BHM - African Americans in Times of War - The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry Regiment was the first military unit consisting of black
soldiers to be raised in the North during the Civil War. Prior to 1863, no
concerted effort was made to recruit black troops as Union soldiers. The
adoption of the Emancipation Proclamation in December of 1862 provided the
impetus for the use of free black men as soldiers and, at a time when state
governors were responsible for the raising of regiments for federal service,
Massachusetts was the first to respond with the formation of the Fifty-fourth
Regiment.
The formation of the regiment was
a matter of controversy and public attention from its inception. Questions were
raised as to the black man's ability to fight in the "white man's
war." Although Massachusetts governor John A. Andrew believed that black
men were capable of leadership, others felt that commissioning blacks as
officers was simply too controversial; Andrew needed all the support he could
get. The commissioned officers, then, were white and the enlisted men black.
Any black officers up to the rank of lieutenant were non-commissioned and
reached their positions by moving up through the ranks. On 28 May 1863, upon
the presentation of the unit's colors by the governor and a parade through the
streets of Boston, spectators lined the streets with the hopes of viewing this
experimental unit. The regiment then departed Boston on the transport De Molay for the
coast of South Carolina.
The regiment was comprised of 1000 enlisted men, and a full complement of white officers. Captain John W. M. Appleton donated the Enlistment roll of Company A of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. The remaining recruits became the nucleus of the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.
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