54th Mass

Gould Shaw, twenty-six year old member of a prominent Boston abolitionist family.

Shaw had earlier served in the Seventh New York National Guard and the Second

Massachusetts Infantry, and was appointed colonel of the Fifty-fourth in

February 1863 by Massachusetts governor John A. Andrew.

As one of the first black units organized in the northern states, the

Fifty-fourth was the object of great interest and curiosity, and its performance

would be considered an important indication of the possibilities surrounding the

use of blacks in combat. The regiment was composed primarily of free blacks from

throughout the north, particularly Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Amongst its

recruits was Lewis N. Douglass, son of the famous ex-slave and abolitionist,

After a period of recruiting and training, the unit proceeded to the

Department of the South, arriving at Hilton Head, South Carolina, on June 3,

1863. The regiment earned its greatest fame on July 18, 1863, when it led the

unsuccessful and controversial assault on the Confederate positions at Battery

Wagner. In this desperate attack, the Fifty-fourth was placed in the vanguard

entered the fighting late in the day at Olustee, and helped save the Union army

Along with the First North Carolina Colored Infantry, the Fifty-fourth

Medford, Massachusetts. Anxious to avenge the Battery Wagner repulse, the Fifty-

colored troops equal pay. However, word of the bill would not reach these troops

Some topics in this essay:
Swiss Creek, Infantry Fifty-fourth, Second-Lieutenant Co, Ferry Cos, Sumterville Sabbath, Henry Hooper, South Carolina, Battery Wagner, Sergeant Major, Forward Fifty-, battery wagner, johnny getting, fought desperately, five hundred, massachusetts infantry, forty cars, swiss creek, department south, ohio vols, sergeant major,