February 24, 1863.
Colonel [James]
Montgomery's arrival from Key West, with the nucleus of the Second S. C. Vols.
is an event of importance to our life here and also to the history of the war.
I have heard Col. Higginson declare that he regarded Col. Montgomery alone as
equal to one regiment. I have rarely heard our Colonel express deeper
confidence in any one. I have already discovered the secret of it. Col. M.
occupied my tent, last night, and before I turned in with James, I heard him
talk enough to feel sure of his indomitable courage united with that rare
verity which belongs only to inborn gentlemen. A compact head on slightly
rounded shoulders, a tall form of slender build, dark, bronzed face, deep brown
and slightly curling hair, a Roman nose, heavy beard and moustache, a smallish,
determined mouth and pointed chin, deep, hazel eyes of destiny, all form a
combination of feature and expression belonging to a man who has fought many
battles but never surrendered. He once drove fourteen thousand with four
hundred. He once ordered five rebel prisoners shot to avenge the death of five
of his soldiers who were taken prisoners and shot by the rebels. He would not
permit the blasphemy of the oath of allegiance to the remaining ten, but sent
them back to their rebel brethren with the information that he could take
prisoners and that thereafter he should not be content with life for life, but
ten for one if they persisted in their hellish career of atrocity which they
had begun. This man seems to me one of the John Brown men of destiny. He is not
one of the slow, calculating sort, but being in harmony with the elements
around him, he counsels with fleeing events and trusts his intuitions more than
his calculations.
