Fighting for the Union – Massachusetts’ 54 Regiment
The 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was among the first officially recognized African American units fighting on the side of the Union in the American Civil War. The unit’s soldiers, recruited by abolitionists and under the command of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, saw combat multiple times throughout the war; the outfit is best known for its participation in an attack on Fort Wagner in South Carolina in which Colonel Shaw and dozens of his men were killed. The 54th Regiment’s existence has been credited with energizing African Americans to enlist in the Union Army and helping to tip the scales against the Confederacy. The unit is perhaps the Civil War’s most well known regiment and has been immortalized not only by historians but also by Hollywood in the 1989 film Glory.
Sources
Duren, C.M. “The Occupation of Jacksonville, February 1864 and the Battle of Olustee: Letters of Lt. C.M. Duren, 54th Massachusetts Regiment, U.S.A.” The Florida Historical Quarterly Vol. 32, no. 4 (1954): 262-287. Accessed September 18, 2013.
Glatthar, Joseph T. “‘Glory,’ The 54th Massachusetts Infantry, and Black Soldiers in the Civil War.” The History Teacher Volume 24, no. 4 (1991): 475-485). Accessed September 18, 2013.
Lawson, Brenda M. and Robert Gould Shaw. “The Letters of Robert Gould Shaw at the Massachusetts Historical Society.” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society Third Series, Vol. 102 (1990): 127-147. Accessed September 18, 2013.
“The Old Flag Never Touched the Ground,” a painting of the attack on Fort Wagner
Film Poster for “Glory”