Historical Background

After the Civil War began in April 1861, President Abraham Lincoln initially summoned volunteers to fight to save the Union. He did not intend the war to address the issue of ending slavery in the southern states, nor did he imagine that the war would redefine the principle that only white people could be citizens (as the Supreme Court had ruled in the Dred Scott case of 1857). [See AJ document.] Yet as the Confederate states fought to defend secession from the Union and the death toll of battle mounted, northern leaders increasingly saw advantages to arming runaway slaves and free blacks to strengthen the Union armies. The most prominent African American abolitionist in the country, Frederick Douglass, saw an additional advantage in allowing African Americans to serve in the Union army: "Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship."

Douglass's support of arming black troops, which is expressed in Glory, suited the needs of the Union forces. Whenever Union armies invaded southern territory, slaves rushed to the military camps to escape from their masters. To many northern leaders, the idea of returning such slave property, or "contraband," to the southern secessionists, seemed obviously self-defeating since slave labor represented an important economic asset of the slave states. In 1862, Congress passed legislation permitting the confiscation of southern property, including slaves. Soon afterward, the War Department authorized Union commanders to organize black regiments in areas of army occupation in Louisiana, Kansas, and the South Carolina sea islands. (Some of these units saw action in the Vicksburg campaign in the spring of 1863.) Meanwhile, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation allowed blacks to serve in the Union armies. Thus, the decision of Massachusetts Governor John Andrew, shown in Glory, to organize the 54th Massachusetts (and later the black 55th Massachusetts) followed a steady, though unplanned development of government policy to arm African American soldiers.

Eventually 178,000 African Americans served in the Union Army and 37,000 died. Most of these black soldiers were former slaves, who had fled to Union lines during the war. But there were also significant numbers of free African Americans who resided in the northern states. One of the few important historical errors in the film Glory is its depiction of most members of the 54th Massachusetts as ex-slaves, whereas most of the volunteers of that regiment had been free men who were fighting for the Union, for the end of enslavement of southern blacks, and for their own dignity. Northern blacks, while free, often faced economic and social discrimination as well as denial of political rights. As the Douglass character in the movie remarks, "we will offer pride and dignity to those who have known only degradation." Two of Douglass's sons did serve with the 54th Massachusetts.

The arming of African American men nevertheless violated a widespread cultural stereotype that black men were naturally weak and cowardly and would not fight like men. In Glory, a reporter from the magazine, Harper's Monthly, asks Col. Shaw, "will they fight? A million loyal readers want to know…." To which Shaw replies, "a million and one," counting himself, and indicating that even New England abolitionists had doubts about the courage and manliness of African American volunteers. Later in the film, as the men of the 54th begin their dangerous attack, Shaw reminds the Harper's journalist: "Remember what you see here."

And the deeds of black men in battle changed forever the national consciousness. "Who asks now in doubt and derision, 'Will the Negro fight?'" remarked a reporter for the New York Tribune after the attack at Fort Wagner. "The answer is spoken from the cannon's mouth...it comes to us from...those graves beneath Fort Wagner's walls, which the American people will never forget." Among those buried there was Col. Robert Gould Shaw, tossed into a common grave by Confederate soldiers who were enraged that a white man dared to lead blacks against fellow white men. When Shaw's family attempted to recover his body, a Confederate officer answered with disgust: "We have buried him with his niggers."

As Frederick Douglass had predicted, the arming of black troops changed the course of the war. Once Union armies gave freedom to slave "contraband," and armed blacks fought in the Union ranks, there was no way of going back to the prewar slave system. Instead of fighting just for the restoration of the Union, northern leaders redefined the purpose of the Civil War as a war for freedom. Yet other questions soon appeared. What would be the status of African Americans after the war? Would they be allowed to become full citizens? Would they be permitted to vote on an equal basis? Would they also obtain equal access to public spaces? Such questions would eventually be answered by 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, as well as by legislation passed by Congress and the states. Consider how the reputation and glory of the 54th Massachusetts, which echoed through the land for years, may have affected those political questions.