[46] Lt. Col. Hooper took command of the regiment starting June 18, 1864. The average age at enlistment was 24: the youngest gave his age as 16; the oldest as 47. [24] By May 11 more troops had arrived in Boston than were required to man the regiment. Fort Wagner Sources for Further Reading Overview The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment was the first military unit consisting of Black soldiers to be raised in the North during the Civil War. This table includes the names of individuals who served as enlisted soldierswith the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Why is the 54th Massachusetts So Famous? - Civil War Academy Though severely injured in the assault on Wagner, he saved the national colors after the color bearer fell. The son of prominent abolitionists, Shaw had already seen combat and been wounded at the Battle of Antietam. [7], The service of the 54th Massachusetts, particularly their charge at Fort Wagner, soon became one of the most famous episodes of the war, interpreted through artwork, poetry and song. The unit soon distinguished itself in battle. Their gravestones were marked as "unknown. Join us online July 24-26! When the 54th arrived, the men attached ropes to the engine and cars and manually pulled the train approximately three miles (4.8km) to Camp Finegan, where horses were secured to help pull the train. This fight provided the 54th with combat experience and earned them the praise of their fellow soldiers from the Tenth Connecticut whom they helped save from Confederate attack and capture. Regiment, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the Morris Island campaign." Cornelia Brooke Gilder with Julia Conklin Peters, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw: 54th Massachusetts Regiment, NHD Robert Gould Shaw National History Day, 2nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Bronze memorial to Shaw and the 54th regiment, "Caroline Wells Healey Dall journal, 1862-1865, pages with entries for 6-8 August 1863", Historical Digression, Civil War Training Camps in Massachusetts, part 2, "Fordham Preparatory School: Col Robert Gould Shaw", 10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0401086, "Remembering the Civil War Fallen at Beaufort, SC", "Civil War Col. Robert Gould Shaw's long-lost sword found in attic", Collection Search Results: Saint-Gaudens Shaw Memorial, Seeking the One Great Remedy: Francis George Shaw and Nineteenth-century Reform, Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry history, Robert Gould Shaw Letters to his Family and Other Papers (MS Am 1910), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Gould_Shaw&oldid=1160252303, A monument to Shaw's memory was erected by his family in the plot at, Although Shaw did not graduate from Harvard College, his name is listed on the tablets of honor in the university's. Leonard Grimes During the Civil War, Grimes joined the chorus of Black leaders agitating for the enlistment of black soldiers and was rewarded in 1863 with the creation of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the war's first African American regiments. The command came with a colonelcy, the rank commensurate with the position of regimental commander. Twenty-four of the 29 officers were veterans, but only six had been previously commissioned. The 54thMassachusetts arrived in South Carolina under thecommand of James Montgomery, an Ohionative that led the 2ndSouth Carolina Volunteers a freedmans regiment. [32][33] Some Confederate reports claim his body was hit as many as seven times. It is needless to say that the action was favorable, and now at all subsequent encampments, re-unions and other official functions, the bronze star with its broad striped ribbon will be conspicuous on the broad chest of the brave hero Sergt. The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment - American Battlefield Trust The overall strength of the defenders was underestimated by the Union command. [47], A monument to Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts regiment, constructed 18841898 by Augustus Saint-Gaudens on the Boston Common, is part of the Boston Black Heritage Trail. Hagood told a captured Union surgeon that "Had he [Shaw] been in command of white troops " he would have returned Shaw's body, as was customary for officers, instead of burying it with the fallen black soldiers. Explore More > Sojourner Truth holding portrait of grandson James Caldwell, Co. H In the face of heavy fire the 54th hesitated. Why 'Glory' Still Resonates More Than Three Decades Later Carney was severely wounded while serving as color bearer after the previous color bearer fell in battle. The most famous enlistees were Charles and Lewis Douglass, two sons of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Thousands turned out to watch their farewell parade. The abolitionist governor of Massachusetts, John Andrew, assembled the 54th Regiment in early 1863 after receiving authorization to do so from U.S. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. [27] After the 2nd Volunteers' successful Raid at Combahee Ferry, Montgomery led both units in a raid on the town of Darien, Georgia. "[54] As a recognition and honor, at the end of the Civil War, the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, and the 33rd Colored Regiment were mustered out at the Battery Wagner site of the mass burial of the 54th Massachusetts. This proposal was broadly opposed. Benny White cofounded and led the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, Company A, in reenactments of Civil War battles and events. Edited by Virginia M. Adams. Also known as: 54th Massachusetts Regiment, 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Associate Professor, Department of History, Belmont University. Hope and Glory: Essays on the Legacy of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. The men of the 54th were outgunned and outnumbered. Shaw's efforts and that of the 54th Massachusetts regiment were dramatized in the 1989 Oscar-winning film Glory. Four days later his regiment boarded onto transport and was sent to Hilton Head, South Carolina. In fact, at the Battle of Olustee, when ordered forward to protect the retreat of the Union forces, the men moved forward shouting, "Massachusetts and Seven Dollars a Month! The federal government reneged on its initial guarantee that it would pay black soldiers the same as white soldiers. So help you God". 2. To lead the 54th Massachusetts, Governor Andrew chose a young white officer named Robert Gould Shaw. They also kept the Haggerty home, and allowed Anna to live there when she returned from Europe. At dusk, Shaw gathered 600 of his men on a narrow strip of sand just outside Wagners fortified walls and readied them for action. In February of 1864, the 54thfought at the Battle ofOlusteein Florida. Governor John Andrew soon created the Massachusetts 54 th Volunteer Infantry. However, African Americans were not allowed to serve as soldiers in the Union Army until January 1, 1863. Before being given their back pay the entire regiment was administered what became known as "the Quaker oath". The pair spent a brief honeymoon at the Haggertys' home of Vent Fort, in Lenox, Massachusetts. [8], On May 28, 1861, Shaw was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the regiment's Company H. Over the next year and a half, he fought with his fellow Massachusetts soldiers in the first Battle of Winchester, the Battle of Cedar Mountain, and at the bloody Battle of Antietam. This exhibition celebrates Augustus Saint-Gaudens' magisterial The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial (1883-1900), considered by many to be one of the finest examples of 19th-century American sculpture. Omissions? Shaws parents were wealthy and prominent abolitionist activists. Carrying the commission, Francis Shaw traveled to Virginia to speak with his son. The U.S. Army paid Black soldiers $10 a week; white soldiers got $3 more. 3. Why Frederick Douglass Wanted Black Men to Fight in the Civil War In an attack on Fort Wagner, on Morris Island in Charleston, South Carolina, the 54th Regiment fought valiantly against a stronger Confederate force. The 54thMassachusetts wasone ofthe first United States military regiment comprised ofAfrican Americansoldiers in the Union during the Civil War. "[28] Montgomery had the town burned to the ground. Col. Shaw was killed, along with 29 of his men; 24 more later died of wounds, 15 were captured, 52 were missing in action and never accounted for, and 149 were wounded. The statue, a three-dimensional bronze frieze, depicts Robert Gould Shaw and the men of the 54th as they marched heroically off to war. "[13], The Congressional bill, enacted on June 16, 1864, authorized equal and full pay to those enlisted troops who had been free men as of April 19, 1861. It was one of the first all African-American, In 2017, the sword that Shaw was carrying at his death was discovered in the attic of a family home in. "The splendid 54th is cut to pieces," wrote Lewis Douglass, son of the famous abolitionist and a soldier in the 54th. The experiment in allowing African Americans in the military had been a resounding success. 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment - Wikipedia [49], Colonel Shaw and his men also feature prominently in Robert Lowell's Civil War centennial poem "For the Union Dead." Because Shaw had a longstanding difficulty with taking orders and obeying authority figures, his parents did not view this ambition seriously. [18] Among those appointed was George E. Stephens, African-American military correspondent to the Weekly Anglo-African who recruited over 200 men in Philadelphia and would go on to serve as a First Sergeant in the 54th. Donations to the Trust are tax deductible to the full extent allowable under the law. These studies were at the behest of his uncle Joseph Coolidge Shaw, who had been ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1847. The 54th Regiment came into existence with the stroke of a pen. In the aftermath of Fort Wagner, the wounded of the regiment were sent back to Beaufort, where they were treated in two of the antebellum mansions the US Army had converted into hospitals. Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 July 18, 1863) was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. "Storming Fort Wagner," Kurz and Allison, Library of Congress. It was the first time in the Civil War that Black troops led an infantry attack. [49], The unit was reactivated on November 21, 2008, to serve as the Massachusetts Army National Guard ceremonial unit to render military honors at funerals and state functions. Formed on March 13, 1863 the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment served in the American Civil War. They and other leaders believed that if the 54th Regiment could succeed in battle, charges of racial inferiority, so frequent at the time, would be undermined decisively. More Than Freedom: Fighting for Black Citizenship in a White Republic, 1829-1889. Also note, some recruits who had fled enslavement to Canada or elsewhere enlisted once they returned to the United States. 02109, Download the official NPS app before your next visit, This table includes the names of individuals who served as enlisted soldierswith the 54. more information on current conditions https://www.nga.gov/collection/sculpture/fifty-fourth-regiment.html. Lewis was wounded shortly after Shaw fell, and retreated with the rest when the force withdrew. [56], 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Boys, the old flag never touched the ground, monument to Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts regiment, "Jefferson Davis's Proclamation Regarding Captured Black Soldiers, December 23, 1862", "Glory at Battery Wagner: William H. Carney became the First Black Soldier to earn the Medal of Honor", "The 54th Regiment: Black soldiers remembered in bronze, prose and song", "To Colored Men. 54th Regiment, in full Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Massachusetts infantry unit made up of African Americans that was active during the American Civil War (186165). Among those who actively recruited for the unit were Frederick Douglass, Martin Delany, Henry Highland Garnet, and John Mercer Langston. 54th Regiment - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help Massachusetts Historical Society | 54th Regiment Shaw himself had dropped out. [20] Two sons of the prominent African-American abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass volunteered to serve with the 54th.[21]. Shaw himself had dropped out of Harvard to join the Union Army and had been injured in the Battle of Antietam. Updated: January 25, 2021 | Original: April 14, 2010. Of course not all the troops qualified. The 54thhad proven themselves in battle, and the regiments morale was high. Around the same time, Shaw wrote that his patriotism was bolstered after encountering several instances of anti-Americanism among some Europeans. [44] The Haggerty property had been sold to George and Sarah Morgan, who built a large mansion there. "[4], While Shaw was studying in Europe, Harriet Beecher Stowe, an abolitionist friend of his parents, published her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). So shortly after 6:30 p.m. on July 18, 1863, Union Colonel Robert Gould Shaw readied 600 men of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment for an assault on the fort. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001. [4] While at St. John's, he studied Latin, Greek, French, and Spanish, and practiced playing the violin, which he had begun as a young boy. Even as they fought to end slavery in the Confederacy, the African American soldiers of the 54th were fighting against another injustice as well. As night fell, Shaw led his men over the walls of the fort. [23], Shaw was promoted to major on March 31, 1863, and two weeks later on April 17 was made full colonel. Shaw's family encouraged Saint-Gaudens to take a different approach, and the resulting work commemorated not only the regiment's famed colonel but also the Black soldiers he commanded, a revolutionary concept for the time period. New York: Penguin Books, 2012. I want you to prove yourselves, he said. Egerton, Douglas R. Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America. Its first success came on July 16, 1863, in the Sea Islands off South Carolina. In fact, the opposite was true: Shaws parents replied that there could be no holier place to be buried than surrounded bybrave and devoted soldiers.. [3] During his teens he traveled and studied for some years in Europe. The 54th Massachusetts stopped the Confederate advance then, as he described, "had to fire and retreat toward our own encampment. The 1989 movie Glory told the story of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. [45], After Shaw's death at Fort Wagner, Colonel Edward Needles Hallowell took up the fight to get full pay for the troops. Many formerly enslaved soldiers hid their origins and birthplaces from recruiters. The 54th Massachusetts Infantry - Timeline, Facts & Leader - HISTORY It was originally titled "Colonel Shaw and the Massachusetts' 54th" and published in Life Studies (1959). Above them floats an angel holding an olive branch, a symbol of peace, and a bouquet of poppies, a symbol of remembrance. 10. The 54th's actionsdisplayed in battle paved the way for the Union to begin requisitioning more Black regimentsto contribute in the war effort. The Majority of our funds go directly to Preservation and Education. The intelligence of the men is a great surprise to me. Initially tasked with manual labor details and the ransacking of Darien, Georgia, of which Shaw did not approve, the 54th did not see real action until a skirmish with Confederate troops on James Island on July 16, 1863. The Robert Gould Shaw School, West Roxbury, Massachusetts, a Boston Public School, opened in 1936 but is now closed. [9] Shaw served both as a line officer in the field and as a staff officer for General George H Gordon. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. During the Battle of Grimball's Landing, the 54th Massachusetts stopped a Confederate advance, taking 45 casualties in the process. On May 28, 1863, the 54th departed for the war front, marching through Boston, and loaded onto the transport DeMolay for their voyage south. From 1856 until 1859 he attended Harvard University, joining the Porcellian Club,[5] and the Hasty Pudding Club,[4] but he withdrew before graduating. [40], More recently, the story of the unit was depicted in the 1989 Academy Award-winning film Glory, starring Matthew Broderick as Shaw, Denzel Washington as Private Trip, Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes, Jihmi Kennedy and Andre Braugher[55] The film re-established the now-popular image of the combat role African Americans played in the Civil War, and the unit, often represented in historical battle reenactments, now has the nickname the "Glory" regiment. . Fordham University likewise celebrates Shaw as an alumnus by honoring him in the University Hall of Honor, and separately in the Fordham University Military Hall of Fame. [41] Instead, they were informed upon arriving in South Carolina, the Department of the South would pay them only $7 per month ($10 with $3 withheld for clothing, while white soldiers did not pay for clothing at all. Please note, these points on the map indicate where the soldier enlisted, not their birthplace. After the town had been emptied of all valuables and livestock, Montgomery told Shaw, "I shall burn this town." [11], General recruitment of African Americans for service in the Union Army was authorized by the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863. The decision would have far-reaching effects both on the battlefield and in society. National Gallery of Art. The 54th Massachusetts Regiment, n.d. https://www.nga.gov/collection/sculpture/fifty-fourth-regiment.html. According to Carney's descendant, Carl Cruz, "the first medal he was given was the Gilmore Medal of Meritorious Award which was basically given right on siteHe was also awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Massachusetts did not have many African American residents, but by the time 54th Infantry regiment headed off to training camp two weeks later more than 1,000 men had volunteered. This was supposed to amount to subsistence and $13 a month. These online, searchable data sets serve as a resource for finding soldiers and officers who served in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment between February 1863 and August 1865. Matt Teuten This did not happen until the war was almost over. Captured in the Fall of 1861, the Sea Islands around Beaufort had become not only a military hub for the Department of the South, but the site of an growing experiement at post-slavery, known as the Port Royal Experiment. Boston Black Soldiers Monument Faces Scrutiny Amid Racial Reckoning - WBUR William H. Carney became the first African American to earn the Medal of Honor, the countrys highest military award. The 54th Massachusetts Regiment was divided into eleven companies (A through K). The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment during the Civil War | C-SPAN In mid-April 1865, they fought at the Battle of Boykin's Mill, a small affair in South Carolina that proved to be one of the last engagements of the war. During the latter engagement, the 54th Massachusetts, with other Union regiments, executed a frontal assault against Fort Wagner and suffered casualties of 20 killed, 125 wounded, and 102 missing (primarily presumed dead)roughly 40 percent of the unit's numbers at that time. Local leaders such as Lewis Hayden as well as national spokesmen including Frederick Douglass helped recruit soldiers for the regiment. [43] Joseph Barquet, another member of the regiment, also protested the quality of the food which the soldiers were given, which led to him being court-martialed. Robert Gould Shaw | American Battlefield Trust Colonel Robert Shaw was killed during the engagement, leaving Edward Hallowell in charge of the 54th. I know not, Governor Andrew said at the close of the parade, where in all human history to any given thousand men in arms there has been committed a work at once so proud, so precious, so full of hope and glory as the work committed to you. That evening, the 54th Infantry boarded a transport ship bound for Charleston. Because of the strength of the defending force the position could only be held for an hour before the two Union brigades were withdrawn, at around 9:00 pm. Get HISTORYs most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week. For the basic information on the memorial and its historical background see the National Park Service Web page for the memorial. [8] Col. Robert G. Shaw was killed on the parapet of Fort Wagner. Gooding, James H. On the Altar of Freedom: A Black Soldier's Civil War Letters From the Front. The 54th regiment returned to Massachusetts in late August, 1865, and received a hero's welcome as they made their return parade through Boston on September 2.13. [35], The 54th Massachusetts numbered 600 men at the time of the assault. [17] About 100 people were actively involved in recruitment, including those from Joy Street Church and a group of individuals appointed by Governor Andrew to enlist black men for the 54th. Sergeant William H. Carney, born enslaved in Virginia, settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts after escaping bondage via the Underground Railroad. He was just 25 years old. [10] Twice wounded, by the fall of 1862 he was promoted to the rank of captain. Most importantly, he wanted men who understood the stakes, that the success or failure of the endeavor would elevate or depress the manner in which the character of African Americans were viewed throughout the world for many years to come. Massachusetts governor John A. Andrew spearheaded the effort of the creation of this new unit. Shaw and Montgomery led a raid on the small town of Darien, Georgia in which Montgomery instructed the 2ndCarolina and the 54thMassachusetts to loot the town and subsequently set fire to the town. Shaw's parents were wealthy and prominent abolitionist activists. [51], A Union officer had asked the Confederates at Battery Wagner for the return of Shaw's body, but was informed by the Confederate commander, Brigadier General Johnson Hagood, "We buried him with his niggers. The Selfless Service of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment The 54th continued to serve on the southeast coast for the remainder of the war. Luis F. Emilio, A Brave Black Regiment: History of The Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1863-1865 (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1995), 34. One of the killed men was First Lieutenant E.L. Stevens, who was the last Union officer to be killed in the Civil War. They were greeted by local blacks and by Northern abolitionists, some of whom had deployed from Boston a year earlier as missionaries to the Port Royal Experiment. [1] [4] Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew, who had long pressured the U.S. Department of War to begin recruiting African-Americans, placed a high priority on the formation of the 54th Massachusetts.
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