'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.
References
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National Park Service battle description
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The Battle for the Salkehatchie