"We are ready and would go." - Part 4

The Black troops at Port Royal showed they could handle themselves in raids and skirmishes, but some still questioned if they could handle themselves in heavy combat.

In May and June 1863, Black and White Union regiments fought for the first time in major battles at Port Hudson and Milliken's Bend on the Mississippi River. Gen. Benjamin Butler's First Regiment Native Louisiana Guards were led by Black officers, including one 16-year-old lieutenant who was killed in action. Some of the White officers were surprised at how fiercely the Black troops fought. But Black soldiers were fighting for more than restoring the Union; they were fighting to liberate their people.

On July 18, 1863, Black soldiers soon got to prove their fighting ability even more dramatically. That was the day the 54th Massachusetts Infantry led the assault on Fort Wagner, a Confederate stronghold guarding the entrance to Charleston Harbor. (The battle was recreated in the movie “Glory” starring Denzel Washington.) The 54th Infantry Division was commanded by a 25-year-old White officer, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, and was made up of runaway slaves and free Northern Black men including two of Frederick Douglass's sons.

Despite heavy artillery and rifle fire, the men made a furious charge on the Fort and engaged its Confederate defenders in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, the 54th was repelled by the Confederates and suffered 40% casualties. Col. Shaw was killed during the charge and was buried with his men. Reported widely in Northern newspapers, the story of the heroic actions of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry at Fort Wagner helped to change public opinion about Blacks serving in the Union Army.