Georgia Natural Wonder #28 - Champney/General Is./Darien/McIntosh Co. (2). 1436

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #28 - Islands of McIntosh County (Part 2) - Champney & General's Islands - Darien

Champney Island

We got cyber lost trying to describe these marsh islands. We have spent hours on this wonder. I can’t really find anything on Champney Island except in this detailed site on duck hunting. Now I have been quail hunting and dove hunting with my dad, but I have never duck hunted. The following is an excerpt from the linked site, not me describing my duck hunting expertise.



Georgia’s Colonial Coast hosts many cold-weather outdoor traditions: oyster roasts, striper and seatrout fishing, and waterfowling. The epicenter of this waterfowling tradition is the Altamaha River Delta with its abundant and diverse wetlands. Fortunately for sportsmen, joint ventures between private interests and government protect much of the delta’s lands and waters while making them available for compatible uses such as duck hunts. In the midst of this sprawling region lies the Altamaha Waterfowl Management Area, operated by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. This 30,000-acre property is a mix of duck-attracting wetland habitats ranging from freshwater river swamps to brackish tidal marshes to plantation-era impoundments.



These impoundments, once used to grow rice, now provide habitat for resident and visiting waterfowl. Water-level manipulation encourages the growth of native moist-soil vegetation offering a smorgasbord not only to ducks, but also other wading birds. Where feasible, agricultural plantings enhance the attractiveness of the area.The DNR stays busy throughout the year with a myriad of traditional wildlife management chores — planting, cutting and burning — but one of the most challenging is ensuring that water-control structures don’t succumb to the erosive effects of widely fluctuating river levels and the twice-a-day tides that range from 6 to 9 feet. More than $1 million has been spent in the last couple of years repairing large breaches in the dike surrounding Rhett’s Island, a prominent feature of the management area.




Duck or Buck.

Altamaha WMA is made possible by a partnership between the Georgia DNR, Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration, and Ducks Unlimited, which annually contributes in excess of $100,000 for operation of the area.The wood duck has traditionally been the only waterfowl species to make the Altamaha WMA its yearlong home. However, a couple of non-native species have also taken up housekeeping recently. Mottled ducks and black-bellied whistling ducks are now established residents. Although mottled ducks are native to Florida, most of our resident population was jump-started by southerly migrants from South Carolina, where they were transplanted in an attempt to establish a resident population.


Woody.

Biologists first found black-bellied whistling ducklings during a 2007 spring waterfowl census. The appearance of this species was a surprise. Whistling ducks typically nest in tree cavities like our native wood ducks, but for some reason, they’ve built nests in the marsh on Rhetts Island. It’s a testimony to their survival skills that they’ve managed to live amongst the ‘gators, snakes and raccoons. Black-bellied whistling ducks are not afforded any special protection, explained Good, so hunters can legally harvest them if they come into areas open for hunting.


Black Belly.

The first migrants to Altamaha WMA each fall are blue-winged teal, fleeing the chilly winds sweeping across the prairie pothole region. Most are bound for over-wintering grounds in Florida or even Central America, but some will loiter in the area for weeks or months. A few impatient green-winged teal also arrive in September, just in time for Georgia’s early waterfowl season. By October, the management area is home to a mix of resident wood ducks and marsh lovers from the far north: more teal, ringed-neck ducks, mergansers and widgeons. Gadwalls, shovelers, pintails and usually a few mallards and black ducks arrive by November. Migratory duck abundance fluctuates yearly depending on breeding-ground conditions and regional weather patterns.


Blue Wing.

Many waterfowl addicts making the pilgrimage to Altamaha WMA do so for the Saturday-only quota-hunts at Butler Island. It’s as close to a private duck-club experience as you can have on a public-hunting area in Georgia and one particularly suited for novices and youngsters.



If you prefer something just as adventurous, but different, then a foray into the impoundments on Rhett’s Island is a good choice. This area is open Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and state holidays during the waterfowl season. No check-in is required, and there’s no limit on the number of hunters. Shooting hours last until noon, except on the final day of the season when they extend to sunset.



Walk-in duck hunting is available on Champney Island, which is separated into three impoundments: Old Snipe Pool, New Snipe Pool and West Champney. All you need are chest waders and the other usual gear. No check-in is required, and the area is open the same days and hours as Rhett’s Island. There is no limit on the number of hunters, but the Champney impoundments are rarely crowded. Hunters willing to walk a bit can find great action on Champney Island, particularly on Saturdays when the other impoundments on Rhett’s and Butler islands are being hunted. Two well-maintained roads off U.S. Highway 17 lead to access points in the waterfowl impoundments. Massman Road goes across the southern end of Champney Island, terminating at a dirt parking area adjacent to Interstate 95. Hunters enter the southeast corner of the triangle-shaped West Champney impoundment.



Champney Road is opposite the public boat ramp and marked with a sign for the Ansley-Hodges Memorial, a waterfowl rest area with a wildlife-viewing platform. The purpose of the memorial was to restore 42 acres of freshwater wetlands habitat on Altamaha WMA through installation of several water control structures and rehabilitation of dikes. This road follows the northeast side of the island before terminating at I-95. There is ample parking near the access points into New Snipe Pool and Old Snipe Pool. Be sure to visit the area in daylight so you can be familiar with the exact location of these access points. Just like the other areas on Altamaha WMA, there are no permanent blinds in the impoundments, so be prepared to hide in available cover. Don’t forget that camo head net! You’ll be trudging considerable distances through knee-deep water, so pack light. I carry a dozen teal decoys rigged with 30-inch lines and 4-ounce weights, a marsh seat and my over-the-shoulder gear bag loaded with the other essentials. Last, make sure you have a sling on your shotgun.



Hunter success waxes and wanes with the weather and the number of birds on the area. Duck harvest records for Butler Island date back to 1965. Overall, total duck and hunter numbers have fluctuated through the years based on season length and bag-limit changes. As hunters, we all remember times when waterfowl were more abundant, but the data shows fluctuations in hunter success throughout the 40-year span. Based strictly on duck harvest at Butler Island, it’s hard to make a strong argument that duck hunting has gotten worse over the past 40 years, although we do see fewer big ducks like mallards, blacks and pintails compared to those early years. Last year, 580 hunters harvested 576 ducks during the Butler Island hunts. That’s down a bit from the previous season, but we did have some great early hunts with 3 1/2 ducks per hunter during the opening day hunt and two ducks per hunter the Saturday after Thanksgiving.”

General's Island

Only thing I can find on General’s Island is this. General’s Island Historical Marker on US 17/Ga 25 0.8 miles south of Darien, Ga



We may as well tangent to the interesting history of Darien for a minute while we island hop. Fort King George Historic Site is located in the charming and historic coastal community of Darien, Georgia. Built in 1721 by the forces of Colonel John "Tuscarora Jack" Barnwell, the fort was the southernmost outpost of England in North America. Now a state historic site, it has been beautifully restored and is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday of each week (closed Mondays).



What is now the State of Georgia was once claimed by the King of Spain as part of his colony of La Florida. The Spanish had built settlements, forts and missions as far north as Virginia long before English settlers came to America. In fact, Franciscan friars established Mission Santo Domingo de Talaje in a village of Guale Indians at the Fort King George site in 1600. The wooden church and associated buildings were built 8 years before the founding of Jamestown in Virginia and 20 years before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts.



The mission was 61 years old when it was raided by Indians sent south by the English who had by 1661 established settlements in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The new colonists were hungry for slaves and the raids against the peaceful inhabitants of missions like Santo Domingo de Talaje helped supply them. As the Spanish frontier retreated south, English settlements also spread down the coast. The founding of Charles Town (Charleston) in 1670 represented a new threat to the Spanish and their allied tribes of American Indians. English-led and inspired slave-catching raids ended in the destruction of the surviving Spanish missions outside of the immediate vicinity of St. Augustine, Florida. Spain, naturally, resented the intrusion of the English into lands that it had claimed for 200 years. French settlements, meanwhile, were expanding east from the Mississippi River into the Creek Nation in today's Alabama.



To defend their new settlements against Spanish attack from the south and French attack from the west, the English decided to build a new fort roughly halfway between Charles Town and St. Augustine. They were prompted to the decision during a 1720 visit to Parliament by John Barnwell. Called "Tuscarora Jack" for his success in fighting Tuscarora Indians, Barnwell went south in 1721 to select a site for and build the new fort. He selected a spot on the lower bluff at Darien. This placement was logical. Trails led not only north to South Carolina, but west up the Altamaha River to the Creek Nation and the French settlement at Fort Toulouse near present-day Wetumpka, Alabama. The site also made for an excellent defense point against Spanish expeditions coming up from St. Augustine.



The fort consisted of a towering central blockhouse surrounded by earthen ramparts, palisades, a moat, barracks and other buildings. The former site of the Guale village and Mission Santo Domingo de Tajale provided cleared land for the gardens that would be needed to feed the soldiers. The soldiers sent by England to garrison Fort King George were the men of His Majesty's Independent Company of Foot of South Carolina. Many were invalids from other units and some were well past effective military age. The building of the fort required massive effort. Cypress trees were cut by hand 3 miles above the site and floated down the Altamaha. Slowly, however, the ramparts and buildings were completed and by 1722 the more than 100 men of the Independent Company were at the fort under Barnwell's command.



Fevers and disease swept the post, however, and in less than one year almost half of the men died. Conditions were so bad that when the fort caught fire and burned in 1725-1726, its commanding officer suggested that his own men had set the blaze. By the time the site was ordered abandoned in 1727, an estimated 140 officers and men serving there had died. Fort King George was held for only seven years, but was a success in establishing English control of what is now Georgia. Gen. James Oglethorpe reoccupied the site in 1736 and the Scottish Highlanders of his command built the new town of Darien and their Fort Darien on higher ground one mile up the bluff from the ruins of Fort King George.


Another Natural Wonder turns deadly.

The restored fort is the centerpiece of Fort King George Historic Site, where visitors can also see the English cemetery, the site of the Spanish mission, ruins of historic sawmill complexes and a museum. In addition, the park is on the Colonial Coast Birding Trail. Fort King George is open Tuesday - Sunday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. (Closed Monday). Admission is $7 for adults, $6.50 for Seniors (62+) and $4 for Youth (6-17). Admission is free for kids under six. The park is located at 302 McIntosh Road, SE in Darien, Georgia.



Fort Darien was built by Highland Scots in 1736 to help defend the colony of Georgia. The site can be seen today on the waterfront in Darien, Georgia. A historic marker notes the location of the fort.The story of the Scottish Highlanders and their settlement of Darien is one of the most unique in America's colonial history. After he founded Georgia in 1733, General James Oglethorpe realized that frontier defenses were needed to defend his new colony from the fury of Spain.



The Spanish had first settled the Georgia coast and were irate that the English had invaded the region. The threat of attack from St. Augustine, Florida, was very real. Fort King George, garrisoned on the Altamaha by troops from South Carolina in 1721-1728, had been abandoned. With no defenses to stop a Spanish army moving up from Florida, Oglethorpe decided to plant two new settlements on the coast south of Savannah. One of these, to be occupied by Highlanders recruited from the area of Inverness, Scotland, would be built at the former Fort King George site. The other would be on St. Simons Island.


Fort Frederica on St. Simons..

The Highland Scots set sail for America in October 1735 in a body that included 177 men, women and children. They reached Savannah in January and were immediately sent down the coast to reoccupy the site of Fort King George. They came ashore there on January 19, 1736. The Highlanders first mounted cannon on the surviving earthworks of the earlier fort. They built huts and a place for religious services and were visited on February 22, 1736, by Oglethorpe who had been engaged in starting work at Fort Frederica on St. Simons Island.


Barracks Ft. Frederica.

It soon became apparent, however, that the old Fort King George site had an unhealthy reputation for a reason. In summer the Scot settlers, with Oglethorpe's approval, decided to move to higher ground about one mile west of their first settlement site. There they began to build Fort Darien.The name of the fort was taken from an earlier settlement of Scots in Panama that had failed. The town that it protected was named New Inverness. The Highlanders of Fort Darien were equipped in the New World just as they had been in the old. Wearing their plaids and carrying broadswords, shields and firearms, they were among the best troops in Georgia.


These tabby ruins were more likely from later structures, but this is about where Ft. Darien would have been.

Fort Darien itself was a rectangular structure with two bastions on its landward side and artillery aiming off the bluff to defend the new settlement from attack by ship. Uniquely, the Scottish women of New Inverness could perform the manual of arms and trained to man the cannon of the fort should the need arise. In 1739, three years after the Highlanders arrived in Georgia, the War of Jenkins' Ear erupted between Spain and Great Britain. The conflict gained its name from an English sea captain who suffered the loss of an ear after he was captured by the Spanish.


The ear displayed at parliament.

Fort Darien served as a base from which the Highlanders set out with Oglethorpe on his campaigns against Spanish Florida. Two men from the settlement had been killed by Spanish-allied Indians and the men of the settlement were quick to volunteer for action in Florida. The Highland Independent Company of Foot marched from Fort Darien on Oglethorpe's main Florida invasion in 1740. They camped at Fort Mose within sight of St. Augustine, but were surprised there by a Spanish attack. The Highlanders and their supporting troops lost 68 killed in the battle.



Tangent within a tangent. The Battle of Fort Mose (often called Bloody Mose, or Bloody Moosa at the time) was a significant action of the War of Jenkins' Ear, and it took place on June 26 of 1740.

Background

Located two miles north of St. Augustine, Fort Mose was established in 1738 by the Spanish as a refuge for British black slaves escaping from the colonies of Georgia and South Carolina. Forty-five years earlier, in 1693, King Charles II of Spain had ordered his Florida colonists to give all runaway slaves from British colonies freedom and protection if they converted to Catholicism and agreed to serve Spain.


Fort remains are in the clump of trees at the State park.

The fort consisted of a church, a wall of timber with some towers, and some twenty houses inhabited by a hundred people. The maroons were commissioned as Spanish militia by Governor Manuel de Montiano and put under the command of Captain Francisco Menéndez, a mulatto or creole of African-Spanish descent, who had escaped from slavery in South Carolina. Fort Mose's militia soon became a matter of concern for the British colonies. The fort served as both a colony of freedmen and as Spanish Florida's front-line of defense against British attacks from the north. The Spanish intended to destabilize the plantation economy of the British colonies by creating a community that would attract slaves seeking escape and refuge. Word of the free black settlement reached the Province of South Carolina; it is believed to have helped inspire the Stono Rebellion in September 1739. During the slave revolt, several dozen blacks headed for Spanish Florida, but were not successful in reaching it.

Battle

At the outbreak of the War of Jenkins’ Ear in 1739, General James Oglethorpe, governor of Georgia, encouraged by some successful raids the British colonial Rangers made in the frontier, decided to raise a significant expedition to capture and destroy St. Augustine, capital of Spanish Florida. As part of the campaign, he realized his forces had to capture and hold Fort Mose. Oglethorpe launched his campaign. Regular troops from South Carolina and Georgia, militia volunteers, about 600 allied American Indian Creek and Uchise allies, and about 800 black slaves as auxiliaries made up the expedition, which was supported at sea by seven ships of the British Royal Navy. Montiano, who had 600 regulars including reinforcements recently arrived from Cuba, was forced to resist entrenched. On several occasions he attacked the British lines by surprise.



Approaching St. Augustine, a British party under Colonel John Palmer, composed of 170 men belonging to the Georgian colonial militia, the Scottish Highlander 42nd Regiment of Foot (old), and auxiliary native allies, rapidly occupied Fort Mose, strategically sited on a vital travel route. Manuel de Montiano had ordered the fort abandoned after some of its inhabitants had been killed by Indian allies of Great Britain. The free black residents moved to St. Augustine. While the Oglethorpe expedition laid siege to St. Augustine, Montiano considered his options. Knowing the strategic importance of Fort Mose, and realizing its vulnerabilities, Montiano decided to undertake a counter-offensive operation.



At dawn on June 15, Captain Antonio Salgado commanded a Spanish column of 300 regular troops, and Francisco Menéndez led the the free black maroon militia and allied Seminole warriors consisting of Indian auxiliaries. They stormed Fort Mose. The attack was initiated two hours before the British soldiers awoke so that they could not prepare their arms for defense. About 70 of the British colonials were killed in bloody hand-to-hand combat with swords, muskets, and clubs.



Taken by surprise, the British garrison was virtually annihilated.



Colonel Palmer, three captains and three lieutenants were among the British troops killed in action. The battle destroyed the fort. The Spanish did not rebuild it until 1752.

Aftermath

The Spanish victory at Fort Mose demoralized the badly divided British forces and was a significant factor in Oglethorpe's withdrawal to Savannah. In late June, St. Augustine was relieved by Spanish forces from Havana, and the Royal Navy’s warships abandoned the land forces. Governor Montiano commended the maroons for their bravery. Although Fort Mose had been destroyed during the siege, its former residents were resettled in St. Augustine for the next decade as free and equal Spanish colonial citizens. When the Spanish rebuilt the fort in 1752, free blacks returned there. After the British victory against the French in the Seven Years' War, it took over East Florida in a related trade with Spain. Most of the residents and military evacuated to Cuba, and Francisco Menéndez and most of the free blacks went with them, to escape being re-enslaved by British colonial forces.



Oglethorpe failed to take St. Augustine and withdrew back to Georgia after a long siege. In 1742, Spain retaliated by moving an army north against St. Simons Island. The Highland Independent Company of Foot went down to Fort Frederica from Fort Darien to assist in the emergency. There they took part in two battles that determined the fate of the Georgia colony. At the Battle of Gully Hole Creek on the morning of June 7, 1742, the Highlanders helped Oglethorpe defeat the Spanish advance as it neared Fort Frederica.



Then on the same afternoon, the Highland Independent Company and a detachment of the 42nd Regiment of Foot surprised a second Spanish advance at the Battle of Bloody Marsh. Casualties were light, but the Spanish lost their nerve and withdrew. Spain had lost Georgia forever.





Fort Darien diminished in importance after the small but critical battles on St. Simons Island. The Spanish threat over, the fort slowly deteriorated. Patriot forces occupied the site during the early part of the American Revolution, but withdrew ahead of the British invasion of 1778. The site of Fort Darien can be seen atop the bluff at Darien, Georgia. A marker stands in the park overlooking the waterfront near the intersection of U.S. 17 and Fort King George Drive.



The burning of historic Darien, Georgia, was one of the most controversial acts of the War Between the States (or Civil War). On June 11, 1863,





Union troops raided the town on the Georgia coast in a frenzy of fire, looting and destruction. There were no Confederate troops in Darien, only a few civilians who fled for their lives as their city was burned around them.



The 54th Massachusetts, a famed regiment of black Union soldiers, was among the units that took part in the destruction. Col. Robert Gould Shaw, the regiment's commander, called the burning of Darien "a barbarous sort of warfare" and protested to superiors in the Union army about the role the 54th had been ordered to take in the raid. The responsibility for the raid on Darien was fixed by Shaw on his immediate superior, Col. James Montgomery of the 2nd South Carolina U.S. Colored Troops (later the 34th USCT). Before the war he had taken part in the guerrilla warfare of the "Bleeding Kansas" episodes.



According to a letter written by Shaw to his family shortly after the raid, he reached St. Simons Island with the 54th Massachusetts on June 9, 1863. On the next day he was approached by Col. Montgomery who asked how long Shaw would need to prepare his men for an expedition. Shaw promised his men would be ready to move in 30 minutes. Eight companies of the 54th left St. Simons Island by steamboat that same day. As they left the island they were joined by two other steamboats carrying Col. Montgomery, five companies from his regiment and two sections of light artillery from Rhode Island. The three transports were escorted by the gunboat Paul Jones of the U.S. Navy.


If they could restore Darien like it was, be interesting to visit. (Helen)



At 8 a.m. the next morning - June 11, 1863 - the boats steamed into the mouth of the Altamaha River. Shaw reported that cannon were fired indiscriminately at houses along the river as the boats advanced, despite the fact that some likely sheltered women and children. The expedition reached Darien at 12 noon. The Union commander rained cannon fire on the town, even though no shot had been fired at his men and no Confederate soldiers were in sight. One shell, according to Shaw, passed through the dress of a woman but miraculously did not injure her. With the gunboat watching from the river, the three U.S. Army transports tied up to the wharves on the Darien riverfront and the Union soldiers went ashore. Montgomery ordered them to loot the homes and shops of the town of all of their furniture and movable goods, all of which were to be brought to the boats. This took several hours for the soldiers to accomplish.



Adam Strain building burned gutted and later restored. Can still see charred walls on some existing Darien structures.



Once the work was done, Col. Montgomery ordered the burning of the town. Shaw told his family that he objected to the order, telling his commander that he "did not want the responsibility of it." Montgomery shouldered the responsibility himself and directed that his orders be carried out. As women, the elderly and children watched from afar, their homes went up in flames. According to Shaw, his men also participated in the burning because they were ordered to do so. The excuse Montgomery gave him for the destruction was that Southerners must be "swept away by the hand of God, like the Jews of old."


Oh man there is a Burning of Darien Museum and Facebook page.

"This makes me very much ashamed of myself," Shaw wrote on the day after the raid. He also called it a "dirty piece of business" that brought dishonor on his regiment. Confederate authorities were shocked by the merciless attack on civilians. Captain William A. Lane of the 20th Battalion Georgia Cavalry reported that when he saw smoke coming from Darien he tried to intervene with a detachment of only 15 men. He realized he stood no chance, however, and withdrew back away from the town without firing a shot. On June 13, 1863, two days after the raid, Captain W.G. Thomson of the same unit reported to Brig. Gen. Hugh Mercer:...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...They came up the river in three gunboats, shelling as they came along. The only prisoners taken by the Federals, he reported, were two women who were later released.



Among the buildings burned in Darien by the Union troops was the historic First African Baptist Church. Founded in 1822, it was one of the oldest African American churches in the South.


Church today.

Col. Shaw later complained to superiors about the wanton destruction of Darien and the war he and his men had been ordered to carry out against women and children. He died 25 days later while leading the 54th Massachusetts in the failed attack on Battery Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina. The Confederates did lodge a formal protest against the burning of Darien. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard included the incident in a litany of incidents of vandalism he attributed to Union soldiers in a letter to Brig. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore of the U.S. Army.



Despite Beauregard's complaint that the burning of Darien and other towns were war crimes, Col. Montgomery was not removed from his post. He commanded a brigade at the Battle of Olustee, Florida on February 20, 1864. He resigned his commission later that year and returned home to Kansas where he died on December 6, 1871. The site of the Union landing at Darien is now a waterfront park, where the ruins of historic warehouses and other structures can be seen. The Adam Strain Building near Broad and Screven Streets was gutted in the fire but survives. The Grant House at Adams (GA 99) and Rittenhouse Streets is the only residence not destroyed by the fires. It is still a private home.



The Vernon Square–Columbus Square Historic District is a historic area on the eastern side of Darien, Georgia. It encompasses two squares of the original 1805 city plan, although Vernon Square now contains a circular street. The plan was derived from James Oglethorpe's plan for Savannah. The area of Vernon and Columbus Wards was platted in 1805. The historic buildings in the area date back to the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. The houses are mostly modest wood-framed structures with weatherboard siding and wood detail.



The area thrived as a center of the timber industry in the late 19th century. The area contains houses representing Darien's middle-class white and black families. Darien had an unusually large group of middle-class black families in the late 19th century. McIntosh County frequently had a black representative to the state legislature from 1868 to 1907.



Wow – 11 more pages. two little duck hunting islands and a whole lot of history instead of nature. Looks like Darien and McIntosh County have really earned their status in the annals of Georgia lore. Let’s break this up to a three part visit to these islands of McIntosh County. Really surprising the number of private islands and the number of islands you can visit.  Our GNW gal comes from Burning of Darien Facebook pages.


Missy calling the troops.