The Selfless Service of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment.

• Author: Boozer, Jim
• Position: NDIA Perspective

* Service to our great nation takes many forms, but in all forms, it requires a selflessness of spirit, recognizing the best outcome for the organization may not provide the best out-come for an individual.

In early 1863, a few months after President Abraham Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Massachusetts Gov. John Andrews oversaw the raising of the first U.S. military unit comprised primarily of Black soldiers, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Andrews expected he could recruit a regiment of free Black men, despite knowing all eligible volunteers had likely experienced slavery in a way that a reasonable person could assume would make potential recruits reluctant to serve.

Despite lacking sufficient Black citizens in the state, Massachusetts got enough volunteers to establish both the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Regiments when volunteers from across the northern states and Canada traveled to the Bay State to enlist. At their first opportunity, Black men from a wide variety of backgrounds answered the call to service.

They answered the call in early 1863 during some of the Union's darkest days. They answered the call wanting to fight, yet not knowing if the U.S. government would allow them into combat. They answered the call despite knowing they could not serve in commissioned officer or command positions. They answered the call knowing they would have to sublimate their egos to achieve a greater objective--defense of the principles upon which the United States was founded.

Since they could not serve as commissioned officers or commanders, Andrews recruited Col. Robert Gould Shaw to lead the new regiment. The governor requested Shaw transfer from the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment, with which he saw action at the Battle of Cedar Mountain and was injured during the Battle of Antietam. Reluctant at first, at least partly because he did not want to leave his friends in the 2nd, Shaw eventually agreed to serve in the new organization. Shaw came to admire his unit, believing they would acquit themselves with distinction if allowed to do so.

Initially they were not allowed to do so. From late May through mid-July, the 54th was primarily given manual labor duties.

However, they persevered. Their first action was a skirmish, the Battle of Grimball's Landing. They then served as the vanguard of the Union attack on Battery Wagner outside of Charleston, South Carolina, leading the attack against a highly fortified...