54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry

The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that participated in the American Civil War. It was the first formal United States Army unit to comprise African-Americans.

Related Topics:
Infantry - Regiment - American Civil War - United States Army - African-American

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This regiment, organized by the governor of Massachusetts, John A. Andrew, and commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw after the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, was created for the express purpose of proving that African-Americans could be good soldiers. Colonel Shaw was hand-picked by Gov. Andrew himself, and the rest of the officers were painstakingly evaluated by Col. Shaw. The soldiers were recruited by Caucasian abolitionists (including Col. Shaw's parents) and by prominent African-Americans such as Frederick Douglass. This recruitment group was later known as "The Black Committee." A number of the recruits were from states other than Massachusetts, with several coming from Pennsylvania and New York.

Related Topics:
Governor - Massachusetts - John A. Andrew - Colonel - Robert Gould Shaw - Emancipation Proclamation - Frederick Douglass - Pennsylvania - New York

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The 54th left Boston, Massachusetts to fight for the Union on May 28, 1863. The 54th started off in a manual labor role. The regiment gained notoriety in a raid on the town of Darien, Georgia, after being ordered to loot and burn the town by Col. James Montgomery. The 54th's participation in this raid was minimal and reluctant. Col. Shaw initially objected to what he called a "satanic action," but was forced to capitulate when Col. Montgomery threatened to imprison Col. Shaw and put the 54th directly under his own command. Col. Montgomery's regiment was allowed to break ranks and loot at will, whereas Col. Shaw's men were orderly and only took those supplies that would be useful at camp.

Related Topics:
Boston, Massachusetts - May 28 - 1863 - Darien, Georgia

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The regiment gained nationwide fame on July 18, 1863, when it spearheaded an assault on Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. Half of the unit's men were killed in the assault, including Colonel Shaw. Although the Union was not able to take and hold the exceptionally secure fort, the 54th regiment was widely acclaimed for its valor, and the event helped encourage the further enlistment and mobilization of African-Americans, a key development that President Abraham Lincoln once noted helped secure the final victory. Decades later, William Harvey Carney, the flag bearer of the regiment during the attack, became the first African-American awarded the Medal of Honor.

Related Topics:
July 18 - 1863 - Fort Wagner - Charleston - South Carolina - Abraham Lincoln - William Harvey Carney - Medal of Honor

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Later in the war, the 54th fought a rear-guard action covering the Union retreat at the Battle of Olustee.

Related Topics:
Union - Battle of Olustee

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The regiment was disbanded after the Civil War and was eventually largely forgotten, aside from the monument (1884 – 1897) by Augustus Saint-Gaudens on the Boston Common, and the famous composition by Charles Ives based both on the monument and the regiment ("Col. Shaw and his Colored Regiment," the opening movement of Three Places in New England). Col. Shaw and his men also feature prominently in Robert Lowell's poem "For the Union Dead" (1964); some of the most powerful lines appearing in this stanza: "Shaw's father wanted no monument / except the ditch, / where his son's body was thrown / and lost with his 'niggers.'" More recently, the story of the unit was depicted in the 1989 Academy Award winning film Glory starring Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington. The film reestablished the now-popular image of the combat role African-Americans played in the Civil War, and the unit, often played in historical battle simulations, now has the nickname of The Glory Regiment.

Related Topics:
Augustus Saint-Gaudens - Boston Common - Charles Ives - Three Places in New England - 1989 - Academy Award - Film - Glory - Matthew Broderick - Denzel Washington - Civil War - Nickname

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