Civil War burning of Darien was branded a war crime by both armies

Ruins at Darien, Georgia

On June 11, 1863, Union forces led by Col. James Montgomery burned the historic town of Darien, Georgia, to the ground.

There were no Confederate soldiers in Darien when the atrocity took place, only women, children and the elderly. The city was shelled before it was torched and one woman had a hole torn in her dress by a cannon ball but miraculously was not injured.

Among the regiments taking part in the burning of Darien was the famed 54th Massachusetts Infantry, a Union regiment composed of black soldiers. Its commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, called the incident a "dirty piece of business." He had objected to the action, but Montgomery had directed that his orders be carried out, telling Shaw that Southerners must be "swept away by the hand of God, like the Jews of old."

Col. James Montgomery 

Shaw protested the incident to his superiors in the Union army, questioning the honor and legality of the wanton destruction of a town occupied only by civilians.

Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard also protested the incident in a July 1863 letter to Union General Quincy A. Gillmore:

...Ravaging and burning private property are acts of licentiousness unauthorized by the laws of war and the belligerent who wages war in that manner must justly...be regarded as carrying on war like a furious barbarian.

Gillmore's response was to give Montgomery command of a brigade during the coming invasion of Florida that culminated at the Battle of Olustee on February 20, 1864.

Please click here to learn more about the burning of Darien, Georgia: www.exploresouthernhistory.com/darienburning.

Night at the Museum at Andersonville on Nov. 16

Andersonville National Historic Site

An outstanding event is set for Andersonville National Historic Site and the National Prisoner of War Museum on the evening of November 16.

The park and museum will host "Night at the Museum." The event offers an extremely rare opportunity to visit the museum and prison site after dark.

Special films will be shown in the museum There will be a special presentation on the 15 American Indian men from Company K, 1st Michigan Sharpshooters who were held prisoner at Camp Sumter (Andersonville). Plus the path to the prison site will be illuminated with lanterns and you will be able to visit the reconstructed northeast corner of the historic prison to interact with living history volunteers who will be reenacting life at the Civil War stockade during the winter of 1864-1865.

Please click here to learn more about "Night at the Museum."

Please click here to learn more about Andersonville National Historic Site.

Uncovering the Story of Georgia's Camp Lawton Civil War Prison

Stockade at Camp Lawton

Camp Lawton was a Confederate POW camp built in the late summer and early fall of 1864 to relieve the overcrowded Camp Sumter at Andersonville. The site today is part of Magnolia Springs State Park near Millen, Georgia.
Two summers of archaeological work at the site by Georgia Southern University have uncovered a wide array of new information about the short-lived prison camp. It was only used for six weeks before the approach of Sherman's army forced its evacuation, but the prisoners left behind a surprising number of artifacts that tell the story of their time there.

Monument at Camp Lawton Site

These include a unique ring, buckles and other items with military insignia that help identify the locations in the 42-acre stockade where men from various regiments lived, archaeological evidence of their furniture, shanties, cookfires and more. The researchers have also uncovered traces of the stockade itself and related structures.

Earthworks of Confederate Fort

Some of the artifacts are already on display at the museum at Georgia Southern in Statesboro. Key items from this summer's work will be added to the exhibits in October.

At the prison site itself, it is possible to see the area where the stockade stood, the spring that provided water for the prisoners, the well-preserved earthworks of Confederate forts that overlooked the POW camp. Interpretive panels and other signage help explain the significance of the site and its history.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/camplawton.

The Battle of Allatoona Pass - Bartow County, Georgia

Star Fort at Allatoona Pass

Just outside Cartersville, a small parking lot serves as the trailhead for one of the most remarkable historic sites in Georgia - the Allatoona Pass Battlefield.

Developed by the Etowah Valley Historical Society and now maintained by Red Top Mountain State Park, the battlefield is open daily during daylight hours. It preserves the scene of the bloody fight for possession of the "Deep Cut" at Allatoona Pass during the opening days of the Franklin & Nashville Campaign.

Sherman had taken Atlanta after months of marching and fighting on September 2, 1864. Confederate General John Bell Hood, now commanding the Army of Tennesee, decided that instead of continuing to oppose Sherman's larger army around Atlanta he would turn west and then north to invade Tennessee and strike Nashville before Union reinforcements could be moved to the vital city.

Railroad Cut at Allatoona Pass

As the first step in this campaign, he sent General Samuel G. French to seize the Union forts at Allatoona Pass and fill the 175-foot deep railroad cut. French was then to fall back a short distance to the Etowah River and destroy the bridge there, before turning back to reunite with Hood's main army at New Hope Church. Unfortunately for French, Hood gave him only his own 3,276 man division and two days to accomplish this herculean task.

True to his orders, though, French marched immediately on Allatoona. Learning of his movement, General Sherman had messages sent to the post using signal flags waved from a tower on the top of Kennesaw Mountain.  These messages, which urged the Federal troops at Allatoona Pass to hold on until reinforcements could reach them, later inspired the Christian hymn "Hold the Fort."

Infantry Trench at Allatoona Pass

The Battle of Allatoona Pass opened on the morning of October 5, 1864, when French attached the strongly built Union defenses from the north and west. Although he was able to overrun an advanced position, at no point were his hard-fighting men able to break the Federal lines.  They charged the key Star Fort four times over open ground, but could not take the fiercely defended position. 

When the smoke cleared, the Confederate general had sustained higher than 30 percent casualties. The 2,000 or so Union soldiers defending the forts on the high ridge at Allatoona Pass were also badly bloodied. In fact, it would take nearly three weeks to locate and bury all of the dead from both sides.

To learn more about the battle and view a new online tour of the battlefield, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/allatoonapass.

Robert C. Tyler - Last General Killed in the Civil War

In the southwest corner of Pinewood Cemetery in West Point, Georgia, a small plot of ground has been set aside to provide a resting place for Confederate soldiers who died in the town.

Known as the Fort Tyler Cemetery, it notably contains the remains of Southern soldiers who fell in the defense of Fort Tyler on April 16, 1865. It was on that day, one week after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, that Brigadier General Robert C. Tyler fell in action at the Battle of West Point, Georgia.

He was the last general officer of either side killed in action in the Civil War.

A remarkable individual who grew up in Tennessee and Maryland, Robert C. Tyler was part of William Walker's filibustering expedition to Nicaragua in 1856. He was among the men who returned to New York at the end of that armed incursion as a mere skeleton.

Grave of Gen. Robert C. Tyler

In 1861, then a resident of Memphis, Tyler enlisted as a private in Company D, 15th Tennessee Infantry. He quickly rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and commanded his regiment at the Battle of Belmont, Missouri, while fighting against the forces of General Ulysses S. Grant.

Tyler fought against Grant's men again at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee. He had three horses killed from under him in that battle and was severely wounded. Due to his wounds he served in a staff capacity during Braxton Bragg's Kentucky Campaign, but was back in the field by 1863 when he fought at the brutal battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga. He lost a leg in that campaign, but was also credited with heroism on the field.

Fort Tyler in West Point, Georgia

By early 1865, Tyler had been promoted to brigadier general and was commanding the small force posted to defend the Chattahoochee River railroad bridge at West Point, Georgia. When news reached the town that a large Union force was approaching, he assembled what men he could and took up a position in Fort Tyler. The earthwork redoubt overlooked both the bridge and the town, the approaches to which it commanded with its three pieces of artillery.

Local legend in West Point holds that General Tyler was presented with a flag by the ladies of the community prior to the battle. He supposedly remarked that he would stand beneath the flag with honor and either prove victorious or die in the attempt.

Despite the small size of his own force and the overwhelming size of the attacking Federal command, Tyler held out courageously in Fort Tyler. With Union soldiers moving on his defenses from all four sides and the battle clearly lost, Tyler is said to have recklessly exposed himself to enemy fire.

Along with his aide, Captain Celestine Gonzales of Florida, he was shot down in the final moments of the battle. The two men are buried side by side at Fort Tyler Cemetery.

To learn more about Tyler's grave, Fort Tyler and the Battle of West Point, please visit the following:

• Fort Tyler Cemetery
• Fort Tyler in West Point, Georgia
• Battle of West Point, Georgia

Forsyth Park in Savannah, Georgia - A 19th Century Dream is Realized

Forsyth Park in Savannah, Georgia

When the planners of Savannah's antebellum city expansion conceived the idea of a large public park, the visualized it as a place around which neighborhoods would grow as well as culmination of color and beauty for the city's Bull Street Corridor.

More than 150 years later, their vision has been realized in the form of Forsyth Park. A magnificent 30-acre greenspace created in the years before the Civil War, the park is one of the most magnificent to be found in any city in the world. Its beautiful fountain, which can be seen as you approach along Bull Street from Monterey Square, has flowed since 1858 and is patterned after a similar feature in Paris. Shrouded by beautiful oak trees, it is one of the most photographed spots in the historic city.

Forsyth Park in Savannah

The history of this ground actually began long before the creation of the park by early city planners. General Oglethorpe himself reserved this ground when he created Savannah and its 24 magnificent squares. During the American Revolution, French troops camped here and their siege trenches began in what is now the northern end of the park.

By the time Sherman came in 1864, Forsyth Park was a developing reality. His men also camped here and thankfully spared Savannah from the flames they visited on Atlanta, Columbia and other locations they visited.

Today, Forsyth Park is everything its 19th century planners dreamed and more. A magnificent setting, it is popular with residents and visitors alike. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/forsythpark.

The Nancy Harts - Georgia's Female Civil War Soldiers

One of the most unique stories of the Civil War in Georgia is that of the famed Nancy Harts, LaGrange's all-female militia company.

Named for Nancy Hart, a Georgia heroine of the the American Revolution, the LaGrange company was formed in 1862 after many of the regular Confederate troops were pulled from the area. Concerned over the fate of their community and the safety of their families, the ladies of LaGrange organized into a volunteer company for the purpose of local defense. Electing Nancy Morgan as their captain, the soldiers began drilling twice weekly in a grove owned by Senator Benjamin Harvey Hill.

The women also served as nurses in the local military hospitals, which overflowed with wounded during the Atlanta Campaign. But in 1865, it appeared that they might actually face their baptism of fire. The column of Union Colonel O.H. LaGrange approached LaGrange (the city is not named for him) after taking Fort Tyler at nearby West Point. Learning that the Federals were approaching, the Nancy Harts formed ranks and marched out to meet him.

To learn the rest of the story, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/nancyharts.