Video: 'Colonel Robert Gould Shaw: 54th Massachusetts Regiment'

(Saturday, July 18, 1863, 7:45-10:00 p.m. local time; during the Second Battle of Fort Wagner of the American Civil War) — The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaulted Confederate-held Fort Wagner on Morris Island, South Carolina, today but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of African American soldiers during the war. Continue reading First formal African-American military unit defeated at Fort Wagner 150 years ago this hour (1863) →