The commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the assault on Battery Wagner in Charleston harbor SC,
by the 54th Massachusetts, 18 July 1863
South Carolina marking 150th anniversary of 54th Massachusetts
SULLIVANS
ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Dozens of Civil War re-enactors gathered Thursday to
commemorate the 150th anniversary of a famed attack by the 54th Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry — a battle in South Carolina that showed the world black
soldiers could fight and was chronicled in the movie “Glory.”
Re-enactors
portraying members of the black Union regiment as well as Confederate
counterparts defending Battery Wagner in Charleston Harbor planned to travel
Thursday afternoon by boat to Morris Island, site of the battle, to lay a wreath
and fire a salute.
Speeches
and Civil War period music also were planned on nearby Sullivans Island — an
inhabited barrier island near the harbor entrance — about the time of the
evening attack 150 years ago. Luminaries were to be lit by nightfall in memory
of the dead.
The
54th was raised in Boston and of the 600 black troops who bravely charged
Battery Wagner, 218 were killed, wounded or captured in fierce fighting. The
54th later served in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida before returning to
Massachusetts at war’s end.
“This
is probably the most significant anniversary of the 150th anniversaries of the
Civil War,” said Walter Sanderson, a re-enactor from Upper Marlboro, Md. “It was
a primary test for African-American troops in a very difficult assault. They
proved themselves to be a quality regiment under the most severe duress.”
Usually,
there are about a dozen black re-enactors who make the trip each year. This
year, more than 50 black re-enactors and several dozen Confederate re-enactors
were gathering, some from such distant states as California.
“Going
out on that island has special meaning today,” said Joe McGill, a black
Charleston re-enactor who makes the journey every July 18.
The
attack was part of an unsuccessful campaign by federal forces to capture
Charleston, the city where the Civil War began in 1861 with a bombardment of
federally held Fort Sumter. The Confederates would hold Charleston until late in
the war, when they abandoned it as Union troops moved across South Carolina
further to the west.
While
the Battery Wagner attack was unsuccessful, the valor of the black troops
dispelled the thought — common in both the North and the South early in the war
— that blacks could not fight. It also encouraged the enlistment of another
200,000 black troops in the Union army.
“It’s
just an honor to be here. The 54th proved that black troops could fight in a
battle,” said Louis Carter of Richmond, Va. He said Battery Wagner and several
earlier smaller fights involving black troops “disproved that stereotype that we
would run.”
Leon
Watkins of San Francisco carried the flag in the movie “Glory.”
A
former Marine, he said “if this hadn’t happened here 150 years ago, I wouldn’t
have been able to help provide the blanket of security we all sleep
under.”
“Glory”
will be shown Friday on an outdoor screen in Marion Square in Charleston. The
1989 film starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman
helped bring the story of the 54th Massachusetts to a wider audience.
Scholars
and authors gather at the historic Dock Street Theatre on Saturday to discuss
the 1863 Charleston campaign. On Sunday, a monument to the fallen at Battery
Wagner will be dedicated on Charleston’s Battery.
Copyright
2013 The Associated Press.
Clips from the motion picture "GLORY"
(from online source)
SULLIVANS ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Dozens of Civil War re-enactors gathered Thursday
18 July 2013 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of a famed attack by the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry — a battle in South Carolina that showed the world black soldiers could fight and was chronicled in the movie “Glory.”
Youtube Links
http://youtu.be/1iPNg_HJU-A http://youtu.be/oXhyRTL6AfU http://youtu.be/olRyZxnZLeA
http://youtu.be/z9gdnbCaDGs http://youtu.be/3ww5ljU3lx4