Fighting for the Freedom of Others: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment
Were the soldiers in the 54th Massachusetts regiment treated with the respect they deserved while fighting for the freedom of America? Or were they still treated poorly by the white men, even though they were fighting for their sake? Though the reason for the war was freedom for America, the outcome would have little effect on how the black men would be treated. They would still be slaves to the other men, and they would not have all of the rights any white man would have. There is little room to argue with the fact that they were not treated as they should have been during their service after reading the journal of their leader, Colonel Robert Shaw. Yet, through the hardships
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They were lead by a man named Robert Shaw, a 25 year old who had previously fought in other Revolutionary War battles. He was the son of wealthy abolitionist activists. When the regiment went to training camp there were more than 1,000 black men ready to serve the country as soldiers. Many of them were from other states, such as Ohio, New York, and Indiana. They joined the Massachusetts regiment because their states didn’t have black regiments of their own at the time. Two of the most famous men that enlisted in the regiment were Charles and Lewis Douglass, who were two of Frederick Douglass’ sons. The men were enthusiastic about fighting for their country, and worked just as hard if not harder than the other American soldiers, but still were not treated fairly. Though they were fighting for America, they were not treated as true Americans in the way they were respected, paid, and taken care …show more content…
The first “battle” they took part in was not a battle at all. They took part in the destruction of the town of Darien, Georgia. It was a town that had no military guarding it, and was simple to destroy, but there was no good reason for the men to waste their time destroying such an unimportant town. This frustrated Shaw immensely, because he wanted his soldiers to fight for freedom and justice, not to destroy towns that had no significance in the outcome of the war. He felt that once again his troops were being treated unfairly because of their color. They were willing to fight, but the officers in command wouldn’t let them take part in the “real” battles. After this incident Shaw requested that his men lead the next Union