FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – A Civil War reenactment brought war to life at the Rankin Plantation in Florence over the weekend.
The Skirmish at Gambles Hotel reenactment attracted hundreds of people from across the southeast.
The Skirmish at Gambles Hotel depicts an encounter that occurred March 5, 1865, when 500 federal soldiers marched into the Florence area to destroy the railroad depot.
The federal troops were met by a group of Confederate soldiers who drove them away with the help of 400 reinforcements.
“We have gone to several of the 150th and we will be going up to the Appomattox to the 152nd surrender because it actually falls on Palm Sunday,” said Jean Cavanaugh.
Each year sisters like Robin Atwood and Jean Cavanaugh wander the grounds and visit a variety of living history stations where reenactors are in complete costume and character to share what life was like during the Civil War.
“It’s just amazing, you really feel like you are living in history or that you stepped back in time,” explained Robin Atwood.
More than a thousand people generally pay to watch the reenactment during the second weekend in March.
People who attend say it teaches regional history and gives a general sense of what soldiers on both sides of the civil war endured during battle.
“We’re going through this president that people are either for or against like Abraham Lincoln and it is a very contentious time just like it was back in the Civil War, so we could learn something about what to prevent from happening again,” mentioned Cavanaugh.
