“R” is for Rivers Bridge, Battle of

“R” is for Rivers Bridge, Battle of (February 2-3, 1865). Rivers Bridge in southern Bamberg County, is the site of a Civil War battle fought on February 2 and 3, 1865. The battle pitted about twelve hundred Confederates against some seven thousand U.S. Army soldiers and marked the only major resistance to Sherman’s march through South Carolina. On February 2^nd the strongly entrenched Confederate troops repulsed a direct U.S. Army assault down the narrow causeway that spanned the thick Salkehatchie swamp. The next day federal forces crossed the swamp upstream from Rivers Bridge, forcing the Confederates to retreat. The battle cost each side about one hundred casualties and led to the cutting of the South Carolina Railroad. Rivers Bridge State Historic Site preserves the battlefield and its earthen fortifications and interprets the Civil War and its changing commemoration.