The White Union Commander of the All-Black Civil War Regiment—Made Famous by the Movie Glory

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You can check out their great curriculum on American history at my BRI.org. Let's get into the story. Take it away, Kirk. It was July 1863, and a young 25 year old army colonel looked at the faces of assembled troops. They were battle tested and prepared, but they knew that the task for them would be difficult, perhaps even a suicide mission. But he urged them on anyway, and encouraged them in their duty, reminding them of their historic mission.

The eyes of thousands will look on what you do tonight. The colonel told his men. And he was right. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was commanding the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, one of the first black regiments to serve during the American Civil War. Shaw and his men had battled racism and skepticism just for the right to engage in combat. Now, having won the right to serve their country, their tallest task lay before them. The 54th Massachusetts were readying to spearhead a charge on Fort Wagner, a heavily armed Confederate fortification that guarded the harbor to Charleston, South Carolina.

To call it vital would be an understatement. Shaw and the brave men of the 54th had no illusions about the battle. Just days earlier, a previous attempt to take Fort Wagner had failed, leaving more than 300 Union troops dead, wounded or missing. Now it was up to Shaw in the 54th Massachusetts to launch a successful attack and seize the fort for the Union. As evening fell, Shaw and his troops were ready.

They began one of the most legendary charges of the Civil War, memorialized in the 1989 Oscar-winning film, Glory. But who was Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, and how did he come to lead such an important group of soldiers? The answers trace back to Shaw's earliest days, where his principles, courage, and sense of duty were forged. Shaw was born in Boston on October 10, 1837. In many ways, Shaw lived the life of a typical upper-class youth.

He studied French, Latin, Spanish, and Greek, and attended Jesuit St. John's College in Fordham, New York. His family was also wealthy enough to travel the world in an era where most people never left the confines of their hometown. And while in Switzerland, Shaw experienced a pivotal moment that profoundly influenced the formation of his identity and his views. Shaw read Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, who he came to know. Uncle Tom's Cabin, with its horrifying depictions of slavery, had a galvanizing effect on the American abolition movement.

It was a controversial book that helped to divide the sections of the country further. Soon, Shaw would have an opportunity to take up arms and fight back against the injustices he had read about, and he would embark on a military career that was both historic and short-lived. Shaw joined other members of wealthy elite society in the 7th New York Militia. He left for the war full of abolitionist fervor, believing the slave power aristocracy of the South had dominated the United States for too long. He also sought the immediate restoration of the Union, the primary motivation of most Union enlistees in 1861. That year, the 7th New York Militia was temporarily dispatched to help safeguard Washington, D.C. A letter Shaw wrote to his mother showed his optimism at a time when the worst dangers of the Civil War still lay ahead. We all feel that if we can get into Washington before Virginia begins to make trouble, we shall not have much fighting.

Won't it be grand to meet the men from all the states, East and West, down there, ready to fight for the country, as the old fellows did in the Revolution? When the 7th New York Militia disbanded later that spring, Shaw secured an officer's commission in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry. He saw action at the battles of Front Royal and Cedar Mountain in Virginia in 1862, opposing Thomas Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley campaign. Later that same year, Shaw fought at the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day of the Civil War. Shaw had been slightly wounded at Front Royal and escaped another close call at Antietam, where he suffered a slight wound to the neck. At this point, Shaw was 24 years old, twice wounded, and his regiment had been badly bloodied at Antietam. He had already done plenty for the Union cause.

But Shaw's greatest moments and sacrifices were yet to come. The U.S. Congress empowered the War Department to enroll free or enslaved black men in the Union Army on July 17, 1862. Approximately 74% of Northern black men of military age served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

An astonishingly high figure. Black Union troops faced unique and terrible dangers as they were regarded by Confederates as rebellious slaves. This meant they were rarely granted prisoner of war status when surrendering and, if captured in battle, they could be enslaved or, in some cases, re-enslaved, if not killed outright.

Racial atrocities occurred after battles at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, Petersburg, Virginia, and Plymouth, North Carolina, where black soldiers were executed by Confederate troops. These were the very real dangers Shaw and the brave troops of the 54th Massachusetts faced when they took up arms for the Union cause and marched south into enemy territory. Shaw was initially reluctant to leave his regiment.

He also wasn't convinced the regiment would see much action. It was common at the time for black regiments to be assigned labor duty to free up white Union Army units for combat. And they were paid less, too. During the course of their enlistment, black Union soldiers protested the official pay discrimination of the US government, which authorized white soldiers to be paid $13 per month, while black soldiers were only paid $10, with $3 withheld for their clothing. Shaw led a boycott of wages, even forfeiting his own pay until his soldiers were paid equally to their white counterparts. Shaw earned the devotion of his men, who respected his fight for their equality.

In turn, he was impressed with their tenacity and skill, which many had doubted. Before the regiment was sent from Massachusetts to South Carolina in May 1863, Shaw wrote to his father, There is no doubt that we will lead the state with as good a regiment as any that has marched. While initially assigned labor duties in South Carolina, Shaw pushed for the opportunity for his men to prove themselves in meaningful combat. The 54th got their chance on July 16, 1863, at the Battle of Grimple's Landing, where the regiment fought well. Two days later, Shaw and many of these brave men would make their final charge into battle and claim their unique place in American history. On July 18, 1863, Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts were chosen to spearhead an assault on Fort Wagner on Morris Island, South Carolina.

But it wasn't going to be easy. Morris Island was very narrow, so only one regiment at a time could be sent to attack Fort Wagner. Even worse, Union forces had bombarded Fort Wagner with 9,000 shells in preparation for the invasion, but the fort's defenses had been largely unharmed. But Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts marched forward anyway.

After waiting for nightfall, the men began their attack. Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts fell under withering fire from Confederate cannoneers and riflemen within 200 yards of the fort. While exhorting his men to storm over the parapets, the outer fortifications of the fort, Shaw raised his sword and shouted what may have been his final words.

Forward, 54th, forward. Shaw was shot through the chest and killed during the fierce fighting at just 25 years old. But the courageous men of the 54th Massachusetts were not done fighting. Roughly half of the 54th Regiment stormed over the parapets and pushed their way inside the fort.

They held the forge ramparts for approximately one hour before being driven back. The white Union regiments that followed in support also failed to take and hold Fort Wagner. The losses among the 54th Massachusetts were staggering. 272 of the regiment's 600 engaged men were killed, wounded, or captured.

This included Lewis Douglas, son of Frederick Douglas, who was grievously wounded during the battle but survived. Confederate General Johnson Haygood, who commanded the 1700 defenders at Fort Wagner, had a deep contempt for abolitionists. He ordered a large trench dug in front of the fort. The bodies of 20 of Shaw's men were thrown on top of him and then covered with sand.

If Haygood thought such a move would be insulting to Shaw and his family, he was wrong. Shaw's father Francis wrote that he could think of, quote, no holier place for his son to rest than surrounded by his brave and devoted soldiers. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Monty Montgomery. And a special thanks to Kirk Higgins, the senior director of content at the Bill of Rights Institute. You can check out their great curriculum on American history at my BRI dot org.

So for any of you who have ever seen the movie Glory, now you know the backstory of the character played by Matthew Broderick, otherwise known as Ferris Bueller. And what a story that we hear here. And this one book, and that's Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the influence it has on this white man from Boston, who now becomes not only a fervent abolitionist, but dies in the cause and for the cause.

The story of Robert Gould Shaw here on Our American Stories. Your stomach is a mess and you feel lousy. Something is just off, but you don't know what. Yeah, we get it. You've tried every fad diet and supplement under the sun and none of it worked.

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