Raid at Combahee Ferry

Part of the American Civil War

Date	June 1 – June 2, 1863
Location	Beaufort County, South Carolina Colleton County, South Carolina
Result	Union victory

Belligerents

United States (Union)

CSA (Confederacy)

Commanders and leaders

James Montgomery
Harriet Tubman

The Raid at 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.

Harriet Tubman, who had escaped from slavery in 1849 and guided many others to freedom, was working for the Union Army and guided its forces in the area. The Union ships transported more than 750 slaves freed by the raid, many of whom joined the Union Army.

Following the first shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, the newly formed Confederate States of America quickly moved to defend coastal South Carolina. Union forces tried to take control of the area to secure the fine harbors, which they needed to operate successfully in the South. In November 1861, Union Navy and Army troops invaded Port Royal, south of Charleston near the town of Beaufort. They occupied most of Beaufort County and the Sea Islands.

Planters and overseers fled area plantations ahead of the oncoming Union troops, and their departure effectively liberated thousands of slaves. Several Union Army infantry regiments were formed with these former slaves, including the 2nd South Carolina Infantry under Col. James Montgomery. Montgomery was a guerilla fighter from Kansas who had fought in numerous clashes between pro- and anti-slavery forces there and in Missouri before the war. His style of warfare became common in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

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Wikipedia