Robert Gould Shaw Led this Contentious All Black Regiment During the Civil War

25. The 54^th was the most famous of the black units of the Civil War

Because of the debacle at Fort Wagner, the 54^th Massachusetts became the most well-known of the black regiments formed during the American Civil War, a distinction which it retains. After the war was over the regiment was mustered out in South Carolina, and most men returned to their homes before the war. The bodies of the men killed at Fort Wagner were disinterred and moved to Beaufort, South Carolina, where they were reinterred with full honors, with the gravesite marked as Unknown. Presumably, that is where Robert Gould Shaw rests today, still with the troops he commanded.

By the end of the Civil War, entirely segregated black units numbered over 160 in the Union army, and nearly 180,000 black Americans served in them. Many others served in support roles, as laborers, blacksmiths and armorers, cooks and ambulance drivers, and as gravediggers. They served in the Navy as well, on ships which were not segregated, in a variety of naval disciplines. In 1863, while at Vicksburg, U. S. Grant praised the performance and discipline of the black troops under his command, stating that it was easier to enforce discipline on them than on white troops, firmly refuting the beliefs which opponents to their use had long stated.