Because of its outstanding gallant behaviour at the siege of Fort Wagner in July 1863.
It was one of the first African American regiments organized to fight for the Union in the civil war. It insisted on fighting without pay. The soldiers of the 54th-among who were two sons of Frederick Douglas-soon made the regiment the most famous of the Civil War.
Many negro slaves found asylum in Federal forts or in working for Federal troops. Many also enlisted in the United States Colored Troops regiments. Free blacks in the north had their own regiments, notably the Massachusetts 54th Infantry.
The name of the all black regiment in the Civil War was the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, it was one of the first African-American regiments and soon became the most famous in the Civil War.also they were formed in kansas.it was declared in 1861-1865Chapdog-Too improve upon the answers there were several hundred all black regiments as there were no intergrated regiments in the war. The first ones were the 1st Kansas Colored Vols,The First south Carolina Colored Vols and the Lousianna Native Guards.The 54th Mass was one of the first Northern regiments of predominantly free men and was lionized in the film Glory in 1989. There were over 127 infrantry regiments of color alone.
Over 186,000 African Americans, comprising 163 units, served in the United States Army, then nicknamed the "Union Army" during the American Civil War. Later in the war, many regiments were recruited as "The United States Colored Troops". The U.S.C.T. was the predecessor to the Buffalo Soldier regiments of the American Old West.
54th Regiment of Massachusetts
African-Americans joined many Union regiments at the beginning of the war. In 1863, a large number of African American regiments were formed using primarily escaped slaves as foot soldiers. Most of their officers were white, because few blacks had the required education at that time.
the Massachusetts 54thThe 54th Massachusetts was the most famous because of the movie "Glory". However there were 200,000 black soldiers serving in the Union army. There were dozens of regiments and artillery battalions. Most were eventually named with a number and the label Colored Troops such as 8th US Colored Troops.On the north side of Washington, DC, there is a monument called the African-American Civil War Memorial. It has two rings of walls that has the names of the black troops engraved on it.The 54th Massachussetts Volunteers during the Civil War, fighting for the Union.
African American soldiers and a white commanding officer
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry was one of the first official all-black unit on either side. It served with distinction as part of the Union Army, and their story is the basis of the movie Glory.
All Civil War regiments had 1,000 men at full strength. There were ten companies in a regiment, each with one hundred men. Most had this many when they started out, but rarely had anything like this many after a few months service. Disease and battle losses were hard to make up. Both sides continued to create new regiments instead of trying to keep existing regiments up to strength. There are about 1,100 men who are recorded as having served with the 54th Massachusetts, as apparently Massachusetts made some effort to forward some replacements.
No. Reinforcements were arriving, but even with all those men, fort Wagner was never taken. However, the 54th Massachusetts regiment was a precedent for African Americans fighting in the Civil War.
There were four US Army Regiments of African American or Buffalo Soldoers who saw service in the Spanish American War and they included the: 9th Cavalry Regiment. 10th Cavalry Regiment. 24th Infantry Regiment, and the 25th Infantry Regiment.