#MOVIE LADDER 49 BASED ON TRUE STORY FULL#
Beyond this, the blacks’ military service emphasized black agency, the determination of African Americans to be treated as free men worthy of full citizenship, dignity, and respect.Īn unidentified USCT soldier, likely from a Maryland regiment, with his wife and children. Most broadly, the successful recruitment, mobilization, and military service of almost 180,000 black soldiers proved that blacks could fight and fight well, that they were committed to freeing their fellow blacks still enslaved in the Confederacy, and were committed to help to restore the Union. In most cases, however, the Rebels incarcerated them. Historians know of cases of extreme brutality by Confederates who refused to allow the men of the USCT to surrender or to take black troops and their white leaders as prisoners. They threatened to re-enslave captured former slaves, enslave free blacks, and execute their white leaders. Few white northerners, however, welcomed the prospect of black men as their social or political equals.įor their part, Confederates refused to acknowledge the black troops as soldiers. Many white northerners welcomed blacks risking their lives instead of whites to defeat the Confederates. Over time many whites considered the men of the USCT competent soldiers, even comrades. They could be trained and would fight hard and often bravely.
John David Smith: The determination of Shaw and his men raised the consciousness of northerners, white and black, to the possible value of black soldiers in President Lincoln’s army. Their contributions were absolutely essential to Union victory. This realization extended from President Lincoln himself down to the common soldier in a white regiment, and out into the public as well.
By the end of July 1863, it was no longer possible for whites to insist that black soldiers could not be counted on to fight as well and as bravely as white ones. The stunningly courageous performance of the 54th Massachusetts at Fort Wagner-and of other black units in other settings in the summer of 1863-changed all this. Still, these units were often provided with inferior equipment and clothing, and were deployed mostly for garrison duty and for labor in support of the white soldiers who were expected to perform all combat roles. In 1862, Union military policy began to change, largely in response to manpower shortages, which enabled the formation of the first black units. The 103rd was organized at Hilton Head, S.C., in March 1865. Accordingly they dumped their dead bodies in a pit.”Īn unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform and Company B, 103rd Regiment forage cap. Says historian John David Smith, “The Confederates considered the black soldiers to be insurrectionists and their white officers inciters of slave revolts, so they refused to respect the Yankees as soldiers. Shaw was slain early in the assault, and 256 soldiers were wounded, captured, or killed. On July 18, 1863, Colonel Shaw led the charge of 600 men under withering fire against the well-protected battery. The film dramatizes the fateful assault on Fort Wagner, a Confederate bastion on Morris Island, S.C.
#MOVIE LADDER 49 BASED ON TRUE STORY MOVIE#
Remember the movie Glory, from way back in 1989? Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman portrayed soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment-a unit of free African American volunteers-commanded by a white officer, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick). Another 200,000 black civilians-men and women-dug trenches, hauled away the dead, cooked meals, and performed other such gritty jobs. But the scene highlights an oft-forgotten fact about the Civil War: More than 180,000 African American soldiers (and roughly 19,000 sailors) fought for the Union in a segregated branch of the military, the United States Colored Troops (USCT). In Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, an African American corporal, played by David Oyelowo, recites a chunk of the Gettysburg Address to its author, President Abraham Lincoln. Severely wounded twice, he was awarded the Medal of Honor 37 years later for his valor in this battle. Sergeant William Harvey Carney of the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry carried the flag in the assault on Fort Wagner, on July 18, 1863.