Battle of Rivers' Bridge

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Rivers' Bridge


caption=Charge of Weaver's Brigade Across the Salkehatchie
partof=the American Civil War
date=February 3, 1865
place=Bamberg County, South Carolina
result=Union victory
combatant1= flagicon|USA|1863 United States (Union)
combatant2= flagicon|CSA|1863 CSA (Confederacy)
commander1=Francis Preston Blair, Jr.
commander2=Lafayette McLaws
strength1=5,000
strength2=1,200
casualties1=124 (18 killed, 106 wounded) [ [http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/94rivers/94facts2.htm The Battle of Rivers Bridge-Reading 2 ] ]
casualties2=97 (8 killed, 44 wounded, 45 captured/missing) [ [http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/94rivers/94facts2.htm The Battle of Rivers Bridge-Reading 2 ] ]

The Battle of Rivers' Bridge, also known as Salkehatchie River, Hickory Hill, Owen's Crossroads, Lawtonville, and Duck Creek, was a Union victory fought on February 3, 1865, during the Carolinas Campaign of the American Civil War.

While Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's Union armies marched north across South Carolina, about 1,200 Confederates under Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws were posted at the crossing on the Salkehatchie River. Union soldiers began to build bridges to bypass McLaws on February 2. The next day two brigades under Maj. Gen. Francis P. Blair waded through the swamp and flanked the Confederates. McLaws withdrew toward Branchville after stalling Sherman's advance for only one day and Sherman's forces continued moving north into North Carolina.

Notes

References

* [http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/sc011.htm National Park Service battle description]
* [http://www.researchonline.net/catalog/04178.htm The Battle for the Salkehatchie]
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/NR/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/94rivers/94rivers.htm "These Honored Dead: The Battle of Rivers Bridge and Civil War Combat Casualties," a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]