This Day in History: First Formal African American Military Unit raid Confederate fort

54th Massachusetts Infantry

On this day in history, July 18, 1863, one of the first formal African American military units, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, attempts an unsuccessful assault on Confederate-held Battery Wagner.

President Abraham Lincoln was one who argued diligently that the Union forces were not fighting to end slavery, but fighting to prevent the disintegration of the United States. For abolitionists, however, ending slavery was the reason for the war, and they argued that black people should be able to join the fight for their freedom. However, African Americans were not allowed to serve as soldiers in the Union Army until January 1, 1863. It was on that day, the Emancipation Proclamation decreed that “such persons (African-American men) of suitable condition, will be received into the armed services of the United States.”

Colonel Shaw and his troops landed at Hilton Head on June 3 of that year, and the next week they were forced by Shaw’s superiors to participate in a particularly destructive raid on the town of Darien, Georgia. The colonel was furious, he complained to superiors that his troops had come South to fight for freedom and justice, not to destroy undefended towns with no military significance. He wrote to General George Strong and asked if the 54th might lead the next Union charge on the battlefield.

Even as they fought to end slavery in the Confederacy, the African-American soldiers of the 54th were fighting against another injustice as well, the U.S. Army. Payment for black soldiers was $10 a week while white soldiers were given $3 more. To protest against this, the entire regiment of soldiers and officers alike refused to accept their wages until black and white soldiers earned equal pay for equal work. This did not happen until the war was almost over.

On July 18, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts prepared to storm Fort Wagner, which guarded the Port of Charleston. At dusk, Shaw gathered 600 of his men on a narrow strip of sand just outside Wagner’s fortified walls and readied them for action.

“I want you to prove yourselves,” he said. “The eyes of thousands will look on what you do tonight.”

When the sun set, Shaw led his men over the walls of the fort. Unfortunately, the Union generals had miscalculated the amount of confederate soldiers that would be waiting for them on the other side. 1,700 Confederate soldiers waited inside the fort, ready for battle against the attack. The men of the 54th were outgunned and outnumbered and two hundred and eighty one of the 600 charging soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. Colonel Shaw was shot in the chest on his way over the wall and died.

To show their contempt for the soldiers of the 54th, the Confederates dumped all of their bodies in a single unmarked trench and cabled Union leaders that “we have buried with his niggers.” The Southerners expected that this would be such an insult that white officers would no longer be willing to fight with black troops, however, the opposite was true. Shaw’s parents replied that there could be “no holier place” to be buried than “surrounded by…brave and devoted soldiers.”

The 54th lost the battle at Fort Wagner, but they did a great deal of damage there causing the confederate troops to abandon the fort soon afterward. For the next two years, the regiment participated in a series of successful siege operations in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The 54th Massachusetts returned to Boston in September 1865.

 

Fun Fact: The 54th Infantry was made into a blockbuster hit movie, Glory starring Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman, and Denzel Washington