This is Darien, in the heart of the historic Altamaha delta region. Settled in 1736, by Scottish Highlanders under John McIntosh Mohr, it was named for the ill-fated settlement on the Isthmus of Panama. The first military parade in Georgia was held in Darien, February 22, 1736, when Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe reviewed the Highland Company in full regalia, with claymores, side arms and targes. The Highland Company supported Oglethorpe in all his campaigns, and won everlasting fame on the field of Bloody Marsh. During the Revolution, Darien men again came to the front — Gen. Lachlan McIntosh, Col. Wm. McIntosh and Col. John McIntosh were among the heroes of that War. In 1818 the City of Darien was chartered, and became the County Seat. The Bank of Darien, chartered in 1818, was the strongest Bank south of Philadelphia, with branches in 7 Georgia cities. Huge mills sawed into lumber millions of feet of timber rafted down the river. Darien was one of the great ports of the Eastern Seaboard. It was burned in 1863 by northern troops stationed on St. Simons`s Island. Rebuilt in the 1870s, Darien again became a great port, and the mills sawed lumber to be shipped all over the world. Depletion of the forests brought this era to an end in the early 1900s.
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