commander.
Along with the First North Carolina Colored Infantry, the Fifty-fourth.
entered the fighting late in the day at Olustee, and helped save the Union army.
from complete disaster. The Fifty-fourth marched into battle yelling, "Three.
cheers for Massachusetts and seven dollars a month." The latter referred to the.
difference in pay between white and colored Union infantry, long a sore point.
with colored troops. Congress had just passed a bill correcting this and giving.
colored troops equal pay. However, word of the bill would not reach these troops.
until after the battle of Olustee. The regiment lost eighty-six men in the.
battle, the lowest number of the three black regiments present. After Olustee,.
the Fifty-fourth was not sent to participate in the bloody Virginia campaigns.
of 1864-1865. Instead it remained in the Department of the South, fighting in a.
number of actions before Charleston and Savannah. More than a century after the.
war the Fifty-fourth remains the most famous black regiment of the war, due.
largely to the popularity of the movie "Glory", which recounts the story of the.
regiment prior to and including the attack on Battery Wagner.
To better show how the 54th felt underfire, here is a letter home from.
Orderly Sergeant W.N. Collins of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry accounting.
Plotter's Raid.
"Well, we arrived at Georgetown, S.C., on the 3Ist (March 1865), and.
went into camp. On the 1st of April we started upon our errand through the State,.
and had nothing to molest us for three days. We saw nothing of the Johnnies, and.
on Friday the 8th of April, at Epp's Ferry, Cos. H and A were detached from the.
regiment to go and destroy the said Ferry. Myself, one corporal and fifteen.
privates were in the advance. On we went, neither hearing nor seeing any thing.
in particular. After advancing about two miles, and wading through water and mud,.
we spied a Johnny sitting upon his horse as a picket. He left his post and.
