During the Civil War, so many Black men went to Massachusetts to join the 54th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) that a second regiment, the 55th, was organized in Massachusetts. Men in the 55th Regiment came from 25 states, the District of Columbia, and Africa. Seventy percent of them had never been slaves. Five hundred could read, and over 300 could write. Forty-six trades and occupations were represented.
The literacy of one of the men, Nicolas Said, was notable. He was raised in Bornu, Eastern Sudan, and Central Africa, and was a member of the ruling class of his tribe. According to the commanding officer of the 55th Regiment, Said “spoke and wrote English, French, German, and Italian, while there is no doubt that he is master of Kanouri [his vernacular], Mandra, Arabic, Turkish, and Russian.”
Despite all that literacy among the Black soldiers, the movie Glory depicted only one Black soldier as educated and consequently was a bumbling misfit as a soldier.
James Trotter was one of the prominent members of the 55th Regiment. Before heeding the call to enlist in Boston, Trotter taught in schools for Black students in Ohio. Educated and 21, he was quickly promoted from Private to Sergeant and ultimately to 2nd Lieutenant, the second man of color to achieve that rank.
Trotter was one of the leaders of the protest over the unequal pay of the Black soldiers. After the war, he became the first Black man to be employed by the U.S. Post Office Department. Following 18 years there, President Grover Cleveland appointed him Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia.
Trotter was the father of William Monroe Trotter, an uncompromising civil rights advocate who founded the Boston Guardian newspaper.
William Monroe Trotter was the most prominent opponent of Booker T. Washington’s philosophy of accommodation. He, along with W.E.B. Dubois and others, established the Niagara civil rights organization in 1905. Trotter went to D.C. several times to protest racial segregation in the federal government that had been exacerbated by President Woodrow Wilson.
Black men and women were vital to the Civil War effort, both in and out of uniform. About 10,000 Black soldiers died in battle, and three times as many died from illness. Historian Robert B. Edgerton wrote: “Their death rate was proportionately much higher than that of white soldiers in the Union Army, in part because they were so often used as assault troops and in part because their medical care was usually even worse than that given white troops.”
Edgerton continued: “Many Blacks would serve in USCT labor battalions, but before the war ended, there would also be 120 Black infantry regiments, 12 heavy artillery regiments, 10 companies of light artillery, 7 cavalry regiments, and 5 regiments of engineers. In all, by the war’s end, Blacks made up 10 percent of the Union’s forces.” Black men and some women served as nurses, scouts, and spies. Men were employed as carpenters, cooks, laborers, teamsters, and surgeons – as well as in infantry and artillery companies. Historian Philip Shaw Paludan wrote: “While their service had not destroyed prejudice, it had helped destroy slavery in 39 major battles and 449 engagements, with 21 Black Congressional Medal of Honor winners. The fighting by all the Blacks had produced claims on white sympathy, linked them with an admirable cause, and laid the groundwork for changing some of the nation’s racial ideas.”
As white men grew reluctant to join the northern army, the number of US Colored Troops increased throughout the Civil War, helping deliver Union victory. Over 180,000 Black men, serving in the United States Colored Troops, provided crucial manpower that helped the Union win the Civil War. Their service, marked by bravery in 39 major battles, challenged racist attitudes and helped lead to equal pay.
The 54th Massachusetts Regiment’s heroic, failed attack on Fort Wagner (July 18, 1863) served as a critical turning point in the US Civil War by proving Black soldiers’ valor, forcing a reversal of racist military attitudes, and prompting mass Black enlistment.
It is a significant matter that the contributions of Blacks in America’s wars be known and recognized, because those bloody contributions stake the claims for all the rights and privileges of American citizenship.
