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Essay Archive - African-American Troops in the Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts
African-American Troops in the Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts
The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts was organized in early 1863 by Robert
Gould Shaw, twenty-six year old member of a prominent Boston abolitionist family.
Shaw had earlier served in the Seventh New York National Guard and the Second
Massachusetts Infantry, and was appointed colonel of the Fifty-fourth in
February 1863 by Massachusetts governor John A. Andrew.
As one of the first black units organized in the northern states, the
Fifty-fourth was the object of great interest and curiosity, and its performance
would be considered an imp....
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