Rivers Bridge State Historic S

<i>( Left side )</i><br> <b> The Legacy of Total War</b><br> From January to March in 1865 more than 60,000 Union soldiers led by General William Tecumseh Sherman marched across South Carolina. They brought total war to the state, destroying railroads, factories and farms and attacking civilian morale.<br> <i> ( Right side )</i><br> Sherman's march through South Carolina helped bring the Civil War to an end. For many Union soldiers, the march was an opportunity to punish South Carolina, widely viewed as the state that started the war.<br><br> For many white Carolinians, it left burned houses and farms and bred lingering bitterness. For the thousands of black slaves who followed Sherman's army, the march brought freedom an an uncertain future.