( Left side )
The Legacy of Total War
From January to March in 1865 more than
60,000 Union soldiers led by General
William Tecumseh Sherman marched
across South Carolina. They brought
total war to the state, . . . — — Map (db m15646) HM
Here on February 3, 1865, the 17th U.S. Army Corps led by Major General Joseph A. Mower and Lieut. Gen. Giles A. Smith attacked the Confederate division of Major General Lafayette McLaws and forced the crossing of Salkehatchie River, after a gallant . . . — — Map (db m11318) HM
Invasion! In January 1865, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's army of 60,000 Union soldiers invaded South Carolina. Its goals: to link up with Ulysses S. Grant's forces opposing Robert E. Lee's Confederates in Virginia and destroy the South's . . . — — Map (db m7437) HM
Dig In Part of McLaws' division protected the middle crossing of the Salkehatchie at Rivers Bridge. This small force, consisting of a brigade of Georgia infantrymen, South Carolina cavalrymen and four cannons of the South Carolina Light . . . — — Map (db m7441) HM
Crucial Routes to the Heart of the State: The Salkehatchie River Crossings As Sherman's right wing- about 28,000 men underGen. Oliver Otis Howard- advanced up the south side of the Salkehatchie, Gen. Lafayette McLaws' Confederate division . . . — — Map (db m7440) HM
"This Indescribably Ugly Salkehatchie " At Rivers Bridge the Salkehatchie flowed though a swamp a
half mile wide. The only road through it was a narrow earthen causeway with multiple wooden bridges. The Confederates hoped the thick swamp and . . . — — Map (db m7455) HM
A Running Battle on the River Road On Feb.2, Union troops moved up the road on the opposite bank of the Salkehatchie, fighting a running battle with the Confederate cavalrymen who tried to slow their advance. Among the casualties was Pvt. John . . . — — Map (db m7457) HM
Attack! Gen. Joseph A. Mower's Union division advanced rapidly to Rivers Bridge on the afternoon of Feb. 2 and charged down a narrow causeway. Confederate cannon fire stopped the attack and forced the Yankees to take cover in the cold swamp. The . . . — — Map (db m7456) HM
A Vulnerable Stronghold The Confederates were confident they could stop another head-on Union assault. But they feared for the safety of their flanks, knowing they did not have enough men to resist attacks that might strike the ends of their . . . — — Map (db m7458) HM
The End is Near
The Union Victory broke the main Confederate line of defense in lower South Carolina. McLaws' troops retreated to another line behind the Edisto River about 20 miles northeast of here, then continued to fall back as . . . — — Map (db m7467) HM
Death and Defeat
As Mower's troops flanked the Confederate right, another Union division crossed several miles downstream to flank the Confederate left. Under a smokescreen created by a rapid artillery and rifle volleys, the Southerners . . . — — Map (db m7464) HM
Battle At Rivers Bridge
On February 2 ~ 3, 1865, as Gen. W.T. Sherman's
Federals advanced toward Columbia, units of
Gen. F.P. Blair's XVII Corps attempted to cross
the Salkehatchie River at Rivers Bridge. The
Confederate defenders . . . — — Map (db m7708) HM
Most of the Confederates killed here were Georgians,
and most were unknown when they were reburied. But
the local community remembered them as " our
Confederate dead, " the fallen heroes of a common cause. The monument placed over their mass . . . — — Map (db m15650) HM
( Front face )
In Memory
of our
Confederate Dead
who fell in battle at
River's Bridges
Feb. 4, 1865.
(Reverse face ) Soldier's rest, your welfare o'er,
Sleep the sleep . . . — — Map (db m15652) HM
Eleven years after the battle of Rivers Bridge,
a group of local young men formed the Rivers
Bridge Confederate Memorial Association and
reburied the Confederate dead here, about a
mile from the battlefield. The Memorial
Association began to . . . — — Map (db m15671) HM
