ATTACK ON FORT WAGNER, SOUTH CAROLINA
Charleston, South Carolina (JFK+50) On July 18, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, made up of African-American soldiers, failed in a valiant effort to take Fort Wagner* near Charleston, South Carolina.
Fort Wagner, located on Morris Island, was a Confederate earth work 600 feet wide and 30 feet high. It was "a more formidable installation than it appeared," with a core of sandbags and timber which could absorb direct hits by Union artillery shells.Having been unsuccessful in reducing Ft. Wagner and Ft. Sumter by ironclad assault, the US turned to direct infantry assault.
The first attack on Ft. Wagner on June 11, 1863, led by Brigadier General George C. Strong, was a costly failure with 339 Union losses to only 12 Confederate. The second assault, which was preceded by intensive artillery bombardment, was led by the 54th Massachusetts commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw**.
Colonel Shaw addressed his men before sending them into battle...
"I want you to prove yourselves. The eyes of thousands will look on what you do tonight."
It was a massacre. The 54th suffered 1515 casualties including Colonel Shaw, who was shot in the heart atop the parapet, and General Strong. The Confederates lost 174. At one point in the battle, with the flag of the United States in peril, Sgt. William H. Carney***, despite having been wounded, saved it and later would become the 1st black soldier to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
*Fort Wagner, named in honor of Lt. Col. Thomas M. Wagner, was a Confederate fortification located between the Atlantic Ocean and an impassable swamp. It was protected by a water-filled trench 10 feet wide and 5 feet deep and by land mines and sharpened palmetto stakes. By 1885, the entire fort had been washed into the ocean.
**Robert Gould Shaw (1837-1863) was born in Boston to a prominent abolitionist family. Having attended Harvard University, he joined the US Army in 1861, first with the 7th New York militia and later the 2nd Massachusetts infantry. He was promoted to major and then colonel in the Spring of 1863.
***William Harvey Carney (1840-1908) was born into slavery at Norfolk, Virginia. He escaped by the underground railroad to Massachusetts where he joined his father. Carney was awarded the Medal of Honor on May 23, 1900.
SOURCE
"The Civil War: The Coastal War," by Peter M. Caitin and Editors, Time-Life Books, Inc., 1984.
Charleston, South Carolina (JFK+50) On July 18, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, made up of African-American soldiers, failed in a valiant effort to take Fort Wagner* near Charleston, South Carolina.
Fort Wagner, located on Morris Island, was a Confederate earth work 600 feet wide and 30 feet high. It was "a more formidable installation than it appeared," with a core of sandbags and timber which could absorb direct hits by Union artillery shells.Having been unsuccessful in reducing Ft. Wagner and Ft. Sumter by ironclad assault, the US turned to direct infantry assault.
The first attack on Ft. Wagner on June 11, 1863, led by Brigadier General George C. Strong, was a costly failure with 339 Union losses to only 12 Confederate. The second assault, which was preceded by intensive artillery bombardment, was led by the 54th Massachusetts commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw**.
Colonel Shaw addressed his men before sending them into battle...
"I want you to prove yourselves. The eyes of thousands will look on what you do tonight."
It was a massacre. The 54th suffered 1515 casualties including Colonel Shaw, who was shot in the heart atop the parapet, and General Strong. The Confederates lost 174. At one point in the battle, with the flag of the United States in peril, Sgt. William H. Carney***, despite having been wounded, saved it and later would become the 1st black soldier to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
*Fort Wagner, named in honor of Lt. Col. Thomas M. Wagner, was a Confederate fortification located between the Atlantic Ocean and an impassable swamp. It was protected by a water-filled trench 10 feet wide and 5 feet deep and by land mines and sharpened palmetto stakes. By 1885, the entire fort had been washed into the ocean.
**Robert Gould Shaw (1837-1863) was born in Boston to a prominent abolitionist family. Having attended Harvard University, he joined the US Army in 1861, first with the 7th New York militia and later the 2nd Massachusetts infantry. He was promoted to major and then colonel in the Spring of 1863.
***William Harvey Carney (1840-1908) was born into slavery at Norfolk, Virginia. He escaped by the underground railroad to Massachusetts where he joined his father. Carney was awarded the Medal of Honor on May 23, 1900.
"The Civil War: The Coastal War," by Peter M. Caitin and Editors, Time-Life Books, Inc., 1984.
"The Old Flag Never
Touches the Ground"
by Rick Reeves (2004)
