Friday, March 29, AD 2024 7:39am

June 11, 1863: Raid on Darien, Georgia

The video clip above from the movie Glory depicts the raid on Darien, Georgia.  Commanded by an old Jayhawker, Colonel James Montgomery, the commander of the 2nd South Carolina, go here to read about him, with the participation of the 54th Massachusetts, the raid degenerated into the looting and burning of Darien, much to the disgust of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the 54th.  Here is letter to his newly wed wife in which he details his opinion of the raid:

St. Simons Island, Ga. [RGS] Tuesday, June 9, 1863

My Dearest Annie,

We arrived at the southern point of this island at six this morning. I went ashore to report to Colonel [James] Montgomery, and was ordered to proceed with my regiment to a place called “Pike’s Bluff,” on the inner coast of the island, and encamp. We came up here in another steamer, the “Sentinel,” as the “De Molay” is too large for the inner waters,—and took possession to-day of a plantation formerly owned by Mr. Gould. We have a very nice camping-ground for the regiment, and I have my quarters in “the house”; very pleasantly situated, and surrounded by fine large trees. The island is beautiful, as far as I have seen it. You would be enchanted with the scenery here; the foliage is wonderfully thick, and the trees covered with hanging moss, making beautiful avenues wherever there is a road or path; it is more like the tropics than anything I have seen. Mr. Butler King’s plantation, where I first went ashore, must have been a beautiful place, and well kept. It is entirely neglected now, of course; and as the growth is very rapid, two years’ neglect almost covers all traces of former care.

June 12th—If I could have gone on describing to you the beauties of this region, who knows but I might have made a fine addition to the literature of our age? But since I wrote the above, I have been looking at something very different.

On Wednesday, a steamboat appeared off our wharf, and Colonel Montgomery hailed me from the deck with, “How soon can you get ready to start on an expedition?” I said, “In half an hour,” and it was not long before we were on board with eight companies, leaving two for camp-guard.

We steamed down by his camp, where two other steamers with five companies from his regiment, and two sections of Rhode Island artillery, joined us. A little below there we ran aground, and had to wait until midnight for flood-tide, when we got away once more.

At 8 A.M., we were at the mouth of the Altamaha River, and immediately made for Darien. We wound in and out through the creeks, twisting and turning continually, often heading in directly the opposite direction from that which we intended to go, and often running aground, thereby losing much time. Besides our three vessels, we were followed by the gunboat “Paul Jones.”

On the way up, Montgomery threw several shells among the plantation buildings, in what seemed to me a very brutal way; for he didn’t know how many women and children there might be.

About noon we came in sight of Darien, a beautiful little town. Our artillery peppered it a little, as we came up, and then our three boats made fast to the wharves, and we landed the troops. The town was deserted, with the exception of two white women and two negroes.

Montgomery ordered all the furniture and movable property to be taken on board the boats. This occupied some time; and after the town was pretty thoroughly disembowelled, he said to me, “I shall burn this town.” He speaks always in a very low tone, and has quite a sweet smile when addressing you. I told him, “I did not want the responsibility of it,” and he was only too happy to take it all on his shoulders; so the pretty little place was burnt to the ground, and not a shed remains standing; Montgomery firing the last buildings with his own hand. One of my companies assisted in it, because he ordered them out, and I had to obey. You must bear in mind, that not a shot had been fired at us from this place, and that there were evidently very few men left in it. All the inhabitants (principally women and children) had fled on our approach, and were no doubt watching the scene from a distance. Some of our grape-shot tore the skirt of one of the women whom I saw. Montgomery told her that her house and property should be spared; but it went down with the rest.

The reasons he gave me for destroying Darien were, that the Southerners must be made to feel that this was a real war, and that they were to be swept away by the hand of God, like the Jews of old. In theory it may seem all right to some, but when it comes to being made the instrument of the Lord’s vengeance, I myself don’t like it. Then he says, “We are outlawed, and therefore not bound by the rules of regular warfare” but that makes it none the less revolting to wreak our vengeance on the innocent and defenceless.

By the time we had finished this dirty piece of business, it was too dark to go far down the narrow river, where our boat sometimes touched both banks at once; so we lay at anchor until daylight, occasionally dropping a shell at a stray house. The “Paul Jones” fired a few guns as well as we.

I reached camp at about 2 P.M. to-day, after as abominable a job as I ever had a share in.

We found a mail waiting for us, and I received your dear letter, and several from Father, Mother, Effie, and some business correspondence. This is the first news we have had since our departure, and I rather regained my good spirits.

Now, dear Annie, remember not to breathe a word of what I have written about this raid, to any one out of our two families, for I have not yet made up my mind what I ought to do. Besides my own distaste for this barbarous sort of warfare, I am not sure that it will not harm very much the reputation of black troops and of those connected with them. For myself, I have gone through the war so far without dishonour, and I do not like to degenerate into a plunderer and robber,—and the same applies to every officer in my regiment. There was not a deed performed, from beginning to end, which required any pluck or courage. If we had fought for possession of the place, and it had been found necessary to hold or destroy it, or if the inhabitants had done anything which deserved such punishment, or if it were a place of refuge for the enemy, there might have been some reason for Montgomery’s acting as he did; but as the case stands, I can’t see any justification. If it were the order of our government to overrun the South with fire and sword, I might look at it in a different light; for then we should be carrying out what had been decided upon as a necessary policy. As the case stands, we are no better than “Semmes,” who attacks and destroys defenceless vessels, and haven’t even the poor excuse of gaining anything by it; for the property is of no use to us, excepting that we can now sit on chairs instead of camp-stools.

But all I complain of; is wanton destruction. After going through the hard campaigning and hard fighting in Virginia, this makes me very much ashamed of myself.

Montgomery, from what I have seen of him, is a conscientious man, and really believes what he says,—”that he is doing his duty to the best of his knowledge and ability.”

…There are two courses only for me to pursue: to obey orders and say nothing; or to refuse to go on any more such expeditions, and be put under arrest, probably court-martialled, which is a serious thing.

June 13th.—This letter I am afraid will be behindhand, for a boat went to Hilton Head this morning from the lower end of the island, and I knew nothing about it. Colonel Montgomery has gone up himself; and will not be back until Tuesday probably.

…To-day I rode over to Pierce Butler’s plantation. It is an immense place, and parts of it very beautiful. The house is small, and badly built, like almost all I have seen here. There are about ten of his slaves left there, all of them sixty or seventy years old. He sold three hundred slaves about three years ago.

I talked with some, whose children and grandchildren were sold then, and though they said that was a “weeping day,” they maintained that “Massa Butler was a good massa,” and they would give anything to see him again. When I told them I had known Miss Fanny, they looked very much pleased, and one named John wanted me to tell her I had seen him. They said all the house-servants had been taken inland by the overseer at the beginning of the war; and they asked if we couldn’t get their children back to the island again. These were all born and bred on the place, and even selling away their families could not entirely efface their love for their master. Isn’t it horrible to think of a man being able to treat such faithful creatures in such a manner?

The island is traversed from end to end by what they call a shell-road; which is hard and flat, excellent for driving. On each side there are either very large and overhanging trees, with thick underbrush, or open country covered with sago-palm, the sharp-pointed leaves making the country impassable. Occasionally we meet with a few fields of very poor grass; when there is no swamp, the soil is very sandy.

There are a good many of these oyster-shell roads, for in many places there are great beds of them, deposited nobody knows when, I suppose. The walls of many of the buildings are built of cement mixed with oyster-shells, which make it very durable.

I forgot to tell you that the negroes at Mr. Butler’s remembered Mrs. Kemble very well, and said she was a very fine lady. They hadn’t seen her since the young ladies were very small, they said. My visit there was very interesting and touching.

A deserted homestead is always a sad sight, but here in the South we must look a little deeper than the surface, and then we see that every such overgrown plantation, and empty house, is a harbinger of freedom to the slaves, and every lover of his country, even if he have no feeling for the slaves themselves, should rejoice.

Next to Mr. Butler’s is the house of Mr. James E. Cooper. It must have been a lovely spot; the garden is well laid out, and the perfume of the flowers is delicious. The house is the finest on the island. The men from our gunboats have been there, and all the floors are strewed with books and magazines of every kind. There is no furniture in any of these houses.

Please send this to Father, for I want him and Mother to read it, and I don’t care about writing it over.

Colonel Montgomery’s original plan, on this last expedition, was to land about fifteen miles above Darien, and march down on two different roads to the town, taking all the negroes to be found, and burning every planter’s house on the passage. I should have commanded our detachment, in that case. The above are the orders he gave me.

Good bye for to-day, dearest Annie.

Your loving Rob

Ironically, just before the raid Colonel James Montgomery received a copy of General Order 100, the Lieber Code, which set forth the laws to guide Union forces in the field.  Here is the letter from General Hunter to Colonel James Montgomery conveying the Order:

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, Hilton Head, S. C., June 9, 1863.

Colonel JAMES MONTGOMERY,

Commanding Second S. C. Regiment, Saint Simon’s Island:

COLONEL: I have the honor of transmitting herewith a copy of General Orders, No. 100, of the War Department, current series, promulgating a system of “Instructions for the government of armies of the United States in the field,” prepared by an eminent international and military jurist, Dr. Francis Lieber, revised by a board of high officers, and approved and established by the President of the United States.*

To sections I, II, III of these instructions I beg to call your particular attention; not that in any manner I doubt the justice or generosity of your judgment, but for the reason that it is peculiarly important, in view of the questions which have heretofore surrounded the employment of colored troops in the armies of the United States, to give our enemies (foreign and domestic) as little ground as possible for alleging any violation of the laws and usages of civilized warfare as a palliation for these atrocities which are threatened against the men and officers of commands similar to your own. If, as is threatened by the rebel Congress, this war has eventually to degenerate into a barbarous and savage conflict, softened by none of the amenities and rights established by the wisdom and civilization of the world through successive centuries of struggle, it is of the first moment that the infamy of this deterioration should rest exclusively and without excuse upon the rebel Government. It will therefore be necessary for you to exercise the utmost strictness in insisting upon compliance with the instructions herewith sent, and you will avoid any devastation which does not strike immediately at the resources or material of the armed insurrection which we are now engaged in the task of suppressing.

All fugitives who come within our lines you will receive, welcome, and protect. Such of them as are able-bodied men you will at once enroll and arm as soldiers. You will take all horses and mules available for transportation to the enemy; also all cattle and other food  which can be of service to our forces. As the rebel Government has laid all grain and produce under conscription, to be taken at will for the use of its armed adherents, you will be justified in destroying all stores of this kind which you shall not be able to remove; but the destruction of crops in the ground, which may not be fit for use until the rebellion is over, or which may when ripe be of service to the forces of our Government occupying the enemy’s country, you will not engage in without mature consideration. This right of war, though unquestionable in certain extreme cases, is not to be slightly used, and if wantonly used might fall under that part of the instructions which prohibits devastation. All household furniture, libraries, churches, and hospitals you will of course spare.

That the wickedness and folly of the enemy may soon place us in a position where the immutable laws of self-defense and the stern necessity of retaliation will not only justify but enjoin every conceivable species of injury is only to be too clearly apprehended; but until such time shall have arrived, and until the proof, not merely of declarations or resolves but of acts, is unmistakable, it will be both right and wise to hold the troops under your command to the very strictest interpretation of the laws and usages of civilized warfare.

Expressing the highest confidence in your courage, skill, humanity, and discretion, I have the honor to be, colonel, very respectfully yours,

D. HUNTER,

Major-General, Commanding.

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Jonathan
Jonathan
Tuesday, June 11, AD 2013 8:08am

Do you know of any familial relationship between the Gould Family (apparently originally from Massachusetts) that owned the plantation and Robert Gould Shaw? I would think that the Gould name, especially from Massachusetts, could not be so diverse as to have no connection between the two.

Jonathan
Jonathan
Tuesday, June 11, AD 2013 10:09am

Some quick research:

Robert Gould Shaw (1776 – 1853), the father of Quincy Adams Shaw, himself the uncle of Robert Gould Shaw (1837 – 1863), the commander in question. RGS (1776) was a moneyed landowner, born in 1776 in Gouldsboro, Maine, a town established when settlement land was given to “Colonel Nathan Jones, Francis Shaw and Robert Gould in 1764”, per a town history website.

James Gould (b. 1772) came to Georgia from Massachusetts sometime before 1807 to cut timber for the U.S. Navy, convinced the federal gov. that a lighthouse was necessary, and received a federal contract to build a lighthouse on St. Simon’s Island in 1807. He purchased land and built a plantation. His descendents apparently still live in the area. His father, according to “Findagrave” was born in Yorkshire, England at an unspecified date, but died in 1788 in Massachusetts.

As far as I can tell, any common ancestry of these two is remote.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Tuesday, June 11, AD 2013 11:20am

Concomitantly (the military acts known as the Gettysbburg Camaign), Gen’l Lee issued General Order No. 72, which prohibited plundering private property and specified rules for requisitioning supplies; to be paid for with Confederate currency or vouchers.

Jay Anderson
Tuesday, June 11, AD 2013 1:00pm

Lee was a gentleman, and followed the example of his kinsman by marriage, George Washington. Would that some (most?) of his adversaries had shared his finer qualities.

Jay Anderson
Tuesday, June 11, AD 2013 1:07pm

And before that last comment is taken as a slur against our Yankee brethren (as opposed to certain pillagers and burners and, in my estimation, war criminals among the Yankee command), I believe it safe to say that few men in the history of this Nation – if any – share Robert E. Lee’s finer qualities.

Jonathan
Jonathan
Tuesday, June 11, AD 2013 1:12pm

If I recall, there’s a stirring moment in “The Guns of the South” by Harry Turtledove where Lincoln is being removed from the White House and treated roughly, and the soldiers doing so are strongly rebuked by Lee.

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Wednesday, June 12, AD 2013 5:15am

“The reasons he gave me for destroying Darien were, that the Southerners must be made to feel that this was a real war, and that they were to be swept away by the hand of God, like the Jews of old. In theory it may seem all right to some, but when it comes to being made the instrument of the Lord’s vengeance, I myself don’t like it.”

It’s one thing to believe that the war itself might be an instrument of God’s judgment (Lincoln himself thought so as stated in his Second Inaugural Address); it’s quite another to believe that it is YOUR personal calling or duty to inflict that judgment. The latter type of conviction is, IMO, a sure sign that it is NOT God or the Holy Spirit who is inspiring you.

Tony H
Tony H
Friday, June 14, AD 2013 3:09pm

To read what the slaves thought of their master is a chilling example of how slavery crushes the human spirit. To have someone take away your children and then speak of them with such affection is to be hardly above the level of a dog: a dog that licks the hand of the man that kicks it. It is instances like these, more than the seeing the images of scarred backs or shackled wrists, that make me think of Lincoln’s second inaugural address and the fact that God was exceedingly merciful in ending the civil war after only some 600,000 dead. It is the sad truth that the slavery culture still exists in the black community. Blacks still speak with the greatest affection for those who take away their children and destroy their families. Only now “massa Butler” has been replaced with “Democratic Party”.

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