54th Massachusetts
Laurence D. Schiller, March 29, 2021
(originally published January 3, 2020)
www.blueandgrayeducation.org
A great deal of what we call "history" is composed of a variety of narratives. These might be primary sources, such as journals, letters, diaries, collected speeches, oral history, contemporary newspaper stories, etc., or they might be secondary narratives written by historians or others who interpret historical events and narratives to create their own telling of history. In the modern era, we have added electronic narratives to our list, including movies, TV, YouTube, podcasts, and the like. Professional historians rely heavily on such narratives to create their own works, but, as we have learned from the internet, not every narrative that is created is accurate or complete, whether primary or secondary. Among other things, we have to look at a narrative’s biases, what audience was it written for, the extent of the narrator’s knowledge of the events being described, and so forth. As a rule, primary narratives are all valid historical sources but must be used carefully with their strengths and weaknesses noted and put into context with other sources and narratives.
In 1989 the movie Glory was released to critical acclaim. Its narrative was the story of the 54th Massachusetts, the first African-American regiment raised in the northern states. For most Americans, this was the first time they had become aware that there were black soldiers in the Federal army during the Civil War, not just auxiliary forces, but units that fought regular battles. The movie traced the story of this “Brave Black Regiment” from its recruitment and training outside of Boston, its voyage to South Carolina, and eventually its first taste of combat. Although the 54th was involved in combat operations until the end of the Civil War, the movie ends with its climatic, and unsuccessful, assault on Fort (or Battery) Wagner on Morris Island outside Charleston harbor on July 18, 1863, which resulted in the deaths of four officers, including its Col. Robert Gould Shaw, and a total casualties of 281 out of 624 engaged.
Glory revolved around a few specific characters, white and black. Gov. John A. Andrews approached the son of a wealthy Boston abolitionist family, Robert Gould Shaw, and promoted him from captain in a white Massachusetts regiment to colonel of the 54th. His side kick, Cabot Forbes, becomes the major while an educated black family friend of the Shaw’s, Thomas Searles, joins the rank and file. Soon we meet other enlisted members, most particularly a gravedigger, John Rawlins, who will become the sergeant major of the regiment, and a bitter escaped enslaved person, Silas Trip, who hates the world and….
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