*"Glory"-The Story Of The Heroic Massachusetts 54th In The American Civil War

Click on the title to link to a "Wikipedia" entry for the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry honored in this " American Left History entry today.

February Is Black History Month

Glory, starring Denzel Washington, Matthew Broderick, and Morgan Freeman,1989

Over the past several years that this space has existed I have touted the heroic experiences of the American Civil War pro-Union black volunteer regiment, the Massachusetts 54th Infantry, many times. Recently in preparing materials for this space to be posted in honor of Black History Month I noticed that I had not reviewed the subject of this entry, the Oscar-winning film “Glory”. I make amends here.

This fictionalized version of the creation of an all-black volunteer regiment (at least in the ranks) hews pretty closely to the actual events in that process, taking into account the inevitable dramatizations required by the “laws” of cinematic license. And that fact is important. In other commentary on the history of the 54th, and in previous recollections of my own personal history of “discovery” of the regiment, I have noted that in my high school years in the 1960s no mention was ever made of the exploits of this hardy band of soldiers fighting for their freedom and the preservation of the American union. None. And that, my friends, was here in Massachusetts the home of the regiment and of the famous, if then obscure, Saint-Gaudens memorial plague to the regiment that in front of the State House that, at one point in my life, I passed every day.

Lincoln and other Northern war leaders hesitated to create all black regiments for a number of reasons despite the need for man power on the battlefield as the war drew out inconclusively for a long period. Those reasons did not include the fact that the likes of the revolutionary black abolitionist Frederick were clamoring for black soldiers not only to preserve the union but to actively gain their own freedom, to prove their manhood and worth in the parlance of the time. This film details the struggle by hard abolitionist Massachusetts Governor Andrews and a significant portion of the white Boston citizenry, including the eventual leader of the regiment, Robert Gould Shaw and his parents, to create such a unit.

The film goes on to look at the actual creation of the unit , its training, the troubles over pay, the racial animosities on both sides of the class/race line that were then current in that American time, the deployment of the regiment South and the mauling that it took at Fort Wagner, including the deaths of Shaw and many brave black soldiers. I will tell you the best part though, although this is not brought up in the film. At war’s end what was left of the Massachusetts 54th marched through Charleston, South Carolina, in many ways the ideological and political center of the Confederacy, singing “John Brown’s Body”. That seems just about right. Hat’s off to the 54th.

Note: I have not mentioned the very good performances here by Denzel Washington as a testy recruit and Morgan Freeman as the wise "old man" of the regiment. Let me put it this way, if you had a choice these days, wouldn’t you have this pair in this type of film. No-brainer, right? Matthew Broderick also shines in an understated performance as Colonel Shaw.