Black Soldiers
From the outset of the war, many blacks
volunteered as cooks, drivers, carpenters,
and scouts for the Union Army, not only out
of patriotism, but also to be recognized as
full partners in the nation and the war
effort. Until the summer of 1862, federal
law prohibited blacks from becoming
soldiers, but when Congress repealed that
law, Blacks enlisted in the Union army.
Frederick Douglas explained why:
“Once let the black man get upon his
person the brass letters, U.S.; let him get
an eagle on his button, and a musket on his
shoulder and bullets in his pocket, and
there is no power on earth which can deny
that he has earned the right to citizenship
in the United States.” By the end of war
180,000 blacks had fought in the Union
army and 29,000 in the navy.
Although they were allowed to enlist,
Black soldiers suffered severe
discrimination. Their term of enlistment
was longer than whites’ and they were paid less. The army assigned them to all black
regiments mostly under the command of white officers. Medical care, bad enough
even in the best circumstances, was even worse in the black units. The weapons black
soldiers carried were often ones discarded by white troops. If taken prisoner by
Confederates, black soldiers (unlike white soldiers) faced enslavement or execution by
hanging or firing squad.
In spite of such difficult
conditions, the bravery of black
soldiers under fire became well
known. In the summer of 1863,
for example, the all-Black 54th
Massachusetts Regiment led an
assault on Fort Wagner in
Charleston Harbor. Under heavy
artillery barrage, nearly a hundred
soldiers forced their way into the
fort and engaged the Confederate
troops in hand-to-hand combat.
The 54th suffered great casualties
in the battle, but such displays of
courage won black soldiers a
degree of acceptance among many
white Americans.
The All-Black 54th Massachusetts Regiment
Glory (1989) Directed by Edward Zwick starring
Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman, Denzel
Washington, Cary Elwes
Description: This film tells the story of Colonel Robert
Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer
Regiment, the first regular army regiment of black
soldiers commissioned during the Civil War. At the
beginning of the war, most people believed that blacks
could not be disciplined to make good soldiers in a modern
war and that they would run when fired upon or attacked.
Colonel Shaw, a white abolitionist, and hundreds of
soldiers in his regiment, all black volunteers, gave their
lives to prove that black men could fight as well as whites.
Helpful Background:
- Before the summer of 1863 a few experimental black units had been organized
by Union Commanders. Some of these regiments won plaudits for their
performance but their actions were not well known in the North. The
performance of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment during the summer of
1863 in the almost suicidal attack on Fort Wagner was the first engagement in
which the participation of black soldiers received wide publicity.
- After the assault on Fort Wagner, a reconstituted
54th still consisting of black volunteers led by white
officers, fought for the rest of the war. The soldiers
of the 54th were among Union troops that marched
into Charleston, South Carolina, when it
surrendered in February of 1865. They sang “John
Brown’s Body” as they entered the city.
- At the beginning of the Civil War, President Lincoln
and most white Americans saw the war as a fight to
save the only “government of the people” then
existing in the world. Had the war been seen,
initially, as an effort to free the slaves, most
Northern soldiers would not have fought and risked
their lives, and all of the slave holding Border
States would have joined the rebellion. President
Lincoln, until the later phases of the war, spoke only
of the need to preserve the Union. The
Emancipation Proclamation, for example, was a
war measure that freed slaves only in the areas of insurrection, areas that the
Union did not control. It did not affect the States that had remained loyal to the
Union. However, the Proclamation had strong psychological and political effects.
It made allies of many slaves in the South. It was welcomed by the working
class in Great Britain (who was strongly against slavery) stopping in its tracks a
plan by British politicians to give assistance to the South. Had England entered
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the war on the side of the South, the
result could have been very different. The
Emancipation Proclamation also caused
terrible riots in the North by workingmen
afraid of competition from newly freed
black slaves.
Blacks and abolitionists such as Frederick
Douglas saw that without a cause higher
than preservation of the Union (as
important as that was), the tremendous
bloodletting and destruction of the Civil
War could not be justified. After all, what
is the value of democracy if it condones an
evil such as slavery? Abolitionist leaders
continually tried to get President Lincoln
and the North to make the war a crusade
against slavery as well as an effort to
preserve democracy. By the end of the war, they had succeeded. The War
between the States is now seen as a war to end slavery. But it was both much
more and much less than that.
Before the Civil War abolitionists were regarded in most states as radicals.
Robert Gould Shaw came from a family of strong abolitionists. His father
founded the National Freedman’s Relief Association. Shaw’s mother
applauded his acceptance of Colonel of a black regiment; an action that she must
have known increased the risk of his death. She wrote to him: “God rewards a
hundredfold every good aspiration of his children, and this is my reward for
asking for my children not earthly honors, but souls to see the right and courage
to follow it. Now I feel ready to die, for I see you willing to give your support to
the cause of truth that is lying crushed and bleeding.”
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Omitted from the movie is any mention of Shaw’s wife, Annie. Shaw was
married shortly before the battle at Fort Wagner. He had only a little time with
his new wife. ON the day of the assault on Fort Wagner his second in
command, Ned Hallowell, found Shaw alone, lying near the pilot house on the
top deck of the ship that was taking them to scene of the battle. Hallowell said,
“Rob, don’t you feel well? Why are you so sad?” Shaw replied, “Oh Ned! If I
could live a few weeks longer with my wife, and be home a little while I think I
might die happy. But it cannot be. I do not believe I will live through our next
fight.” An hour later, Shaw came down and Hallowell reported that “All the
sadness had passed from his face, and was perfectly cheerful.”
As colonel, it was Shaw’s choice of whether he would lead his men at the front of
the assault, or whether he would bring up the rear. He chose to lead at the
front. The facts make Shaw’s self-sacrifice all the more poignant.
The Massachusetts 54th consisted of 1,000 men. Six hundred of these men
participated in the attack on Fort Wagner, the remainder having been left behind
as a camp guard, in the hospital, as a fatigue detail, or having been killed or
wounded in recent fight on James Island.
Frederick Douglas (1817-1895)
escaped slavery and became a leading
spokesman for abolition before and
during the Civil War. His gifts as an
orator propelled him to the head of the
anti-slavery movement. He was
largely self-educated, as he put it “a
recent graduate from the institute of
slavery with his diploma on his back.”
The threat of being seized and returned
to his “owner” under the Fugitive
Slave Laws forced him into exile in
England where he continued to
crusade. Eventually, supporters
purchased his freedom and he returned
to the U.S. He then took charge of the
Underground Railroad in Rochester,
New York. Douglas was associated
with John Brown but withdrew from the
conspiracy when Brown revealed that
he intended to attack Federal property
(Harper’s Ferry). During the War
between the states, Douglas helped
raise two regiments of black soldiers,
the Massachusetts 54th and 55th
Volunteer Regiments. Two of his own sons were the first to volunteer for the
54th and one was the Sergeant Major of the regiment from the beginning. After
the War, Douglas became a spokesman for former slaves nationwide. He also
served as Marshall for the District of Columbia, Recorder of Deeds for the District
of Columbia, and U.S. minister to Haiti.
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If you ever visit Boston be sure to see the monument to Colonel Shaw and the
Massachusetts 54th. It is on the Boston Common directly across the street from
the Statehouse.
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Most of the film is historically accurate. The Massachusetts 54th was the first
official regiment of black soldiers in the Union Army. All the commissioned
officers were white. The soldiers and the officers felt that it was up to them to
prove that black troops could fight well, and while the performance of the 54th
was the first well publicized heroic engagement by black troops and quite
important, it was the major catalyst in convincing the Union Army to accept more
black soldiers. That process had begun several months before.
Most of the specific incidents shown in the film are true, including the
enthusiastic send-off from Boston, the destruction of the South Carolina town of
Darien and Colonel Shaw’s objection to this action, the initial prejudice of many
white troops, Shaw’s action in handing letters to a newspaper reporter before he
died, and the 54th’s heroic and suicidal assault on Fort Wagner. However, there
are several incidental inaccuracies. They include the following:
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o 1) Most of the members of the regiment were not former slaves, but had
been free all of their lives.
o 2) The refusal to accept reduced pay was at Shaw’s initiative, not one of
the soldiers.
o 3) After the burning of Darien, Colonel Shaw found out that Montgomery
had been acting under specific orders of his commander, Major General
David Hunter. Shaw came to like and respect Montgomery.
o 4) Shaw did not have to blackmail a Union officer to get his troops into
battle.
o 5) A review of all of Shaw’s correspondence to his family reveals no
situation in which he had to threaten a Union Army quartermaster to get
shoes for his soldiers and
o 6) The film omits any mention of Shaw’s wife.
Questions for the Movie
Watch the movie Glory and answer the following questions on a separate piece of
paper using proper paragraph format and full and complete sentences.
1) What were most of the Union soldiers fighting for, an end to slavery or
preservation of the Union?
2) In the 1860s why was preservation of the Union important to the cause of
democracy world-wide?
3) What was the turning point for Colonel Shaw in gaining the trust of his men?
4) Give examples of how Colonel Shaw exhibited leadership in his regiment.
5) Why did the black soldiers of the Massachusetts 54th willingly march to their
deaths in front of Fort Wagner?