# Massachusetts 54th Regiment

An episode of [Letters from an American](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1730358737), 19 Jul 2026, 4:39.

Audio: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/207695182/f22296cb923785c73af1e50a60ed1559.mp3

July 18, 2026 July 18, 1863, the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry charged Fort Wagner, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, Fort Wagner covered the southern entrance to the harbor and was key to the US government taking the city, The 600 soldiers of the 54th made up one of the first Black regiments for the Union, A Boston abolitionist, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, led the regiment, The men of the 54th knew that eyes were upon them to see how well Black men would fight for their country and they proved that they were equal to any white soldiers, The assault on the fort killed, wounded, or lost more than 250 of the 600 in the regiment, Colonel Shaw was one of the 30 left dead on the field, He was buried in a mass grave with his men, a burial that the Confederates had arranged to dishonor him, but which his family found fitting. Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ- Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe You can also find me: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

## Transcript

[0:00] \[music\]
[0:07] SPEAKER_01: July 18, 2026.
[0:11] SPEAKER_01: On July 18, 1863,
[0:14] SPEAKER_01: at dusk,
[0:15] SPEAKER_01: the Black soldiers of the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry of
[0:19] SPEAKER_01: the United States Army charged the walls of Fort Wagner,
[0:24] SPEAKER_01: a fortification on Morris Island off Charleston Harbor in South Carolina.
[0:29] SPEAKER_01: Because Fort Wagner covered the southern entrance to the harbor,
[0:33] SPEAKER_01: it was key to enabling the U.S. government to take the city.
[0:38] SPEAKER_01: The 600 soldiers of the 54th made up one of the first black regiments for the Union,
[0:43] SPEAKER_01: organized after the Emancipation Proclamation called for the enlistment
[0:48] SPEAKER_01: of African American soldiers.
[0:50] SPEAKER_01: The 54th's leader was a Boston abolitionist from a leading family, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.
[0:58] SPEAKER_01: Shaw and his men had shipped out of Boston at the end of May 1863 for Beaufort,
[1:04] SPEAKER_01: South Carolina,
[1:05] SPEAKER_01: where the Union had gained an early foothold in its war to prevent the Confederates
[1:10] SPEAKER_01: from dismembering the country.
[1:12] SPEAKER_01: The men of the 54th knew they were not like other soldiers.
[1:17] SPEAKER_01: They were symbols of how well Black men would fight for their country.
[1:22] SPEAKER_01: This, in turn,
[1:24] SPEAKER_01: would be a statement of whether black men could truly be equal to white men under
[1:29] SPEAKER_01: the country's laws once and for all.
[1:33] SPEAKER_01: For in this era, fighting for the country gave men a key claim to citizenship.
[1:40] SPEAKER_01: The whole country was watching, and the soldiers knew it.
[1:45] SPEAKER_01: In the dark at Fort Wagner,
[1:47] SPEAKER_01: the Massachusetts 54th proved that black men were equal to any white men in
[1:53] SPEAKER_01: the field.
[1:54] SPEAKER_01: They fought with the determination that caused African American regiments during
[1:59] SPEAKER_01: the Civil War to sustain losses higher than those of white regiments.
[2:04] SPEAKER_01: The assault on the fort killed,
[2:06] SPEAKER_01: wounded,
[2:07] SPEAKER_01: or lost more than 250 of the 600 men and made
[2:12] SPEAKER_01: the formerly enslaved Sergeant William Harvey Kearney the first African American
[2:18] SPEAKER_01: to be awarded a Medal of Honor.
[2:20] SPEAKER_01: Badly wounded,
[2:22] SPEAKER_01: Kearney nonetheless defended the United States flag and carried it back
[2:26] SPEAKER_01: to Union lines.
[2:28] SPEAKER_01: United States soldiers did not take the fort that night,
[2:32] SPEAKER_01: but no one could miss that black men had proved themselves equal
[2:37] SPEAKER_01: to their white comrades.
[2:40] SPEAKER_01: The Battle of Fort Wagner left 30 men of the 54th dead on the field,
[2:45] SPEAKER_01: including Colonel Shaw,
[2:47] SPEAKER_01: and 24 more so badly injured that they would later die from their wounds.
[2:53] SPEAKER_01: 15 were captured, 52 were missing and presumed dead.
[2:57] SPEAKER_01: Another 149 were wounded.
[3:01] SPEAKER_01: Confederates intended to dishonor Colonel Shaw when they buried him in a mass grave
[3:06] SPEAKER_01: with his men.
[3:07] SPEAKER_01: Instead, his family found it fitting.
[3:12] SPEAKER_01: In 2017,
[3:13] SPEAKER_01: I had the opportunity to spend an evening in the house where the wounded soldiers of
[3:18] SPEAKER_01: the 54th were taken after the battle.
[3:22] SPEAKER_01: It was a humbling thing to stand in that house that still looks so much as it did
[3:27] SPEAKER_01: in 1863 and to realize that the men carried hot and exhausted and bleeding
[3:35] SPEAKER_01: and scared into it a century and a half before were just people like you and me
[3:43] SPEAKER_01: who did what they felt they had to in front of Fort Wagner.
[3:47] SPEAKER_01: And then endured the boat ride back to Beaufort,
[3:50] SPEAKER_01: got carried up a flight of steps,
[3:53] SPEAKER_01: and then lay on cots in small crowded rooms and hoped
[3:58] SPEAKER_01: that what they had done was worth the horrific cost.
[4:04] SPEAKER_01: I am not one for ghosts, but I swear you could feel the blood in the floors.
[4:16] SPEAKER_00: Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson.
[4:21] SPEAKER_00: It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dedham, Massachusetts.
[4:25] SPEAKER_00: Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.

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