State Museum event marks anniversary of burning of Columbia

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The 150th anniversary of the burning of Columbia is being marked by a special program at the State Museum and the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room.

Thursday’s event features dramatic readings, historical presentations, bluegrass music and food inspired by the Civil War Era.

The city was burned in February 1865 after Union troops under Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman captured South Carolina’s capitol.

As part of the program, the museum planetarium will show the night sky as it appeared in February 1865. Images from diaries, newspapers and letters will also be projected on the planetarium dome.