Union Gen. William T. Sherman's troops, marching north in November 1863 to relieve the siege at Knoxville, attempted to ford the shallows here but found the water too deep. Federal soldiers used wood from unoccupied barns and houses in Morganton to construct a bridge near here and continued the march. The town, a main shipping hub during the war, was flooded as a result of the Tellico Dam Project.
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- Sherman's troops built a bridge to ford the river on their way to Knoxville.
