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On Feb. 2-3, 1865, during the final months of the Civil War, 1,200 Confederate soldiers made a stand here on the Salkehatchie River against Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's sweep across South Carolina. Behind stout, earthen fortifications, which are still intact today, the Southerners fought a division of about 5,000 Union soldiers. Union troops crossed the swollen swamp on both ends of the Confederate line to finally win the battle. 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. The site also includes the Memorial Grounds. Here, slain Confederate soldiers were interred and are remembered in memorial services that have been held annually since 1876.