On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in the Confederate States of America. Not only did he free African Americans from slavery in the ten states still in rebellion, he also made it the goal of the Union to end slavery. This goal then allowed African Americans to serve in the Union Army, and Massachusetts Governor John Andrew took advantage of this.
On March 13, Andrew authorized the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. It was one of the first official African American regiments in the Union and he had Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a fellow Bostonian, command the regiment. Prior to assuming command of the 54th Mass, Shaw had enlisted in the 7th New York Militia and then the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry, with whom he fought in the Battle of Antietam, on September 17, 1862.
The 54th was sent south to South Carolina where there was little action. They fell under the command of James Montgomery, whose leadership style did not sit well with Shaw. Montgomery was in command of a regiment made up of runaway slaves and he encouraged them to loot and burn Confederate towns in the style of guerrilla warfare. Shaw disagreed with this and felt that his regiment could take on better assignments. In a letter to Brigadier General George C. Strong, Shaw informed the Brigadier General that he thought it "important that the colored soldiers should be associated as much as possible with white troops, in order that they may have witnesses besides their own officers to what they are capable of doing."
On July 8, Shaw received orders to have his men ready to leave in an hour. Shaw and his men were carried north on the Chasseur to aid in the attack of Fort Wagner, a fort that guarded the entrance to the port of Charleston, South Carolina. On July 18, a second attack of Fort Wagner began and this time, unlike the first attack, the 54th Massachusetts regiment would be in the fight. The plan to attack the fort was a frontal assault, due to the location of the fort between the ocean and the port. Strong offered Shaw the opportunity to lead the column to attack Wagner.
Before he sent the 54th, Strong asked the regiment who would carry the National flag if the standard bearer fell. Shaw calmly responded that he would and his men cheered. Shaw gave the order to march and the regiment advanced on the fort until they were 200 yards away. At that point, the fort opened fire but Shaw and his men continued their forward charge with Shaw in the lead. Shaw made it up the side of the Fort where his men saw him hit by cannon fire; he then crumpled into the fort.
Despite their efforts, Fort Wagner was not taken by the Union Army in that assault. Shaw was buried by Confederate soldiers in a mass grave with the dead of the 54th Massachusetts. When there were efforts to recover his body, Shaw's parents refused and said the burial was fitting: that Shaw would want to be laid to rest with his men.
This past Saturday was the 152nd anniversary of the Second Battle of Fort Wagner where Shaw and the soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts proved that African Americans could serve their country valiantly in the military.
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