Description One of the few Confederate battlefield victories in the dark days of 1865 occurred at Aiken, South Carolina, on February 11, 1865.
Readers will learn of the n.
Wittenberg tells the story of the Battle of Aiken in both tactical and strategic detail for the first time.
In Five or Ten Minutes of Blind Confusion: The Battle of Aiken, South Carolina, February 11, 1865, award-winning Civil War cavalry historian Eric J.
Nearly the entire downtown was burned in a great conflagration, and the Palmetto State suffered.
Wheeler\'s stand made the defense of Columbia untenable, and just six days later, Columbia fell.
It was a tactical victory for Wheeler, but a strategic disaster for the Confederacy.
Wheeler followed, and a full day of combat ended with one of the final Confederate battlefield victories of the Civil War.
Kilpatrick himself was nearly captured, and only hard fighting by his troopers saved his command, which was able to extract itself from Wheeler\'s trap.
The urban street fighting was short and brutal.
On February 11, 1865, Wheeler set an ambush and drew the Union cavalry into his trap at Aiken, then pounced with nearly 3, 000 Confederate horse soldiers.
Wheeler feared that Kilpatrick intended to destroy the powder works, which were critical to the continued military viability of the Confederate armies.
Aiken is approximately 13 miles from Augusta, Georgia and the largest gunpowder works in the Confederacy.
Joseph Wheeler, the commander of the Confederate cavalry forces, had another idea.
Gen.
Maj.
Since the Civil War began in South Carolina, both Sherman and the men of his army were eager to punish its population.
Judson Kilpatrick head off in the direction of Augusta, Georgia to confuse the Confederates of his true target, Columbia, the capital of South Carolina.
Gen.
Sherman intended that his cavalry commander, Maj.
Sherman had intended to by-pass the small resort town.
William T.
Gen.
Aiken itself had little strategic significance to either side
Union Maj.
Description One of the few Confederate battlefield victories in the dark days of 1865 occurred at Aiken, South Carolina, on February 11, 1865
