Site of one of the Confederacy’s last stands against General William T. Sherman’s sweep across the South, the still-intact earthen fortifications at Rivers Bridge State Historic Site bear silent witness to the fierce battle that raged there on Feb. 2-3, 1865.

The outnumbered Southerners held on for two days, marking the only major resistance the Union army encountered on its march from Georgia through South Carolina, which culminated a few weeks later with the burning of Columbia. The war itself ended soon after.

Today, Rivers Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places and is the only state historic site in South Carolina that preserves a Civil War battlefield.

Rivers Bridge also preserves and interprets the Memorial Grounds where Confederate dead from that two-day struggle are interred. Ranger-guided tours and special programs help educate visitors about the battle and military life during the Civil War.