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. After the Confederates withdrew toward Lexington, two miles north, elements of the XX Corps occupied the town. The XIV and XX Corps camped 1/2 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."