Free Republic

Exactly 123 years to the day that it was dedicated, the Shaw Memorial, a monument honoring the first all-volunteer black regiment of the Union Army in the Civil War, was defaced by rioters demanding justice for African-Americans. On May 31, 1897, the monument was erected on Boston Commons to honor the 54th Massachusetts Regiment of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, who bravely attacked Confederate forces at Fort Wagner. One of the soldiers, Sgt. William Harvey Carney carried the American flag throughout the battle, never dropping it despite being shot 7 times. Carney was the first black American to win the Congressional...

Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrews received a letter from Secretary of War Stanton authorizing the Governor to raise a regiment of black free men for service in the Union Army. Recruiting began almost immediately. On May 28th the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment departed Boston for Beaufort SC. the 54th was the first black regiment authorized by the War Department. Another black regiment (1st Kansas Colored Infantry) had been raised earlier, but it had not been authorized by the War Department. These were the first of 175 black regiments of infantry, artillery, cavalry and engineers raised for the Union Army. By...