The New Student's Reference Work/Pontoon

Pontoon′ (from pons, Latin for a bridge), boats connected together and stretched across a lake or stream to furnish a temporary bridge for the passage of an army. From the earliest times pontoon bridges have been used in crossing streams; and a pontoon train has become a necessity for every army manœuvering in a country where there are rivers too deep to be forded, many important campaigns having failed from lack of pontoons.