The Gallant Charge of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts (Colored) Regiment

On July 18, 1863, Col. Robert Gould Shaw led the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment in a fierce but ultimately disastrous attack on Fort Wagner, a beachhead near Charleston, South Carolina. The scion of a prominent abolitionist family, Shaw had been handpicked to command the regiment, which was the first in the Union Army to be manned entirely by black soldiers. Shaw recognized the capability of his troops and championed their right to receive the same wages as their white counterparts. Although the regiment suffered heavy casualties, including the death of Shaw himself (shown atop a parapet, recoiling from a fatal wound), their “gallant charge” became legendary for its display of military mettle and patriotic spirit. Indeed, the flag-bearing soldier behind Shaw recalls the courageous actions of William Harvey Carney, who rescued the American flag during the heated battle and who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 1990.