Civil War-era skirmishes will take place at Aiken museum
The Aiken County Historical Museum will take a trip back to the civil war with an encampment of living history re-enactors the weekend of Jan. 15.
Re-enactors from the Palmetto Sharpshooters and the Hampton Legion out of Columbia will stake their tents on the grounds of the museum the evening of Friday, Jan. 15, with Confederates settled on the South Boundary side of the property near the red schoolhouse, and a small camp of Yankees by the cancer memorial garden, according to museum Executive Director Elliott Levy. But the real action, including a skirmish with firearms drawn, will take place on Saturday, Jan. 16.
“We got permission from Aiken Public Safety to have the skirmishes,” Levy said.
Gates open at 9 a.m. Saturday, and the Wheeler Camp Sons of Confederate Veterans will hold a prayer breakfast from 9 to 11 a.m. Skirmishes will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and a cavalry unit also will ride out of Hitchcock Woods at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“It’s going to be quite an array,” Levy said. “It’s not quite an official preview of the Battle of Aiken, but it’s very much in the spirit of that re-enactment.”
At 3 p.m., horse-drawn carriages will bring re-enactors portraying Gens. Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Wade Hampton, Jeb Stuart, A.P. Hill and Stonewall Jackson from the campsite to the museum for a Generals’ Reception in the main ballroom; there will also be a Ladies’ Tea in the parlor at 3 p.m. The encampment ends at 6:30 p.m., and re-enactors will reconvene at the Aiken Municipal Building at 7 p.m. for the Coker Springs Ball.
“The generals are all part of an organization called Voices of the Past, and we travel around giving presentations in character,” said Eddie Rodgers, who portrays Gen. Wade Hampton. “We’ve all researched our characters pretty thoroughly.”
The encampment is free and open to the public for self-guided tours. For more information about the event, call the Aiken County Historical Museum at 642-2015.
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