I. Major M. R. Delany, 104th United States Colored Troops, is hereby relieved from further duty at Charleston, S. C., and will report without delay to these headquarters, prior to assignment to duty with his regiment.
By order of
Brevet Major General R. Saxton,
Gen. Supt. Rect. & Org. Col. Troops, D. S.
Stuart M. Taylor, Asst. Adjt. Gen.
Major M. R. Delany, 104th U. S. C. T.
On the reception of this order a general depression was felt by the colored people, the freedmen, especially regarding it in the light of a preparatory abandonment of the service: naturally they felt this order sorely; their best friend and faithful counsellor leaving them without an apparent cause, was by no means comprehensible to them. And soon after its promulgation, the major’s quarters were beset by an eager crowd anxious for explanations from his own lips, but as the most satisfactory answer or explanation would only elicit from them a sorrowful shake of the head, it was evident nothing would content them except the order being recalled for the major’s departure. Having many imperative duties connected with the enlistment of the troops unfinished, he immediately wrote to the general for an extension of time, and while awaiting the required authority, the time solicited expired. He left Charleston June 26, reporting the forenoon of the next day at Hilton Head, and received the following special order:—
Headquarters Superintendent of Recruiting
and Organizing Colored Troops,
Department of the South,
Beaufort, S. C., June 29, 1865.
Special Orders. No. 47.
III. Major M. R. Delany, 104th United States Colored Troops, having reported at these headquarters in obedience to Special Order No. 36, Par. I, current series, from these headquarters, will remain in Beaufort until instructions in regard to the duties to be assigned to him are received from the war department.
By order of