Dean Hunt displays the historical marker he established in Red Bank concerning the Skirmish at Red Bank Creek. The marker was erected in 1997 and demolished a year later by a drunk driver.
Dean Hunt, who describes himself as a red-headed, redneck from Red Bank, headlined the S.C. Archives and History Foundation Lunch and Learn program August 16. He presented Sherman’s left wing march through Lexington County in 1865 through official Civil War records and modern photographs. Hunt described the Federal and Confederate campsites and skirmishes leading up to the burning of Columbia February 16-17, 1865. Hunt admonished those “who describe the devastation in Columbia but completely ignore what happened in Lexington the day before.”
For future Lunch and Learn Programs go to www.palmettohistorysc.org or call 803-896-6124.
The marker reads:
(Front) SKIRMISH AT RED BANK CREEK
On February 15, 1865 Gen. Henry W. Slocum’s Army of Georgia, the left wing of the Federal advance toward Columbia, marched along this route toward Lexington. The Federals, led by skirmishers of the 28th Pennsylvania at the head of the 1st Brig., 2nd Div., XX Corps, were delayed by elements of Gen. Joseph Wheeler’s Confederate cavalry, which clashed with them briefly at Congaree Creek and then here along Red Bank Creek.
(Reverse) SITE OF FEDERAL ENCAMPMENT After the Confederates withdrew toward Lexington, two miles north, elements of the XX Corps occupied the town. The XIV and XX Corps camped ½ mi. N. at the junction of Old Orangeburg and Old Barnwell Rds. on the night of Feb. 15th. Elements of Gen. Judson Kilpatrick’s cavalry division burned much of Lexington before the left wing advanced to Winnsboro; one observer described the town as “a blackened ruin.”
Erected by Company D, 7th South Carolina Infantry (Reenactors), 1997. S.C. Hwy. 6 near Red Bank Creek, Lexington vicinity Marker ID: 32-27
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