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| Colonel Robert Gould Shaw 54th Massachusetts LOC |
In reviewing the brief 1867 biography called "Prison Life" [acquired courtesy of the New York Public Library] about Captain John E. Michener of the 85th Pennsylvania, one of the most interesting incidents recounted was Michener's connection to the charge by the famous 54th Massachusetts regiment upon Battery Wagner near Charleston, SC in 1863. Michener, it turned out, was in command of the barge that took this entire regiment of black troops to Morris Island shortly before they led a fateful and deadly Union charge. This assault was the basis for the 1990 movie called "Glory" starring Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick.
This assault was the second failed Union attempt to capture Battery Wagner. In both cases, the 85th Pennsylvania was assigned reserve duty. While two regiments from their brigade were with the 54th Massachusetts in the attack, but the 85th Pennsylvania was assigned to follow up the initial charge once the structure was breached. In both cases, the secondary assault was called off.
With the Emancipation Proclamation having gone into effect a few months earlier, African American troops had begun to be used more extensively by the Union to fight the war. The charge by the 54th Massachusetts is generally considered a turning point because it demonstrated the fighting ability and tenacity of the black troops and helped them generally gain acceptance from many, perhaps most, of their white comrades. Despite their inability to hold the Battery Wagner once the walls were breached, the high number of casualties and courage they displayed dispelled many assumptions among Union soldiers that black troops lacked discipline and would not fight with military discipline.
Black regiments such as the 54th Massachusetts were commanded by white officers. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was chosen to lead this regiment, which actually had troops from various states including Pennsylvania. Shaw, age 25, was from an abolitionist family from Boston.
The 85th Pennsylvania spent a nearly a year, from February of 1863 until January of 1864, in South Carolina in what turned out to be a futile attempt to capture Fort Sumter and the city of Charleston. The campaign is remembered for the two failed assaults on Battery Wagner that cost hundreds of Union lives, followed by a trench digging operation that eventually led to the abandonment of the structure by the Confederates. It was assumed that Fort Sumter would soon follow, but the fort where the war began in April of 1861 did not return to Union hands until the last months of the war nearly four years later.
In the two assaults, on July 10 and 17, the 85th Pennsylvania was tasked to perform secondary assault duties once the battery was taken. Since the initial assaults both failed, the 85th Pennsylvania was not called upon to attack the fort.
The second assault on July 17 was led by the famous 54th Massachusetts, a black regiment under the command of Colonel Shaw. Shaw was killed along nearly a hundred of his men. Another 300 were wounded.
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| Union camp on Folly Island LOC |
The profile of Lieutenant John E. Michener in "Prison Life," an 1867 brief account of his war service, relates that the young officer from Washington County spoke with Shaw on the barge that transported the 54th Massachusetts across Lighthouse Inlet from Folly Island to Morris Island for their fateful charge.
Below is the passage from "Prison Life." It begins with a summary of the 85th Pennsylvania's first few months of the Charleston campaign. It is interspersed with a first-hand account of the passage by a member of the black regiment, Luis F. Emilio.
From "Prison Life:" "The Eighty-Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers and the One-hundredth New York regiments were the first to get possession and establish themselves on Folly Island. Here the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, the Sixty-second and Sixty-seventh Ohio, the Thirty-ninth Illinois and the One-hundredth New York regiment were assigned to the command of Brigadier General [Israel] Vogdes. Light-house Inlet intervened,
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| Major Israel Vogdes National Archives |
"The rebel pickets paced the opposite shore,
wholly ignorant of our operations or intentions, and under the impression that
but a small force of Yankees was there. Accordingly, the rebel only sent over a
mortar shell occasionally, by way of compliment, which did but little damage.
Working parties only went to the front after darkness set in, and retired before
daylight the next morning.
"Breastworks, traverses and magazine were soon
completed, and the huge guns mounted. Shot, powder and shell were conveyed to
the magazine in wagons drawn by horses, mules being considered too noisy for
that quiet operation. Even orders and commands were required to be given in a
whisper and a cough or sneeze was positively prohibited. Had the presence of a
working party or our operations then been known to the enemy they could easily
have destroyed the entire Union force with their heavy guns. During the last six
nights, Lieutenant Michener, with one hundred men of the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania
Volunteers, had been constantly engaged upon the work, and the last night prior
to the opening of the siege performed the very difficult and dangerous task of
stowing away the barrels of powder in the rough and hastily constructed
magazine.
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| Folly Island, Light House Inlet Morris Island, and Fort Sumter National Tribune, Washington, DC, 4-30-1891, p.1 |
"On
the day of the assault on Fort Wagner, Major Ed. Campbell [of the 85th Pennsylvania]…detailed Lieutenant
Michener to take charge of the transportation [across Lighthouse Inlet] and
furnish boats to carry troops, stores and artillery. Colonel Robert G. Shaw,
with the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts (colored) regiment arrived in the afternoon
to take part in the assault. Lieutenant Michener succeeded in getting the
entire regiment in a large barge and had them quickly towed over to Morris
Island. Colonel Shaw, after kindly proffering Lieutenant Michener a cigar and
thanking him for his prompt assistance in getting his regiment across,
remarked, 'That if his black boys had any show whatever, the stars and stripes
would be floating over Fort Wagner before sunset.'
From Luis F. Emilio of the 54th Regiment: "After a march of some six miles, we arrived at Light- house Inlet and rested, awaiting transportation. Tuneful voices about the colors started the song, 'When this Cruel War is Over,' and the pathetic words of the chorus were taken up by others. It was the last song of many; but few then thought it a requiem. By ascending the sand-hills, we could see the distant vessels engaging Wagner. When all was prepared, the Fifty -fourth boarded a small steamer, landed on Morris Island, about 5 p. m., and remained near the shore for further orders." [History of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, p.68]
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| 54th Massachusetts at Fort Wagner LOC |
From "Prison Life:" "Colonel Shaw’s regiment was the first
colored regiment organized in the free States, and both the Colonel and his
brave boys shared in a mutual anxiety to show to their country and the world
that it was not in vain that blacks as well as whites had been summoned to
battle for its life and the freedom of man. …it went forward…to take its
place in the front line of the assaulting column…the distance to be crossed at
double-quick was half a mile. Not many, however, of these brave men fell until
the pierced but unshaken column had almost reached the ditch and was within
short musket range of the fort when a sheet of fire from small arms lighted up
the enshrouding darkness while howitzers in the bastions raked the ditch as our
men swept across it and hand grenades from the parapet tore through them as
they climbed the seamed and ragged face of the fort and planted their colors
for a moment on top.
"Here fell Colonel Shaw, killed instantly.
Here also fell General [George] Strong, mortally wounded, with Colonel [John L.] Chatfield and
many other brave and gallant officers…."
