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Each page listed below has up to 20 thumbnail photos to click on, so click on a page to discover and relive the event.

Page1 - Saturday tactical
Page2 - Saturday Battle
Page3 - Saturday Battle
Page4 - Afternoon Movie
Page5 - Night Burn
Page6 - Camp scenes

The Battle of Aiken, SC

by wes mayhle

On Feb. 24th and 25th the 142nd anniversary reenactment was held in honor of the Battle of Aiken on land that was once owned by Col. Edward Croft, organizer of the Ryan Guards which became Co. H of the 14 SC Infantry. The 14th SC fought under Gen. Robert E. Lee in nearly every major battle. Only 264 men of the 14th SC were left to surrender at Appomattox out of 1525 that served. Local lore credits Croft with being the first Confederate soldier to charge into Gettysburg.

This reenactment had an excellent Saturday morning tactical for reenactors only. The Confederate side (who I trailed) acted in the most realistic manner I have witnessed during a tactical. Their force of 120 or so marched through the brush, up and down hills cautiously and with flankers out to each side. After making contact with the enemy they charged up a steep hill routing and capturing a smaller Union force that defended the hilltop. Nearly 700 reenactors were present at this event including many cannon, 2 of which were manned by the Citadel reenacting club. Saturday evening, before the period dance, a 100 ft long bridge was burned and filmed for scenes in the movie "Firetrail", a feature movie by Forbesfilms, adapted from the novel "Firetrail" by Lydia Hawke. Forbesfilms has filmed at this reenactment in the past for the docudrama "Battle of Aiken". The conflagration was huge and intense and probably will make gripping scenes in the movie.

Early in 1865 Union Gen. Sherman began his invasion of the Carolina's. South Carolina was the birthplace of secession and no love was lost for it among Northerners and their armies. Many vile and acrimonious oaths were sworn by Union soldiers prior to the invasion, including one by Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick who told his corps "In after years when travelers passing through S. Carolina shall see chimney stacks without houses and the country desolate, and shall ask who did this? Some Yankee will answer: Kilpatricks Cavalry!"

To oppose Gen. Shermans invasion, Confederate Gen. Beauregard did his best with broken and depleted units augmented by the boys and old men in the state militia. One unit under him was Gen. Joe Wheelers Cavalry Corps who was almost daily fighting a delaying action against the invading Federals. Augusta was vital to the Confederacy where virtually all of the South's gunpowder was produced and nearby, the Graniteville Mill produced 4 million yards of cloth per year.

Between the Union attackers and the Augusta defenders was Wheeler's Cavalry Corps and the Aiken Home Guard. On Feb 11, 1865 Wheeler laid a trap in and about Aiken to crush the advancing Gen. Kilpatrick - but it was sprung too early to be entirely effective. Throughout the town harsh fighting raged all that day and into the next - and as far as 5 miles away pockets of cavalrymen skirmished with each other. In the evening of Feb. 12, Gen. Kilpatrick raised a flag of truce to recover their dead and wounded. On the following day the two sides disengaged to rejoin their commands; Kilpatrick to rejoin Sherman as he moved towards Columbia, and Wheeler as he raced around their flank to help defend it.

The Movies listed below are posted in 4 sizes. If you find your computer waiting too long for a movie to load & play - try a smaller size.
SMALL - 160x120 for dial-up
MEDIUM - 240x160 for cable/dsl
LARGE - 320x240 for cable/dsl
JUMBO - 480x360 for cable/dsl

Battle Clips
1:24
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Bridge Burning
1:33
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Sat Night Dance
1:17
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Click the links above to watch the mpgs from this event.

Quicktime 7 is required - it can be easily downloaded and installed for both Mac + Windows.
Quicktime download page

My mpgs are usually 5 min or less and are shot with my older digital camera just for your enjoyment. They are usually, but not always, clips from the battle. To see all my mpgs and links to other reenactment movies go to my "mpgs" page.

Some of my mpgs use background music
from the 97th Regimental String Band.

For additional reenacting information go to
Florida Reenactors Online - a website that regularly features some of my photos and articles and where you can find many links, monthly newsletters and many other resources about the American Civil War and reenacting that conflict.