the “Bridge of Sighs” presented Emmitsburg with a “special place in transportation history.”

Noting that the bridge incident was the first of many difficulties that would inspire the future president to seek a national highway system, Hoover said, “Today we are celebrating his foresight.”

Hoover then joined David S. Marks, chief of staff at the Maryland Department of Transportation, in unveiling the historic marker that will be installed at the site describing the problem encountered by the 1919 convoy at the bridge along with the purpose of their journey.