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| Scene from the movie "Glory" |
By summer
1863, coastal towns in the Deep South knew that where the Union army was going,
emancipation of slaves was soon to follow.
That fact
permeated society in Darien, Ga., where rice was king and slave labor served
it. Most of the town’s 500 souls had fled before June 11, frightened by the
Federal blockade and the deployment of African-American troops on nearby St.
Simons Island.
On that day,
the town, its buildings perched on tabby foundations, was vacant.
It held
little strategic value to the Union, but Col. James Montgomery, commanding the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers, supposedly believed it was a safe haven for
blockade runners.
Montgomery --
virulently opposed to slavery -- apparently had another reason for shelling, looting
and burning Darien, leaving only a few buildings standing among the charred
ruins.
“There was
not much justice for burning Darien,” said Steven Smith, site manager for Fort King George Historic Site in Darien. “He wanted to make a political
statement. Here was a town built on the backs of slaves.”
Darien’s
destruction by two black regiments caused a howl of protest across the South
and even in newspapers in the North. Those favoring emancipation were split on
whether the act was barbarity or a necessary evil as it became clearer to many
that the Civil War was about slavery.
Smith is among
local leaders who launched a “Burning of Darien” website and Facebook page as a
way to elevate knowledge of the incident and increase tourism in McIntosh
County, long one of the poorest in Georgia.
Lectures
about the 150th anniversary and the recent opening of a related
museum culminate this Saturday (June 15, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.) with a daylong festival and living
history in the city better known these days for its seafood fleet and as a
gateway to the Golden Isles and retirement communities.
Among re-enactors
that will be on hand is a Charleston, S.C., contingent that portrays the famed 54th Massachusetts Volunteer
Infantry, which also participated in the burning of Darien.
The incident
is featured in the 1989 movie “Glory.”
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| Col. James Montgomery |
Montgomery
ordered Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts to participate. While Shaw didn’t
mind the looting to help resupply his troops, he opposed setting the town to
torch. He apparently relented under threat of court-martial.
In a letter
to his wife, Annie, a couple months before he died during his regiment’s
assault on Battery Wagner near Charleston, Shaw gave this description of
Montgomery:
“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.”
At the same
time, the colonel said Montgomery was a “conscientious man” and believed he was
faithfully executing his duty.
Shaw further
wrote his wife, “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.”
After the
war, the Shaw family worked diligently to exonerate their loved one’s
reputation by saying he did not order Darien’s burning.
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| Col. Robert G. Shaw |
Montgomery
was an extreme character, even among abolitionists, according to historian
Colin Woodward, archivist for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s
Center for Arkansas History and Culture.
Historians
debate whether Montgomery was acting under orders of Gen. David Hunter,
commander of the Union’s department in the region. Hunter is known for an
unauthorized 1862 edit emancipating slaves.
But it’s
clear where Montgomery, a Kansas Jayhawker, stood on slavery.
“He had this
religious Old Testament idea of an eye for eye and I hate slavery and I
will do whatever it takes, even if this town is undefended,” Woodward told the
Picket. “It’s almost like if John Brown had not been hanged and went into the
army. That’s how this guy operated.”
Woodward, who
also authors the Southern Historian blog, said the burning of Darien
foreshadowed further Union efforts to take the war to the Southern people, and
not just at the battle lines.
“I call
Montgomery a Sherman in miniature,” Woodward said. “This is how the Union is
going to prosecute the war further out.”
Buddy Sullivan, a historian in coastal Georgia, has given lectures about Darien and
he is quick to point out that the raid occurred well before Sherman’s March to
the Sea.
He told the
Picket that the Burning of Darien initiative might help get more tourists off
Interstate 95, which cuts through McIntosh County, off the road and into its
communities.
Darien in
recent years has gotten on the “train of progress” in promoting itself
for eco-heritage tourism,” Sullivan said. This year’s events are a way to reach
people “who haven’t even heard of this place.”
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| Buddy Sullivan |
“This area
has a lot of natural beauty and history,” Sullivan said. “We want people to
come back and take a second look.”
Organizers of
events have attempted to have an expanded view of the burning of Darien, to
include the story of slavery.
“We are
trying to draw a more diverse element,” said Sullivan. “We don’t just want
Civil War buffs. It may be unpleasant history for some, but it is history.”
The 2nd South Carolina Volunteers was largely comprised of freed slaves, while the 54th
Massachusetts had many freedmen and business professionals.
Steven Smith
told the Picket the 54th Massachusetts was in the area to recruit freed
slaves, destroy Southern crops and take out Confederate assault works.
Darien was
slow to rebound from the war, and a now-gone timber industry for decades
replaced the rice-based economy.
Like
Sullivan, Smith said eco-heritage tourism is beginning to take off.
“It is a
pretty town, a quintessential Southern town, with live oaks,” he said. “It is a
perfect town for recreational boating.”
The Burning
of Darien has provided educational opportunities and this week a museum opened
at the town’s Trailhead Center.
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| Colin Woodward |
Scholars have
long debated the significance of the event and what it meant to the reputation
of African-American troops, led by white officers. Hence, Shaw’s concerns about
the image of his troops following the “wanton destruction.”
Historian
Keith Wilson, in an article about Union officers who waged war in the region,
has said when it came to Darien, “condemnation was not a universal response” in
the North.
Woodward said
there was varying reactions to the event.
“In the abolitionist
movement it created a divide between those saying the ends justify the means
and those thinking it was going too far, we don’t need to do this.”
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“The building
is in pretty good shape,” says Robinson, who also serves as marketing manager.
“That is
something we are going to address real soon,” says Robinson. “The way the
painting is hanging.”
“The lights
at the bottom are overpowering the lights they are supposed to work with,” he
says.
PROGRAMMING AND 150th
ANNIVERSARY
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Staff members
at the Cyclorama, who have heard such discussions in the past, are heartened
the city is making the infrastructure improvements as it considers its options.
“He had this
religious Old Testament idea of an eye for eye and I hate slavery and I
will do whatever it takes, even if this town is undefended,” Woodward told the
Picket. “It’s almost like if John Brown had not been hanged and went into the
army. That’s how this guy operated.”
