23. The war was not over for the 54th Massachusetts Regiment either
The 54th remained in the Charleston region as it was reconstituted with replacements for the lost men and officers who died at Fort Wagner. In 1864 it was part of a Union expedition to Florida, landing at Jacksonville to conduct operations intended to disrupt the food supplies from the state reaching the main Confederate Armies in Virginia and Georgia. Following the Battle of Olustee in 1864 – a Union defeat – the 54th served as a rearguard for the retreating Union Army. It engaged several Confederate units before beginning its own orderly withdrawal toward Jacksonville.
While heading toward Jacksonville it was ordered to reverse itself and moved toward the Confederate position until it reached Ten-Mile Station. There a train loaded with Union wounded was stranded. When the regiment arrived it attached ropes to the train, including the broken-down locomotive, and pulled it about three miles to a Union camp, where the men of the 54th were replaced with horses and mules. The train was then pulled to Jacksonville, with the 54th remaining as escorts until they arrived. The distance to Jacksonville was about ten miles, and the journey took just over 42 hours before the wounded men arrived safely in the Union held city.