2nd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Colored) | |
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![]() South Carolina state flag | |
Active | May 22, 1863, to February 8, 1864 |
Country | United States |
Allegiance | United States of America Union |
Branch | Infantry |
Equipment | Rifled muskets |
Engagements | Raid at Combahee Ferry Burning of Darien, Georgia |
The 2nd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Colored) was an African-American infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was among the scores of units raised starting in the middle of the war to augment Federal troop strength by tapping into the large Southern population of former slaves. [1] Harriet Tubman, lead the regiment in the Raid at Combahee Ferry in which roughly 800 slaves were freed. [2] It gained notoriety among certain quarters for its actions during the controversial looting and burning of the pro-Confederate town of Darien, Georgia. [3] This operation was part of the Union strategy to damage the Confederate states' ability to supply food and materials towards their war effort. [4]
The regiment and its role in burning Darien are featured in the 1989 Civil War film Glory.
Colonel James Montgomery
Lieut. Colonel W.W. Marple
In January 1863, Col. James Montgomery of Kansas was authorized to raise a regiment of troops consisting entirely of free blacks and refugee former slaves, which were to serve under white officers. While many men readily agreed to military service, Confederate sources allege that some were forcibly conscripted. [5]
Montgomery organized the 2nd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry at Beaufort and Hilton Head, South Carolina. The new recruits were mustered into Federal service on May 22, 1863. The 2nd was attached initially to the Districts of Hilton Head and Beaufort, S.C., Tenth Army Corps, Department of the South. [6]
Throughout 1863 and part of 1864, Montgomery practiced his Jayhawker brand of irregular warfare in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. In June 1863, Montgomery's brigade, including the 2nd South Carolina and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry under Col. Robert Gould Shaw, participated in operations along the Atlantic Coast resembling his earlier Jayhawking raids in Kansas and Missouri. The 2nd South Carolina was a part of the Raid at Combahee Ferry in which 800 slaves were freed. The regiment later helped loot and burn the coastal town of Darien, Georgia, despite the fact that it was undefended and offered no resistance. [7] [8]
In July 1863, the 2nd and the rest of Montgomery's brigade moved to Morris Island off the South Carolina coast. They took part in the expedition to James Island from July 7–17, and skirmished with Confederates at Grimball's Landing on July 16. The 2nd participated in the siege operations on Morris Island against Forts Wagner and Gregg from July 18 until September 7, when the Confederate defenders abandoned the two forts and withdrew. [9]
The 2nd South Carolina was involved in the subsequent operations against Fort Sumter and the defenses of Charleston until January 29, 1864. It moved to Hilton Head, and then to Jacksonville, Florida, on February 5–7. [6]
While in Florida, the regiment was disbanded and subsequently reorganized as the 34th United States Colored Infantry Regiment on February 8, 1864. Many of the men from the old 2nd South Carolina later participated in the Battle of Honey Hill. They were mustered out of the army on February 28, 1866. [10]
Darien is a city in and the county seat of McIntosh County, Georgia, United States. It lies on Georgia's coast at the mouth of the Altamaha River, approximately 50 miles south of Savannah, and is part of the Brunswick, Georgia metropolitan statistical area. It is the second-oldest planned city in Georgia and was originally called New Inverness. The population of Darien was 1,460 at the 2020 census, down from 1,975 in 2010.
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, organized in the Northern states during the Civil War. Authorized by the Emancipation Proclamation, the regiment consisted of African-American enlisted men commanded by white officers. The 54th Massachusetts was a major force in the pioneering of African American civil war regiments, with 150 all black regiments being raised after the raising of the 54th Massachusetts.
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The Raid on Combahee Ferry was a military operation during the American Civil War conducted on June 1 and June 2, 1863, by elements of the Union Army along the Combahee River in Beaufort and Colleton counties in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
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