The war came to Lexington County and Columbia 154 years ago this month. Days after burning homes and the courthouse in Lexington, Union troops set up artillery on the west bank of the Congaree River. From there they fired on the Statehouse before crossing the river and putting the state’s capital to the torch. Saturday, 28 Sons of Confederate Veterans set up a trio of 12-pound cannons at the West Columbia Riverwalk to recreate the shelling of one terrifying day. The Sons of Confederate Veterans re-enactors came from as far west as Augusta and far north as Greenville, Gaffney and Spartanburg. Many were local people including Sid Kiesler of Lexington, Mike McGee of Bates-burg and Mary Kirkland and Mark and Ryan Mills of Leesville. In 1865, Gen. William T. Sherman’s Union artillery batteries fired 12-pound cannons with 10 pound balls and 2 pounds of powder. The 2019 cannons contained only 8 ounces of powder and no balls. The roar was still deafening on both sides of the river and the smoke blinding. Across the Congaree, 5 sharpshooters from the Georgia Volunteer Battalion fired back from behind cover with Springfield rifles, trying to pick off Union gunners 1,400 feet away — more than 4 and 1/2 football fields end to end. Re-enacting is an expensive hobby, re-enactors say. Boots can cost up to $500. Most of them spend another $600 to $800 on gray Confederate and dark blue Union uniforms. Pistols and rifles can cost another $500 to $1,000. Many of the Sons of Confederate Veterans are students of the days leading up to the firing on Fort Sumter in 1861 and the brutal 4 years that followed. Why do they do it? It’s their heritage and history, they will tell you.