African  American  SoldiersTaylor  and  Kylee

African  American  Soldiers  • African  American  men  could  not  serve  in  the  U.S.  Army    up  until  the  54th  Massachusetts  

regiment  was  issued.

The  Massachusetts  54th  Regiment

Payment  • The  U.S.  Army  paid  African  American  soldiers  

10$  ,    3$  less  then  white  soldiers.  

• To  protest  against  this  the  entire  unit  of  soldiers  and  officers  refused  to  accept  their  wages  until  

blacks  were  paid  the  same.

African  American  Soldiers  

The  Massachusetts  54th  Regiment

• February  1863,  Governor  John  A.  Andrew  issued  the  civil  wars  first  call  of  black  soldiers.

• Many  of  the  black  men  came  from  New  York,  Indiana,  and  Ohio  ;  some  even  came  from  Canada.

The  Massachusetts  54th  RegimentVolunteers  

• Many  men  volunteered    as  young  as  16  years  old.

• The  most  famous  enlisted  were  Charles  and  Lewis  Douglass,  sons  of  the  abolitionist  Frederick  Douglass.

Lewis Charles  

• Robert  Gould  Shaw,  a  young  white  officer  was  chosen  to  lead  the  54th  Massachusetts.

• Roberts  parents  were  wealthy  and  prominent  abolitionist  activists.

• He  had  dropped  out  of  Harvard  to  join  the  union  army.

Leader