ORA. Volume XIV: Series 1, Volume 14, Part 1, 317-318.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DISTRICT OF GEORGIA,
Savannah, June 27, 1863.

Brigadier General THOMAS JORDAN, Chief of Staff

GENERAL: Captain Thomson, commanding at the time Twentieth Georgia Battalion Cavalry, made a report concerning the burning of Darien, a copy of which was forwarded to you. Wishing a more detailed account, I called upon the officer in command of the pickets, through Major Millen, for a report, and forward you herewith copies of letters from Captain Lane, commanding Company D, and Major Millen, commanding battalion.

It appears to have been impossible to concentrate a force sufficient to oppose a landing, and Captain Lane seems to have been misled by the size of the force to believe more extended operations intended, and to have acted with a view to protect the large number of families and valuable property at the ridge until re-enforcements could arrive. I regret exceedingly the impunity with which the enemy escaped….

H. W. MERCER, Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Report of Captain William A. Lane, Twentieth Battalion Georgia Cavalry. CAMP JACKSON, June 19, 1863.

MAJOR: In compliance with your order I proceed to give a statement of about affair at Darien:
About noon on the 11st instant two steamers and two gunboats made their appearance in Doboy Sound, and without halting proceeded with great rapidity southward along the channel known as the inland pass from Savannah to Brunswick. Mr. Pease (a large owner of real estate in Darien and familiar with all the navigable streams thereabout) was with me, and expressed the opinion that they were going southward and not to Darien. When they reached the Altamaha, however, instead of proceeding southward they turned in the direction of Darien, and in a few minutes were vigorously shelling our pickets just east of the town, and in thirty minutes from the commencement of the shelling the town of Darien was being burned. The position of said picket being open and exposed, they retired and took position on the ridge road out of sight of the gunboats.

So soon as I discovered that the fleet had turned in the direction of Darien I dispatches couriers to the respective pickets, ordering them to rendezvous at a point between the ridge and Darien, and succeeded in getting 15 together. The woods surrounding Darien (which I may here remark is an open pine barren for several miles) were shelled during the burning of the town. I threw out pickets on all the roads leading out from Darien, with instructions to reach the town if practicable. When near the town on one of the roads I was informed by picket from one of the other roads that a party of the enemy, supposed to be 200 strong, had attempted to get in their rear and that the picket had fallen back.

There were no white people living in Darien; all of its former inhabitants who remain in that vicinity are at the ridge. They were in hourly expectation of the enemy there, and they could have reached there easily without the knowledge of the picket unless all the roads were picketed. By so doing the picket could speedily be drawn to any road by which they might advance to retard their movements.

From the best information I have I suppose that 300 or 400 landed. They remained until the town was consumed, when they (the vessels) went out into the sound….

W. M. LANE, Captain Company D.

Report of Captain W. G. Thomson, Twentieth Battalion Georgia Cavalry. Camp Jackson, June 13, 1863.

GENERAL: I have to report that the enemy have burnt Darien to the ground; there is only one church and two or three small buildings standing. This was done on the 11th instant. They came up the river in three gunboats, shelling as they came along.

The officer in command of the picket states that between 150 to 200 negroes, under white officers, landed and burnt the town. They captured a pilot-boat, with about 60 bales of cotton on board. The men aboard the pilot boat state they did not have time to burn her; that they hardly escaped themselves. They carried off some few negroes - most of them were free - the number not known. They also captured 2 white women, but afterward released them, telling them that they intend to come back and burn the whole of the houses on the ridge and along the coast. They then returned down the river and now lie outside of Doboy Island….

W. G. THOMSON, Captain, Commanding Battalion

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Volume XIV: Series 1, vol. 14, Part I, 463.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., June 3, 1863.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,
Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.:

SIR: I have much pleasure in transmitting to you herewith certified copy of a telegraphic report just received from Colonel James Montgomery, commanding Second South Carolina Regiment, of the result of the first of a series of raids upon the main-land, now organized and in process of being carried out.

From the report you will see that Colonel Montgomery, with 300 men of his regiment and a section of the Third Rhode Island Battery, commanded by Captain Brayton, penetrated the country of the enemy 25 miles, destroyed a pontoon bridge across the Combahee River, together with a vast amount of cotton, rice, and other property, and brought away with him 725 slaves and some 5 horses.

This expedition is but the initial experiment of a system of incursions which will penetrate up all the inlets, creeks, and rivers of this department, and to be used in which I am now having several of our light-draught transport steamers supplied with bulwarks of boiler-iron to protect the troops on board from musketry and rifles; such steamers carrying 10 and 20-pounder howitzers in their bows.

I have also to report that Colonel Hawley, Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, commanding Saint Augustine, recently made a raid into the interior, in which he captured 118 head of cattle and many mules and horses, the cattle belonging to one Feitch, who was a contractor for supplying beef to the rebel army.

Colonel Montgomery with his forces will repeat his incursions as rapidly as possible in different directions, injuring the enemy all he can and carrying away their slaves, thus rapidly filling up the South Carolina regiments in the department, of which there are now four.

The Fifty-fourth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers (colored), Colonel Shaw commanding, arrived to-day in good condition, and appears an excellent regiment, over 900 strong. They will soon have abundant and very important employment, as will all other regiments, white or colored, that may be sent to re-enforce this department.
Congratulating you and the country on the favorable aspect of affairs in the Southwest, and hoping soon to be in a position to send you good news from this department, I have the honor to be, sir, with the highest esteem, your very obedient servant,

D. HUNTER, Major-General, Commanding.
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HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., June 3, 1863.

His Excellency Governor ANDREW, Massachusetts:

GOVERNOR: I have the honor to announce that the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts (colored troops), Colonel Shaw commanding, arrived safely in this harbor this afternoon, and have been sent to Port Royal Island. The regiment had an excellent passage, and from the appearance of the men I doubt not that this command will yet win a reputation and place in history deserving the patronage you have given them. Just as they were steaming up the bay I received from Colonel James Montgomery, commanding Second South Carolina Regiment, a telegraphic dispatch of which certified copy is enclosed. Colonel Montgomery's is but the initial step of a system of operations which will rapidly compel the rebels either to lay down their arms and sue for restoration to the Union or to withdraw their slaves into the interior, thus leaving desolate the most fertile and productive of their counties along the Atlantic sea-board.

The Fifty-fourth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers shall soon be profitably and honorably employed, and I beg that you will send for service in this department the other colored regiments which Colonel Shaw tells me you are now organizing and have in forward preparation.

Thanking you heartily for the kindness and promptness with which you have met my views in this matter, and referring you to my letter to Mr. Jefferson Davis as a guarantee that all soldier fighting for the flag of their country in this department will be protected irrespective of any accident of color or birth, I have the honor to be, Governor, with the highest esteem, your very obedient servant,

D. HUNTER, Major-General, Commanding.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Volume XIV: Series 1, vol. 14, Part I, 466-467.

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.

Colonel Robert Shaw, 54th Massachusetts, Reacts to the Burning of Darien, Georgia

Colonel Robert Shaw to his wife, Annie
Written from St. Simon’s Island, Georgia
June 9, 1863

“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 disemboweled, 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 (sic).

“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.”

Russell Duncan, Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Robert Shaw Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1992.

Shaw was killed on July 18, 1863, during the battle for Charleston Harbor. Shaw fell in the attempt to capture Battery Wagner. His family provided financial assistance for the rebuilding of Darien after the war.