Essay Database

“Glory” 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, …

…the 54th regiment were given the respect that they rightly deserved. They gave their lives to prove that they were just as worthy as white soldiers. After the assault on Fort Wagner, a reconstituted 54th Massachusetts, still consisting of black volunteers led by white officers, fought for the rest of the war. The soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts were among the Union troops that marched into Charleston, South Carolina, when it surrendered in February of 1865.