The Rivers Bridge Confederate Memorial Association will hold its 131st Annual Celebration at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, May 11 at the Rivers Bridge State Historic Site near Ehrhardt.
Randall B. Burbage, commander of the South Carolina Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, is this year’s keynote speaker. Burbage was awarded the Order of the Palmetto by the late former Gov. Carroll Campbell in 1993. In 1995, he was appointed to the Hunley Commission by the governor.
The festivities at Rivers Bridge each year commemorate and honor all who fought and sacrificed their lives in the Confederacy.
Rivers Bridge is South Carolina’s only state-preserved Civil War battlefield. At this site on the Salkehatchie River, outnumbered Confederate troops waged a final stand on Feb. 2-3, 1865, before being swept aside by General Sherman’s Union troops as the war moved toward a close.
Earthworks thrown up to thwart Sherman’s advance were well designed to direct artillery and rifle fire at specific areas in front of them and are still largely intact. Much of the landscape on and around the battlefield remains unchanged despite logging done in the early 1900s.
Appropriate music, with commentary provided by Dr. James Dreyfuss, will begin at 10:30 a.m. on May 11. The formal procession and opening ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. with the Posting of the Colors.
Roy Hart, president of the Rivers Bridge Memorial Association, will be the presiding officer. Other participants will be members of the Bratton-Jenkins Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Hampton American Legion post, the Bamberg and Hampton American Legion Auxiliaries and Rivers Bridge Camp No. 842 Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Following the decoration of the graves on the site, members of the 25th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry will give the Rifle Salute and the Santee Light Artillery will respond with the Cannon Salute. Vocalist Ed Floyd will conclude with the singing of Taps.
A barbecue dinner will be served by B&D Barbecue at a cost of $6 per plate. Homemade lemonade will be provided courtesy of Rivers Bridge Camp No. 842 SCV and made in an authentic wooden barrel by Compatriot Coleman Loadholt.
For more information about the event, call H.M. Loadholt at 803-632-2845.