54th Massachusetts Regiment Essay

The 54th Massachusetts Regiment The 54th Massachusetts Regiment was arguably the most famous of all the black fighting units during the Civil War. Facing the third year of the war, Abraham Lincoln the nations 16th President issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, freeing all slaves in rebellious states giving free black Americans the right to bear arms (Jordan and Hughes 17-19). Up to this point African-Americans were not allowed to take part in the ranks of the Union army front line because of a 1792 law that barred “persons of color from serving in the militia” (Kashatus 22); however, history has shown that in 1862 former slaves and freedmen were already serving in the US. Navy in lowly positions, and had

Recruitment began on February 5, 1863, and the response was overwhelming attracting recruits from 22 states including the District of Columbia all coming together to be a part of the regiment; among them were Douglass own 2 sons Louis and Charles Douglass who volunteered to serve with the 54th Massachusetts giving the elder Douglass strong ties to the regiment (Barra 44-51). The creation of the 54th Massachusetts was something special. This would become the first all-black unit formed by the Union government. The curiosity generated by this “experiment” would catch the attention of the nation to see just how well black soldiers could perform. Black regiments had participated in earlier battles in 1863 at Port Hudson and Milliken's Bend in Louisiana, but the 54th was the one that achieved the greatest glory for its bravery under fire (Jordan and Hughes 17-19). For the men that joined the 54th Massachusetts, my belief is that they all had a stake in the war.

Most men were free, however, there were some that were runaway slaves. Black men wanted to participate in the war effort and fight for their freedom since the early stages of the conflict, but their service was largely rejected for racial and political reasons. President Lincoln refused to raise an all black army on political grounds stating that; “to arm the Negros would turn 50,000 bayonets from the loyal Border States against us that were for us” (Kashatus 22). Despite the conflicting view of being a white man’s war the case for black participation was continually argued for by Radical Republicans in Congress and abolitionists. No one expressed the sentiments of freedom more articulately than Frederick Douglass, a former slave and prominent black abolitionist that aided in the recruitment of blacks insisting that "once the black man gets upon his person the brass letters `US', a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States" (Kashatus 22). In addition to fighting, I believe another important motivating factor for both ex-slaves and free black men was to use their service to instill a sense of pride in the African-American people. Slavery was an extremely brutal institution that physically and psychologically damaged