In commemoration of General Sherman's March to Columbia, SC, and the burning of the city in February of 1865, a full day of educational and fun activities will be held on Saturday, February 13, 2010.
Schedule of Events:
Re-enactment of Cannons Firing on State House • 8:45am
Gervais Street Bridge, West Columbia, South Carolina
(Alexander at Meeting Street)
The day begins with Union canons firing once again upon the South Carolina State House. This very popular re-enactment features period cannons and Union soldiers following the command of General Sherman. The event takes place at the exact time of day and location of the original firing, the West Columbia side of the Gervais Street Bridge.
Civil War Expo • 9am - 4pm
The Atrium of the South Carolina State Museum
301 Gervais Street
Entrance to the Atrium activities is free. The S.C. Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum admission will be reduced to $2 for adults and free for those under 21.
This expo includes artifact displays, performances by living historians of Mary Boykin Chesnut and Wade Hampton III, as well as an artillery demonstration and a period medical encampment on the front lawn.
Mary Boykin Chesnut, the daughter of a South Carolina governor and United States senator, was an enigma. Ardently against slavery, she was a passionate believer in states rights and a feminist who loved her husband. Part philosopher, political scientist and humorist, Mary is known today for her brilliant, shocking and poignant masterpiece that is a journal of the rise and fall of the Confederate States of America.
Sherman's March Bus Tours • 9:30am & 2:30pm
Tickets ($20 per adult/per tour) must be purchased in advance. Tours will leave from the parking lot of the South Carolina State Museum and each will last approximately 3 hours.
The Congaree Creek Bus Tour (9:30am) includes first hand accounts of Union soldiers, reporters and Columbia residents; visits the original earthworks built for the Confederate defense, remains of one of the largest textile mills of the early 1800s, and the bridge abutments of the Gervais Street and Saluda River Bridges burned by Confederates to slow the Union troops.
Sherman's Left Wing Bus Tour (2:30pm) will visit skirmish sites, where dismounted Confederate cavalry and artillery disputed the Union army's crossing the river; local re-enactors will make these skirmishes come alive; visit campsites of the Union army and numerous sites.
Kilpatrick's Occupation and the Burning of Lexington (9:30am) will follow the path Union soldiers took upon entering Lexington; tell the story of Union troop occupation and the burning of the town; pass Historic homes used by Union and Confederate troops; and end at St. David’s Church that was ransacked by Union troops.
Bus tour tickets can be ordered by contacting Bri Jackson at (803) 217-0071 or gccwa@knappagency.com.
Visit our website, www.ColumbiasLongestDays.info.